Mohler - Spirituality in contrast to Christian Faith

Our wonderful, and o so faithful Administrative Assistant here at X1 has the wonderful knack of purchasing books for me as gifts that often really speak to me significantly. She has done it again with a book I'm reading now, 'Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth' by R. Albert Mohler.
It is a short, extremely incisive Biblical, unadulteratedly Christian insight into current cultural issues.

I was struck this morning by these words written as part of a reflection of living in a post 9/11 Terrorist Attack world:

"We learn[ed] that spirituality is no substitute for Christian faith. Churches were filled to capacity in the weeks following September 11. Some observers predicted a period of national revival and openess to the gospel. That did not happen. Within just a few months, church attendance had fallen to pre 9/11 levels. The national trauma produces flutterings of spirituality but little evidence of renewed Christian conviction.
Spirituality is what is left when authentic Christianity is evacuated from the public square. It is the refuge of the faithless seeking the trappings of faith without the demands of revealed truth. Spirituality affirms us in our self-centeredness and soothingly tells us all is well. Authentic faith in Christ calls us out of ourselves, points us to the Cross, and summons us to follow Christ."

My o my, clear incisive insight to the way things actually are. It is demanding for me as a church leader because i can never rest content that the 'spiritual' are amongst us - they must be called to 'Authentic faith in Christ.'

Simon

Be Overflowing with Praise

Umm mmm mmm, did we have a wonderful time as the gathered people of God at X1 yesterday morning or what? Certainly feeling God is shifting things in our very culture with respect to our sung out worship of the King together. As the Lead Elder I can only pray for more and more of the same.

As part of that desire for a shift to be pronounced and affecting in our minds, hearts, and actions I shared a message that had been on my heart as a pastor for over a year. I entitled it, "Be Overflowing with Praise." The simple thesis of the whole message being: Christians are empowered and filled with the Spirit of God in such a way as to overflow with expressive, exuberant praise for their God at all times - even in the dark, dark hours of the soul. (Not with fake outward adherence, or as a religious must, but from deep within a soul aware of all who God is and all HE's done.) Anyway enough of my thoughts, I wanted to re-share the thoughts of Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 103, the text I used for yesterday's sermon.

Here it is:

"As in the lofty Alps some peaks rise above all others so among even the inspired Psalms there are heights of song which overtop the rest. This one hundred and third Psalm has ever seemed to us to be the Monte Rosa of the divine chain of mountains of praise, glowing with a ruddier light than any of the rest. It is as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, and its golden fruit has a flavour such as no fruit ever bears unless it has been ripened in the full sunshine of mercy. It is man's reply to the benedictions of his God, his Song on the Mount answering to his Redeemer's Sermon on the Mount. [here] David awakens all the melodies of heaven and earth in honour of the one only living and true God."

Beautiful isn't it?
Bless you Lord for giving us the words and ministry of such a golden throated orator thoroughly consumed with love for you.

Simon

A Healthy dose of Piper

I'm sorry this man has so richly blessed me in His absolute fascination with my, and his, God for so many years now, and in this sermon he does it again. I have to place some excerpts here for all of you to read and taste.

"When David says, 'I will magnify God with thanksgiving, he does not mean: 'I will make a small God look bigger than he is. He means: 'I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.' We are not called to be microscopes, but telescopes. Christians are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor's product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is. The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God...

...We are called to be telescopes: people who make the greatness of God seem as great as it really is. This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can't magnify what you haven't seen or what you quickly forget. Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, "Open the eyes of my heart," and we preach to our souls, 'Soul, forget not all his benefits!'

...There are only two groups of people in the world whose differences from each other are of any eternal significance: those who love to magnify God and those who love to magnify themselves. At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one's own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest; we are cripples leaning on the cross shaped crutch of Jesus Christ; we are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God's mercy; we are children asleep in heaven's stroller. Natural man hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of all his glory by giving it all to God. Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel any genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God, but only himself."

On Psalm 69: 30 - 32. (See sermon here)

Let's be overflowing with praise - it gives glory to He who deserves it and it's truly missional!

Simon

Peter's denial

I wonder if there has been a 'darker night' in the soul of any other man. Think of it, not only have you shot your mouth off about the mighty measure of your boldness, but you've told Jesus Christ that he does not know what he's talking about when he exposes your false bravado. Then you go ahead and deny your friendship with the man who actually defines all that friendship is and should be - in front of a servant girl no less. Could it get any worse, any darker, any more bleak? Answer: Yes!

As you deny your association with the incarnate God, the one who is on a predetermined mission to give His life for you to ensure eternal oneness with your creator and give the gift of abundant life which we all long for - he looks over at you and 'looks straight' at you!
What do you do? Where do you run? Do you ache with every ounce of your entirety that maybe just maybe this is all a dream? Do you fake a 'so what, I never really was in on all this discipleship following Christ stuff any way?'
No you do exactly what Peter did (yeah it's Peter I'm talking about, you're free to read all about it in the 22nd Chapter of Luke) - you "weep bitterly.' Looking up the understanding of these words in the original Greek you come to see that this was no passive, gentle, quit sob. No this was loud wailing: heart-broken, emotion-releasing, tragedy-realizing wailing.

Not sure about you, but may I tell you that this pastor has stood in those shoes, maybe not to anywhere near the same degree, and of course without the incarnate Christ there to look into my eyes and display to me His deep, loving sorrow. But, I've lived in such a way, thought in such a way, been silent in such a way that I've denied my Lord. So what now... what about Peter? Is this the end of the story.

No it isn't. You see God is incomprehensibly forgiving to those who turn to Him in Godly sorrow - maybe too forgiving for many as they are unable to forgive themselves. The story goes on. Peter's does. Look at the restoration in John 21; see his participation in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 (he's not left out cause he 'failed'); see just a little later as he displays the inner transformation that takes place with repentance, reconciliation, and Holy Spirit endowment.

O the grace of God, "He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I Jn. 1: 9)
How can you not love this one?

Simon

Inter-church unity

One brief glimpse at Christ's prayer for the 'future believers' in John 17 gives glorious credence to His great desire for unity among His people. Interspersed in almost all the epistles in the NT we see similar hopes, even pleas for unity.
Christ's promise over unity in His prayer of John 17 is majestic and one that I, as a local church leader, am jealous to receive. It's not easy though. Those on the fringes of church leadership, or with a naive view of all things pertaining to the complexity of leadership often can lay offense at 'church'for the disunity that appears to mark us. I will be the first to agree that it is in no way what it should be. Both within the family of a local church and again within the broader fellowship within a village, town or city.

At X1 we are going to make efforts to achieve some form of unity that would hopefully bring honor to our Lord, bring glory to Him, and also receive the rewards of that John 17 promise. I feel that it must be relational, and thus it is with great joy that I can reflect on a wonderful meal with the family called to lead another brilliant local church within Watford. There is so much that binds us and there is the growing foundation of a meaningful relationship that makes me hope and believe for some fruitful partnership in the future.

Bless this church Lord and draw us together to display something of what you prayed for those two millenia ago, and for which you still pray today.

Solo gloria

Simon