Thursday, September 28, 2006

God at Work

One of the readings for the class I'm taking this semester is an article by Gene Veith on calling, or vocation. In it he mentions Martin Luther's concept of everyone having a vocation from God and that we are His masks as He does His work through us. God provides us with food, our daily bread, but it doesn't just appear miraculously on the kitchen table. God works through the farmer, the miller, the baker and others to provide that bread for us.

The podcast I posted about yesterday echoes the same theme. Shaun and Matt talk about how it is God who calls out men for ministry and sends them (see Acts 13 where Barnabas and Paul are set apart and sent out). The reason we ought to use the ordinary means that God has given us is because ultimately it is Him who does the work, through us. We need to get out of the way (i.e., quit trying to use our own methods and ideas, and also taking the credit) and let God use His own tools through us.

I think the same idea is behind the three principles from RUM's campus ministry seminar. And not just behind the principles or foundational but, to borrow again from Luther, "in, with and under" those principles.

The first principle is that the Bible is God's Word, given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That couldn't be much more clear. God is at work giving His Word - He initiates and makes it happen. "All Scripture is breathed out by God..." (II Timothy 3:16, ESV, here and following) and "...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21) both establish the principle. God doesn't just give His Word, He makes it effective, useful. The Timothy passage speaks to how profitable the Word is, but my favorite passage is from Isaiah 55:10-11. Here God tells us that just as water falls from heaven and brings forth the earth's bounty, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." So in the first principle God is at work. We need to let Him work through His Word.

The second principle is that justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ. Again the statement of the principle affirms that it is God who is working. He's the one doing the reconciling, not us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (#33) answers the question "What is justification?" with, "Justification is an act of God's free grace..." Justification is God's act, not ours: "...he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21). God is abundantly at work also in the second principle.

The third principle is that sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit. Once again the principle itself clearly states that it is God who is at work in re-creating disobedient sinners into obedient servants. We are God's workmanship, His carefully crafted work, "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). It is God's work that forms us into who He wants us to be, re-making us in Christ so that we are eager to do the things God has already set aside and prepared for us to do. Sanctification also is "the work of God's free grace..." (WSC #35). God is the worker in the third principle as well.

God initiates - He sends His Word as a profitable, fruitful gift. God calls out and separates men and women for Himself - He justifies sinners, reconciling them to Himself. God sends and equips them to do His work - He sanctifies sinners into the image of Christ, who lived only to do His Father's will.

One might ask: if God's doing all this work, why should I do anything? Why not just sit back and take it easy? Because just like with the farmer, miller, baker and others through whom God providentially provides our daily bread, so also in the work of the kingdom God uses the likes of us to accomplish His work.

The principles only make sense if it is ultimately God doing the work. We have a part to share in that work, but it is ultimately His.

A new church plant, a college campus ministry, an established church, a mission work, whatever field we labor in, we do well to remember that it is God's work, not ours. Sometimes I think we try too hard, we get too clever, we want to see results and feel we had some success in our work. As I wrote earlier, it is better to be conscientious than clever. Who is cleverer than God? He gave us the means, and He promised that they would be effective. It is a measure of faith to simply plug away at the tasks God has called us to do, and trust that He will work through them.

Labels: , , ,

Posted by Martin at 9:58 PM | | Comments

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Ordinary Means Church Planting

This podcast is well worth listening to.

The two commentators are friends and former fellow seminary students, now pastors in Pennsylvania (their congregations are linked at right: View Crest and Laurel Highlands).

They emphasize the reality that all ministry, and certainly church planting, is God's work that He initiates.

This fits well with what I hope to continue with from the campus ministry seminar I attended. I'll try to link the two together in my next post on that topic.

Labels: ,

Posted by Martin at 10:10 PM | | Comments

Three Principles

A few years ago I got to attend the Foundations of Campus Ministry conference put on by Reformed University Ministries, the college campus ministry of the PCA. This was one of the best conferences I've ever been to. There is one interesting testimony to its high quality. At the same time and in the same location there was a church planter training conference being held. A number of former campus ministers, guys who had been living and practicing the ideas we were being introduced to, would skip out on parts of their training to come and sit in on ours. They were looking for a refresher on some great foundational ideas.

During the conference we were introduced to three principles "to be understood and committed to." This was part of what the church planting guys were interested in hearing again. I remember thinking at the time that these principles are applicable to any ministry: college campus, established church, church plant, mission work, chaplaincy, etc.

God willing I'll explore them over the next few days. Just to get started, here they are:
  • The Bible is the Word of God given through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
  • Justification is God reconciling sinners to Himself in Christ.
  • Sanctification is God conforming sinners to the image of Christ by the work of His Spirit.

Pretty simple, right? But how profoundly would our ministry be impacted if we worked diligently to keep these principles front and center?

Labels: ,

Posted by Martin at 8:17 AM | | Comments

Monday, September 25, 2006

Kyrka & Kirk

My dad sent me an e-mail with updated family history information in it - we're hoping for a big family reunion next summer. It reminded me of some other research I've done where I've come across links to actual places my ancestors lived. One of the things that I enjoy about learning my family history is how it so often connects with "real" history. But the following is more along the line of fun connections.

First are some pictures from Sweden. My great-grandfather (direct paternal line) came to America from the region called Bohuslan. From the records that I have, most of my relatives were baptized and married in this church, Krokstad parish:





However, when my great-grandfather came to America he changed his last name from Svensson to Hedman. He wanted something that sounded more American. When I asked my grandfather about this once he said the name his dad picked had something to do with where the family is from. Nearby Krokstad is the town/parish of Hede, which could be where the name came from. So it's possible many ancestors went to this church:





I love the older pictures of both.

Speaking of old...on my mom's side we're connected to the Birnie family, a branch that left Scotland and settled in Holland. Though remembering their Scottish heritage they also thought of themselves as Dutch, or Dutch-Indonesian. The name Birnie is associated with a now disappeared, small castle in Scotland, and also the Birnie kirk, one of the oldest continually functioning churches in Scotland.



My dad is Scandinavian (or as we like to put it: Viking-American); my mom is more Scottish than anything (probably). There's a link on the right to Highland Theological College, where I'd like to someday do doctoral work. HTC is not too far from Birnie kirk, just north of Inverness in the town of Dingwall, aka the Viking Capital of Scotland.

How appropriate!

Labels: ,

Posted by Martin at 12:33 PM | | Comments

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Get a Good Burn Going

When I was about 9 or 10 (I remember it being in third grade), my family switched from the Pentecostal church my dad had grown up in to a Presbyterian church. Except for a couple brief stints I've been attending Presbyterian churches ever since.

I remember that our church hosted a Korean Presbyterian congregation that used the sanctuary after our morning service. About once a year we would hold a joint worship service. Our pastor would preach and the Korean pastor would translate. Our pastor was a learned, erudite and proper man from Back East, and he spoke with a certain dignified manner. When the Korean pastor translated, I often wondered if they were preaching the same sermon. The Korean pastor was much more animated.

Tuesday I got to hear a Korean pastor preach a whole sermon on his own, mostly in English but there were parts that he gave in Korean, presumably reinforcing his points for the benefit of the primarily Korean speakers in the audience.

The occasion was a joint meeting of three presbyteries of the PCA: South Coast (of which my church is a member), Pacific, and the Korean Southwest Presbytery. I'd been looking forward to it for several months. We don't often have the opportunity to get together for worship and fellowship with members of our broader church. This is unfortunate, not the least because one of the hallmarks of presbyterianism is supposed to be our connectedness with each other. We talk a lot about being connected. We don't do it very well.

But Tuesday we made an effort, and it was a good one overall. I got to see some friends I don't see very often, members of both the Pacific and Korean Southwest presbyteries, and meet new friends. I hope we do it again.

I hope we do it again not just for the friendship (and the food!). I hope we do it again so we can hear preaching like I heard Tuesday morning. It wasn't so much that the sermon was theologically deep or technical. It was full of truth and expressed the power and wonder of God's loving work for us poor sinners. The pastor spoke with a passion that communicated how deeply he believed what he was preaching. As I listened I felt like the disciples left sitting at a table in the village of Emmaus, less one Companion who had expounded the Scriptures to them on the way there:

My heart burned within me.

It was a good burn.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 11:41 PM | | Comments

Smite me

A friend of mine at work has a cartoon in his cubicle of a couple of Old Testament-type prophets sniggering behind the back of another prophet who has a sign taped, obviously surrepticiously, to his back: "Smite me!"

I was reminded of this cartoon by my sister's story of how our uncle bought a nice, big, new TV several years ago that promptly pooped out. His response? "God smote my TV."

We're living that reality in our house right now. One TV was 13 or 14 years old; the other 20. They've both bit the dust in the last month or so. Our TV's hath been smote with a great smiting.

KMR and I were talking the other day that this is probably a good thing, all in all. That is until I reminded her that our favorite show, CSI, premiers this week (tonight even - did Brass survive????), and we're missing Dancing with the Stars (KMR used to do ballroom dancing). And college football is in full swing, while the Dodgers are managing just enough swinging of the bat to still be in the pennant race.

(sigh)

Oh well. I'm still sure it is a good thing. We can't afford a new TV right now anyway, so we'll be doing other things, God willing more profitable things. And the Dodgers are on the radio. And I hear there's a good radio broadcast of the Huskies via the Internet.

Posted by Martin at 11:23 PM | | Comments

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

New Tolkien Book

This news jumps Tolkien's new book to the top of my "most anticipated" list by a long shot. And that's with the seventh Harry Potter book on its way, which is now a distant second.

I love Tolkien's writing. He was the greatest writer of the 20th Century. Most people, if they've read Tolkien at all, have only encountered The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first is a fine story, and the latter an amazing epic tale. But what makes Tolkien great is the vast quantity of short stories, epic poetry and other writings, mostly published posthumously through the diligent work of his son Christopher. This is where one sees his creative genius at work, not only in the storytelling but in his writing skill, where he shows mastery of a number of genres, and amazingly both in English and his own invented languages.

Posted by Martin at 7:31 AM | | Comments

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Drucker and the Ancient Church

Another Druckerism stuck in my brain: "It's better to get the wrong answer to the right question than get the right answer to the wrong question."

I was reminded of this by Carl Trueman's post at Reformation21.

I originally wanted to attend seminary to get a theological degree that might lead eventually to Ph.D. studies on the early church. I decided to get an M.Div. because in the early church fathers I saw men who, with only a few exceptions, were both gifted scholars and pastors. I figured an M.Div. degree rather than an MA in theology or historical theology would give me better insight into the world and thought processes of the church fathers.

I didn't really know what I'd do after all that education. I reckoned I could figure that out later. Pastoral ministry and teaching seemed equally possible - or even better, both!

But as time has passed and, ironically, the M.Div. gone to the wayside as I try to complete an MA, I have become convinced that my call is to pastoral ministry, in particular to planting a church. A big part of that realization has been the work I've had the opportunity to do with some of our church plants in our presbytery. Another big part is the realization that the historic truths of the Christian faith are valid for any generation in any age, even this squishy post-modern or post-foundational age. The quote Carl Trueman gives reinforces that belief. Those truths need to be preached with boldness, rather than seeking after new language or forms simply so that they might appeal to the post-modern spiritual consumer.

Rather than asking how do attract postmoderns into our churches, we should be asking how those ancient spiritual, biblical, truths answer the questions raised by postmoderns. Will they listen if we don't "package" the answers just right? I think they will. Who doesn't want to hear the answer to their question?

Whether it's The City of God by Augustine or Machen's Christianity and Liberalism, Christian truth is valid and relevant, and speaks to the world around it. How can anyone read either of those works and not see how applicable they are for today?

Labels: , ,

Posted by Martin at 10:36 PM | | Comments

Hello? Puritans calling

Monday night I had my first class of the semester. As he always does, and does very well, Dr. Johnson began laying the exegetical foundation of the class by unpacking the early chapters of Genesis on the topic of "calling."

(The first time I took a class from Dr. Johnson I remember thinking, as he spent a good deal of time exegeting the biblical basis for the course, "When's he going to get to the real content of the class?" Then about halfway through I realized, "Wait, this is good stuff!!" and wished I'd been taking better notes. Those were the pre-laptop days. Now I type like a fiend to get as much as possible.)

In the course of his lecture Dr. Johnson referred to the Puritans and their view on God's call and the believer's vocation. A part struck me. In essence he described how the Puritans viewed those with ambition, envy and impatience with suspicion. Their focus was more on perseverance. Those overly ambitious were seen as lacking proper contentment.

There's a lot we can learn from the Puritans on this. Too much of the Church today lacks contentment, whether it's the church growth movement with its tendency to focus on attendance numbers ("If you're not growing, you're not a healthy church." Really?!?), the prosperity gospel with its focus on money, or the megachurch movement with its focus on success. Doing things with excellence for God's glory is one thing, as is seeking to be a good steward of the resources God has entrusted to us. The Puritans didn't have anything against wealth per se, but against covetousness. And against lack of contentment with the place to which God has called you.

But today we're consumed with being number one, of growing bigger, of being viewed as successful by the world. As a result Christian bookstores are full of all sorts of books borrowing from business and management techniques that really haven't passed the test of being biblical, and church and parachurch ministry leaders buy them up like so many treasure maps.

The Puritans had it right on this one. They knew where their treasure was really hidden.

Labels: ,

Posted by Martin at 10:03 PM | | Comments

Christianity Today and Calvinism

I picked up the current issue of Christianity Today the other day, having heard (first I think through Ref21) about their cover article on the resurgence of Calvinism.

It was a nice, encouraging article.

I grew up mostly in the old UPC, in a conservative congregation. I knew about and believed in such doctrines as predestination and election, and remember hearing about TULIP. But we weren't taught, nor was there an emphasis on, "Reformed theology." It wasn't until I heard a sermon in my late 20's by Mike Horton that I really "got" Reformed theology - and boy did I get it. All the things I'd been taught and believed suddenly fit together and made sense.

The CT article seemed to focus more on the resurgence of Calvinism in Baptist circles. I suppose that makes sense, since there are so many of them. But I believe the rise of Calvinism really owes a great debt to men like R.C. Sproul, James Boice and others of that generation who began writing books and holding conferences on Reformed theology, and through whose teaching the Holy Spirit has brought about a re-awakening in Presbyterian and Reformed circles. As influential as men like John Piper and Mike Horton are, I'm not sure they'd even be around if the groundwork hadn't been laid before them.

I've seen this rise in my own lifetime, and it is absolutely wonderful to see.

Not long after the death of James Boice, my mother and I were wondering who the next generation of leaders and teachers would be in Reformed circles. Praise God that He has raised up another generation of men. I am so thankful.

I'm thankful also that this new generation has a spirit of humility and cooperation, evidenced by the Together for the Gospel conference and organizations like the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The sentiment expressed by Joshua Harris at the end of the article is one I share deeply. If we really believe in the sovereignty of God, and of our own inability, how can we possibly be arrogant? And yet that seems to have been a besetting sin in Calvinist circles. Again, I am thankful that it doesn't seem to be among the younger generation, and I pray it continues.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 6:57 AM | | Comments

Monday, September 11, 2006

Miles to go...

...before I sleep.

Last night I realized that I spent about 14 hours on the road this weekend; probably covering somehwere between 600 and 700 miles of Southern California freeway.

Places to go...things to do...people to see...

It was a lot of driving, but it was worth it.

And tonight I get to drive to Escondido in rush hour traffic to attend class.

I'm sure it, also, will be worth it.

Posted by Martin at 7:24 AM | | Comments

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Jargon

Recently I decided that if church planting is in my future, and if seminary graduation is around the corner (possibly, possibly, in May), then I should start preparing for it. So, I've been visiting web sites, looking up books and articles, trying to find resources related to planting a church. I figure that if I can whittle away little by little at the pile of stuff I've found I just might learn something over the next several months or so. And it'll have to be done little by little since I'll have my regular classes to focus on in the meantime as well.

One of the things that struck me while reading through some materials at lunch today was the prevalence of certain words and phrases that, quite frankly, strike me as so much jargon. Some of them -- "missional," "ancient-modern," "culturally relevant," "inter-generational," "cross cultural," etc. -- are probably useful in certain contexts at certain times, if well defined and understood.

But this kind of jargon seems to me to be too clever by half. One of the Druckerisms* that has stuck with me is, "It's better to be conscientious than clever." The point? Clever schemes tend to hold the promise of achieving something without the typical hard work of just slogging through what needs to be done. The conscientious person knows or finds out what needs to be done and does it. The clever person looks for the easier path, the whiz-bang solution. (This is how consultants make their money - packaging common sense in flash and sizzle!)

That doesn't mean that there can never be a better way to build a mousetrap. It just has to really, truly be a better way.

The work of the pastor, elder, deacon, lay person in Christ's church is to diligently do the things God has called us to do. We can try new things, to be sure. But we shouldn't let the false promise of a shiny new toy distract us from the hard slogging that is often what's needed. Being conscientious isn't flashy, doesn't typically attract a lot of attention, and probably isn't cutting edge, but in the end I think it is more effective.

Sometimes this church planting jargon seems awfully like a shiny new toy and I wonder: why can't we just do what we've been called to do?

* Anyone who took classes from, sat in on lectures with, spent time with or read books and articles by Peter Drucker collects a few of his oft-repeated sayings along the way.

Labels: ,

Posted by Martin at 2:14 PM | | Comments

A Different Perspective

After Legoland the other day, Half-Pint and I had dinner together. She said something out of the blue that really struck me.

Aside: Now when I say "out of the blue" I don't mean she was sitting there quietly eating and then suddently piped up with a comment. This is not my youngest daughter. Rather, out of a virtual stream of consciousness soliloquy broken only by my verbal punctuation of her oral paragraph, she ventured a new observation on a new topic.

What she said was, "I wish you still worked at Wal-Mart."

Now, I worked at Wal-Mart out of necessity. I left seminary early in the summer of 2001 to go back to full-time work. As the job search dragged on, made worse by September 11, I took a "temporary" job at Wal-Mart stocking shelves, just hoping to help make ends meet until a "real" job came along. I was at Wal-Mart for 13 months. They were some of the most difficult months for us as a family. We scrimped and went without and cut and at times we barely scraped by. But God kept us and we made it. Nevertheless, those were very hard times in many ways.

So why, I asked, did Half-Pint want me to still work there?

Because she and mommy could visit me any time they went shopping, or even just for fun. And she liked those visits, when she would run down the aisle and jump in my arms.

Now I work in an office. She can still visit, but it's harder and much more formal. And unlike Wal-Mart, where I never worked overtime that I can recall, in my new job I sometimes have to work late.

So even though my new job can support our family, for my daughter it's all about seeing daddy.

That's pretty cool.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 9:52 AM | | Comments

Monday, September 04, 2006

The Lay of the Land

Based on early feedback, I thought I'd explain the thought process (such as it is) behind the links at right.

The daily constitutional list consists of sites I visit almost daily. There are great links at those sites as well as many of the church sites listed below it, many of which I visit regularly but less often than daily.

The sister churches listed right below my home church are those PCA churches located in the northern part of our presbytery (South Coast Presbytery). A good number of us hope that we have the beginnings of a future presbytery in that list.

The close cousins are churches in Orange County that are members of NAPARC, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council.

And finally I just added a list of "friends" churches, pretty much made up of churches where I know the pastor or other church members. Again, these are made up of NAPARC churches.

Why NAPARC? Member denominations are those with which the PCA has closer and more formal ties. There are of course other Reformed churches I could have listed, but NAPARC membership seemed to be the best and simplest filter factor.

Finally there are some links to schools. I'm an alum of the UW and Claremont; currently attend Westminster; and hope to be a student with Highland in the future.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 11:51 PM | | Comments

Building Blocks

Today Half-Pint and I went to Legoland.

It was a good daddy-daughter day. A very good daddy-daughter day.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 11:45 PM | | Comments

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Go Dawgs!

The UW Huskies actually got off to a decent start to the football season, beating San Jose State 35-29. Given that the Dawgs only won three games over the previous two seasons I'm not getting my hopes up. But this'll do. Maybe throwing away an old cup that I used for water at work helped.

You see, it had the new Husky logo on it.

The new logo looks like, as one alumni put it, a blow-dried collie. No wonder our football team plays like pansies.

I have avoided any clothing or other Husky items with the new logo. No, "avoided" is wrong; "boycotted" is more like it.

Then the other day at work I realized the cup I got at a game a couple years ago had the accursed demon-logo on it. I'd kept the cup as a memory of the game, where new and alumni marching band members got together and played at halftime to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the band.

Well, the cup is gone.

It's time to bring back a real Husky logo:


Labels:

Posted by Martin at 4:28 PM | | Comments

Multicultural

This morning KMR * and I went to the Orange International Street Fair. This has been a long-time annual tradition. This year we had a date since all the older kids were elsewhere and our youngest, Half-Pint (she discovered "Little House on the Prairie" this summer) had spent the night with Tia.

The street fair is fun, with lots lots of good food (KMR had Norwegian rosettes, baklava and roasted sweet corn; I had some of hers plus Teriyaki chicken kabob and Australian pulled pork). And we always run into someone we know. Neale and Ruth volunteer there every year, so of course we saw them. We also ran into an old friend Steve, who is an elder at a new church plant here in Orange County. It was great to catch up with him and also to hear about what's happening at the new church.

God seems to keep putting people connected to church plants in our path. I think He's telling us something...

At the Norwegian booth, we contemplated buying a horned Viking hat for our son, who styles himself Vikinglord on an on-line game he plays. He's proud of his Viking-American heritage. I told him if he's a Viking lord then I'm a Viking king. But then awhile later I realized that with my dad living he must be the Viking king. I guess that makes me a Viking prince. We didn't get the hat -- too much to pay for cheap plastic. Pillaging and plundering just doesn't pay like it used to.

* Katie My Rib. Huh?, you say? I'm named after Martin Luther. Huh?, you still say? Read a book.

Labels:

Posted by Martin at 4:01 PM | | Comments

Friday, September 01, 2006

This just about sums things up

Philosophy / Speculative Theology: "Questions. I have nothing but questions."

Biblical Christianity: "That was a statement."

Posted by Martin at 7:39 AM | | Comments

About me

  • Martin
  • From Orange, CA
  • Husband; Father; Son; Brother. Ruling elder at church. Loan Officer for Christian lending institution. Seminary student. I hope to be a pastor and plant a church in the near future.
My profile
What's Musings of a Bystander?
[ E-Mail Me ]
[ Sign My Guestbook ]

Links

Last posts

Archives

Search


Subscribe to this blog's feed
[What is this?]
Powered by Blogger
& Blogger Templates