In Memoriam Jay Franklin Derby June 22nd 1989-November 22nd 2009

          My Aunt Susan and Uncle Mike gave me the great honor of letting me speak at the memorial service for their son, my cousin, Jay.  In no way did I deserve this honor, and I only pray that it honors the Lord Jesus by providing comfort for those of us hurt by this great tragedy.     

                I’m Jay’s cousin on his mother’s side.  And that’s how I knew Jay, as my cousin.  That might not seem like much to some of you, but let me just say for a minute what Jay meant to me. 

                I am the youngest brother in my family, and all my life I always wanted a little sister.  And then Aunt Susan got pregnant, and here was this baby girl.  I used to just love when Susan and Mike were at Grandma and Grandpa’s with Heather.  Then Susan got pregnant again, and I must have been too young to notice her belly when she was pregnant with Heather, but I started asking around how come Susan belly was so big, and I think someone told me it was from eating onions.  I’ve never liked onions.

                I remember the first time I ever saw Jay.  I might be wrong, but I don’t think I ever held a baby before Jay.  And I remember being so nervous about holding his head up.  And then when Aunt Susan took him away and put him back in his car seat, I remember just sitting there and looking at him. 

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More Prayers Requested

We have some new developments in the details of my cousin’s death. This news report tells the story of how the accident occured http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1072100.html. This young definitely needs our prayers. I don’t want to comment on his behavior in haste. I’ll simply say that his behavior is inexcusable. That being said, Jesus died for the inexcusable sins of people like Eli and me. Pray that he can find forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Pray for us that we can forgive Eli out of our hearts, knowing already how freely Jesus has forgiven us.

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Please Pray for the Boyd and Derby Families

I got a phone call about 8:50 this morning that my 20 year old cousin, Jay Derby, was accidentally shot and killed last night. I’m with my family in Charlotte now. Please pray for me and my family in the midst of this tragic loss. In the midst of this senseless death, the Lord is comforting me tremendously through the truth of His word. Please pray for the same comfort for my aunt and uncle as they struggle through the loss of their son. You can read the news report at http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1070268.html

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Googling your brains away…

Rob and I often bemoan the difficulty of getting people to think deeply on theological matters in the midst of what amounts to a functionally illiterate society.  Although most of us know how to read (and, I assume all of us reading this post), we don’t use that gift very frequently.  I personally blame this on the downfall of liberal arts education.  As a history major at The Citadel, I was often perturbed to hear my business major classmates cry out, “this semester is going to be so hard, I have to write a paper.”  In this article, Nicholas Carr bemoans the same shift in Western society in this Atlantic Monthly article, although he ascribes it to a different cause, Google.  Much like the advent of the codex, the invention of the printing press, and the rise of television, the internet changes the way we think.  Carr rightly diagnoses our shallow, sound bite mode of thinking conditioned by scanning through loads of information on the internet.  he says

The Net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations. Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets. When, in March of this year, The New York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts , its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles. Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

That being said, we should neither uncritically accept the change in human thought brought about through this medium nor should we uncritically reject it. We should, however, strive to hold on to those mental faculties of focusing our attention span and thinking through long complex ideas. My advice is simple. Make sure you set aside 20 minutes a day, EVERY DAY, for reading through something that’s just a little bit challenging to you.  We all have the time to turn off the TV (and close the laptop) for twenty minutes.  In twenty minutes a day, you can easily work through three or four major theological works a year.  As you do so, you’ll keep using those brain muscles that increase focus, attention span, and knowledge retention.  If the church committed to doing this, we might just be the guardians of thinking, much like the medieval church was the guardian of learning and literacy after the fall of the Roman Empire.  So, Christians, open your books and save your brains!

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Philippians Devo Week 11

We will be taking a brief hiatus from our Philippians devotionals.  They will be starting back on the week of Jan 10th.  In the meantime, I would encourage you to find some way of reading the Bible on your own.  Let me propose three different methods:

a.  Essential 100 Bible Readings:  This list runs through some of the key points in the thematic development of the Bible.  If you were to read through these 100 passages a few times, reading one of them a day, you would begin to have a solid grasp on the flow of the Bible.

b.  Scripture Union also has some great devotionals.  Many people have been using something along the lines of Forward Day by Day or Our Daily Bread for years.  The problem with these devotionals is that you don’t actually read much of the Bible.  Scripture Union’s devotionals provide systematic ways to read through parts of the Bible.  You could either do their Advent devotional “Journey to Bethlehem,” or one of their bible study guides like Discovery or Encounter with God. 

c.  Through the Bible in a Year.  This would take a little more effort than following the daily devotionals online.  The payoff, however, is tremendous.  I use the Discipleship Journal, but you could use the One Year Bible, McCheyne’s Bible Reading Plan.  You could even use the Episcopal Daily Lectionary.  It is helpful because all the readings are bite sized.  However, you won’t read the whole Bible, and sometimes the readings are from the Catholic Apocryphal readings, which we don’t consider inspired Scripture.  Whatever you do, don’t let the pattern God has formed in you in the past weeks slip away!  Capitalize off of it and use it as a launch pad to get you set on a life time course of daily spending time alone with God!

Philippians Devotional Week 11

Day 1  

Pray: ”Show me your ways O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5

Read Philippians 1:6-7

Every one has a honey-do-list, an arrangement of tasks or works that will keep our partners happy.  We all have good intentions but these simple tasks can take years and many times we leave them left undone.  Fear not, because the Lord will never leave his work in you left undone.  He will bring it to completion. What does this mean for you?  The God who has saved you will never let you go and you will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Isn’t it wonderful to know we can always count on God while others may fail us?  

1. What does this passage say?
2. What does this passage mean? 
3. What is Paul’s vision for the Philippians? 
4.  According to verse 6, how does God work in a believer’s life?

Thank you Lord for always being there and never giving up on me.

Day 2

Pray:  “Praise the Lord, O my soul.  I will praise the Lord all my life: I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm 146: 1-2

Read Philippians 1:29-30

“Faith in the storm is true faith; faith in a calm may be, or may not be, genuine faith. Summer-weather faith may be true, or may not be true; but wintry faith, that can bring forth fruit when the snows are deep, and the North wind blows, is the faith of God’s elect. It proves that it has divine vitality in it, because it can master the circumstances, which would have utterly crushed the faith, which appertains only to flesh and blood. It is a severe trial” Taught C. M. Sturgeon.  So when Paul speaks of the faith we are granted, he is speaking of wintry faith that can weather the storms and bear fruit.  Our faith is to persevere for it is a gift from God and will surely lead to greater Glory to God.   

1. What does this passage say?
2. What does this passage mean? 
3. Have you ever had your faith challenged through a tough time?  Were you able to turn it around and glorify God?   
4. Read John 1: 12,13.  What does it say about the gift of faith?   

Lord, grant that my faith hold fast in you and that it bear fruit to Glorify you.

Day 3

Pray “I cry to you, O Lord: I say,” You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”  Psalm 142: 5

Reread Philippians 1:29-30, read 2:5-8

This time we will look at what else God has granted to us, to suffer for him.   When we think of suffering, Job instantly comes to mind.  Job friends continually told him he was not right with God and that was why he was suffering.  God does allow us to suffer, not to punish us, but to mold us into Christ’s image.  Suffering brings us to the Father on our knees.  In it we empty ourselves and give up our equality with God.  Paul described this using the Greek word kenosis.  He tells us our attitude should be the same as the Lord Jesus Christ “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” 

1.  What does this passage say?

2.  What does this passage mean?

3.  Knowing suffering brings us closer to God, is it easier to endure hard times? 

4.   What are some things in your life that you try to maintain “God-Like” control over?  Will you hand them over to the Lord?         

Lord, bring me joy

Bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings you glory

And I know there’ll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that’s what it takes to praise you

Jesus, bring the rain

By Mercy Me

Day 4

Pray: “Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go: give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”  Psalm 71:3

Read Philippians 1:9-11

“And this is my prayer:  that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ –to the glory and praise of God.”

1. What does it say?
2. What does it mean?
3. Mediate on and memorize this verse.
4. Pick five people you care about to pray this prayer for this week.
5. Pick 5 people in need of the Lord and pray for them using this prayer this week.
6. Pray this prayer one last time inserting my for your and I for you.  Write it out this way and continue to pray it in your time with God.

Lord, help me to share your word and hope with others this week through my prayers.

Family Activity

What does it mean to be lasting?  List all the things you think last.  Now go through the list and cross out everything that won’t last more than 5 years, more than 10 years, more than 20 years, more than 50 years, more than 100 years, and more than 1000 years?  Is anything left?  Talk about how Paul’s Joy is a lasting joy because it is based on an eternal promise.

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Precious in His Sight

The promises of the Gospel sometimes are so staggering that they are hard to believe.  Theodore Cuyler explains here what it means for us to belong to God in Covenant love, namely that we are precious in His sight.  The evidence of this preciousness is that God is at work in and through you to polish you and make you beautiful before him.

“They will be Mine–in the day when I make up My jewels!” Malachi 3:17

Believers are Christ’s jewels! They are purchased at the infinite price of His atoning blood.

As the pearls are only won from the depths of the sea, by the dangerous dive of the fishers–so were the pearls for Messiah’s crown brought up from the miry depths of depravity, by the descent of that divine Sufferer who came to seek and to save the lost!

The luster of a gem–depends much on the polishing. This is often a sharp and a severe process. Many of God’s people can recall the times when they were under the harsh file, or were pressed down to the grinding-wheel. Blessed be the affliction, however fierce–which gives new luster to the diamond! The Master spends no time upon worthless pebbles; only His jewels are polished for His crown! When these jewels are made ready for His diadem–Christ will take them home unto Himself!

“God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:10-11

Theodore Cuyler, “Wayside Springs from the Fountain of Life” 1883

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Evangelism: Proposition, not Imposition

As we lead up to our Evangelism Conference on December 12-13th, I thought it would be appropriate to give some posts particularly geared towards evangelism.  Here’s a video of Mark Driscoll speaking on Evangelism.  I think Mark gets as close as any contemporary pastor to what biblical evangelism should look like.  In other words, it should be the joyful work of satisfied believers who love their neighbors and want to share with them their deepest love, namely God.  His words here are particularly helpful on how we can share the gospel:

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What I Ought to Do and What I Want to Do

In Romans chapter 7, Paul speaks about a condition in his heart where he wants to do good, but does not seem to be able to do it.  This is a common experience for all believers.  If we have been re-born according to the Spirit of God, we have the desires of the Spirit fighting against the desires of our flesh.  In this blog post, John Piper very insightfully examines a different situation, when we don’t want to do what we ought to do.  Bishop Lawrence has said several times, “what the heart desires, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”  We all need to be very honest about the desires of our hearts when we talk about what’s right and what’s wrong, simply because if we don’t, we are liable to justify almost any behavior.  Here’s John Piper’s thoughts:

If your “want to” does not conform to God’s “ought to,” what can you do to have peace?

I see at least five possible strategies.

1. You can avoid thinking about the “ought to.” This is the most common strategy in the world. Most people simply do not devote energy to pondering what they should be doing that they are not doing.
2. You can reinterpret the “ought to” so that it sounds just like your “want to.” This is a little more sophisticated and so not as common. It often takes a college education to do this with credibility, and a seminary degree to do it with finesse.
3. You can muster the willpower to do a form of the “ought to” even though you don’t have the heart of the “want to.” This generally looks pretty good, and is often mistaken as virtue, even by those who do it. In fact, there is a whole worldview that says doing “ought to’s” without “want to” is the essence of virtue. The problem with this is that Paul said, “God loves a cheerful giver,” which puts the merely “ought-to givers” in a precarious position.
   

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Tim Keller at Washington Cathedral

Tim Keller is one of the most biblically astute, theologically informed, and culturally engaged pastors in America right now.  He has engaged the emerging culture of New York City in a way that few have been successful at.  Moreover, he has done so not simply by relating well to the culture, but by applying the ancient, classical, beautiful truths of the historic Christian faith.  Tim Keller has presented his new book, Counterfeit Gods at the Episcopal Washington National Cathedral.  This presentation is well worth your time.  Remember to watch it all the way through his interview at the end…

Enjoy!

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Divorce Fair

This came to my attention after our Marriage Night this past Sunday night.  We gathered together at Trinity to celebrate and strengthen our marriages.  In France, they have begun a gathering of a different sort, a Divorce Fair.  The fair’s organizer made this comment:

“For me, that crystalized that divorce has lost its stigma and is really a commonplace thing,” Gaumet told The Associated Press. “Lots of people going through divorces — and also people getting separated or who are widowed — are looking for information on how to bounce back and how to reconstruct.” “We have long had the Marriage Fair,” a massive annual trade fair in Paris catering to brides-to-be, “and I thought, ‘why not a fair for people going through separations?,'” said Gaumet, adding that some 4,000 people visited the event over the weekend. “That’s a real success for a first-time exhibition.”  the rest is here…

In a world where everything has become disposable, it shouldn’t surprise us that divorce is a common life experience.  However, this should not be so in the Church.  The Bible shows marriage as an intimate and indissolvable bond which mirrors the inter-Trinitarian intimacy of God to a world that’s forgotten what love looks like.  This is not to say that divorce is the unforgiveable sin.  Rather, for those of us who are married, we should see the divorce culture as an opportunity for “let[ting our] light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”(Matthew 5:16)  These kinds of marriages don’t come without work.  So, go home tonight and talk with your spouse.  Agree to read a book together, go to a Christian marriage retreat, commit to praying together every night, etc.  Find one way that you can grow in intimacy in your marriage and pray that God would use it to glorify Himself.

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