Our culture celebrates ‘freedom’ (or at least our brand of it) above almost anything. We value the freedom to live and think without boundaries. Even though creativity is beneficial in many areas of life, there is great danger associated with unrestricted thinking about God.

“It needs to be said with the greatest possible emphasis that those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment.”

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 47.

Free thinking about God leads to imposing human characteristics or attitudes or definitions on Him. We end up saying things like, “God is too loving to allow the innocent to suffer” or “God is too forgiving to punish sinners.”

Again, free thinking can be great mental exercise; however, our thoughts about God must remain within boundaries. We simply cannot allow our minds the freedom to define and/or describe Him.

We must build our understanding of God from His self-revelation. The only way to know anything about God is to listen to what He has said about Himself. To do otherwise is to worship the idol of our own imaginations.

“To make an image of God is to take one’s thoughts of him from a human source, rather than from God himself; and this is precisely what is wrong with image-making.”

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 49

Knowing God requires submission to the mental boundaries of His self-revelation found in the Bible.

Have you allowed your freedom of thought to lead you to a god of your own imagination?

by Jim Belcher

This book makes an important contribution to an ongoing conversation about Christianity in general and the church in particular. During the last decade as leaders have wrestled with and argued about what the church and ministry and the ‘Christian life’ should look like in the 21^st century, a group of men and women have proposed some radical changes.

Like most debates within Christianity, the battle lines were drawn and leaders on both sides began speaking and writing about their views. In fact, the amount of time, money, and internet space devoted to this discussion is remarkable. Thus, if you read contemporary Christian literature, attend Christian conferences, or read Christian blogs you are sure to have at least unknowingly encountered the discussion or learned about its major topics.

I mention the book today not as a recommendation necessarily, but more as a way to credit it for leading me to address several topics. While I don’t agree with all of Belcher’s conclusions, I appreciate his fairness in explaining what both sides believe regarding the seven primary issues at stake in the debate and his clarity in articulating his views. If the term ‘emerging church’ means anything to you, then I suggest grabbing a copy of this book for a helpful review. But if you do read it, do so carefully because his third way is not perfect.

My purpose, however, is not to draw you into the discussion. Instead, I want to challenge you to consider your beliefs regarding these seven topics because they provide a foundation for your understanding of Christianity and the Church.

So as normal, I’ll address the following in individual blog entries over several weeks seeking to answer at least the questions listed.

1. Truth - Can we know truth? And if so, how?
2. Evangelism – How can churches strike the correct balance between welcoming unbelievers into their community while fostering growth among maturing believers?
3. Gospel – What are the essential elements of the gospel?
4. Worship – How can the church lead corporate worship gatherings that honor God and minister to people in the 21^st century?
5. Preaching – Why does one guy talk for most of our worship services? Should we continue to do it this way?
6. Ecclesiology – How can the church best organize herself to obey the biblical directives and minister effectively?
7. Culture – How can the church engage culture without being over-taken by it?

Yet another reason to make ‘knowing God’ the pursuit of your life…

“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord. . . . What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has.”

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 34

What “catches [y]our imagination and lays hold of [y]our allegiance”? What (or who) stars in your daydreams? What (or who) captures your thoughts as you lie awake at night? What is the big objective of your life?

In case you haven’t noticed, I am dedicated to helping people (specifically those people who read my musings here) understand the truths presented in J.I. Packer’s Knowing God. Hopeful that many of you are now serious about knowing God enough to read about it here, I assume you’re wondering what specific activity is involved. So before you ask, I’ll provide the answer.

Again, I’m just borrowing from Packer who offers four activities.[1]

First, knowing God involves “listening to His Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself.” Read the Bible and/or listen to biblical preaching with an openness to understanding the changes it will suggest. As Jesus taught, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls [them] by name and leads them out” (John 10:3 ESV).

Second, know God involves “noting God’s nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it.” Again, you must come in contact with the Word in some form and pay careful attention to what it says about God. Knowing about God doesn’t guarantee knowing Him, but not knowing about Him will guarantee not knowing Him.

Third, knowing God involves “accepting his invitations and doing what he commands.” James, the half brother of Jesus summarizes this idea well. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22 ESV).

Fourth, knowing God involves “recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into this divine fellowship.” Until we regard our salvation as an act of divine love in which we find infinite joy, we will not approach any meaningful knowledge of Him.

Are you engaged in any activity that will lead you to a more intimate knowledge of Him?

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[1] J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 37.

A few days ago I introduced the topic of loving God with our minds. A few days later I described a primary cause of this growing problem. Today, I return to the issue providing an illustration this alarming trend.

Believers are poor readers. Again, our low reading level illustrates what we love (or don’t love) with our minds. This area of weakness stems from a number of decisions and habits that reveal a lack of commitment to loving God with our minds.

First, many believers do not read enough. A large number of believers do not read a single nonfiction book each year. While many will claim that busyness with work and children and commitments prevent more devotion to reading, almost all of us invest hours each week digesting television programming or enjoying our favorite hobby.

Second, believers who do read often select books poorly. Many of the believers who do read nonfiction books scarcely ever read anything more than how-to ‘Christian living’ books that resemble self-help pamphlets. In fact, a quick scan of the Christian Booksellers Associations Top 50 Best Sellers provides more than sufficient data to support this claim.

Third, not only do most of us read too infrequently, we also rarely read carefully. According to adult literacy research, most Americans struggle to comprehend what they read. In fact, the recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) revealed that 14% of adult Americans are functionally illiterate and only 13% can perform complex and challenging literacy activities. Still more troubling is the fact that among literate Christians, few are unable to detect when ‘Christian’ literature is either poorly-written or biblically-inaccurate. (I won’t mention specific authors by name here, but I’m really tempted.)

Thus, this lack of reading skill is due more to insufficient discipline in reading than intellectual ability. Consider, when was the last time you read a book in complete silence with a pen in hand to mark significant insights so you could review them later? Our struggle to digest the written word is directly related to our commitment to reading carefully. To quote J.P Moreland again, “The mind is like to a muscle. If it is not exercised regularly and strenuously, it loses some if it’s capacities and strengths.”[1]

The lack of commitment to sharpen our minds through reading reveals that we do not love God with our minds.

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[1] J.P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind (NavPress: Colorado Springs, CO, 1997), 87.

From atop J.I. Packer’s shoulders once again, I submit that not many of us who know plenty about God actually know God very well. For the people who know God intimately “losses and ‘crosses’ cease to matter; what they have gained simply banishes these things from their minds.”[1]

Packer summarizes four characteristics of people who know God.[2]

1. “Those who know God have great energy for God.” When lethargy and apathy rule our spiritual lives and our churches, there can be little doubt that God is certainly not known. Where are the men and women who will stand and pray with undying zeal for the things that matter most to God?
2. “Those who know God have great thoughts of God.” When our thoughts about Him revolve around wondering if He will improve our lives, there can be little doubt that God is certainly not known. Where are the men and women who will daydream about God’s “high majesty and moral perfection and gracious faithfulness”?
3. “Those who know God show great boldness for God.” When fear and doubt shape our expressions of faith, there can be little doubt that God is certainly not known. Where are the men and women who will live fearlessly because they realize they’ve already died?
4. “Those who know God have great contentment in God.” When consumerism and materialism run rampant in the church, there can be little doubt that God is not known. Where are the men and women who will find their satisfaction in fellowship with God and stop searching for it at the mall or the office or the classroom or the athletic fields?

Like perhaps no other culture in history, we know plenty about God. We listen to songs about Him. We read books about Him (well, most of them are actually about us, but they talk about Him, too). We watch television shows about Him.

Yet, how many of us exhibit the characteristics of a person who knows God?

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[1] J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 27.

[2] Ibid, 27-31.

A few days ago I introduced this topic and I return today to describe a primary cause of this growing problem.

This lack of love for God is evident in the fact that we don’t use our minds to glorify God. Furthermore, disobedience to this command appears mostly in the form of inactivity. It’s not so much that we are thinking about the wrongs things or in ways that fail to honor God; it’s that we are not thinking at all!

“The mind is like to a muscle. If it is not exercised regularly and strenuously, it loses some if it’s capacities and strengths.”[1] In other words, our mental laziness is the primary indicator that we don’t love God with our minds.

In Moreland’s book, he describes a growing worldview (or “set of values, motives, and habits”) that is perverting and eliminating the role of the mind in modern American culture. This “empty self” drives people to think, feel, and act in ways that lead inevitably to intellectual shallowness.

The empty self exhibits 7 characteristics.[2]

1. “The empty self is inordinately individualistic.” This person lives isolated from others with little need or responsibility to live for the concerns of the broader community.
2. “The empty self is infantile.” This person is controlled by childish cravings and seeks fulfillment through food, entertainment, and consumer goods.
3. “The empty self is narcissistic.” This person has an inordinate and exclusive sense of self-infatuation.
4. “The empty self is passive.” This person can be described as a couch potato who lets other people do his living and thinking for him.
5. “The empty self is sensate.” This person believes only in the reality of the physical universe and decisions are no longer based on abstract reasoning. If something can’t be seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled, it must not be real.
6. “The empty self has lost the art of developing an interior life.” While a person used to be described by internal traits of virtue and morality, he is now defined in terms of external factors.
7. “The empty self is hurried and busy.” This person uses the distraction of busy-ness to mask his emptiness and pain.

“The empty self is the enemy of the Christian mind.”[3] Clearly the individualistic, infantile, narcissistic, passive, sensate, external, and busy person will not cultivate his mind in any meaningful way that will glorify God.

Do you exhibit the characteristics of the ‘empty self?’

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[1] J.P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind (NavPress: Colorado Springs, CO, 1997), 87.

[2] This list and the descriptions are taken exclusively from Moreland, 88-92.

[3] Moreland, 93.

By J. I. Packer

So I read this book while on vacation. It’s one of many books that someone recommended to me years ago and I put on the shelf. I certainly regret that decision.

Now I realize I’m a nerd and I recommend books to everyone. It’s annoying and I know it. I’m just that guy and, well, I’ve accepted and embraced it. So I know many of you will read this post and be tempted to shrug and say, “There he goes again.” And you’ll be right, sort of, but this time is different.

While I understand that my proclivity (big word inserted to confuse you and weaken your defenses) for this type of behavior makes me something like ‘the boy who cried wolf,’ please believe me when I say this time is different. Oh I know, you’ve heard it all before, but I mean it more this time. Seriously, please listen to me.

BUY THIS BOOK!

And after purchasing it, read it carefully and thoughtfully. Grab a pen, sit in a quiet place, and read. Read it slowly. Read a little each day. Underline as you read. Think as you read. Meditate on what you read. Make notes as you read. Ask questions as you read. Digest as you read. Learn as you read.

Why do I care so much? Because I agree with the conviction that led Packer to write.

“The conviction behind this book is that ignorance of God – ignorance both of his ways and of the practice of communion with him – lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today” (12).

I would apply his introductory comments even more directly adding that this ‘ignorance’ is at the root of most Christians’ weakness today. We don’t know God. Therefore, we don’t walk with God. Therefore, we don’t live for God. Therefore, we don’t glorify God.

I’ll let Packer make his own case for this work (the emphasis added through the italics is mine).

“Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. . . . Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul” (19).

“Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. . . . Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. . . . God help us, then, to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we may all in truth ‘know the Lord’” (23).

The pastor of a local church is required to fill many roles. His specific tasks are best understood through the filter of his overall calling: to shepherd God’s people under Christ. For many churches this role has changed significantly during the last 50 years. As many churches think and act more like businesses than a Body, many pastors think and act more like CEO’s than shepherds.

In The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson provides a helpful word of rebuke and challenge to these pastors and churches. Written 20 years ago, he offers three adjectives that should describe pastors.

First, a pastor must be unbusy. Modern ministry leads many to think the busy pastor is the best pastor. However, through discipline he must devote appropriate time to prayer and study so that when people need him, he is available.

“How can [a pastor] persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if [he has] to juggle [his] schedule constantly to make everything fit into place?” (17).

Second, a pastor must be subversive. Our calling is not to glory or fame. Too often pastors dedicate themselves to those tasks that produce immediate, measurable results. However, Christian ministry, at least the way Jesus modeled it, is built on personal investment in individuals that often produces slow, steady, maturation. For too many pastors, the goal is not to shepherd people toward maturity, but to garner acclaim.

“[A pastor is] undermining the kingdom of self and establishing the kingdom of God. [He is] being subversive” (27).

Third, a pastor must be apocalyptic. He must exhibit a healthy preoccupation with eternity. This mindset does not lead him to ignore the present, but to lead people in the present with a view of eternity. The people in our churches are living for today because our pastors fail to point them to eternity.

“With the vastness of the heavenly invasion and the urgency of the faith decision rolling into our consciousness like thunder and lightning, we cannot stand around on Sunday morning filling the time with pretentious small talk on how bad the world is or how wonderful this new stewardship campaign is going to be” (39).

Pastors, do these three words describe your ministry?

Churches, do you encourage your pastors toward this type of ministry?

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Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor, Eardmans Publishing: Grand Rapids, 1989.

by Neil Postman

First published in 1985 Amusing Ourselves to Death still presents remarkably relevant and helpful social commentary. Nearly 25 years after he wrote, Postman’s words seem more like prophecies than observations.

His work centers on the shift from print to television as the primary medium for receiving public information. He then investigates the effects of this shift, which happened during the last half of the 20^th century, on American culture.

Ultimately, he argues that because of this shift “the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense.” In fact, public conversation about topics like “politics, religion, news, athletics, education, and commerce” has descended to foolishness and drivel.

When the printing press delivered the primary content of cultural communication to the people, these “conversations” were driven by coherent, serious, and rational thought. Now that television has replaced printed words as the primary deliverer of this information, “all public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment.” Thus, amusement and triviality replace the coherent, serious, and rational.

Please don’t dismiss this word as just another caution about the enormous amount of junk on television. While that is much needed, this warning is far more. Postman warned, and I believe rightfully so, that television as a deliverer of information will turn all serious matters into junk.

This issue is important to Christians for at least two reasons. First, many of us make decisions about topics of great cultural significance (i.e. our vote in an election, our support for a particular public policy, our idea of quality education, our definition of justice, etc.) on the basis of what we hear and see on television. In other words, we are formulating our worldview using information that is designed and delivered for one purpose: entertainment.

Second, this shift is driving many churches and Christians toward a television-style, entertainment-driven mindset concerning their religion. Our thirst for amusement knows no boundaries and we certainly don’t limit them at the point of our faith.

Think carefully for a moment about whether your faith (or the dominant expressions of it) is defined more by coherent, serious thoughts or entertainment.