six steps ✙

From a noisy but shallow brook to a quieter but deeper river

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:22:41 -0500

When over the years someone has seen you at your worst, and knows you with all your strengths and flaws, yet commits him- or herself to you wholly, it is a consummate experience. To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.

The kind of love life I am talking about is not devoid of passion, but it’s not the same kind of passion that is there during the days of naïveté. When Kathy first held my hand, it was an almost electrical thrill. Thirty-seven years later, you don’t get the same buzz out of holding your wife’s hand that you did the first time. But as I look back on that initial sensation, I realize that it came not so much from the magnitude of my love for her but from the flattery of her choice of me. In the beginning it goes to your head, and there is some love in that, but there are a lot of other things, too. There is no comparison between that and what it means to hold Kathy’s hand now, after all we’ve been through. We know each other thoroughly now; we have shared innumerable burdens, we have repented, forgiven, and been reconciled to each other over and over. There is certainly passion. But the passion we share now differs from the thrill we had then like a noisy but shallow brook differs from a quieter but much deeper river. Passion may lead you to make a wedding promise, but then that promise over the years makes the passion richer and deeper.

Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 87-88). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Pastor as Shepherd to sheep

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:22:05 -0500

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
(Ezekiel 34:11-16 ESV)

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
(John 10:14-18 ESV)

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
(1 Peter 5:1-3 ESV)

You Never Marry the Right Person

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:41:06 -0500

You Never Marry the Right Person:

Commenting on Relevant Magazine’s excerpt of Timothy Keller’s book The Meaning of Marriage:

As we walk the path to marriage, it is easy to get caught up in finding the “right” person as defined by our own preferences and personal standards. This sets us up to become discouraged and disappointed when we enter relationships only to discover that the other person is, after all, as fallen as we are.

The world would have us move on at this point and keep searching for our elusive soul mate. Christian love, however, calls us to something higher – “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

We should look for a person whose life demonstrates an active and growing faith – someone who loves God and others, someone who doesn’t practice sin. This is the kind of fallen and imperfect person we can grow with. Searching for something more will only leave us bitter, dissatisfied – and most likely, single.

Ash Wednesday 2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:18:11 -0500

Ash Wednesday 2012:

Today is ASH WEDNESDAY:

Whenever God does something new, he involves people — often unlikely people, frequently surprised and alarmed people. He asks them to trust him in a new way, to put aside their natural reactions, to listen humbly for a fresh word and to act on it without knowing exactly how it’s going to work out. That’s what he’s asking all of us to do this Lent. Reading the Bible without knowing in advance what God is going to say takes humility.

Five Core Values Of A Church In Decline

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:00:06 -0500

Five Core Values Of A Church In Decline:

Laziness
Fear of Man
Pride
Staff Abuse
Loss of Focus

How Do You Initiate a Relationship in a Godly Manner?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:18:18 -0500

How Do You Initiate a Relationship in a Godly Manner?:

This question was asked by a reader recently. Off the cuff, I shall answer,

Treat your sister in Christ as a sister; and shortly after you’ve had some friendship with her: confess your godly, intentioned, romantic interest in her & ask her out—for the explicit purpose of discerning y’all’s possibility of marriage.

What Does a Biblical Relationship Look Like? Scott Croft of Boundless writes about this very issue of Christian dating & biblical courtship:

Motive: to find a spouse.
Mind-set: selfless, sacrificial service; ”How can I be the one for her?”
Methods: commitment precedes intimacy.

—

For the guys, you need this: A Guy’s Guide to Marrying Well.

For the girls, you should get this: A Girl’s Guide to Marrying Well.

The following from Boundless (Focus on the Family) are also really helpfu:

Settling by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: An Introduction by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: From “Hi” to “I Do” in a Year by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: Just Friends by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: To Kiss or Not to Kiss by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: Navigating The Early Stages of a Relationship by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: Growing in Intimacy by Scott Croft
Biblical Dating: Tips for Engagement by Scott Croft

Simple enough? Man up, guys!

"When you first fall in love, you think you love the person, but you don’t really. You can’t know who..."

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:00:05 -0500

“

When you first fall in love, you think you love the person, but you don’t really. You can’t know who the person is right away. That takes years. You actually love your idea of the person—and that is always, at first, one-dimensional and somewhat mistaken.

But the problem is—and you may be semiconsciously aware of this—the person doesn’t really know you and therefore doesn’t really love you, not yet at least. What you think of as being head over heels in love is in large part a gust of ego gratification, but it’s nothing like the profound satisfaction of being known and loved.

”

- Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 86-87). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

"We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because..."

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:14:30 -0500

“We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because people need to be assured that the words we speak are the words of God. This is no sinful pride. It is holy pride.”

- Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.

(via @AndrewWHall)

My wife has lived with at least five different men

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:00:05 -0500

“Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities.”

Peter Baehr, The Portable Hannah Arendt (New York: Penguin Classics, 2003), 181.

Similarly, Christian ethicist Lewis Smedes wrote in Christianity Today about “Controlling the Unpredictable—The Power of Promising” (January 21, 1983).

When I married my wife, I had hardly a smidgen of sense for what I was getting into with her. How could I know how much she would change over 25 years? How could I know how much I would change? My wife has lived with at least five different men since we were wed—and each of the five has been me.

The connecting link with my old self has always been the memory of the name I took on back there: “I am he who will be there with you.” When we slough off that name, lose that identity, we can hardly find ourselves again.

Quoted by Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 83-84). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition. Bold emphasis mine.

A.W. Pink - The Attributes of God

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:00:05 -0500

A.W. Pink - The Attributes of God:

The foundation of our knowledge of God rests upon knowing what he is like. Without understanding God’s attributes, we have a skewed perception of him–often one cast in our own image. We need more than just a theoretical knowledge of God in order to worship him as he desires. This classic work of Arthur W. Pink invites readers to discover the truth about seventeen attributes of God, including his sovereignty, immutability, patience, love, faithfulness, and much more. Pink shows readers a God who is alive, all-powerful, and active in his creation. The perfect introductory text, The Attributes of God also has enough depth and meat to satisfy the more experienced reader.

A.W. Pink’s The Attributes of God is available on Kindle; currently for $0.99!

Announcement Time: A Highlight Of Worship?

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:00:06 -0500

Announcement Time: A Highlight Of Worship?

Ed Young Jr. (@EdYoung) has recently started a website...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:00:05 -0500

Ed Young Jr. (@EdYoung) has recently started a website called Pastor Fashion.com. This video from the site’s frontpage shows how “Great Fashion Takes Swag”. I don’t know if this is a complete joke, or if it is really for real.

Nevertheless, the whole concept of Pastor Fashion is ridiculous; worldly debauchery.

Pastor Tim Brister (fellow SBTS grad; a pastor at Grace Baptist Church, in Cape Coral, FL) chimes in with some helpful commentary on his Twitter on Fri Feb 17:

When you can spot a pastor in a crowd by the way he dresses, something ain’t right. That goes for the hipster planter and SBC pastor.
Pastors who obsess about fashion are idolators. Some pastors have to account 4 poor taste; others have to account 4 self-preoccupation.
Pastors should contextualize their dress w/ an understanding of God being their ultimate audience. Fashion is wrong kind of attractional.
If a pastors fashion draws unnecessary attention 2 himself (4 whatever reason), he becomes a distraction & stumbling block 2 the gospel.
Therefore, pastors should care about how they dress precisely because they should do their best to look invisible.

Well said, Timmy, Yes and Amen.

Promises for those Struggling with Unemployment

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:37:42 -0500

Promises for those Struggling with Unemployment

"What will it take to pry you free from the world? When I ask this question, I am not talking about..."

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:41:00 -0500

“

What will it take to pry you free from the world? When I ask this question, I am not talking about freedom from life in this world. I am talking about freedom from a worldly point of view.

What will it take to set you free from the world’s idolatries-what will it take to keep you from trusting in things that are not gods at all? What will make you free from the world’s immoralities-what will it take to make you untouched by the lust for smut that the world peddles and with which worldlings ruin their lives? What will it take to liberate you from the world’s false perspective on the way things are-the perspective that assumes there is no god, there is no revelation of truth in the Bible, and there will be no judgment?

I’ll tell you what it will take: it will take seeing God as he is. Beholding God will break the chains of idolatry because when you see God, you see what Deity is, and that exposes the idols as worthless and unworthy of trust. Beholding God will purify you from immorality because when you see God you see what beauty and faithfulness are, and that exposes the ugliness of adultery. Beholding God will give you new lenses through which to look at the world because God himself defines reality.

”

- Hamilton Jr., James M. Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012) 130.

*Dr. Jim Hamilton (@drjimhamilton)is Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. During my M.Div studies at Southern, I took two Old Testament classes under Dr. Hamilton.

In addition to teaching at SBTS, Dr. Hamilton also currently serves as preaching pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church. This expositional commentary comes to us as the fruit of his work in preaching through the book of Revelation (April 2009-April 2010).

You can get the book via Amazon here.

Singalong Sundays: I Asked the Lord My apologies for the hiatus...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:33:00 -0500

Singalong Sundays: I Asked the Lord

My apologies for the hiatus that this “Singalong Sundays” has taken. The Christmas holidays was a busy one, along with a busy time post-Christmas. I’ve been trying to read more, and thus I have not been able to devote enough time to writing about hymns and worship songs.

Blogger Justin Taylor recently posted about John Newton and why God almost drove Newton to despair. Taylor posted this old hymn from Newton, titled, “I Asked the Lord”. I remembered that I had this on the Indelible Grace live The Hymn Sing album and so I went back listened to the explanation-introduction of the hymn again, as well as the hymn itself. And boy… is it a convicting hymn that honestly addresses human struggles and despair.

[…]

The path through struggle and despair is through faith in Christ, faith in our Lord that is often accompanied by heartache and tears.

Read the rest of this post for lyrics
& chords at http://blog.sixsteps.org

"Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and..."

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:25:41 -0500

“Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.”

- W. H. Auden, A Certain World: A Commonplace Book.

Quoted in Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 82). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Marriage Vows: That Which Keeps Your Marriage Together

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:20:05 -0500

What can keep marriages together during the rough patches? The vows. A public oath, made to the world, keeps you “tied to the mast” until your mind clears and you begin to understand things better. It keeps you in the relationship when your feelings flag, and flag they will.

Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 79). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

G.K. Chesterton on Making Promises to Each Other

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:40:05 -0500

This blending of law and love fits our deepest instincts. G. K. Chesterton pointed out that when we fall in love we have a natural inclination not just to express affection but to make promises to each other. Lovers find themselves almost driven to make vow-like claims. “I will always love you,” we say when we are at the height of passion, and we know that the other person, if he or she is in love with us, will want to hear those words. Real love, the Bible says, instinctively desires permanence.

Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 77). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

"A God without existence brings men without beliefs into a kingdom without hope through the..."

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:27:02 -0500

“A God without existence brings men without beliefs into a kingdom without hope through the ministrations of a Christ without a life.”

- Liberalism defined.

What would have functioned as a parody of liberalism a generation or two ago is now a tragic, pathetic reality.

Protestant Liberalism: Christless Christianity

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:11:00 -0500

H. Richard Niebuhr famously skewered the liberal Protestantism of his day with this distillation of its message:

A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.