Nurturing wise kids

Last year our study of Proverbs helped us all learn more about what it means to be biblically wise. Now a book is out uniquely designed to help our kids embrace wisdom. Paul Tripp has this to say about it:

"Ruth Younts has produced a wisdom character manual like I have never seen before. Forget that it was written for children, I need it! I wish I had been given such a fun, street-level and Christ-centered tool when my children were still at home. By the way, Ruth isn’t able to talk about wisdom with such practicality and grace because she did graduate work in wisdom. No, Ruth has spent years at the feet of her Heavenly Father listening. She knows that he is not only the source of all true wisdom, but is Wisdom himself."

You can find the book here.

Building decisions

As most of you know, on Sunday our elders made a proposal to suspend our present plan to add-on to our church facility and pursue selling our property so as to make purchasing and remodeling 1st Baptist Church possible. If you haven't read the actual proposal, which answers many questions, we'd encourage you to stop by the church office to pick up a copy. For those of you who have read it, what do you think? We'd like to use our blog to foster healthy discussion about the pros and cons of this potential opportunity to greatly enlarge our meeting space debt free. Leave a comment here to get in on the discussion.

Good thoughts about the 'M' word

I might as well say it: 'masturbation.' Tomorrow the apostle Paul will help us assess and address our sexual temptations through our study of I Thessalonians 4:1-8. Right in line with Paul, Jeffrey Black has this to say about masturbation:

"The goal of pornography and masturbation is to create a substitute for intimacy. Masturbation is sex with yourself. If I'm having sex with myself, I don't have to invest myself in another person. People who are 'addicted' to pornography aren't so much addicted to lurid material as they're addicted to self-centeredness. They're committed to serving themselves, to doing whatever they can to find a convenient way not to die to self, which is the nature of companionship in relationship."

- Quoted in Josh Harris, Sex Isn't The Problem, Lust Is, pp. 105-106.

Pray and go

This morning as I was praying for various African countries, I felt an unusual burden to pray for Somalia - that east African nation which has devolved into anarchy and piracy. Though it may be the most unsafe place in the world to live at the present time, especially for women and children, its problems could be used by God to stir in the hearts of its Muslim citizens a longing for a Savior. How will Somalis hear about Jesus? Here are some ways you can pray:

• For the very few Christians in Somalia (only 200 by some reports) to courageously share their hope in Christ and teach the Bible to others


• For Christians in nearby nations (like Kenya and Ethiopia) to courageously find inroads into Somalia toward evangelism and strenthening the tiny Somali church


• For Christians in Minneapolis, and other major cities of the world to which Somali refugees have fled, to compassionately minister to the Somalis who God has sovereignly brought into their neighborhoods not only so they might know Jesus but spread a passion for His glory to their relatives and friends still in Somalia
  

In addition to prayer, we need to go. The vast majority of missionaries are working in countries with stable churches which are growing. That is needed, but there is an urgent need for career missionaries going to the dangerous and unreached nations of the world like Somalia. Who will go?

When porn filters are unhelpful

I don't have to convince you - especially if you're a man - that pornographic sin has escalated thanks to the internet. Net porn is epidemic and precious few teenage boys and men who are regularly on-line are immune to it. How pervasive is its reach and power? Check out some stats I saw today:

"According to compiled numbers from respected news and research organizations, every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. In that same second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S. And it’s big business. The pornography industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined."

So, it's logical for a godly guy to rush to put a smut filter on his computer. There are loads of them available, many are free and they're easy to use. Perhaps even more effective are programs which forward your viewing history to your spouse or accountability partner to help you think twice before surfing in dangerous territory.

How should we think about internet filters? On the one hand, we should praise God for them. I have two young sons and I deeply want to protect their minds from sensually titillating images which could lead them to lust - and worse. I need to be especially vigilant as they approach the teenage years when images, which they would have ignored at age 5, suddenly stir up sinful urges. I think internet filters can be very helpful, and I think we need to use them wisely in certain contexts with those under our care who are especially vulnerable.

On the other hand, as a biblically-minded Christian, I have to acknowledge that internet porn filters can be bad - really bad. How so? Well, what is such a filter accomplishing? It's guarding a person's eyes and mind from an opportunity to sate his or her lust. What's it not accomplishing? It's not allowing the reality of that person's sinful heart (which is lustful whether he's looking at porn or not) to be dealt with. It may be wise for an alcoholic to steer clear of the local bars, but doing so doesn't force him to face his true problem: idolatry (satisfaction in something which is not God). An internet filter superficially masks lustful idolatry which is lurking in the heart. If a man chooses not to have a filter on his computer, then he has to depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit when he surfs the web, he has to nurture deep love for his wife in order to say 'no' to his flesh's lustful appetite and when he does look at smut, he is in a position to confess to his Christian brothers that he's an idolater who's desperate for their prayers and the grace of God in his life.

An internet filter might help a man avoid smutty websites, but it won't help him face his own sinful heart and it won't drive him in desperation to the Cross. Like a child needing training wheels, my sons need an internet filter when they're young, unwise and unable to protect themselves. But if they intend to grow spiritually, one day the training wheels will need to come off. The glory of Christ in their lives and their desperation for the gospel depends on it.

Good and angry

"Jesus died not only to free you from your anger, but to enable you to take up His righteous anger....He died so that you would not be a captive to the self-absorbed anger of your claustrophobic little kingdom. He died so that you would be angry with sin and the way it has harmed you and everyone around you....

Sarah is very angry, but she looks anything but angry. She isn't easily irritated. She isn't known for being loud and argumentative. But Sarah is angry. She is angry that so many elderly people are institutionalized and alone, so she spends each Sunday afternoon going room to room at the retirement home in her neighborhood. She is angry that in our highly educated culture many inner-city children do not learn to read, so she tutors children on Tuesday nights. She is angry that so many friendships end in unreconciled conflict, so she works to be a peacemaker whenever she can. Yes, Sarah is angry, but it's not the self-focused anger of the little kingdom. No, her anger is the anger of the big Kingdom and it propels her to look for ways to do good."

Paul Tripp, A Quest for More, pp. 191-92.

The perils of protesting

One of the blessings of our republic is our freedom to demonstrate in protest when we disagree with a given governmental direction or decision. Right now such demonstrations are taking place around the world in nations like Libya, but they're also taking place in the city of my college alma mater, Madison, Wisconsin. I don't know enough about public employee collective bargaining laws to comment intelligently on the protests in Madison. The protests may be legitimate.

At the same time, being a university town, Madison lends itself to protests. As a student there I'll never forget one Saturday being surrounded by a mass of conservative humanity as we swelled State Street and made our way to the state Capitol building where we demonstrated against Roe vs. Wade. It was heady stuff being a part of a 'cause' complete with cheers, songs and signs. There is a place for peaceful protest, and I'm glad of it. At the same time, as writer Paul Tripp makes clear in the following quote, protests often imperil a clear view of God, self and others.

"Did you ever wonder why protests are so attractive to a human being? When I participate in a protest over some issue, I am able to say that this particular problem somehow exists outside of me. And since I am not the problem here, I get to point the finger at you, publicly exposing your wrongs that are affecting me and others. What makes protesting so exhilarating and intoxicating is being righteous. For once I get to say, 'I am innocent here, and frankly outraged at the wrong that you are doing!' If you invited people to two events, one to protest something and the other to confess some [sin], which gathering do you think would draw the bigger crowd?"

- Paul Tripp, A Quest for More, p. 156

Trueman on Gaga

"Despising the modern pop scene, and having more important things to do on Sunday evening, I did not see the Grammys, though I was struck yesterday when I saw a clip of this ghastly Lady Gaga person being carried on to stage in one of those plastic pods that were apparently left over from the set of This is Spinal Tap. I laughed at the latter; indeed, I laughed at the former -- until the portentous arty commentary indicated that LG was making an artistic statement.

Yet vacuous pop stars are soft targets when it comes to mocking the theologising of self-importance. They look and sound ridiculous because we can all hear what they say, see what they wear, and smirk at their assumption that, because they can entertain, what they have to say about everything is somehow important, unique, and, indeed, coherent. My guess, however, is that more than a few of us in the church also fall for the `God has a special purpose for my life' line. This is often simply a way of saying `I believe myself to be uniquely important and indispensable.'

Actually, we are not; none of us are. There is always somebody else who could do our jobs better; and let us not kid ourselves -- there is probably somebody else who could have married our spouse and made them just as happy, if not more so. God's love for us is exceptional, not because we are unique, but because we are not so; not because he needs us; but because he does not need us at all."

- Carl Trueman on Ref 21

Welcoming Michael

This coming Sunday we'll have the priviledge of hearing from and spending time with our missionary in Toulouse, France, Michael Gibbons. It's an exciting time to be planting churches in western Europe! More than ever before, European cities are being inundated by immigrants from all parts of the globe, creating transition points which God often uses to compel people to consider who they, why they exist and Who made them. The Gibbons have been building a truly international team of workers to reach out to the masses streaming to Toulouse, which is the fastest growing city in Europe. Not only that, Toulouse is host to nearlyl 200,000 university students - a seedbed for evangelism and church planting. It's an exciting time to be doing ministry in western Europe.

But it's also a challenging time. Much of western Europe is stridently atheistic and suspicious of organized religion. The EU is rife with debt and the tax burden of western European welfare states is beginning to catch up with them. Toulouse is a very expensive place to live. It's a challenging time to be doing ministry in western Europe.

All this means that we have reason to rejoice with Micheal and pray with and for him. Please join me in asking God not only to prepare his heart and ours as he comes to speak to us on Sunday. Ask God to do in Toulouse 'abundantly beyond all we can think or imagine' (Eph. 3:20) as the Spirit uses friends like the Gibbons to extend Christ's Kingdom farther and deeper to His glory.

True understanding

Over the years Trinity Church has become known as a place where rigorous thinking is encouraged. We don't want to follow the path of anti-intellectualism which marked certain segments of the American church during the 20th century. God gave us good minds to be stretched by His truth for His glory. The pursuit of understanding matters to Christ.

That is all true, and yet I was struck this morning by some things Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4 before they passed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. There he defines for us what true understanding is - or, perhaps more accurately, he describes the necessary effect of true understanding.

"See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)

We will be known as God's 'wise and understanding people' not chiefly by what we know, but by what we do, that is, how we apply what we know. Wisdom and understanding only honors God and marks us as His people if it translates into holy, joyful, God-honoring obedience.