Church Taboo's

On my facebook page I recently asked the question:

What 'taboo' subjects are not spoken about at church but should be?

The responses from people were fascinating. Personally I didn't find anything (other than a refernce to quiche at church lunches) that was off limits from the pulpit. However I did have to recognise that maybe we don't provide enough teaching on some areas. Probably because they are tough to speak about, and tricky to make sure you are provide meaningful answers that are both full of grace and totally biblical.

As a leader in my church I have to evaluate whether we have left some gaps in our preaching that have left people with unanswered questions. I should hope overtime we could redress that.

But I am so encouraged that while our church (small 'c') may need to pick up on a few areas we are part of The Church (big 'c'), the body of Christ. Across this church there are some great preachers and teachers who have the kindness to make their resources available to others.

So in order to address some of the "taboo's" raised I have attempted to find some really good resources to answer peoples questions. I would commend each of these sources and indeed taking the opportunity to listen to other preaches from these sources.

Some of the responses from people were as follows:

Sex - Homosexuality, Sex before marriage, Pornography, Masturbation, Contraception, Teenage pregnancy, Sex for pleasure and not just for reproduction!!

The best teaching I have heard is from Gateway Church, Austin, Texas. They did a five week series on Sex that covers most of the issues raised. I would highly recommend the teaching on "Same Sex" as the most sensitive I have ever heard. You can listen to them individually but they really work best as a series.

• God Sex
• Married Sex
• Single Sex
• Unfaithful Sex
• Same Sex

An alternative source would be from Willow Creek. Go to their media player and look for "What intimacy requires" under the Summer at the Creek 2010 series.

For specific teaching on Porn visit the teaching from lifechurch.tv with their Porn Sunday message.

Debt

The best practical and spiritual teaching on money and debt is from Dave Ramsey as guest speaker at Lifechurch.tv. Listen or watch their series on Life, Money, Hope.

Violent films

There was a series from lifechurch.tv called Toxic. This covered many subjects but the week on Toxic Influences specifically dealt with this subject.

Hell

The classic question "How can a loving God send people to Hell" is answered in a sermon by my brother from Hope Church, Orpington.

Others I am still looking for are as follows:

• Leadership vs empire building (I am sure I have heard some good teaching on this but need to find it!)
• Politics
• Child protection
• Suffering, Sickness, Healing, Disability (I am sure I have heard some good teaching on this but need to find it!)
• Calvinism (Plenty of sources for this just looking for the best one)
• Consequences of sin as Christian.
• Christian divorce
• Swearing

If you listen or watch any of the above then I would really like to hear if you found them useful or not. Comment here or on Facebook. If you want to recommend any good teaching for the above topics then let me know also.

Left to soak

Romans 2:4 "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?"

In our house we have a few consistent meals that we will cook on a regular basis. One of those that is a favourite with everyone in the family is Chicken Breast cooked with Sage & Onion Stuffing. Without turning this into a recipe blog you cook fillets of chicken breast covered over by a thick layer of stuffing in the oven for about 2hrs until everything is cooked and the stuffing forms a nice crisp surface with a soft texture underneath. While this tastes wonderful the major draw back is cleaning the dish this was cooked in afterwards. Due to the way it's cooked you get a rim of stuffing almost welded to the dish afterwards.

You have two choices. You either scrub away at this for about an hour afterwards, wasting all your effort, scoring (and probably ruining) the dish and deciding never to cook this again, or fill up the dish with warm soapy water and leave overnight to soak. In the morning the dry burnt on stuffing is saturated with the water it simply falls off and can be thrown away and cleaned with ease.

I have seen people who are exploring Jesus start to come to church. They come under the sound of the gospel. They become part of the social life of the church. They form friendships with people in the church. Maybe they join a home group or start to socialize with people in the church. In fact they are watching, listening, waiting to be convinced. If you dearly love this person its a frustrating wait. You look for minor sign of change, or a "damascus road moment".

In fact, God has them in soak. He's just working on them in His own way and His own time. His kindness leads them to repentance. Be patient. He doesn't want to attach them with the spiritual scrubbing brush and ruin the wonderful person he placed inside of them to be. He wants to prepare them. Lavish his love and get them to the point where a mild soaking causes the pain and ugliness to melt away under His grace.

On YouVersion

Dangerous Prayers

If God answers prayer (which He does by the way) then I've been looking through the Bible for the most dangerous prayers to pray.

As I find them I shall add them here:

#1: "SEARCH ME, O God, and know my heart, TEST ME and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and LEAD ME in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

#2: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. SEND ME!” Isaiah 6:8

#3: "yet NOT MY WILL BE DONE but yours." Luke 22:42

#4: 'GIVE ME AN EAGERNESS FOR YOUR LAWS rather than a love for money!' Psalm 119:36

#5: 'TEACH ME TO DO YOUR WILL, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.' Psalm 143:10

On YouVersion

Eat the cookie?

Galatians 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.


Just had a lesson of greatest frustration. Went to get a pile of biscuits (cookies to those in the USA) and a drink of milk (a too frequent indulgence). Started eating one of the four biscuits and felt the Holy Spirit say "so you want to thank me for healing your tooth ache and then carry on eating the very thing that caused it?"

After 30 seconds of arguing with God (you know you're going to lose that one) I gave up and put the uneaten 3 back.

God's grace is that He puts things right even if they were caused by our mistakes. But grace is not a license to carry on doing wrong while in the back of the brain saying "God, get ready to mop after this one!"

Boy, I hate being wrong. Galatians 5:13 says "Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh".

I know Joyce Meyer says "Eat the cookie" (http://www.joycemeyer.org/cookie) but she wasn't in the kitchen with me!

On YouVersion

What's in a name?

This was originally posted on the Christian Vision for Men blog by Alex Willmott - Post

She can say “peas” which doubles up as the word please, “chocolate” a word which will become imperative vocab as she becomes a woman and the customary “mum” and “dad”.

Fi is just 17-months-old and I have had the honour of being her friend since she was just seven months. I knew we’d be friends when I discovered one of her hobbies was waving her hands at the dinner table and impersonating a wild banshee…an art I have been mastering since I was her age.

Her parents feed me every Wednesday evening which involves me sitting at the table with Fi and her four older siblings. (As you can imagine it’s a peaceful affair). I sat next to Fi and helped her conquer the pasta challenge which saw her decorate my suit with her unwanted mouthfuls once again.

She was humming a little tune as the older folk chatted about Jesus. I too hummed her little tune which she found most interesting. In fact, she lit up at the thought that I could repeat the composition she had created. The family grew quiet as they watched a 25-year-old Welsh man mimic a child. I would have been slightly embarrassed but a 17-month-old gives men the licence to be childish once again. She scanned the table to see all eyes on her. She smiled before saying something which I will remember for the rest of my life.

In the silence, after she had met the gaze of all her family and her Welsh journalist friend, she said: “Alex.”

The whole table took a breath. As a man who cries at certain films, big sporting events, and anytime the Welsh National Anthem is played, I had to work seriously hard not to blub. My name is now one of the few words little Fi can say.

Gents, with this in mind I want to remind you of something which is true. The creator of everything in the known and unknown universe knows your name. He says it when you wake up groggy from your late night. The moment you address him in thought or word he says it. The second you are reminded of his forgiveness, his sacrifice, his unconditional love and grace, he says it. He is the most personal being that has ever been.

He is the most emotional, most alive and most welcoming creator we could ever hope to have authority over this world. The Lord Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit who carries out the will of God, knows your name. We do not worship an estranged dictator or a flippant politician who cares for numbers and obedience only. The Lord is not sitting pretty at a distance wondering what your needs in this world are. He does not wait anxiously for you to slip up to impose guilt in a world which preys on the weak. No. He knows your name. He loves your name. (Yes, even yours Clive).

The Lord who spoke to Moses speaks to us. Be encouraged gents. During the Exodus (Chapter 33:17 to 20) “The Lord said to Moses: I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name. And the Lord said: “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.”

Peace.

Does God get more glory if people have free will?

This was originally posted on the DesiringGod.com blog by John Piper - Post

A friend thinks allowing men free will, and yet still achieving his purposes, shows a greater view of God's sovereignty. What are your thoughts on this?

Let me define the term first, and then I'll respond. I'm going to assume that by "free will" he means something really controversial, not something obvious. What I'm going to assume the term means is "real, ultimate self-determination," because that's the only kind of free will that is controversial.

I think most lay people, when they talk about free will, just mean, "I really choose," and of course you do. So fine, you have free will. We all do. But those who are theologically thinking and writing about this, what they mean is that I, John Piper, am able, ultimately and decisively, to determine my own will, and God cannot and does not when I chose that he won't. So I have that kind of autonomy in the universe.

I don't think that exists anywhere. There's not one verse in the Bible that says we have such a thing. And the people start grasping for verses: "Whosoever will, let him come!" Well of course whosoever will let him come! But why does one will and not another? That's the question.

So, is God more glorious to somehow ordain that human beings have autonomy (self-determination, ultimately), so that he cannot, once he has made that decree, guide what they do without intruding upon their moral capacities and turning them into robots?

They say that God doing that and still pulling off his ultimate purposes is more glorious. And I would say that they've just created a universe in their head that doesn't exist, and they're pronouncing on it.

I don't create universes that don't exist. I don't find it helpful to imagine a universe that doesn't exist and then say that it's a more glorious one than this one, because I'm given a universe. And then I'm given the Creator's interpretation of the universe, right here in the Bible. And this book says that universe doesn't exist. You could speculate about it all you want, but it doesn't.

Now I'm going to go further than that and say that a universe in which God gives all people that kind of autonomy and self-determination, that universe isn't superior, because God would have made it if it were superior.

If you say, "You're going in a circle here, aren't you?"—saying it doesn't exist and therefore I don't believe it, and then saying that if it were better it would exist—I say "No, because I'm just basing my understanding of this universe on this book." This book says we don't have that kind of autonomy.

Romans 9:16-17: "It is not of man who wills or runs, but of God who has mercy." Our willing and our running are not decisive. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is the one who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Verse after verse in the Bible teaches that my willing—which is real, responsible, accountable—is not decisively and ultimately my own creation. It is God's decisive governing.

My willing is real. My willing is responsible. And this is what's glorious, if you ask me what's the most glorious universe: the most glorious universe is the universe in which we really will things, and we are really responsible for what we will, and we will be held accountable for the choices we make. And God is still absolutely sovereign over those willings.

That's the great paradox. That's the great mystery and the great glory. Not the universe that somebody creates out of their own heads where everybody is endowed with the autonomy that only God has.

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© Desiring God

Where's the blog?

First I found it hard to find the time to keep the blog up to date.

Then I found it hard to write.

While I go through a bit of dry patch I shall use this blog to highlight some of the great contributions from others.

Normal service will resume....