Saturday, May 31, 2008

God's Act of Self-Revelation

I was reading in Luke again this morning and thought about this quote from the Shorter Catechism,

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

Look at Luke 1:15-20! And think about these verbs that are used in this discussion of the people as they interacted with the revealed God:
wonder
treasured
pondering
glorifying and praising

As God revealed Himself to those first New Testament believers, the response was overwhelmingly worshipful and extremely personal. But this is exactly what God has called us to do. It is our high calling.

Praise to the revealed God,
Mike

Friday, May 09, 2008

Good Nuggets Found

Eureka! I've found 'em! (--good nuggets -- not gold nuggets! But they are on a yellow legal pad!) They are statements made during a recent conference that I attended that highlight the power, beauty and influence of the Word of God on our ministry (God's ministry actually of which we are stewards) especially in light of postmodernity!

  1. Appreciate the veracity of the word of God; it can and must be believed b/c it is true! It can and must be presented to a world in search of truth!
  2. We talk about the "high view of Scripture". The litmus test of our view of Scripture is how long it take us to go to its pages for answers. Who do we value higher? We will go there first!
  3. Often cries of "I'm not being fed here" mean "I want chocolate, not vegetables".
  4. Obey God> today, I am going to be like Jesus; Oppose Godlessness> today, I am going to rightly divide the Word of Truth

You probably didn't select the culture into which you were born. You shouldn't hole up and isolate from those who are lost in the culture. You probably won't change the culture. You can be salt and light. You can bring truth to bear on a truth-starved world! Titus 2:11-14!

Mike

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Here'e Some More -- Titus 2:11

Mondays are often a day of "watching film" for football players and coaches. I have found that my evaluative nature causes me to go back over my notes from Sunday's sermons on Monday morning. I jot in the "on-the-fly" illustrations and comments that I made and flesh out portions of the messsage that were weaker or not able to be discussed at length. This editing "after delivery" helps especially when an expositional, "work through a book" hermeneutic and methodlogy are employed. It gets you ready for the next piece of the pie.

This Monday was no different. I just preached Titus 2:11 on Sunday afternoon. I suggested that this verse was a reference to the gracious ministry and activity of Christ as he lived and died and rose again here on this earth. Our ministry, then, ought to bear the marks of such graciousness as well! After all we are disciples, copies, imitators of Christ! The beauty of grace is unmistakable and must be displayed in all of our ministry efforts.

Beautiful, ornamented ministry...
a. Uses both grace and truth to make God known
b. Presents Jesus as the gracious Savior
c. Removes any ungraces that might distort the gospel
d. Lives each day graciously

All good challenges, but there is more! These notes (following) are part of a sidebar that I worked out myself:

1. Jesus came to reveal, explain, invite others to salvation; he wanted to introduce others to a knowing relationship with God. I must do the same.
2. He made grace appear right before their very eyes. I must do the same.
3. No one had seen God before, but they saw Jesus and therefore had seen the Father! I want this to be true of me as well! (ie I have never seen God, but I have seen Mike and he is a spitting image of him!)

Thanks for thinking about incarnational ministry with me. Thanks for doing incarnational ministry with me!

Mimicking my gracious Savior,
Mike