January 13, 2012

Persevere in Labor

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Contemplation, Scripture, Thoughts
Leave a Comment 

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Psalm 126:5-6

 This passage has been a refuge for me at times, but the focus was always on the sorrow not the sowing.  This morning it struck me differently.  I’m drawn into the thought of continuing in labor, even though all seems lost, even though by outward appearances and inward emotion it would seem unreasonable to persevere. To be proactive in times of despair and dryness is one of the most powerful acts of faith I can imagine.  To remain faithful in spite of circumstances displays to the world a hope in the One who is fully outside of our circumstances.  And there is a promise of harvest coming out of that faithful labor.  There isn’t a promise of when or how, but there is a great promise of the quality of the harvest – abundant rejoicing!  May we who believe in Christ continue in labor as a display of faith – even when faith seems far, as an act of hope – though hope at times may feel distant, and rely on the faithfulness of God beyond what we can see and feel.

 

November 11, 2011

Discernment in Leadership

Posted by naylor121 under Thoughts
1 Comment 

“An employer who hires any fool that comes along is only hurting everyone concerned.”

Prov. 26:10(Good News Bible)

A recurring theme of the last few weeks for me has been the idea of creating healthy cultures by careful selection in building ministry/leadership teams.  In the above passage, the Hebrew word picture is that of an archer wounding indiscriminately and I found that to be a profound Biblical foundation for what I heard elsewhere.  I read the verse as saying, “by protecting the vision and callings of ministries from ill-fitting staff and volunteers one is actually protecting a much larger number of people.”  Saying “no” in this way must not be paternal or fear driven, but has to overflow from an honest understanding that if someone don’t fit the vision and value structure of the ministry it will hurt EVERYONE.  Deeper than that, the responsibility for the outcome of staffing falls on the leader.  This raises the bar for discernment in ministry staffing to a humbling level.  If a poor staffing situation leads to spiritual and emotional injury, at some level its the leader’s fault.

At the Catalyst One Day leadership conference they worded it in terms of mercifully releasing staff who were in conflict with organizational values to flourish elsewhere.  This level of leadership discernment scares me because I see it as true but it is definitely not my natural tendency.  However, if those of us who are leaders fail to discern the right person for the right place we may inadvertently bring instability into our ministries which will injure those we seek to minister to, those seeking to do the ministry, and even our very selves.

 

October 8, 2011

The temple, priests and sacrifices: Reflections on 1 Peter 2:5

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Contemplation, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts
Leave a Comment 

Peter’s writings have been striking me in a new way this past month. It is as if the flavor of the authority of his writings is just a little more meaty, more substantial than I’ve experienced from it in past readings. Recently I’ve been meditating on 1 Peter 2:5

“…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

I love how Peter takes three elements of Hebrew worship and reveals how they pointed to the post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, post-Pentecost daily reality of believers.  He takes the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices and says “That’s you guys now”.  The reality is that we as believers are being built into a structure, the very place where the presence of God is pleased to dwell, while at the same time we are initiated into priestly ministry through Christ’s blood.  In the past, the presence of God dwelt in the tabernacle and later the temple, and only the high priest could minister in the presence of God and live.  Here it says that the body of believers is the place of God’s dwelling, and we are also those who minister in the presence of God.  Whereas these were two separate elements of worship before Christ, now they are mentioned as being one and the same, and we who are given over to Christ embody both.

With only a little bit of cross-referencing we can even see ourselves in the third element of worship mentioned – sacrifice.  Romans 12 begins with an exhortation for believers to present themselves as living sacrifices.  Just as the Old Testament prophets knew, God desired the love, affections, and obedience of his people far more than the blood of sheep and bulls.

I’m in awe of how the structure of worship God established for the Israelites now finds a more perfect image in the outworking of life and faith of those who believe in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ the Messiah.  We embody what the tabernacle, priests and sacrifices pointed to.  A people whom God dwelt among, who administered blessing and forgiveness by the Blood, and whom poured themselves out before God in worship.  Incredible.

 

September 2, 2011

Summer Update

Posted by naylor121 under Evangelism, Thoughts, Youth Ministry | Tags: , , , |
Leave a Comment 

For anyone who is interested here is a ministry update for London, California. Sorry about the not-so web friendliness of it, I formatted it for a tri-fold news letter. If you’d like to receive a paper copy of it and in all of it’s printed glory, e-mail your physical address to naylor121@gmail.com

2011 Summer Update

 

August 15, 2011

Cementing the Gospel: Actions Secure the Foundation

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Provocations, Scripture, Thoughts
Leave a Comment 

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7:24-27

The concluding question of the study that goes along with Richard Sterns’ book The Hole in Our Gospel is this, “What are you going to do about it?”  I love that question because it really puts our feet to the fire.  I also see it as a question that we need to ask ourselves repeatedly as we read Scripture.  When confronted with the commands of scripture, we are faced with a challenge of how we will respond.  God’s word is designed to mobilize His people to action.  Not just an inward and personal response but one that results in outward and powerful works through the help of the Holy Spirit in us.

Consider the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 7.  I remember hearing Sunday School lessons on the foundations of rock and of sand emphasizing that the foundation was Christ and God’s word, which is almost true.  However, both builders had access to the word of God.  The difference in the builders was not the hearing and knowledge of the word of God, it was the response to the hearing that determined the foundation in Jesus’ parable.   It wasn’t just knowing intellectually, it was doing practically.

I believe that this is a strong New Testament theme that has been clouded in some areas possibly by long lingering effects of the Reformation’s violent response against the Catholic legalism of that day.  It is absolutely true that we can not do enough good things to build our way to salvation.  There is a slavery to the law that results in death.  However the right response to salvation and to God’s word is to walk out the good works that we were created for (Ephesians 2:8-10).  It is a lifestyle of loving, passionate obedience.  Paul says it in Romans 2:13, we find it in James 1:22, and Jesus brought it up in the passage above, but also in Luke 8:21.  Hearing alone isn’t the proper response to the gospel.  Hearing alone isn’t what the Word demands of us.  Hearing is necessary, but without putting it into actions we become (as my dad so eloquently puts it) spiritual gluttons.

 

June 18, 2011

God’s Grace and the Tower of Babel

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Missions, Provocations, Rants, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts | Tags: , , , , |
[2] Comments 

This month at Community Christian Fellowship we are unpacking Missions defined as “Commissioned, evangelical, cross-cultural ministry to unreached peoples.”

Tomorrow the message is focusing on cross-cultural ministry and our text will be selections from Genesis starting with the creation of man and ending with the commission of Abraham, but centering on the narrative commonly known as “The tower of Babel” (Genesis 11:1-9).

At man’s creation, God gave a blessing and a commission for man to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28).  That blessing becomes a refrain and a covenant that God maintained even when man rebelled. Consider the result of Adam’s sin in Genesis 3:24. A part of the discipline for that sin was expulsion from the garden, forcing Adam and Eve out of the Eden and into the wilderness. Cain was expelled further out into the world for his disobedience (4:16). We have in the first two generations of mankind two examples of God’s discipline forcing the spread of humanity, which was His purpose from the beginning.

After several generations, it was more evident that mankind was good at living out their design to multiply but bad at being fruitful, at least in any positive sense. Evil raged in every thought and intention of mankind “And the LORD was sorry he had made man on the earth” (6:1, 5-6). Here, Noah emerged as a pillar of righteousness through whom God could renew his global blessing and covenant of fruitful multiplication of mankind which he did after the flood subsided (8:15; 9:1,7)

In Genesis 10 are tempted to believe that Noah and his descendants “got it”, that they understood their purpose and design to act as agents to spread the knowledge of the glory of God to the ends of the world. The temptation comes from the repetition of groups who spread over the earth “by their clans, their languages, their lands and their nations.” (10:5,20,31).

A careful reader might well be surprised, then, by the beginning of Genesis 11.  If they or we had begun to believe that Noah’s descendants went about spreading without God’s additional guidance we are in for a shock when we read the words,  “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” (11:1).  I and others find it doubtful that the author of Genesis forgot what he had written earlier about languages, so I believe that the story of the people gathering in Shinar and attempting to create a place where they could make a name for themselves and keep from being dispersed (11:4) is placed where it is for impact, not out of ignorance.

God’s response to this brash attempt to halt the purpose of God for mankind to spread over the earth was to confuse the languages. Now remember, this is the God who re-covenanted himself to man after the flood. He re-blessed Noah and his descendants and here they are a few generations later trying to squirm out from underneath his blessing by creating false security and identity. The result was that God scattered them through confusing the language but at the same time he mobilized them towards their created purpose. It was discipline for pride but it was not a curse that somehow broke God’s plans for humanity and His glory. In fact, I would venture to say that it was a grace more than a curse because  it provided impetus for mankind to step back under God’s blessing.  I would even go so far as to say that God is more glorified because of the diverse languages and cultures in the world that resulted from the events at Babel, not less. Is that a stretch?  Consider that without the creation of languages and dispersion of peoples resulting from God’s discipline at Shinar we would never hear the chorus of Revelation 5:9.

” And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. “

 

 

June 3, 2011

Theology of Words: Hear and Understand

Posted by naylor121 under Christian Community, Christianity, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts
[3] Comments 

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

James 1:19

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to share on James 1:19 at Community Christian Fellowship as I encouraged the congregation towards becoming a family of listeners.  You see, in listening we not only value our words, but value the words of others.  Stewarding words is not only a matter of choosing our words carefully, but of allowing the words of others to have their full effect.

Hearing is more than letting words cross your eardrums.  Hearing is taking those words, connecting them in context with each other and with their source, and coming to an understanding of their meaning.  To truly hear someone requires time, patience, and using our words to help us listen better.

The model presented in James chapter one is a wonderful example of theological foundation and practical application.  You see, the model of being 1) quick to listen, 2) slow to speak, and 3) slow to anger finds its perfection in God alone.

1) The LORD hears us.  His ears are open to the prayers, cries, and grumblings of his people (Numbers 11:1; 12:2; Deuteronomy 1:34; 5:28; 26:7; 2 Chronicles 30:20; Psalms 34:6; 78:21).

2) When God speaks, through the Word, prophets, or directly, he doesn’t do so flippantly.  His words have power and in hearing, understanding, and responding to God’s Words we find life and rest (James 1:23,25; 4:11; John 10:3; Hebrews 3:7-15).

3) God’s wrath is not untamed and rash.  Rather, the characteristic of being slow to anger is demonstrated by God far more often than it is instructed to His people. (Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3).

I’m convinced that with the character of God as our model and the Holy Spirit as our helper these qualities should be demonstrated powerfully in the Christian community.  Flowing from that conviction came a practical demonstration.  At CCF we listened to one another on Sunday morning.  In 1 minute blocks we shared a hope or dream with one other person, who repeated it back to us.  Then we listened to a dream of the other person, followed by repeating it back to them.  We practiced being quick to listen by essentially doubling our listening time.  The time limit did cause us speak more quickly, but we had to limit our words and so choose them more carefully.  The hope is we will be slower to anger when conflict arises because of our relationship and investment in one another’s lives and dreams.

 

April 28, 2011

Theology of Words – Guidance from Proverbs

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts
Leave a Comment 

I had planned on writing on the practical side of holding a strong theology of words soon after I published my last blog.  However, I was quickly overwhelmed by the abundance of references to speech in Proverbs.  The frequency of passages dealing either with the effects of our words and of words as evidence of character was beyond even what I had expected.  I’ve posted a short list (probably less than half) at the end of this blog, in case any of you want to see a bit of what I mean.

From a quick survey in Proverbs one can see that the words of the righteous are in stark contrast to the words of the foolish and evil.  Righteous speak words of blessing, life, healing, and advocacy (Proverbs 10:11, 11:11, 12:18, 31:8-9).  Fools and the wicked speak words of violence, destruction, curses, perversion, and general evil (10:6, 11, 32; 11:9, 11; 12:6; 15:28).  The wise are able to restrain their words, and even the foolish are thought to be wise by the same principle (17:27-28).  The stewardship of words creates the atmosphere for them to receive the value they deserve.  As words are treated with care, precision, and scarcity the power they contain is released (10:19-20; 12:18-19; 13:3; 15:23, 28; 25:11).  Those who don’t live by these principles find themselves in ruin and the recipients of violence (10:6, 7;  14:3).

The Lord isn’t flippant, careless, or crass with His words.  There is an intentionality behind everything that God has spoken, is speaking and will speak.  From the words He has given is in written form, we know that His words do not return void (Isaiah 55:11).  The challenge of this for me is that as a child of God I should also steward my words.  It is a great responsibility of all Christ followers to take seriously the weight of opening their mouths.  There is a call in Proverbs to consider how we speak to the world around us through intonation and content of what we say, for by our words we affect the lives of people and communities around us.  Let us all chose to be life givers, healers and those who give blessing.

————————————————————-

A brief selection of Proverbs concerned with words (emphasis added):

Proverbs 10:6-32 (select verses) Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. (8) The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.  (10) Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.(11) The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. (13) On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense. (14) The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.  (18) The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. (19) When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. (20) The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth. (21) The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. (31) The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. (32) The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

Proverbs 11:9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

Proverbs 11:11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

Proverbs 12:6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

Proverbs 12:14 From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.

Proverbs 12:18-19 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (19) Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

Proverbs 13:2-3 From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence. (3) Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 14:3 By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!

Proverbs 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD, but gracious words are pure.

Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

Proverbs 16:24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 17:27-28 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. (28) Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Proverbs 18:6-8 A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. (7) A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. (8) The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Proverbs 31:8-9 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. (9) Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

 

April 9, 2011

Theology of Words – Initial Thoughts

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Contemplation, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts | Tags: , , |
[2] Comments 

Over the past few months I have been drawn to a number of scripture passages that emphasize the power and importance of our words. In response I hope to to spend my next few blog posts fleshing out a theology of words. To start with let’s look at the beginning:

And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. Genesis 1:2

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ Genesis 1:26

I find it compelling that the dominant characteristic of God shown previous to the creation of man is that God’s words have power to create. In fact, God was still speaking Man into being when he uttered the thrilling words, “in our image”.  Personal reflections on the first chapter of Genesis have developed in me a deep conviction that part of the responsibility we have as image bearers of the Almighty is that our words are also loaded with great power. Power to create and to destroy. Power to give life or to take life away. Power to raise up cities and tear down nations. Power that we are all to often ignorant of, but power that God’s written word is conscious of and guides us in.

Upcoming Post: Theology of Words – Guidance from Proverbs

 

March 30, 2011

Predestination and Adoption: Keeping things Relational

Posted by naylor121 under Christianity, Contemplation, Scripture, Theology, Thoughts
Leave a Comment 

It seems like nothing can drain the love out of a room quite as quickly as a doctrinal dispute over predestination. People rise to the occasion with their banners of doctrine, using a mixture of scripture and examples of how the other side of things have been abused to the point of damaging the witness of the Church. Others just shut down, still haunted by repressed fears and unanswered questions about the sovereignty of God and if they were predestined or not.

In studying Romans 8 recently I saw an interesting connection in Paul’s writings. In both Romans 8:28 – 30 and Ephesians 1:4 – 6 the adoption of those who are in Christ Jesus as children of the Most High God is linked to God’s work of fore-ordination. Predestination becomes cold and hard just as soon as we pull it away from the loving embrace of our Heavenly Father. I believe the unfortunate abuse of predestination comes from a faulty theology that ignores the overwhelming commands of scripture to act on our faith and a lack of affectionate love for God and fellow man. God has worked out things in advance, I find that undeniable in light of scripture, but his fore-ordination is a divine work of love. Not negating our responsibility, or even our choice, but somehow guiding and moving things into place for us to step into the Father’s loving arms as we walk out our sonship by the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Next Page »

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started