A Little Confession...

I'm up late writing a paper (I suspect this will not be the last post that begins this way), and I've got my paper-writing fuel operative; the ipod's on shuffle. Music helps me stay focused and motivated. Anyway, a lot of Creed songs have been popping up, and I feel compelled to say that I really dig their tunes. I know they get a lot of flack, almost all of it due to Scott Stapp's antics, and I understand the hostile sentiment. Sure, they didn't break new ground with their radio-friendly post-grunge rock, but I still dig it and admit this unabashedly. Say what you want about 'em, the dude can sing and Mark Tremonti is a wicked guitarist, though he displays this more on the Alter Bridge albums. Anyway, I just had to confess that I enjoy Creed, and all three albums to boot (as far as I'm concerned that fourth one doesn't exist).

Jesus' Humanity...

I like what Millard Erickson has to say here on Jesus' humanity;

Our understanding of human nature has been formed by an inductive investigation of both ourselves and other humans as we find them about us. But none of us is humanity as God intended it to be or as it came from his hand. Humanity was spoiled and corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve. Consequently, we are not true human beings, but impaired, broken-down vestiges of essential humanity, and it is difficult to imagine this kind of humanity united with deity. But when we say that in the incarnation Jesus took on humanity, we are not talking about this kind of humanity. For Jesus' humanity was not the humanity of sinful human beings, but that possessed by Adam and Eve from their creation and before their fall. The question, then, is not whether Jesus was fully human, but whether we are. He was not merely as human as we are; he was more human than we are. - Erickson, Christian Theology

Praying For Leaders...

I don't pray for my leaders enough. A couple of sources have brought this to light. First is D.A. Carson's book 'A Call to Spiritual Reformation', which gets very high marks on my recommendometer. The book gleans principles from Paul's prayers recorded in Scripture, and the last chapter expounds on Paul's requests that his readers pray for him and his work of gospel proclamation. Carson talks about the kinds of pressures and challenges ministry leaders face, and the need of prayer in support of said leaders. Here' a snippet (this particular pericope dealing with the problem of the church's abuse of good leaders)-

"It is an enormous tragedy when there are too few faithful, anointed, visionary leaders; it is a terrible indictment on the church when those the Lord sends are treated like dirt. These things happen, and frequently. Perhaps they would not happen so often if more of us prayed that God would make the ministry of his most faithful and spiritually minded leaders widely acceptable among the saints."

The other thing that got me thinking is Matt Chandler's video blog, which you can see here- http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/. Matt's a pastor down in Texas, and is right now battling cancer. In week 5's update he recalls another pastor asking him if he had ever tangibly felt the prayers of the church, and Matt claims that he couldn't really answer a definitive yes to this question until he was afflicted with cancer. Now I want to be clear in saying that Matt is in no way complaining about this, just the opposite he is expressing his thankfulness to those who have shown their remarkable support. However, it got me thinking that it is a tragic thing that it would take a situation like this to force us to prayer in support of our pastors. They do not have easy 'jobs' by any stretch; it is a lonely, difficult, sacrificial, and in all ways taxing work that they do. I know that I am thankful for their effort, and moreso am thankful that I know leaders who genuinely love the Lord and their work in the face of all its challenges. As such I should be quicker to lift them up in prayer. So to men like Vaughn, Dan, Lex, Dave, Brian, Art, and Randy, thank you for your faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I apologize for my lack of prayer for you. My prayer right now is that you 'know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God'.

If I Were Your Pastor...

Most of you who know me are aware that I desire to be a pastor some day and am training to do so. The thing is I'm still doing the preparatory work, and it will probably be a good bit before the vision becomes a reality. Thus for a while now I've been planning, dreaming, and developing convictions. I wanted to share some of those convictions with y'all, recognizing that this list is still subject to change, most likely by expansion rather than revision/deletion. So as the pastor of our hypothetical church, I promise that...

-the gospel of Jesus Christ will be the message, lifeblood, and driving purpose of the church, and we will perpetually seek to live it out.

-we will be completely dependent on God for any type of success.

-success will not necessarily be correlative to the size of the congregation.

-we will spend a lot of time studying the Scriptures together.

-we will spend a lot of time serving the body of Christ and the community.

-I will preach on Sunday morning in a hoodie, athletic shorts, and flip flops, angering half of the congregation and convincing them I have no reverence for the Lord.

-I will preach a Sunday morning service in a suit and tie and get the other half, convincing them that I see the church as all-business.

-I will never try to be cool. In fact, I will never be cool, as being a Christian precludes me from this.

-I will never ride a motorcycle into the chapel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRoOx5L0DE

-I will never sleep with the secretary. Unless the secretary is my wife, then you best believe I'll be sleeping with that lady like all the time.

-I will make a lot of mistakes, and will learn how to ask for forgiveness from my congregation.

-we will never host an inter-faith prayer meeting.

-we will laugh a lot.

-we're Team CoCo. This is nonnegotiable.

-I will comfort you where Scripture is comforting, and offend you where Scripture is offensive.

-I will spend no time or energy needlessly bashing other churches for whom we are not responsible.

-I will unabashedly warn against and dismantle false theologies and teachings, naming names if necessary.

-I will pray for you.

-a majority of our church functions will be accompanied by food.

-we will spend considerable time in the Old Testament. Overhearing a 15-year-old utter "I love it when he preaches out of the minor prophets" is firmly ensconced in my bucket list.

-you will hear me say "I don't know".

-we will give away lots of books.

-we will not have small groups that are centered on recreational sports rather than fellowship, prayer, and the Word.

-we will passionately celebrate God's good gifts and seek to rejoice in all things. Though there are seasons of mourning and hardship, our piety will not be defined by melancholy.

-I'm not gonna say there will never be any drama or interpretive dance, but...

-we will not be a church targeting a demographic. We will proclaim the gospel to and serve anyone in our midst.

-we will exist to lovingly glorify God.

I Believe...

I believe God has graciously revealed Himself to humanity through general and special revelation so that mankind may know Him, love Him, and have life in relationship with Him.

General Revelation

I believe God has universally revealed Himself to all humanity through creation (Rom. 1:19-20, Ps. 19:1-3) and conscience (Rom. 2:14-15). Through this general revelation mankind can know something of God's existence, moral law (Rom. 2:14-15), and character, such as His creativity (Ps. 19:1, Eph. 2:10), care and compassion (Matt. 6:26, Acts 14:17), power (Rom. 1:20), wisdom (Ps. 104:24), and glory (Ps. 19:1) .
I believe that God has revealed Himself generally so that mankind may know Him in some sense and in response seek to know Him more fully (Acts 17:26-27). However, because mankind is pervasively depraved (Rom. 3:23, Eph. 2:1-3), he rejects the truth, is unable to appropriately respond to general revelation, and still stands under sin and condemnation (Rom. 1:18-20). Thus further action by God, namely special revelation, is needed for mankind to enter into relationship with Him.

Special Revelation

I believe that God has revealed Himself to many specifically with His own words, that the recipients may receive true, though not exhaustive (Deut. 29:29), knowledge of God and find salvation therein (Rom. 10:9-13,17, 1 Pet. 1:22-23). This is special revelation, in which God has graciously spoken to humanity through personal addresses and supernatural encounters (Exod. 3-4, Lk. 1:26-38) , the OT prophets and NT apostles (Ezek. 20:47, 1 Cor. 14:37), dreams and visions (Isa. 6, Ezek. 40-48), Holy Scripture (2. Tim. 3:16-17), and most clearly through Jesus, the exact Image of God (Heb. 1:3) and Living Word (Jn. 1:14). For the Christian, God-breathed Scripture is the means, Christ Jesus is the subject, and the Holy Spirit is the enabler of special revelation.

Holy Scripture

I believe that Scripture is the inspired Word of God. Inspiration is verbal, applying to every word of Scripture, and inspiration is plenary, applying to all of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17). I believe God through the Holy Spirit prepared and guided men to write the words of Scripture, ensuring fully human personality, style, and speech and also the very voice of God in Scripture (2 Pet. 1:20-21, Gal. 6:11). Because Scripture is the voice of God (1 Cor. 14:37), and God is truth (Jn. 14:6) , Scripture is fully inerrant (Ps. 12:6). This means that the original manuscripts of Scripture are completely factual and without error in all they affirm as truth.
I believe that the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are all the Word of God (2 Pet. 3:15-16, Lk. 24:44-45). These books are sufficient in that they contain everything mankind needs for salvation and obedience to God (Jas. 1:18, 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Because the Bible is the Word of God, it is the only infallible authority for the believer (Matt. 15:3, 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Though sometimes difficult to understand (2 Pet. 3:15-16), the Bible is clear and can be sufficiently understood for faith and obedience by all who by God's grace and in humility seek to understand it (Ps. 19:7, Ps. 119:130). Through illumination, the Holy Spirit enables mankind to receive and comprehend the Word (Jn. 14:25-26). I believe Scripture is correctly understood when the authorial intent is the locus of study as mankind in community discerns the grammar, history, and context of the text so that it can be rightly comprehended, taught, and applied (Neh. 8:8).

The Happiest Little Boy In The World...

It's nearing 1:00 am and I am sitting in my apartment, giddy with excitement but with no one to talk to. So I turn to the blog. Why this heightened state? I am excited because the music world has set out to fulfill all of my hopes and desires (only a slight exaggeration). I guess this really started a couple years ago when Metallica decided that their next album would actually have guitar solos and song structure. The dominos were being set back in place. Then it was announced that Alice In Chains would release their first album in over a decade, which actually hit the shelves several months ago. It isn't quite the same without the deceased former lead singer Layne Staley, but it's still unlike anything else on the scene. Fast forward to today, and I catch wind that Sevendust is putting out a new album. They've been puttin' out tunes pretty consistently, so it wasn't too much of a surprise, but good news nonetheless. I then realized that I hadn't caught up on some of my favorite bands in a while, so I started trolling around myspace to do some research, and I found wonder upon wonder. Turns out that after Creed's recent comeback attempt flopped, the band memebers have repented, found their moral center and are once again working with singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy on a new Alter Bridge project. This made me happy, as their last project, 'Blackbird' is just sweet. Now I have this ritual of about three times a year checking the page of a band called Revis. Their first and only album, Places For Breathing, is one of my favorite all-time debut albums. There's not really anything incredibly unique that they did, it's just a good solid post-grunge rock record. Unfortunately, they called it quits after that one effort, and have left me wanting more since 2003. And what did I find when I checked their page? Not the usual tumbleweed-rolling lifelessness of a band now defunct; nay, I found that the boys are back together and working on a new project. This made me thrilled. I looked into some other artists. I had heard that Scott Weiland put out a solo album after Slash couldn't take him any longer, so I went to check out his stuff. But I found something totally unexpected; Stone Temple Pilots are coming back after a nine year absence, and their new disc drops in May. This made me overjoyed. My mind was racing, 'who else has broken up?' I thought of Cold, so I hit up their page... and turns out they're back together and in the studio. Huzzah! Now this was really all too good to be true, but I figured I'd press my luck. I was gonna' shoot the moon, and look into one of my absolute favorite bands..... and yes, it is true, after 12 years apart.... Soundgarden is back together! This made me ecstatic. Thank you oh thank you Chris Cornell for putting out your first terrible solo album that almost assuredly catalyzed this reunion. So to recap, Sevendust, Cold, Alter Bridge, Revis, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden are all back in the saddle and putting out new music. It's as if the music world said, "Hey Aaron, how can we serve you ?" Now if only A Perfect Circle would work on some new stuff and Travis Meeks would pick up his guitar...

Reflections On Psalm 33...

This Psalm is a call to shout for joy, to praise God. Surprising to some, Christianity is supposed to be a happy, joyful thing. We are to give thanks, to sing songs, to pour our hearts out to God. I confess I don't live with this type of elation as much as I'd like, and I am driven to ask why. I think it is that too often I am seeking to rejoice in things that are so unworthy of celebration. This struck me last night as I was watching the gold medal game hockey game between Canada and U.S.A. I was really rooting for the U.S. to win, but would my life have been any better if they had? Sure I could have had some gloating privileges over my Canadian friends for a little bit, but in the end a sports game is kind of a meaningless thing. And as the Canadian team was celebrating its overtime win, and as the crowd in Vancouver was shouting for joy, I was wondering how long that victory-induced joyous high would last for them. My guess is that most, if not all, are already feeling the letdown. I know from a little personal experience that no victory ever lasts or ultimately satisfies, at least not when our definition of victory is so shallow. We have the tendency to define victory as a new tv, a raise, a fun night out, a lower golf score, bigger biceps and a smaller waist, a good night at the poker table, the admiration of our peers, a little attention from a love interest, or the failure of our enemies. Why do we so desperately seek satisfaction in such trivial affairs? Why do we trust in ourselves to determine what will bring us joy? Why do we trust in our own strength, when God is telling us that kings, armies, and warhorses have not the strength to save themselves? Of course the short answer is sin. I have an incredible capacity to rejoice in things that are almost entirely without worth, and then struggle to muster any praise for God. Thankfully David gives us a reason to shout for joy. God spoke the heavens into existence, knows all people intimately, is righteous and just, and is unendingly loving and faithful. When we look to him for our strength, satisfaction, hope, love, and joy, we are standing on solid ground. He is the fountain that never runs dry, whereas every man-centered accomplishment is forgotten in an eye's blink. Like Percy Shelley this psalm of the shepherd-king David labels Ozymandias a fool. My prayer right now is that we can appropriately assess our passing victories and continually look to the Lord and shout for joy, finding our trust in Him.