These Are a Few of My Encouraging Things

1. Through the Bible, prayer, family, and friends, God has often refreshed me lately. What a joyous gift it is to know Him and so often see Him work and answer our little prayers. How sweet it is to see the Bible come alive.

2. The gift of a new, used car from our family is a massive earthly blessing we really need but in no way deserve. God answers even our unspoken, broken-car groanings and saves us time and money, too.

3. Dinner with our Turkish friend last night was another huge blessing. I ran into him the other night at Bojangle's and re-introduced myself after a two-year absence. I invited him to dinner, and he happily accepted. We had a fun time last night talking about the (American) holidays, as well as the cultural differences between Turkey and the US. We had the opportunity several times to talk about Jesus.

4. Meeting Rick at the local car-care place was quite unexpected. Rick took my car in for an oil change, and when I came back later he asked if I was a Christian. When I responded, "yes," he said he knew by the way I ended our earlier conversation with, "Yes, I'll come to get the car soon, Lord-willing." Before leaving, I encouraged him to check out Treasuring Christ Church because of what the Bible says about the importance of the local church. God was certainly working there this morning.

5. The guys from church have been quite excited and helpful lately. I really enjoy our time together. They are eager to get together and study God's Word, and that fires me up, too.

6. God really moved on me the other day through Luke 14 to help the homeless and poor in our neighborhood. It has started small, with Joey on the corner, but we pray that our opportunities for mercy will increase as God's mercy increases.

7. Todd is back in town. Toddsky is one of my favorite buddies, and also is somewhat of a wanderer. He's been gone from our town for a year now and just returned the other day. It is a blessing from God to be able to talk and hang out with him more often, and I look forward to more of it.

8. The semester is almost over. I'm ready for a break.

So there you go, I pray that God uses these to encourage you of His power and grace in all of your life as well.

Luke 14 and Who We Invite to Dinner

Jesus said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Luke 14:12-14

The John Piper sermon on this text from 1980 (see directly below) got me thinking about this text again. My wife and I had also recently read it in our nighttime Gospel reading, so it was more fresh in my mind. But seriously, do the applications get any clearer? Is there anyone who can understand English who doesn't understand the simplicity of this command?

I doubt it, but instead of the grammar being hard for us, the truth is hard for us. It is hard for us to listen to Jesus on this one. We say, "Yeah, Jesus, that's good for You, I know You invited the poor and crippled and blind, and I'm so thankful, but I just can't do it . . ." We become experts at giving Jesus excuses.

The plain truth of this text is that those who invite the ones who cannot repay them will be blessed of God Himself on the last day and forever. Conversely, those who look for repayment from men will stand ashamed at the last day, and, like the rich man of Luke 16, go to hell forever.

So let's believe Jesus. His repayment is better than all that relatives and friends and rich people could ever give us. His repayment is Himself. Let us believe together and press on to know Him even in the way we eat dinner.

An Old Piper Sermon

John Piper in a sermon on Luke 14:12-14 from 1980 entitled, "Whom Shall We Invite to Thanksgiving Dinner?"

"Man at his worst is religious man using his religion to protect himself from inconvenience and disturbance."

Check it out.

Tipping, Justice, and the Gospel

After reading Justin Taylor's post on Christians and restaurants, and the two articles to which he referred (Daniel Holland - "The Dreaded Church Table," and Greg Koukl - "The Ambassador and the Witness"), I felt convicted, stunned, and recharged to get out into restaurants and make Jesus look good, if partly by tipping well.

But, thanks be to God, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile has brought his readers back to a Biblical worldview with his responding post. He gives us four principles by which to think and act, and I will briefly summarize:

1. Employers should pay their employees a fair, livable wage.
Thabiti points out that restaurant employers get away with robbery and greed by paying their employees less than minimum wage. The Bible rebukes this practice in places like Leviticus 19:13, Luke 7:10, 1 Timothy 5:18, and James 5:3-5. He also reminds us that the fair pay discussion ought to be about wages and tipping, not either/or. And I would add, speak to your restaurant manager about this the next time you get a chance.

2. Resist inappropriate social stigmas of every kind.
Don't tip out of guilt or shame. Thabiti writes, "The current system of tipping is built, in part, on an ethic of shame and guilt. People who do not tip “generously” are in danger of the wagging finger, disapproving look, and apparently of religious profiling and scuttle-butt in the Applebee’s kitchen. It’s interesting to me that we think the name of Christ is brought into disrepute because of tipping. Isn’t the Christian the counter-cultural agent in society? Isn’t the Christian the bearer of news even when they don’t have tip money? Perhaps this is another place where we should be questioning the association of Christ and money."

3. Advance true biblical witnessing.
Thabiti points out that even those who have very little money are called to be good witnesses to their wait staff, so it must not solely depend on money and tipping. In fact, he says, Christian employees and customers ought to be, regardless of the reaction, clearly associated with the name of Jesus and His (Biblical) Gospel.

He writes, "If we’re going to be out among the lost, well let’s get to Jesus. Let’s have them occupied with either receiving, considering, or rejecting the Savior rather than receiving, considering or rejecting our sitting in their section because of perceived tip inadequacies. Wouldn’t it be better if the kitchen conversation was: “Oh man… here come more praying Christians. They’re kind… but I’m going to hear about Jesus and my need for the umpteenth time. I know the gospel already and I’m tired of having to face it.” If that’s the lament, then perhaps we’re being ambassadors and our being out in public has some social and spiritual value."

4. Priorities in Giving.
Thabiti rightly points out that, in the giving of our money, God comes first, in the form of our local church and other missionaries and ministries, then our families, then what? Should we only tip waitstaff? Why not teachers? Garbagemen? Public servants?

These are wise, well-rounded, Biblical words from an elder I certainly respect. Let us believe that the Gospel of God is fuller than tipping and manners alone can explain and speak about Him - often, so very often - to our world.

Self-Esteem = Pride

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA, preached a sermon on the doctrine of Christus Victor in his "Christ on the Cross" series about a year ago (go to the Mars Hill website, then menu -> downloads -> sermons -> topical series -> Christ on the Cross), but God has been using it today to bless my friend Gary and me.

"The root of all demonic activity is pride. A euphemism for pride is self-esteem."

"Satan doesn't mind if you have a high self-esteem, as long as you do evil and go to hell. . . When you sin, you're joining Satan's team."

"You shouldn't have high self-esteem or low self-esteem, you should have no self-esteem. You need to have Christ-esteem. . . (because) There's nothing good in us to esteem."

"Satan tempted our first parents with self-esteem, freedom, and choice the Three Great American Virtues - all demonic, all demonic. The Biblical virtues are not pride but humility, not freedom but faith, not choice but obedience."

I'm glad someone finally concurs, because I've been saying this to friends, family, church members, and strangers for 3 or 4 years now (though probably not often enough). I remember protesting my last church's youth getaway handbook because it had the line, "your Christ-centered self-esteem," which seemed not only odd but paradoxical. You can't esteem Him while you esteem you, and neither can I. It's one or the other. One is pride, and the other is true humility.

(HT: Gary Beecham)

Men, Husbands, Fathers

I just rediscovered The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's website. It is a wonderful resource, replete with resources for men and for women, for marriage, family, and parenting, and for confronting our ever-degendered culture.

I listened to these two talks this morning at work:

R.C. Sproul - Knowing Your Spouse

Randy Stinson - The Role of Fathers in Raising Masculine Sons and Feminine Daughters

Both were great. Sproul explains the use of "know" in the Biblical context and applies it to God and marriage. Stinson is especially helpful with his practical exhortations to fathers. Praise God for the ministry of CBMW.

Watch Your Life and Doctrine

6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy 4:6-16