Lightning Bugs (Fireflies)

URL:  http://www.mhmcintyre.us/2011/06/30/lightning-bugs-smil...

Lightning bugs speak to me of a loving Creator.

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Salt or Dirt, Make a Choice

Check out the latest post at Attempts at Honesty: Salt or Dirt, Make a Choice

An Unholy Alliance: Pharisees and Herodians

An Unholy Alliance: Pharisees and Herodians

Absent From the Great Banquet

Absent From the Great Banquet

Question & Answer: Issues Facing the Church - Your Thoughts?

Question & Answer: Issues Facing the Church - Your Thoughts?

Gutenberg, Google and the Church

Gutenberg, Google and the Church

Going Out as Wolf Food - Baaaaaaaa!

Going Out as Wolf Food - Baaaaaaaa!

Being a Willing Servant of God

URL:  http://www.mhmcintyre.us/2011/06/01/choose-to-be-a-serv...

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How rankings can distract from what we're really trying to accomplish

URL:  http://www.mhmcintyre.us/2011/05/05/aint-numbers/

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Permananent Blog Home

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I have recently moved my blogging efforts to http://www.mhmcintyre.us, a self-hosted Wordpress blog. Please come and visit me there. I typically produce 3 or 4 posts per week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new blog format and the content.

-Mark

Not a bad epitaph

I have heard it suggested that it is a profitable exercise to write out what one wants on his tombstone and then live the rest of his life making it true. In the spirit of this suggestion, I would like to be described like Noah in Genesis 6:9. In that verse, there are three statements about Noah:

1. He was a righteous man
2. He was blameless in his generation
3. He walked with God

Based on this, I choose to seek purity and righteousness at the core of my being. I seek to live in peace with those who God brings into my life. I also seek to live my life in intimacy with God and daily dependence upon him.

I choose this, but often miss the mark. I thank God that Jesus’ righteousness covers my failings (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).

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Isaiah 28:16 – Trust and Dismay

This verse contains a similar thought to yesterday’s post.

Isaiah 28:16 says, “the one who trusts will never be dismayed.” Isaiah is speaking about one who trusts in the cornerstone established by God as the foundation for Zion. Peter quotes this verse in 1 Peter 2:6 and explains that this is a reference to Jesus who we as Christians believe is the Jewish Messiah.

Isaiah and Peter are saying that the one who trusts Jesus will never be dismayed. The conclusion I draw is that if I am dismayed it has to do with my lack of trust.

The question of the day is do I believe these promises? Do I believe that I can live a life in peace and without dismay? Do I really trust God for everything, or just some things? Do I choose to allow him to be in control and trust him for the outcome?

I choose today to look to God for my peace, live as though I am at peace and trust God and put away dismay.

Isaiah 26:3 – Perfect peace or the lack thereof

Isaiah 26:3 says:

You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you. (NIV)

If I am steadfast in looking to God for my support and trusting in his goodness and mercy, I will be in perfect peace.

What does this say about the times when I am not in perfect peace? It says that when I am not in perfect peace, it is because my focus is in the wrong place.

Like Peter walking on the water, I’m OK when my eyes are fixed on Jesus. When I look at my circumstances or look to other people to validate how I am doing, my peace evaporates.

Peace is always available. If I don’t have peace, it is because I am not choosing well.

Machen on the Emergent Church

On a whim we stopped at a thrift store on Thursday, ostensibly to look for a night stand for our bedroom. This particular thrift store had more books than usual, among them I found a pamphlet by J. Gresham Machen entitled Christianity and Culture and two other items of interest. And no, there was no suitable night stand.

Ever since attending the “Missional Theology” conference at Biblical Seminary (Biblical in name only), I have been interested in the question of how the true Church should interact with 21st Century American Culture.
There was much discussion at that conference about what is called the “Emergent” church. This classification is difficult to pin down to any particular set of beliefs or strategies; the common thread seems to be the idea that the church should do a better job of relating to the “postmodern” culture in America.

While I am certainly on board with communicating the timeless truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in language that is understandable to a non-churched generation, there are elements of this movement that seem to think that there are no timeless truths and that new truths need to be developed. In fact, I can’t remember if it was stated at the conference or on a podcast, but I have heard one emergent leader say that we need to develop “postmodern Christianity.”

All this leads up to the last paragraph of Machen’s pamphlet:

“The Church is puzzled by the world’s indifference. She is trying to overcome it by adapting her message to the fashions of the day. But if, instead, before the conflict, she would descend into the secret place of meditation, if the by clear light of the gospel she would seek an answer not merely to the question of the hour but, first of all, to the eternal problems of the spiritual world, then perhaps, by God’s grace, through His good Spirit, in His good time, she might issue forth once more with power, and an age of doubt might be followed by the dawn of an era of faith.”

I am reminded of Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:12 where we are told that we do not fight with flesh and blood; our battle is a spiritual one that should be fought with spiritual weapons. Why should we expect a spiritual victory when we use the method of changing the message to appease men?

The preaching of the Cross has always been foolishness to non-believers (1 Corinthians 1:18). Yet, that is what we are commanded to preach. We dare not change this message simply because some find it offensive or antiquated.

Isaiah 14:24 – Cannot derail God’s plan

One of the greatest dangers to my spiritual equilibrium is when I am accused or I accuse myself of missing God’s leading and direction in the past. I am susceptible to this form of attack and the Enemy uses it frequently.

Perhaps this should be expected by one who was trained up within a legalistic system. Legalism presupposes that there is always only one correct choice and to do anything other than the correct choice takes one out of God’s perfect will. 

The attacks come when choices that seemed right at the time of decision then lead to difficulties. When the difficulties arise it is easy to think that perhaps I did not follow God’s plan and perhaps I made a wrong choice.

I am comforted by Isaiah 14:24. “Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” (NIV)

By this verse I am encouraged that there is nothing I can do to derail God’s plan. When I am seeking Him and seeking to follow His lead, then even when the choice leads to difficulty I know that God is in it. When I work to gain some perspective on the difficulty I find that the difficulty has been used to change me for the better.

Ephesians 6:10 – The source of power

I ran across this quote attributed to Martin Luther in a commentary on Ephesians 6:10:

“If we wish to be strong and invincible, let the Lord Christ be your Strength; take hold of Him, and exercise yourselves in Him, that He is well known to you, and preserve His world in its purity, learn it diligently, use it daily, and impress it upon your mind and soul with such intensity that God’s Word and your heart by and by become one and the same thing, so that you may be sure in your confidence, more certain than of your own life. If you have done that, then you are really strong and firm and will remain unconquered and secure.”

Isaiah 8:12ff – What to Fear?

Much of current political debate focuses on fear. Each party preaches that if the other party gets or maintains power, certain disaster will result. While I have my own opinion as to which party comes closer to being correct, I bristle at the use of fear to prompt a vote.

Why do the politicians try to use fear as a motivator? It is because we all have fear. Fear is a consequence of being fallen and living in a fallen world.

For believers the solution is not to eliminate fear, but focus it correctly. Isaiah was told by God

Do not call conspiracy
everything that these people call conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
13 The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,
14 and he will be a sanctuary (Isaiah 8:12-14a).

The best way for the Church to impact culture is to be the Church and not part of any political party or movement. I am reminded that every time the church has gotten political power, it has gone badly for the church and for the world in which she functions.

To be the Church is to be focused on Jesus Christ and take Jesus at his word that our mission is to make disciples. The best hope for our country lies in the true Church rising up from within the organized church to live out the calling found in Scripture.

Impressions from Isaiah

In reading the opening chapters of Isaiah, I am struck by the similarities between my culture and Israel as described by Isaiah. The things that God condemns are commonplace in American society.

I suppose that in every culture in every age since the writing of Isaiah, readers have been able to identify some similarities between their culture and Isaiah’s. Yet I see an increasing drive in my culture to live without a prophetic voice. There is an increasing desire for spirituality as long as that spirituality does not include a transcendent Creator God who makes any demands.

For believers, the reading of Isaiah should provoke a need for repentance and at the same time draw us into the arms of the God who wants to “reason together” with us (Isaiah 1:18).

What should be striking is that if God condemned Israel and punished her for the perpetration of these sins, how can America hope to escape punishment? We have seen the fall of cultures more dominant than ours due to the internal weakness that these sins create. The breakdown of the family, the oppression of the poor (in the guise of helping them), sexual decadence and a failure to recognize absolute truth are all indicators of societal decline.

The only hope for our nation as a nation is for God to pour out his Spirit in a great revival. Our prayer must be focused on revival, starting with us individually, our churches and then our nation.

Isaiah 2:8 – Idols and Ayn Rand

I recently listened to a podcast that talked about the resurgence of the ideas of Ayn Rand in light of recent governmental decisions. Not that long ago I read again (or listened to) both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

In Isaiah 2:8, Israel was condemned for having a land full of idols to which they bow down. In her books, Ayn Rand seems to suggest that we should bow down to those who create visible objects such as great works of art or skyscrapers.

It is one thing to acknowledge that man, being in the image of God, is called to create in imitation of our creator. It is another thing entirely to worship that man or his creation. In the former case, we can worship God who gives gifts to men. In the latter case we are doing what the Apostle Paul condemns in Romans 1:25.

We live in a culture that offers many potential objects of worship. My worship can be drawn away from God almost without a conscious choice on my part. Yet, I am constantly reminded that in the end, it is only my relationship with God that will bring any lasting satisfaction. There is no person, experience or thing that will provide lasting fulfillment.