Shane’s Shack

This weekend I received some troubling news concerning some one I care about deeply. I won’t go into the details of the situation in this venue, but suffice it to say that this is the latest in a long series of “troubling” news reports, and maybe the most hurtful. It has really caused me to think about why we make the decisions we make. Here’s what I’ve been pondering.

The more I have thought about this, the more I see it in people’s lives, the more I believe it is true. Sin leads to more sin. Bad decisions lead to more bad decisions. Poor understanding only degrades into worse understanding. Scripture clearly teaches this in Romans chapter one. When an individual decides to ignore God, to ignore repentance, the course of his or her life only goes from sin to sin, from bad choice to bad choice. And until you recognize the downward spiral you are in, you won’t escape it.

This is true for everyone, even for believers. I know Romans one is describing the actions of a person who rejects God, and not believers. However, all believers still struggle with the vestiges of sin, even though we are new creations in Christ. Sin still has its seductive attraction for believers and believers are no less susceptible to sin than lost people. Therefore, we too can become entangled in sin, and even deeply so.

What makes it worse when a born again person strays is that unlike the lost person, he or she is in willful rebellion against the One who saved them. Lost people don’t willfully rebel. They cannot choose any other way to live. Saints, though, choose to rebel on a daily basis. We can choose righteous living because the Holy Spirit enables us to live righteously.

So how do we get out of it? How do we recognize when we are in a spiral? The sneaky thing about sin is that it is most deceitful. Many times we enter the spiral without recognizing we’ve entered. Sin doesn’t usually present itself to us as outright rebellion. Sometimes it tempts us overtly. But many times it appeals to our hurts and wounds as a quick fix. And I think it is here, where our hurts and wounds lie, that sin finds the easiest door to open. Anything that will help us to feel better faster is what we tend to pursue. But the real answer is not a quick fix.

At least in my life, I’ve noticed that God most often is methodical and gradual about changing me. It’s almost as if He goes slow so I will take note of the ugliness of my sin as He removes it. And make no mistake, almost always, slow is painful. So for me to quick fix my pain with something else is essentially short circuiting what God intends to do. And you could say that what might have taken God six months, turns into two or three years of painful molding; all because I won’t allow Him to do His work in me in His way and in His timing.

So the question we all need to ask ourselves is, “What is my quick fix?” Is your quick fix food? Is your quick fix money? Is your quick fix sex? The person I mentioned at the beginning of this entry thinks that romantic relationships will bring the pain and dissatisfaction to an end. Failed relationship after failed relationship, each one worse than the last. And the last one was physically abusive. When will the spiral end?

For those of us who are born again, the spiral ends when we stop looking to the pleasures of the world for satisfaction. Jesus Christ is our greatest satisfaction and until we recognize Him as that, Jesus will continue to be one priority among many in our lives, but never what He should be - our ultimate, all satisfying, all powerful, all consuming King, Savior, and Friend.

For the person who has never been born again the spiral ends when you recognize that you have offended a Holy God, and need to be reconciled to Him. And He provided a way for you to be reconciled to Him that gives you all the benefits of Heaven at His expense. Jesus Christ died, and suffered the wrath that you deserved to endure for all eternity, on the cross. Believe in Him, receive the gift of forgiveness God offers you through Jesus, and be born again. Your spiral will never cease until you do this one thing.

One more thing. The fact is that many of us have made so many bad decisions upon bad decisions that our lives have actually spiraled out of control. When you make the decision to turn about and repent, the inertia of your life will continue to push against you. Consequences may never be lifted. But God gives grace to the humble. Repentance is an act of humility. God will extend grace to you in those moments. They will keep you afloat in the whirlpool. Ultimately, God will finish the good work He begins in you when you are born again. The sum of your life is not defined by your mistakes. It is defined by God’s grace and how He still wins in spite of our best efforts to cause Him to fail. In the end, He is left standing, and what we were in the beginning is lost to eternity because He has made us like Jesus.

My heart many times wants to explode out of my chest because I so badly want people to understand the Truth. I hope that this small burst of passion bodes well with you.

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for their kind words about the Night of Praise last Sunday night. It was a special night of worship, and God moved in the hearts of many of us very deeply. Everything that happened that night was the result of God’s kindness toward us. He decided to visit us in a special way and all glory is His.

Word has gotten back around to me that some people have coupled their complements upon the Night of Praise with an additional wish that Sunday mornings could be that good. At first, I took offense to that comment. Ultimately, though, it really made me sad. Comments like that display a core misunderstanding about what makes corporate worship powerful.

The Night of Praise was special because, in part, everyone who attended came with a singular goal - to worship God. That goal’s singular purpose alone makes a huge difference. This morning in our first service, I was disheartened by some of the stoic, blank looks people had on their faces. I could barely hear the congregation singing. The countenance of many people in this morning’s first service was very obviously not joyful. How can we expect Sunday morning to be powerful when we come in with no expectation and excitement about worshiping God?

I know some of you who are reading this will be quick to say that I cannot know what is in a person’s heart and that some people worship very much internally. That maybe true, but it is also true that your countenance reveals your heart. And I see those “internal” worshipers every week and even their countenance is uplifted when they worship. No one who is truly worshiping will be able to contain it completely within themselves. Every time the Scriptures describe a person who is worshiping, it is always evidenced by some outward sign of God’s activity in their heart. If you can show me a place in Scripture where a worshiper is described in terms that show him or her to be stoic and unmoved, I will apologize and recant what I have said here.

Sorry about the rant. But if you want Sunday mornings to have the same demonstration of power which you observed at the Night of Praise last week, then I suggest that next Sunday, you arrive with the same excitement and anticipation that you came with last Sunday night. I also suggest that you join me and the rest of our leaders in praying for Sunday morning. Another reason the Night of Praise was the way it was is because so much targeted prayer went toward it. We talked about this at prayer group. We all realized that for the last few months we had been specifically praying for the Night of Praise, but neglected to specifically pray the same things for Sunday morning. It was a little embarrassing to admit that to each other. So you have my word that a regular, repeating item in my prayers will be for Sunday morning. Join me in asking for God’s power to be evident.

Just as a public service announcement, the next Night of Praise will be this fall, after we have occupied our new building. It will be our first large event in the new facility and I am looking forward to it with great anticipation. Begin praying for that event today.

In my quiet times for the past few weeks, I’ve began alternating between the Gospel of Mark and 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is a challenging book. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the time to study it, but 1 Corinthians is as informative to the living of our Faith as Romans is to the doctrines of the our Faith. I like that they are right beside each other in how the New Testament has been ordered. You get great theology from Romans, and then just keep reading and you get great teaching on living from Corinthians. Not that 1 Corinthians doesn’t have great theology and doctrinal teaching, it does, but Paul’s focus here is much heavier toward relational problems between believers, than doctrines.

I say all that to say this. 1 Corinthians 2:1-10 says this:

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,nor the heart of man imagined,what God has prepared for those who love him” 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

I hope you are not afraid of the depths of God. Because here we are clearly told that we are to impart wisdom to the mature. In other words, mature believers are to go deep. You might wonder why I bring this up. Well, here’s why. Look at Matthew 28:18-20:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I added emphasis to the pertinent phrase. The disciples were not to teach only the basics. Ligon Duncan, who was one of the speakers at the T4G conference, aptly brought this to our attention. Jesus commanded us to teach ALL of the things he has taught us through the Word. It’s part of the Great Commission. Giving people only the basics of the Gospel is a violation of the Great Commission.

Now I’m not saying that the people we share Christ with need to immediately be informed of the depths of the doctrine of the Atonement. What I’m saying is that as believers, the job of understanding theology is not just the job of pastors. It is incumbent upon all of us to be informed about theology so that we can fulfill the Great Commission. And if we are teaching that the Great Commission is a commandment for everyone, then everyone needs an understanding of theology.

Practically, this means that each believer should struggle with the Scriptures. Wrestle with it until the Holy Spirit reveals Truth. Read books that challenge our minds. Read the classics like Pilgrim’s Progress and Mere Christianity. Try to understand what Calvin was saying, even if ultimately you do not agree with him. It is only in the stretching of our understanding that we will be able to fulfill what Jesus and Paul have taught us to do. You don’t have to be seminary trained to understand these deeper things; all that is needed is willingness to dive in and be challenged.

All sermon audio for the Together for the Gospel conference can be found here.

Each of the sermons spoke to me in unique ways. Listen to all of them

This was the final day for the conference, and it turned out to be no less challenging than the prior two. John Piper and C.J. Mahaney were our final two speakers, and they did not disappoint.

John Piper’s topic was How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice. For me, I had to catch myself a few times because slowly I would begin paying more attention to Piper’s particular style of preaching - which I rather enjoy - rather than the content. The question of what creates radical Christian sacrifice is answered very succinctly in selected verses from Hebrews chapters 10 to 13. And that answer is looking to our great reward. I know that some people disagree vehemently with that conclusion, but the Scriptures state it very clearly, with no need for further systematic study. It says what it says.

The part of Piper’s sermon that challenged me the most is from Hebrews 13:13.

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

It would be erroneous to say that Jesus is not meeting us in our churches. But it would also be erroneous to say He wants to only meet us in our churches. Every time we gather to worship He meets us and calls us to follow Him outside the camp. The camp is a place of safety. Outside the camp is a place of danger and shame and loneliness. To not follow Him would not only be to disobey Him, but also to miss the sweetest fellowship we can have with Him on this earth. The thing each of us needs to figure out for ourselves is, “Where is outside the camp for me?”

C.J. Mahaney gave the final sermon and it was probably the most encouraging sermon of the whole conference. Which really doesn’t surprise me since C.J. appears to be the person most blessed with encouragement of all the people who spoke. Love, humility and encouragement seem to exude from C.J. It was a blessing to have him numbered among the speakers at this conference. He spoke to us, primarily, about the cultivation of joy. The things that struck me the most were all related to gratefulness toward God. The most pointed statement made concerning gratefulness was that without consistent thankfulness, we will be tempted to complain. The sin of complaining is pervasive and actually contends with God for supremacy. When we complain, we presume to be more wise than God. In ministry, there is always the temptation to complain about this or that. Ministry is never absent of opportunities to murmur and grumble. If we are not thankful, those temptations may have us.

All in all, this conference is probably the single most inspiring conference I have ever attended. Not only was I encouraged, but I was challenged, I was touched, and I am ready. I don’t want to seem to idealistic here. I know that there is a difference in the experience at the conference and the experience of real life. As C.J. put it so well, “Church life is a carousel of victory and defeat.” All I’m saying is that I feel better equipped and prepared to ride the carousel. You can pray for us. Pray for Pastor Sean, Pastor Trevor, and myself as we work out and integrate the things we learned at the conference, first in our personal lives and families, and then in the church; not only for your benefit, but most importantly for the Glory of God in Jesus Christ.

There’s no way I’m going to be able to fit everything from today into one blog entry and simultaneously, keep is reasonably short. Here’s the synopsis of the day:

• Session 1 - John McArthur
  Topic: The Sinner Neither Able or Willing - The Doctrine of Absolute Inability
• Session 2 - Mark Dever
  Topic: Improving the Gospel - Exercises in Unbiblical Theology
• Session 3 - R.C. Sproul
  Topic: The Curse Motif of the Atonement
• Session 4 - Al Mohler
  Topic: Why Do They Hate It So? - The Doctrine of Substitution

I’ll start at the top. I’ve never heard John McArthur speak before (in person) so I’m kind of a McArthur newbie. I haven’t read any of his books, so my slate for John McArthur is pretty clean. He presented a superb teaching about the doctrine of depravity. In my opinion I would almost say a water-tight argument. I say almost only because I’m not smart enough to ask the right questions which would attempt to poke holes in his superb presentation.

Next was Mark Dever. I had some issues with him. In his argument to protect the Gospel from “improvements” he basically ruled out all opportunities for contextualization of the message. Basically that just means our attempts to make the Gospel relevant. I disagree with that. No matter what your approach you always present the Gospel to people in language they will understand, which is contextualization. I do agree with him that the Gospel should never be reduced to pragmatism. Pragmatism changes the Gospel to a message that sacrifices the least amount of depth for the most amount of converts. Put another way, you decide, based upon your context, the presentation of the Gospel that will win the most people to Christ. We should never choose a “version” of the Gospel for evangelism. It should be the whole Gospel, or none at all.

R.C. Sproul was the third speaker today. All I can say is it is perhaps the best sermon I have EVER heard. I leaned over to Sean and said, “That might be the best sermon I’ve ever heard . . . no offense.” He agreed. I must confess I was so wrapped up and captivated by the message that I took few notes. I will definitely provide a link to this sermon once it becomes available. Everyone should hear it. Sean said it made him want to get saved all over again. I felt the weight and presence of the Holy Spirit when R.C. spoke (not that it was him) like I have with few people in my life. It was truly one of those moments in life I will not soon forget.

Our final speaker for the day was Al Mohler. I must admit that by the time 7:00 PM rolled around I was fatigued and mentally exhausted. But nonetheless, I tried to keep up. It goes without saying that Al Mohler did a superb job with defending the doctrine of atonement and explaining why people despise it. He is an intellectual giant, a great speaker, and he did an excellent presentation. Too bad I was incapable of keeping up with him by this time of the night. If they offer a place to submit comments and suggestions for 2010, I’m going to suggest that Al Mohler be the mid-morning speaker. The grogginess of early morning and fatigue of late evening aren’t conducive to keep pace with him.

A few side issues. Sean and I did not get to meet John Piper today, despite that we were first in line to meet him. For some reason, he did not come to the afternoon session. We’ll try again tomorrow.

I did get to speak with the worship leader, Bob Kauflin, for a few moments tonight. I was actually impressed that he vaguely knew who I was. He read my name tag and told me my name was familiar. Several months ago I had made a series of comments on his blog. When I told him that it all came back to him.

John Piper is first thing in the morning. He’s the one I am wanting to hear most, but I must admit that topping R.C. Sproul’s sermon today is going to be difficult even for Piper.

Day three next.

Day one has passed. Technically, it was only a half day since the first session really didn’t start until 2:30 PM, but most of the day was spent at the convention center for registration and browsing through bookstore. There are 5000 attendees at this conference. Most of them are men, but there are many women here as well. And most of the attendees, I would say, are twenty-somethings and 30-somethings. Another strange observation we’ve made is the mass number of bushy beards we’ve seen on people. It must be a Kentucky thing or something. Enough nuances, here’s how the conference has impacted me so far.

The first speaker today was Ligon Duncan. He’s the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS. He spoke on sound doctrine and how it is essential to faithfulness. I’m a bit frustrated because my pen ran out of ink in the middle of his sermon, so here’s my best recollection of his address. The thing that I walked away with from his message was that contrary to popular thought, the Scriptures teach us that doctrine is supposed to bring delight. Doctrine is also supposed to inform our teaching, and since we are commanded to teach ALL things he has taught us (see Matt 28:18-20) sound doctrine becomes very important. All in all, I found his message to be very encouraging, but not necessarily challenging since these are things that I already value in my life.

The second speaker of the day was Thabiti Anyabwile. He’s the pastor of First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman (lucky). He spoke on the problem of race. He taught us tonight that race is actually a fictional construct. He taught us that the Scriptures in fact do not teach the existence of races, but rather teaches us of the existence of ethnicities. I won’t even try to explain it here because I won’t do it justice. Boiling it down to a single statement, I would say that essentially he taught us these things:

• Race has been used to abuse the Scriptures and to abuse people
• Teaching or believing the existence of races is a step away from racism
• Believing in races prevents or hinders meaningful engagement with others
• Believing in race undermines the authority of Scripture since Scripture does not teach the existence of races
• Believing in race causes us to resist the Holy Spirit
• Believing in race undermines the Gospel itself - and as a consequence our mission efforts

Having always considered myself a non-prejudicial person, I thought his message was going to be another encouraging message rather than challenging, but I was dead wrong. It’s not that I now think I’m prejudiced, but I now understand and realize the depth of deception that has been ingrained into my life regarding people groups and (what I formerly believed to be) different races of people. When this message becomes available for download, I’m going to link to it. You all should listen to it very carefully. This one hits you at the core of your fundamental assumptions about life.

Last but, but not least, let me address the worship. It is not what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. I mean, I knew that Bob Kauflin was leading and was going to be leading from a piano by himself. No problem. All we have sang (so far) is hymns. That isn’t a problem for me, except that about half of them have been hymns with which I am scarcely familiar. So half of the time, I’ve been unable to really throw myself into the music. But that’s ok. The songs I know, I sing as loudly and passionately as I can. The thing that is really cool is how loud the sound of 5000, mostly men, voices can be when they too are singing with great passion. It’s hair-raising. It reminds me of when John described the voice of the Lord sounding like the sound of many waters. An absolutely amazing thing to hear and witness.

Until tomorrow.

It’s the night before the conference, and we made it safely to Louisville, KY. I’m looking forward to hearing John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, and Al Mohler speak, among others. I’m looking forward to the worship as well, being led by Bob Kauflin. If you want to know more about the conference, go to the website.

What I’m hoping to gain from this is simply new insight and deeper understanding of the power of the Gospel. I’ve been looking forward to this conference because it’s an inter-denominational effort, not just Southern Baptists, but also, Sovereign Grace churches, conservative Presbyterians, and other evangelical denominations. The diversity in the crowd will make the event unique. I will keep you posted as the week goes on. Pray for us (myself, Pastor Sean, and Pastor Trevor) as we attend that God would inspire us and do something cool in our hearts.

It took over 10 years, but Darlene Zschech has finally made it to the big times. American Idol has endorsed her song Shout to the Lord. It was sang by the top eight finalists this week two nights in a row.

I looked over at Radene and we both said, “Huh?” We weren’t sure what planet we were on for a moment. Darlene wrote an incredibly powerful song in Shout to the Lord and God’s church has been singing it for over a decade now. Simple words, powerful meaning, it is a song that has blessed us, and now it is on American Idol.

Does this mean that Shout to the Lord has jumped the shark?

We’ve been doing this song for a couple of years now and it continues to be my favorite worship song. Here’s where I first heard the song. It is so powerful. For me, it’s almost like God leaked this one from the throne room of heaven. Now if we could just get a timpani and a timpanist