Please Stop Adding to the Gospel

When I was growing up, I heard a lot about how to be a good Christian. Good Christians dressed a certain way. Good Christians only listened to certain kinds of music (none of which were very good). Good Christians did not go to the movies. The only problem is that I wanted to go to the movies. I wanted to listen to Green Day and dc Talk. So I had a lot of guilt.

Because of this, I did some pretty crazy things. Perhaps the worst was throwing away my music. I had a fairly large collection of cassettes and CDs. After a particularly convicting camp or youth conference, I would get a big black trash bag and fill it with all of my "ungodly" music...only to rebuy it all a couple of weeks later. I cant tell you how many copies of Dookie or Superunknown I have purchased in my life. All because some well-meaning preachers were adding things to what it meant to be a Christian.

The apostle Paul face the same sort of thing in Galatia. There were individuals who were trying to convince the church members they needed to be circumcised in order to be a "real" Christian. They were adding works to salvation.

In Galatians 5:1, Paul encourages the church to be free and not submit to the "slavery" this would bring. The church would constantly be trying to live up to an impossible standard, just as I was by trying to give up movies and music.

As youth pastors, we need to be careful of how we present the Christian life. We need to show our students that certain things are good for us, but not because they will save us. We need to demonstrate that prayer is awesome and vital, but not something to beat ourselves up over. Daily Bible reading is necessary and important, but we should not feel guilty if we miss a day now and then.

Christ saved us for freedom. We need to make sure we are conveying that message. Guilt is should not be a tool in our youth ministry toolboxes.

Being the Children's Pastor

Every week, on Sunday morning, I have the opportunity to teach Children's Church. For an hour, I have a group of between 12-17 small children (and a few bigger kids) in the Fellowship Hall of Charles Town Baptist Church. We have a wonderful time.

Our Children's Church program is nothing entirely special. We sing some Sunday School songs (Father Abraham, Deep and Wide, Down in My Heart), we take up an offering, we say the pledges, and we do a Bible lesson. Our program is not fancy at all. In fact, compared to some churches, we are probably amateur hour. But that doesn't matter to me.

I love Children's Church. I love the fact that I get to share the Gospel with little ones each and every week. Currently, we are using a curriculum called The Jesus Storybook Bible. Each story selected from the Bible tells the story and then explains how that story points to Jesus, the Rescuer who came to save the world from sin. Most importantly, I love the way the children are interacting with the message of the Gospel.

I was thanking a volunteer the other day and he responded by quoting a cheesy song from a few years ago about children being the future. This is somewhat true, although I tend to think of them as the church of right now as well. There are many people who will bemoan the biblical illiteracy of many in our churches today. I am doing my best, and relying on God as well, to combat that by teaching the children entrusted to me by God (and their parents) in the best way I can.

That is what I love about being a Children's Pastor.

Book Review - 1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ by Jonathan Falwell

I chose to read 1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ by Jonathan Falwell mainly because he is the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. As a graduate of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, I had the opportunity to hear Falwell preach and I was impressed by his style of communication.

The book 1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ is about exactly what it seems to be. Through fifteen short chapters, Falwell highlights a number of events from the three year ministry of Jesus. The events include the announcement of His ministry in the temple, the choosing of His disciples, the parable He told the lawyer about the Good Samaritan, and the messages Jesus gave while He was on the cross. Each chapter contains an explanation of several Greek phrases that can be found in the Scripture, chosen to help the reader understand the intensity of the vocabulary, something not easily conveyed in English.

The book is written in an easy-flowing manner, as if Falwell were talking directly to you. I would not be surprised (although I have not looked it up) to discover that this book was based on a series of sermons that Falwell preached at his church. Each chapter begins with an illustration, an examination of the Scripture passage, and an application for the reader. It should be viewed as a plus that Falwell writes the same way that he preaches. His writing style makes it much more accessible to a broader audience than most books that are written about Jesus.

This book would be a great resource for pastor and teachers who want to communicate the truth about Jesus. Much like a book by Craig Groeschel, this book can easily be used by a pastor to produce an excellent series of sermons. I would suggest that additional research go into the preparation, but Falwell has done an excellent job with the material he presented in this book.

I was provided a free copy of 1000 Days: The Ministry of Christ from BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review of the text.

Rejoicing that Your Enemy is Alive

Yesterday, John Piper posted this on Twitter:

What if your least favorite person died? Then you saw your favorite person rejoicing that the least one was alive? Luke 15:32

I quickly grabbed my Bible to find out what the reference was. It was the last verse in the story of the Prodigal Son, where the father is rebuking the older brother for being upset that his younger brother had returned.

The thought shook me a little bit. Could I be willing to rejoice when my least favorite person is found to be alive? Would I be able to stand it knowing that my favorite person is rejoicing over this?

I guess this gets to the heart of forgiveness and grace. You see, there was a time when we were the enemies of God. We were opposed to Him, but yet He rejoiced when we were made alive again and at a cost to Him. God had to sacrifice His own Son to restore us to life. He let His Son take on our sins and He rejoiced in doing so.

An amazing thought, isn't it?

The Horrible News that Became the Best News Ever

In Awakening, we have been doing a series on Advent. As I was studying for the series, I realize that the news the angel brought to Mary and to Joseph in his dream was not really good news. Well, at least not at first. In fact, to them, it was probably the worst news you can receive. The only experience I have to equate it to was the time I found out I was being expelled from college (another story for another time).

Mary was a young girl, getting ready to be married. I can remember how excited my wife was when it came to planning our wedding. She spent hours looking at bridal magazines, going over all of the wedding related stuff. It was her favorite topic. I can imagine it was the same for Mary. She was probably thrilled over what was about to go on. Then, the angel shows up and delivers the news. BOOM! All of her plans and dreams, gone. In an instant. This was not good news.

Joseph was getting the final preparations ready for his wedding as well. I am sure he was just as excited, but, as a dude, he had to keep it under control. Then he gets word that Mary is pregnant. He knows he isn't responsible, so it has to be another man. Under Jewish law, he could have Mary executed. He didn't really believe that story she was telling about it being God's Son, did he? Then the angel arrived and confirmed it for him. This was not good news.

There were looks. There were whispers. They lost many friends. Joseph probably lost business because of this. But they continued on. They stayed together and Joseph protected Mary. He married her to protect what was left of her reputation. It was not an easy life.

The news from the angel was not good news. But it became good news. The baby that was born to Mary was Jesus, God in the flesh. He grew up sinless and died on the cross for our sins, the sins that separated us from God and kept from having a relationship with Him. He was bruised and crushed for our iniquities. God turned His back to Jesus in the hour He needed the Father the most. He was buried and, three days later, Jesus made an open mockery of sin and death by coming back to life. Jesus did all of this willingly and He extends the salvation from sin freely to those who believe, without any preconditions or requirements.

And that is how the horrible news became the best news ever.