Read This! 07.11.17

Mike Leake

Worshiping a Golden Calf on Sunday Morning is Deceptively Easy

I wish this weren’t true.

VBS is Worth the Cost

We are doing VBS this week ourselves. It’s worth every bit of the cost.

Why Christians Need to Be (the Right Kind of) Conservatives

I found this very interesting and convincing.

3 Ways Ministry Can Make You Conceited

That third one is the most tricksy.

Don’t Just Tweet Your Proverbs

I’m preaching through Proverbs right now and I’ve been struck by this same theme.

The First Year of Pastoring

Great advice for the first year, but pretty much applicable for every year of pastoring.

Preaching Under Pressure

Even if it doesn’t apply now, this is one that every pastor should store away.

Shepherding Your Flock through Dementia

We have a few families in our church struggling through this.

Unless my love for sports disqualifies me, I could see myself in this group:

Sloth Doesn’t Just Mean Sleep

Mike Leake 8 Comments

When I think of a sluggard or a slothful person I typically picture a scraggly-bearded dude passed out on the couch in his mustard stained sleeveless with remote in hand. I’m not alone in this either. Do an image search for sluggard and you are going to find a similar image. Even good ol’ Ben Franklin had the sluggard sleeping as well when he said, “Up, sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.”

But the truth is that a sluggard doesn’t have to be a sleeper. While the Bible has sleep as the favorite past-time of the sluggard it also paints a broader picture. The sluggard is really the one who is doing something other than what ought to be done in that moment to the glory of God.

When we think of the sluggard in our day and age we often think of the young man who is nearing his thirties, without a job, without prospect of marriage, but firmly implanted on the Call of Duty leader board. But he’s not a sluggard because he is playing video games. He’s a sluggard because he is playing video games when he should be doing something else at that moment.

You see the heart of the sluggard is that he is trying to find rest the wrong way. That’s why you can replace “sleep” with any event…even Bible Study. If I should be mowing my yard but I let it grow up into a jungle because I’m too busy with studying my Bible then I’m not being spiritual I’m being a sluggard. That’s not to say there might not be some seasons which call for high grass and long hours in the Scriptures. But certain seasons call for certain actions and if I avoid the proper one and replace it with something more pleasurable then I’m being a sluggard. I’m trying to find rest in a thing instead of in what God desires for me in a particular moment.

God says, “At this moment you are called to ______.” The sluggard says, “I’d much rather _______, and here are the very wise and logical reasons why.” The sluggard who says “there is a lion in the street” is very good at making excuses for why he isn’t doing the one thing necessary in the moment.

I was really convicted as I studied this in Proverbs. I don’t like to think of myself as a sluggard but I must confess that I have some sluggardly ways about me. It’s so easy for me to do the thing that is most pleasurable and procrastinate on the thing that I really do not want to do. It’s so easy to say to myself that I’m obviously not a sluggard because I barely get eight hours of sleeps. But, when I realized that the sluggard in Scripture is less about snoozing and more about avoiding the difficult things, my heart must is convicted.

The answer to the sluggard’s heart is the gospel of Jesus. When I realize that my rest is already established and founded in Christ it strikes a blow to the inordinate desires of my sluggard heart. I realize that satisfaction won’t be found in a little more sleep or slumber but it’ll be found in Christ. He gives me everything I need for every moment to do the things that are necessary at that time.

So, sloth doesn’t just mean sleep. That’s convicting but I’m thankful for the redemption Christ brings in this area.

Read This! 07.06.17

Mike Leake

The Hypocrisy of Phariseephobia

It’s possible to be a Pharisee towards Pharisees.

How to Identity Your Pet Sin

With a little help from a Puritan classic, Tim Challies helps us identity that sin that so easily trips us up. This is very helpful.

What Should You Say at an Unbeliever’s Funeral?

This is always difficult.

Helpful Practices for Pastoral Revitalization

Pastor’s need personal revitalization.

Idolatry, Demons, and Ecumenism

I’m really appreciating this series from Cripplegate on ecumenism.

The ‘Church’ of Facebook?

Facebook wants to become a substitute church. But you cannot beat the real thing.

2 Signs You’re an Insecure Leader

Our insecurity can be deadly.

Why You Should Not Copy Spurgeon’s Schedule

We sometimes forget Spurgeon’s health issues.

Parents have to contradict the culture’s messages:

Should We Move On From Talking About the Racist Past of the SBC?

Mike Leake

In 1845, when the American Baptist Home Mission Society, refused the nomination of James Reeve (a slaveholder) the seeds were planted for the birth of a new denomination. By May 1845 white delegates from the deep South gathered (293 in all) together and formed a new mission society—The Southern Baptist Convention. Yes, our beloved denomination was founded because our forefathers wanted to own slaves. Al Mohler is even more pointed when he says:

In fact, the SBC was not only founded by slaveholders; it was founded by men who held to an ideology of racial superiority and who bathed that ideology in scandalous theological argument. (Williams & Jones, 3)

We Southern Baptists have a racist past. We cannot get around this fact. In 1995, on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the SBC, the messengers overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning racism and apologizing for our past. So is that the end of the story? We asked for forgiveness—now is it up to our African American brothers to grant this forgiveness and bury the past in the past? Shouldn’t we just move on at this point and work towards the future?

Certainly it takes two parties to live in full reconciliation. Unless someone asks for forgiveness and the other person grants that forgiveness you cannot live in reconciliation. But this issue is a bit less black and white (pardon the pun). None of those presently living can truly apologize for the sins of our ancestors past. Nor can another group of people accept that apology. Reconciliation will be a bit more complex than simply passing a resolution and burying our past in the past.

But I want to make an argument today that for the glory of God we should not even want to bury our past in the past. And I want to use the words of a former slave ship captain to make this point.

John Newton was haunted by his past. Nothing he could do could remove the stain of racism that was on his life. Even though he passionately fought to end the slave trade in Europe, Newton was still haunted by the screams which came from the slave ships he captained. On one particular occasion Newton was asked in a letter about how folks could have happiness in heaven when we are fully aware of our sins in the past. This is Newton’s response (and keep in mind that his own involvement with slavery is likely on his mind):

I think those are the sweetest moments in this life, when we have the clearest sense of our own sins, provided the sense of our acceptance in the Beloved is proportionally clear, and we feel the consolations of his love, notwithstanding all our transgressions. When we arrive in glory, unbelief and fear will cease forever: our nearness to God, and communion with him, will be unspeakably beyond what we can now conceive. Therefore the remembrance of our sins will be no abatement of our bliss, but rather the contrary. (Read entire letter here)

When the gospel redeems (and is still further redeeming) an issue in our past we do not want to bury it. We tend to want to bury sins which aren’t yet fully repented of or perhaps those sins which still carry the burden of shame. We want to bury what isn’t yet healed. But our racist past is a stain which Christ is in the process of removing. And every time we see racial reconciliation taking place it is fitting for the glory of God for us to be brutally honest about our past. No need to gloss over it and pretend like our ancestors were not engaging in “scandalous theological argument”. The light of Christ shines bright against our darkened past.

We don’t get sick of hearing about our racist past because we are confident in the provision of Christ. We don’t encourage folks to move on because we see our own sinfulness as a door way to savoring Christ even more. We encourage the light to shine upon our racist hearts (yes, racism for folks of any color of skin). We welcome the “clearest sense of our own sins” because we know it will only further glorify the God who can redeem and rescue such wicked hearts. We don’t tire of fighting for racial reconciliation because we love seeing the work of Jesus.

I’ve still much learning to do in this area, but I’m thankful that no matter how deep things like racism have settled into areas of my heart I know that Christ is always deeper and always sweeter. Even though we might be shocked at what we find in our hearts—he never is. And once He has captivated our hearts they belong to him. In that we can rejoice no matter what is dug up from our past. This and this alone is the foundation of our union with one another.

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