The Single Best Reason We Should Thank God For Criticism
I appreciate Aaron’s words here.
How to Write a Sermon: A Template
My sermon writing format is somewhat similar to this.
John Piper’s Funeral Prayer for a Family of Five
Wow. This is a tear-jerker.
Lay Aside the Weight of Moodiness
Bad moods aren’t as morally neutral as you might think.
I watched and enjoyed this so much longer than I should have:
May 3rd—First day on the job with the new flock. It isn’t the biggest or the healthiest flock in the world…but it’s mine. And I’m excited to see how they’ll grow. I can’t believe that I’ve finally got my own flock. Some of the little lambs really need my guidance. I’ve got my work cut out for me with this flock but I’m made to do this.
May 22nd—The little lambs are already starting to grow. The sheep are beginning to trust their new shepherd. They aren’t much accustomed to being led as they went so long without a shepherd, but I believe they are beginning to recognize their shepherds voice. There are a few of the older rams though which seem to still want to follow their own whims, they’ll come around though.
June 13th—As our sheep are getting healthier I’m noticing a few more wolves in the area. Some of the precious little lambs aren’t mature enough to know how to avoid these dangers. My job is getting more difficult every day. Protecting the little lambs from the ferocious wolves and trying to steer those stubborn rams away from those poisonous plants they seem to be so in love with. Can I do this? Am I able to handle this flock?
July 7th—Sheep are still growing but ever so slowly. The work is getting harder. Made friends today with the local shepherd, Mr. Johnson, who watches the pasture next to ours. He gave me a look at his flock. Oh, how marvelous. They were healthy. They weren’t unruly like some of my particular sheep. Am I doing something wrong? Does he have some tips to show me?
August 4th—Why does his flock keep growing? It seems like his job is getting easier while mine is remaining stagnant. I still cannot get those old rams to hear my voice. The little lambs are being led astray by the older rams, it seems like they aren’t hearing my voice much anymore. Not to mention the ever present wolves. It’s so hard to rescue this belligerent flock. They act like wolves ought to be their best friends. Don’t they have any natural fear of these predators?
August 26th—I noticed that my competitor next door gained another large flock of sheep. I’m interested to see how well they blend in with his new flock. Let’s see him try to handle this one. It won’t be long until I’ve got someone to complain with about these ignorant sheep. Mine are starting to act a little more unhealthy. It’s their own fault. If they were more like Mr. Johnson’s flock they wouldn’t be so dumb and eating those poisonous plants. More wolves are plucking off our sheep—how long until they wake up and start listening to my voice?
September 19th—Johnson’s new sheep are doing terrific. His flock continues to double. What a wonderful group of sheep he has been given. I’d give anything if we could trade flocks for a bit. I’ve tried some of his tips but they just don’t work on my ignorant sheep. They aren’t eating the food he suggested I try. They aren’t hearing my voice. They are just a stubborn bunch of sheep. I’d like to see how Johnson handled these sheep. I’ve taken to watching how he interacts with them all day. I find myself daydreaming about shepherding his flock. My daydreaming cost me a sheep today. While I was nodding off and thinking about greener pastures a wolf took one of our pathetic little lambs, probably wasn’t much of a meal for the wolf. Part of me wishes he’d have plucked off a few of my stubborn old rams.
December 12th—It’s been awhile since I last wrote. Things aren’t looking good. Seems like Johnson has a bunch of pregnant ewes. Seems like everything that man touches turns to gold. I’ve maybe got a couple. My flock is now cut in half. I’m mostly letting them do their own thing now. They aren’t listening to me. I’m resigned to the fact that they’ll never be like Johnson’s flock. I might as well just let them do what they want—I’m just going to bide my time until I can save up enough cash to get another flock. I’d sell these in a heartbeat if anybody was dumb enough to buy them.
March 23rd—I’m stuck. I don’t have enough sheep left to sell them off and make enough cash to get another flock. I’ve only got a handful of sheep now anyways. Most of them died off last month. I was watching Johnson’s beautiful flock again and had my back turned. My stupid sheep, can’t leave them alone for a minute, got themselves into a patch of poisonous plants. The foolish sheep consumed the whole bit of it and some of them got some kind of disease. It spread like wildfire through our flock. They can’t seem to produce babies but they sure do know how to spread disease. I might as well give them away to Johnson. Oh, how I loathe and yet envy that man and his easy flock.
May 3rd—One year ago I started with this flock. Today I sold my last few rams to Mr. Johnson. I had such wonderful dreams for this flock. How stupid I was last year at this time. Little did I know that I had inherited such a despicable mob. Perhaps some day I’ll get a herd as terrific as that lucky Johnson. Oh how wonderful it could have been if my sheep had just listened to me. I could have had a flock twice as successful as Johnson’s but my stubborn flock wouldn’t have any of it.
“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you…” –1 Peter 5:2
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Photo source: here
Some of these I have to apply a bit different, as our polity is different, but the wisdom outlined here is still valuable.
10 Simple Ways You Can Encourage Your Pastor
This is really tongue in cheek. Do the opposite of this and you’ll encourage your pastor. I thought #9 was the funniest.
It’s awesome that Piper got to speak at Google. Here is what he said.
Or why the KJV Translators weren’t KJV-Onlyists
This is a mashup of some of the cheesy super-hero shows from the 70’s but I think this would hold my attention:
As humans we have a tendency to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. Watch this video:
I wanted to title this something a bit more catchy like “Always look for the Gorilla” but I didn’t want to give you an unfair advantage in watching that video. I showed this video a few Sunday’s ago in church and about 80% of our congregation missed the gorilla. I made the point that in our Scripture reading we are not immune to missing gorillas.
We will see what we want to see in the text and miss many things. A discouraged husband will land on Ephesians 5:22-24 and gloss over verses 25-33. If he gets to verse 33 his focus won’t be on loving his wife it will be on how she isn’t respecting him. But what he is doing here is missing the gorilla. We can do this with every passage of Scripture.
In fact, we always view the Scriptures through our cultural lenses. This is what Richards and O’Brien mean here:
There is no purely objective biblical interpretation. This is not postmodern relativism. WE believe truth is truth. But there’s no way around the fact that our cultural and historical contexts supply us with habits of mind that lead us to read the Bible differently than Christians in other cultural and historical contexts. (Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes, 12)
Now some will conclude that because we are prone to miss the gorilla that we are never able to actually read the Scripture as it stands. That isn’t true either. The Spirit is able to illuminate our minds and our hearts to where we can see the gorilla. But the good Bible student will not simply assume that his/her first reading of the text is the absolutely correct one. The good student will pour over the Scripture over and over and over again looking for gorillas each time.
So, be aware of this and you’ll be a much better at not only reading the Bible but also at applying the Bible. It’s also a great idea to read the Scriptures within a community of other believers. Pastors, we might need this more than anyone. There is nothing unspiritual about laboring with others to really grasp the text you are going to be preaching on Sunday. Use others to help you spot gorilla’s in the text.