Today in Blogworld 05.20.15

Mike Leake

13 Mistakes People Make in Social Media Bios

I agree. When someone follows me on Twitter who claims to be a “creative” a “social media expert” or any sort of “life coach” or someone who I describe as Captain Awesomesauce, I never bother following them back. Simply, because I know I’m only a statistic for them.

Our Words Will Be Thunder When Our Life is Like Lightning

Amen!

Lucille Is Silent

I love B.B. King. I’m sad that he’s gone. But I believe I’ll see him again someday. Will he play the blues in heaven though?

The Pastor’s Dilemna

Pastors carry quite a bit of student loan debt. For me its not because of seminary but because of my undergrad. No debt from seminary.

Oh goodness…I want my kids to try this…but also not at all.

The Most Shared Verses in Their Context (Dt. 6:6-7)

Mike Leake 1 Comment

Last year I looked at the Top 10 Most Shared Bible Verses from 2013 in their context. They have recently posted their 2014 list and to my surprise there are ten new most shared verses, so I figured I’d look at these ten popular verses in their context again this year. Today we will look at Deuteronomy 6:6-7, which is the seventh most shared verse of 2014.

The Verse:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV)

The Context:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is known as the Shema. The word means “to hear”. According to Jesus (Mark 12:28-30) this is the greatest commandment. It is the greatest commandment because it marks out God alone as Israel’s God. To follow this commandment, then, is to have unrivaled dedication to God. We are to love him with all of our being.

Verses 6-9 outline how such a faith will survive. In the midst of the polytheisitic world of the Canaanites it will always be tempting for the Israelites to bow a knee to the more practical and tangible gods of the world.

First, this exclusivity of ones devotion to God should be on the heart. It cannot be merely an intellectual belief but one which demands entire devotion of the entire self.

Secondly, because of their propensity to drift away from holiness and devotion to God the Israelite should consistently remind himself and those under his care (our children) of his devotion to YHWH alone.

The Meaning:

I’m a bit curious as to why we’ve chosen these two verses out of the Shema. I’d be a bit less surprised if it at least included verse 9. I imagine that it’s only verses 6 and 7 because of what this says about parenting and that parents are the primary disciple makers of their children.

Here in America, many Christians are waking up to the fact that we’ve all but lost the “culture war” that we fought for a few decades. In response I see many retreating from the culture war and putting their energies into influencing their children with their faith. (Which is perhaps where we should have been directing our energies in the first place). As such verses like Dt. 6:6-7 have been influential in showing the importance God places on the family as the primary sphere of spiritual development.

But is this true of the church? The nature of the church is not the same as the nation of Israel. As such, are parents still the primary disciple makers or does this responsibility now fall on the church?

When Deuteronomy 6 was written it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that the role of the parents was almost as exclusive disciple makers of their children. If they didn’t disciple their own children then there wouldn’t be many other places for them to be instructed. There weren’t rabbinic schools, no temple as of yet, and no synagogues.

Some Christians, I believe, take this near exclusivity and extend its application too far. We don’t live in the era of Deuteronomy 6. While the family is a place of great importance the New Testament seems to give the place of ultimate importance to the blood-bought followers of Jesus, known as the church. The gates of hell might prevail over a family but it will never prevail over the church.

But even this is perhaps an overstatement. The right view of Deuteronomy 6 and the relationship between church and family is more of a both/and than an either/or. This passage outlines the role that parents should taken in discipling their children. But extending it in such a way that diminishes the importance of the local church is wrong. Likewise, any view which sees the church as a replacement for the family is not giving Deuteronomy 6 the weigh they ought.

Conclusion

To this end, I believe we can apply Deuteronomy in much the same way as the Israelites would have. We should be devoted to the Lord in our own hearts and this devotion should intentionally bleed over into the lives of our children. We should actively teach our children the way of Jesus.

Local churches and families are partners in spreading the kingdom of God. Separating the two betrays either a terrible theology of the family or an inadequate view of the church. Deuteronomy 6 shows us the importance of being absolutely devoted to Christ and sharing that devotion with others, especially our own children.

Today in Blogworld 05.19.15

Mike Leake

Stephen Curry and the Culture of Self-Trust

He’s been named the league MVP. His trust is in Jesus.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss Engaged

This is a wonderful story.

14 Key Reasons for the Breakdown of Church Unity

Some of these are obvious. I especially appreciate the inclusion of #7 and #11.

How Our Culture Undervalues Sex

One might think he meant to write “overvalues” sex, but I think J.D. Greear has a point.

Here’s why Greek matters in understanding the Lord’s prayer:

A Goodbye to Youth Ministry

Mike Leake 14 Comments

I’ve been doing youth ministry (in some various form) since I was about 19. Since I’m almost 34 this means I’ve been ministering to teens for almost 15 years. When I leave First Baptist Jasper in a couple weeks my days as a youth minister will be over.

I am confident that other youth pastors have been far more successful than I. I’d say others have been more faithful as well. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve preached sermons to teens that I wish had never left my mouth. I’ve said things and done things that were just flat out foolish. Let’s just say I’m glad my justification is settled by Jesus’ finished work and not by my effectiveness as a youth pastor.

Though I’ve made mistakes I’ve also watched God do phenomenal things in the life of teenagers. I’ve always said that the success of a student ministry isn’t determined by what it looks like when the kid graduates—it’s better viewed by how he/she lives out his/her life as a disciple. I’m proud that I have quite a few former students who are now serving in local churches. I’m proud that students who I was allowed to lead to Jesus are still walking happily in the faith. I think, by the grace of God, I have done some things well.

As I’m passing the baton off to a group of guys here at Jasper I laid out for them a simple philosophy of youth ministry. Perhaps it will be beneficial to you as well:

Loving Jesus and loving students covers a multitude of dumb things

My philosophy of ministry has been pretty simple over the years. Love Jesus supremely and love others deeply. If people know that you love them—because you actually do love them—then you’ll find yourself in a better position to minister. Forget this professionalization stuff and how you are supposed to do youth ministry.

Students can get entertainment from the world. They can get lectures at school. But there are few places that they’ll be truly loved. Love will reach more students than any program you can come up with.

But such a love only comes from Jesus’ love for us—and His work in our hearts to supremely love Him. Which a love for Jesus will keep you from doing many stupid things as a youth pastor. Love him more than you love your own popularity and you’ll be doing well.

Teenagers will go to the level you set for them

Do you remember being a teenager? Let’s be honest—few of us were overachievers. But we would find a way to nudge up to the bar that people had set for us. Consider athletics. They usually set the bar pretty high—and teenagers work their tail off to meet those expectations. Then, why in the world do we expect the teens our church to only be fit for passing out lollipops for children’s ministry?

Expect teens to do ministry and to go into ministry and I almost bet you’ll get some who are passionate about it. You’ll get what you expect out of teenagers. So why not raise the bar and be shocked by their capacity to actually grasp the gospel and live it out.

Of course, we must not forget that they are teenagers and will often think like children. Which is why raising the bar doesn’t mean refusing to have a culture of grace. It just means you refuse to accept our culture’s lie that teenagers are children, and you shower them with grace as they grow into being the men and women that they are.

Expository Preaching Works

Students are just like adults. They probably only retain a fraction of what you say—even if you are the best preacher in the world. That’s true in one sense. In another sense I’m convinced they kind of retain everything you say. There is something shaping that happens in preaching. And so I’d rather preach and teach the whole counsel of God.

Here’s my point. There is a way that you can preach and teach that will make your sermons memorable. But when you stand before God on judgment day you’ll find that such preaching was just a big pile of straw because it was mostly your opinion about the Word of God instead of the Word of God itself.

So, I’d rather slowly plod through books of the Bible and be able to say “here is what God’s Word says and here is how to apply it.” And I’d rather do that and have them forget every sermon if it means that somehow they’ve retained God’s Word. That won’t burn up on judgment day.

But I’ve found that expository preaching actually works. You can engage students with solid expository preaching and you can see them grow in their handling of God’s Word. It’s not as if the only option is to bore them with expository preaching or excite them with rubble. You can excite them with expository preaching—but it’s hard work.

So much more could be said in my goodbye to youth ministry, but I believe these three things sum up my thoughts. We make it much harder than it really ought to be. But at the same time it is an impossible work that only God can do—may he see fit to use earthen vessels like myself to shine forth His glory.