Read This! 07.23.19

Mike Leake

Loving the Church But Dreading Sunday Morning

Social anxiety is a real thing.

The one with the racists…

This is an important point, I believe.

4 Reasons Leaders Need Large Blocks of Time

Absolutely.

Why You Should Have That Difficult Conversation

This is an area that I’ve struggled with.

The Enduring Appeal of Antinomianism

History nerd alert.

What Made Roy Fly

A longform article on the death of Roy Halladay. What a sad story.

Five Encouragements for Pastors Intimidated by Biblical Counseling

I understand the need to outsource on occasion. But we really shouldn’t be intimidated to biblically counsel.

5 Questions to Ask When Your Child Professes Faith

It’s always an exciting time. But it’s also a time to be cautious.

I didn’t know that Dr. York was doing this. Enjoyed this session with Tim Challies:

Six Good Things Got Brought out of Suffering

Mike Leake

You’ve had those moments, haven’t you, when God is doing something that doesn’t seem to make a bit of sense? After the experience you are left to pick up the pieces and you’re wracked with confusion and discouragement and a flood of emotions that you can’t even comprehend. Where in the world was God in all this?

It’s one thing to experience that type of suffering that we’re all prone to experience. Death of a loved one. Jarring news. Bitter disappointment. It’s quite another when we are hit in our very souls. When the very place in which we typically meet God with joy turns into a place of bitter anguish. That’s what happened to the Thessalonians. They were baby Christians being disciples by the great apostle Paul. Things were going splendid and then all of a sudden he was gone.

They were left alone.

After months go by that would certainly prove taxing. You’d begin to wonder if they were just those drive-by preachers who share truth that rocks your world and then they pick up and never come see you again.

Discipleship is important to God. So why did he leave the Thessalonians without one to disciple them?

That’s a question that kind of hangs over Thessalonians. And it’s a question that Paul needed to answer as he wrote to them. In 1 Thessalonians 2:17—3:13 I see at least six positive things which God has brought out of their season of suffering.

1. It set their eyes on eternity. (2:19) Suffering exposes our theology and it reveals to us where we are really setting our hope. Suffering has a way of propelling us to look forward to the day when we stand before Christ.

2. It reminded them of their sojourner status. (3:4) In the brief bit of time that Paul had with the Thessalonians he told them about our call to suffer. Why is that? Simply because this world is not our home and suffering will be out lot until we experience glory.

3. It deepened their relationship. This time of separation and suffering actually increased their love for one another. Perhaps Paul and the Thessalonians would have never developed such a deep affection for one another apart from that separation at the beginning.

4. It increased their comfort and joy in Christ. (3:6-7)

I’m told that there is a type of bird who is a bit scared to leave the nest. But mama bird knows that baby can leave the nest, so she starts to slowly but surely pluck away and tear the nest out from under the little bird. It’s the same thing with our faith. What the Lord often does is put us through the kiln of suffering because of what happens on the other side. The dross is burned away and our faith become more solid. Suffering can strengthen our joy.

5. It emboldened their prayer. Paul prayed earnestly day and night for the Thessalonians. Suffering has a way of enlivening our prayer life.

6. It heightened the display of God’s glory. This whole thing was about showing how amazing and tender and glorious and powerful God is in the life of His children. Their feeble little spark was able to survive. They shouldn’t have made it—but they did. Not because Paul or other great disciplers. They made it because Jesus is faithful to His promise. And the Thessalonians are a testament of the faithfulness of God to his sheep even when they have to go through difficult seasons without an under-shepherd.

I’m sure at the time it was difficult for both Paul and the Thessalonians to see the goodness of God in their circumstances. And when you’re in the fire it isn’t really the time to interpret. You just hang on for dear life and unashamedly cling to the goodness of God. You won’t be giving an account about how well you interpreted God’s actions. But we will be held to account for how we clung to Jesus even when things didn’t exactly make sense. Use the story of the Thessalonians as another reason to tighten your grip on God (because He’s not letting you go).

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Photo source: here

Read this! 07.18.19

Mike Leake

Errata: An Apology to Some Evangelicals

I really appreciated this. I”m praying it moves the conversation forward a bit.

Pastoring Through the Dark Night of the Soul

As one who experiences these dark nights on occasion I found this to be pretty spot on.

How Should I Preach Chiasms?

I pray that I do this faithfully and effectively.

3 Reasons Pastors and ‘Authors’ Should Never Plagiarize

Amen.

Beware of a ‘Test the Fruit’ Hermeneutic

It’s basically utilitarianism.

10 Dangerous Habits of Church Leaders

One that I would add is to read the Bible only to preach the Bible.

Should You Baptize Apart from the Church?

I tend to agree.

Love Through the Awkward

I would seriously love to change our church slogan to “we do awkward well”.

This looks so fun:

A Church of Adonijah’s

Mike Leake

His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” 1 Kings 1:6

I was a pretty squirrely teenager. I never did anything too terrible—but it was my mouth that got me into a ton of trouble. Also I’d get a little too rambunctious at times. Usually it didn’t bother me to get in trouble or have to stay after class. But there was one question I absolutely hated.

“Why did you….?”

The youth pastor who sat me aside and asked, “Why were you hanging upside down in that guys tree?”

The principal who asked, “What were you thinking leaving school to get lunch, then placing lunch orders and jacking up the price as a ‘risk fee’?

Those questions really floored me. Because the answer was that I wasn’t thinking. Okay, maybe my lunch skipping enterprise was a bit thought through. But there was something about that question which exposed my heart.

That was a question that David never asked little Adonijah. And it caused him great harm. It’s the Bible’s way of saying that David wasn’t bold enough to challenge the thoughts and actions of his son. We probably shouldn’t speculate as to why. We don’t know if his losing a son because of his sin with Bathsheba impacted him in this area. Or maybe he was so busy governing. We really don’t know why he failed in this area.

We also don’t really know why church discipline stopped being practiced in churches. There has never been an active campaign to dismiss it. Nobody has put together a succinct argument as to why it’s not actually a biblical practice. But it’s just kind of fell out of favor. It’s been quietly excommunicated from many of our churches.

But I wonder if part of the reason why our churches often reflect the entitled and self-centered Adonijah is because we too haven’t lived in a culture of discipline. Nobody would dare challenge the Adonijah among us because we all know that he’ll just go to the church down the street. Just as David couldn’t stomach displeasing Adonijah so also we’ve lost the nerve to displease those among us.

The lack of discipline in Adonijah caused him to keep plotting all the way to his demise. Even his asking for mercy by grabbing the horns of the altar was an act of manipulation. He was using religion to gain sympathy and keep his darling lusts alive. Eventually his lust for power ended in his death. It was a lust that could have perhaps been mortified at a young age, but David never could bring himself to go there. And it cost Adonijah his life.

Yes, the fear of man is a snare. But it doesn’t just catch the scared and timid. It also causes those we should have lovingly displeased to be caught in sin.

Are we willing to displease for the sake of life? Will we be more concerned about gaining our brother or pleasing our brother?

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Photo source: here