6 Reasons We Don’t Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice or Mourn With Those Who Mourn

Mike Leake 4 Comments

Last night I preached on Romans 12:15-16.  It’s a tremendous passage that if applied to our lives is a great barometer of our pride.  Seldom do we rejoice with those that rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  In preparation for the sermon I found help from a sermon that John Piper preached on the same text.  Here he lists six reasons why we might not be rejoice with those who rejoice or weep with those who weep.  I thought you might benefit from them too:

  1. We are too wrapped up in ourselves to rejoice or weep with others. We are so self-oriented that what is happening in the hearts of others has no effect on us.
  2. We feel above the emotional life of the ordinary person. Children laugh. Women cry. I’m a man. Or it doesn’t have to be male arrogance. It may be merely high-brow arrogance. To laugh with them or to cry with them would put me down on their level and I have a certain refined, aristocratic, high-culture status to preserve.
  3. We are hypercritical and our main reaction when we see emotion is to analyze it and point out its distortions or excesses or bad tendencies or shallow roots. So our hypercritical analytical heart keeps us emotionally at a distance and prevents our hearts from empathy with others.
  4. We are resentful or envious they have joy and we don’t. We feel gypped, passed over, given a raw deal. So envy makes it impossible for us to rejoice in their joy.
  5. We are simply the kind of personality that doesn’t have a discernable emotional life. We don’t rejoice or weep over anything. And so we don’t weep or rejoice with others. It may be owing to parents. Or to a traumatic experience. Or to some physical condition.
  6. We may be depressed and temporarily numb in our own emotions.

Poem From a Dying 9 Year Old Boy

Mike Leake

I find myself today reading the Life and Writings of Mrs. Jane Dawson of Lancaster.  I skipped across this because of my weekly time with my dear friend John Newton.  My heart is warmed by reading the account of Jane Flower (later to be Mrs. Dawson).  Her letter to her parents at the age of 11 is astonishing and one that in our times we would expect to come from the pen of perhaps a college student.  I am further blown away by the dying poem of her little brother George. 

At 9 and a half years old a dying George quipped these words to his mother:

Christ is my portion and my all,

I need not fear, I shall not fall;

Nor need I fear what all the world can do,

Since Christ can fight and make—subdue. 

He’s not repeating a song, mind you.  He made that up moments before his death.  “Even your young men shall see visions…”  It’s amazing to see the work of the Spirit in the 1700’s Comforting and Guiding these little children.  This is encouraging me to pray for an outpouring of God’s favor and grace upon my children that they might see the beauty of Christ and live solely for His glory.

Churches Can’t Afford to Be the Cleveland Browns Part 2

Mike Leake

Earlier today I noted that churches can’t afford to be the Cleveland Browns.  It seems that every couple of years they have to “blow the place up” and put a new vision in place.  I note that it doesn’t have to be that way.  Here is the

Our Core Values

Though I’m a Cleveland Browns fan I don’t want to see our church be like the Browns.  That’s why as we have considered “vision” for our church we have tried to keep it simple.  Our vision statement is to be “a church united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory”.  That statement isn’t grounded in a fad.  That statement is grounded in creation.  That statement is grounded by the story of God. 

We have six core values that explode out of the vision statement. 

  1. To be a kingdom-focused church—we aren’t “the church” we are “a church” united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory.  Therefore we will passionately pursue planting churches, partnering with like-minded churches, and praying for the church universal. 
  2. To be a gospel-saturated community—because we are a “church united” we believe that God calls us out of darkness and places us into a redeemed community of believers.  This community is to be marked by authentic relationships, vital companionship, and mutual edification that is brought together to partner for missions as well as to equip families. 
  3. To practice worship-fueled discipleship—we believe that the fight of faith is to “enjoy God” instead of idols.  Therefore we fight together in our battle to believe that God is the source of all delight instead of the fleeting pleasures of sin. 
  4. To be a hospitable people that offers a refuge for the broken—we believe that we are brought into community with one another and into enjoyment of God solely through grace.  Therefore, we too want to be a refuge for the broken with the hopes of Christ-centered transformation.
  5. To be a people that live sent to our local community and our global community, with the intention of spreading Christ for the joy of all peoples.  As we enjoy God’s grace we are called to extend His glory to every square inch of creation.
  6. To be a community of believers that is radically centered upon the glory of God.  Our fundamental purpose is to glorify God in all that we do. 

What that looks like will look different for every pastor.  But it is our hope that if the Lord calls us home or away that you won’t have to “blow the place up”.  Everybody will know the basic structure and vision.  It just might be played out different. 

As much as it pains me to say this…excuse me while I throw up in my mouth…churches should be closer to the Pittsburgh Steelers than the Cleveland Browns.  Notice what happened when Mike Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher.  The team looked a little different but the basic philosophy was the same.  No need to blow stuff up.  We know who the Steelers are. 

So pastors (and all those doing “vision”), be sure that we you are writing and coming up with will be able to house the guy that stands in your place when either your heart isn’t ticking or it’s ticking elsewhere.  Because churches can’t afford to be the Cleveland Browns. 

Today in Blogworld 10.10.12

Mike Leake

Deep Roots Library

This is a pretty cool project.  The goal of Deep Roots Library is to take classic Christian works and make them more accessible in the digital world.  They have some really solid books already.  The good news for pastors is that you can get 15 free books for Pastor Appreciation month.

Farewell to the American Protestant Majority

According to a new study by the Pew Forum for the first time in our history Protestants are not the majority in America.  Russell Moore reflects on this reality.

The Art of Neighboring

Tim Challies brings a little conviction about my lack of knowing my neighbors.  He also does an excellent job of encouraging me to buy the book The Art of Neighboring. 

Storytelling and Your Brain

This is an interesting article on the effects of dramatic storytelling on your brain chemistry.  Cool stuff.  (HT: David Murray)

Ducks Out of Water

I don’t normally link to myself, but I’m going to on this one.  I really want you to watch this video and see how it relates to redemption.  This article got very little attention yesterday and that stinks because the video is such a wonderful picture of what being transformed by Christ looks like. 

If you are fascinated by monkeys then you’ll love this: