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Archive for February, 2012

Home as a Little Church

Monday, February 27th, 2012

I wrote this for the upcoming Parent-Link newsletter:

I love to read. I haven’t always loved to read, but it seems that along with my abounding salvation, it had pleased Jesus to give me a veracious appetite for reading. This has turned out to be a good desire for a current student and pastor in training. Oh the wisdom of God.

This love for reading has many books constantly flowing into my office and onto my shelves. However, as my library grows, there are certain books that never get too far from my heart. One of those books is Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole bible. If you’re not familiar with this commentary, I heartedly recommend it (you can access it online for free at ccel.com). Among the many reasons for why I love this commentary, the ones that stand highest are its clarity, pastoral heart and how it conveys Henry’s undeniable love for the Savior and His people. When I read, I feel as thought I am in the home of Henry himself and that he is lovingly expounding the beautiful truths of God’s Word to me so I may rejoice in Jesus with him.

After reading up on Henry’s home life, it makes a bit more sense why I feel this way. One biographer explains the home life of Henry as follows:

Matthew’s conduct in his family…was in a great measure regulated by the example of his pious father, of whose house those who had access to it were ready to say, This is no other than the house of God and the gate of heaven. Matthew was constant in the worship of God in his family, morning and evening, which nothing was suffered to prevent…He was never tedious, but always full and comprehensive, performing much in a little time, which seldom exceeded half an hour…When the whole was ended, his children came to him for his blessing, which he gave with solemnity and affection.

Before he was a pastor at church or a writer at his desk, he was a husband and father at home and he took that responsibility seriously and joyfully. For Henry, the family was not only to be a good legacy, but a good inheritance to leave for his children. It was Henry that said about the family: “Here the reformation must begin.”

So where does that leave us? If you’re like me, you didn’t have a father or mother who led the family in worship and, though you have the desire to make your home into a house of God and gateway to heaven, you don’t know where to start. For that reason, let me answer the basic questions of how to get to joy filled times of family worship.

1) What Should We Do?

2) How Should We Start? Explain why you want to begin times of family worship. The easiest and most disarming way is to simply say something like this, “I have been convinced by God’s Word that it would please Jesus and bring us great joy if we come together and honor Him in worship as a family and I would like to go in that direction.” How can you say no to that?

3) Three Basic Reminders: Be brief. Don’t make your children dread family worship by going long. Generally keep it around 15-30 minutes. Be regular. Whether it be after dinner, before bed or in the morning, find a time that works for your family and regularly keep to it so it becomes routine. Be flexible. Some days you wont be able to meet at the regular time so be flexible to alter as needed.

In order to help our church be filled with little churches that worship throughout the week we have produced a Family Worship Packet that goes along with the current teaching series of South Shores called “Uncovered.” Grab a packet to find more helps!

For more resources on Family Worship feel free to email me at ddill@southshores.org. Also, visit the middle school parent-link blog for resources, updates and more articles like this!

Tags: family, family worship, Gospel, worship
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Uncovered | Family Worship Packet

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

If you were at South Shores this past Sunday then you heard that we have printed a Family Worship Packet that goes along with the current sermon series we are in called “Uncovered”. If you weren’t there and couldn’t grab a packet, do not worry! You can access an online version of the Family Worship Packet by clicking here.

You can read below in order to get a feel for both the series and the purpose of the booklet. We hope and pray these help the families of South Shores raise their kids in homes where the gospel is cherished, Jesus is exalted and God is glorified!

The Idea Behind the Series

Our teaching series, UNCOVERED: Digging Through the Prayers of God’s People, takes the approach of an archaeologist digging down layer by layer to reveal the different periods of time and the people who lived there. Each week we journey deeper into the trench and further back in time to see the condition of God’s people, how they reach out to Him in prayer and what it tells us about who God is. Join us as we discover real people of history, the Bible and prayer who served and loved the same real God we worship today.

Why This Booklet?

South Shores Church desires to encourage and assist parents in the spiritual leadership of their families. This booklet, guiding Family Worship devotions, is one way we are seeking to integrate the Sunday morning gathering into the weekly pattern of families. Our hope is that as parents you will continually reflect back on the message of the previous weekend and use it to launch new discussions with your children, preparing your family to celebrate Easter and the new life Jesus offers.

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The Ultimate Question of Parenting

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

The following is an excerpt from the small booklet by J.C. Ryle titled “The Duties of Parenting”:

“How will this affect their souls?”

Soul love is the soul of all love. To pet and pamper and indulge your child, as if this world was all he had to look to, and this life the only season for happiness — to do this is not true love, but cruelty. It is treating him like some beast of the earth, which has but one world to look to, and nothing after death. It is hiding from him that grand truth, which he ought to be made to learn from his very infancy, — that the chief end of his life is the salvation of his soul.

This is the thought that should be uppermost on your mind in all you do for your children. In every step you take about them, in every plan, and scheme, and arrangement that concerns them, do not leave out that mighty question, “How will this affect their souls?”

A true Christian must be no slave to fashion, if he would train his child for heaven. He must not be content to do things merely because they are the custom of the world; to teach them and instruct them in certain ways, merely because it is usual; to allow them to read books of a questionable sort, merely because everybody else reads them; to let them form habits of a doubtful tendency, merely because they are the habits of the day. He must train with an eye to his children’s souls. He must not be ashamed to hear his training called singular and strange. What if it is? The time is short, — the fashion of this world passeth away. He that has trained his children for heaven, rather than for earth, — for God, rather than for man, — he is the parent that will be called wise at last.

Click here for a free online version of the booklet.

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The Folly of Showing Off Your Smarts

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

“The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves, but a fool’s heart blurts out folly.” Proverbs 12:23

You know the feeling. The perfect opportunity where you can insert a tasty morsel of intelligent goodness for no other reason than to gain the respect and admiration of your listeners. The time when your able to “in passing” mention how books you read on subject ‘such and such’. That perfect opportunity when you can reveal to others how stinkin’ smart you are…

How do I know you think this way? Because I have the same problem as you: we desire to be glorified by our smarts. In sin we foolishly act to make others think we are wise. When we grow in learning and understanding, our sick and twisted desire for self-glory tempts us to show others how much we know. We delight in the moment to uncover the great insight or knowledge we have. Our flesh desires that others think highly of our intelligence. We want people to think we are smart.

But God has a better way. Through this proverb, God’s loving instruction points us away from such prideful folly and helps us to understand the right use of our knowledge. Truly wise people only use their knowledge when it is for other people’s good, but they otherwise keep it to themselves.

As we grow in our understanding of God’s Word and World, may we pray for humility to accompany us. May our learning only be for others good and not our glory.

Matthew Henry sums it up well:

He that is foolish cannot avoid proclaiming his folly, and it is his shame that he cannot: The heart of fools, by their foolish words and actions, proclaims foolishness; either they do not desire to hide it, they have so little sense of good and evil, honor and dishonor, or they know not how to hide it, so little discretion have they in the management of themselves, (Ecclesiastes 10:3).

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The Goods

Friday, February 24th, 2012

J.C. Ryle Quotes: If you’re not familiar with J.C. Ryle then simply check this page out and read some of his quotes and you won’t be able to ignore him. Also, note the beard. John Piper recently did a biography on the life of Ryle that is well worth a download on the iPod.

20 Libraries That Makes Me Want to Cry: I love books. I love good decor. I really love when books are arranged in good decor. The little nerd inside of me wept at the sight of these amazing libraries.

Best Ways to Actually Help the Poor: Christianity today put out an article rating how effect charity organizations are. “Christians can too easily settle for good intentions. We usually support programs that make us feel good without considering whether they actually do good. We need to be smarter about actually thinking through which poverty strategies are most effective.”

A Date With Tebow: Although I have a long history of disliking the Broncos, Tim Tebow continues to make his way into my heart. How can you not like a guy who does stuff like this?

A Good Response: About a week ago, this piece about congregational singing was posted and then this piece was posited as a good follow up. Check out both to see good, biblical thinking and response in action.

Is Prophesy Still Continuing in the Church Today? An hour long discussion with the most excellent Wayne Grudem and Ian Hamilton.

The Importance of Music in the Church: Trevin Wax interviews Matt Papa with a range of questions. His remark about the importance of music struck a note (haha!) in my heart. “For the church: the power of “song” is hard to exaggerate. Someone has said, “Let me make a nation’s (popular) songs, and I care not who make their laws.” Luther counted hymnody just under preaching in terms of theological formation. I say it this way: A song is a sermon people remember.”

And now, a Motown Tribute to Nickelback. Note the tambourine guy. He’s my favorite.

“It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian, and go to church, is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ’s voice, follow Christ, believe in Christ, and confess Christ, requires much self-denial. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease, and our worldliness. All- all must be given up. We must fight an enemy who comes against us with thousands of followers. We must build a tower in troubled times. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us “count the cost.” J.C. Ryle

Tags: the goods
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YouTube Tuesday

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Yet another reason why basketball is a terrible sport: little kids get hurt.

Tags: youtube tuesday
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The Book of Ecclesiastes in a 22 Second Clip

Monday, February 20th, 2012

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2

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The Real Story Behind the Vow

Monday, February 20th, 2012

So my wife wanted to see the movie “The Vow” the other night so we went and watched it together.

The movie was emotionally draining for me as a husband who loves his wife. The basic idea of the movie is a newly married couple goes through immense hardship after the wife loses all her memory of her life after high school, her marriage and her husband.

What is interesting is that the movie was based on a true story. Below is the actual couple who underwent the tragedy. As you watch, notice that the thing that kept the husband chasing after his wife even when she didn’t recognize him from a stranger was his commitment to keep the vow he made to her before God.

A refreshing story in the midst of an increasingly weak view of promises and faithfulness.

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Why we do what we do… The Biblical mandate for CORE Fellowship

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

Have you ever wondered why CORE Fellowship operates the way it does? Why do we have connection groups afterwards? Why we encourage parents to take the lead in spiritual formation of their children? Why we gather early to play games and sit at tables and talk before CORE even starts? Let me give you some insight to why we do what we do at CORE…

The classic writer Mark Twain’s suggestion, “When a boy turns 13 put him in a barrel and feed him through the knot hole. When he turns 16, plug up the hole”, reflects an ancient communal frustration of what to do with adolescents who are struggling to transition from childhood to adulthood. Many parents wring their hands in worry as they contemplate the decisions made by their aging children. Godly parents search the Scriptures looking for insight on how to raise young adults, who are no longer mere children. The difficulty is that the Bible is silent about teenagers, as adolescence was not a mindset in that culture. However, this lack of specific instruction does not necessitate reverting back to Mark Twain’s methods of “controlling” young adults.

Perhaps Mark Twain was onto something significant though, as historically the age 13 seems to begin the transitional years from childhood to adulthood. Many cultures have ceremonies celebrating this arrival of adulthood, although the exact age varies greatly from age 7 in some Hindu cultures to as late as 20 in Japanese celebrations (Wikipedia: adolescence). Jewish Bar and Bat Mitzvah have become cultural institutions unto themselves. However, these elaborate parties have significant spiritual roots in the Old Testament. Dating back to the time after the Exile, Jewish leaders sought to teach their children the Hebrew language to be able to read the Torah. Not wanting to see their faith extinguished with age, the synagogue schools become a primary method for the instruction of reading, writing and speaking the Hebraic language. “Young boys attended once they reached the age of manhood at thirteen” (Anthony, p. 35). This rite of passage entitled the boy to privileges and responsibilities of adult men, such as serving with other men in the synagogue and in the courts (Anthony, p. 35).

Providing a “language” for their faith was, and still is today, a primary need for adolescent faith development. This is why at CORE we focus on teaching the Bible and all that Jesus taught (i.e. theology). 2 Timothy 3:16,17 highlights the purpose of Scripture to equip young men women to live and pass on to others the doctrine of God. The Hebrew roots of CORE Fellowship are also found in the educational roles of Old Testament priests. While only boys were allowed to participate in formal education, older boys from the tribe of Levi were apprenticed by older priests (Anthony, p. 28). Elisha’s “company of the prophets” listed in 2 Kings 4:38 provides another type of leadership training group that was present in Ancient Israel. These “prophets schools” are an example of God’s design to rise up the next generation of Spiritual Leadership through mentoring that begins in the family and continues through the larger spiritual community.

These various methods of spiritual instruction would look very similar to Connection groups at CORE today. Small groups of adolescent boys gathered around the local priest or prophet, being mentored in the duties of the synagogue or the teachings of Scripture. The continuation and expansion of faith in the generations to come, we can assume, was their goal, as would be the same for us today.

The model established by God through God’s people to reach future generations can be described as such: begin religious instruction in the family home as spiritual practices, add knowledge through the larger community of faith (i.e CORE gatherings), and provide mentoring from key spiritual leaders for specific practices and duties. Our hope is that you will greatly benefit from this spiritual pathway to Loving God and Loving Others.

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Parent of Teen Care Group