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Always Content

One thing that’s been on my mind a lot recently is that I’m turning 25 this year. Now I know in the big scheme of things and compared to many of the people that I spend a good deal of time with, that isn’t very old, but I sure do feel it. “I feel thin, stretched, sort of like butter scraped over too much bread,” in the wise words of Bilbo Baggins. This has led to the beginnings of a quarter-life crisis for me: what am I doing with my life and why? One of my reactions to that is to begin my seminary training, but the other thing I’m learning to do is to always be content. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I know so many people who complain about living in Cheyenne, Wyoming which isn’t the thriving metropolis of a Denver or Minneapolis. Yet as Mark Driscoll says, the boring seems to follow them wherever they live.

I found an article titled ‘40 and Content,’ that gets this exact point. The main thrust of the article is: “Question: Instead of obsessing about changing the world, what if we just gave ourselves to living in glad obedience to Jesus in the trenches of an ordinary life?” That is a great question! In Paul David Tripp’s book ‘What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage‘ he says that life isn’t made up of a number of big choices, but of thousands of daily little choices. Being healthy isn’t one big decision to work out once and be done, but a daily decision to work out and eat healthier. Can you be content with an “ordinary” life lived in complete surrender to God?

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by mikethestrand on May 8, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on May 8, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/08/always-content/

On Avoiding Christian Scholarship

On an incredibly exciting note for myself, I am planning to begin my seminary education this fall! Cue the obscene amounts of caffeine and late nights. One of the things I struggle with in my pursuit of higher education is how to apply a text to my life and not just allow it to be an academic pursuit. Throughout most of my undergraduate education (pretty much until my final year of school) I was simply trying to get a passing grade in my classes until it suddenly struck me that I need to be applying what I learned to my life! (See Luke 12:48)

I found a very interesting post titled ‘On Avoiding Kierkegaard’s Indictment of Christian Scholarship‘ that is worth reading. Kierkegaard begins by saying,

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in this world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

What a scathing review of the academic pursuit of a believer! Yes, it is incredibly convicting to be alone with the New Testament, but because of my academic training and some very godly teachers, I have a proper lens through which to view the Scripture I’m reading. I know so many people who have a wrong interpretation of Scripture that ends up dictating their life (God helps those who help themselves, don’t judge lest you be judged). Without a proper background and training it’s so easy to pick and choose the pieces of the Bible you want to apply.

So I’m going to enter into seminary with a different perspective than I entered my undergrad work: with my eyes wide open to see how God wants to further rule in my life as I attempt to apply Scripture to my life. May He alone get all the glory!

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by mikethestrand on May 8, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Life, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on May 8, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/08/on-avoiding-christian-scholarship/

How To Preach A Confusing Text

The Gospel Coalition has a great blog today on ‘How To Preach A Text When You Don’t Know What It Means.’ In it, Michael Patton (great first name!) shows the difference between preaching and teaching and lists the following examples:

  • Preaching is exhortation; teaching is education.
  • Preaching is the discharge of the gospel of hope; teaching is discipleship of the gospel of hope.
  • Preaching puts wind in the sails; teaching put an anchor in the ground.
  • Preaching raises our eyes to the things we know with great conviction; teaching helps us to understand what things we can have legitimate conviction about.
  • Preaching tells you which option is correct; teaching gives you all the options.

To me, it gets down to the basic question of why do we preach? We should preach to proclaim the Good News of what Christ has done in our lives, how Christ continues to work in our lives and what Christ will eventually do when he returns. He ends the article saying,

Sometimes we need to settle for good sermons with wrong texts. Sometimes we are going to be unsure of the exact interpretation of a passage of Scripture, but we don’t have to sacrifice giving our congregations something to believe due to the obscurity of our text. We can still preach the Word with full integrity by focusing on the principles that are universally true even if we end up being wrong about our interpretation. It is important that you let people know there is some legitimate debate and what you are about to preach could be wrong. But assure them that the principles that you preach are not wrong as they are found in other places in Scripture. That is how you preach a sermon when you are not sure what the passage means.

Give them something to believe.

Do you have something to believe? Do you have the conviction it takes to preach a sermon on a confusing text or do you simply give up?

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by mikethestrand on May 7, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Church, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on May 7, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/07/how-to-preach-a-confusing-text/

Saying ‘NO’ to Facebook

Many things have changed in my life over the past month, one of them being that I have given up facebook. I thought this would be a very difficult change for me to achieve, but it’s actually been a lot easier than I expected. So here are some things I’ve seen improve in my life through not having facebook.

First, I’ve become a lot more intentional at keeping up with my real friends. I had something like 900 “friends” on facebook, of those 900 friends, I actually regularly stay in touch with about 40 of them (including family and people who live very close to me). Not having facebook has forced me to get better at maintaining the relationships with those that I truly care about, and I am so grateful for things like texting that allow me to stay in touch with them very quickly.

Secondly, I’ve found myself getting a lot more creative. I’ve had to come up with new things to do to replace the down time I had where I would just sit and check facebook. It’s been very refreshing to not always wonder what’s being said, or who mentioned me in a comment or who has the newest pictures up. Tied in to this, I’ve been reading quite a bit more. There are so many resources out there that I’ve been trying to delve into that I have finally found the time to do.

Third, and most importantly in my mind, I find myself being much more present when I spend time with people. I don’t have facebook to fall back on if things get boring or there is a lull in the conversation, I need to force myself to be all there and focus on the person I’m spending time with.

So for you: do you find facebook taking over your life? How have you found ways that you can maintain real significant relationships with people apart from facebook? Do you think giving up facebook is a good thing to do?

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by mikethestrand on May 3, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Life, Technology
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Posted by mikethestrand on May 3, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/03/saying-no-to-facebook/

Preparing Your Hearts and Minds

What do you do to prepare yourself for the gathering of God’s people on Sunday? Do you even take any time to prepare for this special meeting, or are you too concerned with getting there on time with everyone’s clothes on and hair combed?

One of the things I’ve been pondering lately is how I can help people to prepare for Sunday worship. Should we encouraged people to read and ponder the passage that will be preached the next week? Should we give thoughts for people to think about throughout the coming week? And if we do this, how many people would actually put in the effort to read and prepare?

It seems to me that many people assume that the only person who needs to prepare for Sunday’s worship service is the pastor. Yet Luke 8:18 says, “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Those in the congregation need to attentively and actively listen.

A blog titled ‘Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly‘ has the following example of this in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Bonhoeffer ran an underground seminary for theological students during the oppressive years of Nazi Germany. He was a very intelligent man who possessed immense critical capabilities. But in his homiletics classes as he listened to his students preaching, he always set aside his pencil and listened intently with his Bible open before him – no matter how poor the sermon was.

He believed that the preaching of God’s Word ought to be attended as if he were listening to the very voice of God. That is how I try to listen too – always looking to the text, always engaged, always thinking, always praying.

Jesus has called us to be sure we really hear the Word of God.

How attentively do you listen to the sermons in your church? How do you prepare for the Word to be preached? And if you do not do either of these things, why don’t you?

–For more on how to listen to a sermon, check out this blog.

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by mikethestrand on May 1, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on May 1, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/05/01/preparing-your-hearts-and-minds/

Parenting with Grace

My dad sent me a couple articles on grace based parenting this morning, and they are very helpful to read. The first is titled, ‘Parent for kids who will make disciples among the lost rather than become saved and satisfied.’ My favorite line from this article is:

Be cautious of only placing kids in “Christian” environments and isolated Bible studies assuming that this will grow them into quality Christian adults. What if it doesn’t?

I know many people who have been so careful about keeping their children protected, yet when the children were finally able to achieve independence, they had a crisis of the faith and were unable to follow the faith that their parents forced upon them any longer.

The second article is titled, ‘What I am NOT suggesting AND three warnings against parenting toward moralism.‘ Again, it’s worth the time to read the whole thing, but the main points are:

1. I am not suggesting that parenting from grace is letting kids do whatever they want.

2. I am not suggesting that parenting from grace never involves discipline.

3. I am not suggesting that parenting from grace avoids focusing on character development.

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by mikethestrand on April 24, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Relationships
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Posted by mikethestrand on April 24, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/24/parenting-with-grace/

Contextualization in the Church

The Gospel Coalition has a wonderful article today titled, ‘Don’t Throw Out Your Nice Suit Just Yet.‘ One of the most helpful paragraphs is:

It is interesting, then, to see church leaders intentionally get rid of these more traditional elements in order to contextualize the gospel. Churches all across our nation emphasize casual worship, and their pastors often sport graphic tees, jeans, and flip flops on Sunday mornings. They believe this approach will best reach a generation turned off by “churchiness.” However, while these churches may be contextualizing their church services for one particular demographic, they do not necessarily reach an entire generation.

This is where I think it’s very helpful to have multiple people on staff. One person cannot effectively reach an entire generation of people, but multiple people can. Tied into that, I don’t think that means that EVERY senior pastor needs to wear a suit when they preach, I think they should let their personality shine out in the way they dress. For me, I’m most comfortable in a button-up and jeans with a nice pair of Sperrys. The other two pastors wear slacks and button-ups every week! (I don’t really know how they do it!)

So yes, let’s not forget that not everyone is used to jeans and a T, but let’s not completely do away with them either. Wear what you’re comfortable wearing and praise God that he loves you not for your outward appearance, but for your heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

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by mikethestrand on April 12, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on April 12, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/12/contextualization-in-the-church/

Waiting

Waiting it hard. Waiting is difficult. Waiting takes patience. Waiting is something God has been working on in my life over the past week. I don’t always know why God does what he does when he does in my life, but I’m learning and striving to trust him in the midst of the struggles. As Relient K said, “I struggle with forward motion/we all struggle with forward motion/cause forward motion is harder than it sounds/every time I gain some ground I’ve gotta turn myself around again” And David wrote in Psalm 37, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” Be still and wait. In our culture that is so difficult! We have access to more information online than previous generations had in entire libraries, yet how often do we simply sit and wait?

I read a blog today titled ‘The “Right Time” God‘ that was really helpful for me this week. One of the most impactful things for me to read was:

But we see, in hindsight, see that God was not inactive during that time, but instead knew the right “when.” We know this of course. Of course we do.

Except we don’t.

We think we do, but our impatience and frustration betrays us. In fact, I wonder today how much sin might be avoided in my life if I really believed in the perfect timing of God. Every time I think I must manufacture an opportunity I show that I don’t believe.

I’m thankful God doesn’t work in my time table, and I continue to pray and trust that God will work things our for my good and his glory!

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by mikethestrand on April 11, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Life
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Posted by mikethestrand on April 11, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/11/waiting/

Lead the Church and Family

I found a fantastic article today titled, ‘Leading the Church While Leading Your Family.’ I was again reminded how grateful I am for my dad who, although he didn’t always put the family first, he still does his best to put us first. I’m grateful for the example of my dad and pray for the strength to put my family first when I, Lord wiling, have one. One of my favorite things from the article is:

Fourth, little things really do matter. Every night when I would say goodnight to my children, I would usually pray with them and then my last words to them were, “I love you. I will always love you and there is nothing that you can do that will ever make me stop loving you.” (There were times I would have to add, “But don’t push it!”) I did this night after night, year after year, until when I started in they would say with a sigh, “Yeah, I know Dad, and there is nothing that I can do that will ever make you stop loving me.” And I would respond, “And don’t you ever forget it.”

I wanted them to know that what I attempted to do imperfectly was done for them perfectly by God through Christ. I wanted them to know their acceptance and security was not rooted in their grades, awards, achievements, and success as the world defined it. They heard this before solos, piano competitions, spelling bees, basketball and soccer games, final exams, college entrance exams, and every night before bed.

One day I was at a track meet for my youngest daughter. I was screaming loudly as she ran her event when my other daughter called from college in great distress. She was facing a test of monumental importance that would determine the success or failure of her entire degree program, and she felt that she was cracking under the pressure. Four years was resting all on this! I reminded her that she was not sufficient for this, but that her confidence and rest was in Christ. I was eleven hours away. With my fist pumping the air for my youngest who was crossing the finish line in record time, I cried with my other daughter and prayed with her to rest in Christ. Then I said again. “Remember, I love you, I will always love and there is nothing that you can do to ever make me stop loving you.” She knew I would tell her that and just wanted to hear it.

What would your family say about you? For those of you who are single, what about the people in your church and your siblings and parents? Is Christ leading and guiding all your relationships?

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by mikethestrand on April 5, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships
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Posted by mikethestrand on April 5, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/05/lead-the-church-and-family/

The Wrath of God

It has become very popular in many Christian circles today to downplay God’s wrath. Many people I talk to quickly say that God is a loving God which means he wouldn’t ever punish anyone. Even Rob Bell last year questioned the existence of hell in his well known book Love Wins. In the opposite side of the spectrum is Tim Keller who in a sermon titled, ‘The Dark Garden,’ talks about how he came to realize that a wrathful God is MORE loving than a non-wrathful God. For him, it all hit home in the Garden of Gethsemane .

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that I came finally to grips—I made my peace, as it were—with the wrath of God. Now, it might shock some of you that…a preaching minister was struggling with the very idea of a God of wrath, a God who sends people to Hell…. And then it was studying the Garden of Gethsemane when I finally came to peace with it because I realized this: The reason why people get rid of the idea of Hell and wrath is because they want a loving God…. They say, “I can’t believe in Hell and wrath because I want a more loving God.” And I came to realize in the Garden of Gethsemane that if you get rid of the idea of Hell and wrath, you have a less loving God.

You can read some more thoughts from the sermon here. I am grateful that Tim Keller took a stance on this issue and is willing to say that God is a wrathful God! He cannot tolerate sin, for he is a holy God. Praise God that through Jesus, we have a way into the presence of God!

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by mikethestrand on April 4, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, History
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Posted by mikethestrand on April 4, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/04/04/the-wrath-of-god/

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