Interesting discussion at OneInJesus blog

Well, I had planned another entry today stemming from my previous one but haven’t gotten around to writing it yet, largely because there are so many thoughts in my head that I cannot figure out how to approach it.

Instead, I’ll share an interesting post and subsequent discussion over at Jay Guin’s blog concerning an always-controversial topic in the churches of Christ, instrumental music.

I know it’s been discussed and debated ad nauseum, but being new to the blogosphere I’m getting my primer on both sides of the debate.  I’ve dropped a couple of questions of my own into the discussion hoping for some clarification.  I’ll in turn ask them here as well and hope for the same thing.

1. Opponents of IM use this very argument (silence of the scriptures) to prove their case, but seem to ignore or explain away the many other things that have been introduced into our churches that are also not mentioned in the NT.  How can we have it both ways?
2. (In response to a comment on aids and additions) How is it determined what is an aid and what is an addition?

These aren’t intended to be leading or entrapping questions.  But they are questions that have bugged me for a while as I have heard certain defenses used against the usage of IM, the first because it seems to signify a lack of consistency in applying the principle of prohibitive silence; the second because there does not appear to be any clear-cut Biblical distinction between what men have labeled “aids” and “additions.”

How do you answer those questions?

It’s what the Lord has done

There are times where I am reminded about how lucky I am to have a church family like the one we have where we attend.  Today was one of those days.

Without getting into much detail, one of the new members at our church has dealt with a lot of problems for a lot of years.  One of those is drug addiction.  With the help of our elders, another member and of course God, he has been clean for 15 days and this morning, he left for several months of rehab in a center that is about two hours away.

This morning, at 6:30, 31 people from our congregation showed up to pray with him and encourage him as he left for what is sure to be a difficult road ahead.  His communication with the “outside” – including his two young daughters – will be very limited.  And as anyone who has gone through an addiction of any kind will know, the cravings often never truly go away.  He has taken some huge steps in the right direction already, but many still remain ahead.

We stood around him, held hands or put our arms around each other (I chose the latter), and prayed for him.  He thanked everyone for coming and said that we were the first family he’d ever really had.  As I found out later, he had no family growing up.  More on this in tomorrow’s post.

Inspired by those comments, we sang “God’s Family” together before he left.  Definitely appropriate for the occasion, but at the same time another song stuck in my head that I think is equally appropriate for what is happening here – “What The Lord Has Done In Me.”

Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’
Let the poor say, ‘I am rich’
Let the blind say, ‘I can see’
It’s what the Lord has done in me

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again

To the river I will wade
There my sins are washed away
From the heavens’ mercy streams
Of the Savior’s love for me

I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God
I will sing salvation songs
Jesus Christ has set me free

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again

I see what the Lord has begun to do in him, and I stand amazed at what He can do when we give Him even the smallest opening.

Please pray that Jeremy will continue to allow God to work in him over the next several days, weeks, months and beyond.

Derek Dooley: Football coach-slash-comedian

I am not by any means a Tennessee Volunteer fan.  In fact, I take great pleasure in irritating their fans, largely because their fans irritate me.  And in recent years, it’s been much like shooting fish in a barrel.

But this new football coach of theirs…dad gum it, he’s so funny that I’m actually starting to like him.

A friend of mine compiled a list of Derek Dooley quotes following the Vols’ 32-29 double-overtime win over C-USA powerhouse UAB.  UT won despite being outgained 544-287.

Read and enjoy.

Dooley on special teams: “We actually got a positive punt return. I think we’re out of the negative in punt return. That’s a good sign.”

Dooley on Vols’ WR drops: “It doesn’t take confidence to just catch a ball right here (in the hands). Just catch it.”

Dooley on Vols’ D going into next week: “We probably should not practice plays, and just tackle.”

Dooley on Vols’ toughness: “I’m sitting there wondering why they’re not fazed. Every human in the stadium knows you’re getting annihilated.”

Dooley said Vols OC Jim Chaney made great call on game-winning TD because “he didn’t want to call any more plays.”

Dooley: “We had a lot of luck. Their kicker really helped us. How many did he miss?” (UAB went 2-7 on FG attempts)

Dooley: “I appreciate the fans staying. There was a point where I was shocked anybody was in the stadium, with the way we were playing.”

Dooley: “Johnny Majors told me I needed to put in quick kick. And he’s right. We may work on that this week on third down.”

Dooley said this was his 2nd OT game. “I lost the first one, because I went for 2 — like an idiot.”

Dooley: “It looked like 2 equal teams out there. Actually, it really didn’t. It looked like 1 superior team. It’s where we are right now.”

Dooley: “I felt like they had 158 plays to our 28 and held the ball for 52 minutes to our 8.”

Dooley: “They outplayed us at every position. We really didn’t do anything well. I don’t know what else to say. We’ve got a lot of issues.”

Dooley, at his most frustrating moment, thought about telling the Vols, “Do something that resembles anything.”

Who is Jesus talking about?

One of the topics that I am fairly certain will comprise several posts will be things that have bothered me, or are currently bothering me, in my experience in the church.

Here’s one of them:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’. (Matt. 7:21-23, NASB)

I cannot remember an instance where I heard this passage of scripture used to encourage me to look internally.  I can only remember hearing this passage applied externally – to those “outside the church,” however that was being defined by the persons quoting these words of Jesus.

So what bothers me is this – why do we sometimes seem to act so sure that these words don’t apply to us?

Is it possible that they do?

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (I John 3:4-10, NASB)

A reoccurring word in both the Matthew and I John passages that sticks out to me is “practices.”  So the question I must ask myself is: do I practice sin?  Am I allowing it to be a regular part of my life?  Or do I practice righteousness?  Not a man-made definition of righteousness, but rather one that is defined by God?

Do I elevate some sins above others and make those “greater” sins the ones Jesus is referring to, while writing mine off under grace in the same breath?  Do I forget the part about loving my brother in my quest to make sure I am righteous?

Am I doing the will of the Father?  Do I abide, do I remain in Him?  Or do I remain in sin while pretending to abide in Christ?

Maybe sometimes those words are meant for me after all.

Reflecting Christ

A lot of people and events have touched me in recent weeks, most of which has been unknown to those who have done the touching.  The above video is one of those events.

I am lucky enough to have known Chris Gallagher a little in college at Freed-Hardeman.  I’m a bit older than he is and since I got married during my junior year, I never really spent a lot of time around him.  But through the wonder of Facebook, I’ve been able to reconnect with Chris and get to know him a little bit better.  It’s been a blessing for me, because I’ve been able to discuss some thoughts and struggles I’ve had with him and he’s always had good insights that have helped me in my study.

I don’t want to say much about the video because a) I want you to watch it, and b) Chris does such an amazing job relaying the events that pierced the hearts of several men during a trip to a Mexican restaurant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that I can’t do it justice.  So I will simply introduce the video by saying that this is an amazing example of what being a reflection of Christ means.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40, NIV)

Sadly, I’ve seen us get so caught up in what we can and can’t do in worship, listened to us argue over the grace of God, and watched brothers and sisters in Christ treat each other like dirt, that perhaps…just perhaps we have forgotten what Jesus said it takes to get into heaven.

Called to freedom

I’ve been inspired.

Well, “inspired” may be a strong word.  Let’s go with “moved” instead.  Whatever you want to call it, here I am with a blog.  Which, if my memory and math serves correctly, will be attempt number four at this type of thing.

But this time, I hope/think it will last for a while.  Because this time, I feel like I have something worth writing about – not because my prose will be brilliant (it won’t) but because it will be a means of recording some things I am thinking and, if I am really lucky, will also be a means of having people more intelligent than I responding to my thoughts and questions with greater insight.

The name of the blog is, as you can see, “Called To Freedom.”  I got this from Galatians 5:13.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (NASB)

This particular passage and its surrounding verses have a special meaning for me.  When my wife and I were going through some very difficult times in dealing with fellow Christians, I managed – no, God led me to this portion of His scripture.

One of the cool things is, though, that this passage has a different meaning to me than it did when I first discovered it – but both meanings were what I needed to be spiritually fed at the time.

Anyway, back to the point.  One of the purposes of this blog is to help me in my journey to discover God’s will through His word – not through what I’ve already been taught in my 37 years in the church of Christ, not through my previously-held convictions.  Just through His word.  We clearly have been called to freedom, as Paul said.  I want to have a better understanding of what that means, among many other things.

I know I have many more questions than answers and I imagine many of the posts will reflect that.  I hope I am lucky enough to be found by others with more knowledge and wisdom than I have, and that their comments will help me on my journey.

May God bless and guide our study of His word.