Kevin DeYoung's Blog, page 112

Wasted Productivity and a Waste of a Statistic

Every year when March Madness rolls around you see headlines about how much money the U.S. economy loses because of wasted productivity during the first two days of the tournament. The idea sounds plausible: thousands of businesses will suffer because millions of employees are watching scores on their computers or watching games on their phone instead of actually working. Wasted productivity will cost hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars.

Don’t believe it.

For starters, the numbers assume that U.S. workers are basically digging ditches and when they waste a half hour one less ditch will get dug that day. But in our world that’s not how most productivity happens. People are paid to get their work done. Many employers aren’t bothered by little diversions if they keep morale high. They may actually improve productivity. If they don’t, most of those employees will make up the work they miss on Thursday and Friday by catching up on emails at home or doing a little more next week. You simply can’t compute wasted productivity by multiplying and hourly wage by an hour spent in distraction at work.

Even more importantly, the numbers don’t make any sense. This year the firm of Challenger, Gray, and Christmas estimate that $134 million will be lost in worker productivity. Last year the number was $175 billion. In 2008 it was an incredible $1.7 billion. So workers are on their computers and mobile devices less in 2013 than in 2008?

When you read the three page press release from Challenger, Gray, and Christmas (what kind of person reads those things!), the numbers get even more convoluted. The headline says nearly one-third of workers spend three hours per day following the tournament during work. Sounds high, but maybe. The second paragraph, however, says that 3 million employees will spend 1 to 3 hours each day on the tournament at work. With roughly 150 million people in the U.S. workforce, only 3 million employees “wasting” time doesn’t make sense. It’s certainly not a third.

Later in the report for Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, they claim that online coverage attracted 220 million visits in 2012, for an average of 2.2 million visitors per day. What am I missing? The tournament doesn’t last for a hundred days. The math doesn’t add up.

Anyway, the firm gets their 3 million number by assuming that that 2.2 million figure will increase this year. Then, assuming 3 million workers wasting one hour per day, they multiply it by the average hourly wage ($22.38), double that number (for Thursday and Friday), and come up with $134 million. What a crapshoot.

Here’s the bottom line: no one really knows how many workers will follow the games this afternoon. No one really knows for how long they are diverted from work. No one knows what these workers make each hour, or if they are even hourly employees. No one knows whether their bosses are fine with a little March Madness in the office. No one knows whether the wasted productivity is made up elsewhere. No one knows how productive these workers are on a normal day. The statistic is worthless. It doesn’t demonstrate much of anything, except our tendency to repeat statistics without knowing where they come or if they even make sense.

I hope you enjoy March Madness. I’ll be with my two older boys in Detroit at Michigan State’s opening round game.

The Elder’s Qualifications

What should elders be like? Outside of the Bible, you’d be hard pressed to find a better, sweeter, more uplifting explanation than the one given by David Dickson The Elder and His Work. Chew on these words. Be encouraged. Be challenged. Be inspired. Pray for grace.

*******

1. The office and work being spiritual, it is necessary that elders should be spiritual men. It is not necessary that they be men of great gifts or worldly position, of wealth or high education, but it is indispensably necessary that they be men of God, at peace with Him, new creatures in Christ Jesus; engaged in the embassy of reconciliation, they must be themselves reconciled. We must love the Master, and the work for the Master’s sake. If we do love it, it will be a happy service because it is a willing service. And as our souls prosper, our work will prosper; the joy of the Lord will be our strength…

2. We should have a good knowledge of the Word of God, and be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us. Not that we must be theologians, able to grapple learnedly with all heresies or controversies; but we should be well read in our Bibles, and able to do what Aquila and Priscilla did to Apollos. Elders should be men to a certain extent “established, strengthened, settled” (1 Peter 5:10), not “novices”, whom the elevation to office in the church is likely to make heady, forward, crotchety, conceited. For very young men and very young Christians, other useful though humbler spheres are more suitable. It is a very great help to an elder to have been for some years previously a Sabbath-school teacher, and thus accustomed to study the truth and to apply it. Such work will also test his intelligence and interest in divine things. If an elder is to discharge the duty laid upon him in Scripture – “to reprove, rebuke, and exhort” (2 Tim.4:2), to “be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince gainsayers” – the Word of God must be the man of his counsel, his daily companion…

3. Elders should be men of common sense, knowing when to speak and when to hold their tongues. Even grace does not give common sense, a little of which would settle many controversies and heresies in the church of Christ. Men of points and pugnacity are very annoying in a session or congregation, and they may rise to be the terror of presbyteries and other church courts. They may love the truth at heart – and we believe they often do – but they love fighting too. For such men the grave and quiet duties of the eldership have little or no charm. A carping, censorious spirit is to be watched and prayed against in all of us: it is often the precursor or companion of backsliding in doctrine or life. An uneasy conscience likes to find faults in others. Having many different characters and tempers to deal with, we need as elders to be men of a meek and quiet spirit, not going from one extreme to another – men of practical wisdom and sanctified common sense, and thus able to judge matters calmly and not as partisans.

4. We must be consistent in our life and conversation; we must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord; men of good report, both with those who are without and those who are within the church; model members of it; “examples to the flock” in faith, hope, and charity, ruling our own children and our own houses well. In these days wolves find it profitable to put on sheep’s clothing, for a certain amount of religious profession is a help and not a hindrance to a man’s worldly prosperity. the church and the world are thus in danger of fraternizing, and it is always the church that loses…

The usefulness of an elder will depend in the long run more on his character than on his gifts and knowledge. Quiet Christian consistency will give weight to his words of advice and be a daily lesson to all around. His walk and conversation, his style of living, his companions and friends, his geniality, his amusements will all have an important influence, not only on his own family, but on the people of his district and congregation. young people especially notice, and get good or evil from, much that they do not speak about to others. They should learn from us what a Christian is like, not by the frequent use of pious expressions, but by the clear, transparent outflow of a life “hid with Christ in God”. Brethren, “what manner of persons ought we elders to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11).

5. Last, not least, we should be men of deep sympathy – having not only human kindness in our hearts, but that sanctified and consecrated. Having experience of the ups and downs of human life, we should have sympathy with human hearts, ready to “weep with them that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice” (Rom.12:15). The world is not governed by logic, and to do much good in it, especially as Christian men and elders, the words of truth we speak must come warm from our hearts, or they fall cold and pointless.

It was once said to me of another, ‘He’s a good man, but somehow he never reminds me of Jesus.’ Much of our usefulness will lie not only in knowing the wants, natural and spiritual, of our people, but in our having that heart-sympathy with them that will make us open our hearts to them, and will lead them to open their minds and hearts to us in return. We can best learn this by living in fellowship with him who was displeased with his disciples when they rebuked the mothers for bringing their little children to Him, and when they wished the hungry multitude to be sent away unfed.

Taken from David Dickson, The Elder and His Work, pages 30-38.

Pastors, Ask for Prayer

Not too long ago, my wife and I went through a difficult ordeal-not anything between us as a couple, but with some medical issues that proved to be painful for the body and the heart. In the midst of this trial, one of my elders gave me very good advice: he encouraged me to share our experience and ask for prayer through our church’s prayer chain. I wasn’t trying to keep any secrets. I just hadn’t said much because I didn’t want to draw attention to our family or make a big deal out of something that is fairly common. But with his urging, I wrote up several paragraphs about what we were going through and sent an email to the church.

The response was predictably wonderful. People brought meals. People prayed for us. People send us notes. People stopped to express their concern. I saw the same thing a year ago when my dad was in the hospital and near to death. The body of Christ was eager to help, eager to sympathize, and eager to pray. Many people thanked me for letting them know the details and asking for prayer.

Every Christian needs the care and compassion of the body of Christ. Pastors knows this better than anyone. But we can be slow to accept it for ourselves. Obviously, I’m not suggesting we embrace a martyr’s complex or take advantage of our people’s kindness. But there is something deeply biblical, fundamentally wise, and particularly powerful about the shepherd acknowledging he is first of all a sheep. Pastors are real people-real fallen, hurting, human beings-and we need the church like everyone else.

When my elder suggested I ask the congregation to pray for me, he argued that a church learns to truly love her pastor by praying for him, comforting him, seeing him in need, and exercising their pent up desire to minister to him as he has ministered to them. If we aren’t careful as pastors, we can fall into the bad habit of thinking we must always be Christ to others and no one can ever be Christ to us. We get comfortable as the grace-dispensers, without recognizing our greater need to be grace-receivers. Such an attitude has the appearance of humility, but is actually the hardening of pride.

So men, don’t hesitate to tell your elders about the real issues in your lives. Don’t be scared to share your heart with your small group. Don’t pretend to be more spiritual than Christ by never crying, never admitting you’re tired, or never taking a nap. And, no matter what, don’t be afraid to ask for prayer. Let people in. Not everyone into everything, but a few people into everything, and everybody into something. If Jesus asked his meager disciples to pray for him, surely we can ask our wonderful congregations to pray for us.

Monday Morning Humor

In anticipation of the Big Dance starting this week:

Come to Cross (December 27-30, 2013)

Over the last couple years a number of us began praying and dreaming–individually and then together–about a student missions conference whose theology would be robust and rooted in the doctrines of grace, and whose focus would be on the unreached peoples of the world. Out of this burden, passion, and vision came Cross.

Cross exists for the global purpose of magnifying the kingly majesty of Jesus Christ. Our focus is on all the unreached peoples of the world where Jesus is not worshipped as God and Savior.

To that end CROSS aims to mobilize students for the most dangerous and loving cause in the universe: rescuing people from eternal suffering and bringing them into the everlasting joy of friendship with Jesus.

Jesus said that every person without faith in him, remains under the wrath of God (John 3:36). He also said that God did not send him “to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

That saving faith is born through the message of Jesus’ blood and righteousness—his cross. Everyone who believes is saved. But nobody believes without a messenger.

World missions is the glorious gospel enterprise of going like Christ into another cultural world to rescue people from eternal suffering, and renovate their broken lives, that they might render to God the splendor of his majesty through faith in Christ.

There is no better reason to lose your life and no greater way to live it.

The conference will be in Louisville, Kentucky during Christmas break, December 27-30, 2013.

I know I speak for the rest of leadership team–Thabiti Anyabwile, John Piper, David Platt, Zane Pratt, David Sitton, Mack Stiles–in encouraging you to check out the website, talk to your classmates, grab some students, and sign up.

The cost is very affordable, especially if you register right now. And more importantly, the cause is worth everything we’ve got.

The Gospel: Accept No Substitutes

It is possible to transmit the gospel in a way that never really gets to the root of the problem. Sometimes we share Jesus in such a way that we simply invite people to receive more of what they already want.

“Come to Jesus, you’ll feel better about yourself. Come to Jesus, your marriage will improve. Come to Jesus, you’ll be a better student. Come to Jesus, you’ll find friends. Come to Jesus and he’ll bless you with more stuff. Come to Jesus and your life will improve.”

Now there is a way to many of those statements true. But you really haven’t given the gospel until you also tell people: “Come to Jesus and repent. Take up your cross. Follow him as your Lord, no matter the cost.”

It’s tempting to give a gospel which amounts to “Everything you could ever want! Right now!” Come to Jesus, and I’ll throw in this extra ShamWow! There are whole churches built on this type of infomercial-Jesus, this type of methodology, claiming time is running out, so come now!

Yes, you do receive incomparable blessings when you come to Jesus. But we must also hear, to paraphrase Calvin, that true Christian faith is built on denial of ourselves. This is why some folks have such a hard time hearing the gospel. We think, “God is love, and if God is love then he wouldn’t ask me to do something I don’t want to do.” But what good news is this?

The good news is that God is going to give us more than we could ask or imagine. But the reality of Christianity is that it only comes by a cross. Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, it does not bear fruit.

When Jesus calls a man he bids him come and die.

That he might truly live.

Magnify Conference

Made for His Pleasure: The Priority of God in a World of Self

April 5-6, 2013

Alistair Begg is one of my favorite preachers. I am so excited he’ll be preaching at URC for the Magnify Conference. I encourage you to sign up and get to East Lansing for April 5 and 6.

Alistair served two churches in his native Scotland before answering the call in 1983 to become senior pastor at Parkside Church in suburban Cleveland, OH. A graduate of the London School of Theology and Westminster Seminary, he has written several books – including Made for His Pleasure – and is heard daily on the national radio program Truth for Life.

Conference Details

$20 Individuals

$10 Additional Family Members

$5 Pastors Breakfast

$5 Pastor’s Wives Breakfast

Due to space limitations, the breakfast is open to pastors and their wives only.

We will be able to accommodate the first 85 registrants.

Books and other resources will be available for purchase.

Schedule:

Friday 7pm – 9:00 pm Plenary I

Saturday 8:00 – 9:00 am Pastors Breakfast Seminar (RSVP only)

Saturday 9:15 – 10:45 am Plenary II

Saturday 11am – Noon Q & A

Saturday 1:30 – 3:00 pm Plenary III

Event Website and Registration

A Surprising Work of God (2 of 2)

The year is roughly 640 B.C.  Judah is in bad shape.  After some good years with King Hezekiah, the nation has gone down hill in a big way with fifty-five years under the wicked Manasseh. The next two years under King Amon were hardly better: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them” (2 Kings 21:20-21).

The country looked bleak. God’s people were languishing. There wasn’t a lot to cheer about.

But God, by a sovereign, surprising work of his Spirit, brought reformation and breathed new life into his people. The God-given renewal in Judah, like all true revival, was marked by several distinguishing characteristics. Let me mention five.

The first and most important mark is a rediscovery of the Word of God (2 Kings 22:1-2, 8-10).  Can you imagine this scene?  Someone on your church staff comes up from the boiler room, “Pastor, you are not going to believe this.  I found a Bible down there! Remember  hundreds of years ago when we used to read the Bible.  Well, I found one! And I have to tell you, I think we’re in big trouble. I’ve been looking at God’s commandments for us, and we are way off.” That’s basically what happened in Josiah’s day.

It was the rediscovery of the book of the law that sparked revival in the land.

2 Kings 22:13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
2 Kings 23:3 “And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.”
2 Kings 23:24-25 “Morever, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”

From start to finish God’s mighty work is by, through, and according to the book.  What does it say?  What do we need to do?  “Give it to me straight,” Josiah says.  “We are going to be a people of the book.”

True revival will always be Bible saturated through and through.  Revival is not simply renewed fervor for spiritual things.  Buddhists have a fervor for spiritual things. Oprah and Tom Cruise have a hunger for spiritual things. God-wrought revival brings a fervor for the Bible, that we might live, feel, sing, pray, work, and worship according to the word of God.

In our day, the Bible will not be found while repairing the temple, but when the Spirit blows, the authority of the Bible will be rediscovered. Preachers will preach with greater unction as they preach line upon line from the Bible. The minister will plead with sinners as a dying man to dying men. Husbands will wash their wives in the word of God.  Parents will instruct their children in the truth.  At social settings, conversation will move from sports and the weather to discussion about the Scriptures.  People of all ages will hunger to read, memorize, and study the Bible. They will love to hear good preaching. They will love to read good books. There will be renewed confidence in, desire for, and obedience to every jot and tittle of Scripture. That’s how revival starts, and without this first mark you have mere enthusiasm.

The second mark of true revival is a restored sense of the fear of God (2 Kings 22:11-17).  Here’s something to put on your prayer list: “Lord, help me fear you more than I fear people.” If we are going to do anything really useful, we must learn to love God’s favor more than we love the praise of men.  And we must dread his implacable anger more than our own embarrassment.

Can you hear Josiah’s heart in verse 13?  “The wrath of God is kindled against us, and rightly so.  He will not look on sin lightly and our sins have been very great.  We have provoked his anger.”  Josiah is shaken to the core.  The book they found was Deuteronomy–the book of the law, with the Ten Commandments, and all the rules codified for God’s people.  That’s the scroll Josiah is just getting wind of, coming across passages like these:

Deuteronomy 17:18-19 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God be keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them”
Deuteronomy 4:23-24 “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and made a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. The the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

Josiah takes God’s word seriously because he take God seriously. He understands that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When revival comes, God draws near and we stand in awe.

The third mark of true revival is a return to God through confession and repentance (2 Kings 22:18-20).  A broken heart and a contrite spirit God will not despise.  Repentance is not simply saying “I’m sorry.”  It is not mumbling “I made a mistake.  Nobody’s perfect.”  It is not even being embarrassed when caught.  True repentance is an about-face–a turning away from the ugliness of sin and running to God for mercy.  True confession is standing before a holy God, humiliated and ashamed and saying with David “I am the man.” It’s crying out from the heart, “My God, my God why hast thou accepted me?” When the Spirit of God falls, consciences are pricked and convicted sinners confess their sins.

The fourth mark of true revival is renewed spiritual commitment and accountability (2 Kings 23:1-3).  This is what God’s people did in the Old Testament.  They were always renewing the covenant–in the desert, in the promised land, back from exile.  When God brought revival, his people began to say to each other, “It’s time to ante up.  Time to recommit.” There was more than an individual experience of refreshment. There was a public, corporate commitment to godliness.  This is a public corporate commitment to godliness.  On March 16, 1742, for example, Jonathan Edwards’ congregation entered into a covenant.  Everyone in the church fifteen and older made promises.

“In all our conversation, concerns, and dealings with our neighbor, we will have strict regard to rules of honesty, justice, and uprightness.”
“And furthermore we promise that we will not allow ourselves in backbiting.”
“And we promise that we will be very careful to avoid doing any thing to our neighbor out of a spirit of revenge.”
“And if any of us find that we have an old secret grudge against any of our neighbors, we will not gratify it but cross it, and endeavor to our utmost to root it out, crying to God for his help.”
“And those of us that are in youth do promise never to allow ourselves in any diversions or pastimes, in meetings, or companies of young people…to rob God of that honor which he expects.”
“And furthermore we promise that will strictly avoid all freedoms and familiarities in company [which] stir up a lust…that we cannot in our consciences think will be approved by the infinitely pure and holy eye of God.”
“And we now appear before God, depending on Divine grace and assistance, solemnly to devote our whole lives, to be laboriously spent in the business of religion.”

Renewed corporate commitment is one mark of genuine revival.

And finally, true revival is marked by a reformation of true piety (23:21-25).  When revival comes to a church or community, piety is reformed.  People start to live like they profess.  Instead of blending in with their cultural surroundings, God’s people stand out.  They return to God and reform their ways. They pursue faithfulness to the word, not the fashions of the world.

Reformation of true piety entails two things: a decisive break with the sinful ways of the past and an eagerness to obey the word of God in the present.  You see both under Josiah’s reign.  The shrines, altars, high places, and false gods are destroyed; and the Passover is re-instituted.  This is what God called for in Deuteronomy 18. And Josiah does it: no excuses, no delays, just swift obedience. God has cultivated a new hatred for sin and a new hunger for righteousness.

So what is true revival? It is not revivalism, not individualism, not emotionalism, and not idealism.  True revival is marked by a rediscovery of the word of God, a restored sense of the fear of God, a return to God through confession and repentance, a renewed spiritual commitment and accountability and finally, a reformation of true piety.

If this is the longing of your heart, preachers, get preaching; and everyone, start praying.

A Surprising Work of God (1 of 2)

There are only a few things that go on my weekly prayer list. One of them is revival. I believe God has moved in the past to ignite great awakenings. I believe he can do it again. And I believe Christians would do well to preach and pray for a Christ-centered, God-glorifying, gospel-loving, Spirit-given revival in our own day.

Of course, this begs the question: what is true revival. I’ll come to a definition in a moment, and take tomorrow’s post to say more about the shape of biblical renewal and reformation, but let me start by dispelling a few false notions about revival.

First, revival is not revivalism. Obviously, when you add the “ism” is sounds scary, but I think there is an important distinction to uphold. By revivalism, I mean a man-timed, man-made, man-determined event.  In the early nineteenth century, a profound shift took place.  Whereas before revivals were seen as sovereign works of God that one prayed and fasted for but could not plan, beginning in the 1800s revivals became programmed productions.  You would put up a tent and announce a revival next Thursday.  If you put a new song here, a choir number there, a certain style of preaching, an anxious bench for sinners under conviction, you could be assured of a response.  That is man-made revivalism, not true revival.

Second, revival is not individualism.  By that I mean that a revival is a corporate event.  It is a wonderful thing when God changes a single heart, especially in the midst of many dry bones, but that is not what we are talking about.  When God sends revival, it sweeps through an entire church, or churches, or community, and touches a diversity of people (e.g., young, old, rich, poor, educated, uneducated).  It is not just an individual transformation, as wonderful as that is.

Third, revival is not emotionalism.  To be sure, true revival may have great emotion.  But emotion in itself does not indicate a genuine work of the Spirit. You can raise hands, or stand stiff, weep hysterically, or have a great calm, fall down on the floor, jump up and down, shout Amen, pray loud prayers or soft prayers, feel very spiritual or feel very little.  These are what Jonathan Edwards called “non-signs.”  They don’t say anything one way or the other.  If you lift up your hands when singing a praise song, it may mean that you are enraptured with the love of God, or may mean you have an expressive personality and the music provides a power release.  If you sing a hymn with solemnity and gravity, it may be that you are singing out of profound awe and reverence, or it may mean that your religion is mere formalism and you are actually bored out of your gourd.  True revival is marked by more than the presence or absence of tremendous emotion.

Fourth, revival is not idealism.  Revival does not mean that heaven arrives on earth.  It does not usher in a spiritual utopia.  It does not solve all the church’s problems.  In fact, revival, with all their blessings, usually brings new problems.  There is often controversy. There can be pride and jealousy. There may be suspicion. And besides these works of the flesh, Satan often stirs up counterfeit revivals.  He sows seeds of confusion and deception.  So as much as we ought to long for revival, we should not expect it to be the cure-all for life’s problems, let alone a substitute for decades of quiet, faithful obedience and growth.

So what is true revival?  Here’s my definition: True revival is a sovereign, swift, extraordinary work of God whereby he saves sinners and breathes new life into his people.

True revival is a sovereign (dependent on God’s timing, God’s doing, granted according to God’s pleasure)
swift (conversions, growth, and change happen relatively quickly)
extraordinary (uncommon, surprising)
work of God (not ours)
whereby he saves sinners (regeneration leading to faith and repentance)
and breathes new life into his people (with renewed affections, commitment, and obedience).

One of the best examples of true revival in the Bible is the story of Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23. The story is not a blueprint to duplicate in every respect, especially because Josiah is king over a theocracy. But the story is instructive in so far as it gives us a picture of a sovereign, swift, extraordinary work of God.

We will see what that picture looks like tomorrow.

Monday Morning Humor

Cool video, but who doesn’t like the white stuff in Oreos? I’d go for Triple Stuff if they made them.

HT Vitamin Z