Daniel Darling's Blog, page 50

Are you preaching the right Jesus on Sunday?

From my recent article at Lifeway Pastors: 

A few years ago I began a preaching series through the book of James. To be honest, I decided to preach through James because I felt it addressed some issues I wanted to address, from Scripture in our congregation. James is a book that doesn’t mess around. It addresses weak and shallow faith, joy in suffering, and pride and elitism in the body of Christ.

What surprised me, however, was how much James spoke to me, as a pastor. I was especially convicted by the way James 3 challenges the way pastors approach the text when they stand in the pulpit on Sundays.

Most of us are aware of James 3:1’s shot across the bow. “Not many of you,” James writes, “should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who are teachers will be judged with greater strictness.” I’d always read this verse as a warning to pastors to make sure they understand the weight of their calling. But there is more here, I think, in James’ warning.

The rest of James 3 addresses the tongue, how this “untamed…world of righteousness” can cause much destruction. As a child, growing up, I’d heard many sermons on the tongue and how gossip in the church can hurt church unity. But I’d never connected these warnings about the tongue to James 3:1. That was, until the weight of the entire passage hit me like a ton of bricks.

What James is saying here is this: the words you say in the pulpit matter. They can either be words of gospel life or words of death. When a pastor ascends the stage and stands in the pulpit, he is essentially speaking for God to God’s people. And when people sit and listen, they are assuming that what you are preaching and saying is what God has already declared in His Word.

This is why we have to get the text right. God uses good, sound, gospel preaching to communicate life to His people and to the lost. But bad, unsound, false doctrine leads to spiritual death.

And nothing is more important than the way we preach Jesus. Now, no evangelical pastor would say that he’s not preaching Jesus. Jesus is why we get into the ministry. It’s why we go through seminary, deal with the difficulties of church life, and represent God to God’s people.

I think there are three false Jesus’ preachers are tempted to preach. Read the whole article here

Anything is Possible if You Work Hard . . . Until it Isn’t

“Anything is possible if you work hard . . . ” this is a message that we hear, over and over again, a credo embedded in the ethos of many Americans. I say “many” because the realities of those of us who have grown up in safe, relatively affluent suburbs is vastly different from my brothers and sisters who’ve grown up in more hope-starved, crime-ridden, opportunity-free precincts of American life.

But is the above credo true? Is it biblical? And is it something we should whisper to our kids as we tuck them in at night? I get the sentiment behind it, I really do. I think it’s important, vital even, for parents to encourage, support and believe in their kids. However, we are lying to our kids if we tell them that if they work hard they can achieve anything they want. Let me use an example in my own life.

I was a marginal, at best, athlete. By marginal I mean marginal in a small Christian school with a limited talent pool. So, to be frank, I’m not an athlete. And yet I managed to play basketball in junior high and high school. I had to work harder than most of my teammates because I wasn’t especially tall, I wasn’t especially fluid, and I battled weight problems. I worked hard, though, at basketball, especially between my sophomore and junior years. In that summer I lost 40 lbs and ran two miles a day and got into the best shape of my life. I entered training camp ready to seize the fifth and final starting spot. That hard work paid off as I was a key player on my team which won the majority of its games and got second in the state (Relax: it was a Christian school league).

I worked hard. I wanted to be good at basketball. And I made the team. But even as hard as I worked–pushing myself beyond my self, subverting my body to my will–I still was only, at best, the 5th or 6th best player on my tiny Christian school high-school basketball team. The truth is that, yes, since I worked hard toward a goal, I was able to meet it. But if my dream was to play Division 1 college basketball or play in the NBA, no matter how hard I worked, I wouldn’t have made it. That’s a fantasy, not reality. So the maxim above is false. You can’t work hard and be whatever you want to be. I can work hard toward being an NBA all-star, a concert violinist, or an Oscar-winning actor and still never achieve that. It’s not where I’m gifted. It’s not in my skill sets. Most importantly, this is not God’s plan for my life.

This sounds a bit like hopeless fatalism, but seen through the eyes of a Creator who loves us and has redeemed us for his pleasure, this is the best possible news. Rather than being a hostage to my own, fallen dreams for myself I can be surrendered to God’s much better plan for me. My dreams are pedestrian, paltry, and lame. God’s Kingdom is better. It’s better not only because surrender to Christ allows me to be who I was created to be, but because God’s Kingdom is God Himself. The end of faith isn’t becoming the best me. The end of faith is Christ himself, in whom I will find more infinitely more delight than I would pursuing my own dreams.

What’s more, following Christ doesn’t make me choose between gospel-shaped desires, Spirit-bestowed gifts, and God-ordained opportunities. Surrendering my soul to him allows me, frees me to be what I was created to be. What’s more, a Christian view of the future shapes my expectations, knowing that in this fallen life I will not find ultimate satisfaction, but that everything I do is just an internship for eternity. If we believe we were made for forever, made for life with Christ, then we’ll entrust our dreams to the one who is restoring this fallen cosmos and is renewing my heart. We’ll not lament lost years, rue getting older, or get frustrated in suffering because we’re not looking forward to the next ten years, but to the next million years in that city “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

So what should we be whispering in the ears of our children? We should be telling them something better than the worldly maxim of “Work hard and you can be whatever you want.” Instead, we should tell them: “Work hard, love Jesus, and Christ will empower you to be whatever He created you to be, both now and in eternity.” We should prepare them for both short-term disappointment that involves both suffering and injustice in a fallen world and remind them that God’s redeemed who are last in this world, the marginalized, the poor, those who are not afforded the opportunity many of us–these will be first in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Way Home Episode 31 featuring Max Lucado

Max Lucado needs no introduction. He’s the bestselling author of 32 books, a popular speaker, and pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. Max joined me today on the podcast to talk about his writing process, leadership transitions, and why he’s bullish about the church, in spite of increasing cultural pressure.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

Max Lucado on Twitter: @maxlucado
Max’s website: maxlucado.com
Max’s new book,  Glory Days


On the podcast I mentioned the release of my new book, The Original Jesus. It is officially released in September, but is available for pre-order now.

Why Some Evangelicals Support Trump Even Though They Know Better

 

So if you are, like me, scratching your head in wonder at how some of your evangelical friends can possibly support the Planned-Parenthood-affirming, misogyny spewing, liberal business man Donald Trump, I have a theory. How is it possible that some conservative Christians are getting behind a man who made his money off of gambling interests, who has treated his wives like disposable property, and has made a career of narcissism and greed?

I can explain, but first I’d have to let you indulge me in some sports nostalgia, specifically the early 90’s NBA rivalry between the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls. My adolescence was spent in Chicago rooting hard for the Michael Jordan-led Bulls against the hated and fierce Detroit Pistons. The Bad Boys of Detroit were not just another team. They were a mortal enemy who, until 1992, refused to be vanquished. The image of Jordan’s team sweeping them out of the Eastern Conference finals is one I will carry, with joy, to my grave. But I digress.

The Pistons were led by a rebounding machine named Dennis Rodman. Rodman was (is) a strange and exotic dude. Bulls fans loved to mock him for his off-the court exploits that often involved crazy hair and Madonna. He was part of a cast of characters on the Pistons whom Bulls fans loved to cheer against.

We booed Rodman mercilessly . . . until October 2nd, 1995. I remember where I was when I got a call, from my mother nonetheless, about a trade. “The Bulls just traded for Dennis Rodman.” I was in the car and the call came in on a car phone (remember those?). It was the beginning of my senior year of high-school. I pulled the car over and turned on the sports radio station and listened. Sure enough, Chicago had traded for their nemesis.

In a moment, my feelings toward Dennis Rodman changed. It wasn’t long before I started seeing his off-the-court antics as kinda quirky and fun. “He’s eccentric,” I’d tell people, “but that’s what fuels his greatness.” Yep, I was a full-fledged homer, drinking Chicago Bulls Kool Aid in barrels. Rodman helped the Bulls win three more championships, so the echo chamber didn’t burst until he was traded, his career faded, and he got even more weird.

What does Rodman have to do with Trump? In America, around election time, we get divided into two political “teams”: conservatives and liberals. And sometimes our allegiance to our preferred team clouds our judgment about someone’s character and ability to lead well. Elections become less of an opportunity to choose a candidate wisely and more of a sporting contest or a reality show.

Donald Trump may have views that look nothing like the conservatism of Buckley, Kirk or Reagan, but that doesn’t matter. To Trump supporters, he’s wearing the team jersey. He is their guy. His craziness, his intemperate statements, his past history of not championing anything remotely like conservatism–this is irrelevant. For some who are angry at Democrats and even angrier at establishment Republicans, Trump sounds like he’s on their team. Even if he really isn’t.

When it comes time to actually vote, I believe conservatives will wise up. Because unlike Dennis Rodman’s contribution to the Chicago Bulls, Dennis Rodman doesn’t help the GOP win anything.

This kind of epistemic closure–”He’s saying all the right things I want to hear” is a danger for people of faith in every election. We are tempted to be so loyal to our “team” –in this case a conservatism identified more by being “against Obama” than for anything–that we forget we are supporting someone who has no business near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. What’s more, by getting on the Trump bandwagon, we end up supporting ideas and issues most evangelicals vehemently oppose.

I’m no Trump supporter, but I’ve been seduced before by partisan Kool-Aid. Early on in my career, I was persuaded to vote for a gubernatorial candidate in Illinois who championed everything I was opposed to because, well, “He’s on our team.” Instead of voting for a pro-life Democrat who would have governed Illinois well, I voted for a Republican who ended up in jail. I still regret that vote.

Evangelicals need to guard against adopting a posture of engagement that is more in love with personalities than principles and more closely wed to a movement than gospel-formed ideas promoting human flourishing. We should soberly evaluate candidates, on both sides, not simply for what or who they are against, but for the totality of their platforms and their track record in public life. What’s more, we should refrain from an echo-chamber mentality that looks more like pathetic sports fans defending the indefensible than principled decision-making. And we should understand what we are doing when we are voting. We are stewarding our God-given right to choose imperfect and temporary leaders who ultimately rule at the discretion of Christ, who sovereignly moves in the hearts of rulers.

Supporting someone like Donald Trump simply because he is “wearing the jersey” is a kind of blind loyalty reserved only for sports fandom not for choosing the most important leadership position in the world.

Especially when you consider this irony: Dennis Rodman recently endorsed Trump for President.

photo credit: Gage Skidmore, Flicker Creative Commons 

The Way Home Episode 30 featuring Chad Harrington and Jason Houser

Today I am glad to be joined by the authors of a great new book, Dedicated, Training Your Kids to Trust and Follow Jesus. Jason Houser is the founder of Seeds Family Worship Ministry and is a family pastor in Twin Falls, Idaho. Chad Harrington is writer in Nashville, TN.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

Jason Houser on Twitter: @housermania1
Chad Harrington on Twitter: @chadredart


On the podcast I mentioned our resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.

This World is Not Our Home . . . Or Is It?

“This World is Not My Home” was one of my favorite songs growing up. I sang it as part of a quartet that won first at the state convention in Illinois. (Relax, it was a Christian school competition, not exactly American Idol).

But was popular song theologically right? In some ways, yes. The world system, run by the “prince and power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), is alien to the kingdom of God. You can’t love the world, John writes, and have the love of the Father in you (1 John 2:15-17). Yet, in other ways, this song is somewhat wrong. This earth is our home and it groans in anticipation of Christ’s full kingdom renewal (Romans 8:22).

It is this fully-formed view of eschatology that should inform the way we do cultural engagement now. This is part of the recent conversation I had with Mike Wittmer, Professor of Systematic Theology, Director of the Center for Christian Worldview at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and author of Becoming Worldly Saints.

The Way Home Episode 29 featuring Tony Reinke

Most people know John Newton as the author of the classic and beautiful hymn, “Amazing Grace.” The hymn represents his own life story, as former slave owner and slave ship captain who was radically saved by God’s grace. However, few of us know what Newton was like as a pastor, the role he served for more than forty years.

Today on the podcast, I have Tony Reinke, author and staff writer for Desiring God. He’s the host of the popular podcast, Ask Pastor John. He recently released a book, with Crossway Publishers, on the ministry and theology of John Newton.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

Tony on Twitter: @tonyreinke
Tony’s website: http://tonyreinke.com/
Desiring God: desiringgod.org


On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.

Pastors, Don’t Be Passive on Planned Parenthood

This is my latest piece for Leadership Journal: how pastors can lead their churches to fight for life in this cultural moment: 

Pro-life activism has been a part of Christian witness throughout church history, but has received particularly focused attention by evangelicals and Catholics since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Now, though, we find ourselves in a unique cultural moment. The third in a series of undercover sting videos was just released this week, bringing to light the hideous reality of Planned Parenthood’s macabre abortion enterprise. To hear medical professionals casually discuss the deliberate termination, dismembering, and sale of babies has stirred the American conscience. Congress is opening investigations and voting on legislation to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. Corporations are distancing themselves from the abortion provider and even progressives not known for anti-abortion advocacy have spoken out against Planned Parenthood.

Millions of people are seeing the brutal reality of what has always been labeled by abortion providers as a safe and clinical practice.

Millions of people are seeing the brutal reality of what has always been labeled by abortion providers as a safe and clinical practice. New technologies, such as ultrasound machines, smart phones that capture video, and social media have converged to cause us to see what we didn’t previously: the humanity of the unborn and the gruesome nature of abortion. As Columnist Ross Douthat puts it, we’re just starting to realize that “an institution at the heart of respectable liberal society is dedicated to a practice that deserves to be called barbarism.”

But how do pastors and church leaders lead their people through the outrage to champion the sacred value of human life? How do we bring the hope of the gospel into the brokenness of our world?

Rightful rage

There are many opportunities for outrage these days, but our people are right to be deeply angry at what they are seeing in these videos. President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore points out that “for a Christian, such language ought to trigger in us thoughts of Jesus of Nazareth, who identified himself with human nature, taking on flesh and dwelling among us (Jn. 1:14).”

Our moral indignation reflects the righteous anger of a God of justice. Cain, the murderer, was told by God that the blood of his brother Abel cried to him from the ground. Jesus, upon viewing the lifeless corpse of his friend Lazarus, wept and groaned angrily at the curse of sin and death. When we protest the killing fields of Planned Parenthood, we’re rightfully raging against the Serpent himself, whom Jesus called a murderer (John 8:44).

Expressing sadness, anger, and grief on social media is not a wasted effort. It can mobilize the Christian community and strike at the consciences of those outside the faith. It can nudge public officials and community leaders to act in response.

Pastors should not shy away from stewarding their influence and addressing this issue. They should model for their people how to think and act in this cultural moment. For some pastors this might mean thoughtful engagement on blogs and social media, not only helping their people process what they are seeing in these videos but to saturate the conscience of those outside the faith and point them to redemption in Christ. For others it might mean pursuing conversations with church members and community leaders, helping to localize a national story.

But seeing, grieving, and speaking is only the beginning of our call to defend and work toward human dignity.

Read the full article here:

The Way Home Episode 28 featuring Owen Strachan

Chuck Colson was a towering figure among evangelicals in the last half of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first. His story of redemption motivated generations of young people to commit to Christ and his winsome cultural witness is still being felt today. This is why I’m delighted to be joined on the podcast by Owen Strachan, newly minted associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Seminary and author of a great new book, The Colson Way. Owen and I discuss the model of cultural engagement championed by Colson and how it instructs today’s generation of evangelicals.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.
Owen’s twitter: @ostrachan
Owen’s blog: Though Life
Owen’s book,  The Colson Way

Why Encouragement is Not Optional

From my recent article at In Touch:

“I love working with you, Dan.” It was only a simple text from a colleague, but it buoyed my spirits during an intense week of work on a project together.

As I thought over his kind comment, it reinforced to me a simple truth I’ve learned during my years in leadership: Affirmation may be the most valuable currency in building relational capital. I’ve served on large ministry teams, I’ve led a small church staff, and now I serve in an executive role. I’m also a husband and a father of four. In all of these contexts, regardless of the environment, I have found that nothing is more important than consistent encouragement.

People closest to us need to hear words of affirmation from us. They need to hear them regularly, consistently, and sincerely. Not empty words of flattery, like something we’d type on Facebook on someone’s birthday (“best husband in the whole world!”), but genuine and heartfelt praise for the unique gifts and contribution of those closest to us.

What’s interesting is how little we think about encouragement. It seems a nice thing to give to others, but not terribly important. Yet in Scripture we find not only the wisdom that reveals the utility of kind words (Proverbs 25:11), but also the command to encourage, especially among followers of Christ. God’s children should be people who “build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Pastors and church leaders are tasked with the ministry of encouragement (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV). And this is not just a once-a-year-at-the-company-party type of empty praise. The writer of Hebrews says encouragement should be a daily part of Christian witness (Heb. 3:13).

So why don’t we encourage more? Read the full article here.