Book Review - Humility: True Greatness by CJ Mahaney

CJ Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness (Sisters: Multnomah Publishers, 2005)

In a little book of 174 pages (it is one of those small-sized books, I read it in a little over an hour) CJ Mahaney has given us all a great gift. Mahaney in a fun self-depricating tone goes about his task of writing a book on being humble. After all the "expert" on humility seems disqualified to write upon it. The many people who know this man speak of the reality of his life as one rightly tested and seasoned to write such a book. The first part of the book is refreshingly theological. Now, for those who are afraid of the "T-word" do not be alarmed. The tone is pastoral and the writing very approachable here...don't expect a boring dissertation. Part I deals with the wonderful quality of humility and contrasts it with the insidious nature of pride. Chapter 2 - The Perils of Pride, is a gracious cutting into the soul, revealing to us the sickness of pride that lurks, erupts and deceives all of us. The second part of the book looks at the greatest person of humility in history - the person of Christ. Mahaney writes as one close to the person he is describing from the pages of the Bible. He is not a distant observer of the humble servant King, but one who has walked with the Savior for some time. It is such a refreshing thing in our day of sound bites and religious slogans to see one love Christ with heart and admiration...as well as respect for the Cross. His writings on the cross in other places echo here as well. During the first two parts I just felt. "CJ, I'm with you dog, I get it, I hear you, I am a sick prideful dude...and Jesus is our solution, his cross is the great pride defeater...so I need some practical help, I need to know some stuff I can do to fight the beast of Pride!" Well, if I had purused the table of contents I would have know that Part III was called The Practice of True Humility This third section of the book is a gem of practical example and council along with a simplicity that is missing today. So ofter we think the solutions to the issues of our soul are found in counseling, working through issues, etc. Now, these have there place, but what concerns me is the neglect of "Prayer, study of Scripture, Christian Friendship" as great formers of the soul. Mahaney goes to great steps to give us the goods from his own life...how he tries to walk humble with his God. As I made it through the final chapters I kept thinking "Man, it would great to have a little cheat sheet summary of this stuff" Well, wouldn't you know they provided just that with a summary listed on pages 171-172 under the title How to Weaken Pride and Cultivate Humility (Links and parentheticals are mine).

Always

1. Reflect on the Wonder of the Cross

As Each Day Begins

1. Begin each day acknowledging your dependence on God and need for God
2. Begin each day expressing gratefulness to God
3. Practice the Spiritual Disciplines - Prayer, study of God's Word, worship. Do this consistently each day, at the day's outset if possible
4. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture (spoken from an author who lives in the Washington DC metro area)
5. Cast your cares (worries, etc) on him because he cares for you.

As Each Day Ends

1. At the end of the day, transfer the glory to God
2. Before going to sleep, receive the gift of sleep from God and acknowledge his purpose for sleep.

For Special Focus

1. Study the Attributes of God - Go here for a starter
2. Study the Doctrines of Grace - Go here for a starter
3. Study the doctrine of Sin - Go here for a starter
4. Play Golf as Much as Possible - (Well, I will have to pass on that one, but some of you will delight)
5. Laugh often, and laugh often at yourself

Through Your Days and Weeks

1. Identify evidences of grace in others
2. Encourage and serve others each and every day
3. Invite and Pursue correction
4. Respond humbly to trials

More than anything, I needed to read this book at this time in my life. God's timing I suppose. I can be so caught up in me sometimes it is just sickening. Many thanks to CJ as he points out our sickness and offers the Scriptural remedy:

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:5-7

Sola Deo Gloria ...

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First Face Transplant Patient Recovering

I can see how this could benefit people in some cases, but it sure is weird and I can imagine some very weird applications of this sor t of thing down the road. Link - First Face Transplant Patient Recovering - Yahoo! News

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Little Black Books

Now that I have finished up two seminary classes and a boat load of reading. I have a week or two of holiday reading to get to. So this week I hope to get to these little black books God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love As the Gift of Himself (Hardcover) by John Piper Humility : True Greatness (Hardcover) by C.J. Mahaney While I am reading these little black gems, I really need to quit looking at this one: ...

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You Might Be Emerging If...

This is just funny, too funny HT Purgatorio - purgatorio: You Might Be Emerging If... ...

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Daddy Fix it...Trains, Trust, and Inexpressible Joy

Tonight I was taking care of my little girls while Mom and a friend went out to a movie. It was fun to wrestle, play with trains, read books, and do ballerina dances. One of the girls battery powered trains (Percy from Thomas the Tank Engine fame). Kayla, my oldest, came running to me to see if I could fix Percy for them. Well, it wasn't a lot to do, but I told them that "Daddy will fix it." To this short promise, my 4 year old darted off into the other room exclaiming "Daddy fix it, Daddy fix it, Daddy fix it!" Such trust, such jubilation gave me a serious pause. My first thought was a bit hopeless. I thought of all the crap in the world, all the pain, all the disappointment, all the sin, all the things people do to each other and I thought...I can't fix it. I just can't. I admit I was in a bit of a melancholy mood coming off a tiring two weeks of ministry and longing for some rest. But then it hit me. I can't fix everything...But Daddy can fix it.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:18-25

Though this present age is filled with pain...Daddy will fix it. This is our hope. That this world, that this life, that my own broken and sinful soul is being and will be redeemed. Daddy will fix all things. I need the trust of my four year old. I need the trust; I also need the joy.

Oh Father, grant us the eyes of faith to know that you will fix all things. Give us the blessed hope of the coming of your complete rule and reign so that joy will overflow to you with thanksgiving. Yes, Daddy, fix it...

...

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Theological Education That Transforms, Part One

A great introduction to theological studies from Al Mohler. As one who believes that our identity and mission and hope and joy flow from God...theology is always a very practical, the most practical thing. The most important thoughts we will ever have are what we think about God. Link - Theological Education That Transforms, Part One

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Hall of Contemporary Reformers

Some funny bios and caricatures of some contemporary reformed dudes. Link - Hall of Contemporary Reformers

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Cussing and Sin in the Emerging Church

I did not engage this whole entry, but let me just call it Exhibit A that we have too much time (or too damn much time for the "cussin is cool" crowd) on our hands as we continually engage in such foolish arguments. Just look at the title, see how loooong this debate goes on, and then go do something profitable with your time (Ephesians 5:15-17) Link - Emergent What? � Cussing and Sin in the Emerging Church: ...

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Mentors, Longings and Disappointments for Young Guys

There is an interesting discussion going on in the blogsphere about mentors and young Christian guys who want their lives to count. It started with a post by Tim Challies entitled A Desperate Jealousy where he humorously jokes about being jealous of Joshua Harris for having a sweet mentor in CJ Mahaney. After having some fun about how examines all the new staff at the church he attends, he makes a very honest comment:

I am desperate for a mentor. I am absolutely desperate to have someone who will invest in me. I am desperate to find a person, or have a person find me, who will play Paul to this Timothy. ... So here I am. I'm not sure if I am writing this in the hopes that pastors and leaders will read it and it will help them understand that there are men in their churches who are just waiting and ready to be mentored. Maybe I'm writing it so even lay-people like myself will take a hard look at ourselves to find those men within our own churches who could be waiting for us to come to them. Or maybe this article is entirely selfish and I'm just putting my hand in the air and asking someone to notice me. I honestly don't know. As a bit of an introvert I don't think I would ever be that bold. What I do know is that I feel like I've come to a point in life where I not only want, but really need, someone to play a mentoring role in my life.

Tim, I just have to say I totally track with you. Next I read Adrian Warnock's encouragement to Challies...basically telling him to go find a mentor, do what it takes, go wherever you can find it. To that, my friend from the other side of the pond, I say "touche!" Great advice...but it ain't even always that easy. I for one want to echo with these guys that this is about the Sovereignty of God. A little over a year ago I moved my whole family to find a mentor in another locale. A guy who had approached me, recruited me, and said to me "come on lets go." Is he my mentor today? No. But I have learned much from him. For some reason God's idea for me moving to my current zip code was to wrestle with Him, pause before his throne, be around someone whose life was so full that there was not an avalanche mentor time coming. So, here I sit again in the same dad gum chair. Wondering - maybe Jesus is my mentor, maybe that is more than enough. But somehow I think he wants me to find brotherhood here in middle earth as well as from his divine hand. The guy who was to mentor me, I love at a distance, pray for him quite a bit, but don't really know him very well. And to say it like a guy who has come right off of the leather sofa: "I'm OK with that now." So Tim, I feel you brother, and Adrian, thanks for the advice. We need to pursue others diligently and find slices of bread from many guys while not expecting the whole loaf from just one...Now that little ditty I did glean from my almost-mentor. And for that I am very thankful. ...

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The Indigenous and Pilgrim Principles

John Piper has an excellent message on the perpetual question of living "in but not of" the world. A quick exerpt:

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Oh, how many questions this verse—Romans 12:2—raises that need thoughtful, biblical answers. For example, How does the command not to be conformed to this world relate to Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:22, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some”? How is becoming all things to all people not conforming to the world? Or how does the command not to conform to the world, that is, to be counter-cultural, relate to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33? “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.” How does not being conformed to the world fit with not giving offense to the world? You can’t always do both. How does not being conformed to the world fit with pleasing everyone for the sake of salvation? You can’t always please people if you refuse to conform to some of their thoughts and ways.

So the questions are many, and we will tackle some of them. My aim today is to give you a way to think about these questions. To give you some categories that I pray will be part of the renewing of your mind so that you can prove and embrace the will of God.

The reason there are questions like these is not because Paul slipped up and got confused about what it means to follow Christ in a fallen world. Paul was not confused. He was holding two Christian impulses—two principles—in balance. When Christ came into the world, and lived and died and rose from the dead, and set the redeeming kingdom of God in motion, and unleashed the mighty gospel on the world—two powerful impulses, or forces, spread everywhere the gospel spread.

The Indigenous Principle and the Pilgrim Principle

These two impulses are always in tension with each other. At times they push in opposite directions, and the great challenge is to find the biblical balance. Andrew Walls, in his book, The Missionary Movement In Christian History, calls these two impulses the Indigenous Principle and the Pilgrim Principle (Mary Knoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2001, pp. 7-9). In other words, the gospel can and must become indigenous in every (fallen!) culture in the world. It can and must find a home in the culture. It must fit in. That’s the indigenous impulse. But at the same time, and just as powerful, the gospel produces a pilgrim mindset. It loosens people from their culture. It criticizes and corrects culture. It turns people into pilgrims and aliens and exiles in their own culture. When Paul says, “Do not conformed to this world,” and “I became all things to all people,” he is not confused; he is calling for a critical balance of two crucial biblical impulses. continue reading

John Piper - Do not be Conformed to This World - The Indigenous and Pilgrim Principle of Christian Living

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Quote of the Day

'A number of good, holy gay priests will probably quietly slip away from their calling because of the climate.'

Marianne Duddy-Burke of gay and lesbian Catholic group Dignity USA in Boston in reference to the Vatican's recent stance of homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church.

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Check out the LEGO church

Abston Church of Christ HT - JollyBlogger ...

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Are You "Metrospiritual"

Well, Are you? Link - Are You "Metrospiritual"

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John Piper - Books that Have Influenced Me Most

It is always good to see what has influenced those who influence you. It is no secret to those who know me (especially my wife) that I have been greatly touched, inspired, encouraged, exhorted, shaken, challenged, spurred on and genuinely blessed by the the labor and ministry of John Piper. The following are a listing of books that influenced Piper. Link - Books that Have Influenced Me Most ...

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Religion of Peace? One-Stop Shopping For War on Terror News

A bold web site about Islam and the war on terror. Facing some of these realities is something the secular, postmodern, enlightened types is unwilling to do. Not endorsing this site or all of its views - but the willingness to discuss the relationship of Islam to terrorism is welcomed. Link - Religion of Peace? One-Stop Shopping For War on Terror News

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Emerging Church

Justin Taylor has a multi part series on the Emerging Church - It is very fair and highlights much of the positive aspects of the emergent conversation. Taylor is not critical in these posts (there is some very concerning stuff about some emerging thought) but rather informing the public as to the nature of the movement. Very helpful and gracious in tone Link - Between Two Worlds

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purgatorio

Some funny photo blogs at purgatorio Source - Challies.com

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The Apologist Must be Compelled…

We have traveled the road together of some necessary attributes for someone to be a defender of the gospel in contemporary culture. First, we said he must be compassionate – he must give a rip about people around him. Second, he must also be curious, a person that will read, listen, think, observe, watch, and participate where he can in the culture around him (note – he should not participate where he participates in sin or is intensely tempted to sin). Finally, we come to the last characteristic of an apologist in our day. She must be compelled. By compelled I mean she must be driven, motivated, moved forward by something great and worthy of pursuit. Something must make it worthwhile for her get out of bed in the morning to share the gospel and connect the gospel to others. What must compel her? I hold it must be the glory of God in Christ, the beauty of the love of God for sinners expressed in the death of the Son of God. The gospel must drive one to believe that God can and does save his sheep (John 6, John 10), that one died for all (2 Corinthians 5), that it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16). If we do not believe that Christ is the all consuming treasure of the believer, that he is satisfying to the weary soul, that he alone lifts guilt and sin and death and hell from us, we will not present him to others. We must be satisfied in Christ – and see him as treasure or we will not seek to communicate the gospel of the glory of God to others:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13:14 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:1-5 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24

For the believer, the cross must be the jewel of his faith. Where the grace of God is displayed and his mercy revealed to sinful people. When one realizes the work of the cross, to punish sin and turn the wrath of God from us to Jesus, we are put in a humble state of thanksgiving in which we are compelled to move forward in His mission. There is no other motivation but the treasuring of Christ and the display of the Excellencies of God seen in the redemption of sinners that will compel and move us to care enough, be curious enough and sacrifice enough to share the gospel with those who need to hear. ...

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Fox News airs footage of Sex Power God - Campus News

This Thursday I am going up to Brown University to speak to a group of people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. See the following article from the Brown Daily Herald - the Campus Newspaper of the University. This article is pretty unbelievable. Not because it describes a party that sounds essentially like an orgy, but the response of the students who were there. Mind you, these students were partially or mostly naked, making out in public, it is reported that some were having sex at the party in the open etc. Were they ashamed to go and do this? No, they are angry because it was video taped. Here are a few quotes:

One student who appeared in the producer's footage and wished to remain anonymous said she found it "incredibly offensive" that Fox News videotaped and aired images of her without her permission. "I am a student now but I will one day be a professional," she said. "I never thought that going to such a social function would have such jeopardizing consequences for me." Monica Skeldon '06, who was shown briefly as Watters described same-sex kissing, said she felt "a little violated" that she was taped without her knowledge. Tumiski said he was upset that his image was shown on television without his permission. "They didn't have to show our faces. I thought that was unnecessary," he said.

It is a strange tale of a people flaunting morality, but not wanting to be shown as doing so... Jesus once said: "For God so loved the world,[g] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God." I'm so thankful that Jesus forgives and redeems the lives of those like myself who do wicked things. That he draws us to himself, brings us into the light to expose us...so that we might call upon the God of grace who sent his son to a cross to redeem us, to make us knew, who once walked in darkness. Full Article from the Brown Daily Herald -- Fox News airs footage of Sex Power God - Campus News ...

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What It's Like to Work at Google

Justin Taylor has pulled some fun quotes from a Washington Post article about the internal culture at Google Worth your time to read. Source - Theologica - Between Two Worlds: What It's Like to Work at Google

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