BE YE HOLY PT. 2

Sorry for dragging my feet on this post. This week has been really busy and it's not over yet. My middle child's birthday is Sunday and I wanted to throw him a party tonight since we'll be doing a neighborhood Halloween party and trick-or-treating after that on Sunday. The party was great. We just had one other family come over for pizza and cake and then treated the kids to a dip in our hot tub. Unfortunately the birthday boy didn't want to get in because it was too hot. Maybe he'll learn how wonderful a soak in the hot tub can be someday.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about the topic of holiness lately. As I said before, I picked up Sproul's Holiness of God again and started looking through it. A couple days ago I read the one of the last chapters that talks about personal holiness. What surprised me was it was like I had never read the chapter before. That's so annoying. I know I read the book a couple years back but the material was as fresh and convicting as if I'd never laid eyes on it. I think one of the reasons for that is I still need to learn the lessons this chapter contains. What does it mean to be holy? According to Sproul, the dictionary and my concordance the word holy means several things:

sacred
set apart
consecrated
pure

How do we live this way? Sproul brings up Romans 12:1-2 which calls the Christian to live a set apart, sacrificial life to God; we are not to be conformed to this world. How do you not conform? One point that is made on one of the Basement Tapes (put out by the Highland Study Center) is to try to imagine aliens coming to earth and observing your life and family compared to the average unbelievers life and family. Would they see any difference? I think that's a good point. It certainly makes me think about the kind of activities we participate in. However, I always seem to get stuck right there at that point. It's like a mentally put a period right after the word "world" in Romans 12:2. That is exactly Sproul's point as well. I'll let him make the point since it's much more powerful coming from his pen --

"It is a tragedy that the matter of nonconformity has been treated by Christians at a shallow level. The simplistic way of being nonconforming is to see what is in style in our culture and then do the opposite. A superficial style of nonconformity is the classical pharisaical trap. The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness that goes beyond externals. We still want to make the kingdom a matter of eating and drinking. Anyone can avoid dancing or going to movies. These require no great effort of moral courage. What is difficult is to control the tongue, to act with integrity, to show forth the fruit of the Spirit. Anyone can be a nonconformist for nonconformity's sake. Again I want to emphasize that this is a cheap piety. What we are ultimately called to is more than nonconformity; we are called to transformation.

This hit me hard again. I am continually repenting for looking on the outside only and not on the heart. When I meet someone or read their blog (I'm embarrassed to say) or observe a friend's lifestyle my mind has a tendency to make immediate judgments about externals. What are they wearing, do they watch TV, what shows do they watch, do they homeschool, are they Reformed, is their hair long, etc., etc., etc. This is a very frustrating and ungodly habit to have. Of course our external obedience matters. Faith without works is dead. But, as Sproul says, if we have a Pharasaical mindset and overemphasize the minors while neglecting the weightier issues such as justice, mercy, love, etc., we are guilty of having a cheap piety. So what are we called to in our quest for holiness? That is in the second part of Romans 12:2 and is called transformation. More on that tomorrow.

Blessings

"BE YE HOLY" part 1

These series of posts will discuss the topic of holiness, mainly personal holiness in the life of the believer. 1 Peter 1:14-16 says, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" Do you feel the gravity of those words? Maybe we don't because 1) we don't understand the grandeur and awesome quality of God's holiness and 2) we aren't in the habit of pursuing holiness in our everyday existence. I include myself in this analysis. Of course, as finite creatures we will never fully comprehend His holiness. I do think it's imperative though to seek to understand it as best we can; to strive to know Him in all His holiness, goodness, justice and love. The imperative comes in these verses in 1 Peter. There are two commands and one reason. There is a command to not do something and a command to do something. "do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance." When we were without Christ we were ignorant. Romans 3 says that no one does good and no one seeks after God. Ephesians 2 says we were dead in our trespasses. An unbeliever cannot be holy. They may do good works as judged my men but they cannot be holy. But when God mercifully and sovereignly tears the scales off our eyes to see "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:4) we are given new desires, godly desires. We are able, through our new birth in Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, to please God. Because of God's grace we can say no to sin and yes to the promises of faith. The second command is in my humble opinion one of the most sobering in the whole Bible. "But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior." In every word and deed we are to be holy. And then the reason for this is given: "because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." This is a quote from several passages in Leviticus. God is communicating there the seriousness of the call to His chosen nation. They are to reflect Him. They are to be holy. The next time you're reading in the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic books and Leviticus-Deuteronomy, notice how many times God gives this reason for a command or for an action taken -- "for I am the Lord your God," "that they may know I am the Lord," etc. God's call to His people is no less serious today. The trick is not to fall into legalism. I am guilty of that a lot and the enemy takes advantage of that weakness. Sometimes I feel like one of those puffer fish. I get puffed up with pride because of all the right things I'm doing (or all the wordly things I'm not doing) and then I realize my sin and Satan discourages me with self-pity (that's the unpuffed part of the puffer fish analogy :0) I think in order to follow these commands we need to make sure we understand the holiness of God. That's why I'm going through Sproul's book by the same name again so I can add his thoughts to the discussion. Well, it's getting late so I'll pick up the discussion again tomorrow.

Blessings

A TIME OF GROWTH

I want to share with y'all the amazing things that happened as a result of our church's massive Celebration service to conclude the 40 Days of Purpose. But first let me explain something. For the past two or so years I've been reading and listening to reformed folks like RCjr and Doug Wilson as well as reading all y'all's blogs out there (how's that for Southern grammar :0). As a result, I've been struggling (by the way, two Jehovah's witnesses just came to my door; I told them after explaining that I don't believe the way they do, that they could come back at a better time so we could discuss our differences) with some of the practices of the modern church such as - style of music in worship, frequency of communion, etc. Most notably, the style of music at our church had begun to bother me. We have both contemporary and blended/traditional servies at our church. I like the traditional service. I like the hymns. Many of the new praise choruses seem to be exalting self rather than God. For the past two years I've been struggling with my observations about the way our church "does church." In the midst of my struggle, my flesh along with the help of the enemy, has been taking advantage and cultivating a critical spirit and arrogance within me. I would enter worship with the wrong attitude. I would attend orchestra rehearsals and quietly sneer in my spirit at some of the new music we would play. All the while, my struggle would be compounded by the fact that those in leadership at my church are godly Christians who truly seek to please the Lord. I've been fighting all the while during this time to come to a place where I'm content with the way we worship and am not assailed by critical thoughts all the time. I also struggled with questions like this, "Is God more pleased with one style of worship than another or does He look at the heart or both?"

So last Sunday and the following Wednesday really helped me grow in this area. We had almost 5,000 people turn out for this one service outside on the fields. There was a huge "rock concert"-like stage set up to hold our choir, orchestra and praise band. The weather was perfect. We worshipped using old and new songs, contemporary and traditional styles. The sermon was powerful and biblical. One major thing that had been emphasized leading up to this service was a special offering that was to be taken. Our goal would be $1,440,000! That is 10% of our ministries budget for next year. No one was sure how much would be given and if we would surpass this goal. On Wednesday night a special worship service was announced in order to announce the results of last Sunday. (Drum roll please :0) The church gave over 1.7 million dollars!!??!! And more importantly, there were 56 people who accepted Christ. There was no altar call, it wasn't a particularly evangelistic sermon. I was blown away and teared up as we sang praises to God last Wednesday. Most importantly, part of my cynicism was broken. I realized that God was glorified in what we did last Sunday, not because of the style of music that was played or anything else. He was glorified last Sunday because we offered all of ourselves to Him, we were obedient. And the fact that 56 people came to Christ confirms that God can decide on any given day to reach down and pour out His blessing on His people in His gracious sovereignty. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating anything goes in worship. I've just realized an important thing about myself and God that I'm still working out in fear and trembling. That is, I don't have to have all my orthodoxy and orthopraxy worked out to the letter before God can be glorified. And I am humbled.

Blessings

DINNERTIME CONVERSATION

I am currently reading the Hobbit along with my 2nd grade son. He reads two pages out loud to me per day. Last night at dinner I asked him a question about what we had read. Here's how it went.

Mom, "Where are the dwarves and Bilbo going now? Starts with an R."

Son, "Rivendell."

Mom, "Who is at Rivendell? Starts with an E."

Son, "Elvis?"

Uproarious laughter from all at the table. Husband, me, son 1, son 2 and daughter.

Son, "Who's Elvis?"

You had to be there.

Blessings

RAMBLINGS

Well, it's been a very busy week and I still haven't gotten rid of the Crud. I think when the seasons start to change (which by the way, is a very nebulous concept here in Georgia) I get some sort of virus which includes laryngitis. The only positive aspect to my laryngitis is that I can sing really low. Maybe I wouldn't call this positive so much as pretty neat. I hit a 'C' below middle 'C' on the piano really well and if it's a good day I can hit an 'A' below that. This seems to bother my husband though. Something about his wife being able to sing in the same range as himself. It'll go away soon. In the meantime I've had to go along with the crazy weekend schedule we had. On Saturday I had one rehearsal and a concert that night. I've been playing 2nd clarinet with the local community orchestra since August. The group has been around for many decades and this year marks the inaugural season with our new music director. It seems this season will be a grand success. Our music director is extremely talented yet not arrogant. He's able to relate to the musicians and urge us on to excellence without putting us down. He also has great rehearsal technique which I'm sad to say is sorely lacking in most conductors. The concert went really well. One problem I'm having though has nothing to do with the music. One of my fellow musicians, who happens to sit next to me, is openly homosexual and goes to church. Apparently, there are gay churches down in the city and he is a member of one. On Saturday night I mentioned that I wouldn't be attended the post concert reception because our church was doing a huge service the next morning to commemorate the end of the 40 days of purpose campaign. He proceeds to tell me that his church went through that too and now is going through Bruce Wilkinson's The Dreamcatcher (or maybe the Dreamgiver?). I didn't know what to say. I've been trying to figure out how to talk to this guy but part of me thinks there's no point. His conscience has certainly been seared to the point where he doesn't understand what sin is. Why did Christ die, for goodness sake? Part of me is mad that he and his fellow homosexuals are denigrating the cross each week by "worshiping" God and then living a lifestyle that is blatantly sinful. I don't know what to do. Any wisdom would be most appreciated. By the way, do you think there's a problem if these gay churches are using material by Rick Warren and Wilkinson and they're not being convicted of their sin? IMHO, Warren glossed over the sin problem in his book. I don't know about Wilkinson. I do know that I didn't like Prayer of Jabez. Maybe these books are finding their way into gay churches because the target audience is the so called "seeker". I don't know, just a thought.


On a lighter note, I think I'm going to try to grow my bangs out, again, for the umpteenth time. I've only succeeded once in my adult life to do this. It failed because for the whole year I was growing them out, I wore a headband. This may seem like a trivial issue to you but in the past year I've really begun to examine my wardrobe and my overall appearance. Last Christmas my hair was really short. I think I look good with short hair but two things began to be against me keeping this style. 1)My desire to please my husband and 2)My feeling that I didn't look as feminine with short hair. It seems that most women follow the same pattern. Grow your hair out for your wedding and then a couple months after the wedding, go short. This doesn't apply to all women but it's something I've noticed. So right now my hair is sort of in a bob shape and my bangs are just below my eyebrows. My overall length is right about chin length. I want to have long hair but I don't like the time it takes to make it look good. My hair is very fine and without any curl or natural body. It takes work to make it look like it's not just hanging there. Any hints or advice?


On a final note, our church ended the 40 days of purpose with a massive service outside on the soccer fields. Our church has not had one service since 1989. There were 5000 folding chairs set up along with a huge stage that resembled an outdoor rock concert stage. We had a 200 voice choir, 40-50 piece orchestra/band, and praise team and soloist. It was a fabulous day and it even was warm enough that my wood clarinet didn't crack. The sun was shining right on our faces. That was a tad annoying but it was better than cold and damp. The service was really great and there were no glitches. I'm a little ambivalent concerning the outcome of 40 days for me personally. There's been so much hype at our church about how this book and the campaign was going to change our lives. Maybe I didn't invest as much time in it as I could but frankly, I felt that most of the material, if not all of it, I had heard and read before. Plus, my misgivings about Warren's sloppy exegesis really bothered me. Maybe I'm being prideful. That's highly possible. Maybe I've been too unmotivated and melancholy lately. That's also highly possible. I just kept having this feeling of "been there, done that." A lot of people got a lot out of this book and the corresponding small groups, etc. I think I will go back and do a heart check on myself. I love to be challenged theologically. I just wasn't.

Coming soon --- Posts on holiness and a new Piper book I bought, When I Don't Desire God; Fighting for joy

EXPECTATIONS

I'm still recovering from this week. In honor of others who are in stream of consciousness mode I will try to follow suit, sort of. In a community orchestra, have a concert tomorrow night. Had many rehearsals this week; cool program includes Pictures at an Exhibition. Drive to South Carolina on Wednesday with three kids. I need a way to have children not drop their toys, food, dollies, lovies, books, drinks on the floor of the car and then cry when I'm driving 70 mph on boring I20 East, maybe duct tape?!? Get lost in Aiken, man that's an interesting town. See my mom, Mimi to the kids. Kids first time in a hotel, go to IHOP and kids are super hyper from being in car for 4 hours. Go get ice cream, isn't that dumb, hyper level will go up. Go back to hotel room and try to settle down. I had a vision as with all activities. Wanted it to be a certain way but never is. Why do I do this mental torture? Try 15 different things to get children asleep but son 2 won't stop bothering son 1 in the bed, daughter is rolling over on me in other bed and stuffing dolly in my face. Finally get to bed at 11. Wake up and eat continental breakfast, meet mom at new house being built, try to keep children from killing themselves on the construction sight, house is great, very quiet in her neighborhood. Spend precious few hours with mom and have to say goodbye and drive back down the same road, boring road, monotonous I20, have to drive that a lot next year but that's not bad considering who's at the end of the drive! Get home, eat, teach, watch too much TV, go to bed, get up, still feeling crummy with what I call The Crud, little school, little recorder class, little shopping, flu shots for kids, they didn't cry WOW!, go home, pizza, rehearsal, hubby has friends over for game night, blogging, watching What Not to Wear at midnight, have to go to bed. Rehearsal tomorrow morning, concert tomorrow night, then maybe some rest next week. Oh, I forgot - on Sunday we have a mega service outside on the fields where I'm going to have to play my wood clarinet in 50 degree weather. Will have a heat lamp but am a little nervous. Big day Sunday, end of 40 days of purpose, 5000 folding chairs outside, more than 13 pieces of music in the service, more later......

Blessings.... snooze

GIRL NIGHT OUT

No there isn't a typo in the title of my post. I actually went out by myself last night to see a movie. I had planned on going with another girlfriend but she was busy. Being the melancholy that I am I went ahead by myself. I decided to see a teenage chick flick -- Princess Diaries 2. I really liked the first one and was so curious to see what would happen. I just can't resist a princess/love story wrapped up in one. Plus, Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews are so cute together as g-daughter/g-mother. I was hoping to be the only one in the theater but there was one other couple. I sat down securely in the middle of the last row and had a great time. I don't know why I cried so much, probably hormones, but I thought the movie was really cute. While not Oscar-worthy or morally superior, I did have fun with it. The only bad part was the movie let out at midnight. Oh well, at least I could semi- sleep in on Saturday.


HOLINESS

On a far more serious note: Anyone who knows me well knows how much I admire Elisabeth Elliot and her writings. Recently I've had an idea for an ongoing serious of posts. While I definitely don't claim to have the wisdom or experience of Ms. Elliot and I don't want to seem presumptuous, I have been considering picking up on a series of talks she gave years ago entitled Holiness in the '90s. She spoke very forthrightly about living distinct and holy lives considering the times. Well even though her words certainly ring true today, I thought maybe I could humbly add my thoughts to the "conversation". This topic is one that's very important to me but also one I struggle with. When does wanting to be holy take on an attitude of legalism or arrogance? How can you balance your desires to be holy with loving your neighbor who may not have those desires? I've struggled with these questions in the past few years and I thought maybe I could delve more deeply into the issue in this blog. I'm going to go back to her old website and review those talks on holiness and then attempt to continue the discussion here. As always, please add your comments and questions. I don't want it to seem like I'm preaching to the air. I'd love some feedback.

A couple years back I wrote a letter to Ms. Elliot (actually Mrs. Lars Gren) with some concerns related to this issue of holiness. I asked her if she ever felt like an alien around other people, even Christians, because you felt you couldn't relate to them. I myself had felt awkward because I had different convictions about different things and that excluded me from some conversations or activities. Well, to my surprise and utter delight, she wrote me back!! And though her responses were short, they were filled with wisdom. She said, "I too often feel different, but then when you think about it, so are other women feeling different! We're all in the same boat! Surely we need not feel "more secular or worldly" to fit in with others. Be yourself, by the grace of God. He knows you through and through. Rest on that."

Some of the things I will say may ruffle feathers. You may think I'm being arrogant or legalistic. You may think I'm being too worldly. Well it's impossible to please all the people all the time and I won't get into that trap. I'm going to follow Ms. Elliot's advice and be myself.

Blessings

JUST A REMINDER

Hey, if you want to comment just click on my name at the end of the post. You will then go to another page which features that post and a place to comment.

Here's another Amy Carmichael poem for good measure...

HOPE

Great God of Hope, how green Thy trees,
How calm each several star.
Renew us; make us fresh as these,
Calm as those are.

For what can dim his hope who sees,
Though faintly and afar,
The power that kindles green in trees,
And light in star?

Blessings.