The Spirit of Jesus

From time to time I like to dedicate a little space to post a prayer from the compilation of Puritan prayers called "The Valley of Vision." These are some of the greatest prayers I have read and encourage me to pray for more than health and travel safety, but for things of eternal value.

LORD JESUS CHRIST,

Fill me with thy Spirit that I may be occupied with his presence.
I am blind - send him to make me see;
dark - let him say, 'Let there be light'!

May he give me faith to behold
my name engraven in thy hand,
my soul and body redeemed by thy blood,
my sinfulness covered by the life of pure obedience.

Replenish me by his revealing grace,
that I may realize my indissoluble union with thee;
that I may know thou hast espoused me to thyselfe forever, in righteousness, love, mercy, faithfulness;
that I am one with thee,, as a branch with its stock, as a building with its foundation.

May his comforts cheer me in my sorrows,
his strenth sustain me in my trials,
his blessings revive me in my weariness,
his presence render me a fruitful tree of holiness,
his might establish me in peace and joy,
his incitements make me ceaseless in prayer,
his animation kindle in me undying devotion.

Send him as the searcher of my heart,
to show me more of my corruptions and helplessness
that I may flee to thee, cling to thee, rest on thee,
as the beginning and end of my salvation.

May I never vex him by my indifference and waywardness,
greive him by my cold welcome,
resist him by my hard rebellion.

Answer my prayers, O Lord, for thy great name's sake.

Extras helps:

This is the final installment of tips to parents from parents at EBC. I hope these posts have been helpful!

1) If you are rarely overwhelmed by the enormous responsibility it is to care for a human soul, you need to examine yourself.

2) Encourage any child's action that demonstrates effort in a positive direction.

3) The importance of "being there" for your children and demonstrating to them that they are important. Don't just teach them about God but help them connect with the Lord in a way that truly gets them to open their hearts to the Lord. Also ask them about what is going on in their lives and listen to what they have to say we jump in with suggestions. Every child is unique. Bring a child with you as you live your life. They will pick up what matters most to you.

4) Say "yes" whenever you can, and "no" only when you must.

5) Know when to pick you battles. This helps you determine priorities of what is important and what really doesn't matter all that much.

6) And last of all, do trust in God for all things, and do not lean on your own understanding.

What about discipline?

1) Be consistent - don't say anything that you are not willing to follow through on - i.e. "I'm going to ground you for life!" or "If you do not stop, I will spank you".

2) Don't be afraid to say, "I am too angry right now to discipline you. If I did, I would just be responding in anger. I will let you know your discipline when I have had time to pray through my own anger."

3) Only give a command when you are prepared to follow through with biblical discipline if that command is disobeyed.

4) Respond to a loud or angry or demanding child by saying, "When your voice is the same level as mine, I will respond to you." (Of course, you have to be speaking in a calm voice!)

5) Spanking is not the only way to train a child. There are alternative discipline techniques such as "time-outs," "removal of privileges," "praise for good behavior," and they work. These alternative techniques actually elicit the same amount of grief, tears, and elimination of unwanted behavior as spanking did for me. This helps me be a better parent by forcing me to become more thoughtful in understanding why the bad behavior occurred, more empathetic in communicating to my children the wanted behavior, and more creative in devising ways to help them establish better behavior.

Parenting: Your Marriage Preaches

What is the most effective parenting tool for the Christian? It is your marriage. Here is a great excerpt from the highly recommended book, Gospel Powered Parenting:

“This mystery [marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Here is Paul’s point. From before time began, God had marriage on his mind. He was preparing a bride for his Son, whom he would marry forever. It would take the crucifixion and resurrection of the Groom to bring this marriage to pass. Think of it. God created the most intimate human relationship, marriage, to speak of the intimacy of his relationship with his church.

God created the institution of human marriage to reflect, or mirror forth, this eternal union. In other words, human marriage exists to point men and angels to the eternal marriage of Christ and his church. The gospel made this divine marriage possible. Here is our point: human marriage exists to preach the gospel. It exists to illustrate the fruit that should follow the preaching of the gospel in the church.

To whom do our marriage preach? Of course, the first audience is God and his angels. They watch and rejoice, or if our marriage is a war zone, they grieve.

Who is the second audience? Most of us think first about our non-Christian neighbors. Maybe they will see our attempts to model Christian marriage and want the gospel? They might, and we hope they will, but actually they are the third audience.

The second audience, usually overlooked by most Christians, is our children. What is our marriage telling them about Christ and his bride? They see it all. They hear our fights. They absorb our attitudes. They know who or what really sits on the throne of our lives. They watch how we handle resentment. They hear the way we talk to each other. They know when we hear the Sunday sermon and apply it. They also know when we ignore it.

The message that our marriage preaches either repels or attracts our children. God wants your child to watch your marriage and think, “I want a marriage like that, and I want the God that produced it.” Or, “When I think of the beauty of the gospel, I think of my parents’ marriage. I want to be part of a church that is loved by God the way my dad loves my mother. I want to be part of a church that finds its joy in submitting to Christ as my mother joyfully submits to my father.”

Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting, William P. Farley (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009).

Vote: Life or Death

This article is quite shocking in itself. A couple has gotten pregnant and aren't sure if they are ready to be parents. The question they are asking themselves is not parenting or adoption; it is parenting or abortion. The adoption option seems to be missing. But instead of seeking out wise counsel, they have made an online poll and asked the public to make the decision for them.

Knowing what the human heart is capable of and how little our society values God-given life, it really isn't much of a surprise. It is especially heartbreaking to read a story like this when so many people, including me, have been waiting for a long time to adopt children. What I do find interesting regarding this story, is that as I listen to commentary on the radio or read it on the internet, everyone seems to be outraged; even pro-choice people. Suddenly a pro-choice advocate has a conscience regarding the life of the unborn child?

If the thing inside the mother is just a blob of tissue as a pro-choicer believes, then this is an amoral decision and no outrage should follow. But something inside them screams that it is wrong, and even though it contradicts their worldview, they still cry out against it. It is a child growing inside that woman. It is wrong to put this decision to public vote because it is wrong to play so carelessly with a person created in God's image.

I wonder how that baby would vote?

Fathers...

Many folks at EBC have given input about about parenting. This post is about the importance of the fathers role.

1) A child's identity is formed primarily through their relationship with their father.

2) A daughter learns what type of man to marry from her father's example and a son learns what type of husband to be from his father's example.

3) There are two things that are guiding me as a [father]; the word of God, and watching other believers in their families. The more God molds me, the more different I become. God tells me in the word to encourage and discipline my child, and that I have authority over him. He also tells me to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry; he doesn't make an exception if I'm angry at my child. I'm supposed to "let my gentleness be evident to all" (again no exception).

Parenting and church and the Bible

1) I think the Bible is the most powerful parenting tool we have. It doesn't have to be used as a hammer - where you throw it in the child's face and demand that he obey it. But just reading it and giving the Holy Spirit the chance to sink it in can change a child's life. One time when our kids were in conflict, I just read 1 Corinthians 13 slowly enough for it to sink in, and the Spirit did the work through the word.

2) I was told once when I was going out or something “Remember who you represent” which means you represent Christ and your parents and family member's name. We tell our kids the same thing, kind of a good thing to make you think about things.

3) It is the parent's responsibility to teach and model the gospel to the children, not the churches.

4) Your child - whom you believe to be the cutest, most innocent being ever - is still a sinner who needs a new heart that comes from the shed blood of Christ.

5) Parenting must not be about having a child who makes you look good or makes your life easier, it is about making disciples through the gospel.

In the beginning…

1) Let the kids "cry it out" a couple of nights, and they'll quickly figure out to go to sleep was pretty good.

2) Don't try to be quiet around a newborn. The sooner they get used to noise (and they can sleep through it) the better.

3) Don't sweat the small stuff! Little kids, little problems- big problems. Enjoy this moment of your children- living in the past or future will cause you to miss the now.

4) "Don't wait until everything is in place before you start living your life. There will always be something else to do or something else to achieve, and if you wait until it's all in place, then it'll be too late." – Work your career around your life instead of the other way around. Also, try to squeeze as much family time into every day rather than just waiting for the day I finally have a "real" job.

5) Parenting is a full-time responsibility. Careers, hobbies, friends, and comforts will need to be sacrificed to be successful.

Parenting - before you start

The following suggestions are from attendees of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Rochester MN.

#1) Wait [a while] to get to know your spouse. Otherwise. . . after [you have] kids you wonder who the person sleeping next to you is?

#2) It's easier to give life than to give love.

#3) Early in our marriage, my Mom reminded me to take care of and invest in my relationship with my husband all through my marriage. She said someday your children will be gone and you need to be excited to spend the rest of your life with the man you married. It was great advice and at times hard when we were in the midst of raising children, establishing careers, etc. but I always remembered her advice.

The best parenting advice

The current preaching series at Emmanuel Baptist Church is on Godly parenting. Current and future

parents were asked to submit their answers to the title question,

“What is the best parenting advice you ever received / implemented / or used as a parent?”

The next series of posts is geared to get your feedback. I will organize posts somewhat by theme.

Current series:

sermon 1) Godly parenting: The place to start

You must parent yourself before you can parent your children.

Sermon 2) Godly parenting: The objective

The goal of parenting is to prepare children to meet Jesus.

Sermon 3) Godly parenting: The discipline

Sermon 4) Godly parenting: The pitfalls

Book Review: The Trellis and the Vine

Churches often start a program or expand their facilities with evangelistic intentions; believing that the new structures will help with sharing the gospel with the community. New ministry methods come into fashion as congregations around the country jump into the fad hoping it will be the key to helping their struggling churches. As is often the case, time passes and the church becomes more focused on maintaining the structure than on seeing the gospel grow in its people. The church’s attention becomes finding people to fill in the holes in the ministry or channeling funds to a struggling program. Too often it becomes more about the program than it does about the people.

This is where Colin Marshall and Tony Payne bring in the parable that is the center of their book The Trellis and the Vine. The vine is a metaphor for the gospel and the work it does in people’s lives. “The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel.” (pg. 8) The trellis represents the basic church structures that support the important vine work; buildings, committees, programs, finances, etc. The trouble, say the authors, is that trellis work tends to take over vine work. Many people are involved in maintaining the trellis, while the actual gospel work falls to a few. Marshall and Payne suggest that trellis work gets more attention because it isn’t as personal and threatening, and its ‘success’ more visibly measurable. Vine work requires much prayer and personal vulnerability; causing many people to seek more comfortable tasks. Whatever the reason for the out-of-balance focus, churches and pastors too often find themselves consumed with trellis work and have little time left for actual vine work. Our churches need to examine themselves and determine where our priorities lie: “Our goal is not to make church members or members of our institution, but genuine disciples of Jesus…Or to return to our parable – our goal is to grow the vine, not the trellis.” (pg. 14)

In The Trellis and the Vine, Marshall and Payne suggest a new perspective on ministry that will “change everything.” They say, “Structures don’t grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines, and…most churches need to make a conscious shift – away from erecting and maintaining structure, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ.” (pg. 17) Here they suggest a few directions to take that mind-shift:

· From running programs to building people
· From running events to training people
· From using people to growing people
· From filling gaps to training new workers
· From solving problems to helping people make progress
· From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership
· From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships
· From relying on training institutions to establishing local training
· From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion
· From engaging in management to engaging in ministry
· From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

The emphasis shifts from programs and structures to people: “This is what the growing vine really is: it is individual, born-again believers, grafted into Christ by his word and Spirit, and drawn into mutually edifying fellowship with one another.” (pg. 38) The book then turns from outlining the metaphor to creating a vision for vine work; focusing our attention on the people God has brought into the church and developing godly character that will help them utilize the gifts that God has blessed each individual with. In a word, the rest of the book is about training. That’s what New Testament gospel growth was about; training new believers to teach and grow others into godly maturity.

Every believer needs to be involved in vine work. There aren’t two classes of disciples – those who abandon their lives to Christ’s service and those who don’t. Every believer is called to radical discipleship and disciple making. This, however, doesn’t mean that every believer is called to be a street evangelist: “While all Christians can and should be trained as vine-workers, not all will be gifted to minister in exactly the same way or to the same extent.” (pg. 85) But every believer must be involved in helping another believer to grow in Christian maturity which will help them better reach out to the people around them; in their homes, workplaces, streets, and extended families. The training emphasizes character, rather than skills, which will help disciples live as vine workers throughout their lives and not just in a particular situation. “Training Christians to be vine-workers does not simply mean the impartation of certain skills and abilities. Christian discipleship is about sound doctrine and a godly life, and so to train or equip someone to minister to others means training and equipping them with godliness and right thinking, not just with a set of skills.” (pg. 86)

The point of The Trellis and the Vine is to move us away from the mindset that when we see a need we must start a new program and then find the people to fill it. The book says we should pour our efforts into the people we have. We need to invest our lives into personal, mentoring/training relationships between mature disciples and future harvest workers to model and impart biblical attitudes and behaviors; not simply add another class or curriculum that we think is relevant to the current trends. A church must focus on training people in godly character who then turn around and begin training the next groups of people in godly character. Soon, every member is a minister and not everyone is dependent upon a few people to do the vine work because the vine is growing throughout the congregation. This can happen in a variety of trellis structures, but when a trellis no longer becomes helpful to the vine we don’t feel the need to protect the trellis when a different one would better help vine growth.
The Trellis and the Vine definitely presents a “ministry mind-shift” that is beneficial reading for anyone who is discussing church structure and ministry vision. The book presents a gospel focused training perspective that desires to see the vine grow throughout the world. It is a bold vision and challenge for disciples to evaluate their current preferences and traditions and invest in personal, and often vulnerable, relationships to see the gospel grow in the lives of the people around them.

Book Review: The Jesus You Can't Ignore

Confrontation is completely out of fashion these days. We live in an over-sensitive culture where any conviction and certainty are viewed as arrogant and divisive. Even the church shies away from confrontation. We prefer sermons that are more “uplifting.” We have evangelism programs that are relational to oppose those outdated confrontational methods. In an effort to avoid offending any visitors, many churches try to make them as comfortable as possible and remove any mention of sin, repentance, and hell from the message. We appear afraid of any confrontation.

Confrontation is so despised that we’ve even imagined a Jesus who had never spoken in more than a soft whisper and never told anyone they were wrong. This Jesus must have walked around wearing a tie-dyed robe handing out daisies to everyone he met. The truth is that while Jesus had a soft heart and good news for those who were “already broken, humbled, and fed up with the life of sin” (pg. 1). But for false teachers and religious hypocrites He reserved the most scathing rebukes.

In John MacArthur’s book, The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, he investigates the sensitivities of modern evangelicalism and compares them to the reality of Jesus presented in the gospels. He says in the introduction, “The way Jesus dealt with His adversaries is in fact a serious rebuke to the church of our generation…We cannot be men-pleasers and servants of Christ at the same time” (pg. xv).

Too often we let our pride guide us in trying to please others instead of being obedient, even when it might cause us some trouble. We prefer to pursue a sense of unity at the expense of truth. A fear of argument or division causes us to set aside our call to discernment. “These days it seems the visible church is dominated by people who simply are not interested in making any careful distinctions between fact and falsehood, sound doctrine and heresy, biblical truth and mere human opinion” (pg. xxi).

John MacArthur, however, is not calling for us to seek out confrontation. “Generally speaking, avoiding conflicts is a good idea. Warmth and congeniality are normally preferable to cold harshness. Civility, compassion, and good manners are in short supply these days, and we ought to have more of them. Gentleness, a soft answer, and a kind word usually go farther than an argument or a rebuke. That which edifies is more helpful and more fruitful in the long run than criticism. Cultivating friends is more pleasant and more profitable than crusading against enemies” (pg. 19). But he explains that there is a time when clear, sharp lines need to be drawn out of compassion for those who may be deceived by false teaching.

In the familiar way that MacArthur teaches, the book is a simple exposition of various Scripture texts detailing Jesus’ confrontational style. Jesus kicked off his public ministry with a tirade in the temple against the moneychangers. He confronted Nicodemus with the hard truth that his devotion to Pharisaism was not enough to merit God’s favor. In fact, the sweetness of John 3:16 that we are all familiar with is followed up by a phrase that is not so sweet for the non-believer: “he that does not believe is condemned…” (John 3:18). “Let’s face it: the idea that the entire human race is fallen and condemned is simply too harsh for most people’s tastes” (pg. 63). It was quite the slap in the face to Nicodemus when Jesus told him that being a son of Abraham and his devotion to the temple and the law would still leave him guilty in front of God.

MacArthur also describes Jesus’ altercations with the Pharisees after His miracles, examines the embarrassing public rebuke that is the sermon on the mount, and considers Jesus’ final sermon pronouncing woes on the Pharisees; calling them “hypocrites,” “vipers,” “whitewashed tombs,” “child of hell,” and “blind fools.” MacArthur points out the significance that “the One of whom it was said, ‘God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved’ (John 3:17) made His last public sermon an extended message of condemnation.” (pg. 183) Because of His hard teachings, as Jesus public ministry progressed, His audience steadily narrowed to a small following and eventually was abandoned by even His closest disciples.

The message of The Jesus You Can’t Ignore is not for us to be more combative with our neighbors and fellow Christians. It is that every Christian has a duty to be discerning and to stand firmly on the proclamation of the Truth. Sometimes you will find the opportunity to minister to a humbled sinner, and at times you will find yourself in the middle of a confrontation with a proud, self-righteous Pharisee.

If Jesus is to be our example, then we must be bold as He was and be willing to take some heat for the Gospel. “His preaching had one aim: to declare truth, not to win accolades from the audience. For those who were not interested in hearing the truth, He did not try to make it easier to receive. What He did instead was make it impossible to ignore.” (pg. 160)

Too Much Church?

This article brings up some interesting (and likely accurate) struggles in children's ministry. I have been wrestling a lot lately with the best approach to children/youth ministry as I am burdened with the problems discussed in the article, fearful that 80% of our youth aren't actually regenerate and will walk away after high school, and dedicated to learning the most godly way to raise my own children to fear God.

What is the best way to solve this?

I am becoming more convinced that the church has bought too much into the American cultural standards of education. We simply take the K-12 model of education, add Bible topics, and cram it all in on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Throughout Scripture and much of history, children were trained to be responsible adults and committed Christians through hands-on mentor relationships; the primary being the parent-child relationships. Children learned responsibility through working hard. They picked up language, math, and science through interaction with people and the world around them; not from a sterile classroom environment.

As I am learning much lately, the church isn't simply about a building and doctrines; it is a community of redeemed sinners who God placed in relationships for our benefit to grow in godliness. Many of the adults seem to understand that, but for some reason we don't include the children in the group. We send them back to the classrooms and nurseries to figure out mature relationships in a pig sty of immaturity.

The linked article continues to spur my thinking to find the most biblical, godly way to point children to a relationship with Christ that results in fruitful lives, not a program of songs and stories that builds knowledge with little action.

Adoption and the Gospel

As my wife and I are moving through the long process of adoption, we have really been struck throughout our studying how beautifully the Gospel is portrayed through adoption and how central the Gospel must be in parenting. Adoption is about bringing a person into a new life and showering him with blessings that he hasn't earned. It is a picture of God reaching into our lives of brokenness and giving us new lives as His children. The experience has made me more worshipful; and we haven't even brought a child into our home yet.

Read through this article in Christianity Today from Russell Moore, author of Adopted for Life (which was reviewed here a couple months ago). He explains it much more vividly than I could.

Christians need to make adoption a priority, not only for the children, but for the Gospel.

Anti-Gay Hypocrisy?

Recently, Minneapolis Lutheran pastor Tom Brock was "outed" by a pro-homosexuality magazine calling the pastor a hypocrite for teaching from the pulpit that homosexuality is a sin to be repented of while attending a gay support group. Setting aside the controversy over the journalism methodology (which makes the undercover expose appear to be backfiring for the author), I just don't see this as a case of hypocrisy.

Tom Brock led a church that was part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). After many years of opposing the organization's liberal, gospel-denying tendencies, his church decided to leave the ELCA after last year's decision to allow self-identified gay pastors. Brock, who has a daily radio show on the Twin Cities AM Christian talk radio station KKMS, has spoken often about the drifting away of the ELCA and every church's need to stay faithful to the truth of the Bible. Publicly, Brock has consistently emphasized his committment to Scripture, including the truth of the sin of homosexuality. While I disagree with Brock on various theological issues, I believe he has stood firm on the gospel; including the reality of sin.

Because of his consistency in proclaiming that homosexuality is a sin to be repented of, I don't see how his attending a Christian support group for those struggling with homosexuality is hypocrisy. He is admitting his struggle with sin and seeking out help to turn from it. Many Christians need support in overcoming their bondage to various sins. Homosexuals aren't a special breed of sinner that cannot be saved. The cross of Christ covers all who turn from sin. This case appears to be an example of someone who recognizes his sin and is calling out to God for cleansing from that sin. This is not hypocrisy; it is actually quite consistent with the gospel Pastor Brock preaches.

NOTE:
For a gentle, biblical treatment of homosexuality, check out Matt Chandler's Seminar.

Book Review: Reasons We Believe

If you’ve spent any time defending your faith or even simply listening to popular media, you have heard many objections to the Christian faith. These objections become so common that it is likely that you even here the same few repeatedly. Instead of seeking out answers that are available in a plethora of formats, they continue to promote the same, tired excuses not to believe in order to ease their conscience. But simply answering questions isn’t going to regenerate the soul in bondage to sin. Even with truth clearly presented, people will continue to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). Only the Holy Spirit through the power of the Word of God can soften a hard heart and regenerate the soul.

From this perspective, Nathan Busentiz writes his book Reasons We Believe: 50 Lines of Evidence That Confirm the Christian Faith. Throughout the book he simply presents what the Bible says and how it applies to a Christian defense. Too often in our apologetical zeal we are led down rabbit trails and forget that our aim is to present Scripture and proclaim the gospel. We get trapped in defending against insignificant claims or present “evidence” that has no bearing on the gospel. Busenitz does a nice job of using Scripture and letting the Word of God speak; trusting the Spirit to do the work on the heart.

Reasons We Believe is organized into six sections; the first as an introduction to faith that uses reason and five sections dealing with the evidence. The five sections include Reasons We Believe in God, Reasons We Believe the Bible, and Reasons We Believe in Jesus, and they are broken down into ten short sections explaining each piece of evidence to consider. Most of the chapters are only a few pages long, but they guide the reader to all he needs to know on the topic. Busenitz introduces the line of evidence, presents the Scripture that applies, and reasons through the effect the evidence has on our understanding of Christianity. Throughout its pages the book references a broad spectrum of Christian sources and cites them in footnotes that are helpful for further study.

While Reasons We Believe isn’t an exhaustive source for apologetics, it is a great place to get a summary of important evidences for the Christian faith and a good starting point for those who want to dig deep. Nathan Busenitz has written the book in a way that a person can either read a few pages to pick up helpful information or spend hours researching the concepts he presents.

The Trellis and the Vine Giveaway

Boy do I need to get back to this blog. I have fallen behind with a busy spring and planning our adoption. This summer looks to be a lot more open to get back to posting and reviewing books.

One book I hope to review soon is The Trellis and the Vine. As of right now my book buying budget is sitting hopelessly at ZERO. Then along comes Mike Leake, and his blog Borrowed Light, offering to give on away for free. Enter the drawing and see if you can win (please let me borrow it to write a review for our church).

Book Review - Adopted for Life

How many books have you read on the topic of adoption? How many books on adoption can you even think of? There aren’t many out there; especially very few from a biblical perspective. Going through an adoption home study, our agency requires a few books to study before approval for adoption; all books which had to be borrowed from secular sources. This is quite sad considering adoption is a much larger part of the Christian life than most probably realize.

Russell Moore has, through the sovereignty of God, been drawn to see the beauty of adoption through the painful struggle of infertility. Through the battle of bringing two Russian boys into his home, God taught him much more than what at first appears to be “mere charity.” Moore weaves his adoption experience and glorious biblical truths together in his book Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches.

Moore’s first chapter, titled Adoption, Jesus, and You: Why You Should Read This Book, Especially If You Don’t Want To, sets the stage for the message of the entire book. Most who are reading this think that they have no need to read a book about adoption as they are not going to be adopting any children. However, according to the Bible (James 1:27), true Christian faith is all about adoption. Russell Moore beautifully explains throughout Adopted for Life that not only is it a priority for every believer to be involved in adoption, but that every believer has already been involved in adoption.

The truth is, adoption is all over the New Testament; it is the heart of the gospel. Those who were once enemies of God – children of the devil – have been made to be children of God, heirs to His heavenly inheritance. Every person who has truly turned from sin and surrendered to Christ has been grafted into the family of Abraham, become a brother of Christ, and given promises that can only be made to sons of God. Understanding the relationship between the gospel and adoption will only deepen your relationship with your heavenly Father. “As we become more attuned to the gospel, we’ll have more of a burden for orphans. As we become more adoption-friendly, we’ll be better able to understand the gospel.” (pg. 18)

According to Moore, being adopted means “we’re part of a brand-new family, a new tribe, with a new story, a new identity.” (pg. 36) When we turn our backs to our old life, we embrace a new life as part of a new family, with new brothers and sisters sharing a new Father. Our old life has past and we look forward to a new inheritance in heaven. No longer do we call ourselves citizens of the world, but aliens in the world who have homes prepared by our new Father. Our ancestry is no longer German, Norwegian, English, Asian, African, but we now have Jewish roots in the line of Abraham.

Adopted for Life then expands on the gospel metaphor and begins to make it applicable to every member of God’s family. As James 1:27 states that true biblical faith results in caring for orphans, Moore explains that “a culture of adoption and a culture of evangelism coexist together.” (pg. 75) Adopting children into your home isn’t about filling your family, but rather His family. “Adoption is…evangelistic to the core. When a Christian family adopts a child, that family is committing to years of gospel proclamation, of seeking to see this child come to faith in Christ.” (pg. 181) In a world that sees children as a commodity or a burden, “Imagine if Christian churches were known as the places where unwanted babies become beloved children.” (pg. 79) As we combat the drastic effects of evolutionary philosophies, Moore wonders if “Perhaps the most practical way your congregation can show Darwinism to be wrong is to showcase families for whom love is more than gene protection.” (pg. 80)

If we desire to be faithful to God’s commands - both to care for orphans and to the Great Commission – the church will make adoption more of a priority. Russell Moore gives practical advice in Adopted for Life for individual families and churches to begin to be more obedient in this ministry (i.e. adopting orphans, providing resources, offering prayer, emphasizing adoption teaching, starting church adoption funds, and embracing the church as a new family). He brings needed conviction for stagnant faith that won’t leave its comfort zone. And he reveals the glorious joy to be found in being an adopted son of the Creator of the world.

Family Scripture Memorization

Now this is a great way to memorize Scripture. I have had these songs stuck in my head for days. Very catchy. My 16 month old daughter loves them!

Book Review - Gospel Powered Parenting

It would be an understatement to say that many books have been written on parenting. Thousands have surely been written in the last few decades. So why another one? William P. Farley says that it’s obvious by looking at the next generation that “Christian parenting is in disarray.” In his book Gospel-Powered Parenting, Farley addresses the concern that many in the church have: too many children raised in Christian homes are turning away from Christ.

The reason for this, says Farley, is that the church has forgotten that the priority of Christian discipline and instruction of children is that of the parents, not the church. He says, “The point of this book is that God normally exercises his sovereignty through parents who faithfully practice biblical parenting.” (pg. 22) “Effective parents equip their children to overcome the world – not by changing and controlling their environment (things external to their children), but by going after their children’s hearts.” (pg. 24) Gospel-Powered Parents realize the power of the Gospel to change lives and trust in the new birth to bring changed behavior.

The focus of Gospel-Powered Parenting is exactly that; the Gospel. “Going after children’s hearts” means that we recognize that children are born as enemies of God and they need the grace of God applied to them in the cross to overcome their sin. A couple of assumptions by many Christian parents can be deadly to a child’s soul: that they are born innocent or that because they participate in church functions they have received new life in Christ. These will doom a parent’s efforts to raise a child biblically. “New birth is known by its fruits, not by a decision. The most important fruit is hunger for God himself. Effective parents assume this, and patiently wait for sustained fruit before they render a verdict.” (pg. 30)

The first half of Gospel-Powered Parenting is a focus on the Gospel itself. The chapters explain the need for parents themselves to be bathed in the Gospel and then their responsibility to parent with a focus on the child’s eternity in mind. The Gospel is explained in terms of the fear of God, His holiness (and wrath), and God’s grace and love displayed to us on the cross. It is important for Farley to emphasize clarity on the Gospel as the remainder of the book explains how it is applied to parenting.

The final few chapters of the book are more practical in their help to apply the Gospel in parenting. Farley notes that there is actually very little written in the Bible about how to raise children. This, he says, is because “the gospel is the classroom that teaches us everything we need to know to become effective Christian parents. If we really understand the gospel, and know how to apply it to our marriages and parenting, we have all the tools we need to pass the baton to our children.” (pg. 46)
“Parents who trust in the power of the gospel teach it to their children. They relate their dinner discussion to it. They teach it through their discipline. They attend churches that preach the gospel clearly and decisively. They center their family devotions on it…They relate all of life to Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. They read and teach the entire Bible to their children, but they always relate its parts to its center, to the gospel.” (pg. 184)

These more immediately applicable chapters of Gospel-Powered Parenting suggest five basic tools that are essential to assuring that your children hear and experience the Gospel in your home. The tools are: marriage, fathers, discipline, teaching, and affection. Our marriages preach to our children. They tell children whether or not we truly embrace the humility and forgiveness that the Gospel preaches. Farley says that marriage is the most important tool we have in communicating the Gospel to our children. Fathers become the primary model of Christ in the family. Both boys and girls learn their relational identity from their fathers and a church and family is energized by the servant leadership of men. Discipline focused in the Gospel uses “the rod” to awaken the heart of the seriousness of sinful rebellion and bathes children in loving forgiveness, guiding them to repentance in prayer. Gospel-powered parents recognize that it is not the church’s or the state’s responsibility to educate and train their children. No matter what type of education is chosen, it is based on the knowledge that parents are responsible to educate and evangelize the souls God has entrusted to them. Finally, Farley says parents should shower their children with affection, showing them that they truly care for their little souls.

William Farley’s Gospel-Powered Parenting is an extremely important book for all who desire to parent biblically. It is a reminder of the immense responsibility of Christian parenting and God’s design is to bring children to a knowledge of the Savior through Christian homes. This book points us then to the purpose of parenting: “Ultimately the goal of parenting is not your child’s happiness. It is not your happiness either. It is not their academic or career success. It is not your reputation. The goal is the glory of God.” (pg. 198) And it reminds parents to trust in the power of the Gospel to overcome our parenting failures: “So the gospel not only teaches us how to parent. The gospel salves the wounds of our imperfections, and it encourages us to persevere through our failures.” (pg. 220)