Dead Man Blogging

At church we’ve been doing Rick Warren’s SHAPE study. My first thought is that my shape is an oval with too round of a middle! I’m generally pretty skeptical of these things, but I have to admit this nailed me pretty well so far.

The “S” in SHAPE stands for Spiritual Gifts, choosing from a list of faith, service, discernment, teacher, exhortation, mercy, giving, prophet, evangelism, leadership, shepherd, administration. Admittedly, it’s a fairly arbitrary list, and I think we make too much of needing to label our particular gifts.

But again, it nailed me. It’s a fairly sophisticated test and you can’t “rig” it very well. My highest score was prophet (26/30), followed by teacher (24/30), evangelism (23/30) and discernment (22/30). The definition of prophecy is

The divine enablement to proclaim and apply God’s truth and expose sin. The ability to proclaim and apply God’s truth so that believers may be edified, encouraged, and consoled and non-believers can be convinced. Prophets also reveal unrighteous motives and actions in others.

I think evangelism and discernment were a little higher than they should have been, but that was probably “bleed over” from prophecy.

My lowest two scores were mercy and faith. I don’t like a book calling me faithless and unmerciful, but it’s not really like that. It’s just that I don’t have those _gifts_. I am not the guy to call when you are depressed. I will sympathize with you and hurt for you, but you won’t be able to tell. I’ll be all tongue tied and probably won’t encourage you at all. My heart will break for you, but I do not have the ability to do a very good job of giving you support and encouragement. That’s more my wife’s department. There have even been cases where I suggested that my wife do certain things to help out friends and family who needed mercy and encouragement, and it worked very well. She got all the “credit” for being merciful, but if I’d tried it, it would have flopped.

I just finished a different section of the profile. The first part was another, larger, spiritual gifts test. Knowledge, teaching, and prophecy came out on top, although prophecy was lower than before. Still, the labels are fairly arbitrary and I think it’s describing roughly the same thing. Showing mercy wasn’t the absolute bottom of the list, but it was close.

Then I took the “Four Personality Types DISC” test. This _so_ nailed me. You wind up with two graphs. The first is “What others think / expect of me” and the second is “The real me”. Mine were pretty similar, except for one significant difference which I’ll get to.

The first graph, what others think of me, was very high in the C area (aka “Melancholy”) - competent, compliant, cautious, calculating. My next highest was D (aka “Choleric”) - dominant, direct, demanding, decisive. I think I subconsciously made that lower than it should be.

The second graph was very close to the first, except the S area (”Pleghmatic”) - submissive, steady, stable, security-oriented - was higher and the C was lower.

So what you do then is look at your particular graph and map that to a paragraph description of you.

For the first graph, what people think I am, it said

“C”s are logical and analytical. Their predominant drive is careful, calculating, compliant, and correct behavior. When frustrated, they can over do it or be the exact opposite. They need answers and opportunities to reach their potential. They tend not to care about the feelings of others. They can be critical and crabby. They prefer quality and reject phoniness in others. They are motivated by explanations and projects that stimulate their thinking.

That’s close, but there was a better one. Like I said, I think my “D” was lower than it should have been. In that case, my description is

“D/C” types are determined students or defiant critics. They want to be in charge, while collecting information to accomplish tasks. They care more about getting a job done and doing it right than what others think or feel. They drive themselves and others. They are dominant and caustic. Improving their _people skills_ is important. They need to be more sensitive and understanding. They are motivated by choices and challenges to do well.

That’s not _exactly_ me, but I think it’s closer (especially that first sentence!)

But the second graph, “Who you really are”, mapped to this description.

“C/S/D”s are a combination of cuatious, stable, and determined types. They are more task-oriented but care about people on an individual basis. They don’t like to speak in front of crowds. They prefer to get the job done and do it right through small groups, as opposed to large groups. They tend to be more serious. Often misunderstood by others as being insensitive, “C/S/D” types really care for people. They just don’t show it openly. They need to be more positive and enthusiastic. Natural acievers, they need to be more friendly and less critical.

Aside from “They don’t like to speak in front of crowds,” this one nailed me pretty well.

Then you go through a set of “warnings” to do with your personality, where I read things such as “Be more patient when wanting to correct others… Correct in love” (and that was the graph with the _low_ “D” score!), “Show more love”, “Let your sensitivity be more evident”, etc.

Finally I got to a section that crosses your personality with your gifts. The thought here is that two people with the same gift but different interests and personalities will use that gift differently. The analogy is that one man might use a pencil to sketch a landscape scene, but another man might use an identical pencil to do math. Same gift, different uses.

I had two dominant personality traits and three top spiritual gifts, which yields six combinations. I won’t type it all, but here are some excerpts:

* They don’t hesitate to share what they know from the Bible and other subjects.
* They tend to be a little too deep for most people, but are a great resource. They often need to lighten up and learn how to be more people-oriented.
* Determined to preserve purity, they tend to dominate others. As protectors of righteousness, they proclaim truth without concern for what anyone thinks. … “D”-Prophets / Perceivers are the most effective declarers of truth.
* They tend to be conscientious. They can be too critical of those who compromise truth.
* Determined to discover in-depth truth, they can over-do their lessons.

Then I found this thing that really hacked me off and pretty much validated how accurate the assessment was. As a teacher, I’m supposed to pray “Dear God, Help me to be practical, not just impart truth.” Bah!

How do you know that you are saved? How can you counsel someone who is having doubts?

Doug McHone relates how a religious call-in show handled this and he wasn’t very impressed.

I grew up in typical small Baptist churches. We’d have a regularly scheduled revival every year or so, with an evangelist coming in from out of town to conduct it. One recurring theme was that you needed to be really really _really_ sure you were saved. After all, you might not have _really_ meant it all the previous times you prayed the Sinner’s Prayer. This led to lots of folks discovering they weren’t truly saved.

I’ve also had more than one conversation with people who doubted their salvation. I’ve never really dealt with those situations in a very satisfying way. At one church near here, when a youth comes to faith, he nails some kind of tag with his name and date to a big wooden cross on the church property. That gives him something concrete and tangible to remind him.

I don’t want to denigrate anything that helps people remember that they are children of God. But I think the real assurance we have is much different.

As far as I know, there is no Biblical counsel to remember when you prayed the Sinner’s Prayer. This may be due in no small part to the fact that the Sinner’s Prayer is not found in the Bible. Just guessing. Instead, I know of two complementary Biblical assurances of salvation. And they don’t depend on you remembering when you walked down an aisle or being sure you _really_ meant anything.

What would you do if I asked you to prove that you were alive? How would you prove that? There are lots of good ways. Maybe you would let me feel your pulse. Maybe you could demonstrate that you were breathing. Just waving your arms around would prove it.

But is there anyone on the face of the earth who would go scrambling for his birth certificate?

Of course not, that would be silly. Not everyone has a birth certificate. It’s just a piece of paper anyway, of little interest to anyone other than a government bureaucrat. You have much more convincing evidence that you are alive - just by doing things that a living person can do.

There are many texts I could use to demonstrate this, but 1 John lays it out pretty clearly. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

What things does John give us as assurances?

* 1 John 1:6-7 tells us that if we walk in the light, we can know we are saved. But if we walk in the darkness, we have no such assurance.
* 1 John 1:8-10 says that acknowledging and confessing our sins is a litmus test.
* 1 John 2:3-6 explains that obeying Christ’s commands is proof that we are saved.
* 1 John 2:9-10 makes loving our brother a test.
* 1 John 3:6-10 makes it clear that a life of love and righteousness is evidence that we are children of God, and the lack of love and righteousness is evidence that we are children of Satan.
* 1 John 3:24 mentions that we can know we abide in Christ “by the Spirit which he hath given us”. This is repeated in 4:13.
* 1 John 4:15 and 5:1 give belief in Jesus as our assurance. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ? Do you confess Him as the Son of God? You’re saved.
* 1 John 5:10 tells us that we will have the witness in ourself if we believe.

Notice that these are all present tense. John does not tell us to take confidence that once upon a time we prayed a prayer and really meant it. He tells us to examine our behavior and belief. Are you walking as Christ walked? Do you believe Christ is the Son of God? Do you have the Holy Spirit testifying in you? This is a Biblical assurance.

But there is a second, even better assurance. It provides comfort for us when it comes to our own salvation, and when it comes to the salvation of our children.

Several of my friends with young children have mentioned being worried about how to lead their children to Christ. My kids (4 and 2) would repeat just about anything I told them to say; certainly they would say a sinner’s prayer. My oldest is adamant that he loves Jesus. My friend’s daughter has “asked Jesus into her heart” - but she’s only 5, so was it real? Another friend’s child with one breath says he wants to ask Jesus into his heart, but with the next breath asks if he can have a cookie. What’s a parent to do?

There is Biblical assurance here. It is called, in a word, _Calvinism_.

That’s right, Calvinism. The terrible doctrine that causes so many people to stumble and allegedly chills evangelism and turns us into fatalistic robots with no free will.

In truth, Calvinism is the greatest comfort to my heart when it comes to things eternal. God is not a bureaucrat. Neither my children nor I will be denied Heaven because we didn’t repeat the right prayer with the right level of intent and emotions. Nobody slips through the cracks. You won’t be damned due to a technical mistake.

I do not need to worry about walking the fine line between “pushing” my kids to repeat a potentially meaningless prayer, and neglecting to encourage them to repent. God is in control. If Joshua burns in Hell for eternity, it won’t be because I accidentally pressured him into a false profession of faith and he consequently never really repented. God will convert him, or not, as He chooses. God is sovereign and even my blundering won’t mess up His plans. If Joshua’s name is written in the Book of Life, then God will regenerate him and bring him to repentance despite my bumbling and foolishness.

Likewise with me. I was about eight when I was converted. Well, I think that’s when I was converted. I barely comprehend the gospel _now_, let alone when I was eight. But God is sovereign and omnipotent, and will not let me screw up His plans.

So there are the two Biblical assurances that I know of. First, look at your life. Does it bear evidence that you belong to Christ? Are you obeying Christ? Do you love your brother? Does the Spirit testify to you that you are a child of God? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? And second, remember the character of God. He is sovereign and omnipotent enough to save you even from yourself. You don’t have to stay up late sweating over whether you really truly meant that prayer with all your heart enough that it would work. God is in control. He will bring you to faith and repentance despite your own missteps. There’s so much more there to cling to than a brief note written in the flyleaf of your Bible.

Colossians 3

1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Verse 3 is so stark - “ye are dead”. What a different perspective that should give us on life! You’re dead. If that’s the case, then so many things are so unimportant now. What does a dead man care about?

I remember in college at the end of each semester I would clean out my notes, papers, books, etc. Once my roomate and I had a huge paperwad fight with all our notes from a few classes. The pile of wadded up notes was huge! And these notes had been so precious to us just a few days before. But now, by and large, they were utterly worthless. We were done with the class. And that is nothing compared to the feeling I had when I finished my last final at the end of college. I was _done_. None of it mattered anymore. I was starting a job and getting married, and I had a completely different perspective.

I have some cousins several years younger than I am, who are in jr high and high school right now. I remember dealing with all that junk. And I keep trying to tell them, 10 minutes after graduation none of it will matter anymore. Nobody will care who was cool, who was a dork, who played football, etc. It’s just irrelevant. I wish that it was possible to lift these kids up for just an hour or two into the better perspective that I have now. It would make a tremendous difference in how they approached school, and how they evaluated what was and was not important.

Precious few things are important enough to survive graduation or the purging at the end of each semester. I did care about a handful of friendships. I also kept a handful of notes and books. But very few.

But _death_ is different. You can’t take any material things with you.

I have some idea how my school time would have looked if I’d viewed it from the perspective I have now. But how should my life look if I view it from the Biblical perspective?

The Bible teaches me that I am dead now, but when Christ returns then I will be alive. But more than that - I will appear with Him in glory (NAS says I’ll be _revealed_ with Him in glory). The things that are important in this world will all disappear, and the truly important things will be revealed. I am dead now, but I will be glorified later.

How does a dead man, who will be glorified later, live now? Paul outlines several things.

First, in verse 2, he tells us “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

It would be easy to twist this into Gnosticism, but it would be twisting the scriptures. The problem is not with material things. God tells us in Ecclesiastes that it is good “to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion”. Jesus came eating and drinking and was disparaged as a winebiber and a glutton.

The problem is not with enjoying the good blessings God has given us. The problem is worldliness and materialism. John Eldredge in Wild At Heart defined the world (I’m paraphrasing here) as the whole system of rules, rewards, standards, etc., that is generated by a society formed of a bunch of unregenerate sinners.

Enjoying the good gifts of God is not worldliness. Striving for and measuring yourself by the world’s standards is the epitome of worldliness. Paul is telling us to serve God and ignore the world’s standards and opinion.

Why do we want to impress the world? As far as I know, we’re only to be concerned with what the world thinks of us in a few areas: our unity, our love for one another, and our faithfulness to God. I think in some cases we’ve decided the best way to “influence the culture” is to compete with it _on it’s own terms_. We seem to think that we’ll advance the kingdom by impressing the world with our art, our academics, our football playing ability, our computer programming ability, or our business success. The Bible does not support that approach. Nobody has ever said to me “Wow, Robert, that is really nice code. What must I do to be saved?”

We get caught up in the world in so many ways.

We get caught up in entertainment. My wife the other day mentioned something about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s divorce. Why in the world do we care about that? And lest you think I’m looking down on her, I actually knew more about it than she did!

We get caught up in materialism. I’m memorizing Philippians 4:11-13. It struck me that I absolutely do _not_ know “how to get along with humble means”. I’m quite wealthy when measured by any reasonable scale. Maybe not compared to doctors and lawyers, but my income is over 4 times the average per capita income in this area. I take pride in that. I shouldn’t.

We get caught up in worldly activities. I feel like I’ll be depriving my kids if they are not invovled in sports and Boy Scouts. I think it’s my duty to take them to Disneyworld and Sea World.

Few of these things - especially not the last few I mentioned - are inherently bad. But they certainly expose that my mind is _not_ set on things above.

Paul continues with more concrete examples.

5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

I’m glad that this is the first specific set of things Paul gives, because it’s the first set of things that entered into my mind and it makes me feel like I’m not much more vile than other men. Sensual and sexual immorality are at the top of the list, followed by greed.

Fornication is a gimme. It brings momentary pleasure and eternal pain. According to Strong’s, uncleanness is “the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living”. It’s all temporal and temporary. It’s unbecoming of a dead man. It’s foolish. These are followed by evil passions and “concupiscence” which means “desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust”.

We can’t see from the perspective of a dead man. What does a dead man care about sinful, fleshly indulgences?

Greed is similar. A dead man doesn’t own anything. He’s not covetous.

So we see that part of “ye are dead” means that the only reasonable thing to do is to put away all these ungodly desires and fleshly indulgences.

In verse 8, Paul also mentions eliminating anger, wrath, and malice. How are these related to being dead?

In my experience, when I am unjustly angry at someone, or when I feel malice, it’s due to my own pride. Maybe they wronged me. Maybe I feel like I should tear them down for some kind of political reason. Maybe someone is challenging my legitimate authority on a matter. In most cases, it stems from pride.

What does a dead man have to be proud of? If I’m alive in this world, I have a reputation to maintain. I have to retaliate for wrongs done to me, because I must make sure justice is served.

But my life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ returns, I will be revealed with Him in glory. And _then_ I will be vindicated when I have done what is right. That’s the perspective a dead man should have. I don’t need to worry about my reputation, because it’s not up to you or to me to judge me. Christ will judge me as a faithless or a faithful servant, by His own criteria. Nobody but Jesus decides whether I am a good and faithful servant.

The natural way of looking at our lives is that we are born, live a little while, and then are dead for a very long time. The Biblical perspective is that we are _dead_ for a little while, and we will be alive for a very long time. If we could get that perspective it would change our lives. We would not trade eternal rewards for ungodly temporal pleasures. We would not let our pride cause us to become angry. We would not “play politics”. Instead, we would live as people who will be judged. This is both positive and negative. The negative side is that we will be held accountable for our sins. But it also has a positive side - we know that Jesus will rightly judge us when we are faithful, so it takes all the pressure off of making sure others think highly of us.

Molly Aley writes about creating our children’s culture.

The world has a culture it would like my children to live in. Most children do, as a matter of fact, their parents not even realizing that a thief has crept in unawares. Actually, most parents let the thief in the front door and invite him to stay on indefinitely as a member of the family.
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Pointing the finger and saying, “No, no, no” is hardly conduscive to anything but growing rebellion or ungodly fear. Therefore proactivity is a must for us as parents. We don’t let the outside culture dictate to us what we must be and do, no, but we go a step further from that position. We make our own God-centered culture, and joyfully abide therein.

It is our task as Christians to question what our culture has told us is “normal.” Our definition of “normal” must come from the Master, not from the society we live in. Albeit, it is easier to accept status quo and refrain from asking questions that may result in our undergoing radical upheavals…

David writes at Challies’s new community blog on finding balance.

I have observed that in the discussion of various issues that people will compare opposing views and conclude that the correct position is a ?balance? between them. Each view is wrong, but the right combination of wrongs will be right.
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That approach … is hardly a correct formula for truth. It implies that there is no truth that transcends our experience. Simply compromise opposing extremes, experiment until you find the middle ground that produces the most pleasing results, and there you have it: truth.
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God?s word does not contain opposites that must be mixed, like acid and base, to reach the correct pH level. All of God?s word is truth, and it does not contradict. God?s law and his grace can both be under-emphasized, but not over-emphasized. One can be excluded, causing an erroneous understanding of the other. They can be distorted and interpreted incorrectly, but never can they be taught too much.

I’ve written before about viewing things like “truth” and “love” not as opposites that must be balanced but as complementary supports (e.g., legs of a stool). But David knocks it out of the park.

(This post is a little .. blunt … but it should not be taken as a criticism of Darren or anyone who works to present a “practical theology”. I intend it as a criticism only of those who demand a practical theology, and will not pay attention to anything that is not immediately applicable to their daily lives. Darren says a lot of the things that I repeat here, so this should absolutely not be construed as a criticism of him!)

Darren at Nicene Theology discusses how to teach theology proper so as to make it relevant. He writes

While the groundwork that has been laid so far is still largely theoretical, this foray into practical theology is challenging. How does our theology inform our day-to-day lives, including our behavior and our relationships? When you teach a doctrine like God’s triune nature to a Christian (let alone a non-Christian), how do you show them that these historical, biblical ideas are important to them? How do we teach doctrine in a manner that is relevant, rather than strictly an intellectual exercise?

I’ve had the same sort of questions about my own attempts at teaching theology. I’m supposed to show people how various truths are “applicable”. To some extent, I do that. I explain how the doctrine of election is a source of comfort to Christians, especially when it comes to things like evangelism. I try to show how it’s only because God is sovereign and omnipotent that He is absolutely trustworthy. These fit naturally in the flow of the lesson. And there is plenty of Biblical precedent for this. Romans 8:29-30 teach predestination, and Romans 8:31-39 apply it. “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate” is followed by “if God be for us, who can be against us?”

But in general, I don’t think we ought to go out of our way to make individual doctrines seem “practical”. Theology is important because it is from God, and about God. He makes it important, not whether or not I can “use” it in my daily life.

Unfortunately, I don’t have this book with me, because it addresses this question. Essentially, we demand that theology “be relevant” because we are selfish. It’s all about me. We do not evaluate messages based on what they say about God, but on how they apply to me. Preaching becomes psychology, and God is therapeutic.

When I teach on the Trinity (as in Darren’s example), I teach how it is essential to the doctrine that God is perfect in and of Himself. He does not need His creation. The Godhead can communicate, command, submit, love, honor, and glorify one another. Otherwise you wind up with a God who can’t be obeyed and glorified unless His creation is willing to do it. This doctrine exalts God. A more exalted view of God should evoke certain responses from us, and so to this extent it is “practical”. But not in the same way as we usually mean “practical”. As Darren writes, people expect us to “show them that these historical, biblical ideas are important to them,” where “important” is defined as the extent to which biblical ideas “inform our day-to-day lives”.

Theology tells me who God is, who I am, and how God and I relate to one another. That information should cause me to behave in certain ways. For example, Romans 11:33-36 says “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord/ or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him,and it shall be recompensed to him again For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen”. The very next verse is Romans 12:1 “I beseech ye therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.” (emphasis added). Because all those things in chapter 11 are true of God, therefore we should respond to God in certain ways. But the significance of Romans 11:33-36 is not predicated on the existence of Romans 12:1-2. It’s the other way around!

Truth stands on its own two legs. It is important because it is true, and because it is the truth about God, His creation, and the relationship between the creation to the Creator. Our job is come to grips with the truth, then shape our lives accordingly. We, on the other hand, tend to think that truth is only important to the extent that it is directly applicable to me. We want truth to conform to our perceived needs, rather than conforming our lives to the truth.

It’s one thing to teach people the truth, then tell them how it out to work itself out in their lives. God is great (Rom 11:33-36), therefore serve Him (Rom 12:1-2). God is in control (Rom 8:29-30), therefore be at peace (Rom 8:31-39). This is the Biblical pattern. It tells us the truth about God, His creation, and our relationship, and then helps us see how we ought to respond to that. It is honoring to God. It assumes the importance of the truth and calls us to respond.

It’s entirely different to feel like we need to justify telling people about God. As though we must justify teaching ecclesiology because understanding the relationship of Christ to the church will help us have happier marriages. This is insulting to God. It’s prideful. It makes people into little idols. It assumes that we are so important that we can’t be bothered with banal trivialities about frivolous topics such as the very nature of God. We don’t have time, unless it’s immediately useful to us. (The fault here does not lie with those who are trying do whatever they need to do to get people to learn. Instead, the fault lies with those who demand such justifications for learning theology.)

If people don’t think it’s important to learn about God simply because He is God, then I’m not going to bother giving them other reasons. All that would do is puff them up. They need a lower view of themselves, and a much higher view of God. I will try to show them how we ought to live in response to various doctrines (when there are clear ramifications) but I do not think we ought to try to justify teaching theology. Our energy would be better spent addressing the arrogance that demands such justification to begin with.

Brad at 21st Century Reformation calls on God bloggers to be more “purpose driven”. Specifically, he writes

Bloggers need agendas. …. I encourage bloggers to define their agenda, their goal, and plead their case and develop their worldview through blogging. To me, blogging is not a hobby. Blogging is not an end in itself where we have “fun” having casual conversation with people around the globe. Blogging is another way to get a message out and to network with people who are asking the same questions.

This is why I decided to keep blogging. I have a purpose. I believe that theology _does_ impact all of your life. If it doesn’t seem to, all it demonstrates is that you don’t really believe what you say you believe. My purpose in this blog is to promote what I believe to be Biblical theology and show what kind of a life it should produce, particularly as it involves being separated _from_ the world and _to_ God, and the “counterculture” that produces.

Ryan Wentzel asks Am I Really an Evangelical? It’s not entirely serious, but he makes an excellent point.