John Piper on 1st Corinthians 7:3-5:
1 Corinthians 7:3-5
"The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."
The leadership of the husband is defined by Paul not mainly as demanding his rights but as laying down his life for the good of his wife (Ephesians 5:25). Therefore, the predominant resolution of the sexual paradox is that the husband gently and tenderly takes the lead in seeking to maximize his wife’s pleasure, taking her longings deeply into account, rather than pressuring her to adapt to his.
The practical application of 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 is not resolved by logic or taking turns or male dominance or female submission. It is resolved in the mystery of love that discovers even here, when our physical pleasure is more prominent than anywhere else, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). There is a holy and humble and self-sacrificing competition to make the other maximally glad. The logical stalemate is broken by the miracle of grace: With God all things are possible.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
"Manhood vs. Womanhood" or "Manhood and Womanhood"
The following article from John Piper struck home with me as I finished reading a series in Newsweek attempting to use the Bible to justify the case for gay marriage. The link to one of the articles is here. What amazed me is that while the author of the article, Lisa Miller, at least mentioned the religious reasons against homosexuality, she does nothing to prove them wrong. In fact, while mentioning the verse in Genesis stating "for this reason a man shall leave his parents and cleave to his wife", she refuses to even address the gender so clearly implied by "man" and "wife". How can it get more clear than this?
Anyway, here is John Piper's article...
Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood
December 11, 2008
By John Piper
I took a few days recently to put my sermons on Ruth into a small book that may be called A Sweet and Bitter Providence. One of the spillovers from that effort was a renewed sense of how much we need great stories that embody great truths.
Ruth and Boaz is a great love story. When a story is permeated with God and his vision of life, we get to watch truth happen. The beauty of truth is not explained to us. It is lived before us.
God’s truth concerning manhood and womanhood is beautiful. Most of us are so sinful that we don’t model it well. So we need teaching and we need storytelling. And we need Christ to forgive us and renew us and send us back again and again into this truth. He is faithful. Ruth’s story is a special gift to us this Christmas. It has so many levels of meaning. Manhood and womanhood is not the only one. But it is one.
The rest of this article is an excerpt from the conclusion of A Sweet and Bitter Providence.
The egalitarian impulses of the last thirty years have not made us better men and women. In fact, they have confused millions. What average man or woman today could answer a little boy’s question: “Daddy, what does it mean to grow up and be a man and not a woman?” Or a little girl’s question: “Mommy, what does it mean to grow up and be a woman and not a man?”
Who could answer these questions without diminishing manhood and womanhood into mere biological mechanisms? Who could articulate the profound meanings of manhood and womanhood woven differently into a common personhood created differently and equally in the image of God? James Dobson puts it like this: “At the heart . . . is the issue of what is a man? If you try to reduce that issue to just: what is a caring person, you make a good point but miss a crucial created element called manhood that is relevant.”1 Not asking the question about the essence of male and female personhood confuses everyone—especially the children.
And this confusion hurts people. It is not a small thing. Its effects are vast. I agree with Dobson when he says, “Feminist resistance to making manhood and womanhood significant in behavior and role determination is partner to some of the most painful social and spiritual issues of our day.”2
When manhood and womanhood are confused at home, the consequences are deeper than may show up in a generation. There are dynamics in the home that direct the sexual preferences of the children and shape their concept of manhood and womanhood. Especially crucial in the matter of sexual preference is a father’s firm and loving affirmation of a son’s masculinity and a daughter’s femininity.3 The father must be a man. But how can this kind of manly affirmation be cultivated in an atmosphere where role differences between masculinity and femininity are constantly denied or diminished for the sake of gender-leveling and sex-blindness?
What we all need is solid teaching from the Bible about the differences God intends between men and women.4 But we also need stories. Great stories. We need to see manhood and womanhood in action—in real life and fiction and history. The story of Ruth and Boaz is the kind of story that can awaken and feed the masculine and feminine soul in ways that we cannot articulate.
I encourage you to be like a dolphin in the sea of our egalitarian, gender-leveling culture. Don’t be like a jellyfish. The ocean of secularism that we swim in (including much of the church) drifts toward minimizing serious differences between manhood and womanhood. The culture swings back and forth as to whether women are mainly sex objects or senior vice presidents. But rarely does it ponder the biblical vision that men are called to humbly lead and protect and provide, and women are called to come in alongside with their unique gifts and strengths and help the men carry through the vision.
I pray that you will be stirred up by Ruth and Boaz to pursue mature manhood and womanhood. More is at stake than we know. God has made marriage the showcase of his covenant love where the husband models Christ and the wife models the Church (Ephesians 5:21-33).
1 Focus on the Family, May, 1993, vol. 17, No. 5, p. 7. Final italics original.
2 Ibid.
3 Gerald P. Regier, “The Not-So-Disposable Family,” Pastoral Renewal, Vol. 13, No. 1, July-August, 1988, p. 20.
4 I have tried to think this through in a small way in What’s the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990). See also, John Piper and Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991), and Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 2004). See also www.cbmw.org.
Anyway, here is John Piper's article...
Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood
December 11, 2008
By John Piper
I took a few days recently to put my sermons on Ruth into a small book that may be called A Sweet and Bitter Providence. One of the spillovers from that effort was a renewed sense of how much we need great stories that embody great truths.
Ruth and Boaz is a great love story. When a story is permeated with God and his vision of life, we get to watch truth happen. The beauty of truth is not explained to us. It is lived before us.
God’s truth concerning manhood and womanhood is beautiful. Most of us are so sinful that we don’t model it well. So we need teaching and we need storytelling. And we need Christ to forgive us and renew us and send us back again and again into this truth. He is faithful. Ruth’s story is a special gift to us this Christmas. It has so many levels of meaning. Manhood and womanhood is not the only one. But it is one.
The rest of this article is an excerpt from the conclusion of A Sweet and Bitter Providence.
The egalitarian impulses of the last thirty years have not made us better men and women. In fact, they have confused millions. What average man or woman today could answer a little boy’s question: “Daddy, what does it mean to grow up and be a man and not a woman?” Or a little girl’s question: “Mommy, what does it mean to grow up and be a woman and not a man?”
Who could answer these questions without diminishing manhood and womanhood into mere biological mechanisms? Who could articulate the profound meanings of manhood and womanhood woven differently into a common personhood created differently and equally in the image of God? James Dobson puts it like this: “At the heart . . . is the issue of what is a man? If you try to reduce that issue to just: what is a caring person, you make a good point but miss a crucial created element called manhood that is relevant.”1 Not asking the question about the essence of male and female personhood confuses everyone—especially the children.
And this confusion hurts people. It is not a small thing. Its effects are vast. I agree with Dobson when he says, “Feminist resistance to making manhood and womanhood significant in behavior and role determination is partner to some of the most painful social and spiritual issues of our day.”2
When manhood and womanhood are confused at home, the consequences are deeper than may show up in a generation. There are dynamics in the home that direct the sexual preferences of the children and shape their concept of manhood and womanhood. Especially crucial in the matter of sexual preference is a father’s firm and loving affirmation of a son’s masculinity and a daughter’s femininity.3 The father must be a man. But how can this kind of manly affirmation be cultivated in an atmosphere where role differences between masculinity and femininity are constantly denied or diminished for the sake of gender-leveling and sex-blindness?
What we all need is solid teaching from the Bible about the differences God intends between men and women.4 But we also need stories. Great stories. We need to see manhood and womanhood in action—in real life and fiction and history. The story of Ruth and Boaz is the kind of story that can awaken and feed the masculine and feminine soul in ways that we cannot articulate.
I encourage you to be like a dolphin in the sea of our egalitarian, gender-leveling culture. Don’t be like a jellyfish. The ocean of secularism that we swim in (including much of the church) drifts toward minimizing serious differences between manhood and womanhood. The culture swings back and forth as to whether women are mainly sex objects or senior vice presidents. But rarely does it ponder the biblical vision that men are called to humbly lead and protect and provide, and women are called to come in alongside with their unique gifts and strengths and help the men carry through the vision.
I pray that you will be stirred up by Ruth and Boaz to pursue mature manhood and womanhood. More is at stake than we know. God has made marriage the showcase of his covenant love where the husband models Christ and the wife models the Church (Ephesians 5:21-33).
1 Focus on the Family, May, 1993, vol. 17, No. 5, p. 7. Final italics original.
2 Ibid.
3 Gerald P. Regier, “The Not-So-Disposable Family,” Pastoral Renewal, Vol. 13, No. 1, July-August, 1988, p. 20.
4 I have tried to think this through in a small way in What’s the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990). See also, John Piper and Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991), and Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 2004). See also www.cbmw.org.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Phillipians 2:4
This is from a recent sermon from John Piper, and reflects my attitude in treating patients, as well as something I aspire as I walk through my life...
Our Relational Culture
I return today to this issue of the relational culture of our church—a kind of relational atmosphere where God may be pleased to give us wisdom for our personal priorities and our families and our citizenship in ways that are God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, gospel-fashioned, people-helping.
I invite you to turn with me to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2. It’s stated most clearly in verse 4, and then it is illustrated in the lives of Jesus, Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus. I don’t mean incidentally illustrated; I mean that Paul intentionally illustrates verse 4 by bringing in Jesus, himself, Timothy, and Epaphroditus the way he does. So that is what we will do. We will take note of verse 4, and then look at four ways that it is lived out in four different people’s lives in Philippians 2. My prayer is that you will join me in making this your prayer: “Lord, work so deeply in my heart that I am freed from the bondage of self-centeredness and given the disposition to look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Looking Out for Others’ Interests
Look at verse 4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The word interests is a filler. In the original, it’s open-ended. All that is specified is “your own (something)” or “the other’s (something).” So it could be, “Let each of you look not only to your own financial affairs, or your own property, or your own family, or your own health, or your own reputation, or your own education, or your own success, or your own happiness—don’t just think about that, don’t just have desires about that, don’t just strategize about that, don’t just work toward that; but look to the financial affairs and property and family and health, and reputation, and education, and success, and happiness of others.”
In other words, verse 4 is a way of saying the words of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:39). That is, make the good of others the focus of your interest and strategy and work. Find your joy in making others joyful. If you are watching television and your child says, Would you play with me? don’t just think about how tired you are. By an act of gospel-fashioned, Christ-exalting will, put the child’s interests before the pleasures of your relaxation.
Counting Others as More Significant
One of the keys to this radical way of living is in the second half of verse 3: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). Or as the old King James says, “Let each esteem others better than themselves.” The point was not what others are. The point is what you count others to be.
The focus is: Will you count them as worthy of your help and encouragement? Not are they worthy? But will you count them as worthy? Will I take thought not just for my interests but for someone elses? Will I encourage him or her and take the time to help and build him or her up?
Humility and Its Source—The Cross
And where does that other-oriented commitment come from? Verse 3 says, “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.” It comes from humility. Literally: “lowliness.” This is the great opposite of a sense of entitlement. Humility is the opposite of “You owe me.” Paul said, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14). In other words, they didn’t owe him. He owed them.
Why? Why do Christians walk through life feeling a humble sense that we owe service to people, rather than them owing us?
The answer is that Christ loved us and died for us and forgave us and accepted us and justified us and gave us eternal life and made us heirs of the world when he owed us nothing. He treated us as worthy of his service, when we were not worthy of his service. He took thought not only for his own interests but for ours. He counted us as greater than himself: “Who is the greater,” he said, “one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27).
That is where our humility comes from. We feel overwhelmed by God’s grace: bygone grace in the cross and moment-by-moment arriving grace promised for our everlasting future. Christians are stunned into lowliness. Freely you have been served, freely serve.
So the crucial relational mark of the culture of our church should be Philippians 2:4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This is the “mind” or the “mindset” that we should have in life together. This is the relational atmosphere where God will grant wisdom for the perplexing work of living in this world.
Our Relational Culture
I return today to this issue of the relational culture of our church—a kind of relational atmosphere where God may be pleased to give us wisdom for our personal priorities and our families and our citizenship in ways that are God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, gospel-fashioned, people-helping.
I invite you to turn with me to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2. It’s stated most clearly in verse 4, and then it is illustrated in the lives of Jesus, Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus. I don’t mean incidentally illustrated; I mean that Paul intentionally illustrates verse 4 by bringing in Jesus, himself, Timothy, and Epaphroditus the way he does. So that is what we will do. We will take note of verse 4, and then look at four ways that it is lived out in four different people’s lives in Philippians 2. My prayer is that you will join me in making this your prayer: “Lord, work so deeply in my heart that I am freed from the bondage of self-centeredness and given the disposition to look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Looking Out for Others’ Interests
Look at verse 4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The word interests is a filler. In the original, it’s open-ended. All that is specified is “your own (something)” or “the other’s (something).” So it could be, “Let each of you look not only to your own financial affairs, or your own property, or your own family, or your own health, or your own reputation, or your own education, or your own success, or your own happiness—don’t just think about that, don’t just have desires about that, don’t just strategize about that, don’t just work toward that; but look to the financial affairs and property and family and health, and reputation, and education, and success, and happiness of others.”
In other words, verse 4 is a way of saying the words of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:39). That is, make the good of others the focus of your interest and strategy and work. Find your joy in making others joyful. If you are watching television and your child says, Would you play with me? don’t just think about how tired you are. By an act of gospel-fashioned, Christ-exalting will, put the child’s interests before the pleasures of your relaxation.
Counting Others as More Significant
One of the keys to this radical way of living is in the second half of verse 3: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). Or as the old King James says, “Let each esteem others better than themselves.” The point was not what others are. The point is what you count others to be.
The focus is: Will you count them as worthy of your help and encouragement? Not are they worthy? But will you count them as worthy? Will I take thought not just for my interests but for someone elses? Will I encourage him or her and take the time to help and build him or her up?
Humility and Its Source—The Cross
And where does that other-oriented commitment come from? Verse 3 says, “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.” It comes from humility. Literally: “lowliness.” This is the great opposite of a sense of entitlement. Humility is the opposite of “You owe me.” Paul said, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14). In other words, they didn’t owe him. He owed them.
Why? Why do Christians walk through life feeling a humble sense that we owe service to people, rather than them owing us?
The answer is that Christ loved us and died for us and forgave us and accepted us and justified us and gave us eternal life and made us heirs of the world when he owed us nothing. He treated us as worthy of his service, when we were not worthy of his service. He took thought not only for his own interests but for ours. He counted us as greater than himself: “Who is the greater,” he said, “one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27).
That is where our humility comes from. We feel overwhelmed by God’s grace: bygone grace in the cross and moment-by-moment arriving grace promised for our everlasting future. Christians are stunned into lowliness. Freely you have been served, freely serve.
So the crucial relational mark of the culture of our church should be Philippians 2:4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This is the “mind” or the “mindset” that we should have in life together. This is the relational atmosphere where God will grant wisdom for the perplexing work of living in this world.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Gay rights and Larry King
I just finished reading a very sad story in this weeks' Newsweek on a junior high boy who was shot point blank by another student in Oxnard, California. Larry King was a teenager who had determined that he was gay, or at least bisexual, and was wearing woman's clothing- he had an affinity for shoes- as well as wearing makeup and lipstick to school. His behavior had caused disruptions around the school- kids made fun of him both in and out of classes, he made garish statements both in and out of classrooms to students and staff, and even had to be moved to another school.
Before Valentine's Day 2008 he and a group of his girlfriends were playing the typical teenage game of truth or dare, only this time the dare was to identify one that each had a crush on, and walk up to that person on the playground as ask them to be their Valentine. He strode up to Brandon McInerney, someone he reportedly had stated he liked before, while Brandon was playing basketball with his friends, and asked him to be his Valentine. Brandon had previously dealt with Larry and made it clear he was not gay, but was immediately teased by his friends, clearly causing him to be upset.
Shortly afterwards, Brandon was heard by one of Larry's friends in the hallways at school saying "You'd better say goodbye to Larry, he won't be around much longer." Two days later in English class, Brandon gets out of his seat behind Larry, pulls out a handgun he smuggled into class, and shoots Larry twice in the head before walking out of class. He was apprehended shortly thereafter. Larry died in the hospital two days after that, suffering a massive stroke.
Now, I remember junior high being very difficult, for this is when everyone is trying to find out their identity and who they are. I was bullied oftentimes, and until I stood up to the biggest bully, I was subject to constant punching, pinching, and kicking, all of which were done behind a teacher's back so the bully was never caught. I remember slamming Gary into the wall in the locker room after being physically bullied once again, telling him to "Stop, or else", before I was able to bring it under control. Fortunately I grew about 6 inches and soon was much taller than he was, so my threat finally had some teeth.
But what about Brandon? Surely there is no excuse for his act. I don't care how bad the bullying, there is no excuse for the taking of one's life. But can you imagine the psychological toll this took on him? The questions that went through his head about his own sexuality, something he may have not been ready to deal with developmentally? What about the obvious anger that it created? While the turmoil has been made of Brandon's shooting of Larry, how was Brandon supposed to tolerate the harassment Larry was subjecting him to? I don't remember from my days in junior high of having much logic, sensitivity, and empathy such that I could have pulled Larry aside and say, "Look here, what you are doing is making me uncomfortable, and I do not like it, please stop." The thought of that adult-like response, though clearly morally acceptable and honorable, is asinine for a 14 year old. Plus, there clearly is not a way to object without being called a homophile, bigot, or closed minded, regardless of how it was handled. If he would have struck him, it would have been viewed the same way- though not to the same degree- as violence against a homosexual.
Here is my point- there was a staff email that was sent out about allowing a "student who has chosen to express his alternative sexuality" to do so unless it caused a disruption in the classroom. Why was he not brought in to explain that expressing his sexuality in his ostentatious way may not be the best for the school, both for students who were not ready to handle this big step into adolescence and for teachers who have to control these hormone crazy children everyday. I know kids are sent home for wearing clothing that is deemed "disruptive" for being the wrong color, so why was he allowed to wear stiletto heels or pink boots or makeup at school? Have we become so fearful of what the gay community calls "acceptance", especially in light of California's recent approval of gay marriage, that doing the right thing by controlling his outward display of sexuality would be considered discrimination? I can bet that if it was a girl who developed her breasts at a young age and was wearing outfits clearly displaying her cleavage she would have been forced to change.
But not Larry. And now he is dead.
Before Valentine's Day 2008 he and a group of his girlfriends were playing the typical teenage game of truth or dare, only this time the dare was to identify one that each had a crush on, and walk up to that person on the playground as ask them to be their Valentine. He strode up to Brandon McInerney, someone he reportedly had stated he liked before, while Brandon was playing basketball with his friends, and asked him to be his Valentine. Brandon had previously dealt with Larry and made it clear he was not gay, but was immediately teased by his friends, clearly causing him to be upset.
Shortly afterwards, Brandon was heard by one of Larry's friends in the hallways at school saying "You'd better say goodbye to Larry, he won't be around much longer." Two days later in English class, Brandon gets out of his seat behind Larry, pulls out a handgun he smuggled into class, and shoots Larry twice in the head before walking out of class. He was apprehended shortly thereafter. Larry died in the hospital two days after that, suffering a massive stroke.
Now, I remember junior high being very difficult, for this is when everyone is trying to find out their identity and who they are. I was bullied oftentimes, and until I stood up to the biggest bully, I was subject to constant punching, pinching, and kicking, all of which were done behind a teacher's back so the bully was never caught. I remember slamming Gary into the wall in the locker room after being physically bullied once again, telling him to "Stop, or else", before I was able to bring it under control. Fortunately I grew about 6 inches and soon was much taller than he was, so my threat finally had some teeth.
But what about Brandon? Surely there is no excuse for his act. I don't care how bad the bullying, there is no excuse for the taking of one's life. But can you imagine the psychological toll this took on him? The questions that went through his head about his own sexuality, something he may have not been ready to deal with developmentally? What about the obvious anger that it created? While the turmoil has been made of Brandon's shooting of Larry, how was Brandon supposed to tolerate the harassment Larry was subjecting him to? I don't remember from my days in junior high of having much logic, sensitivity, and empathy such that I could have pulled Larry aside and say, "Look here, what you are doing is making me uncomfortable, and I do not like it, please stop." The thought of that adult-like response, though clearly morally acceptable and honorable, is asinine for a 14 year old. Plus, there clearly is not a way to object without being called a homophile, bigot, or closed minded, regardless of how it was handled. If he would have struck him, it would have been viewed the same way- though not to the same degree- as violence against a homosexual.
Here is my point- there was a staff email that was sent out about allowing a "student who has chosen to express his alternative sexuality" to do so unless it caused a disruption in the classroom. Why was he not brought in to explain that expressing his sexuality in his ostentatious way may not be the best for the school, both for students who were not ready to handle this big step into adolescence and for teachers who have to control these hormone crazy children everyday. I know kids are sent home for wearing clothing that is deemed "disruptive" for being the wrong color, so why was he allowed to wear stiletto heels or pink boots or makeup at school? Have we become so fearful of what the gay community calls "acceptance", especially in light of California's recent approval of gay marriage, that doing the right thing by controlling his outward display of sexuality would be considered discrimination? I can bet that if it was a girl who developed her breasts at a young age and was wearing outfits clearly displaying her cleavage she would have been forced to change.
But not Larry. And now he is dead.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
I will never drive on hills without thinking of my son...
My oldest, 6 year old Daniel, who experienced his first rollercoaster ride a few weeks ago at Dollywood, told me how he liked the "belly-ment" when I was driving over a unpaved, hilly, dirt road this evening to our small group meeting. He was speaking of how riding fast with sudden up and down changes of direction- either on a rollercoaster or up and down hills in a car- sometimes makes your stomach lurch. You knowwhat, I like the "belly-ment" too!
How it gets harder to be entertained the older we get...
From British journalist and brilliant writer G.K. Chesterton:
“When we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough. A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened the door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door.”
From page 47 of his book Orthodoxy.
“When we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough. A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened the door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door.”
From page 47 of his book Orthodoxy.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Wise Words For Kiddos
Another John Piper post titled "Let No One Despise You For Your Youth". It has reminded me that kind of father I need to be to my children in these current times...
This is one of Paul’s words to the younger Timothy who needed to be reminded that his expectation for what he could be were too low. I will begin with this verse, make a few comments about it and then step back and try to get the bigger biblical picture. Paul says, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
Four brief observations:
1. Youth Can Be Despised
Youth are often looked down on because of attitudes and behaviors that are annoying or immature. Some of the things people often associate with youth are disrespect, rebellion, self-absorption, cliquishness, conformity to peer pressure, indifference to serious issues, and a fixation on fun as the only thing that satisfies. If these are pronounced, people can even despise youth. Paul implies that in saying, “Let no one despise your youth.”
2. Youth Should Not Be Indifferent to What Adults Think
Paul is telling Timothy to do what he can as a young man to keep that despising from happening. Don’t be indifferent to what older people think. Care about it. Take steps to win their approval. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
3. Youth Should Not See Adult Opinions As Supreme
But the way he tells Timothy to overcome being despised is not to adjust to their attitudes. He does not say, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but find out what they want and act that way.” Peaceful relationships between older and younger is not of supreme value. Adaptation to older people is not the point. He does not absolutize adult expectations. He does something very different.
4. Youth Should Look to Ultimately God’s Standards
Paul says, The way I want youth to pursue not being despised is look to God’s standards of love and faith and purity. In that way, even young people can become examples to older people. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
The point is not: Find out what older people want and give it to them so they don’t despise you.
The point is: Find out what kind of words and conduct God wants and do that. He gives love and faith and purity as examples of what we should do in our words and conduct. Let all your words and actions come from faith in Christ. Let them be loving. And keep yourselves sexually pure.
Now that may make some adults despise you. If you stand up at school for the way of sexual abstinence before marriage, there will be adults that despise you. But you will be right, as well as the adults who really matter, and God himself will not despise you.
So Paul’s main point is that Timothy should not have low expectations of the impact of his life toward those who are older. He should look to God, believe in the gospel, do what God calls him to do, and in that way become an example to the rest.
Don’t Adapt to Low Expectations
How many of our young people think that way: I am called to set an example for the adults. Of course, adults are supposed to set an example for young people. But here it’s the other way around. That calls for a dramatic shift in mindset for most adults and youth today: Don’t adapt to the low cultural expectations for youth. Set high ones. Youth can become examples for adults. Think that way. Dream that way. Or as the Harris brothers would say, “Rebel against low expectations.”
A Biblical Portrait of Youth’s Perils and Possibilities
Now step back with me to get a larger biblical picture of the perils and possibilities of youth. Let’s move in order from original sin to a bold life of God-centered gospel-obedience beyond all low expectations.
1. Born in Sin
First, sin. Every child is born with the corruption and guilt of Adam’s sin. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5). That was David’s cry after his adultery with Bathsheba. He accepted responsibility, but he traced his corruption all the way back to conception and birth.
So it is with every child from Adam. And even after God started over, so to speak, after the flood. God said to Noah that he would not bring another flood like that, but it was not because the heart of man was now cured. Instead he said, “For the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Nothing had changed in the human heart. Not to this day.
So it became a proverb: “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15). That is the first thing we need to know about all of our children. They are sinners in need of salvation. They don’t just do bad things, they have bad natures, bad hearts. They need to be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. They have all been born of the flesh. Now they need to be born of the Spirit (John 3:6).
2. In Need of the Gospel
Second, children must therefore be taught the truth about God and about Christ and about the gospel. God is the decisive teacher concerning himself, but he uses people, especially parents. “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds” (Psalms 71:17). We pray that God would begin to teach our children from the earliest age in ways that only he knows how.
But he has told us the ordinary way that a child will come to know and trust Christ. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The discipline and instruction of the Lord is not simply moral demands followed by rewards and punishments. That would not be “of the Lord.” The Lord is the Lord who died for the child’s sins and rose again and pours out his Spirit to help us. Dad and Mom bring their children up in this gospel-saturated instruction. The grace of God in the gospel becomes the rule and the power by which a child lives. We will come back to this.
3. Born Again in Jesus
Third, a child is born again and comes to faith in Jesus as the Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives. “You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth” (Psalms 71:5). The Psalmist says that God has been his trust, his confidence, from his youth. God gave him new life, and he saw Christ as true and precious. That may mean he never remembers a time when he did not trust the Lord.
That would certainly be true for me. My mother told me how I came to a point at age six of wanting to receive Christ as my Savior and how I prayed at her bedside on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But I have no memory of this—or much else in my childhood for that matter. I would say with the psalmist, “You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.” My confidence that I am born again does not rest in being able to remember the point when it happened, but in his finished work on the cross and in the relationship I have with the Lord now.
So after the reality of original sin, and then the teaching of the truth of the gospel, and then faith there comes now the forgiveness of sins.
4. Forgiven Through Faith in the Gospel
Fourth, original sin and all our sinful choices that follow from it will be forgiven through this faith that God awakens through the knowledge of the gospel. David embraces this truth in Psalm 25:7: “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”
This is good news at every age. We may tell our frightened eight-year-olds whose consciences are terrifying them, that the sins of their youth and their transgressions against Mommy and Daddy’s word may be forgiven. Peter says in Acts 10:43, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Children must come to love this precious good news that makes them very thankful to God.
5. Given Suffering and Trials As God’s Own Children
Fifth, now that a child is born again and holding fast to Jesus as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives, God treats them as his own children. That means he gives them trials and afflictions to purify the heart and to make their faith strong and mature. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. . . . If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6-8). One of the psalmists cried, “Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless” (Psalms 88:15).
We must teach our children a strong doctrine of suffering and affliction and how the Lord disciplines. We want to hear them say someday what the old man Samuel says to God: “I have walked before you from my youth until this day” (1 Samuel 12:2). And what Obadiah the prophet says: “I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth” (1 Kings 18:12). The Lord is loving our children in their trials. We must teach them how to understand the hard things that happen to them.
6. Brought to Biblical Maturity
Sixth—after sin, teaching the gospel, faith, forgiveness, and trials—it becomes plain therefore that in the Bible children, from the time they come to faith, are being treated by God in a way that can lead them to remarkable maturity and usefulness earlier than most of us think. Here are a few clues that this is the case.
David prays like this for his children and our children: “May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown” (Psalms 144:12). What does he mean, “May our sons already in their youth be like plants full grown”? He’s praying that the strength and fruitfulness of the more mature plant will already show itself in his sons even while they are young and the expectations for such fruitfulness is low. Should that not be our prayer all the more: “May our sons and daughters in their youth be like plants full grown”?
And the entire book of Proverbs is designed to help this early fruitfulness happen. The book begins like this: “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel . . . to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth” (Proverbs 1:1, 4). The Bible does not believe that wisdom is only for the aged. Wisdom comes from God’s word mainly and from life-experience secondarily. Therefore, we should work and pray to help our children have wisdom and discretion.
Or consider Ecclesiastes 4:13: “Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.” Better a wise youth than a foolish king! Think of that. Here is a poor lad badly clothed, and here is a rich king in fine robes. And the Bible says that this lad may be wiser than that king. How can that be? Because wisdom comes from God through his word. That is why parenting and church curriculum should be saturated with the Scriptures, so that someday our youth will hear the folly of old unbiblical men, and not be swept away. They will be like Elihu in Job 32:6-10 when he answers Job’s friends, I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.” But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.” (Job 32:6-10)
7. Not Settling for Low Expectations
Seventh, this brings us to the practical conclusion for young people: Don’t let the culture set low expectations for what you may accomplish for Christ. Listen to the way God and Jeremiah argue about Jeremiah’s call when he was young.
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” (Jeremiah 1:6-7)
Be careful young people that you don’t postpone the burden and the blessing of fruitfulness in your life because you use the excuse, “I am only a youth.” God said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go.” There are some younger than you that you can lead, and there are some older than you that you can serve. But do not say, “I am only a youth,” as though the only thing you are good for is watching videos and playing games, as though there is no ministry for you to do.
8. Successful Parenting Is Gospel-Saturated
Finally, eighth, a closing word to parents and all who love children. We do not want to hear our children say when they are thirty what the rich young ruler said to Jesus after Jesus listed the commandments, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Here is the great commandment keeper. Here is the compliant kid who did what he was told. He kept the commandments.
But when Jesus put him to the test and said he lacked one thing: “Sell what you have, give it to the poor, and follow me” (Mark 10:21), he couldn’t do it. He had no heart for Christ. Rule-keeping? Yes. Treasuring Jesus? No. He was dead. He had no affections for Christ. He was simply a good rule-keeper. And he said that it goes all the way back to his youth: “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” His parents said do, and he did.
The Shaping and Sustaining Power of the Gospel
Parents, successful parenting is more than compliant kids. It is gospel-saturated living and teaching. Show your children how Christ, crucified for our sins, and Christ, raised for our justification, and Christ, showing the Father’s love, and Christ, guaranteeing the Spirit’s daily help—show them how this gospel is not just something that begins the Christian life but empowers it and shapes and sustains it. Pray and love and teach your children until Christ breaks in on their hearts and becomes their Treasure.
May God give us a vision for the next generation that glorifies the gospel of Christ, and leads thousands of young people to the cross where they find forgiveness of sins, and broken-hearted humility, and Christ-exalting courage to rebel against low expectations and “do hard things.”
1 Timothy 4:11-16
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
This is one of Paul’s words to the younger Timothy who needed to be reminded that his expectation for what he could be were too low. I will begin with this verse, make a few comments about it and then step back and try to get the bigger biblical picture. Paul says, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
Four brief observations:
1. Youth Can Be Despised
Youth are often looked down on because of attitudes and behaviors that are annoying or immature. Some of the things people often associate with youth are disrespect, rebellion, self-absorption, cliquishness, conformity to peer pressure, indifference to serious issues, and a fixation on fun as the only thing that satisfies. If these are pronounced, people can even despise youth. Paul implies that in saying, “Let no one despise your youth.”
2. Youth Should Not Be Indifferent to What Adults Think
Paul is telling Timothy to do what he can as a young man to keep that despising from happening. Don’t be indifferent to what older people think. Care about it. Take steps to win their approval. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
3. Youth Should Not See Adult Opinions As Supreme
But the way he tells Timothy to overcome being despised is not to adjust to their attitudes. He does not say, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but find out what they want and act that way.” Peaceful relationships between older and younger is not of supreme value. Adaptation to older people is not the point. He does not absolutize adult expectations. He does something very different.
4. Youth Should Look to Ultimately God’s Standards
Paul says, The way I want youth to pursue not being despised is look to God’s standards of love and faith and purity. In that way, even young people can become examples to older people. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
The point is not: Find out what older people want and give it to them so they don’t despise you.
The point is: Find out what kind of words and conduct God wants and do that. He gives love and faith and purity as examples of what we should do in our words and conduct. Let all your words and actions come from faith in Christ. Let them be loving. And keep yourselves sexually pure.
Now that may make some adults despise you. If you stand up at school for the way of sexual abstinence before marriage, there will be adults that despise you. But you will be right, as well as the adults who really matter, and God himself will not despise you.
So Paul’s main point is that Timothy should not have low expectations of the impact of his life toward those who are older. He should look to God, believe in the gospel, do what God calls him to do, and in that way become an example to the rest.
Don’t Adapt to Low Expectations
How many of our young people think that way: I am called to set an example for the adults. Of course, adults are supposed to set an example for young people. But here it’s the other way around. That calls for a dramatic shift in mindset for most adults and youth today: Don’t adapt to the low cultural expectations for youth. Set high ones. Youth can become examples for adults. Think that way. Dream that way. Or as the Harris brothers would say, “Rebel against low expectations.”
A Biblical Portrait of Youth’s Perils and Possibilities
Now step back with me to get a larger biblical picture of the perils and possibilities of youth. Let’s move in order from original sin to a bold life of God-centered gospel-obedience beyond all low expectations.
1. Born in Sin
First, sin. Every child is born with the corruption and guilt of Adam’s sin. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5). That was David’s cry after his adultery with Bathsheba. He accepted responsibility, but he traced his corruption all the way back to conception and birth.
So it is with every child from Adam. And even after God started over, so to speak, after the flood. God said to Noah that he would not bring another flood like that, but it was not because the heart of man was now cured. Instead he said, “For the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Nothing had changed in the human heart. Not to this day.
So it became a proverb: “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15). That is the first thing we need to know about all of our children. They are sinners in need of salvation. They don’t just do bad things, they have bad natures, bad hearts. They need to be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. They have all been born of the flesh. Now they need to be born of the Spirit (John 3:6).
2. In Need of the Gospel
Second, children must therefore be taught the truth about God and about Christ and about the gospel. God is the decisive teacher concerning himself, but he uses people, especially parents. “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds” (Psalms 71:17). We pray that God would begin to teach our children from the earliest age in ways that only he knows how.
But he has told us the ordinary way that a child will come to know and trust Christ. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The discipline and instruction of the Lord is not simply moral demands followed by rewards and punishments. That would not be “of the Lord.” The Lord is the Lord who died for the child’s sins and rose again and pours out his Spirit to help us. Dad and Mom bring their children up in this gospel-saturated instruction. The grace of God in the gospel becomes the rule and the power by which a child lives. We will come back to this.
3. Born Again in Jesus
Third, a child is born again and comes to faith in Jesus as the Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives. “You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth” (Psalms 71:5). The Psalmist says that God has been his trust, his confidence, from his youth. God gave him new life, and he saw Christ as true and precious. That may mean he never remembers a time when he did not trust the Lord.
That would certainly be true for me. My mother told me how I came to a point at age six of wanting to receive Christ as my Savior and how I prayed at her bedside on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But I have no memory of this—or much else in my childhood for that matter. I would say with the psalmist, “You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.” My confidence that I am born again does not rest in being able to remember the point when it happened, but in his finished work on the cross and in the relationship I have with the Lord now.
So after the reality of original sin, and then the teaching of the truth of the gospel, and then faith there comes now the forgiveness of sins.
4. Forgiven Through Faith in the Gospel
Fourth, original sin and all our sinful choices that follow from it will be forgiven through this faith that God awakens through the knowledge of the gospel. David embraces this truth in Psalm 25:7: “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”
This is good news at every age. We may tell our frightened eight-year-olds whose consciences are terrifying them, that the sins of their youth and their transgressions against Mommy and Daddy’s word may be forgiven. Peter says in Acts 10:43, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Children must come to love this precious good news that makes them very thankful to God.
5. Given Suffering and Trials As God’s Own Children
Fifth, now that a child is born again and holding fast to Jesus as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives, God treats them as his own children. That means he gives them trials and afflictions to purify the heart and to make their faith strong and mature. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. . . . If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:6-8). One of the psalmists cried, “Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless” (Psalms 88:15).
We must teach our children a strong doctrine of suffering and affliction and how the Lord disciplines. We want to hear them say someday what the old man Samuel says to God: “I have walked before you from my youth until this day” (1 Samuel 12:2). And what Obadiah the prophet says: “I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth” (1 Kings 18:12). The Lord is loving our children in their trials. We must teach them how to understand the hard things that happen to them.
6. Brought to Biblical Maturity
Sixth—after sin, teaching the gospel, faith, forgiveness, and trials—it becomes plain therefore that in the Bible children, from the time they come to faith, are being treated by God in a way that can lead them to remarkable maturity and usefulness earlier than most of us think. Here are a few clues that this is the case.
David prays like this for his children and our children: “May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown” (Psalms 144:12). What does he mean, “May our sons already in their youth be like plants full grown”? He’s praying that the strength and fruitfulness of the more mature plant will already show itself in his sons even while they are young and the expectations for such fruitfulness is low. Should that not be our prayer all the more: “May our sons and daughters in their youth be like plants full grown”?
And the entire book of Proverbs is designed to help this early fruitfulness happen. The book begins like this: “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel . . . to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth” (Proverbs 1:1, 4). The Bible does not believe that wisdom is only for the aged. Wisdom comes from God’s word mainly and from life-experience secondarily. Therefore, we should work and pray to help our children have wisdom and discretion.
Or consider Ecclesiastes 4:13: “Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.” Better a wise youth than a foolish king! Think of that. Here is a poor lad badly clothed, and here is a rich king in fine robes. And the Bible says that this lad may be wiser than that king. How can that be? Because wisdom comes from God through his word. That is why parenting and church curriculum should be saturated with the Scriptures, so that someday our youth will hear the folly of old unbiblical men, and not be swept away. They will be like Elihu in Job 32:6-10 when he answers Job’s friends, I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.” But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.” (Job 32:6-10)
7. Not Settling for Low Expectations
Seventh, this brings us to the practical conclusion for young people: Don’t let the culture set low expectations for what you may accomplish for Christ. Listen to the way God and Jeremiah argue about Jeremiah’s call when he was young.
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” (Jeremiah 1:6-7)
Be careful young people that you don’t postpone the burden and the blessing of fruitfulness in your life because you use the excuse, “I am only a youth.” God said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go.” There are some younger than you that you can lead, and there are some older than you that you can serve. But do not say, “I am only a youth,” as though the only thing you are good for is watching videos and playing games, as though there is no ministry for you to do.
8. Successful Parenting Is Gospel-Saturated
Finally, eighth, a closing word to parents and all who love children. We do not want to hear our children say when they are thirty what the rich young ruler said to Jesus after Jesus listed the commandments, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Here is the great commandment keeper. Here is the compliant kid who did what he was told. He kept the commandments.
But when Jesus put him to the test and said he lacked one thing: “Sell what you have, give it to the poor, and follow me” (Mark 10:21), he couldn’t do it. He had no heart for Christ. Rule-keeping? Yes. Treasuring Jesus? No. He was dead. He had no affections for Christ. He was simply a good rule-keeper. And he said that it goes all the way back to his youth: “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” His parents said do, and he did.
The Shaping and Sustaining Power of the Gospel
Parents, successful parenting is more than compliant kids. It is gospel-saturated living and teaching. Show your children how Christ, crucified for our sins, and Christ, raised for our justification, and Christ, showing the Father’s love, and Christ, guaranteeing the Spirit’s daily help—show them how this gospel is not just something that begins the Christian life but empowers it and shapes and sustains it. Pray and love and teach your children until Christ breaks in on their hearts and becomes their Treasure.
May God give us a vision for the next generation that glorifies the gospel of Christ, and leads thousands of young people to the cross where they find forgiveness of sins, and broken-hearted humility, and Christ-exalting courage to rebel against low expectations and “do hard things.”
Monday, March 03, 2008
How to approach love for others, John Piper style...
This is from a recent John Piper sermon from the book of 1st John...
1 John 5:1-5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
One of my aims today is to show that our ability to love others imperfectly is based on our assurance that in Christ we already love them perfectly. In other words, I want you to see for yourselves that, even when you fail to love as you ought, Christ’s perfection stands before God in place of that failure. And I want you to see that faith in Christ, not love for people, is the way you enjoy that union with Christ. Therefore, faith must come first and be the root of love and be different from love. Otherwise, love will be destroyed.
If you don’t come at love this way, your failures will probably overwhelm you with guilt and hopelessness. If that happens, you will give way either to hardworking legalism or fatalistic immorality.
If you don’t love God, you can’t do anybody any ultimate good. You can feed them and clothe them and house them and keep them comfortable while they perish. But in God’s mind that is not what love is. Love does feed and clothe and house—and keeps the commandments which would include helping others know and love God in Christ. But if you don’t love God, you can’t do that. So if you don’t love God, you can’t love people in the way that counts for eternity.
So we have our answer: When John says, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,” he mainly means the commandments summed up in loving other people, especially believers. So we could paraphrase verse 3 like this: “This is the love of God, that we love others, especially his children and that this life of sacrificial Christ-like love is not burdensome. It’s what we most deeply desire to do as an expression of our love for the Father.”
The main reason we don’t love God and find it burdensome to love people is that our cravings are for the things of the world. They may be good things. They may be bad things. They may be material things. They may be relational. Whatever their form, they are not God. And when we crave them above God, they are idols. They replace love for God and love for people. That’s the universal problem of the world. What’s the solution?
John’s answer is in 1 John 5:3-4. He says in verse 4 that the reason loving God and loving people is not burdensome (verse 3) is that we have been born again and this new birth conquers the world: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” Now we can see what that means. It means that the new birth severs the root of those cravings for the world. Overcoming the world means that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions don’t rule us anymore. Their power is broken.
I think that is a deadly mistake. I’ll try to say why. Faith in Christ and love for people are inseparable. But they are not indistinguishable. They are so inseparable that John can sum up all God’s demands in these two: faith and love. First John 3:23: “This is his commandment [singular], that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” That is the summary of all the tests of life in this book: Believe on Jesus and love each other.
But the order of causality is crucial. The reason it’s crucial is this: There is going to come a day when you do not love as you ought. What will you do if your heart condemns you because you know that love is a sign of the new birth? How will you fight the fight for assurance at that time?
Here is one crucial way to fight for your hope at that moment, and it depends on a clear distinction between faith in Christ and love for people: Go to 1 John 2:1 and read, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin [that is, fails to love others as you ought], we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” John assumes that even when you fail—even when you sin, when you do not love as you ought—you have an advocate before God. And this advocate is called “the righteous.” That is, he is perfect. (See Romans 8:33-34.)
Even if you have sinned, he has never sinned. Even if you have failed to love as you ought, he has never failed to love as he ought. And this one stands before God and advocates for you—not against you, but for you. Precisely because you have failed. “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate . . . the righteous one.”
The emphasis falls on his righteousness—his sinlessness. His perfectly doing what we have failed to do. The reason this works for us is that faith is what receives him. And when faith receives him he is everything that we need before God. He is our righteousness and our perfection and our perfect love. This is the bottom of our hope before a holy God.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Great commentary on the home loan bailout that is right on!
This is from the Motley Fool, a great financial website, and the link to the actual article by Seth Jayson is here. I have copied the article and placed it below:
Paulson's Plan to Punish the Public
By Seth Jayson November 30, 2007
If you don't learn from the past: If the mortgage crisis and housing bubble have taught us one thing, it should be to watch out for the unintended consequences of greed. Unfortunately, our nation's legislators and political appointees haven't learned that lesson. Recent plans for housing and mortgage bailouts generally run from dumb to dumber. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported on yet another scheme, reportedly being spearheaded by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. It's an idea so naively populist and antimarket that you would think it came from Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if not for its cringe-inducing, Beltway-wonk moniker: the Hope Now Alliance.
In short, bankers and loan-servicing outfits are going to lower interest rates on strapped borrowers so they don't lose their houses. How much, how long, and who qualifies are all still up in the air. No doubt, this will sound good to those folks who signed on for mortgages they can't actually afford. It will also look good to politicians angling to score points before the next election, and to bleeding hearts everywhere. It will also look good to select mortgage-industry players -- like Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C), which could really use a government-led bailout.
Unfortunately, this ill-conceived salve will ultimately punish the silent majority of Americans, people who didn't go out and make boneheaded financial decisions over the past half-decade.
Let's take a look at why.
A history of the housing Ponzi scheme: Since 2001, too-cheap financing pumped up housing prices to ridiculous levels. This was enabled by speculative lending from Wall Street to Main Street: Big banks like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) and others were providing the lending capital to outfits like death-watch candidate Countrywide, mostly dead NovaStar Financial and Impac Mortgage Holdings, along with dozens of completely dead lenders. They did this by purchasing mortgage loans from these lenders so that they could chop them into mortgage-backed securities of dizzying complexity and dubious credit quality, which were, in turn, sold to suckers ... er, "investors" all over the world.
This provided a musical-chairs-like situation in which lenders produced as much volume as they could, no matter how bad the loans or credit risk, because they got paid to pass that risk along, through Wall Street's Wise bankers, to whatever "investor" ended up with the loans, in the form of stuff called MBS, CDOs, CDO-squared, R2D2, and so on. There was a flood of money to the lenders, which stimulated excessive demand, in turn stimulating excessive price appreciation. (You will note that there was no Paulson-led "Hope Now Alliance" coming together at that point to try and rein in this dangerous orgy of greed, though the consequences were plain to anyone who bothered to examine it.)
Greedy flippers and naive homebuyers resorted to gimmicky loans, like interest-only and "option" adjustable-rate mortgages, because it was the only way they could pay inflated prices for the properties they wanted. They got a few years of artificially low payments, thanks to artificially low teaser rates. The catch was that when the loans reset after a few years, they'd jump up several points, to 9%, 10%, 11%.
This may not sound like a big deal, until you run the math on the payments to see that many people would be facing twice the mortgage bill they were used to. Now that those mortgages are resetting and home prices are dropping like rocks, they can't make their payments, and they can't flip the houses for a profit, so loans are defaulting. The fancy securities -- what I call Wall Street dog food -- have become nearly worthless, and the music has stopped, without any chairs for anyone. Ironically, stupid, leveraged bets on these lousy securities have crippled the banks themselves, and CEOs and other execs have been getting the boot at places like Citigroup, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).
Hank to the rescue!: Hank Paulson's latest plan to protect homebuyers from their own mistakes is simple: Lenders extend those teaser rates for a few years. It's a win-win, right? What's the harm, especially when there's no bill to pay? You just reset those interest rates to low levels, and everything will be fine, right? Who could be against a policy that would keep Americans in their homes? One negotiated with the private sector itself?
This Fool, for one.
Making the credit crunch crunchier: Remember, the only reason those teaser-rate loans were made in the first place was because lenders (and thus the investors buying the mortgages from the lenders) could count on a much larger, contractually guaranteed payoff in the future, when those interest rates were due to reset. Take away that payoff, and you take away any incentive to loan to borrowers of marginal credit quality. Usher in an era when government and banks reset loan rates at their whim, and you can be sure that investors will never again buy securities based on adjustable-rate mortgages.
If you think credit is tight now, just wait until you yank away potential returns from the people putting up the capital for all those loans.
And let's not forget that Paulson's plan introduces an incredible moral hazard. By rescuing greedy and naive borrowers from their mistakes, our government encourages others to take big, stupid, bankruptcy-inducing risks, secure in the knowledge that the government will bail them out when times get rough. That means trillions of dollars in capital will be ill-invested yet again, something that's much less likely to happen when speculators are made to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
No free lunches: Here's another problem. Someone is going to have to foot the bill for this. Banks and associated entities that will, over the short term, finance this homeowner bailout are not going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Reported Hope Now Alliance honchos such as Countrywide and Citigroup (NYSE: C) are, I'm certain, only doing this because they hope it will be cheaper than having to pay up for their lending sins all at once. Moreover, it gives them a chance to look like good guys who care about the commoners -- never mind that they were quite happy to fleece borrowers with gawd-awful mortgage "affordability products" for years.
Still, this will sting some of these banks and mortgage servicers, so you can bet they're going to pass along the costs. They're going to do it by firing employees. (Countrywide and Citigroup are already doing that.) They're going to do it by moving offices to offshore tax havens, outsourcing, closing branches, lowering deposit rates, hiking fees, and whatever else it takes. (Golden parachutes for Wall Street failures are pricey.)
Worst of all, they're going to do it by soaking future borrowers -- people like the majority of us, who didn't do something stupid -- with higher rates than we would have otherwise paid for mortgage loans, credit cards, and commercial loans. They'll have to. They've got their own lenders to pay, and those lenders aren't going to simply hand over-stretched Americans a pile of money.
Foolish final thought: There's another reason that Paulson's latest plan will punish the public. It will have the effect of artificially supporting a home-price bubble that desperately needs a correction. Historical rent-to-purchase data show just how far home prices need to come down in order to return to mean. That requires a painful drop, and it will happen sooner or later.
Paulson's plan means fewer homes dumped back on the market at lower prices, where they belong. Now that he's a politician and not the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Paulson apparently believes that the market shouldn't be allowed to correct on its own. He's wrong about that, and he's wrong to support any plan that will only delay the inevitable. Better the quick, painful correction than the decades-long, slow bleed that he's nurturing now. For evidence of how ugly things get when policymakers try to coddle the financial industry rather than let the market apply its harsher, faster, medicines, just take a look at how long the banking mess continued in Japan.
Of course, a decade from now, if the economy is still suffering because of an ill-conceived housing bailout plan designed to win favor with the public and cover the economic hind-end of his boss, George Bush, Paulson won't have to issue any gomen nasai. He'll already be long gone, retired to his millions.
You and I will pay the bills.
Paulson's Plan to Punish the Public
By Seth Jayson November 30, 2007
If you don't learn from the past: If the mortgage crisis and housing bubble have taught us one thing, it should be to watch out for the unintended consequences of greed. Unfortunately, our nation's legislators and political appointees haven't learned that lesson. Recent plans for housing and mortgage bailouts generally run from dumb to dumber. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported on yet another scheme, reportedly being spearheaded by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. It's an idea so naively populist and antimarket that you would think it came from Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if not for its cringe-inducing, Beltway-wonk moniker: the Hope Now Alliance.
In short, bankers and loan-servicing outfits are going to lower interest rates on strapped borrowers so they don't lose their houses. How much, how long, and who qualifies are all still up in the air. No doubt, this will sound good to those folks who signed on for mortgages they can't actually afford. It will also look good to politicians angling to score points before the next election, and to bleeding hearts everywhere. It will also look good to select mortgage-industry players -- like Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C), which could really use a government-led bailout.
Unfortunately, this ill-conceived salve will ultimately punish the silent majority of Americans, people who didn't go out and make boneheaded financial decisions over the past half-decade.
Let's take a look at why.
A history of the housing Ponzi scheme: Since 2001, too-cheap financing pumped up housing prices to ridiculous levels. This was enabled by speculative lending from Wall Street to Main Street: Big banks like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) and others were providing the lending capital to outfits like death-watch candidate Countrywide, mostly dead NovaStar Financial and Impac Mortgage Holdings, along with dozens of completely dead lenders. They did this by purchasing mortgage loans from these lenders so that they could chop them into mortgage-backed securities of dizzying complexity and dubious credit quality, which were, in turn, sold to suckers ... er, "investors" all over the world.
This provided a musical-chairs-like situation in which lenders produced as much volume as they could, no matter how bad the loans or credit risk, because they got paid to pass that risk along, through Wall Street's Wise bankers, to whatever "investor" ended up with the loans, in the form of stuff called MBS, CDOs, CDO-squared, R2D2, and so on. There was a flood of money to the lenders, which stimulated excessive demand, in turn stimulating excessive price appreciation. (You will note that there was no Paulson-led "Hope Now Alliance" coming together at that point to try and rein in this dangerous orgy of greed, though the consequences were plain to anyone who bothered to examine it.)
Greedy flippers and naive homebuyers resorted to gimmicky loans, like interest-only and "option" adjustable-rate mortgages, because it was the only way they could pay inflated prices for the properties they wanted. They got a few years of artificially low payments, thanks to artificially low teaser rates. The catch was that when the loans reset after a few years, they'd jump up several points, to 9%, 10%, 11%.
This may not sound like a big deal, until you run the math on the payments to see that many people would be facing twice the mortgage bill they were used to. Now that those mortgages are resetting and home prices are dropping like rocks, they can't make their payments, and they can't flip the houses for a profit, so loans are defaulting. The fancy securities -- what I call Wall Street dog food -- have become nearly worthless, and the music has stopped, without any chairs for anyone. Ironically, stupid, leveraged bets on these lousy securities have crippled the banks themselves, and CEOs and other execs have been getting the boot at places like Citigroup, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).
Hank to the rescue!: Hank Paulson's latest plan to protect homebuyers from their own mistakes is simple: Lenders extend those teaser rates for a few years. It's a win-win, right? What's the harm, especially when there's no bill to pay? You just reset those interest rates to low levels, and everything will be fine, right? Who could be against a policy that would keep Americans in their homes? One negotiated with the private sector itself?
This Fool, for one.
Making the credit crunch crunchier: Remember, the only reason those teaser-rate loans were made in the first place was because lenders (and thus the investors buying the mortgages from the lenders) could count on a much larger, contractually guaranteed payoff in the future, when those interest rates were due to reset. Take away that payoff, and you take away any incentive to loan to borrowers of marginal credit quality. Usher in an era when government and banks reset loan rates at their whim, and you can be sure that investors will never again buy securities based on adjustable-rate mortgages.
If you think credit is tight now, just wait until you yank away potential returns from the people putting up the capital for all those loans.
And let's not forget that Paulson's plan introduces an incredible moral hazard. By rescuing greedy and naive borrowers from their mistakes, our government encourages others to take big, stupid, bankruptcy-inducing risks, secure in the knowledge that the government will bail them out when times get rough. That means trillions of dollars in capital will be ill-invested yet again, something that's much less likely to happen when speculators are made to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
No free lunches: Here's another problem. Someone is going to have to foot the bill for this. Banks and associated entities that will, over the short term, finance this homeowner bailout are not going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Reported Hope Now Alliance honchos such as Countrywide and Citigroup (NYSE: C) are, I'm certain, only doing this because they hope it will be cheaper than having to pay up for their lending sins all at once. Moreover, it gives them a chance to look like good guys who care about the commoners -- never mind that they were quite happy to fleece borrowers with gawd-awful mortgage "affordability products" for years.
Still, this will sting some of these banks and mortgage servicers, so you can bet they're going to pass along the costs. They're going to do it by firing employees. (Countrywide and Citigroup are already doing that.) They're going to do it by moving offices to offshore tax havens, outsourcing, closing branches, lowering deposit rates, hiking fees, and whatever else it takes. (Golden parachutes for Wall Street failures are pricey.)
Worst of all, they're going to do it by soaking future borrowers -- people like the majority of us, who didn't do something stupid -- with higher rates than we would have otherwise paid for mortgage loans, credit cards, and commercial loans. They'll have to. They've got their own lenders to pay, and those lenders aren't going to simply hand over-stretched Americans a pile of money.
Foolish final thought: There's another reason that Paulson's latest plan will punish the public. It will have the effect of artificially supporting a home-price bubble that desperately needs a correction. Historical rent-to-purchase data show just how far home prices need to come down in order to return to mean. That requires a painful drop, and it will happen sooner or later.
Paulson's plan means fewer homes dumped back on the market at lower prices, where they belong. Now that he's a politician and not the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Paulson apparently believes that the market shouldn't be allowed to correct on its own. He's wrong about that, and he's wrong to support any plan that will only delay the inevitable. Better the quick, painful correction than the decades-long, slow bleed that he's nurturing now. For evidence of how ugly things get when policymakers try to coddle the financial industry rather than let the market apply its harsher, faster, medicines, just take a look at how long the banking mess continued in Japan.
Of course, a decade from now, if the economy is still suffering because of an ill-conceived housing bailout plan designed to win favor with the public and cover the economic hind-end of his boss, George Bush, Paulson won't have to issue any gomen nasai. He'll already be long gone, retired to his millions.
You and I will pay the bills.
Friday, October 12, 2007
The First Time
The lyrics below are from Lifehouse's newest song, "The First Time". I finally listened to the lyrics today and was overwhelmed. When I fell in love with my wife back in 2000, I couldn't think of words to describe what I was feeling at the time. But much as I have used music in my life to express emotions, the song I needed 7 years ago was finally written. Ann Bailey Saylor, this is how I felt about 3 days into my first Nashville visit.
The First Time
We're both looking for something
We've been afraid to find
It's easier to be broken
It's easier to hide
Looking at you,holding my breath,
For once in my life,
I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,letting you inside.
Feeling alive all over again,
As deep as the sky, under my skin
Like being in love, she says
For the first time
Maybe I'm wrong,
But I'm feeling right where I belong
With you tonight
Like being in love
To feel for the first time
The world that I see inside you
Waiting to come to life
Waking me up to dreaming
Reality in your eyes
Looking at you,
Holding my breath,
For once in my life
I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,
Letting you inside.
I'm feeling alive all over again
As deep as the sky under my skin
Like being in love, she says, for the first time
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm feeling right
Where I belong with you tonight
Like being in love to feel for the first time
We're crashing
Into the unknown
We're lost in this
But it feels like home
I'm feeling alive all over again
As deep as the sky under my skin
Like being in love, she says, for the first time
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm feeling right
Where I belong with you tonight
Like being in love to feel for the first time
The First Time
We're both looking for something
We've been afraid to find
It's easier to be broken
It's easier to hide
Looking at you,holding my breath,
For once in my life,
I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,letting you inside.
Feeling alive all over again,
As deep as the sky, under my skin
Like being in love, she says
For the first time
Maybe I'm wrong,
But I'm feeling right where I belong
With you tonight
Like being in love
To feel for the first time
The world that I see inside you
Waiting to come to life
Waking me up to dreaming
Reality in your eyes
Looking at you,
Holding my breath,
For once in my life
I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,
Letting you inside.
I'm feeling alive all over again
As deep as the sky under my skin
Like being in love, she says, for the first time
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm feeling right
Where I belong with you tonight
Like being in love to feel for the first time
We're crashing
Into the unknown
We're lost in this
But it feels like home
I'm feeling alive all over again
As deep as the sky under my skin
Like being in love, she says, for the first time
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm feeling right
Where I belong with you tonight
Like being in love to feel for the first time
Thursday, August 02, 2007
John Piper's Letter About Minneapolis' Bridge Collapse
Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After the Bridge Collapsed
What Do Tragedies Like This Mean for Us?
August 1, 2007
By John Piper
Read this resource on our website.
At about 6 PM tonight the bridge of Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis
collapsed. I am writing this about three hours after the bridge fell. The bridge is located within sight of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Most of us who minister at the church cross this bridge several times a week. At this point I don’t know if any staff was on the bridge. Desiring God offices are about a mile from the bridge.
There are no firm facts at this point about the total number of injuries and fatalities. When we crossed the bridge Tuesday on our way out of town, there was extensive repair work happening on the surface of the bridge with single lane traffic. One speculates about the unusual stresses on the bridge with jackhammers and other surface replacement equipment. This was the fortieth anniversary of the bridge.
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Jesus implies that those who brought him this news thought he would say that those who died, deserved to die, and that those who didn’t die did not deserve to die. That is not what he said. He said, everyone deserves to die. And if you and I don’t repent, we too will perish. This is a stunning response. It only makes sense from a view of reality that is radically oriented on God.
All of us have sinned against God, not just against man. This is an outrage ten thousand times worse than the collapse of the 35W bridge. That any human is breathing at this minute on this planet is sheer mercy from God. God makes the sun rise and the rain fall on those who do not treasure him above all else. He causes the heart to beat and the lungs to work for millions of people who deserve his wrath. This is a view of reality that desperately needs to be taught in our churches, so that we are prepared for the calamities of the world.
The meaning of the collapse of this bridge is that John Piper is a sinner and should repent or forfeit his life forever. That means I should turn from the silly preoccupations of my life and focus my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection on God and embrace Jesus Christ as my only hope for the forgiveness of my sins and for the hope of eternal life. That is God’s message in the collapse of this bridge. That is his most merciful message: there is still time to turn from sin and unbelief and destruction for those of us who live. If we could see the eternal calamity from which he is offering escape we would hear this as the most precious message in the world.
We prayed during our family devotions. Talitha (11 years old) and Noel and I prayed earnestly for the families affected by the calamity and for the others in our city. Talitha prayed “Please don’t let anyone blame God for this but give thanks that they were saved.” When I sat on her bed and tucked her in and blessed her and sang over her a few minutes ago, I said, “You know, Talitha, that was a good prayer, because when people ‘blame’ God for something, they are angry with him, and they are saying that he has done something wrong. That’s what “blame” means: accuse somebody of wrongdoing. But you and I know that God did not do anything wrong. God always does what is wise. And you and I know that God could have held up that bridge with one hand.” Talitha said, “With his pinky.” “Yes,” I said, “with his pinky. Which means that God had a purpose for not holding up that bridge, knowing all that would happen, and he is infinitely wise in all that he wills.”
Talitha said, “Maybe he let it fall because he wanted all the people of Minneapolis to fear him.” “Yes, Talitha,” I said, “I am sure that is one of the reasons God let the bridge fall.”
I said, “You know, Talitha, that is true whether you die in a bridge collapse, or in a car accident, or from cancer, or terrorism, or old age. God always keeps you, even when you die. So you don’t need to be afraid, do you.” “No,” she shook her head. I leaned down and kissed her. “Good night. I love you.”
Tonight across the Twin Cities families are wondering if they will ever kiss a loved one good night again. Some will not. I am praying that they will find Jesus Christ to be their Rock and Refuge in these agonizing hours of uncertainty and even loss.
The word “bridge” does not occur in the Bible. There may be two reasons. One is that God doesn’t build bridges, he divides seas. The other is that usually his people must pass through the deadly currents of suffering and death, not simply ride over them. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (Isaiah 43:2). They may drown you. But I will be with you in life and death.
Killed all day long. But not separated from Christ. We go through the river. Not over it. He went before us, crucified. He came out on the other side. He knows the way through. With him we will make it. That is the message we have for the precious sinners in the Twin Cities. He died for your sins. He rose again. He saves all who trust him. We die, but because of him, we do not die.
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)
Talitha is sleeping now. But one day she will die. I teach her this. I will not always be there to bless her. But Jesus is alive and is the same yesterday today and forever. He will be with her because she trusts him. And she will make it through the river.
Weeping with those who weep, and those who should,
Pastor John
Psalm 71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again.
What Do Tragedies Like This Mean for Us?
August 1, 2007
By John Piper
Read this resource on our website.
At about 6 PM tonight the bridge of Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis
collapsed. I am writing this about three hours after the bridge fell. The bridge is located within sight of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Most of us who minister at the church cross this bridge several times a week. At this point I don’t know if any staff was on the bridge. Desiring God offices are about a mile from the bridge.
There are no firm facts at this point about the total number of injuries and fatalities. When we crossed the bridge Tuesday on our way out of town, there was extensive repair work happening on the surface of the bridge with single lane traffic. One speculates about the unusual stresses on the bridge with jackhammers and other surface replacement equipment. This was the fortieth anniversary of the bridge.
Tonight for our family devotions our appointed reading was Luke 13:1-9. It was not my choice. This is surely no coincidence. O that all of the Twin Cities, in shock at this major calamity, would hear what Jesus has to say about it from Luke 13:1-5. People came to Jesus with heart-wrenching news about the slaughter of worshipers by Pilate. Here is what he said.
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
All of us have sinned against God, not just against man. This is an outrage ten thousand times worse than the collapse of the 35W bridge. That any human is breathing at this minute on this planet is sheer mercy from God. God makes the sun rise and the rain fall on those who do not treasure him above all else. He causes the heart to beat and the lungs to work for millions of people who deserve his wrath. This is a view of reality that desperately needs to be taught in our churches, so that we are prepared for the calamities of the world.
The meaning of the collapse of this bridge is that John Piper is a sinner and should repent or forfeit his life forever. That means I should turn from the silly preoccupations of my life and focus my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection on God and embrace Jesus Christ as my only hope for the forgiveness of my sins and for the hope of eternal life. That is God’s message in the collapse of this bridge. That is his most merciful message: there is still time to turn from sin and unbelief and destruction for those of us who live. If we could see the eternal calamity from which he is offering escape we would hear this as the most precious message in the world.
We prayed during our family devotions. Talitha (11 years old) and Noel and I prayed earnestly for the families affected by the calamity and for the others in our city. Talitha prayed “Please don’t let anyone blame God for this but give thanks that they were saved.” When I sat on her bed and tucked her in and blessed her and sang over her a few minutes ago, I said, “You know, Talitha, that was a good prayer, because when people ‘blame’ God for something, they are angry with him, and they are saying that he has done something wrong. That’s what “blame” means: accuse somebody of wrongdoing. But you and I know that God did not do anything wrong. God always does what is wise. And you and I know that God could have held up that bridge with one hand.” Talitha said, “With his pinky.” “Yes,” I said, “with his pinky. Which means that God had a purpose for not holding up that bridge, knowing all that would happen, and he is infinitely wise in all that he wills.”
Talitha said, “Maybe he let it fall because he wanted all the people of Minneapolis to fear him.” “Yes, Talitha,” I said, “I am sure that is one of the reasons God let the bridge fall.”
I sang to her the song I always sing,
"Come rest your head and nestle gently
And do not fear the dark of night.
Almighty God keeps watch intently,
And guards your life with all his might.
Doubt not his love, nor power to keep,
He never fails, nor does he sleep. "
Tonight across the Twin Cities families are wondering if they will ever kiss a loved one good night again. Some will not. I am praying that they will find Jesus Christ to be their Rock and Refuge in these agonizing hours of uncertainty and even loss.
The word “bridge” does not occur in the Bible. There may be two reasons. One is that God doesn’t build bridges, he divides seas. The other is that usually his people must pass through the deadly currents of suffering and death, not simply ride over them. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (Isaiah 43:2). They may drown you. But I will be with you in life and death.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-38)
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)
Talitha is sleeping now. But one day she will die. I teach her this. I will not always be there to bless her. But Jesus is alive and is the same yesterday today and forever. He will be with her because she trusts him. And she will make it through the river.
Weeping with those who weep, and those who should,
Pastor John
Psalm 71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Excuses Are For Losers
I was a high school football player for Buckeye Union High School almost 20 years ago. I played offensive line, starting left tackle, for three of the four years (my senior year I was converted and started at tight end). I had never played before my freshman year, but my size (6'2", 200 lbs) meant that I was needed to keep the opposing lineman off our quarterback. As I said, I started every year I played offensive tackle, including my first year on varsity, as a junior. That year I made 1st team All-Region.
But what I remember most was one afternoon during two-a-days that junior year. We were doing drills against the scout team, who held blocking pads in their hands, so it wasn't exactly realistic, but it was early in the season and we were getting the plays down. My assignment on this particular running play was to block the linebacker, and I remember doing exactly just that. I ran him completely out of the play.
When the whistle sounded to end the play however, I found that our running back was hit behind the line of scrimmage by the nose guard when the he stunted into the gap between me and the offensive guard next to me, thus having a clear path to the running back. The play lost yardage, and the nose guard was assigned to the offensive guard next to me, but obviously he missed his block.
Coach Nunez, who wasn't the most cool headed of coaches, yelled at me, "Why did you not block Jarvis Berry?", the scout team nose guard. I answered, "I was supposed to block the linebacker, and I did." Technically I was correct. I did what I was supposed to do on paper. Instead, my coach blew up at me.
"Excuses are for losers, Danny Saylor," he said, and sent the entire team to run gassers for my answer.
At the time, I was angry. I did nothing wrong, done my job correctly. It was someone else's mistake. I, and most of my team, were now running because of some stupid whim of who was truly a very tempermental man.
But, I still remember this moment, now 17 years (almost to the day) later, because it taught me something very valuable, something that has shaped me into who I am today. See, it wasn't that I blocked the wrong guy, I should have read that my linemate, the offensive guard, had blown his assignment and blocked the nose guard myself (Jarvis was a quick guy!). I failed the team that day, and realized much later, due to my legalism in justifying my actions based on what was right technically, when instead I needed to learn that sometimes when you head out on a course of action, doing another's job is necessary for the benefit of the team. The guard should have released the nose guard to me, and gone on and done my assignment by going to pick up the linebacker. I should have done his job, and combined, the play would have been successful.
Excuses are for losers. Coach Nunez, as much as I hate to say it, was right. Responsibility lies not in how each of us performs, but what each of us should do in order to benefit the team. We all have reasons why we don't accomplish the things we set out to do- family, work, no time, etc.- but they are all the cliched "the dog ate my homework" excuse. Even if it were true, you had to get the assignment done anyway. In my case, the assignment of the team- to be successful- had been lost sight of instead for my personal assignment. It was my fault, coach, I admit it. Thanks for the lesson.
But what I remember most was one afternoon during two-a-days that junior year. We were doing drills against the scout team, who held blocking pads in their hands, so it wasn't exactly realistic, but it was early in the season and we were getting the plays down. My assignment on this particular running play was to block the linebacker, and I remember doing exactly just that. I ran him completely out of the play.
When the whistle sounded to end the play however, I found that our running back was hit behind the line of scrimmage by the nose guard when the he stunted into the gap between me and the offensive guard next to me, thus having a clear path to the running back. The play lost yardage, and the nose guard was assigned to the offensive guard next to me, but obviously he missed his block.
Coach Nunez, who wasn't the most cool headed of coaches, yelled at me, "Why did you not block Jarvis Berry?", the scout team nose guard. I answered, "I was supposed to block the linebacker, and I did." Technically I was correct. I did what I was supposed to do on paper. Instead, my coach blew up at me.
"Excuses are for losers, Danny Saylor," he said, and sent the entire team to run gassers for my answer.
At the time, I was angry. I did nothing wrong, done my job correctly. It was someone else's mistake. I, and most of my team, were now running because of some stupid whim of who was truly a very tempermental man.
But, I still remember this moment, now 17 years (almost to the day) later, because it taught me something very valuable, something that has shaped me into who I am today. See, it wasn't that I blocked the wrong guy, I should have read that my linemate, the offensive guard, had blown his assignment and blocked the nose guard myself (Jarvis was a quick guy!). I failed the team that day, and realized much later, due to my legalism in justifying my actions based on what was right technically, when instead I needed to learn that sometimes when you head out on a course of action, doing another's job is necessary for the benefit of the team. The guard should have released the nose guard to me, and gone on and done my assignment by going to pick up the linebacker. I should have done his job, and combined, the play would have been successful.
Excuses are for losers. Coach Nunez, as much as I hate to say it, was right. Responsibility lies not in how each of us performs, but what each of us should do in order to benefit the team. We all have reasons why we don't accomplish the things we set out to do- family, work, no time, etc.- but they are all the cliched "the dog ate my homework" excuse. Even if it were true, you had to get the assignment done anyway. In my case, the assignment of the team- to be successful- had been lost sight of instead for my personal assignment. It was my fault, coach, I admit it. Thanks for the lesson.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Oh My God Jars!
Youtube is pretty awesome, you can find almost anything you want there.
Was turned onto the Jars of Clay song "Oh My God" which is featured in the background of a previous John Piper youtube link on this blog...you can find the song in it's entirety with someone else doing a slideshow and providing some lyrics here:
Oh My God
Here are the lyrics:
Oh my God, look around this place
Your fingers reach around the bone
You set the break and set the tone
Flights of grace, and future falls
In present pain
All fools say, "Oh my God"
Oh my God, Why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don't bleed
There is no cure for our disease
Turn a phrase, and rise again
Or fake your death and only tell your closest friend
Oh my God.
Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief
Weddings, boats and alibis
All drift away, and a mother cries
Liars and fools; sons and failures
Thieves will always say
Lost and found; ailing wanderers
Healers always say
Whores and angels; men with problems
Leavers always say
Broken hearted; separated
Orphans always say
War creators; racial haters
Preachers always say
Distant fathers; fallen warriors
Givers always say
Pilgrim saints; lonely widows
Users always say
Fearful mothers; watchful doubters
Saviors always say
Sometimes I cannot forgive
These days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent
Falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded
That the pain is worth the thunder
Sometimes when I lose my grip,
I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat
All the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children,
This is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers,
This is our greatest offense
Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
Lead singer Dan Haseltine's comments:
“I think there are more lyrics in that one song than there were on our entire last record,” Haseltine says of Oh My God. “People all have their reasons for crying out to God. Some of those are really deep, deep doubts, and one of the questions in that third verse where it asks whether Jesus is real or not. Growing up in the church, I was scared to death to ask that question, because I didn’t know whether the Gospel could stand up to the scrutiny. There are times when I wrestle with that even now, but it’s a question that needs to be asked.”
Was turned onto the Jars of Clay song "Oh My God" which is featured in the background of a previous John Piper youtube link on this blog...you can find the song in it's entirety with someone else doing a slideshow and providing some lyrics here:
Oh My God
Here are the lyrics:
Oh my God, look around this place
Your fingers reach around the bone
You set the break and set the tone
Flights of grace, and future falls
In present pain
All fools say, "Oh my God"
Oh my God, Why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don't bleed
There is no cure for our disease
Turn a phrase, and rise again
Or fake your death and only tell your closest friend
Oh my God.
Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief
Weddings, boats and alibis
All drift away, and a mother cries
Liars and fools; sons and failures
Thieves will always say
Lost and found; ailing wanderers
Healers always say
Whores and angels; men with problems
Leavers always say
Broken hearted; separated
Orphans always say
War creators; racial haters
Preachers always say
Distant fathers; fallen warriors
Givers always say
Pilgrim saints; lonely widows
Users always say
Fearful mothers; watchful doubters
Saviors always say
Sometimes I cannot forgive
These days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent
Falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded
That the pain is worth the thunder
Sometimes when I lose my grip,
I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat
All the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children,
This is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers,
This is our greatest offense
Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
Lead singer Dan Haseltine's comments:
“I think there are more lyrics in that one song than there were on our entire last record,” Haseltine says of Oh My God. “People all have their reasons for crying out to God. Some of those are really deep, deep doubts, and one of the questions in that third verse where it asks whether Jesus is real or not. Growing up in the church, I was scared to death to ask that question, because I didn’t know whether the Gospel could stand up to the scrutiny. There are times when I wrestle with that even now, but it’s a question that needs to be asked.”
John Piper and Joel Osteen
Last week in community group I was directed to a couple of youtube.com links that I really wanted to share.
The first is on Joel Osteen, who myself watched on TV one Sunday morning while home sick. While watching I couldn't get past the perfect teeth, the perfect coiffed hair, the elaborate delivery. In my mind, if he was trying to sell me a car, I would have been very skeptical. But instead he is sellling Jesus, and if you don't know your Bible it is easy to get sucked in by the pizzazz of the show he puts on. But he is selling a false gospel, known as the prosperity gospel...in other words, Christians are not supposed to be sick or suffer or have bad things happen to them. The are supposed to be rich and drive Mercedes and retire early. But I ask you, where does it say that in the Bible? Watch and see for yourself...
Joel Osteen Said What?
The prosperity gospel sells...think about how many books O'Steen has sold, how many "Prayer of Jabez" books Bruce Wilkinson sold, how many people go and see Benny Hinn.
Now here is John Piper's commentary on the prosperity gospel, given to a speech at UCF in Birmingham.
John Piper on the prosperity gospel
Tell me if you feel convicted...
The first is on Joel Osteen, who myself watched on TV one Sunday morning while home sick. While watching I couldn't get past the perfect teeth, the perfect coiffed hair, the elaborate delivery. In my mind, if he was trying to sell me a car, I would have been very skeptical. But instead he is sellling Jesus, and if you don't know your Bible it is easy to get sucked in by the pizzazz of the show he puts on. But he is selling a false gospel, known as the prosperity gospel...in other words, Christians are not supposed to be sick or suffer or have bad things happen to them. The are supposed to be rich and drive Mercedes and retire early. But I ask you, where does it say that in the Bible? Watch and see for yourself...
Joel Osteen Said What?
The prosperity gospel sells...think about how many books O'Steen has sold, how many "Prayer of Jabez" books Bruce Wilkinson sold, how many people go and see Benny Hinn.
Now here is John Piper's commentary on the prosperity gospel, given to a speech at UCF in Birmingham.
John Piper on the prosperity gospel
Tell me if you feel convicted...
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Next week, GNR's "November Rain" is Tackled...
I smiled as I remembered a conversation I had with my 5 year old son yesterday afternoon while coming home from Lowe's. I am pretty much a rock dude, with my favorites being on the scale of Van Halen, Matchbox 20. While listening to a local station, that 80's anthem "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" by Poison came on the radio. My son asks, "Why does he say a rose has a thorn dad?" While trying to sound intelligent on the subject after hearing the song for almost 20 years and able to sing almost every lyric in time, I came up with "sometimes the things that are pretty can still hurt you." Not bad for answering on the fly, if you ask me. Bret Michaels would be proud.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Don Imus
There is a firestorm going on over shock-jock radioman Don Imus' comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. For those of you who missed them, he described them using the derogatory and racial terms "nappy headed hos". NBC's Today Show had host Matt Lauer interview him and Rev. Al Sharpton concurrently, then later interviewed Jesse Jackson. For the record- he has been suspended for 2 weeks beginning next Monday (due to a previously scheduled telethon that runs Thursday and Friday to raise money for his charities).
Here's what bugs me...why the big deal?
It is not that what he said was right. Certainly I agree with those saying that he was wrong. I feel diversity aware enough to feel disgusted about his portrayal of women as nothing more than sex objects as he did in using the word "ho", slang for "whore". To me, that is simply seeing a female as nothing more than a vagina, and if that is all you think about when you see a female, believe me you are missing the best parts of a woman. Then to characterize them as "nappy headed" surely is inane and inflammatory. This reference wasn't too hard to comprehend- and black people should not be characterized like this. So overall what did his term mean? A team of black whores. That sounds very intelligent. It just proves he's an idiot.
But why the big deal? Rappers have been using this term in their lyrics for years. Do you see any one of them being raked across the coals for what they publish and put across the airwaves? So it is OK for a black person (and I am stereotyping this group because most of them are black) to use these words? I find them offensive! Let's get them to stop making records! Let's keep their music off the shelves! They have no right to do this also!
What? You don't hear this argument? You don't agree? They are being "artistic"? You say I can choose to not listen if it offends me (which I do)? Well, guess what, you can do the same with this man as well! Don't like him, TURN HIM OFF! That will get his network and his sponsor's attention more than anything the media, of which he is part and parcel, can do. In fact, I think he is basking in the attention of it all. Free PR!
Just great...
Here's what bugs me...why the big deal?
It is not that what he said was right. Certainly I agree with those saying that he was wrong. I feel diversity aware enough to feel disgusted about his portrayal of women as nothing more than sex objects as he did in using the word "ho", slang for "whore". To me, that is simply seeing a female as nothing more than a vagina, and if that is all you think about when you see a female, believe me you are missing the best parts of a woman. Then to characterize them as "nappy headed" surely is inane and inflammatory. This reference wasn't too hard to comprehend- and black people should not be characterized like this. So overall what did his term mean? A team of black whores. That sounds very intelligent. It just proves he's an idiot.
But why the big deal? Rappers have been using this term in their lyrics for years. Do you see any one of them being raked across the coals for what they publish and put across the airwaves? So it is OK for a black person (and I am stereotyping this group because most of them are black) to use these words? I find them offensive! Let's get them to stop making records! Let's keep their music off the shelves! They have no right to do this also!
What? You don't hear this argument? You don't agree? They are being "artistic"? You say I can choose to not listen if it offends me (which I do)? Well, guess what, you can do the same with this man as well! Don't like him, TURN HIM OFF! That will get his network and his sponsor's attention more than anything the media, of which he is part and parcel, can do. In fact, I think he is basking in the attention of it all. Free PR!
Just great...
Sunday, March 25, 2007
ROMANS Chapter 1, Vs 1-7
My wife and I are working our way through Tom Nelson's, the teaching pastor at Denton Bible Church in Denton, TX, current sermon series on the book of Romans. You can download it for free on iTunes, just search podcasts for "Denton Bible Church". I will post my notes on his sermons (currently he is somewhere in the 20's, and the series began back in October!) as we delve into his teaching on this book.
Tommy Nelson Study- ROMANS
OVERVIEW
1. Most important book in Bible
2. Theme- How a perfect, holy God can get an imperfect man into a perfect, holy place and yet remain perfect without compromising His holiness.
3. Purpose- Paul had never been to Rome, and word on the street was that he was afraid to go to Rome because he couldn’t preach it to Rome, the height of culture, the “enlightened” philosophers, the classic “city of Man”, and hold up to Rome’s (man’s) intellectual attack on it. But Paul had wanted to go to Rome, but God had not allowed him to do so yet, thus the writing of this letter.
Chapter Breakdown by Subject:
Tommy Nelson Study- ROMANS
OVERVIEW
1. Most important book in Bible
2. Theme- How a perfect, holy God can get an imperfect man into a perfect, holy place and yet remain perfect without compromising His holiness.
3. Purpose- Paul had never been to Rome, and word on the street was that he was afraid to go to Rome because he couldn’t preach it to Rome, the height of culture, the “enlightened” philosophers, the classic “city of Man”, and hold up to Rome’s (man’s) intellectual attack on it. But Paul had wanted to go to Rome, but God had not allowed him to do so yet, thus the writing of this letter.
Chapter Breakdown by Subject:
- Ch 1-3: Condemnation
- Ch 4-5: Justification
- Ch 6-8: Sanctification
- Ch 9-11: Vindication of God’s Sovereignty
- Ch 12-16: Application
CHAPTER 1: Vs 1-7 Faith’s Foundations
- A servant and apostle- one who saw and was sent forth
- Was given a message by God himself
- He is not a mystic, a thinker
- Promised beforehand by his prophets- not in man, but of God
- In the Holy Scriptures- purpose of the Old Testament was to show you your sin and point you to Christ
- If Moses, David, or Elijah were here, they would believe in Christ
- Regarding His Son- Jesus- perfect humanity and deity
- He was fully man- a descendent of David
- He is also fully God
- He died and was resurrected- proving/declaring his deity- declaring = “horitzo” in Greek- translated into appointed, determined, something clearly marked out
- He showed that death has no power over him
- Thus, Jesus is the Son of David who was resurrected- He is the Messiah- he fulfilled the prophesies, thus He is our LORD
- Human salvation depends on obedience by faith and this only
Vs 6: The Scope
- God has commanded all mankind to repent- those that worship the earth, idols, other things are to abandon that way of thinking and repent of that and come to their Creator or risk being judged accordingly
Vs 6: The Recipients
- Those who were called- God summoned the Christians, they are the objects of His grace, even though he commanded all to repent, only the Christians have obeyed
- Has nothing to do with moral or intellectual superiority or any other characteristic of man
Vs 7: Benefits of Being Saved- Sainthood
- He LOVES us and because of this we are to be progressively changed in Christ throughout our lives in a process that will culminate with our resurrection to be with Him on the day of judgment to join the family of God. When He looks at us He sees His Son, and His righteousness has been imputed to us through our faith in Him alone. We are thus reconciled to God.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Doctor's Don't Listen and MRI's Lie
Here is a cool listen on NPR's Fresh Air on a recent book by a New England physician who states how MD's easily err in their thinking and misdiagnose by failing to listen to patients and hanging their hats on what are often poorly reliable imaging. The book is "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman, MD.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Deductive Reasoning for Prevention
As an allied health care professional- a physical therapist to be exact- it amazes me how passive so many people are when they go see a practitioner in any of the vast medical fields- from RN's to MD's to DC's to PT's. A system has been created, from as far back as ancient tribal shamans to the father of modern medicine, Galen, where a patient tells the practitioner what is wrong and expects the practitioner to heal them. In fact, this model is thoroughly utilized every time you go see your family physician- you have some symptoms and he/she prescribes an antidote, typically pharmaceutical, and you're told to call if you do not improve. It works most of the time, even with the expectation that there may not be a response to what has been prescribed, especially if the patient follows as he or she has been advised.
So here's my scenario- a patient walks in last week with a prescription for rehabilitation for spinal pain from an orthopedic specialist. He has private commercial insurance, and as a favor my company always researches his medical benefits prior to his appointment just so he will know what his costs will be for utilizing my services. While we do this he chooses to wait to see what they are before he schedules his initial evaluation.
We get through to his insurance company fairly quickly (and by this I mean in under 20 minutes) and find that he will have a $250 deductible that must be met before his insurance company will pick up 80% of the bill. He declines to schedule.
So this is a man who probably started out at his primary care physician for complaints of back pain. He was then most likely prescribed pain medications, either steroidal or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and possibly muscle relaxants to relieve his symptoms because 80% of spinal complaints resolve in less than 1-2 weeks (thus the use of medication- it gets you through those two weeks). But for this guy, we can only guess it did not work, because he was sent on to a specialist, maybe even after his primary care doctor ordered a series of imaging (X-ray, MRI) to better assess what he or she was treating.
So he now arrives at his second physician appointment, a specialist in the care of back pain we would imagine. This physician most certainly would order imaging of some sort if it had not been done before, might also again try some medications, and in this case determined that he should try rehabilitation in the form of physical therapy as well.
Let's recap: 2 physician appointments, great chance for the use of medications, probably some imaging of the spine involved, and our patient still has complaints of pain in his back. A specialist, who he chose to visit after being referred by his primary care physician, tells him to go to therapy.
BUT...when he finds out that he will have to pay for at least a few visits out of his own pocket- and I know that $250 can be a lot of money for some people, which is why we have a payment assistance program for those who need it- HE DECLINES TO BE SEEN!
I want to ask him, "Why did you take the time to go through the hassle above when you were not going to follow the physician's advice anyway?" Obviously what he has tried himself has not been working, else why would he have sought out care?
The sad thing is that in someone who has gone this far through the system, he likely will not return to the specialist until his case becomes so involved that he would require surgery. And this surgery will cost him the deductible plus a whole lot more, especially when you think about the time off work required and the fact that his deductible probably will go up in the coming years, for something he may have been able to prevent if he had not worried so much about that $250 right now.
So here's my scenario- a patient walks in last week with a prescription for rehabilitation for spinal pain from an orthopedic specialist. He has private commercial insurance, and as a favor my company always researches his medical benefits prior to his appointment just so he will know what his costs will be for utilizing my services. While we do this he chooses to wait to see what they are before he schedules his initial evaluation.
We get through to his insurance company fairly quickly (and by this I mean in under 20 minutes) and find that he will have a $250 deductible that must be met before his insurance company will pick up 80% of the bill. He declines to schedule.
So this is a man who probably started out at his primary care physician for complaints of back pain. He was then most likely prescribed pain medications, either steroidal or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and possibly muscle relaxants to relieve his symptoms because 80% of spinal complaints resolve in less than 1-2 weeks (thus the use of medication- it gets you through those two weeks). But for this guy, we can only guess it did not work, because he was sent on to a specialist, maybe even after his primary care doctor ordered a series of imaging (X-ray, MRI) to better assess what he or she was treating.
So he now arrives at his second physician appointment, a specialist in the care of back pain we would imagine. This physician most certainly would order imaging of some sort if it had not been done before, might also again try some medications, and in this case determined that he should try rehabilitation in the form of physical therapy as well.
Let's recap: 2 physician appointments, great chance for the use of medications, probably some imaging of the spine involved, and our patient still has complaints of pain in his back. A specialist, who he chose to visit after being referred by his primary care physician, tells him to go to therapy.
BUT...when he finds out that he will have to pay for at least a few visits out of his own pocket- and I know that $250 can be a lot of money for some people, which is why we have a payment assistance program for those who need it- HE DECLINES TO BE SEEN!
I want to ask him, "Why did you take the time to go through the hassle above when you were not going to follow the physician's advice anyway?" Obviously what he has tried himself has not been working, else why would he have sought out care?
The sad thing is that in someone who has gone this far through the system, he likely will not return to the specialist until his case becomes so involved that he would require surgery. And this surgery will cost him the deductible plus a whole lot more, especially when you think about the time off work required and the fact that his deductible probably will go up in the coming years, for something he may have been able to prevent if he had not worried so much about that $250 right now.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Are you up on your Sesame Street?
Do you know the name of Big Bird's wooly friend? Take this quiz at one of my favorite MD blogs...
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