I have moved…

No more aliases. I have moved to http://daveshawblog.wordpress.com

All the best…

Unity and the Cross

In the second half of chapter one in First Corinthians, Paul argues against the folly of “church groupie-ism.” Culturally Corinth was more concerned with style than with substance, especially when it came to judging their public speakers and orators. This attitude prevailed in the Corinthian church to the point that those who had planted and helped grow the church; men like Paul and Apollos, now found themselves having a bunch of groupies hanging on to their coattails and dividing the church. “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” they were saying. As a result the church was not focussed on its mission or it’s Christ. Instead, they were focussed on themselves and their preferences.

The same thing happens today, it just manifests itself in different forms. Like the Corinthians, we have our favorite preachers; and we also divide over theology, music style, or the color of the carpets or the curtains etc, etc, and so on. Paul is calling the Corinthian church to die to these sorts of preferences. He calls the Corinthians back to the cross because the cross is the heart of the gospel, and the gospel is the heart of the God-given mission for the church. Paul calls the Corinthians to unity at the cross because before the cross there is no rich or poor, no king or beggar, no smart or simple. We are united only by our ability to kneel at the cross of Christ.

When Paul calls us to the cross, it is a call to live to Christ and die to preference. A church can only be as effective as it’s willingness to die to its preferences and be united in Christ’s cross and his mission.

Stressed Out

The load of one and a half jobs has stressed me out no end this last month or so. Beginning next week, I hope to block out Monday to get some blogging done every week. I’ve taken time out from the blogging to do research on what has been an intense beginning to the First Corinthians series our church have been pursuing.

What has struck me in the opening chapters of Corinthians has been Paul’s determined focus on the cross. With all the strife in the Corinthian church, this strikes me as odd. Why not write a letter in a similar manner to James? The answer is that the Corinthians did not understand the gospel. After spending approximately 18 months with the Corinthians and then leaving, the Corinthians did not do well left to their own devices.

Before Paul can give advice for living, he must bring them back to the heart of the gospel which is the cross. My concern today is that so many preachers and pastors have made application an idol in the sermon. Whilst application is a necessary feature of a good sermon, it is not primary. What is primary is the gospel, as revealed in the cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2; 15:1-11). No matter how much advice we give our congregations as we preach, it will be little more than self-help in the style of Oprah or Dr. Phil unless the cross of Christ is proclaimed. That is what sets Christians apart. May we not lose that for the sake of applicability. May the cross be central as we seek to live out the gospel.

Thankful

As I preached the first chapter of 1 Corinthians last weekend, I was struck by how thankful Paul was for such a jacked up church. He give thanks for four graces that God has blessed his people in Corinth with.

• “I give thanks to God because he has enriched you in speech and knowledge.” (1 Cor. 1:5)
  
• “I give thanks to God for Christ’s testimony in you.” (1 Cor. 1:6)
• “I give thanks to God for the spiritual gifts He has blessed you with.” (1 Cor. 1:7)
  
• “I give thanks to God because he will sustain you in faith.” (1 Cor. 1:8-9)

I think what enabled Paul to give thanks was his steadfast belief in God’s faithfulness. Convicted to the core, I began to pray and ask God what graces in my own church I had been missing. Here is a sampling:

• First of all, I am thankful to all the people that serve regularly. Without them the Sunday service wouldn’t even get off the ground.
• Second, the growth that I am seeing in so many people. Many are not recognizable from six, seven, eight months ago. Transformation little by little. What a wonderful privilege to see.
• Third, for the grace that the congregation have shown me – a rookie pastor – as I have learned the ropes and made mistakes. I am grateful for the forgiveness that has been shown on a regular basis.
• For God’s faithfulness as some people battle with their own faith. It has been great to see people battle with God, embrace grace, and keep going. I praise God for his perseverance with us.
• I am thankful for the men that have been coming. A year ago, it was me and a bunch of women. I love the ladies that are present and they continue to be a blessing. But it is wonderful to have godly men around, who are committed to growing with Jesus.

For all the pastors (and others) who may be reading this, what are you thankful to God for. Take time out this week and write down a short list and spend time praising God. I can’t help but think that if Paul can give thanks to God for the Corinthians, we can give thanks for our people too. Ask for eyes to see and ears to see the grace all around you.

Brief Thoughts on First Corinthians

This Sunday, I begin an extended series on First Corinthians. I have written a broad introduction to the series on our church blog, but here I wanted to get into some specifics and where I see connections with our culture. As I read the first six chapters of the letter, Paul is addressing the various manifestations of division that are tearing the church apart from the inside out. Members of the congregation are playing favorites with the elders, “I follow Apollos,” I follow Paul,” etc… You have other members of the church suing each other to gain prominence in the community, you have a man who has decided that his own mother is rather hot and wants to date her; the list would be comical if it were not so deplorable. This really is how not to do church.

From chapter seven onward, Paul starts tackling questions of a more practical nature. Married vs. single life, eating with non-believers, the exercising of spiritual gifts, the importance of the resurrection in Christian living. In short, Paul is showing them how to live missional lives in a culture that is remarkably similar to our own. Like our culture today, Corinth was incredibly pluralistic. “This is my truth, tell me yours” is a phrase that sums up well the attitude that both we express today and the Corinthians expressed 2000 or so years ago.

Like the Corinthians, the church has trouble walking the fine line between being culturally relevant and at the same time be counter-cultural in the best sense of the word. The Corinthians would swing from one extreme to the other. Some would flaunt their freedom, whilst others in reaction would deny all freedom. Paul calls for a healthy moderation in order to retain a much needed cultural connection whilst not giving people the license to sin.

I  am looking forward to this series. It should prove thought provoking, challenging, and if I do my job right, should have both the fundamentalists and the liberals wincing. I heard somewhere (I wish I could remember where), that the goal of preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. First Corinthians is one of those letters that should do the job quite nicely.

Thoughts on Easter

In only a handful of days the Easter event will be upon us. Easter is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. Interestingly enough, when Paul wrote to what was possibly the most jacked-up church in all of history (the Corinthian church), he said that the cross of Christ was of first importance. That in the death of Christ we have a Savior who died for our sins.

Why is this of first importance?

Excitement Building

The AFL premiership season commences this weekend. Woohoo! Let’s hope that someone (preferably West Coast) can knock Geelong off their mighty high pedestal. Should be a good AFL season ahead. For a taste of what may be coming, here are some highlights from last season. Enjoy!

Guidance

It strikes me that so many people today desire that God would guide them. “Which college should I go to?” What career should I pursue?” Which man (or woman) should I marry?” If we perceive that God is not able or unwilling to guide us then we turn elsewhere; to Men’s Health, Cosmo, Oprah, or Dr. Phil for example. I wonder if it is not that God has not spoken, but that we haven’t listened so well?

If I read my Bible rightly, it would appear that God has been guiding His people since the beginning of creation. In Genesis 2:15-17, God guides Adam to work in the garden, and also gives guidance as to what is and is not acceptable in garden “You may eat of any tree in the garden, but not from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, lest you die.”Shortly thereafter, Satan tried to undermine God’s guidance by propagating his own advice in Genesis 3, “Did God really say…?”

The myth that is perpetuated today is that we can each guide our own lives; be masters of our own destiny as it were. Yet I can’t help but think that – at least in part – the voices we choose or choose not to listen shape us and influence our lives in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine. The question we face is not so much will we be guided but rather by whom will we be guided. Jesus said as much in John 10, telling the religious elite that his people recognize his voice and follow Him.

The question then begs to be asked, “Who are the voices we listen to and follow today?” Who is it that speaks most influentially into our lives, our values, our community, and our culture? This question is of the utmost importance because ultimately, the voices we listen to today will shape our future tomorrow – for the better, or for the worse.

For more on the subject of guidance check out Dallas Willard’s Hearing God, and The Secret of Guidance by F. B. Meyer.

The Atom

I’m not that big on cars in general, but whilst I was home in Perth for a couple of weeks, my brother introduced me to Top Gear. A fantastic car show by the BBC. Upon my return to Korea, I started hunting around youtube for some more Top Gear highlights and found this – enjoy

Worship – The Tragedy, the Comedy, and the Fairytale

As I prepare for this week’s sermon on Worship, three things come to mind.

The tragedy of worship is that we all too easily settle for a second-hand relationship with God (see Exodus 20:18-21, MSG).

The comedy of worship is that God works with us and within us to bring us to the point of worship. God is proactive in seeking his own praise (see Matthew 11:27-30, MSG).

The fairytale of worship is that through God’s loving initiation, we are transformed more into the image and likeness of His son Jesus (Romans 12:1-2, MSG).

To throw this out for conversation, what in your mind are the tragedies, comedies, and fairy-tales of worship.

Credit to Frederick Buechner for his idea that the Gospel is in and of itself a tragedy, a comedy, and a fairytale.