Who Said It?

Unfortunately, major branches of psychology and psychiatry during this century [20th century] have helped promote the notion that we are all in some sense victims—victims of insensitive parents, victims of poverty, victims of abuse, victims of implacable genes. Our state of mind, therefore, is someone else’s responsibility. This kind of psychology is very appealing to many academics. It gives them endless opportunities to pretend they know what makes an individual miserable and unsuccessful. It appeals as well a lot of unhappy people. It gives them an excuse for their misery. It permits them to evade the responsibility for their own lives.

Sound familiar?

Of course it does, but probably not from the kind of source you are thinking of.

These are actually the words of Dr. Bob Rotella, a noted sports psychologist who has worked with some of the world’s greatest golfers. These words are in his book  Golf is Not a Game of Perfect (pp. 31-32).

He goes on to say,

People by and large become what they think about themselves … Winners and losers, [Coach John] Wooden said, are self-determined. But only the winners are willing to admit it.

I don’t say this to endorse Rotella’s psychology (or his theology), although this is a great golf book. 

I say it to point out that the idea that people are not controlled by external circumstances whether present or past is not strange. Nor it is the exclusive view of “legalistic fundamentalists” and biblical counselors.

Personal responsibility for one’s emotional state is a very old and abiblical (that is, outside the Bible) view. It didn’t come from people who want to beat you down and berate you. It is held people with no apparent biblical framework who believe that life is about more than what happened to you.

And these people believe that you control how you think about life and circumstances.

In a victim culture, hope is removed because the past is the past. And out of every thing that we can change, the past is not one of them.

So if you believe that you are who you are because of what happened in the past to you, then you can never find hope. You are doomed to a life of hopelessness.

The good news is that hope isn’t found simply by thinking better about yourself. The good news is that true hope is found in understanding how Jesus dealt with the past, and how he will deal with the past in the future.

The gospel teaches me that through faith alone, Jesus deals with my sinful past and promises to deal with the sinful past of others in his time. I need not be a slave to people who hurt me. I need not let them control my life. I can let God settle his debts.

That doesn’t mean I do nothing. Where crime and illegal acts have taken place, I can pursue them through legitimate civil means. Where hurt continues to be foisted on me, I can remove myself from that situation.

But ultimately, Jesus will settle all debts in reconciling all things to himself.

And because of that, I don’t have to live under the weight of my past—whether my own actions or the actions of others. I can live in the grace of Jesus.

That won’t fix my golf swing. But it will change my life.

Around the Horn

Thom Rainer leads us off with a  two-fer: ten signs of an inwardly focused church and seven common traits of breakout churches. These are thought-provoking articles. Spend some time here and see how you measure up.

At second, a church made the curious move of advertising Easter services with a dead rabbit. Note to self: When something associated with CT calls you stupid, you probably are not even close to the line. It makes me wonder what some people are thinking. Listen, I know there are a lot of different ways to reach people. I know there is a lot of debate about some of them. But a dead rabbit? It reminds me that if you are going to offend people, do it with Jesus and the cross, not with stupidity.

Round third, and speaking of Christianity Today, here is a thought-provoking article on urban ministry and school choice. Education is a very controversial issue. We all want the best for our kids. But what sort of mindset should control that? This article tells how a few couples answered this question.

Lastly, for all your Detroit pastors, let me encourage you to consider this Greek refresher class. It’s free, easy, and low commitment—everything you wish Greek would have been the first time you took it. I still find the original languages very useful. I regularly read Hebrew (my Hebrew is better than my Greek). I usually translate at least some of the passage that I am preaching each week. I am not great at it, but it keeps me in it, and with the tools available, you don’t have to know as much as you used to.

This and That

For this, here’s a recording (audio and video) of a roundtable sort of discussion about the millennium hosted by John Piper. Participating are Jim Hamilton (premill), Sam Storms (amill), and Doug Wilson (postmill). It is a sort of “X Views” book in audio complete with interruptions, energy, a few instances of a little frustration, and some humor thrown in for good measure.

 

Now about that, a while back I saw some disparaging comments about the “4 views” types of books with the attitude, “I don’t want four views; just tell me what God says.”

 

It sounds pious but the reality is that there is, at times, some lack of clarity about what God says. Four views types of books help to flesh out various arguments in favor of views. And that’s a helpful thing.

 

It’s not that God says two or three conflicting things. It is that the Bible is not entirely clear about some things, though it is explicitly clear about other things.

 

This panel discussion demonstrates that idea that there are some things about which there is legitimate dispute. And as such, it is helpful to have a good discussion about it.

 

For my dollar, Jim Hamilton owns this discussion.

Around the Horn

I am leading off with a book today, an old one, by Horatius Bonar entitled Words to Winners of Souls. Don’t let the title mislead you. This book was written well before “soul winning” became a sales term. It is actually a book about pastoral theology. I highly recommend it. You can get a PDF here or an audio version here. In this book, Bonar builds on this theme:

The lukewarm ministry of one who is theoretically orthodox is often more extensively and fatally ruinous to souls than that of one grossly inconsistent or flagrantly heretical.

One day I will blog more about it, for my own sake mostly. I urge you strongly to avail yourself of this book and be challenged by it.

Second, on a bit of a related note, Tim Keller gives five things that “keep his ministry strong.” They are worth considering as pastors who should be taking stock of our own souls.

Third, my friend Marty comments on the problems created by premarital cohabitation.

And finally, related to that, is this article at CT about churches and recommending birth control to singles. At the recent Q Conference, 70% of leaders there said they would recommend BC to singles to prevent abortions.

The seed article for the Out of Ur article says,

In encouraging our single people who are sexually active to pursue contraception, we offer them a technological remedy to what is functionally a discipleship and community shortcoming. At its heart, this is little more than a tacit rejection of the power of the gospel to transform lives and bring people to a repentance that is genuine and genuinely holistic. Rather than building them up to maturity in Christ, the decision to pursue contraception so as to continue to be sexually active only reinforces their infantile faith.

I recently read Lauren Winner’s book Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity and found it to be very good. She deals much with the idea that sexuality is, at least to some degree, a community issue.

What in the world is going on in churches when we give up the biblical commands out of pragmatism?

As I have said before, the problem with pragmatism is that it usually works.

Around the Horn

Here’s an interesting interview with a father and son representing two fairly distinct approaches to gospel, church, and ministry issues. As you read it, ask which side resonates with you, and ask what the blind spots are that you are missing. The younger participant wisely remarks that the younger generation is probably missing their blind spots. And that should give some pause before dogmatism.

My friend Mark Snoeberger has some good thoughts here on the Detroit Baptist Seminary blog (which you should be reading regularly) about the leadership of God and our decisions. It is something Dan Philips (I think) once called the GTM card—God Told Me. It is hard to argue with God, so when someone says, “God told me” or “God led me,” it automatically puts them in the driver’s seat. While this occasionally (though not often enough) gets a little critique from the area of cessationism, it even less often gets critique from the third commandment regarding not using God’s name in vain. I think the GTM card is a violation of the third commandment, at least potentially, because you are using God’s name in vain by using it for something God wouldn’t use it for. Mark apparently felt led (or maybe it was just an act of wisdom) to follow up here, so read that too.

Closing out with a two-fer, here are two articles on urban ministry in two different kinds of places. The first is about a brief trip to McKeesport, PA and “The Land that Time Forgot.” It highlights urban areas of blight and devolution. The second is about church planting in NYC. Both are areas of need, and both require a heart of sacrifice.

My friends at Inter-City Baptist Church are hosting a few college students this weekend for an urban ministry emphasis on the topic of church planting in Detroit. Detroit is perhaps the most well-known of the cities facing huge problems, perhaps virtually insurmountable problems. But I am grateful for those who are living in the city and taking some risks for the sake of the gospel.

There are a number of people I know who have moved in and daily face danger both to property and their family for the sake of the gospel. It may not be for everyone, but I have long desired to see a gospel church planting effort in the city.

Some years ago I dreamed of a “Ten in Ten,” that is ten church plants in ten years in various strategic areas around Detroit. Maybe God will raise up some young people with the heart and energy, who are willing to take solid theology and boundless compassion to areas hit hard by urban blight.

Here’s one of my core beliefs though: You can’t plant a church from the outside. So if your goal is a nice home in a safe neighborhood with a white picket fence, then live there and pray for people in the city.Maybe send some money to these under-resourced ministries. But realize that if you are a “drive-in” pastor or church attender, you will always be viewed as an outsider who is too good for the neighborhood. You will always be viewed with skepticism. Your ministry will be limited.

So if you are going to plant a church or work in a church in the city, then do what my friends Mike and Clete, or Jay, or Jon or others have done and move into the city, and live, shop, exercise, eat, associate, and hangout in the neighborhood you want to reach with the gospel. And then preach the gospel to them, both in and out of church.