Materialistic Christianity and Me

This coming February, I have to teach a class about Christian Financial Principles at the seminary. As a result, I am currently reading some books on financial principles. When I first started thinking about the class, I figured I'd talk about budgeting, saving and tithing (which I will do to some degree) but I have started reading a book by Randy Alcorn called "Money, Possessions and Eternity". From the get go, this book has been hard hitting and has made me really think about my ideas of money and prosperity. I've never highlighted a book up as much as this one. Although I'm only a few chapters in, I highly recommend this book.

I just finished a chapter talking about the lies of the health and wealth teaching which teaches that God wants to bless us financially and make us rich. Although, the teaching is clearly contrary to Scripture, it's still amazing how much my materialistic, western world view shapes my Christianity. At the end of the chapter, the author shares 2 stories, one of an American and another of a Chinese man living in mainland China. The stories really struck me and helped me to see how much of my worldview is shaped by materialism rather than Christ. I hope they stir your heart like they did mine.

Here's the 2 stories and the author's commentary:

In America, a sharp-looking businessman stands up at a luncheon to give his testimony: "Before I knew Christ, I had nothing. My business was in bankruptcy, my health was ruined, I'd lost the respect of the community, and I'd almost lost my family. Then I accepted Christ. He took me out of bankruptcy and now my business has tripled its profits. My blood pressure has dropped to normal and I feel better than I've felt in years. Best of all, my wife and children have come back, and we're a family again. God is good - praise the Lord!"

In China, a disheveled former university professor gives his testimony: "Before i met Christ, I had everything. I made a large salary, lived in a nice house, enjoyed good health, was highly respected for my credentials and profession, and had a good marriage and a beautiful son. Then I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord. As a result, I lost my post at the university, lost my beautiful house and car, and spent five years in prison. Now I work for a subsistence wage at a factory. I live with pain in my neck, which was broken in prison. My wife rejected me because of my conversion. She took my son away and I haven't seen him for 10 years. But God is good, and I praise him for his faithfulness."

Material blessings and restored families are definitely worth being thankful for. The brother in China would be grateful to have them again; indeed he gives heartfelt thanks each day for the little he does have. And while the American brother is certainly right to give thanks, he and the rest of us must be careful to sort out how much of what he has experienced is part of the gospel and how much is not. For any gospel that is more true in America than in China is not the true gospel.

Books - Know any Good Ones?

Living half way across the world, there isn't many Christian bookstores and the one or two we do have have very limited selection. I look online from time to time, but it is hard to know if a book is as good as its cover. Early next year we have a few people from America coming to visit. My hope is that I can buy some books and get them to bring them with them. You have any must reads? I am looking specifically for some books to help with teaching or preaching, or just books that will challenge my thinking. Any genre will do.
Please let me know of any good books you've read, it will help me out a lot.

One of the Best "Christian" Movies

Yesterday, we watched the movie, Second Chance. The movie is about a pastor in a large church who is trying to make a name for himself. However the church board at his church forces him to go and spend some time at a church they supported in the worst part of town. At the beginning he resents having to do this but in the end he begins to realize that he had lost touch with God. Rather than doing ministry, he was building his image. Although the inner city church was small, he saw what true ministry looked like. The movie challenges our thinking about church politics and motivations. I thought the movie was well done. Many Christian movies have good messages but are kind of cheezy. This one isn't like that. The movie stars Christian singer Michael W. Smith.

Although the movie is probably labeled a Christian movie, it does have a little bit of bad language in it.

The Not So Simple Life

I've been reading the book, The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. I am glad that he named the book the normal Christian life and not the simple Christian life because some of the stuff he says takes a few times to digest, but overall if you like deep books, it is a good book. I have really enjoyed some of the quotes because they have really prodded my heart.

We cannot expect a tailor to make us a coat if we do not give him any cloth, nor a builder to build us a house if we let him have no building material; and in just the same way we cannot expect the Lord to live out his life in us is we do not give him our lives in which to live.

Man's thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins, but God's thought is always of the glory man will miss if he sins. The result of sin is that we forfeit God's glory: the result of redemption is that we are qualified again for glory. God's purpose in redemption is glory, glory, glory.

A Great Book

I just finished reading Ravi Zacharias's book, Walking from East to West and I highly recommend it. It was very inspiring and made me think about many different things. The book is Ravi's reflections on his life so far. Growing up in India, he talks about many of his experiences and a number of them remind me a lot of life here in Thailand. Unlike Ravi's other books, this is an easy read.

The Bourne Adrenaline Rush

For those that know me well, you know that I am a pretty easy going guy. I am very even keel. When I watch movies, I never jump in my seat or get so into a movie that my adrenaline starts pumping. However, last night we went to watch the "Bourne Ultimatum" and I really got into it. There were times that I hurt Tawm's hand because I was squeezing so hard. If you like intense movies, they don't get any more intense than this. It is definitely worth paying the 3 bucks to see it in the theater!!

Gotta Go See

 Last night I went to see the movie "Transformers" with my Jace, my brother in law and his friend. Although the theater itself left something to be desired when compared to the theaters in Thailand, the movie itself was awesome. Awesome special effects and great mixture of action and comedy. I had high expectations going into the movie because I watched the transformers cartoon growing up and had a handful of Transformers toys too. Unlike Inspector Gadget, another childhood favorite, the Transformers movie exceeded my expectations. Michael Bay, the director, did an amazing job on this movie. Like my brother in law said, if Michael Bay made a My Little Pony movie, he'd go see it. I think I am in the same boat.

Preaching: How to Preach Biblically

When we were at seminary in Texas, my homiletics teacher, Lawerence Thompson, recommended that I try to read some books on preaching. Up until last week, I hadn't done that, but last week I started reading John MacArthur's book, Preaching: How to Preach Biblically. I have only read a few chapters so far. The first couple chapters were a little dry but the chapter, The Man of God and Expository Preaching was awesome and it really challenged me. If you are preacher in a rut preaching wise, I'd recommend this book.

Here are a few quotes from that chapter.
"It is no great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus."

"A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister does on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more."

"[A man of God] has to proclaim God's message, not what he thinks will sell."

"The man of God is desperate, because of the tremendous weight of responsibility his ministry entails, yet he is relaxed because of his confidence in the sovereignty of God."

Facing Giants

Yeah, I know, I am probably a little behind the times, but wanted to give a hearty recommendation to the movie, "Facing the Giants". It has probably been out for awhile in North America, but it just came out here. If you haven't seen it, I recommend seeing it. It is a little cheesy in places but the message is great and the movie is clean. The movie is a good watch even if you aren't interested in football or if the word football makes you think of the World Cup and Brazil hoisting another trophy.

A Challenging Read

Over the past few years, I have had many people recommend John Piper's book, "Let the Nations Be Glad!" because John Piper addresses the topic of missions. Although the book is several years old, I've never got around to reading it. I was able to purchase this book a couple weeks ago and its been a great read so far and it has really challenged me. Although I don't agree with everything the author writes, the author makes some great points about missions that have really challenged me and I'd recommed this book. Here are some quotes from the book to wet your palette.

Missions is the ultimate goal of [churches]. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.

Persecution can have harmful effects on [churches], but prosperity it seems is even more devestating to the mission God calls us to... we should be wary of prosperity, excessive ease, comfort and affluence.

You cannot show the preciousness of a person by being happy with his gifts. Ingratitude will certainly prove that the giver is not loved, but gratitude for gifts does not prove that the giver is precious. What proves that the giver is precious is the glad-hearted readiness to leave all his gifts to be with him. This is why suffering is so central in the mission of [churches]. The goal of our mission is that people from all the nations worship the true God. But worship means cherishing the preciousness of God above all else, including life itself. It will be difficult to bring the nations to love God from a lifestyle that communicates a love of things.