Publish or Perish?

In the last few months I haven't posted anything on my blogs simply because I've been preoccupied with my new job at Ligonier.  It's been great to be busy and I've done a lot of new things in my new position.  Learning how to be an Advancement Officer has entailed learning the whole new computer system at Ligonier, and how to make contacts with Ligonier donors, then traveling to many places to meet donors and build relationships with them.  All in all it's been a whole new occupation with a new vocation.

But now I've decided to republish a blog from years ago entitled "The Truth Appeal."  This was first published in 2006 as "The Truth Of God" but I was going to use it for an M.A. thesis paper, so I took it down.  Now, after deciding not to do a seminary Master's degree, and after many attempts to convert this blog into a research paper/publishable book, I concede that I don't have it in me to do it.  It's too big.

So, I'm republishing it in a synopsis form, to at least describe an attempt to communicate my primary interest in Truth.  It is a huge topic and one that I cannot do justice to adequately.  But, truth be told, Truth exists because God exists, and we must put truth at the top of all our hermeneutics for the Word of God.  It also is the Word of Truth, and we must interpret it as the Author intended it.  We must not put man first or culture first in our priorities or in our hermeneutics.

I hope to republish The Truth Appeal on a separate blog if I can remember how to start a new blog.  Technology is a wonderful thing, when it works...

The Heart Of An Executive

I last posted about a great book on Christian manhood entitled, The Masculine Mandate, by Richard D. Phillips, a Presbyterian pastor from Greenville, SC.  When I recommended this book to a friend, he recognized the author and said he's also written a great book on leadership.  That book is entitled, "The Heart Of An Executive," and I too would say it is excellent.  Pastor Phillips speaks with wisdom and experience, for before he entered seminary he served in the U.S. Army as a tank commander, and has held numerous leadership roles.

In this book, Phillips reviews King David's life through several phases in the OT.  We see David from the days he was a shepherd boy, to his amazing defeat of Goliath, then through his turmoils and conflicts with King Saul, to his own ascension to the throne of Israel, his making of the capital city of Jerusalem, (the city of David); then to his pride and moral failure in adultery and murder, and also through internal family corruption, failure, and civil war.  Through God's grace, he was restored to the throne of Israel, and then successfully passed his throne to Solomon before he died.

Even though I've read these stories before I've never looked at them through the lens of Godly leadership.  Pastor Phillips brings keen insights from the world of executive leadership to describe the "principles and purposes" that David lived by.  In contrast to King Saul who lived primarily by the priorities of his own self-centered interests and advancement, David recognized the importance of living for God and his glory.  Perhaps from his youth tending sheep when he gazed into the heavens at night to see the stars, he realized the big picture of who God is.  His instincts of shepherding people were always guided by his realization that the God of heaven and earth should be honored always.  David was indeed "a man after God's own heart."

In the review of David's many achievements, Phillips remarks,

"Can any of us rise higher than David did in his act of mercy and faithfulness at the cave of Adullam?  Surely that was his greatest moment, the highest point his heart ever reached, higher even than the quick triumph of faith that slew Goliath.  For the heart of an executive shines brightest not when it reveals its own identity, but when others find theirs in it," p. 262.

Other people realized that David was dedicated to a higher calling, a higher set of values, and even to a higher vision of God.  This in turn led others to also be dedicated to this same vision and to live for the God of creation and glory, and not for our own glory or accomplishments.

David's life and leadership are most compelling and worthy of our admiration and following.  From him we find the hallmark of Christian leadership, to inspire people with a great vision of God and to serve Christ with whatever gifts they have, so as to build His kingdom.

The Masculine Mandate

I've started a young men's study on the book, The Masculine Mandate, by Richard Phillips.  This book got my attention over a year ago because it addressed biblical leadership for men today.  There are not that many books on leadership that promote the creation design of Genesis 1 and 2.  But the crisis in leadership in our culture shows how important this study is for the family and church.

As you can imagine it's a great challenge to try to bridge the gap between a sixty-something year old man, and the predominately twenty-something group of young men.  My strategy has been to enlist the support of a thirty-something young man, husband and father, to connect our ages. Basically I am a "baby boomer" trying to relate to the "millennials".  But the man in the middle is helping me a lot.

The following outline is my six week plan to establish a foundation for this book.  The book is much better as it discusses the issues in greater detail.  But, these young men are not big readers and that's part of the challenge.  They have grown up on TV and the Internet, Facebook, Snapchat and texting.  So, a condensed summary outline is what I've given them to try to establish a big picture of the book, and what biblical manhood looks like.  This is what it looks like.

The Masculine Mandate

Part One describes the "mandate" that God gives to men.  Part Two describes living it out in life.  We will discover six major topics that we can learn from and discuss.  

Week One - our PURPOSE.  Ch.1, (p.6), references Gen.1:26-27, and describes how God created Adam, and we are created in the "image of God".  We bear God's image, as we are spiritual people representing God.  Manhood is seen in the "who, where, what, and how," of God's creation design.  "Who" we are is God's "image bearers" and created to be with God.  Our primary purpose in life then is to know, live for, and to serve God.

Week Two - our VOCATION.  Ch.1, (p.9), reference Gen.1:28, and "the calling" from God to, "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion."  This has been referred to as the "creation mandate", God's calling to humanity in general.  "What" is our calling - we are called to be God's "co-laborers" and this is before the "fall".  But our calling as men in leadership is found in Gen.2:15, to "work and keep" in the "masculine mandate".  What is your particular skill and job?

Week Three - our FINANCES.  Ch.1, (p.10), also references Gen.2:15, and the "How" of our calling, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."  To "work" so as "to labor and make things grow", and to "keep", so as to protect and sustain progress already achieved".  In today's world we do this primarily with financial management.  All resources belong to God, and we are just his stewards of it all.

Week Four - our RELATIONSHIPS.  Ch.6, (p.77), references Gen.2:18, and our relationships with the opposite sex.  We are created with a purpose, Gen.1:28, and with a calling, Gen.2:15, and we are also created for a wife.  The "creation design" was incomplete initially, Gen.2:18, "It is not good that man should be alone"; and "not good" means not complete.  God created us "male and female" so to become one flesh, Gen.2:24.  Friendship is foundational, partnership is the plan, and love is the goal.  

Week Five - our FAMILY.  Ch.9, (p.126), references Gen.2:15 and our calling "to work and to keep" the creation of God.  This also applies to being a father.  We are called to nurture and to protect our children.  This equates to discipling (work) and disciplining (keep) our children.  Teaching and correcting, training and educating, for the heart and the head.  Proverbs 4:23 speaks of wisdom, "keep your heart with all vigilance..."  God calls us to him as "our Father".

Week Six - Our FRIENDSHIPS and FAITH.  Ch.11, (p.165), references 1Sam.18:1, and describes, "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."  Such a Godly friendship is a great asset in life.  And in John 15:1 we see, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."  Faith is "a gift" and not an achievement, Eph.2:8-9.  It is completely by grace but we must walk in faith, and then it will transform all of our life.

These topics are a lot easier to discuss than accomplish.  But we need a blueprint to live by and God's Word gives us that design.  The Masculine Mandate calls us to live for these truths.

John 1:14

Within the many facets of ministry, it is difficult to come up with one philosophy of leadership.  But for a clear vision for Christian leadership, I've decided upon John 1:14.  It reads, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  Here we see that Jesus is the incarnation of God in the world, he lived and dwelt among the disciples in real life, and in turn, they saw his glory as he ministered in teaching and miracles.  And all this because he proceeded from God as his only begotten Son.  Jesus was the God-man.  Even more, Jesus was filled with grace and truth.

So I believe this "grace and truth" of Christ is the best paradigm to best understand how to conduct Christian ministry.  We need both the grace and truth of Christ, not one or the other.  For it is by grace that we receive truth and it is by truth that we can understand grace.  God graciously grants the truth of the gospel to us, and he then gives us his truth to understand the true meaning of the gospel.  The two are inseparably connected all through the Scripture.  The challenge is to always keep these two in balance and in priority.  In a complicated and broken world that can be difficult at times.

The priority of truth must guide us in our grace.  And we must always be gracious as we teach and disciple the family of faith for we constantly need the grace of Christ to become Christ-like.  But John 1:14 makes it clear that we also need the truth of Christ and we must never compromise the truth in an attempt to be gracious.  We must always be true to the whole counsel of Scripture that God has given to us for the very purpose of knowing him.  We must also always be gracious to our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord as we all are recipients of grace.  But the priority of truth must guide us in our grace.  Amen, it is true.

What's Your Priority?

The "Veritas Fellowship" is all about "proclaiming the true truth of Christ."  This is an extremely important ministry in our postmodern world.  So much of our culture is wrapped up in the personal perspectives of each individual or group of people.  But we are called to know God and to live for him.

The priority therefore must always be upon the Lord who has created us and redeemed us.  The great commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself."  We are called to love God with all our being, and then to be filled with the Holy Spirit so as to serve others.  This is a theocentric priority and focus.  But the tendency is to reverse this and become man-centered.

The true-truth of Christ is that we are called to him first and foremost in all our lives.  This is what we all need, even those who are in different stations in life.  When we are God-centered, we are lifted up and we trust Christ in his teachings, and we take on new faith and character.  We reject the philosophies of the world and accept the truth of Scripture.  Our priority must be God and his Word, to discover and live out the system that redeems and restores us to him.

It was discouraging today to see a high-profile civil rights leader come to Memphis and give the same politically orientated and racially charged message that we've heard for the last fifty years.  It would be so much better to hear the truth of Scripture that describes that Christ alone can transform us and give us an upward calling.

The inner city poverty comes from a poverty of spirit and hope.  People live out what they believe.  But the message of Christ is the gospel, where we trust in Christ, then repent, and follow his teachings.  Our faith in Christ makes us new people who are eager to become like Christ and to leave the brokenness and ghettos of socialism behind.  It takes the truth of Scripture and faith in Christ to learn a new priority to live by.