There is so much truth to what Piper is commending here.  While many behind the pulpit have taken the secular approach and waste their pulpit the call is to return to God’s Word!

“I think the reason why pastors don’t do that is because they themselves do not live off the Bible everyday.” (Piper)

Beautiful…

“Knowing Jesus Christ is worth more than knowing ANYTHING!”  May we proclaim the glory of God through the face of Christ Jesus through the power of God’s Word as directed by the Holy Spirit!  Amen!

A story has been floating around the internet the last week or so about Azariah Southworth, the producer and host of a Christian music program called The Remix, who has announced that he is gay. While I don’t wish to discuss Mr. Southworth’s announcement, one of his comments gave me pause -

I know I will be cut off from many within the Christian community, and if so, then they didn’t get the point of the life of Christ. I believe by me living my life honestly and authentically now, I am able to be a better person and a better Christian.

So what is the point of the life of Christ? I would be curious to hear Mr. Southworth’s take on that statement though I am nearly sure it would make my head explode … and not in a good way. I think there is likely a great deal of confusion in the church in the 21st century as to what purpose Jesus had in coming, dying, and being raised from the dead, because rather than holding to the truth of the bible, we have allowed our message to become one that is man-centered rather than God-centered.

In today’s church, it is often about what God can do for me, what Jesus did for me, how the Holy Spirit can empower me and not about God. We are suddenly the center of the story and not God. It is about my sin, not God’s holiness. It is about keeping me out of Hell, not God’s wrath and His justice. It is about my need, not God’s love. So suddenly, we are teaching a self-centered gospel that is about us and we find that we are worshiping the idol of our own importance instead of glorying in the goodness, the righteousness, the holiness, the love of God our Father who sent His son, not so that we would make much of ourselves, but instead make much of God.

The April issue of Christianity Today has a cover story on the decline of the Christian bookstore.  There are a number of articles describing the struggle of such businesses as large chain stores and Amazon.com sell many of the same titles at cheaper prices, how they are often seen by the younger generations as being staid and stuffy, and other issues.  This is causing such businesses to close there doors as a huge rate and the articles suggest some ways that some of them have chosen to expand their appeal to the masses.  It makes for interesting reading, but in some ways for what it doesn’t say, rather than what it does.

In my mind, one of the first things that has to be questioned is the core mission/purpose of a Christian bookstore - is it to make money or to glorify God?  I know that those two things aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but sometimes to do one, the other would have to be sacrificed.  Case in point, at least one national chain of Christian bookstores has decided to do business on Sunday. Their choice was obvious: stay closed in obedience of the principle of the Sabbath as given to us in the Word and lose sales to your secular competitors or open your doors for business and lose the witness to the community that God’s Word is more important than money.  It makes you realize the struggles that Christians have in the world of business and why Christ told us that we can not love God and money.

The second question that comes to mind is what role does a Christian bookstore have in policing the titles that appear in their stores?  By labeling themselves as “Christian,” I think there becomes an expectation by the person entering the store that what is in that store is God-honoring and can be trusted.  Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth!  Rather like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, many of the most popular titles are filled with error, but because they were carried at a Christian bookstore,  people have read them and adopted their teaching into their lives not even realizing that often times they were embracing a false gospel. While the store should be held accountable for what they carry, so should the believer be held accountable for testing what they read against the Word to insure that it lines up with the truth.

Ultimately, the decline of Christian bookstores as they exist now might not be a bad thing.  When a Christian enters a secular bookstore looking for reading material, his or her radar is up and they realize that they are likely to be exposed to all types of writing from all viewpoints and are likely to be more discerning.  Unfortunately, they may feel more relaxed and more confident that what they are browsing may be God-honoring when in a bookstore labeled Christian and this is often an error.  So perhaps in some ways, the demise of something with a “Christian” label may in fact be a blessing.

I travel overseas and tend to stay in the central business district of the particular city that I am working in. At least once per trip, I will be stopped on the street by some passer-by and asked “Do you know how to get to Circular Quay?” Or “Is this the way to David Jones (a department store)?” I have pretty much decided there are one of two reasons why this happens:

• I am the physically least threatening person on the street and therefore they suspect that it is pretty safe to inquire of me where to go, or
• I look like the kind of person that knows where I am going, even in a foreign city

It is really very easy to direct folks when they have come to the understanding that they are lost and need direction or guidance, but what about people who are clearly going the wrong way and haven’t yet realized it? Would it be as easy to stop them and turn them the right way?

I have on a couple of occasions felt moved to directly correct a fellow believer in Christ seeing that their actions don’t line up with what they say they believe, i.e. they are going the wrong way. On those occasions, I have been nervous about the situation because I am not a big person for confrontation and, yet believed that it was for the benefit of the person that I speak up. It is one of the things that we within the body are called to do for one another.

In these occasions I have used 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as a guide. In this passage, God tells us through Paul that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (ESV)

A couple of important points:

• The emphasis is on God’s Word and not my opinion. Taking the person to the Word and showing their error eliminates me from the conversation and makes the matter one of spiritual obedience. Mind you, it also requires me to be sure of what the whole council of Scripture says on the matter, before I approach them. This will also often bring a more funda
• The phrase “man of God” makes this something that can only happen between believers. I can’t tell you the number of times I have gotten frustrated by the actions of a person and wanted to go and confront them and then realized that because they were not a believer that the over-arching issue was one of salvation and their sin nature.

The other issue that I have found is key in such instances is that you have a relationship with that person first, so that your words come out as caring concern for the person. A few years back, I had a situation where I needed to approach a friend of mine about such an issue and our friendship has gotten stronger because I was willing to stop, express concern and call him to the biblical standard that I knew he knew but was not keeping.