Archive for category christianity

Fighting for the Flock | TheResurgence

Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity on June 16, 2009

I loved this quote from JD Greear, and pray that I continue to have the courage to fight for Jesus’ most prized investment…

A Good Shepherd Fights

A good shepherd takes on the wolves that threaten his flock. He fights. It’s never in self-defense, of course, but quite often, what is being threatened is not the reputation of the pastor but the health of the church—someone is trying to harm the flock that Jesus purchased with his blood! The church is Jesus’ most expensive investment, so how can we not fight to protect it?

via Revitalizing a Church, Part 4 | TheResurgence.

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Passivity | Between Two Worlds

Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, college ministry on May 27, 2009

The following is a quip from Kevin DeYoung’s Just Do Something (via Between Two Worlds).

Passivity is a plague among Christians. It’s not just that we don’t do anything; it’s that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God’s leading. At times it may be; but it’s also quite possible we are just lazy. When we hyper-spiritualize our decisions, we can veer off into impulsive and foolish decisions. But more likely as Christians we fall into endless patterns of vacillation, indecision, and regret. No doubt, selfish ambition is a danger for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps our inactivity is not so much waiting on God as it is an expression of the fear of man, the love of the praise of man, and disbelief in God’s providence.

This is a good, strong word for many college students I interact with. I hear quite often language like “I’ll pray about it” or “I’m not sure I’m called to that” when talking about simple steps of Christian obedience. Often times the issues shouldn’t be taken lightly (stepping into leadership, going on a short term mission trip, etc.), but I’ve seen such a tendency to over-spiritualize these kind of decisions in order to avoid taking a hard step.

Let’s think comparatively for a second: do you need to pray for weeks on end about spring break vacation in florida? Do you pray for weeks on end about joining leadership in your other school activities?

I’m just sayin’…

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Biblical/Theological Preaching

Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, theology on May 26, 2009

Halim Suh’s sermon from Sunday at The Austin Stone is an excellent example of applying biblical theology to understanding a difficult text of scripture.

Halim did a fantastic job of grappling with 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 by articulating an overall biblical teaching of manhood and womanhood and through Genesis 1-3, and applied the overall perspective toward understanding Paul’s view of women in this text.

The first argument Halim made was to establish the absolute equality of men and women, as created in the image of God. Using the Trinity, Halim made the parallel that as Jesus is equal to the father, so are women to men. However, he then articulate the distinctness of the sexes, and as all members of the Trinity have a role, so too do men and women. In humility women submit out of their equality to fulfill their designed role and display the glory of Jesus.

Halim then applied these ideas in order to understand this passage. His basic argument was we must understand the “when and where” of what Paul is teaching here, not simply take it as a blanket ordinance for the practice of church. Based on Halim’s study, the text is about elders weighing a prophet, and women are to remain silent in this process of weighing a prophet because they are excluded from the office of eldership based on 1 Timothy and teachings elsewhere in scripture.

I’d highly recommend listening to it if you would like a good lesson in good exegesis with a view toward the overall teaching of the Bible.

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Ministry Idolatry from Tim Keller

Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, leadership on May 19, 2009

The following is from 3 questions with Tim Keller at Towers Online.

Q: What safeguards should 20-something pastors have in place to avoid the idolatry of ministry fame and the attitude of big numbers equals success?

TK: If you know it is a danger, that is a very important start. Additionally, when you find yourself unusually discouraged because things aren’t growing or people aren’t listening to you — you have to catch yourself. You have to realize “This is an inordinate amount of discouragement, which reveals the idolatry of justification by ministry.” Meaning, you say you believe in justification by grace, but you feel like and are acting like you believe in justification by ministry. You have to recognize you are making something of an idol out of ministry. When you do experience inordinate discouragement because things aren’t going well, you need to say, “It’s okay to be discouraged but not to be this discouraged. This is discouragement that leads to idolatry,” and you repent.

Additionally, idols create a fantasy world. You may think that you are just thinking about ministry strategy, but it could be you’re fantasizing about success. So be careful about doing too much daydreaming about success, what you would like to see happen. Because it’s really a kind of pornography. You’re actually thinking about a beautiful church and people acclaiming you: be careful about fantasizing too much about ministry success and dreaming about it and thinking about what it’s going to look like.

I think the equation with fantasizing about the future is a good correction and reminder that I need. It’s hard to maintain a healthy dose of vision for your future, while remaining a minister in the present.

For you who are reading, how do you maintain a vision for the future without living in an alternate, fantasized reality?