Also, John Piper – via Desiring God – is offering his new book “Bloodlines” for FREE (here).  I don’t know if this is a short-term deal or not, so don’t wait.  Download the e-book now.  ”Bloodlines” is Piper’s very personal (the first section is entirely autobiographical) examination of the gospel and race: unpacking and applying “the power of the gospel” to “the roots of racial strife.”  I haven’t read it yet, but I look forward to diving in.

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Today we remember the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. I am always inspired by Dr. King’s speeches. I’ve posted the end of his famous “I Have A Dream” speech below. Read the entire speech HERE (the audio version is also available via the link).

Reading this speech (his passion for justice and reconciliation) brings one set of questions to my mind: What is my dream? What am I willing to fight for, to be jailed for, or even to give my life for? And then… What am I doing to see this dream out?

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

What is your dream?

…which reminds me, I’m working towards reading through the entire Bible this year.  Anyone care to join me?  It’s not too late to start!  Find a reading plan here (and let me know, I’d love the company).

Rediscovering the gospel enabled me to see that:

• because Jesus was strong for me, I was free to be weak;
• because Jesus won for me, I was free to lose;
• because Jesus was someone, I was free to be no one;
• because Jesus was extraordinary, I was free to be ordinary
• because Jesus succeeded for me, I was free to fail.

This began to define my life anew in bring and liberating ways.

The truth of the gospel is just this simple: Jesus has already accomplished everything that I need to please God.  My identity is found in Jesus.  Therefore, I’m freed from the tyranny of people-pleasing; my acceptance is not tied to my performance; my hope does not rest in my own strength.  Sweet freedom!  Thank you, Jesus!

As you might imagine, Muslims seek God with particular earnestness during Ramadan.  It is our prayer that during this season of prayer and fasting and seeking, many Muslims would see that their prayers have already been answered in Jesus!   In Jesus alone, the throne of God has been made approachable.  In Jesus alone, our hearts (the true source of sin) can be made clean.  In Jesus alone, we can be reconciled to God!

Would you join us in praying for Muslims during the month of Ramadan (which runs from August 1-30 this year)?  Please pray that their eyes would be open to Jesus!  Pray that many Muslims would put their trust in Jesus during this time.  There is a Christian groundswell in many areas of the “Muslim world.”  Pray that God’s grace would transform this groundswell into a movement for Christ – one that would transform millions of lives and the entire region!

To help guide your prayers, check out Arab World Media’s daily prayer feed or download a guidebook from 30-Days Prayer Network.

Let me love and not be respected; Let me serve and not be rewarded;
Let me labor and not be remembered; Let me suffer and not be regarded.

‘Tis the pouring, not the drinking; ‘Tis the breaking, not the keeping.

A life suff’ring to seek others blessing. A life loving and true comfort giving.
Not accepting pity and concern. Not accepting, solace and applause;
Even lonely, even forgotten, Even wordless, even forsaken.
Tears and blood, my price for the righteous crown shall be; Losing all, my cost for a faithful pilgrim’s life.

‘Twas the life, O Lord, that You chose to live. In those days when on earth You walked,
Gladly suff’ring all injuries and loss, so that all might draw near and repose.

I cannot see how much farther I shall go; Still I press on knowing there is no return.
Let me follow Your pattern so perfect and true, Bearing ingratitude without complaint.
In this time of trial, O my Lord, I pray that you’d wipe all my hidden tears away;

Let me learn, O Lord, You are my reward, Let me be others’blessing all my days.

Wow!  This really stirred me up, especially the line at the end: “Let me learn, O Lord, you are my reward.”  Too often I’m interested in the recognition, or at least knowing that I’ve left a lasting legacy… but the true treasure for my service is Christ Himself.  He is my reward.  He is my legacy.  I need that reminder often!  In ministry, we are not kingdom-builders, rather we are mining the depths of Christ Himself.  The deeper I go, the more I experience the power and glory of His grace!

Wow.

Any thoughts?  What difference does this make in how we read and apply the Bible?

First, I believe that many, many Muslims are hungry to know about the hope that we have in Jesus.  Yet unless Christians and Muslims get to know one another on a personal level – life on life – how will a Muslim be able to ask about your hope in Christ?  Sadly, most of us will never get to know a Muslim personally, if we aren’t intentional about developing these relationships.

Second, in order to make our hope comprehensible, we must offer an answer that “speaks the language” of those who ask.  This isn’t about changing the content of our response; it’s about making the content of our response understandable to the one asking.  Your Muslim friend will most likely come from a different culture than your own, with a different way of looking at the world and a different vocabulary for describing and explaining it.  Giving the reason for our hope in Christ means doing so in a way that this Muslim friend (with a different culture, worldview, and vocabulary) can comprehend.  We can call this contextualization.  Tim Keller puts it well: “Contextualization is not about giving people what they want.  It is giving God’s answers (which they probably do not want) to the questions they are asking and in forms they can comprehend.”

In light of the above, I appreciated this video – featuring J.D. Greear.  Very helpful.

HT: Church Planting for the Rest of Us

“In a sermon Dick Lucas once preached, he recounted an imaginary conversation between an early Christian and her neighbor in Rome.

“Ah,” the neighbor says. “I hear you are religious! Great! Religion is a good thing. Where is your temple or holy place?”

“We don’t have a temple,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our temple.”

“No temple? But where do your priests work and do their ritual?”

“We don’t have priests to mediate the presence of God,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our priest.”

“No priests? But where do you offer your sacrifices to acquire the favor of your God?”

“We don’t need a sacrifice,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our sacrifice.”

“We kind of religion is this?” sputters the pagan neighbor.

And the answer is, it’s no kind of religion at all.”
—Tim Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, p. 48.

[HT: Justin Taylor]

There are so many fears… so many unanswered questions.  Will he find other believers to help him grow?  Will she ever put her faith in Jesus?  What will happen to the kids?  Will he be reunited with his family? Will she ever get a chance to go to school?  I love working with refugees, but I hate the unanswered questions.  It can be difficult to trust God with the futures of my refugee friends!

In this light, I appreciated a recent article at The Resurgence, “People Belong to God: Ministering in Transient Populations.” Whether we’re working with students, singles, or refugees, I found the insights below a helpful reminder that, indeed, people belong to God.

In Colossians 2:6–7 Paul states, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” The words of stability in these verses are compelling and profound. Rooted, built up, established in faith, and abounding are terms of deep connection and commitment.

1. The importance of patience. Rushing people to a place in their lives they have never faced never works. Just because you hit a great home run in preaching and teaching a few times doesn’t mean people get it. People are becoming more process-oriented and need a place to work through worldview-transforming information with God’s people.
2. Commitment to community formation. Community formation is more than just throwing people into “small groups” or “missional communities”. It takes the Holy Spirit to knit people to other disciples. Being positionally connected to the body through the gospel does not make a person functionally connected to God’s people. It is the beginning and an empowering mechanism of true and practical knitting. People have to want to be with one another (2 Corinthians 6:11-13).
3. Help people face what they are running from. Stability is scary to many of us, although we know we need it. Slowing down helps us face places in our soul where Jesus’ functional rule has not yet conquered. Running only postpones the inevitable.
4. Dealing with natural and spiritual maturity equally. Although all things in our life should be viewed through a spiritual lens, it is helpful to work through some distinctions. Emotional, volitional, intellectual, geographical, financial, sexual, and relational health is a must to help people grow in Jesus. While not a comprehensive list, these are the greatest obstacles that impede people from stability. Ephesians 4:15 calls us to grow up in all respects—a phenomenal challenge for transient people. When they are challenged in a way that is compelling and gospel-centered, they feel encouraged to face what they are fighting.
5. Recognizing that people ultimately belong to God. Some people will remain for a season. Our goal must be to do as much as we can to love them and engage them in the season when Jesus has allowed them to cross our paths. God ultimately is sovereign over people’s life span and direction. Living by faith calls us to commit ourselves to see God use people’s instability to show us how fragile we are and our need to repent and believe the gospel in uncharted areas of our lives.

Partnering with both local and international churches, Helping Hands (a Greek NGO) and International Teams (an international missions organization) work together to share the love of Jesus with refugees in Greece.  The vision of our ministry is to see the lives of refugees transformed by Jesus: “to plant gospel seeds in the lives of refugees that take root and bear the fruit of life transformation in Jesus Christ.” We seek to share Christ through acts of gospel demonstration (e.g. feeding, clothing, and shelter ministries) and words of gospel proclamation (e.g. preaching, teaching, and discipleship ministries).

God is at work in Athens.  As many refugees in Greece come from nations with little or no Christian witness (e.g. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia and Sudan), through our ministry hundreds of refugees each year hear the gospel and meet practicing Christians for the first time.  New disciples are being baptized.  Lives are being changed! And as these new believers leave Athens (whether they continue further into Europe or return to their homeland) they take the gospel with them – sharing Christ with others and starting fellowship groups throughout Europe and the Middle East. Indeed, God is reaching the nations through Athens!

What an opportunity to join God’s global work!  I love Athens!