Spoons In Your Fridge

“Nikki!  What in the world are you doing?  You can’t do that!”  I gently said to my dear wife. 

She had just committed an unpardonable sin in my home of origin.  She…are you ready for my unveiling of her dastardly crime…she…left a…spoon…in our leftovers…and…oh the humanity!…put said bowl and spoon…in the refrigerator!!!

Apparently, she is hell bent on killing our entire family.  At least that is the way that I was raised to think.  Nikki in tears of laughter—or maybe pain, I never can tell—informed me that this little spoon rule was nothing more than an old wives tale.  I think she also began taunting me by sticking the spoon in the fridge and then her mouth. 

As I began thinking about this I realized that it is a little ludicrous.  But, after some research, I discovered that my mother is not totally insane.  At least not on this point.  Or at least she wouldn’t have been insane about 50 years ago.  It is maybe possible somewhat likely that a copper or aluminum spoon could actually cause some problems with your food if left in leftovers in your fridge and consumed later.  Problem is we no longer use aluminum spoons and the ones that we have in our home could be left in the fridge for weeks and never do any damage. 

So, I lived for a good 25 years of my life with a death fear of spoons placed in a refrigerator.  This was life changing information for me. 

Sin, Familiarity, and Light

What is the point of this story?  As Charles Bridges has said

Indeed it is the fearful property of sin to hide its own character and tendency.  The blindness increases in proportion to our familiarity with it.  (Commentary on Proverbs 14:12, page 177)

I never realized that my fear of spoons and refrigerators was woefully misinformed until I was placed outside my family of origin and entered the world of another.  Because of my familiarity with this spoon rule my blindness was never exposed.  It’s the same way with sin.

As Bridges states sin doesn’t like to show itself for what it is.  Sin likes to hide in the dark and make you think it isn’t there.  Or at least it makes itself not seem so bad as it exposes it’s half truth but masks its deadly poison.  The more familiar we are with these particular sins the less likely we are to see them for what they really are. 

Because of this tendency of sin three things are absolutely necessary for living the Christian life.  The darkness of sin is only exposed by:

1. The light of the Word
2. The light of the Spirit
3. The light of the redeemed community

We need the church, the Scriptures, and the work of the Spirit to overcome the blindness to our sin.  May we be like David who said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” 

And then may we be bold enough to place ourselves under the light of the Word, the Spirit and the redeemed community. 

Hotdogs and Craving

Have you ever had Nathan’s Famous hotdogs? 

Though watching those hotdog eating contests on ESPN makes me not able to eat a hotdog for a few months afterwards, I cannot get enough of these Nathan’s hotdogs.  They are a little more expensive than your generic 99 cent hotdogs at the grocery store.  But the $2 more is worth every scrumptious bite. 

Now that I’ve tasted the delicousness that is a Nathan’s hotdog I find it a little difficult to eat those poor excuses for hotdogs that Wal-Mart tries to trick me into buying based on their cheap price.  Once you’ve tasted a Nathan’s you won’t want to grill out with another brand. 

I doubt he had Nathan’s hotdogs in mind when he wrote these words but 2,000 years later they fit:

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  (1 Peter 2:2-3)

When you have tasted the Lord’s goodness—through His Word and his mercies then you develop a hunger for more of him. 

As I am writing this little article about Nathan’s hotdogs my mouth is starting to water and I am thinking about calling my wife and letting her know I plan to grill some hotdogs tonight for supper.  Just thinking about their goodness creates a hunger and a longing to sink my teeth into one. 

The same thing is true of the Lord and His Word.  He makes all other things seem like eating a cheap hot dog.  Nothing but a fresh encounter with the living God will satiate when you have tasted the Lord’s goodness.  There is no one and no thing like Him. 

Tasting leads to the craving. 

7 Ways to Create a Reading Culture In Your Church

Some chap somewhere has said that in 5 years you’ll be the same person you are today except for the books you read and the people that you meet.  Though, I think a tad simplistic I do believe that in 5 years you will be shaped by what you have read (or did not read). 

Call me a nerd all you want, but I am a firm believer that it is very beneficial for a pastor to cultivate a reading culture within the community that he influences.    Consider these words from Mark Dever:

Without knowing it I have actually put many of these things into practice in the church where I currently serve as an associate pastor.  With a much help from Mark Dever here are the Top 7 ways to create a reading culture in your church.

1. Read yourself.  How are you going to know what to recommend if you don’t read a bunch yourself?

2. Giveaway books any chance you can.  Every Sunday evening I give away free books.  We give away free books at marriage conferences.  I usually give away or suggest books in counseling sessions.  We give away free books at many other seminars.*

3. Take advantage of small groups.  If you do small groups at your church take advantage of them by suggesting high quality books to go together as a group. 

4. Write book reviews for your church.  I hope to begin utilizing my book reviews for the benefit of our church even more.  If I can figure out how to cut cost I want to put them in bulletins, perhaps as a book of the month.  As of now some from our church members read my book reviews here at Borrowed Light.

5. Quote from great books.  When you are preaching, teaching, counseling, or just talking feel free to do some name dropping and quoting.  This will help people when they are at a book store to know quality authors.  (Be sure to stress JOHN Piper instead of DON Piper though). 

6. Read with people.  Just like Dever’s Theology Breakfast, find a way to go through various books (even if you just read them) to a group of people.  

7. Never neglect the supremacy of THE Word.  Part of what you are doing is creating a culture that will take the Word of God more seriously and be better equipped to really dig into and reflect upon the Word.  If you make books central then you’ve missed something.  This also helps to filter what books you giveaway.  If they aren’t biblical but simply free then you might be creating a reading culture but not necessarily a good one. 

--

*We have $0 to budget for a book allowance and for me giving away these books.  Nor do I have the income to buy a free book every week.  So, how do we do it?  I have two channels.  First, I receive a good number of free books from publishers to review.  I also receive free books from conferences and such that I attend.  Many times I give these away.  Second, a little over a year ago I made a phone call to a publishing company.  I won’t mention the name because I doubt they could do this for every church.  (But it rhymes with Drossway).  This unnamed publishing company graciously sent close to 100 free books for us to distribute on Sunday evenings.  Amazing!

The Godly Man's Picture Chapter 4 (Part 7)

The Canvas:

Today we consider the ninth characteristic of a godly man: a godly man is a lover of the Word. A godly man loves the Word written, and he loves it because of the efficacy that it has had upon him. He loves all of the Word, not merely a part. He loves the counseling parts, the threatening parts, and the consolatory parts. All of it. But how, you ask, does one know whether he loves the word or not? Watson gives eight ways a godly man shows his love to the Word:

1. By diligently reading it
2. By frequently meditating on it
3. By delighting in it
4. By hiding it
5. By defending it
6. By preferring it above things most precious
7. By talking about it
8. By conforming to it

The godly man does these things because of the excellence of the Word. He understands that it is the pillar of fire to guide us and a spiritual mirror to display our hearts, he embraces the word as a sovereign comfort in distress. He loves it because of its efficacy upon his heart. He not only loves the Word written, but also the Word preached.

Let us then, test whether or not we are godly by this characteristic: are we lovers of the Word? Do we love the Word written? Do we love the Word preached? We will know that we love the Word written and preached when we desire to sit under its heart-searching ministry, when we pray it may meet with our sins, and when we are thankful for this reproof. Do we love the Word?

Discussion:

Do you agree with Watson that many "hide the Word in their memory, but not in their heart"?

Keeping in mind that Watson is not saying this is the purpose of preaching...do you agree with his assessment that "the Word is preached to beat down sin and advance holiness"?

Since Watson says that a "godly man does not choose to sit under a ministry that will not work upon his conscience", do you think he is saying he ought to leave? What if the problem is with the person and not the preacher? Or does Watson have a belief in the efficacy of the Word that perhaps we do not in our day? Is Watson saying, if your conscience is not pierced then the Word is not preached?

Strokes of Genius:

"Those who will not be taught by the Word shall be judged by the Word". (p61)

"How can those who are seldom conversant with the Scriptures say they love them?" (p65)

"The two testaments are hung up like rusty armor which is seldom or never made use of." (p65)

On to Part 8...