Treasuring Christ=Treasuring Missions

Do you treasure Christ? 

In his classic work The Godly Man’s Picture, Thomas Watson gives 8 evidences of prizing Christ.  Here is #7:

If we are prizers of Christ, we will be willing to help others to get a part in him.  That which we esteem excellent, we are desirous our friend should have a share in it.  If a man has found a spring of water, he will call others that they may drink and satisfy their thirst.  Do we commend Christ to others?  Do we take them by the hand and lead them to Christ?  This shows how few prize Christ, because they do not make more effort that their relations should have a part in him.  They get land and riches for their posterity, but have no care to leave them the Pearl of Price as their portion.

A few things to consider:

I cannot say that I really prize Christ if I am unwilling to sacrifice comfort so that others may see Jesus.  That communicates that I prize comfort more than I prize Jesus. 

I truly believe that as my little boy grows up you will see what Nikki and I prize by what Isaiah prizes.  Will he set a great price on “objects” or will he make much of Jesus?

This explains why sharing Jesus with people is not “unloving and prideful”, though it can sometimes be.  We share Jesus with unbelievers because we have found a spring of water and we want them to drink.  It is not arrogant of us to give water to thirsty.  It is arrogant for the thirsty to refuse the spring and even worse to deny their thirst.

If I prize Christ then I will not be satisfied with millions of Muslims bowing a knee to Allah and honoring Mohammed above Christ.  Jesus deserves their worship.  I will not be satisfied with the millions that bow a knee to Buddha, Krishna, or any other god.  Jesus deserves their worship.  I cannot be satisfied until Christ is the prize of the nations.  And Christ is not the prize of the nations when 40% of them have never heard his name.  Christ is not the prize of the nations when a larger portion deny Him and instead worship gods of their own making.  Therefore, if I prize Christ I will prize missions.

You can buy Watson’s entire book for only $5.60.

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 12/27

Everyone seems to be wrapping up 2007 on their blogs. Timmy Brister is providing for us the Top 30 stories of 2007. So far he has covered 30-26 and 25-21. The Shepherd's Scrapbook has also released its Top Post of 2007. I would do one of those lists but it would probably only have about 3 posts, because I am so new to blogging. Maybe at the end of '08.

Randy Alcorn has responded to journalist Joel Stein's column on Heaven. Apparently after a Stein quote on heaven graced cups at Starbucks some Christians became angered (mostly at Starbucks not at Stein). They sent him e-mail's, letters, and Alcorn's book. This led to a conversation between Alcorn and Stein. On the 21st Stein briefly wrote on this encounter. You can read Stein's article here, or Alcorn's response here. I must say that I do have a tremendous amount of respect for Randy Alcorn; but I have to disagree with the way he closed this article. "And maybe someday, after the resurrection, when we’re enjoying God and each other on the New Earth, Joel and Shelly and I and Andy Pettitte, and maybe Jesus too, will reflect on this column as, wind blowing through our hair, we ride the back of a brontosaurus...to the glory of God."

I have not read all of Alcorn's book and I certainly am no expert on heaven. But my understanding is that heaven will be an enjoyment of God Himself and not so much his gifts. To me riding the back of a brontosaurus seems to cheapen the worth of Jesus. I know that telling an unbeliever that heaven is an eternal enjoyment of Jesus would seem strange and probably not appealing. And I fear that in order to make the rewards of heaven appealing we have made it about playing baseball, riding roller-coasters, and eating more ice cream flavors than Baskin Robbins. I see two problems with this line of thinking. 1) It communicates that Jesus is not a sufficient enjoyment for heaven--so we need other things. 2) If the unbeliever is "won-over" by the prospect of hitting a home-run off Andy Pettite as heaven, then can we really say that he sufficiently sees Jesus as a treasure?

Perhaps my line of reasoning is faulty; and if I so I welcome correction. I tend to get more excited about heaven not in thinking about riding a brontosaurus but in thinking about Sam Storms depiction of an eternal enjoyment of Jesus.

This has very little to do with blogworld but I have to mention that Sunday nights game between the Colts and Titans is huge if you are a Browns fan. Because they stunk worse than a wet dog rolling in stink bait, they are no longer in control of whether or not they make the playoffs. So if the Brownies are going to make the playoffs (despite a possible 10-6) record they have to have the Titans lose. Looks like their season rests on the shoulders of Jim Sorgi (because Manning will sit at least a half). Why is it never simple for Cleveland fans?