"His commandments are not burdensome"

When I was a boy, I was big into baseball. I couldn’t get enough of it, really. But around age 11, I injured my right arm pretty severely. And the surgeon told me that, if I wanted to keep playing ball, I was going to have to learn how to throw left-handed! What? Have you ever tried to throw a ball with your off hand? Try it out in your back yard some time. It’s really awkward, and somewhat embarrassing … and it seems pretty near impossible! But my parents knew that I loved baseball, and probably that there were some positive benefits to me playing it … and so, onto my list of household chores, my mother added a check-box that required me to regularly practice throwing a ball left-handed. Required me, I repeat! A few months before, I would have been thrilled to have seen the word ‘baseball’ on my list of chores. But now, it didn’t quite have the same ring to it. Throwing the ball was not so easy any more … and it was often frustrating! But mom enforced the rule anyway – knowing that, if I’d obey her, my long term joy would be increased exponentially. And it was! Those early days of requiring me to throw left-handed set me on a road back to ball-throwing proficiency that eventually allowed me to play on our high school team (under a Christian coach who greatly influenced my spiritual well-being), and which is still enabling me to enjoy Monday night softball to this day! And I may have never have had those joys if my mother had not laid down for me a commandment: ‘You shall throw a ball for 15 minutes today!’

And I want to say to you that – on an even more important, and profound, and lasting (and joyful!) level – this is how God’s commandments work, too! “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5.3)! Yes, they are sometimes difficult, especially if you suddenly find yourself trying to obey a command you’ve rarely, if ever, obeyed before. It’s like throwing a ball with your off hand. And we all were born with two off hands, spiritually! But if we’ll simply begin to obey, God will strengthen our hands to the task. And if we’ll keep at it, we will discover that His commandments really do lead us to places of contentment, and purity, and blessing, and joy that never would have been in our lives if God had not come to us and said “You shall” do this!  His laws are not meant to suppress joy, but to give it birth! “His commandments are not burdensome.”

And, O, how some of us have tasted and seen that this is true! We might once have thought that to return to the Lord 10% of our income would be a real problem, but when we tried it out, we found it a blessing! We may at one time have thought it unfathomable, impractical, and wholly unnecessary to set aside one whole day for worship and rest and spiritual edification – to the exclusion of unnecessary work and entertainment. But then we gave it a try, and Sunday became our favorite day of the week! And so our stories could go on – we didn’t think biblical sexuality could actually be satisfying, but it was; we didn’t believe we could do without our religious talismans, but we found the biblical Jesus better than all the artist’s renderings; we didn’t know that telling the plain, bald truth about ourselves could be so refreshing, but when we did so, we finally felt free; we didn’t think we could live without that unbiblical relationship, but we finally let it go and God was good.

Should we be surprised? God is good! And His ways are good! His laws are not meant to suppress joy, but to give it birth! His yoke is easy! “His commandments are not burdensome.”

Privilege

This week our family took our customary summer trip to The Berry Patch across the state line in Indiana. Every year the children delight to climb under the enormous netting and into row upon row of blueberry bushes … picking and picking to the heart’s content, and enjoying the fruits of their labor, too, of course!

But this year we got a surprise treat. Perched atop one of those bushes, maybe 4 feet off the ground, was a little brown nest with three tiny baby birds wedged inside. 

What a beautiful little surprise! What a delight to hear their wee little chirping voices! And, I thought out loud, what an amazing place to be born! Somehow their mother must have spied an opening in the netting, and ducked inside the berry patch to "lay her young". And, judging from her chosen location (and from the little peck marks found here and there in the produce) I am assuming that berries are perhaps standard fare for this sort of bird. And so I say again, what a place to be born! Sweet, delicious, fresh produce everywhere, as far as the little bird’s eye can see. It would be like being born to the owner of Findlay Market, and having immediate access to all the treats inside! What a privilege!

And as I sat down to peck out the few lines that weekly fill this space, it occurred to me that this is how some of us were born, when we think of our spiritual privileges! What a blessing to born into a Bible-believing, God-fearing, Jesus-loving family – one that nurses you on “the pure milk of the word”; one that nourishes you on the fine wheat of the gospel, spoon-feeding you the message of Jesus, who is “the bread of life.” What a privilege to grow up knowing “the joyful sound” of “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” … and to be raised in the shade of the “oaks of righteousness” that make up “the church of the living God.” It’s like being born into royalty, the privileges are so great!

Not everyone who reads these lines will have been born with such spiritual advantages, I know. And I don’t intend, by emphasizing them, to minimize God’s power to save people from every strata of life, and to redeem us even when our parents hand down to us a “futile way of life” instead of a godly example. Not in the least! But I do say to those of you who have been given a godly heritage … please, please do not take it for granted! Rather, eat your fill!

There’s only so long that the mother bird in the blueberry patch will feed her children from her own beak. Eventually they will have to learn to gather berries for themselves. And what a sad sight if they should never learn, or should be too lazy to put forth the effort to do so – and exponentially so since they were born on top of a gastronomic goldmine! Let us not make the same mistake! No! Rather, let us fill our bellies with all the nourishment and delights that are available to us in this “land flowing with milk and honey” that is the Church of Jesus Christ!

Being born to Christian parents and brought up in the fruitful fields of the church doesn’t automatically make us Christians, of course … nor even members of the church. These things happen when we take in Jesus, “the bread of life”, for ourselves. But, O, if the swallows are blessed (Psalm 84) to make their nests inside the temple … how much more those humans who are born with a bird’s eye view of the things and people of God, and with such ready access to “the bread of life”! Let us be sure we join with those people, by feeding on Jesus for ourselves … and on all the other spiritual delights that sprout in clusters all around us!

Kids' Quotes

A couple of recent funny quotes from the kids:

Sally, requesting some of that zesty soda that comes with a maroon label:

Can I have some Dr. Seuss?

Silas, on the way into the mall, where we planned to visit the LEGO® Store:

I can smell LEGOs!

No Pastor Could be as Loved

A letter to my PRBC family (past and present):

These few lines are, perhaps, a little different from those that normally fill this space. This isn’t a biblical exposition or meditation, though I hope there are biblical patterns and principles sprinkled throughout. Really, what I want to write is more of a real-life illustration of biblical principles, lived out in the life of our church.

Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church is by no means a perfect church. We have our warts and blemishes, our shoulda’s and coulda’s, our room for improvement, our sins and shortcomings. And yet I believe I can say that there is at least one area in which we are exemplary – one area, actually, in which you are exemplary. No pastor and family could possibly feel as loved as we do. I have said that to a few people outside our congregation in recent days, and now I want to say it to our congregation. You have loved us well – better than we deserve; better than we could have ever expected; better than I imagine most pastors could ever dream of being loved by a people.

Since Levi’s arrival, it has been amazing how many people have stopped by, or asked his welfare, or showered us with gifts, or brought us food. Thank you. More than all of those things, we have been the subject of many prayers and encouragements during these weeks surrounding the birth of number 6. And this is not the first time we’ve felt like this. Through the years you have continually shown us kindness, generosity, and patience in bunches.

No less has this been the case for many of you who have prayed with me during my recent difficulties with copyright and tax questions. Notes of encouragement, words of encouragement, smiles at just the right moment, scriptures passed along, and prayers prayed have all been noted … not just by me, but by our heavenly Father whose “eyes … are in every place, watching” not only “the evil”, but “the good” (Proverbs 15.3)! He has surely seen a lot of “the good” lately … and I and my family have been the recipients of it.

So I use this little column, this morning, to say thank you. Thank you members and regulars of PRBC. Thank you, also, extended PRBC family, who have moved to other locales, but who continue to reach back and bless us with your prayers and encouragements. I’m writing about you in this article, too! Thank you for loving us so. Many pastors never feel what we have felt from you in recent days. You are a blessing.

Announcing ...

Levi ... Paton ... Strassner

   April 23

   9pm

   8lbs. 5oz.

Mom and baby are well.

For a free, short e-book on John G. Paton, click here.

Baby Talk

Any day now, Tobey and I hope to bring home our sixth little one. So, while I anticipate that day, I thought I’d reprint some old thoughts on the subject, written back when we were anticipating number two! Here goes …

You can learn a lot from having a baby in the house. I think God intended it that way. He has given us relationships with others —parents, children, siblings, spouses, neighbors, friends, church family — all so that we might better learn how to relate to Him … and how He wants to relate to us. Let me share some things I see more clearly since I began to have little ones running around my ankles …

1. I’ve learned how God loves His children unconditionally. No matter how bad children disobey (and they DO disobey); no matter how much they may disappoint, slow down, or exasperate their parents … dad still loves them. Not because of what they do, but because of whose they are. So it is with our heavenly Father. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God” (1 John 3.1).

2. I’ve learned how much God’s children ought to rely upon Him. You never realize just how helpless a child is until you are the one completely responsible for his/her care. It seems the only thing a newborn can do for itself is breathe! Everything else must be planned, prepared, and performed by mom and dad. What a picture of how we ought to rely on the Lord! “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2.2).

3. I’ve learned to interpret tough times as God’s loving discipline. Sometimes our kids don’t learn as quickly or smoothly as they should. That means we parents have to help them learn the hard way. And God fathers us the same way! Now I see that more clearly than ever … and have learned to understand that there is love behind ‘the rod.’ “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines … It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12.6-7).

4. I’ve gotten a deeper glimpse at how much God gave up at the cross. “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16, emphasis mine). I’ve known that verse since before I can remember. But I could not fully comprehend it until I had a daughter and son of my own. And even now, I can’t get my mind all the way around it. I would be hard-pressed to give my children up for another person. But I can at least imagine what it would feel like. And when I do, I understand that God loves the world more than I ever before understood.

The Mamas and the Papas

Recently I have taken to calling Julia ‘little Tobey.’ Though I mean it as a compliment, she hasn’t taken to kindly to it – so I guess I’d better lay off. But it almost can’t be helped! Julia reminds me, in so many (good) ways, of her mom! Her retort, though, is to call me ‘Teeny grandpa.’ And, the older I get, the more she is right. I see more and more of my father in myself! Don’t we all?!

All of this reminds me of the great influence that parents have on their children. Whether we (or our kids!) like it or not … the apple usually doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it? Our kids imitate our facial expressions, our eating habits, our passions, our speech-patterns, and a whole host of other idiosyncrasies that they see every day in mom and dad. They also, in many ways, imitate our spiritual habits. That is not to say that Christian parents guarantee Christian children. They don’t. Nor is it to deny the fact that Jesus has come to redeem us from “the futile way of life inherited from [our] forefathers” (1 Peter 1.18). He has! – such that many wonderful Christian people come from many of the most un-Christian backgrounds! That is part of the glory of the gospel! But, within Christian families especially (where children learn to respect and look up to mom and dad), the kids often do grow up to imitate many of the spiritual habits of their parents – for better, and sometimes for worse. Kids who grow up in church every Sunday have a lot easier time continuing that habit with their own families. Kids whose dads lead in family worship each evening will have a much easier time carving out such time in their own adulthood. Children whose parents sing heartily during Sunday worship learn that it’s OK for them to do the same. Children from homes where Christianity is practiced seven days a week, not four days a month, tend to make such faith their own. And the list could go on!

What am I trying to say? That the mamas and the papas are vitally important in the church! Perhaps more than Christians at any other stage or station in life, parents with children in the home are intense disciple-makers. Moms and dads have evangelistic and discipleship opportunities like almost no other Christian can have – including full-time pastors and even missionaries – such is the close contact with their young tutors! And we will make disciples out of our kids, for better or for worse!

So this is a plea – first of all to those who are not (or are no longer) in the day-to-day topsy-turvy mission field of child-rearing: Pray for those who are! It is a more difficult task than we knew when we got ourselves into this business; and a more weighty responsibility than almost any other in the world. So please, pray for the parents in your church! They need it!

Second, this is a plea to parents … to realize and accept the responsibility you have undertaken. Don’t abdicate your spiritual responsibility by just ‘getting by’ as a parent. Your kids need more out of the 18 years they spend in your home than a high school diploma, a college scholarship, and a few good manners and morals. They need a daily example of what real, humble, joyful, consistent, grace-filled Christianity really looks like, lived out live and in person. They need to see the Sunday sermons fleshed out in the example of their parents. They need someone to teach the Bible to them seven days a week, and to show them how delightful is a Christian home filled with songs of praise. They need to be taught, by 18 years’ worth of habit, that Sunday is the best and most important day of the week … and that the other six days should be built around this one day of feasting for the soul. They need to hear you admit your own sins and seek forgiveness (from them, and from the Lord) so that they understand that Christianity is not, first of all, about being a good person, but about receiving the good news of forgiveness and fresh starts for not-so-good persons! They don’t need perfection. But they do need consistency, and the absence of hypocrisy. They need to grow up and say: ‘I want to be like my mom and dad. I want to have faith like theirs, and joy like theirs, and a church family like theirs. And most of all, I want their Jesus.’

Yes, ultimately, our children need Jesus, not just mom and dad. And while no parent can give them Jesus (a role reserved only for the Holy Spirit) – every parent ought, by their own speaking of Jesus, and reading the words of Jesus aloud to the family, and singing to Jesus, and trusting in Jesus, and confessing to Jesus, and loving Jesus, and becoming a little more like Jesus all the time … every parent ought, I say, to be about making little disciples of Jesus in their home. Let’s give it everything we’ve got!

Reflecting on Ten Years

As I mentioned in the previous post, this past weekend marks ten years since I assumed the role as pastor at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church.  Below is a copy of the corresponding letter I wrote our congregation ...

Dear PRBC family,

Thank you so much for the surprise gift, cake, and chorus of thanksgivings last Sunday. No one let the cat out of the bag, and Tobey and I really were surprised! Of course, when I saw Jason Skidmore at prayer meeting, I wondered if maybe something was up. When Allen and Heather came for Sunday School, I was pretty sure. And when Andrew and Kimberly were in the pews at 11:00, the game was up! But before 9am Sunday, I had no idea. So thank you … to those of you who gave, those who spoke, those who planned, and those who have quietly prayed for us these last ten years. Each of you is a blessing to our family in ways that are hard to calculate.

Upon anniversaries such as ten years as pastor, one gets to thinking, reminiscing, and taking stock. I’ve been doing some of that in recent days and weeks. I don’t have space, in this little column, to say everything that comes to mind … nor would you want to take the time to read it all! But here are a few thoughts that come readily …

1. Being a pastor is harder than I thought. I don't want you to hear any violins to play plaintively in the background while you read this, but I must say that I had no idea what I was getting into ten years ago!  More than anything else, the task of preaching Christ as He truly ought to be preached is a more daunting a responsibility than I ever realized.  No preacher, no matter how seasoned, is ever sufficient for such a calling.  Beyond that, no seminary training can prepare a young man for the death of a church member; for recovering himself when he makes really foolish mistakes; for all the struggles that come with shepherding real, live people who are sinners just like their pastor. So yes, there have been times when I have said to myself: ‘What on earth did I sign up for?’ And, because I often had no idea what I was really getting into, I have made a good many blunders along the way. Some of them laughable. Some of them truly hurtful. Many who read these lines are the very ones I’ve hurt. Thank you for sticking with a twenty-five year-old who was – and often still is – in over his head.

2. Being a pastor is better than I thought. Again I start with the preaching task.  Who can fully describe what a privilege and joy it is to spend the week studying the love of God in Christ, and then getting to herald such a message week by week to God's people?  I feel most at home standing behind 'the sacred desk', boasting in Jesus!  And that task is far more satisfying than I ever knew it would be!  I can say the same about the relational side of pastoral ministry.  Just as no seminary can adequately prepare a future pastor for all the various twists, turns, sins, and surprises that take place in a local church … neither can the classroom give him any idea how much his people will become an inseparable part of his life. You all have become our family in every real and possible way (sometimes including sharing living space together!). And Tobey and I wouldn’t have it any other way! This is much more than a job for us. You are our family … and you have worn that mantle well. How many other professions are there where a man is so appreciated by those alongside of whom he works? How many other churches, to take it a step father, have been as good to their pastor as you all have been to us? From all the meals you’ve given, to watching our kids, to mowing our grass, to repairing our home, to giving us clothes, to providing needed accountability, to supporting my mission travels, to umpteen other things … you have been a true family to us. Thank you!

3. Pastors need prayer. I am much more vulnerable to temptation, to discouragement, to fear, and to laziness than I ever thought possible ten years ago. Twenty-five year olds arriving at a new charge often think they have the world by the tail. They don’t. Neither do 35 year-olds with twelve years experience. All that to say that I desperately need your prayers. Tobey does too. None of us can be who God wants us to be without His strong support. And He loves to give that support in answer to His people’s prayers! So, “brethren, pray for us” (1 Thessalonians 5.25). Let us also remember that, wonderful as it is for us to be a family … we are more than a family. We are God’s family – the only church in Pleasant Ridge proclaiming the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. O, how serious a responsibility we have – as pastor and people! So let us pray that God’s kingdom would come in this place, and more and more people be brought into His family!

10 Years in Ohio

This past weekend marked the 10th anniversary of our coming to Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church.  We were surprised, after the worship service, with a very generous gift from our church family, and with a long time of their giving God thanks for us during our monthly fellowship meal.  They've also been bringing us gobs of food all month long, for Pastor's Appreciation Month.

Having lived with myself for these past ten years, I can honestly say that I wish I was as good a man and pastor as our congregation makes me out to be.  But, having lived with Tobey for those same ten years (plus three), I can also say that she is every bit the marvelous wife and mom that they praised.  In both cases, it is good to be loved and appreciated (and well fed!).  Thank you, PRBC!

Our New Looks

Tobey and I both have new looks for the fall ...

She'll be keeping hers until mid-April.  Me, probably not so long.

Grasshoppers

Did you know that late summer and early fall is a great time for catching grasshoppers? If not, don’t feel bad. Neither did I! But my children have been catching them by the handfuls in recent weeks – lime green, light brown, and other shades in between. Apparently they are all over the place in our little yard, but I’ve scarcely noticed them all these years. Small as they are, and hidden by the long blades of grass, they’re virtually invisible if you’re an adult, and have places to go and people to see.

And, as I think about the hundreds of grasshoppers that live right under my nose, perpetually unnoticed … I get a little glimpse into the meaning of Isaiah 40.22:

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

You don’t have to know much about grasshoppers to get the basic gist of that verse. The point is that we, the inhabitants of the earth, are exceedingly small compared to God, just like grasshoppers are to us. We can all see that meaning plainly on the page. But it has been helpful, recently, to realize just how small and insignificant grasshoppers really are. Even though there seem to be hundreds of them living in my lawn; and even though I walked past (and perhaps over!) numbers of them every late summer’s day … they were so small and insignificant, I didn’t even realize they were there! It’s not that I noticed them, and said to myself: ‘Wow, look how small they are!’ It’s that they are so small, and so hidden, and so unimportant to me … that, until recently, it barely even occurred to me that the grasshoppers were out there at all!

According to Isaiah 40.22, that’s how small we human beings are, in comparison with our God. Small enough that, were God not all-seeing and all-knowing, we’d scarcely be noticeable in the wide world of His creation. Just think of the pictures you’ve seen of our planet, taken from outer space. If you did not know that you yourself lived on that little ball of water and clay, you’d have no idea that, beneath the canopy of the trees, there might be little two-legged homo sapiens running around like grass-hoppers. That’s how miniscule we are in the grand scheme of things! Whole nations, says Isaiah 40.15, are no more than specks of dust on God’s scales. And we must never, ever forget that. God, and God alone, is the great One!

But one of the things that makes Him so great is that, when it comes to us grasshoppers, our God is a good deal more like our children than He is like us busy adults. He’s not too big or too busy, in other words, to notice the grasshoppers! No! He loves us grasshoppers – and carefully combs through all the corners of this planet, knowing the name of each and every one of us, and even the numbers of the hairs on our heads! Moreover, like my children with their grasshoppers, He loves to track us down and bring us home as His own peculiar people! Indeed, He sent His Son into the wild grasses of this world to do just that!

So yes, we are exceedingly small and, in many ways, as insignificant as the grasshoppers in the parsonage lawn. And, thus, we must never overestimate ourselves. But neither should we underestimate the love and the persistence of our heavenly Father. He loves finding grasshoppers!

Not Even One

This article was written about 6 years ago.  I think I could "amen" it even more loudly now than then.

Tobey and I were talking this week with someone about what I’ve learned the last five years or so. Particularly, what have I learned about being a Christian. Here is my answer: I’m really not a good person. That is what I’ve learned. Of course I’ve learned other things. But that may be the main one: I’m really not as good as I thought I was.

Now I definitely grew up believing that everyone was a sinner. I’ve known Romans 3.23 as long as I can remember. But I think my attitude through much of my growing up years was that I (and my church-going compatriots) were among the sinners who really weren’t all that bad. There were sinners…and then there were SINNERS. And I was definitely in the lower-case sinners club.

Did I need God’s grace and forgiveness? Sure. Everybody does. But those people out there sure needed it a lot more than I did! I was one of those who sinned every now and again. I needed forgiveness sprinkled in here and there. But basically I was pretty good.

I really think that this is what I thought it meant to be a Christian. Now, of course, I wouldn’t have described it exactly this way. I would have spoken in terms that almost all Bible-believing people do. “Are you a sinner?” “Well of course, we’re all sinners!” “Do you need a Savior?” “Certainly. Everybody needs a Savior.”

Now, while these statements are correct, do you see that they are woefully inadequate? Being a Christian is not simply believing that we are all sinners—but that I myself am a terrible sinner! Being a Christian doesn’t simply mean we accept that all people need the Savior—but that I myself am in desperate need of His sacrifice on my behalf.

And for goodness sake, being a Christian doesn’t mean that I think I’m one of the lesser sinners. One is not a Christian because he has his act together, goes to church, and is a pretty nice person. But sadly, that is what many, many people, who go to church every Sunday believe.

Again, they would never go so far as to say: “I am saved by my good works.” No, No. That would be heresy. But many of the same people who would never claim to be saved by works would also be unwilling to admit of themselves: “I am not a good person. I am a bad person.” But isn’t that what the Bible says? When the Bible proclaims: “there is none righteous, not even one…there is none who seeks for God…there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Rom. 3.10-12)—isn’t it talking about me?

If I am honest with myself, I do not have to look very deeply into my heart, my thoughts, and my actions to discern that the Bible speaks truth here. But only when I do am I a candidate for God’s grace. For Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Elisabeth Ann Strassner

Born at 1:51AM on July 13. 7lbs., 14oz. Mom and baby are healthy!

Elisabeth is from John the Baptist's mother. Ann after missionary Ann Judson. And, least interestingly, Strassner after yours truly.

Where we got Julia's Name

By means of these weekly articles (and at our 9am prayer meeting), we have spent the last eight months together in the book of Romans. And, alas, this week we come to the end of those journeys. I have tried, week by week – and consecutively through the book’s 16 chapters – to scribble down a few devotional thoughts that might be helpful to you. I hope, in some small way, they have been.

And today, in Paul’s final chapter, we are faced with a long list of names – many of which are difficult to pronounce, and most of which we have never heard before, and never will again (this side of heaven). Names like Phoebe, and Andronicus, and Narcissus. In this chapter, Paul mentions all sorts of people who, along the pathway of his ministry, “risked their own necks” for the gospel (v.4); who were “workers in the Lord” (v.12); who were “choice men in the Lord” (v.13), and so on. Persis, Rufus, Herodian, Junias, and so on. Here we have all sorts of faceless men and women (faceless to us, that is … but not to Paul; and not to God!); here we have several handfuls of people largely forgotten by history … but who were so vital in Paul’s great accomplishment of preaching the gospel, practically, throughout the known world!

One of the names in the list (as you will see in verse 15) is “Julia”. Nothing is said about her except that she was paired up, in Paul’s list, with a man named “Philologus”. Probably they were husband and wife. Maybe she called him “Gus” for short! We don’t know for sure. And the reason we don’t know for sure is because, like most of these other characters, we never see them stepping onto the stage of history again. History, from a merely human perspective, records these two – and nearly all their compatriots in Romans 16 – as merely bit characters. And yet to Paul, people like Julia meant everything. And to God, they are well-known and loved!

So, as we prepared, a little over seven years ago, to see our first child come into the world, I was perusing this list one morning – not looking for baby names, but simply reading the book of Romans. And it occurred to me that this is what I hoped our children might be like – like the people in Romans 16: godly, hard workers in the Lord … advancing the gospel whether anyone ever remembered their names or not. And, of all the names we might have selected from Romans 16, Julia stood out (it just has a little better ring to it, I think you’ll agree, than does “Tryphosa”!). So we went with it … and continue to pray that, by God’s grace, our little girl will become more and more like her Roman namesake.

But I don’t share that story with you simply because I am a proud papa, over eager to gush about my children or talk about myself. I share the story with you because it seems to me that Julia, Philologus, Nereus, and the rest ought to serve as role models for us all.

Let’s be honest. There are some names that will be remembered throughout all church history – Spurgeon, Luther, Calvin, Elliot, Augustine, and so on. But none of our names will be on that list. A hundred years from now, if someone should run across a yellowing copy of our church roster, our names will appear just as unfamiliar (and some of them hard to pronounce!) as those in Romans 16. No one (on this earth) will remember who we were. But that’s not the point of what we’re doing, is it? It wasn’t the point for Julia and the others. They just wanted to serve the Lord; to spread the gospel; to serve those who were on the front lines; to please the Lord … even if always behind the scenes. And, evidently they did so … though we may never know exactly how.

Let’s be like them. Let’s give our everything for the fame of a far more memorable and significant name – Jesus! Our names may never be written in the annals. But if they are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that is enough.

Sally Slides

Welcome to our World

Salome Carmichael Strassner (we think we'll call her Sally).

8lbs, 6oz. Born September 28, 2009 at 10:56am. Both mom and baby are healthy!

Salome (pronounced SAL-uh-may) was a follower of Jesus who was also, it would seem, the wife of the fisherman Zebedee (compare Mark 15.40 and Matthew 27.56) and, therefore, the mother of "the Sons of Zebedee" - better known as the apostles James and John . Comparing these two verses with John 19.25, it is also possible that Salome (unnamed in John 19.25) was also the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. Confusing? No worries. It is not for Salome's genealogy that we pay tribute to her in the naming of our second little girl. Rather ... we admire Salome because she seemed to always be there at the crucial moments in Jesus' life. Only she and a few other women followed Him all the way to the cross (Mark 15.40). And it was Salome (along with two more Mary's, Mark 16.1) who showed up at the tomb early that Sunday to care for Jesus' body. We admire her ... and we pray that our little girl would have similarly firm and tender faith.

Amy Carmichael was a woman of no less character. The planned subject of my annual missionary biography/sermon this December, Carmichael was an Irish missionary among the destitute girls in India (many of whom had been dedicated, by their parents, to the gods and made, as young girls, into local temple prostitutes). She rescued them, taught them, and raised them for Jesus. Miss Carmichael was also the author of a large amount of wonderful devotional literature. ... and a composer of hymns. She was (and remains) an example to us all ... including (we hope) her newest namesake. Read more about her here. We could do a lot worse than to have such a thoughtful, Christ-and-others-loving little girl!

As for Strassner ... well, that comes from me. Nothing profound there, I suppose. But we hope she will bring honor to the name. Pray with us that she would.

Looking for Jesus

Julia’s eyes lit up. We had just finished reading the story of little old Gideon, with God’s help and against all odds, winning a battle and rescuing God’s people … when I said: ‘Can you think of any other stories in the Bible where one person rescued God’s people when everything seemed to be going against Him?’ After thinking for two or three seconds, her eyebrows raised and a big grin came across her face. ‘Jesus!’ she exclaimed.

I just love that. Each night in family worship, no matter what the story we’re reading, we always find a trail back to Jesus. Isn’t that what He said we’re supposed to do? Don’t “Moses and … all the prophets” speak “the things concerning” Jesus (Luke 24.27)? So of course we should read of Gideon and think of Jesus! And the same is true when we read of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Esther, Samson, Ehud, and so on!

Every portion of the Bible is, somehow, pointing us to Jesus. Maybe it’s direct teaching about Him (as in the four Gospels). Or perhaps the passage you’re looking at is a prophecy about Him (see Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, etc.). Other passages of scripture are foreshadowings, or pictures, Jesus. That is, they tell a story that is a lot like the story of Jesus, and that was meant to help people expect and recognize the coming Savior (as in the accounts of Gideon, or the Passover, or the serpent on the pole in Numbers 21). Still other parts of the Bible point out our need for Jesus (i.e. our sin) – think of the Minor Prophets, the first two chapters of Romans, and so on. And of course, much of the latter portion of the New Testament explains the aftereffects of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (answering questions like: ‘What has Jesus actually accomplished for us?’ ‘How do we take advantage?’ and ‘How do we live once we become His followers?’)

The way a passage points to Jesus is not always the same. But, in some form or fashion, they are all about Him (again, Luke 24.27) … and you should read them that way. You should read your Bible, do your Sunday School prep, teach your children, and listen to lessons, lectures, and sermons LOOKING FOR JESUS … every single time. And you should hold your teachers accountable to do so, too!

And I am so excited when I sometimes hear that some of our folks are really getting this! Recently someone said to me:

‘I am studying Exodus, and it has been so exciting, each time I study, looking for Jesus.’

Someone else recently said of the sermons:

‘I listen to you … expecting, in each sermon, to hear the simple gospel message somewhere. And when it happens, I say: “There it was”. '

A couple of years back, someone said to me after a lesson I taught:

‘I kept waiting and waiting for you to get to Jesus … and if you didn’t get there, I was going to stop you and make sure we did!’

And, more stingingly, someone recently said to me:

‘I think that might have been the first time when I can’t remember you showing us how the passage pointed to Jesus.’

All these things warm the heart of this pastor – even when it is being pointed out that I, perhaps, missed the mark. These remarks mean that many of my people are getting it. They’re getting Luke 24.27. Are you?

The whole Bible – indeed, the whole universe – is all about Jesus! So keep thinking (and reading your Bibles) that way … LOOKING FOR JESUS!

Boy do I Ever Wish I Could Bottle This ...

... and keep it for about 15 more years. Both for sentimental and practical reasons!

Introducing...

Silas ... Donovan ... Strassner
8lbs. 12 oz.
Born at 2:40pm, April 23