Category: Theological Thoughts

Posted on

4 Suggestions to Develop a Singing Culture

I want to suggest the following practical steps to developing a singing culture in the Church:
a) When eating together with other families, print some music to sing before a meal.
b) Invite people over for a mini-Psalm sing. It takes one person to lead a crowd. If you have a piano or guitar player, even better.
c) When at home, use opportunities to sing your meal prayers. I have a sung version of our prayer (send me a note). It is simple and easily memorizable. My littlest one was singing it at 20 months.
d) End the day with a song. Ask the children to choose one. Our children’s favorite is “The Son of God Goes Forth to War.”

Posted on

Notes on Education: Public Schools

I am part of a denomination that treasures Christian education (see CREC Memorial in the bottom). I don’t think we win the cultural and ideological wars by allowing unbelievers to indoctrinate our children. Not only is this clearly commanded in the Scriptures, but a consistent view of the world demands it. After all, neutrality is a myth.

While our children find themselves in a position of receiving education under parents, tutors, and teachers, they are to receive an education that comports with the general principles and ideals of an explicitly Christian education. Worldview training requires nothing less.

CREC Memorial on Education:
All things are to be considered and conducted under the Lordship of
Jesus Christ, including education, and especially the education of our
covenant children. God has not charged the state to educate children
but has explicitly commanded parents to bring up their children in the
education and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4, Deut. 6:7). Given the
importance and enormity of the task (Ps. 127:3-5, Deut. 6:7-9), and
the impossibility of neutrality in education (Prov. 1:7, Matt. 12:30,
Luke 6:40, Col. 2:1-10, 2 Cor. 10:3-5), we do heartily affirm the
necessity of educating our children in a manner that is explicitly
Christian in content and rigor. Government schools tend to be, by
decree and design, explicitly godless, and therefore normally should
not be considered a legitimate means of inculcating true faith, holy
living and a decidedly Christian worldview in the children of Christian
parents. Therefore, we strongly encourage Christian parents to seek
alternative ways of educating their children, whether by means of
Christian schools or homeschooling. In cases, where Christian
education is an impossibility, parents must be active and diligent in
overseeing the education of their children.
Parents who do not fully understand the indispensability of Christian
education should be warmly received into membership. However, the
leaders of Christ’s church must thoroughly understand and plainly
teach the divine imperative to disciple our children, the divine
prohibition of rendering unto Caesar those who bear God’s image
(Matt. 22:20-21), the divine warning to those who cause their little
ones to stumble (Matt. 18:6) and the divine promises to those who
raise their children in faith (Deut. 7:9, Ps.102:5-7, Ps. 103:17-18,
Prov. 22:6, Luke 1:48-50, Acts 2:39).

Posted on

Brief Notes on Children’s Education: On Boundaries

Developing a robust view of the world in our children demands boundaries. Therefore, defining these boundaries are crucial educational steps in the early stages of child-rearing.

The absence of boundaries generally produces confused children. We may call this “Enlightenment Parenting.” The children of the enlightenment will jump in the first puddle they find. Whether shallow or deep, they will learn to walk by sight rather than faith. But if they understand the purpose of boundaries, even expressing appreciation and love for them, children will walk in green pastures and be planted by the rivers of life growing into a greater knowledge of God’s world.

Posted on

Fetal Worldview

I accompanied my wife to the doctor to hear our baby’s heartbeat. It was a magical moment. This is our fifth child and I am still amazed by it each time I hear the sound of life.

I was reminded that our child’s worldview does not begin to be formed when he is born into this world, but when he/she is formed in the mother’s womb (Psalm 139:14). We need a womb theology that equips parents to think biblically about life and the world–which is what a worldview is.

If the life and humanity of the unborn begin at conception then our work as parents does not wait for delivery. The parental duty, therefore, begins by singing, talking, and bathing the unborn in the God who formed him. This may sound strange to some ears, but a pro-life view is not simply one that advocates on behalf of the unborn, but one that ministers to the unborn.

 

Posted on

Supper Meditation

(On the Body; I Corinthians 6:12-20)

This table is given to people whose bodies have served other lords but have found refuge in the true Lord. This table is for redeemed bodies. This table is for those baptized. Baptism is the prerequisite for this table because baptism is the beginning of our commitment to live as unto the Lord in body and soul.

Posted on

Loving Your Wife with Honor

Jesus wants you to love your wife so much that she should be sad to see you leave and thrilled to see you come back home. Your marriage needs to be the coronation of self-sacrifice. The world needs to see Christian men unashamedly in love with their wives. Chesterton once wrote that “Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honour should decline.” You didn’t decline. You took on the armor to serve her. Now fight! Fight wholeheartedly to the glory of God; for the good of Narnia. Get rid of the ring of selfishness in Mount Doom where harsh masculinity abides and put on Jesus–the God/Husband who gave and gave and gave to the point of death.

Posted on

Hiding Behind False Piety

It’s easy to hide behind devotional language: “God is all I need.” “Just give me Jesus.” This language was used in pietistic movements throughout the 18th-19th centuries and is employed abundantly today as a way of manipulating the Christian to internalize his faith.

The piety of such words betray a fundamental need in the human soul: we are made for one another. We are made to be in each other’s lives; so that, to desire God is to necessarily desire the people God created. To be the foot is to need the other parts. The Head leads when the other parts work together and see each others’ need and purpose in the body.

Posted on

I Believe Children Should Be in Worship, Now What?

You attend a big/small evangelical church and you are now convinced that children should be in worship. “I believe this,” you say, “but my church doesn’t. Now what?” I want you to be faithful to your church and there is a way of doing that while disagreeing with the general ethos of the church regarding children.

First, I’d encourage you to talk to your pastor or an available church officer. Ask them if there would be any problem with bringing your little children to church. Though they may oppose it, kindly affirm that you would like to try it for some of the reasons mentioned in previous posts. With few exceptions, they have all been accommodating.

Secondly, begin to prepare your children to sit with you in worship during the week (I’ve written about this. Send me a note if you’d like suggestions).

Finally, persevere. Be prepared for some initial difficulties. Training children at home is a long-term labor of love and the same is true at church.

Posted on

Exhortation to Worship

The Bible has a way of ruining our way. The Bible marks God’s territory in places we think belong to us. God marks his territory in worship today because His ways are higher than man’s attempts to worship him. So, this morning, I am urging you to believe.

What would happen if we worshiped like we believed it? How would our view of worship change if we believed we are mystically and mysteriously seated in heavenly places, or in some way judging angels and the world, or if we believed we were God’s treasured possession? Or what if we believed that the Spirit of God is hovering over us as He did in creation preparing to form us into something new today? What if we believed that these next 60 minutes will transform us in a miraculous way? What if we believed that as we begin to worship shortly, God is going to shape your humanity into His glorious image? What if we believed that by the end of the Supper you will gain heaven? What if we believed that Jesus is going to take your words and make them into something beautiful before the Father in heaven? Brothers and sisters, believe this and rejoice.