Cafe Connect

At Twynholm Baptist Church we are launching an international Student Cafe at the end of the Month.
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Unity among Charismatics / Non-Charismatics

Dave Bish has a good post on how those with a different view of the Spirit's work can work in gospel partnership on campus.

Barriers to College Evangelism 4: Busyness

If the devil can’t stop us from evangelizing through isolation, fear or compromise, he will be happy to convince us that there are all kinds of good things that we need to do with our time. There will always be good things to do, but if we are unable to spend a significant amount of our time with Non-Christians seeking to share the gospel we are being just as unfaithful to the Lord as we would be if we never read his word, prayed, met with his people. We are also removing from ourselves one of the greatest joys that the Lord would have us share with him in. As Jesus shared the truth of who he was with a sinful broken woman, he said to his disciples, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” (John 4:34-36)

Barriers to College Evangelism 3: Compromise

It is one thing to find a picture of the street reflecting a church. It is another to have Christians who reflect the man on the Street.

It is easy to think that we will better be able to befriend Non-Christians and witness to them if we are more like them. Doesn’t Paul say, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some”? (1 Cor. 9:22). He does – and we need to ensure that there is no offence but the offence of the gospel in our friendships with Non-Christians. Yet we may not remove the offence of the gospel.

There are two ways we tend to remove the offence of the gospel.

1. We sometimes deliberately don’t talk about those aspects of the gospel that we think will be most offensive (judgment, hell, the exclusivity of Christ). When we do this we remove the part of the gospel that shows people that they really need Jesus. This might make us more popular, but it will cripple our evangelism.

2.We sometimes live lives that suggest by our compromised lives that the gospel doesn’t have the offensive implications of the need to obey the Lord Jesus. So we join in with the coarse joking, we have a few beers too many, we stretch the boundaries of sexual purity and join in with the latest gossip. Living like Non-Christians removes the vital witness of the transforming effects of the gospel, and denies our statements that Jesus has redeemed us from slavery to sin and brought us under his Lordship.

Barrier to College evangelism 2: Fear

It can be pretty scary mixing with non-Christians who seem to have thought through their opinions fairly deeply and who hold them very firmly. When professors seem to give weight to anti-Christian thinking this can be particularly hard. We begin to fear that the gospel will sound ridiculous, and so never speak about Christian things.
There are several things that we need to meditate upon.

i) We should not be surprised that people will use their whole intellect to oppose the gospel. Even the apostle Paul says of himself before his conversion, “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth”. (Acts 26:9)We need to recognize though that people’s opposition to the gospel is not primarily intellectual. It is moral stand against the Lordship of Christ dressed in an intellectual garb. The converting work of the Holy Spirit is well able to show people the folly of that stand, and it is as the gospel is shared even by fearful students that this will be happening on campus.

ii) It is as we fear the Lord more we can fear others less and love them more. If we are paralyzed by the fear of man it will stop us from loving them enough to share the gospel – their only hope for salvation. If we are gripped by the fear of the Lord, we will seek to honour him in declaring the Lordship of Christ, and the result will be a gentle, loving, compassionate sharing of the gospel with those who are lost. If we really fear the Lord, we will fear nothing else but will be content even in the face of great opposition. (Proverbs 19:23)

iii) Opposition to the gospel is well addressed in Scripture. Meditate of those passages in Scripture that hold out to us our eternal hope. They are intended for all who suffer – not just those suffering more than we do! (1 Peter 3:13-18) For more on suffering, see John Piper's reflections (HT: Justin Taylor)

iv) There is in the end no need to fear someone who is unable to remove our faith. Sharing the gospel will only ever strengthen faith. Our confidence that we will be kept in the faith is not in our ability to convince someone of the truth of the gospel (we have no such ability!) It is in the God’s committed sustaining love for us. He has already shown us just how committed he is by sending his Son. (Romans 8:31-38)

A great book to read to meditate more on overcoming the fear of man is Ed Welch's When People are Big and God is Small.

Barrier to College Evangelism 1: Isolation

One of the reasons that we don’t have a massive program of events for students at CHBC is that we love the Non-Christian friends of our students! It would be possible to fill up your lives with Christian meetings and socialize only with Christians when you had time to. We think it is hugely important that you spend time with other Christians in edifying conversation. But Christians are light. We must make sure that our light is shining before people, or the whole purpose of our light is wasted.

Why not pray for 3 non-Christians each day who you are trying to witness to, 2 groups of Non-Christians where you spend regular time getting to know them and building significant relationships and at least one opportunity to share the gospel each week? Once the Lord answers that last prayer, start praying for an opportunity to share the gospel each day.

There is another form of isolation that students can suffer from. This is when none of their Non-Christian friends know any of their Christian friends. They suddenly feel very alone trying to stand for Christ in those relationships. Whatever good relationships the Lord gives you with Non-Christians, try to introduce them to your Christian friends. This will multiply your witness exponentially. Not only does that Non-Christian now have more Christians who can witness to them, they also get the opportunity to observe the most compelling evidence of the truth of the gospel: the love that Christians have for one another.

Unusual Opportunities 2: Loving those who are different from yourself.

As we noted in my last post, it is easy for students to spend almost all of their time with other students. This is a great opportunity for Christian students to demonstrate the transforming and unifying power of the gospel.

A Christian student who is a member of their local church, and is seeking to build significant relationships with the other members of their local church is going to seem unusual. People turn up to your dorm room, and you are hanging out with a recently married couple, or a single person of the same sex 15 years older than you. People ask you what you are doing that evening and you explain that you are babysitting for a family, or going to visit an elderly member of the congregation in their home, or going to visit someone who is recovering from an operation in hospital, or helping out with a bible study for young offenders.

Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35). In an environment where people tend only to love people who are like themselves, the Christian love of those different to yourselves can give unusual opportunities for evangelism.: European, Asian, African, Native American (For some great reading on ethnicity see the latest 9marks journal and recent blog discussions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ); young old, married, single, educated, disadvantaged, rich, poor, pretty, plain, able-bodied, disabled, healthy, sick. This love cannot be adequately demonstrated through membership in a campus ministry, but through active membership in a local church it will: Jesus will be honoured and the gospel will be displayed.

Unusual opportunities 1: Shared lives

There will not be another time where you will likely be living, working, relaxing, exercising, eating, thinking and socializing with one group of people. This means that there will never be another group of Non-Christians who will be able to observe your life at such close quarters, and with whom you will have such incredible opportunities for multiple conversations about the gospel.

Just think about this for a moment: once you graduate you will have various different groups of people whom you might seek to evangelise: your colleagues, your neighbours, your sports teams / interest groups, the people who eat in the same restaurants you do. I could go on. But while you are at College these might all be the same people.

This means you will be more observed that anyone else. It is quite possible to choose to hide parts of your life from colleagues, neighbours, sports teams, etc. It becomes hard to do so if they are all the same interconnected group of people. People will observe whether you are living for different things in a different way to every other student.

All this leads to many opportunities for gospel conversations, and for ongoing dialogue about the gospel.

The opportunities of evangelism on campus

With students returning to DC I am reminded once again of the unique opportunity that college life provides for evangelism.

College is perhaps one of the most unique opportunities for evangelism that you will have in your life. There will not be another time where you will likely be living, working, relaxing, exercising, eating, thinking and socializing with one group of people. This means that there will never be another group of Non-Christians who will be able to observe your life at such close quarters, and with whom you will have such incredible opportunities for multiple conversations about the gospel.What’s more, there is never a time when people are so self-consciously forming opinions about the world and their place in it as when they are students. What an incredible God-given opportunity!

In the coming days & weeks I intend to post several thoughts on the particular opportunities and challenges to evangelism on campus.

A Christian view of Work 7: Earthly Work is ephemeral

2. Earthly work is now ephemeral.

That is, it doesn’t last. It’s not just that the land produces thistles. It’s that however hard we work, we’ll never be able to keep the thistles away. Our work doesn’t last.
This added problem comes partly from the fact that we too don’t last. So Adam himself would die and return to the dust. And after he’s dead he can’t work much. In fact his body becomes the land that gets worked by future generations.
The ephemeral nature of work is fleshed out in more detail in the book of Ecclesiastes. You would do well reading the whole book if, because the frustration and seeming pointlessness of living in a frustrated world is a recurrent theme.

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
(Ecclesiastes 2:17-25)

No work on earth will last. People dedicate their lives to build something. But it won’t last. Bill Gates will be forgotten one day. Microsoft will be no more. Even those who built empires will not stand. The Roman Empire might have left a few ruins behind. But that’s all they are. They’re not used for what they were designed for. And they are the great success stories. It cannot last. It will be forgotten.
Shelley’s Poem Ozymandias captures well the fleeting nature of all work, even of empires.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Whatever you think you will achieve by your work for things in this world, it is an illusion.
You are writing a dissertation. It’s not just that nobody will read it but it will be useful to you: you yourself will probably forget it before you die. You are fixing a car. It will be on the scrap heap in a few years. You are baking a cake: it will be eaten and forgotten. You are teaching a lesson. It will be ignored and probably disproved. You are building a house. It will be owned by a fool. You are giving medicine to a child. That child will die one day. Enjoy your work in this world. Yes! It is a gift from God! But don’t live for it. For if you are working for this world it will come to nothing. It will give you food and enjoyment, but it will be a denial of the whole purpose of being a human being: to reflect the glory of God as his image bearer.

A Christian view of Work 6: Work is now Laborious.

1. All Work is now laborious

All Work is now hard. For the woman, the man she was called to help would no longer be a constant joy to obey. He would take advantage of the position of responsibility that God had given him over her, and use it not to bring Glory to the Lord, but to rule her for his own ends.
The process of bringing new workers into the world is no longer something that can be unequivocally celebrated: for those who come into the world will not perfectly proclaim the Lord’s rule. And so the joy of a new image-bearer is marred by extraordinary pain.
For the man it meant that all work becomes hard and frustrating. In one sense the work is the same. He is still to bring order out of chaos. He is still to till the earth for food. But the earth is now against him. It will produce thorns and thistles. Adam will produce sweat as well as wheat.
The reason for this is often misunderstood. It is not that the fall of man has inevitably led to the ground being against him as if there were some mechanical connection between Adam and the earth. It is rather that the ground is cursed by God. Adam had served himself rather than proclaiming God’s rule. In anger God shows Adam and the whole human race what it means to have someone else as God.
As Romans 1:18-25 puts it,
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
Because humanity is in rebellion against God, God pours his anger out upon humanity.
So, you are digging your garden and the shovel breaks in your hands. That is because in His anger God has cursed the ground. You are going shopping and the cart veers off into a stack of tinned prunes. That’s because God has cursed the materials that make the ball bearings in the wheels.
When something goes wrong, we often say, “Oh, it’s a result of the fall. It’s Adam’s fault.” Yes. Without the fall it wouldn’t be like that. But more precisely it’s a result of the curse… It is God’s doing.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)
This completely changes our attitude towards frustration at work. Frustration is not just an annoying thing that gets on our nerves and serves no purpose. Frustration is something that God is working to a purpose. Frustration at work is something that is crying out to us, “God is angry with this world!” This world is not worth living for. There is a glorious freedom that you should be living for. And so, frustration begins to proclaim to the world the gospel.
For once we know that the wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, we will ask: does that include me? And when we are told, “Yes it does, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We will ask, “Well how can I be put right with God?” How can I be justified!? And we find that through faith in Jesus Christ God has revealed not his anger this time, but a way to get right with him.
Frustration is frustrating. It is supposed to be. God has designed it to be so, for it is that frustration that makes the News that we need a Savior credible.
God subjected the creation to frustration in hope. There is hope in frustration. The hope that people would long for their final adoption into a new and better world. Praise God that work is frustrating and I am therefore less tempted to live for this world!

A Christian View of Work 5: Work is subject to frustration

So far we have looked particularly at the first two chapters of Genesis and learned how work is a great gift from God that comes close to the heart of what it means to be made in the image of God. God made order out of chaos, and so too all good work makes order out of chaos and so proclaims the character of our Creator for His glory.

So when we have thought about how good work is, perhaps it is surprising how much of the time our work is a pain in the neck. Even if things are generally going well, much of it is frustrating.

The computer crashes and you’ve lost your last hour’s work. You work for a week on a project and then the boss decides that she will use somebody else’s idea. You decorate your living room, only to have your 4 year old add their uninvited finishing touches. You spend a week on an essay, and the person who set it doesn’t even read it properly. You spend an afternoon tidying your desk, but by the same time next week it is in the same mess it was before. You spend months training somebody up to do a particular job, and when they are about ready to do it they go and get a job with a rival firm. All these things we may have enjoyed at the time. Yet they seem to have had no long-term benefits.

Work is supposed to be worship. It is supposed to reflect God’s rule in the world by bringing order out of chaos. Why does the order seem so quickly to degenerate to chaos again?

We have seen that this wasn’t the case with work originally. It seems that Adam and Eve were to cultivate the land. They and their offspring were to fill the world and subdue it. In time the whole world would have been a beautiful garden that proclaimed the rule of the Lord.

But with the rebellion of Adam and Eve against the rule of God came the frustration of the work that was supposed to proclaim the Lord’s Rule.

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:16-19)

In the next few posts we'll look at some of the implications of the fall and the curse upon how we should view work.

A Christian View of Work 4: Work is Partnership

Work is partnership

We have shown that work is not to be avoided. Another misconception of work is that it can be pursued alone. Work (even when you are working on your own!) is to be a partnership.

The Lord set Adam in the garden to be his servant and do his work. But Adam can’t do it on his own:

The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame (Genesis 2:18-25).

God says an extraordinary thing in this passage: “It is not good for man to be alone.” After a whole chapter filled with God declaring that things are good, he declares that something is not good.

People generally know that these verses in Genesis 2 are helpful in understanding the purpose of marriage. Unfortunately, this passage is often read in isolation, rather than in the context of the whole chapter. Some may read, “It is not good for Adam to be alone,” and think, “Yes, poor Adam. He must have been lonely. He needed a companion. A pet dog or rabbit or rhinoceros wasn’t a suitable companion.”

But loneliness isn’t Adam’s main problem. His primary problem is incompetence. It was not good for Adam to be alone because he had work to do that he couldn’t do by himself. He needs a helper, not merely a companion.

The purpose of marriage, therefore, is to share in the Lord’s work. If you are married, the primary purpose of your marriage is work that brings glory to God’s name. Whether that be the work of discipling children, or the work you do together in the church, or the secular work to which each of you is called. Marriage is a partnership in the work of the Lord.

If you are married, this means a couple things. First, marriage is not one of your responsibilities before the Lord that competes for your time. Marriage is the partnership in all your responsibilities before the Lord.

This means that we are called to take an interest in our spouse’s responsibilities, not just because we love them and are interested in their lives, but because we are partners in each other’s work. Husbands are responsible for their wives. Wives are called to help their husbands.

Because all work is a partnership in worship, it means that spouses have the opportunity to encourage one another to see all the work they do as an act of service.

Secondly, the shape of the marriage is to be determined by the calling God has given in creation, not merely by the shape of your personalities. God is a God who works to bring order out of chaos. Importantly, he has established order within the marriage relationship. Adam names his wife. Eve helps her husband. Our faithfulness to this order is an exercise of worship. Husbands who neglect their responsibilities and wives who assume authority demonstrate a lack of trust.

If your single and pursuing marriage in some form, realize that marriage is a partnership. The compatibility you seek with another should center primarily on the compatibility of service. Does the person in whom you’re interested have a heart for Christ and the church? Above all, consider whether you can see yourself serving faithfully with the other person for the rest of your life.

Regardless of our particular stage of life, each of us is called to work for the Lord, and in so doing, we bring glory to his name. We are called not to do this alone, but in partnership.

The partnership that Adam has with Eve was not only significant of the partnership of marriage. Adam and Eve are not only the first family, but also the first people of God. Thus they are a paradigm not only for marriage but also for the church. The church is the family of God. Gospel ministry must always be in partnership with the church, and only normally in the partnership of marriage. I'll look at this in a later post.

Let’s ensure our lives are used for work that clearly proclaims the Lord’s rule in fellowship with others.

A Christian view of Work 3: Work is Good because Work is Worship

Work is worship.

Eden is more than a garden. It was the place where God lived. Now, obviously God is everywhere. His word stretches out over the universe, just as it stretched the universe out. But in the garden, Adam and Eve met with God. They should have forever enjoyed walking with the Lord (Genesis 3:8).
Furthermore, in the middle of the garden were two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). The tree of life demonstrated God to be the source of all life. We have life only through our connection to God the life-giver. The tree of knowledge demonstrated that God ruled:
And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’ (Genesis 2:16-17).

God had the right to say what Adam could and could not do. Adam was not just to work as he saw fit, but to do so under God’s rule.
Not only does the tree of knowledge signify God’s ruling presence, so does the description of the land.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) (Gen. 2:10-12).

How strange to mention the presence of gold and precious stones. We don’t come across these onyx stones anywhere else in the Old Testament apart from one place. They turn up seven times in Exodus 25-40. In those chapters gold is mentioned 84 times.

So what’s Genesis 2 got to do with Exodus 25-40? That section of Exodus refers to the making of the tabernacle—the place where God would symbolize his presence with his people.
So what has this got to do with work? The word used for Adam’s work in Eden is the word used for the service of the priests in the tabernacle and temple. In other words, work and worship are bound together so closely that the call to work is the call to worship God. The work that man is called to in Eden is about worship—about serving the Lord.
Whatever our work, so long as it isn’t sinful, it is worship. Therefore, we should see our work as part of the Lord’s great work of bringing glory to himself.
The story is told of a traveler who, entering a city, comes across a vast building site where men are hewing and carrying large stones. He approaches one worker who is covered in dust as he hews what looks like a section of a pillar. “What are you doing?” the traveler asks. “Can’t you see? I’m hewing this stone.” Another man is carving something onto one of the stones already cut. The traveler asks him, “What are you doing?” “I’m earning seven groats a week,” he replies. A third man is almost buckling under the weight of a vast stone he is carrying. “What are you doing?” the traveler inquires. With a little light in his eyes, the worker responds, “I’m building a cathedral!”
Do we see our work as a part of God’s great plan to bring glory to his name, or merely as a drudgery inflicted upon us, or a necessary evil to earn our keep?
Paul reminds us that all our work should be an act of worship. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).That all our work is for the Lord should inform our attitude and response to relationships and circumstances at work. It can be enormously frustrating when a boss or an employee doesn’t do things the way we would like. We must remember that our work isn’t primarily for us. It is for the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus. Consequently, we must be sure that we are being faithful and trust that this will please the Lord.

A Christian view of Work 2: Work is Good because it is a good gift from God

Human work existed before the fall. it is part of God's perfect plan for humanity.
“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:28).
Humans have the job of ruling over the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Not only did that work exist before the fall, we reflect God’s image when we work.
The idea of dominion lies very close to the heart of what it means to be a human being. Genesis 1 makes it absolutely clear that God rules supreme. The universe did not exist until his creative word called it into existence. He received no help from anyone. His own word did the work. And the work was fantastic! By God’s word, planets and stars and creatures sprung into existence in all their diversity and richness. So God is a God who brings order out of chaos. That’s what work is.
Bringing order out of chaos is precisely what human beings are called to do—to rule over God’s world in the way that he rules. Or, more precisely, we are to rule in such a way that it proclaims his rule.
We know from Genesis 2:4-6 that without man the land remains chaotic. Thus, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam is to be the one who will irrigate this land so that plants will grow. In other words, God deliberately left his creation an unfinished project so that human beings could work just like he works.
But why would God do this? God gave man work so that we can know him in a way that no other creature can. As God’s image bearers, we can know what it means to have responsibility and authority. We can know what it’s like to be satisfied at the end of a productive week because what we’ve done is good. We can look back with satisfaction at the field we’ve irrigated or the computer code we’ve written or the clothes we’ve washed or the diapers we’ve changed or the squeaky door we’ve fixed or the painting we’ve painted or the distraught employee we’ve comforted or the meal we’ve cooked. We can think, “That was a mess. My work has put it in order. That’s good.”
Moreover, we should work self-consciously aware that we are created in God’s image. Thus, we proclaim the rule of the Lord as we work. We should think, “I’ve brought order out of chaos, just like my Maker does. What a wonderful God he is, not only to have made me, but to let me share in his work.”

Imagine a mother baking some cupcakes. Rather than icing all of them, she makes some icing and gives it to her four-year-old daughter along with some candy. She says to her daughter, “You can decorate these cakes as you like. You’ve seen me decorate some, now it’s your turn.”
The daughter then gets caught up in the work of the mother. The mother hasn’t just provided the cupcakes. She’s given the daughter a part in the work. Consequently, the little girl enjoys the cakes that her mother has made. But more than that, she is able to identify with her mother’s work, participate in it, and so better appreciate her mother’s service to the family. In short, the little girl’s participation in the work is good for her relationship with her mother.
So it is with the task of dominion to which man is called. Our work enables us to participate in the creative purposes of God as we bring order out of chaos. Such is the nature of God-ordained work.
Work has nothing to do with whether or not we are paid. It has everything to do with whether we are bringing order out of chaos. We must all work whether we are employed, unemployed (much of our work will then be to seek work), or work in the home. You need to work even if you are paying to be a student.Bringing order from chaos, consciously for God’s glory, lies close to the heart of our calling as human beings made in God’s image.

A Christian view of Work 1: Work is Good because God works

It is all too easy as a college student to adopt worldly lies about work. I'm going to outline some wrong views of work over the next few days, and provide a biblical view of our work instead.

A good book to read on this if you are interested is Mark Greene, Thank God It's Monday

Lie Number 1: Work is best avoided.

There are several reasons that we shall explore as to why work is good rather than to be avoided. first and foremost of these is this:

Work is good because God works.

Is work something to be avoided? Maybe you think I must have this attitude if I’m on the pastoral staff of a church. Many people think that a pastor has never done an honest day’s work in his life. The old saying goes that pastors are six days invisible and one day incomprehensible.
Actually, the longest secular job I’ve held down was as a newspaper delivery boy. I did that for about two years! So, since I stopped my paper-route at the age of sixteen, have I done rather well at avoiding work so that I could do what I enjoy doing?


We might be tempted to see work as a necessary evil that intrudes upon life, as if “real” life is what we do when we’re not working. Similarly, we might view work as that which enables us to really enjoy life. Such thinking tends to treat work and enjoyment as mutually exclusive categories with little relationship to one another in every day life.


According to the Bible, is work merely a necessary evil associated with living in a fallen world? Is work God’s curse to human beings who have rebelled against him?


Work comes not from the fall, but from creation. The first worker in the Bible isn’t Adam once he’s banished from Eden. It’s not even Adam before he is banished from Eden. The first worker is God himself. God is portrayed in Genesis 1 as the ultimate worker, who enjoys ultimate job satisfaction.
Therefore, work isn’t a curse to be avoided; it is a blessing to be enjoyed.


God is a God who works. His work brings order out of chaos.
The world begins formless and empty. For three days God forms. For three days he fills. By the end of day six, he has brought great order out of chaos: “The heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array” (Genesis 2:1). Whose work was it? “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:3). It was God’s work. This tells us something about who God is. He is a God of order, a creative God.Even though God rests on day seven, he doesn’t cease working altogether. Far from it.


If God doesn’t work, the universe ceases to exist. “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working’” (John 5:17).

We have a God who is always at His good work. therefore work cannot be intrinsically a bad thing. We should not therefore seek to avoid it, but embrace it.

Parachurch: A parasite?

John Stackhouse (Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancover) has blogged here on the relationship between church and parachurch.

He says some of the things that I've said below in support of parachurch organisation.

However, he makes an interesting comment that I must disagree with.

These groups are usually, but mistakenly, called “parachurch” as if they are not the Church (that is, the worldwide Body of Christ), but instead occupy a shadowy zone “beside” the Church. I use the term “shadowy” to allude to the suspicion and even outright hostility with which they are viewed by some Christians—not least by many clergy and denominational leaders. For such groups often are seen as distractions and diffusions of the Church’s resources, not least its money.
Thus we hear pastors urging congregations to tithe first to the local—which is to say, the “true”—church, and then (perhaps) to other ministries. I respond that such groups are not churches (that is, congregations or denominations), but they are certainly part of the Church. Indeed, I see them as the Church of Jesus Christ eployed in particular modes to accomplish particular purposes.

Yet such groups clearly are Christ’s Church mobilized and active in worthy pursuits. Thus the term “parachurch” really won’t do. I suggest instead the term paracongregational.”

By making the comment that these are not ‘para-church’ but ‘church’ though not ‘a church’ I think that this needs a little more fleshing out.
‘Church’ in the New Testament is used either of ‘A church’ or the universal church. It is not used of a subset of the universal church that is not ‘A church’. This leads him to strange conclusions, particularly regarding giving and the ordinances.

Grey areas do exist in some special purpose groups, to be sure, particularly around the sacraments: Should they be administered, and, if so, by whom? But most do not ever consider baptizing or serving communion. And their utterly voluntary nature means that church discipline is not exerted (although one must allow that church discipline is hard to find anywhere on the ecclesial landscape today).

Well, I would disagree that administration of the ordinances outside of the local congregation are 'grey areas'. The ordinances were given to the church. The church is expressed locally in churches. Churches may partner together in parachurch ministries but that does not make those ministries churches.

This also affects Stackhouse's view of Christian giving.

...such groups often are seen as distractions and diffusions of the Church’s resources, not least its money. Thus we hear pastors urging congregations to tithe first to the local—which is to say, the “true”—church, and then (perhaps) to other ministries....

Why not support both, therefore, with glad hearts, open wallets, and ready hands?For the New Testament churches supported and benefited from the apostle Paul then he was resident in their congregations, and they supported him in his independent, organized ministry to benefit others when he was away. Maybe I’m just an old-fashioned and simplistic Bible believer, but this idea doesn’t seem all that difficult to me.

I have no problem with giving to parachurch organisations. But the very passage that Stackhouse quotes shows that this should primarily be the local church that is giving to the parachurch, not the individual Christian. I don't want to lay down a law here (I don't think there even are laws on 'giving' except that of generosity & no compulsion). There may be personal opportunities and friendships that would mean we would want to support particular ministries and individuals with needs we know about.

However, to suggest that the individual should have no priority of giving to the local chruch rather than the parachurch is to give in to the individualistic spirit of the day, which suggests that my personal wisdom as to what to do with the funds is higher than the combined wisdom of those that I have covenanted with, and my responsibility to my own personal portfolio is higher than my responsibility to the body to which I belong.

How not to loose your faith at College

Great article on this here

HT: Thabiti Anyabwile

Top tips for College Students 5: Use your vacations well

I know that as College Students vacations seem all too short. But realise that you will NEVER have so much vacation time again in your life. Don't just let them happen... plan them well.

1) You may well need to get a job. If you get the chance try to get a job where you think you will have the most evangelistic opportunities. As an student I worked as a sales assistant, a barman, a statistician, and an office junior. (I had 6 years as a student) All of these were good environments for good conversations with colleagues and/or clients.

2) Your time as an undergraduate may well be your best ever chance to go on a slightly longer short term missions project. If you possibly can, I would suggest that it is a great idea to dedicate a substantial part of at least one of your vacations to an opportunity where you will be able to spend time with missionaries on the ground in a place where the gospel is little known. I had the privilege to spend a month in North Africa as an undergrad. This opened my eyes to the Muslim world, the life of missionaries and the power of the gospel in ways that have certainly shaped me and my ministry even 15 years later.

3) Read good books. When you are away from your studies, read good books.

4) Read the whole bible. vacations can be a time when devotions lapse due to a lack of routine. They are actually the best time for getting substantial bible reading done. It takes about 70 hours to read the entire bible. Block out a reading plan to get through in a vacation. Make notes, summarising the message of each book. A loose leaf bible (On special offer here) is a great resource for making notes.

5) Pray for quality time with old friends. It's easy to drift back into old patterns of behaviour with old friends. The Lord may have changed you dramatically in a semester. Do let that change be invisible to your friends and family. Talk openly about what the Lord has been doing in your life, both with Christians and non-Christians. It is as we let our light shine before men that they will praise our Father in heaven. (Matt 5:16)

6) Note that all this takes planning. Start planning the use of your vacations 6 months in advance.

CHBC Students Favorite quotes from The SBTS conference

I asked the students who attended the conference the most helpful quotes they'd heard. Here's some people's favourites...

"Flee from temptation: why keep it like a pet?" Dr Plummer

"Clothing proves our need for salvation. Lack of clothing shows a lack of need for salvation."
Dr Wise.

"Marriage happened before the fall. Marriage is a more primary relationship than that between father and child." Dr Mohler

"In the curse authority becomes domination, submission becomes usurpation. (Genesis 3) In redemption the created order is restored. (Ephesians 5)" Dr Wise.

"Home is not your castle - it is your cross where you learn daily to die to self and learn to serve you wife and children." Dr Beougher

"We need to love homosexuals more than homosexuals love homosexuality" Mohler

"In Glory it will be better than if sin had never happened and therefore redemption had never occured" Mohler.

"Our culture reduces sex merely to the act" Wellum

"Everything finds completion in the Son" Wellum