Written by Kent Hughes

Sweat, sweat, sweat, and a little more sweat. This is the most basic message of ‘The Disciplines of a Godly Man’. R. Kent Hughes starts out with a few good examples of men who are very successful. He shows us Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, Ernest Hemmingway and Thomas Edison. They all had one thing in common – success. Below that, their greater commonality was how they achieved success in their chosen fields – discipline, hard work, sweat.

As Christian men, we are called to serve God, to labour in His harvest field, and as with any other man, success is almost invariably had where discipline and hard work is to be found. Read Proverbs, ‘The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.’ And Paul says ‘train yourselves for godliness’.

Why do they say this? Why does Hughes beat into the mind that without discipline in our relationships (both God and others), without disciplining ourselves to read the word and diligently pray, without discipline in our jobs and in working together for the Kingdom of God, we will invariably fall short. This is not to reject the idea that it is only grace that saves, but rather to say that, by grace we are able to grow into a greater likeness of Christ, and this through discipline.

In conclusion, if you are willing to be challenged, if you are willing to say no to laziness and instead to sweat for Christ and the expansion of His Kingdom, but don’t know where to start, this book is for you. I have had my life picked to shreds by it, and in the rebuilding I have grown much. I hope you appreciate it as much as I.

Reviewed by Alex Mead

Scott and I recently flew over to the might city of Sydney for TWIST 08, which stands for ‘The word in song together’.  TWIST is held annually, and over the last six years has become one of the premier music ministry training events in Australia.  With a focus on quality bible teaching and practical application, TWIST seeks to challenge church musicians to grow theologically and practically in their ministries.  So then, what did we learn?

Well, I’d like to share with you guys a few thoughts on the theology of singing, and three possible reasons why people don’t sing in church.

Singing is, and has always been, an important way for God’s people to respond to His character and acts.

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:1-2)

“Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.  Declare his glory among all the nations, his marvellous works among all his peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, he is to be feared above all gods.” (Psalm 96 1-4)

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant… He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (Luke 1:46-8, 54-5)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people for nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

Singing edifies and encourages.

“What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.  Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Corinthians 14:26)

Singing helps express emotion.

“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13b)

Singing can evangelise.

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25)

Music ministry is a Word ministry!

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16-17)

Now I’d like to share with you three possible reasons why people don’t sing in church:

(1) Songs are chosen that are too hard for either to band to play or the congregation to sing.

(2) The song leaders/singers aren’t doing their job properly. In other words, they are inadequate at leading the congregation to sing along with them, especially if a new song is being introduced.

(3) The church is struggling with a spiritual issue, by which I mean the people don’t know how to respond or might not want to respond to God in praise, thanksgiving or adoration.  This reason had never occurred to me before, and would probably be the most challenging for everyone!

Church music has got to be one of the most contentious topics around, so if anyone has questions or comments, please holla back…

Peace.

Matthias Loong

Last night at Campus Church I reviewed a new book on our bookstall about faith.

“Faith - It’s Always Been A Matter of Trust” by Bryson Smith…($12)

I know I get excited about books generally, but it’s fantastic to spend an hour and half reading a book from cover to cover and walking away feeling encouraged and sharpened on such a key topic.

I really want to create a culture in Campus Church of reading and giving books away. Wouldn’t it fantastic to have members constantly reading new books - then going the next step of asking the question - who really needs to hear this message? How can I get this material to them?

Here’s my three reasons why I think it’s worth reading and then giving away (and sorry - you can’t get a copy from our bookstall anymore - we sold all our copies by the end of the night! We’ll try and make another order very soon).

1. It’s short

This is no magnum opus - this is a short punchy summary of a key Christian topic. It’s 6 chapters - each of which can be read in under 15 minutes. So it’s great for the bus or for a quick study break during exam time.

2. It’s Clear

Bryson is a pastor of a church in country NSW. You get the feel that this material arises from serious study of the Bible in the context of real world struggles and the normal kinds of misunderstandings about faith I hear so often.

Bryson has spoken in Christchurch before - I think at our Men’s Convention - he writes clearly and the tone is pretty conversational throughout the book. It feels like it has been refined over several presentations in preaching or other contexts.

…oh and if you’re into studying books together - there’s a few page discussion guide in the back that might help you think further about it and apply it in your lives. I think that can be a helpful think if you’re looking for a way of structuring a catchup with a Christian friend.

3. It’s Faithful

The book is deceptively simple - in 100 pages you feel like you’ve just started - but when I thought back over the material it was obvious that he’d done the hard work with the Bible. As I think over the New Testament teaching on faith, it felt like the balance of the book was well represented and all the key passages looked at throughout the text. He didn’t even feel afraid to reproduce the whole of Hebrews 11 as part of the text!

It also presents a view of faith that arises from the Bible itself, and from that critiques the most common distortions of that we see around today.

• Faith as mere positive thinking is critiqued by reconnecting faith to the promises of God in Scripture. Faith is shown to be trusting the promises that God has made and believing that is both willing and able to keep his promises. Demanding God keep promises he hasn’t made is shown to be what it is - lesser, not greater faith.
• Faith as believing in things for which there is no proof is critiqued in the light of Romans 4:21 - “being fully convinced that God is able to do what he has promised” and passages like Luke 1:1-4 which stress the certainty we can have as believers.
• Faith that is merely intellectual is critiqued as not measuring up to biblical faith which always results in changed lives - active obedience. I really liked the explanation of key passages here like James 2:14ff.

There are chapters on the power and consequences of faith (forgiveness and assurance), the purpose of faith (to bring glory to God), the life of faith (talking about faith and obedience), the enemies of faith (both sin and mere distractions from the main game) and Jesus - the founder and perfecter of faith.

I think the thing that excited me about it was that I could here echoes of many conversations over the years where alternative views of faith were being promoted. It’s great to be able to have a simple and short book to be able to put in people’s hands and say - take and read!

In the New Zealand church scene there is a lot of talk about key Christian words like faith, but not a lot of clarity or precision on what we actually mean by them. It would be great for this book to get a hearing in churches across this country!

Any thoughts?

Nick