The Blog Every Christian Should Read

I recently read someone's post / blog who wrote about a sermon that was available for free download. They said, "This is a sermon every Christian needs to hear." I forget who said it really, but I might as well post my name to that.... mostly because I've said that before. C.J. Mahaney's message at the Resolved Conference in 2008 from Galatians 4, "God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption", is a sermon I've heart about 4 or 5 times; and I've said more times than that, "Dude, you have to listen to this." What can I say... it was a great message.

When I see or hear something great, I usually want to share that with people I know. Sometimes I get really excited about it...
"You have to watch this movie!"
"You need to buy this CD."
"You've gotta listen to this sermon!"
"Dude! You need this thing that adds to the Bible! You just have to!"

My dad is someone who I look up to a lot (not literally though). I remember a time not too long ago where he was talking about a word I use pretty much every day... "awesome!". He was talking to a mutual friend about how he chooses to reserve that word for God alone, just as a personal choice of reverence to the Lord (because ultimately, only God is awesome... not God and my burrito). It's not something that he expects to be a governing point in everyone else's life, but he wanted to shepherd his heart to love God as being a holy (uniquely set apart) God. It's nice to set apart certain things to only certain people. I've never told a girl "I love you", which will be nice someday when I can say that to my future fiancée / wife (and yes, I have told my mom, grandmothers, and aunts... doesn't count).

There's something about our hearts, though, that wants to go beyond straightforward communication with each other, and it's called pride. When I experience something you haven't, like say.... the newest Pixar short, I want to share that with you so that you watch it too. For me, what usually happens is I let my pride get in the mix, and I go from "Pixar has a new short, you need to see it!" to "I've seen something you haven't and I'm now going to be the one to share it with you because I'm privileged in my experience and knowledge in a way that you can enjoy what I'm already ahead of you in." Did you catch that? It was kinda subtle... which is the point really. What we say may or may not divulge our pride. Sometimes it's noticeable; sometimes it's hidden. Sometimes it's not even there... we just genuinely want someone else to be blessed too. But pride is kinda tricky, so best to watch for it.

Circling back around, there's nothing wrong with saying "You need to listen to this message!", but there is something wrong when I say that out of a foundation of pride. Let me tell you, it's hard... because Pride is one of my 'closest' friends. I hate Pride, but he's with me almost all the time. One of the clearest miscalculations we make in our speech is when we qualify exponentially or universally. "Everyone", "must", "need", etc. Let's go back to what I've probably said a few times before: "Every Christian needs to hear this sermon." Um... really? So... the new born believer in Argentina needs to hear this? Obviously, the statement doesn't intend to qualify in this way... we're just trying to strongly encourage others to experience what we've experienced. But are those cases really "needs"?

I need Jesus Christ and I need His spoken Word. Jesus is my chief need and His Word is how He teaches me about Himself. A sermon is just a way to point to Him and His Word. Sometimes we get overly excited about a specific, available tool that God can use and forget about the tool's craftsman. I don't need to listen to every ground breaking sermon that Piper, MacArthur, Mahaney, or... Joe Smith has preached... I need the One who breaks the hard soil. I don't need to go to every great conference or hear every amazing song or read every articulate book. God is great, amazing, and articulate.

Again, there isn't anything wrong with getting excited about a conference, message, book, or Christ exalting song... those are great! I tell people all the time that they "need to listen to this"! I just need to check my heart more often than I do. Because my pride often underlies the root of those qualifiers in a way that might try to steal glory from my God. It might make me think that I'm privileged in experience or information. Or it might make my brother or sister feel "left out" on God's grace because they haven't read a certain book, or even just very many books at all. Grace flows onto the one who dwells on the love of Jesus Christ and His glory... not me with my stack of books, iPod full of Piper, four sermons a week, Mr. I-Can-Find-Galatians-Faster-Than-You-Can "accomplishments". Be encouraged by the brother who spends a quarter of the sermon flipping through the Bible as he tries to find the text... he's thirsty for the Word. Pray for him; don't do what I do and think, "Just go to the index already, bro! It's right there!".

If a book, sermon, song, or conference was something that "every Christian" should read / hear / listen to / attend, God would have put it in His Word.

Watch out for our pride when we seek to share or encourage, and love Jesus Christ instead.