This post is from a Romanian pastor, friend, and former seminary colleague of mine, Ovidiu Patrick. He sent it to me a couple weeks ago, and I asked him if I could share it with others.

Grace.

Gifts.

Gladness.

Gratitude.

All these words are in a logical and theological order. In Greek, they all belong to the same family of words (charis-charisma-chara-eucharisteo).

GRACE (charis)

God is the author and the source of grace. Grace is the best thing that ever happened to man. Without grace we are condemned and lost in God’s divine court.

Grace is not a theory, a myth, or a beautiful idea. Grace is God’s favor for the lost. This divine favor is materialized in God becoming man, in the incarnation that we celebrate year after year on Christmas. Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of grace.

The grace of God gives the condemned man what he does not deserve – eternal forgiveness and endless life – and does not give man what he deserves – eternal damnation and destruction. To be in God’s grace is to be right with God and to live a free life, free from sin that the law of God condemns and from which it cannot save you.

Grace saves. The law condemns.

Grace takes you out of all sin’s debts. The law shows the eternal debts that man has before God.

Grace has the power to change the man. The law is powerless in changing anybody.

Grace is amazing. The law is frightening.

The law shows you what only grace can do, but from God are both law and grace.

GIFTS (charisma)

Everybody loves gifts. Gifts are free, like grace. Grace doesn’t cost you anything, but it cost God all He had.

God loves to give gifts to His children. The spiritual gifts that He gives are indispensable in God’s economy. All the people of God have received spiritual gifts from Him. Throughout church history these gifts have been a controversial subject. The purpose of this article is not that of elucidating and clarifying each spiritual gift; it is not that of becoming a referee between Christians who do believe in miraculous gifts and those who don’t. The truth about gifts is that they always come because of grace. There are no gifts from God without grace. We cannot work for them, cannot bribe God for them, cannot choose them, pay for them, or insist so much in prayer before God hoping to incline His will to give them to you. The grace of God brings the gifts of God.

Sin took away everything we had, robbing us of godliness. Grace gave us everything we needed. The spiritual gifts are all we need. We cannot neglect them. Living the life based on the spiritual gifts brings fulfillment and places us in the center of God’s will. If a Christian has everything he wants, but he is not using his spiritual gifts, he will always be frustrated, stressed, and envious. Spiritual gifts are the real thing in life.

GLADNESS (chara)

Gifts bring joy in the house. Every house where you can find presents, you will find joy too. The lack of joy is either because we neglect our gifts or because we try to “steal” somebody’s gift. The spiritual thieves always try to violate God’s sovereignty over gifts. They are not enjoying what God gave them, they want what others have.

Christian life is abundant joy. When joy is missing, something is not right. Actually, joy is the objective and accurate way of testing your spiritual gifts. Stop imitating others’ gifts. Start rejoicing for the gifts you received from God.

GRATITUDE (eucharisteo)

Joyful people never forget to say, “Thank you.” Gratitude is a sign that you enjoy what you got.

More than ever before, gratitude is a missing mark of our generation. We are dissatisfied with what we have.

Gratitude is the sign that you understand grace. Grace cannot leave you in a state of ingratitude. People who do not capture the idea of grace are people dissatisfied with what they have, with their accomplishments. They always want more, no matter if it is money, physical pleasure, success, or influence.

But once you taste grace, you want more of Christ. In grace there is a continual gratitude, a peace that surpasses understanding. Grace gives you rest from all the things that exhaust you and never fulfill you. When you live by grace, gratitude for heaven is there because heaven is real for you; it is not just a wish, as the people in my country of Romania say, “I wish I can get to heaven,” “I wish I was saved, but have I done everything to deserve that?” Christ has done everything. The believer’s attitude cannot be but continuous gratitude.

The meaning and the order of these four words should capture our attention because they speak about what is essential in life, and we do not want to miss that. Where grace abounds, gratitude follows unceasingly.

UPDATE: The website for The Gospel Project has been launched.

A little over a year ago, I transitioned out of pastoral ministry and took on the role of editor at LifeWay Christian Resources of a new small group curriculum for churches.

Beginning Stages

My first two months at LifeWay (November-December 2010) were primarily focused on helping develop the vision for the new curriculum. In conjunction with Ed Stetzer (general editor), I began mapping out what topics this curriculum might cover. We put together some different options – some focused more on systematic theology, others focused on a variety of approaches, etc.

We also began putting on paper the core values we wanted to keep at the forefront of this curriculum. “Theologically robust” (which we renamed “deep, but not dry”), “Christ-centered,” “Grand-narrative-focused,” and “Mission-driven” are the important elements we want to see in every quarter and (hopefully) every lesson. We took these buzz words and fleshed out how they might apply to a curriculum.

Advisory Council

Then we brought together an advisory council to speak into the project, leaders like D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, James MacDonald, J.D. Greear, Eric Mason, Juan Sanchez, Collin Hansen, Kimberly Thornbury, Joe Thorn, Danny Akin, and Jay Noh. We met with members of the council in Dallas and Chicago earlier this year and received helpful feedback and great insight into this curriculum.

The meetings with the advisory council were very helpful. The group helped us refine the vision, make needed adjustments, and craft a three-year cycle that brings together systematic theology within the framework of the Bible’s grand narrative. After both meetings, we went back to the drawing board – affirmed in our general direction yet helpfully challenged in some of the particulars.

The Writing Begins

We went back and forth on a few different names for this new curriculum, finally settling on TGM (Theology, Gospel, Mission), a name that helped us crystallize the three components we wanted to have present in every lesson. Earlier this year, we began gathering writers for the initial quarters. The writers’ meetings have been wonderful. I can’t believe I get to meet and work with such great people!

Some of our writers include: George Robinson (professor of missions and evangelism at Southeastern Seminary who has done extensive work on the evangelistic tool The Story), Jared Wilson (pastor in Vermont, author of LifeWay’s Threads study Abide, and Gospel Wakefulness), Juan Sanchez (pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, TX), Halim Suh (pastor at Austin Stone Community Church), Jonathan Leeman (editorial director of 9Marks), Geoff Ashley (discipleship pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, TX), etc.

The curriculum launches in Fall of 2012. The second and third installments of the material will take people on a journey through the Bible in 26 weeks. George Guthrie (Union University professor and author of Read the Bible for Life) has been instrumental in helping us think through how best to accomplish this task.

Major Development – “The Gospel Project”

At the same time I was working on editing the adult curriculum, a student team and a kids team were working on similar products for those age groups. A couple weeks ago, Eric Geiger, the new vice president over the Church Resources Division at LifeWay, recommended that we bring these three curriculum options under one umbrella. This change shifted me from being editor of the adult piece to being managing editor of all three lines. My task is now to oversee the gospel-centered content development across all age groups. Ed Stetzer is now general editor of all three lines as well.

These changes also meant we would need to (yet again) change the name, so as to accurately reflect the emphasis for all age groups. We’ve settled on the name “The Gospel Project.” The new name communicates the ongoing nature of this curriculum roll-out. It also communicates that this isn’t just about creating Bible studies. The curriculum itself isn’t the project that’s most important; we are. We are the gospel project. Our prayer is that as small groups of all ages work through these studies, the gospel will work on us. The church is God’s gospel project.

I’d appreciate your prayers for me and for the teams who are working on this new product. We believe “The Gospel Project” has the potential to serve the church in a good way, as it provides a gospel-centered resource for children, students, and adults.

Today I’m joined by Winfield Bevins, author of Creed: Connect to the Basic Essentials of Historic Christian Faith, and Derek Vreeland, author of Primal Credo: Your Entrance into the Apostles’ Creed. Both of these books deal with the use of the Apostle’s Creed in spiritual formation. I found these books to be helpful in different ways. Winfield focuses more on discipling a new believer, while Derek’s exposition intends to increase a believer’s knowledge of the basic truths of Christianity. I’ve invited Winfield and Derek to join me for a conversation about the usefulness of the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer in discipleship.

Trevin Wax: I thought about titling this blog post Why We Love The Creeds… By 3 Guys Who Shouldn’t. After all, we are young-ish and early-on in ministry. Yet all three of us have come to the conclusion that the Apostle’s Creed is a terrific place to begin the discipleship process. Ironically, none of us grew up in churches where creeds were recited or referenced. So I’m curious, how did you guys stumble upon this early confession, and what convinced you of its value to the church today?

Derek Vreeland: I first heard of the Apostles’ Creed while I was in college in the early 1990′s. I had grown up in a non-creedal church that taught us the evils of “secular” music. The alternative to the devil’s music was, of course, heavenly inspired, contemporary Christian music, which included the late, great Rich Mullins. I heard his song “Creed” during the “Christian-music-only” phase of my spiritual journey. Singing about the creed, Mullins says:

“I did not make it;
no it is making me.
It is the very truth of God
not the invention of any man.“

In my second seminary experience, I entered into a time of personal rediscovery of the doctrine of the Trinity. I had spent much of my faith journey drinking from the well of the charismatic renewal, and somehow I had lost sight of the Trinity in the brightness of a robust view of the Holy Spirit. Elevating the role of the Trinity helped me to redefine my faith not as “charismatic” or even “evangelical” (though I embrace both of these traditions) but as Trinitarian. So I was able to answer the question “What kind of Christian are you?” with the single adjective “Trinitarian.”

Trevin Wax: So you came to see the value of the creed through the back door of discovering the importance of Trinitarianism.

Derek Vreeland: Yes. During this Trinitarian transition in my own heart and life, I found myself pastoring a church in rural South Georgia. As a congregation, we were hip, cool, casual, and nondenominational. I enjoyed that kind of vibe in church life and in the setting of Sunday morning worship, but I found that it lacked the depth and richness that come from connecting with Christian origins. We were self-consciously anti-traditional. The dark underbelly of this kind of approach to church life is it can lead to spiritual pride and elitism.

I began thinking: Why would we want to reject the gifts of the historic, traditional church? They gave us the Bible that we are absolutely devoted to. Why not accept the creed too? The beauty of the creed is it allows us to connect with the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” and it gives us the essentials of what it means to be a Christian believer.

Trevin Wax: What about you, Winfield?

Winfield Bevins: I grew up in a nominal Baptist home. Everyone knows that Baptists are not known for being creedal. So needless to say, I never heard of the creeds until I was in seminary. There I discovered that church history was a treasure chest of ancient tools and practices for discipleship. As I studied church history, I was introduced to the Apostles’ Creed and its significance for all believers regardless of their background or denominational affiliation.

I began to think to myself, If the creeds mattered to the majority of Christians throughout the history of the church, shouldn’t they matter to us as well? Slowly I became convinced of the importance of the Apostles’ Creed as a universal affirmation of the basic essentials of the Christian faith and of its doctrinal importance for today.

Another development in my understanding of the creed happened when I began using the Book of Common Prayer for my personal devotional life. The Book of Common Prayer contains the Daily Office, which is based on the ancient practice of prescribed daily times of prayer. These services are accompanied by daily Scripture readings (a reading from the Psalms, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and a Gospel reading). The Apostles’ Creed is included in the Daily Office and is meant to be recited and prayed during morning and evening prayers.

By following the Daily Office, I discovered the devotional nature of the creeds. Doctrine and devotion go hand in hand. Creeds are not just something that we confess as a statement of faith on Sunday but truths that transform us as we seek to live according to the gospel message in the real world. Therefore, I believe the primary value of the Apostles’ Creed for today is in both doctrine and devotion.

Derek Vreeland: Winfield, we also are beginning to use the Book of Common Prayer in the devotional life of our church. We pray the collect for the week in our services, and I am beginning to incorporate this into my own devotional life. You make a good point. The creed is both devotional and dialectical. There is a liturgical rhythm to the creed that gives it a sense of devotional beauty that works well in private devotions and corporate worship.

Trevin Wax: It’s interesting you bring up the Book of Common Prayer. During my last year in Romania, I became very dissatisfied with my own lack of passion in prayer. A friend gave me the Book of Common Prayer as a help and guide. The idea of praying a written prayer was foreign to me, but I found that the collects and the rhythm and structure reinvigorated my prayer life. My spontaneous prayers were then shaped and formed by this time-tested guide to prayer.

The way I look at it is like a child trying on his dad’s shoes. As a kid, you think, Will my feet ever fit into these shoes? That’s the way I felt when praying the words of Augustine, Cranmer, etc. These are spiritual giants whose footsteps I walk in. My heart isn’t where it needs to be, but as I pray written prayers, as I pray the psalms and the Lord’s Prayer, I sense that God is slowly shaping my heart so that I start wanting the things I’m praying for.

It sounds like for you guys there is a devotional aspect of this that is distinct from the discipleship process. Let’s talk about that for a moment. How has the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer affected you devotionally?

Derek Vreeland: The devotional life is a part of discipleship in my view. As a follower of Jesus, we need to practice certain disciplines so we can put ourselves in places where we can be changed and transformed by the Spirit. I have made the Lord’s Prayer the very basis of my own prayer life.

I believe evangelicals have made the mistake of assuming Jesus never intended us to recite the prayer He gave. Jesus gave us both a pattern to pray and a prayer to pray when He said, “When you pray, say…” (Luke 11:2). I tried to pray on my own for years, praying spontaneous prayers, which for the most part were shallow and weak. I do pray spontaneous prayers, but my personal prayer life is built around the prayer Jesus gave us.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer keeps me focused on God and His kingdom, which makes the Lord’s Prayer a perfect companion to the Apostles’ Creed. One of the weaknesses of the creed is there is no reference to the kingdom of God, no reference to anything Jesus actually taught. The creed goes from the incarnation of Christ (conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary) to the passion of Christ (suffered under Pontius Pilate). So it is difficult to say that the creed contains all of the essentials of the faith without including the kingdom of God, which is central to all Jesus taught. Praying the Lord’s Prayer on a regular basis complements the creed with a regular request for God’s kingdom to come.

Winfield Bevins: I am not surprised that guys like us are beginning to discover and use the Book of Common Prayer. It offers a refreshing alternative to our ahistorical, postmodern, contemporary version of Christianity. It is not a substitute for personal or private prayer; rather, it is an aide that can help enhance and deepen our personal prayer life.

The Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer help us rediscover the devotional aspect of discipleship. While discipleship is very personal and private, it is also communal. It is my belief that disciples are made in community, not isolation. Perhaps the reason why many churches struggle with making disciples is that they do not know how to live in community.

Like Derek’s church, we also pray the collect each Sunday. In addition, we also say the Lord’s Prayer together during the service. By doing this we are reminded of the corporate nature of our discipleship. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Our Father,” “Give us,” “Forgive us,” and “Lead us.” We pray it personally, but we also pray it corporately together. It reminds us that we are not alone, that we are a part of a larger Christian family of men and women who have gone before us in the faith as well as with millions of believers living today.

Likewise, whenever we say the Apostles’ Creed, we are also uniting with Christians everywhere who are affirming the same essentials of the faith. It wasn’t invented yesterday, and there is something comforting and devotional about that, kind of like a warm cup of coffee in the morning. The Apostles’ Creed is a great gift to the church and belongs to all Christians everywhere.

Derek Vreeland: The devotional life is a part of discipleship, but it is only one part. I agree that discipleship is communal and that the Lord’s Prayer, with all of its third-person pronouns, helps to underscore the communal nature of following Christ. This is another reason why the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect companion to the Apostles’ Creed. The creed is all in the first person – “I believe…” The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that there is a “we” behind the “I.”

I also see the ecumenical value of the creed. We can become stunted in our spiritual growth if we only read and fellowship with Christians within our own tradition. Connecting with Christians of different traditions through conversation or through their writings stretches us and allows us to see our blind spots. We may not always agree, but what binds us together is our common confession of faith through the creed.

Trevin Wax: Thanks for this conversation, guys! May the prayer given to us by our Lord and the creed given to us by the early church aid our spiritual growth as the Spirit fashions us into the image of Christ.

Just once, I’d like to see a TV interview go more like this:

Host: You are a Christian pastor, and you say you believe the Bible, which means you are supposed to love all people.

Pastor: That’s right.

Host: But it appears to me that you and your church take a rather unloving position when it comes to gay people. Are homosexuals welcome to come to your church?

Pastor: Of course. We believe that the gospel is a message relevant for every person on the planet, and we want everyone to hear the gospel and find salvation in Jesus Christ. So at our church, our arms are outstretched to people from every background, every race, every ethnicity and culture. We’re a place for all kinds of sinners and people with all kinds of problems.

Host: But you said there, “We’re a place for sinners.” So you do believe that homosexuality is sinful, right?

Pastor: Yes, I do.

Host: So how do you reconcile the command to love all people with a position on homosexuality that some would say is radically intolerant?

Pastor: (smiling) If you think my position on homosexuality is radical, just wait until you hear what else I believe! I believe that a teenage guy and girl who have sex in the backseat of a pick-up are sinning. The unmarried heterosexual couple living down the street from me is sinning. In fact, any sexual activity that takes place outside of the marriage covenant between a husband and wife is sinful. What’s more, Jesus takes this sexual ethic a step further and goes to the heart of the matter. That means that any time I even lust after someone else, I am sinning. Jesus’ radical view of sexuality shows all of us up as sexual sinners, and that’s why He came to die. Jesus died to save lustful, homo- and heterosexual sinners and transform our hearts and minds and behavior. Because He died for me, I owe Him my all. And as a follower of Jesus, I’m bound to what He says about sex and morality.

Host: But Jesus didn’t condemn homosexuality outright, did He?

Pastor: He didn’t have to. He went to the heart issue and intensified the commands against immoral behavior in the Old Testament. So Jesus doesn’t just condemn adultery, for example, as does one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus condemns even the lust that leads to adultery, all with the purpose of offering us transformed hearts that begin beating in step with His radical demands.

Host: You say he condemned adultery, but he chose not to condemn the woman caught in adultery.

Pastor: That’s right, but He did tell her to “go and sin no more.”

Host: But who are you to condemn someone who doesn’t line up with your personal beliefs about sexuality?

Pastor: Who am I? No one. It’s not all that important what I think about these things. This conversation about homosexuality isn’t really about my personal beliefs. They’re about Jesus and what He says. I have no right to condemn or judge the world. That right belongs to Jesus. My hope is to follow Him faithfully. That means that whatever He says in regard to sexual practices is what I believe to be true, loving, and ultimately best for human flourishing – even when it seems out of step with the whims of contemporary culture.

Host: But you are judging. You are telling all the gay people watching this broadcast that they are sinners.

Pastor: I’m not singling out gay people. I’m pointing to Jesus as the answer to all sexual sinfulness.

Host: But you are referring to gay people. Why are you so focused on homosexuality?

Pastor: (smiling) With all due respect, you are the one who brought up this subject.

Host: Are you saying that you can’t be gay and Christian?

Pastor: No. I’m saying that you can’t be a genuine Christian without repentance. Everyone – including me – is guilty of sin, but Christianity hinges on repentance. We agree with God about our sin, and we turn from it and turn toward Jesus. When it comes to Christianity, this debate is not about homosexuality versus other sins. It’s about whether or not repentance is integral to the Christian life.

Host: But do you see why a homosexual watching this might think you are attacking them personally? You’re saying that something is wrong with them.

Pastor: I think Jesus’ teaching on sexuality shows us that there is something wrong with all of us – something that can only be fixed by what Jesus did for us on the cross and in His resurrection. That said, I understand why people might think I am attacking them personally. Most people with same-sex desires believe they were born with these tendencies. That’s why they often see their attraction as going to the very core of who they are, and so they identify themselves with the “gay” label. So whenever someone questions their behavior or desires, they take it as an attack on the very core of their being. That’s usually not the intent of the person who disagrees with homosexual behavior. But that’s the way it is perceived. I understand that.

Host: If it’s true that a person is born with one sexual orientation or another, then how can it possibly be loving to condemn one person’s orientation?

Pastor: Well, we really don’t know for certain about sexual attraction being innate and set from birth. All we have is the testimony of people who say that they’ve experienced same-sex desires since childhood. Christianity teaches that all people are born with a bent toward sin. It’s possible that some people will have a propensity toward alcohol abuse or angry outbursts, while others may have a propensity toward other sins. Regardless, Christians believe people are more than their sexual urges. We believe that human dignity is diminished whenever we define ourselves by sexual urges and behaviors. Consider this: married men are sometimes attracted to multiple women who are not their wives. Does this mean they should self-identify as polygamists? Not at all. And surely you wouldn’t consider it hateful for Christians to encourage married men not to act on their desires in an effort to remain faithful to their spouses. It is the Christian way, after all.

Host: No, but it still seems like you are telling people not to be true to who they are.

Pastor: It only seems that way because you believe sexual desire reflects the core of one’s identity. It would help if you and others who agree with you would understand that in your putting pressure on me to accept homosexual behavior as normal and virtuous, you are going to the very core of my identity as a follower of Jesus. The label most important to me is “Christian.” My identity – in Christ – is central to who I am. So I could say the same thing and call you intolerant, bigoted, and hateful for trying to change a conviction that goes to the core of who I am as a Christian. I don’t say that because I don’t believe that’s your intention. But neither should you think it’s my intention to attack a homosexual person or cause them harm merely because I disagree.

Host: But the problem is, your position fosters hate and encourages bullying.

Pastor: I recognize that some people have mistreated homosexuals in the past. It’s a shame that anyone anywhere would mock, taunt, or bully another human being made in God’s image. That said, I think we need to make one thing clear in regard to civil discourse: To differ is not to hate. I hope we can still have a real conversation in this country about different points of view without casting one another in the worst possible light. The idea that disagreeing with homosexual behavior necessarily results in harm to gay people is designed to shut down conversation and immediately rule one point of view (in this case, the Christian one) out of bounds. As a Christian, I am to love my neighbor and seek his good, even when I don’t see eye to eye with my neighbor. Furthermore, the picture of Christ on the cross dying for His enemies necessarily affects the way I think about this and other issues.

Today, I’m welcoming N.D. (Nate) Wilson to the blog to talk about truth and beauty. Nate is the author of a number of books, including Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World. The DVD of Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl is available in the iTunes store (and for my international readers, you can find it in iTunes in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands/Belgium, and Sweden too!).

Trevin Wax: Nate, thanks for taking the time to join me for a blog conversation. I’ve been beating the drum for a while now about the need for Christians to go beyond mere affirmation and articulation of Christian truth and seek to proclaim and celebrate doctrine in ways that underscore the inherent beauty of Truth Himself. As I’ve made this case, I’ve noticed that your name keeps coming up in comments and emails.

Last week, I started reading Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl and then I watched the excellent DVD based on the book. I’m happy to see that while guys like me are blabbing on about the need for beauty, guys like you are already delivering thoughtful, rich, dare-I-say exuberant prose that stirs up a sense of wonder at life, love, and the beauty of Christian truth.

Why is it important that we seek to communicate truth in persuasive and artistically powerful ways?

Nate Wilson: It is important that we communicate well (in ways that resonate artistically as well as theologically) because it adds a great deal of persuasive force – a sort of aesthetic affirmation and enticement to believe what is being said.

As a simple example, imagine being taken over to some family’s home and being told in advance that this family had really tapped into a deeper and truer and more beautiful way of relating to each other. But then, when the front door opens, all you smell are stale socks and a little pyramid of cat poo that’s lurking in the corner. The smell itself is already an argument against everything you’ve been told about these people, and anything they might have to say to you. But imagine if that door opens and you get hit with the smell of baking bread–you are now prepared to react differently. This is not to say that the wonderful smell establishes truth all on its own, but it is a testifying witness.

And this issue goes a lot further than mere pragmatic examples of efficacy in persuasion. If we Christians have the truth, and that truth is beautiful – more beautiful than any other message or religion out there – and then we present it in stammering, clumsy, irreverent, or ugly ways, well, we’re hypocrites. We’re living unfaithfully to the Truth. But if we live in a state of celebration and joy and gratitude, and if our words and our art and our presentations of that truth hit people like the smell of baking bread, then we’re getting somewhere.

Trevin Wax: Joy is a major theme in your writing. But you’re not talking about the abstract concept of joy or our need for joy or our pursuit of joy. (It’s possible to talk a lot about joy and yet be so serious about it that people don’t feel the lightness of weighty joyfulness.) No… the way joy encompasses your work is in your expression of joy and wonder. You don’t write about it; you write from it. Where did you get this emphasis on joy, and why is it important for us to cultivate joy in our lives and our work?

Nate Wilson: It all goes back to the warmth and joyfulness that my parents created and maintained in our family as my sisters and I were growing up. It was deep, constant, and completely genuine. And we (as we grew) understood that it was utterly and profoundly connected to our faith, and to the One in whom our faith rested. We laughed looking out at the world, because He was so obviously laughing as He spoke it.

We fed on P.G. Wodehouse because his words and wordplay were successful (if accidental) theological imitations of the playfulness of reality. We were in fellowship with each other. Our parents didn’t allow bitternesses or resentments or feuds to ever take root and grow – no stale socks or poo pyramids to ruin the atmosphere.

(Sidenote: My little sis has written a great book for young moms in the trenches on exactly this kind of stuff. It’s called Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches, and it’s darn good.)

Again, this all comes back to the hypocrisy of unfaithfulness (in this case, unjoyfulness). Do we have a message of joy and grace for the world, or do we not? If we do, then why don’t we act like it?

“Hey Bob,” I tell my neighbor. “If you turn to Christ, you can have a life and an outlook like mine, which, as it turns out, kinda sucks. You interested?” Joy is our strength, our gift. Joy in redemption and in reunion with God is what we have to offer, but we can’t offer the world what we don’t cultivate ourselves.

Trevin Wax: It’s obvious to me that you’ve read a lot of G.K. Chesterton. Like Chesterton, you expose the pompousness of the silly philosophy that passes as serious, and yet you maintain a whimsical sense that shows you don’t take yourself too seriously. What is it about Chesterton’s vision and writing that has inspired you? And why should we read Chesterton today?

Nate Wilson: We should read him because he was a prophet of joy, because he was a seer into the sleeping and blind souls of men, and he always seems to find the right words to slap us awake. He was/is incredibly perceptive about the seductions of self-importance and seriousness, and it’s hard to read anything he writes without gaining something.

But his book Orthodoxy should be required reading for absolutely everyone. It was the first book that I ever finished and then flipped back to the beginning to start over again. He wasn’t a Protestant, but I think we can call him a Puritan (“the last Puritan” is my tag for him). Obviously, I don’t go everywhere he goes, but I am blessed to have his writing around me, providing a voice like that of an amusing, wise, and deeply affectionate uncle.

Trevin Wax: Every time I talk about the need to express truth in the most beautiful and captivating manner possible, I get pushback from some well-intentioned folks who think that I’m advocating the kind of sophistry and rhetoric that Paul condemned in 1 Corinthians 1. There are some who think that whenever we start talking about art and beauty, we’re already stumbling down the path of doctrinal compromise and cultural capitulation. (Ironically, in making this point, these folks will use well-crafted analogies and thoughtful rhetoric.)

What’s the difference between articulating Christian truth faithfully (making good use of rhetoric, beauty, and art) and relying on rhetoric and persuasion that Paul describes as “foolishness” in the eyes of God?

Nate Wilson: First, I think the suspicious types have the right idea, and I’m with them when people tell me that aesthetic relevance is achieved (in worship, for example) by banging on drum kits while wearing skinny jeans. Beauty is a slippery concept in our culture, and less-than-helpful dupers and dupees regularly try to use it as a protective umbrella for all sorts of nonsense. But this is because they are looking to the foolish standards of the world to discover what is beautiful (which is what Paul is ripping on in 1 Corinthians). Shiny does not equal beauty. New technology does not equal beauty. Guys in skinny jeans equal the opposite of beauty. We need to backtrack a long, long way and dig into the narratives of Scripture (and natural revelation) so that we might develop a mature Christian aesthetic.

But having a Christian aesthetic is not optional. God made the world, and it is beautiful. He told (and lived out) the gospel, and it sets an aesthetic ideal for us. Grace is beautiful. Redemption is beautiful. And we should wear that on our faces, in our relationships, in and on our buildings – that’s how our lives should smell, and it’s what our art should pay tribute to.

Trevin Wax: Your dad says we might be on the verge of a Kuyperian renaissance in the arts. (See here.) Do you agree? If so, what signs point in this direction?

Nate Wilson: I agree with him. He likes to stick his finger in the wind, point to little wispy clouds on the horizon, and predict flash-floods. He has done it with educational movements; he did it with what some now call the New Calvinism; he has done it with postmillennialism (a position that’s still in process but is now off the endangered species list and growing); and now he’s predicting a wave of robust, Calvinist art. Ha! Seriously? It might seem ridiculous to some, but throw your mind back 10 years. How much more ridiculous would it have seemed then? And that, my friends, tells you which way the wind is blowing – even if it still only feels like a breeze.

But know this about my father, he doesn’t just like making predictions (preferably early enough that they seem impossible); he likes making predictions and then working his tail off to make them come true. Think of it more as a gameplan. He’s checking off his fight-these-strategic-battles list. He’s not a guy in the stands making a prediction. He’s more like a coach trying to call a play. That’s why he’s so involved in Christian education all the way up through the college level, and that’s why he predicts the things he predicts.

More on the data side of things, everywhere I go, people want to talk to me about the arts, particularly writing and film (obviously, I’m not a sculptor). I think he’s accurately spotted another cloud on the horizon, or maybe it’s actually all the same cloud, and he’s just labeling phases of one single growing storm. Call it Reformation…

Trevin Wax: Nate, I’m grateful for your work. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Nate Wilson: Thanks so much for the chance to talk about this, Trevin. There’s so much more to say (and do), but I hope this was helpful as far as it went. In the meantime, a tall aspen tree is rattling against my attic window as one of our first Fall rains rolls in. Out in the yard, I have a four-year-old son in a raincoat, manfully doing his Christian duty on a tire swing, and I’m beginning to suspect that two floors away, my lovely wife is baking pumpkin bread. And that is a suspicion that I must confirm…

This is a world flooded with grace, as we should be.

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie Trailer from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.

UPDATE – 10/5/2011: The International Business Times reports that Youcef is safe from execution, for now:

It appears that Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani will avoid the hangman in Iran for the time being. Nadarkhani, once the leader of a 400-person congregation in Rasht, was previously convicted of apostasy — the crime of abandoning Islam and converting to Christianity — but Iran now claims that the death penalty reports that circulated around the world last week were unsubstantiated.

“Youssef Nadar-Khani [sic] has been charged with a crime and is in a prison based on an arrest warrant issued against him,” Gilan Province Judiciary Chief Mohammad-Javad Heshmati said on Wednesday, according to Iran state news agency Press TV. ”There has been no execution order. No conviction at all has been issued yet and it is up to the court to finally decide the verdict after studying his case,” he added. Read more…

Here’s a letter from Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani who currently faces the death sentence for apostasy. Please continue to pray.

(This message has been translated from Farsi to English.)

Dear brothers and sisters, Salam

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am continuously seeking grace and mercy to you, that you remember me and those who are bearing efforts for his name in your prayers. Your loyalty to God is the cause of my strength and encouragement.

For I know well that you will be rewarded; as it’s stated: blessed is the one who has faith, for what has been said to him by God, will be carried out. As we believe, heaven and earth will fade but his word will still remain.

Dear beloved ones, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few verses, although you might know them, So that in everything, you give more effort than the past, both to prove your election, and for the sake of Gospel that is to be preached to the entire world as well.

I know that not all of us are granted to keep this word, but to those who are granted this power and this revelation, I announce the same as Jude, earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

We are passing by special and sensitive days.They are days that for an alert and awake believer can be days of spiritual growth and progress. Because for him, more than any other time there is the possibility to compare his faith with the word of God, have God’s promises in mind, and survey his faith.

Therefore he (the true believer) does not need to wonder for the fiery trial that has been set on for him as though it were something unusual, but it pleases him to participate in Christ’s suffering. Because the believer knows he will rejoice in his glory.

Dears, the ” judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Therefore those who are enduring burdens by the will of God, commit their souls to the faithful Creator. Promises that he has given us, are unique and precious. As we’ve heard he has said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you”

How can it be possible for a believer to understand these words?

Not only when he is focusing on Jesus Christ with adapting his life according to the life Jesus lived when he was on earth? As it is said ” O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”

Have we not read and heard: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Many attempt to flee from their spiritual tests, and they have to face those same tests in a more difficult manner, because no one will be victorious by escaping from them, but with patience and humility he will be able to overcome all the tests, and gain victory.

Therefore in the place of Christ’s followers, we must not feel desperate, but we have to pray to God in supplication with more passion to help us with any assistance we may need.

According to what Paul has said: In every temptation, God himself will make a way for us to tolerate it.

O beloved ones, difficulties do not weaken mankind, but they reveal the true human nature.

It will be good for us to occasionally face persecutions and abnormalities, since these abnormalities will persuade us to search our hearts, and to survey ourselves. So as a result, we conclude that troubles are difficult, but usually good and useful to build us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must be more careful than any other time. Because in these days, the hearts and thoughts of many are revealed, so that the faith is tested. May your treasure be where there is no moth and rust.

I would like to remind you of some verses that we nearly discuss everyday, (Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.) but as long as our human will has priority over God’s will, his will will not be done.

As we have learned from him in Gethsemane, he surrendered his will to the father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

What we are bearing today, is a difficult but not unbearable situation, because neither he has tested us more than our faith and our endurance, nor does he do as such. And as we have known from before, we must beware not to fail, but to advance in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, And consider these bumps and prisons as opportunities to testify to his name. He said: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

As a small servant, necessarily in prison to carry out what I must do, I say with faith in the word of God that he will come soon.”However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Discipline yourself with faith in the word of God. Retain your souls with patience. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.

May you are granted grace and blessings increasingly in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.

Yusef Nadarkhani
Lakan Prison in Rasht
2/June/2010

(HT)

Let’s say that you live in a town that is in a desert. One day, someone shows up and says:

“Get ready for snowfall! A north wind will come and bring snow that will cover this land. The world will be like new, but you must be prepared for the day it snows!”

Even though you live in a town that has never seen snow, people believe the strange message – that snow will fall and blanket the town.

The people who believe in the coming snow begin to prepare the town for Christmas.

• Some put up Christmas lights.
• Others design snow plows.
• Still others cover their plants.

Even if most people scoff at the snow-watchers, the group maintains their belief that everything will be made new. And mysteriously, whenever the snow people come together, a cool breeze begins to blow and it flurries just a bit, giving them just a taste of the glory that’s coming.

The church of Jesus Christ is like a flurry before the great snow. Christians live in light of the coming reality. When we gather together, we sense the Spirit of God blowing through our midst, changing us and renewing the world around us.

We also warn people of the judgment that will accompany the presence of God on that day. We are a colony of heaven, and our life together makes the announcement: Repent, trust in the Messiah-King who has died for your sins, and be ready for the coming kingdom!

- from  Counterfeit Gospels (166-167)

Earlier this month, I posted a review of Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell, in which I commended the book for its substance and critiqued it for its style. The review ignited a conversation in the comments section, on Twitter, and via email. Most of the responders agreed with me. We are often good at articulating biblical doctrine, but we don’t give much thought to the role of beauty in communicating truth.

Jared Wilson has written some challenging things about this subject:

We need prose that sings. We need writers who aren’t merely authorities in their areas and can relay information to us in competent ways. Or we need readers who will not settle for that kind of writer. We need writers who receive on literary frequencies, writers who feel what they write, who convey poetry or beauty or some ecstatic sense in their writing. We need writers whose work emanates off the page the hum and buzz of adoration.

Some have asked me to cite some examples of the kind of writing we should see more of, and the kind of writing that we authors should aspire to. C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books quickly come to mind, of course. But there are other theologians and authors who also succeed at this well. Here are some examples:

G.K. Chesterton

I love the way Chesterton describes Easter morning:

On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.”

Here is Chesterton again, making the case for humility as childlike wonder:

Humility is the thing which is for ever renewing the earth and the stars. It is humility, and not duty, which preserves the stars from wrong, from the unpardonable wrong of casual resignation; it is through humility that the most ancient heavens for us are fresh and strong. The curse that came before history has laid on us all a tendency to be weary of wonders. If we saw the sun for the first time it would be the most fearful and beautiful of meteors. Now that we see it for the hundredth time we call it, in the hideous and blasphemous phrase of Wordsworth, “the light of common day.” We are inclined to increase our claims. We are inclined to demand six suns, to demand a blue sun, to demand a green sun. Humility is perpetually putting us back in the primal darkness. There all light is lightning, startling and instantaneous. Until we understand that original dark, in which we have neither sight nor expectation, we can give no hearty and childlike praise to the splendid sensationalism of things.

Timothy Stoner

In The God Who Smokes, Timothy Stoner creates a portrait of God that exposes Rob Bell’s passive, sentimentalized vision of God as woefully reductionistic. Tim makes the case that believing God gets angry is part of what it means to believe that God loves:

“We are not only invited guests but the blushing Bride. And our Groom is a heroic King, a mighty warrior who is good and just and stunning in his beauty. He is so full of passion and blazing emotion that he burns – and yes, smokes in the ferocity of his infinite, holy love that compelled him to give it all away for his Bride. And he who gave it all for us is worth giving ourselves completely to.”

And check out this Piper-esque description of God in His glory:

“God really believes that he is the most worthy, most majestic, magnificent, glorious, stunningly beautiful being in the universe. And he is fixated on the certainty that only he deserves worship – that to him alone belong honor, glory, and praise forever and forever. With red-rimmed, stinging eyes and burning hair, all we can say is – he is right. He is astonishingly beautiful, utterly majestic and perfect in the symmetries of justice and righteousness, knowledge, and wisdom. He is as hypnotically compelling as a surging forest fire and ten times as dangerous. He is out of control – ours, not his.” (83)

Responding to the idea that “love wins,” Stoner reminds us that, biblically speaking, holy love wins:

The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness. It is a love that flows out of the heart of a God who is transcendent, majestic, infinite in righteousness, who loves justice as much as he does mercy; who hates wickedness as much as he loves goodness; who blazes with a fiery, passionate love for himself above all things. He is Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End. He is robed in a splendor and eternal purity that is blinding. He rules, he reigns, he rages and roars, then bends down to whisper love songs to his creatures. His love is vast and irresistible. It is also terrifying, and it will spare no expense to give everything away in order to free us from the bondage of sin, purifying for himself a people who are devoted to his glory, a people who have “no ambition except to do good”. So he crushes his precious Son in order to rescue and restore mankind along with his entire creation. He unleashes perfect judgment on the perfectly obedient sacrifice and then pulls him up out of the grave in a smashing and utter victory. He is a God who triumphs… He is a burning cyclone of passionate love. Holy love wins.

Russell Moore

Russell Moore’s description of Easter morning sends chills up my spine:

That corpse of Jesus just lay there in the silences of that cave. By all appearances it had been tested and tried, and found wanting. If you’d been there to pull open his bruised eyelids, matted together with mottled blood, you would have looked into blank holes. If you’d lifted his arm, you would have felt no resistance. You would have heard only the thud as it hit the table when you let it go. You might have walked away from that morbid scene muttering to yourself, “The wages of sin is death.”

But sometime before dawn on a Sunday morning, a spike-torn hand twitched. A blood-crusted eyelid opened. The breath of God came blowing into that cave, and a new creation flashed into reality….

Michael Kelley

The Soldier with Tears in his Eyes: This is only a blog post, but I love how Michael Kelley uses his imagination to draw us into the life of the early church and experience the glory of salvation within community.

John Calvin

Who says theology has to be dry? Justin Taylor recently posted this beautiful section from Calvin’s Institutes, where Calvin explains that “We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.”

If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him.”
If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing.

If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion;
if purity, in his conception;
if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain.
If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion;
if acquittal, in his condemnation;
if remission of the curse, in his cross;
if satisfaction, in his sacrifice;
if purification, in his blood;
if reconciliation, in his descent into hell;
if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb;
if newness of life, in his resurrection;
if immortality, in the same;
if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven;
if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom;
if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge.

In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other.

Augustine

His dense commentaries aside, Augustine could also write beautifully. Here is one of my all-time favorite quotes from the church father:

Man’s maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.

N.T. Wright

D.A. Carson has commented many times that it’s nearly impossible for N.T. Wright to compose a boring sentence. The quote below is not even from a book, but a Christmas sermon:

The wonder of Christmas morning is that today we are summoned to look at the baby in the manger and recognise whose stamp, whose imprint, he bears. On Christmas morning we find ourselves gazing at God inside out. This baby is what you get when the stamp of divine nature leaves its exact imprint in the soft metal of a human being. Jesus is the coin that tells you whose country you are living in. Jesus is the seal that tells us whose authority the document carries. Jesus is the alphabet, Alpha and Omega, beginning and ending, Chi and Rho, the Christ, Sigma for Soter, Saviour, Tau for the cross – the letters that speak of his identity, his vocation, his victory.

When the living God wants to become human, this is how he spells his name, spells it in the character, the exact imprint, of his own nature, writes it in flesh and blood, soft, vulnerable human tissue, stamps it into the innermost being of the foetus in Mary’s womb, the light of the world who blinked and cried as his eyes opened to this world’s light, the source of life who eagerly drank his own mother’s milk. This is God inside out; O come, let us adore him.

This truth is so dazzling, so nourishing, that we ourselves blink at its brightness even as we come to feed on its richness.

That’s what we’re looking for. Ways to capture the truth in dazzling, nourishing ways that cause us to blink at truth’s brightness and feed on its richness. May God raise up a generation of writers who not only know the truth, but beckon others to swim in the depths of grace!

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

When we come across these words from the apostle Paul to Timothy, we tend to see this verse as a description of our day and age. How else do we explain the elegant churches whose liberalism has overtaken their once-glorious heritage? Or the masses that fill stadiums to hear prosperity teachers tell us how good we are and how much God wants to bless us financially?

Preaching that tickles the ears. We nod our heads in agreement and pray …

Lord, deliver us from the liberals who don’t believe anything and don’t preach the truth.

Lord, deliver us from those who give good advice and moral platitudes without the Good News of individual salvation.

Lord, deliver us from the stand-up comics who fill stadiums with ear-tickling, side-splitting sermons that are all about us and not about God.

Then, we sit back on Sunday mornings with a smile, satisfied in our assurance that our ears don’t itch.

But are we deceiving ourselves? Do we truly believe we have escaped the temptation to listen to pastors who tickle our ears? Is it possible to preach harshly against certain sins and yet still be an ear-tickling preacher?

The prophet Jeremiah tells us the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. We think that if we attend a church where the pastor consistently preaches hard messages with hard truths, we will never succumb to the “itching ears” syndrome. But such is not the case. Paul tells Timothy that itching ears accumulate for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Itching ears desire teaching that suits their own passions.

Many laypeople hope to listen to a preacher who every week will tell them what’s wrong — with everybody else.

The congregation of teetotalers wants a pastor who, week after week, condemns alcohol from the pulpit.

The anti-war congregation hopes to hear a rousing sermon against those warmongering conservatives.

The congregation of staunch Republicans smiles as their pastor rails against “the gays” and “the liberals.”

The Calvinist congregation wants to hear a theologian/pastor who will preach against the errors of those Arminians.

The congregation of door-to-door soul-winners hires a pastor who will mock the namby-pamby “lifestyle” conversations that pass for evangelism in this day.

The charismatic congregation loves when its pastor tears into the dry, ritualistic worship of their liturgical neighbors.

And the liturgical congregation nods approvingly at critiques of their neighbors who manufacture emotionalism.

Can you hear the hearty “Amens” coming from the pews? Yes, Lord! Thank you for showing us what real Christianity is! Lord, help us not be like those Christians who are too blinded by their biases, who have been co-opted by the culture!

Of course, there are times when a pastor should address the issues above. Church members should expect pastors to preach boldly, to condemn sin, to faithfully exposit the biblical text, and to speak to the current issues of the day.

But let us not underestimate the evil intentions of the human heart. We crave a message that puffs us up. We read Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector and rightly condemn the Pharisee for his pompous prayer, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.” Then we thank God that we’re not like the Pharisee.

Ironically, the very message that is supposed to cut us low, the message of the Cross, can be delivered in such a way that people walk out of the sanctuary patting themselves on the back. Thank God I’m not like those people!

Somewhere in the darkest places of our hearts, we take joy in preachers who put us on a pedestal, who remind us who all the bad guys are, and who assure us that we’re okay. We sing and read and preach about grace, but too often, our talk about grace is simply another method of preserving our self-righteousness.

The preaching we listen to on Sundays may be truth-filled and Bible-centered, but if it only points out the problems of everyone else in the world, it misses its target. Our ears are tickled, but our hearts are unchanged. Ear-tickling preaching may step on toes, but they’re never the toes of the people in the pews or the pastor in the pulpit.

Next time, your pastor preaches a challenging message that convicts you of sin, say “Amen.” If your church is not of the Amen-shouting variety, meet your pastor at the door and offer a word of encouragement. Allow the Sword of God’s Word to perform surgery on our own hearts before wielding the Sword in the faces of everyone else.

- first published in Christianity Today as “Our Ears Still Itch” - March 2008

In his sermon at the Gospel Coalition, Matt Chandler made a statement that knocked me between the eyes: “When we take the talents God has given us to glorify Him with, and instead glorify ourselves, we are blaspheming.” What a convicting word! I shudder at the thought of having all-too-frequently “served the Lord” as a way of attracting attention to myself or my abilities.

Since TGC, I’ve been praying that the Lord would enable me to see His glory in a way that roots out my innate self-centeredness. One way He has been exposing the pride in my heart is in the area of humor and humility.

As Christians, we should be delightfully unimpressed with ourselves, right? But too often, we are quick to judge, quick to take offense, quick to defend our honor – all because we believe that we deserve honor and glory.

When we go the way of pride, we usually leave humor behind. Or, we may maintain a sense of humor, but it’s sarcastic and biting, focused on maligning others.

I just finished reading Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan. The book details the assassination attempt in 1981 that nearly claimed President Reagan’s life. What impressed me most about this event was not the secret service details or the decisions made by the hospital staff, but Reagan’s demeanor during a time of personal crisis.

Here you have the most powerful man in the world – overseeing a world on the brink of nuclear disaster, about to undergo an operation that may end badly – and yet he exudes warm confidence and self-deprecating humor. Within the context of the horror, Reagan’s humor is disarming. Critics might think he was disengaged from reality. But the people around him claim that Reagan’s humor was merely the expression of a deep-rooted humility.

You have probably heard what Reagan said to the doctors before going into surgery, “I hope you are all Republicans.” Or you might recall what the president said when his wife, Nancy, arrived at the hospital. Reprising a famous remark made by boxer Jack Dempsey after he lost the heavyweight championship in 1926, Reagan said, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

But those are not the only one-liners that came from Reagan that day. When he was unable to speak because of his breathing tube, he scribbled lines on paper for the nurses:

• “All in all, I’d rather be in Phil.,” he scratched a near quotation of a famous crack by the comedian W.C. Fields.
• My personal favorite: “Could we rewrite this scene beginning about the time I left the hotel?”
• At one point, he quoted Winston Churchill’s famous line about how there was “nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.”
• When the conversation turned to California, he reached for the clipboard and wrote, “Send me to L.A. where I can see the air I’m breathing.”
• And this: “If I had this much attention in Hollywood I’d have stayed there.”

Even more impressive than Reagan’s sense of humor was his modesty. As the doctors hovered over him, discussing his precarious situation, the president politely interrupted: ”I don’t mean to trouble you, but I am still having a hard time breathing.”

Trouble you? If anyone had the right to ask for special treatment, it would have been Reagan. But the president did not assume rights. He simply wasn’t impressed with himself. He was genuinely modest about his accomplishments. He deflected credit for success by mentioning the good people he had around him. The secret service agents said he never treated them like hired help.

Regardless of your opinion of Reagan’s politics, surely we can learn from this man’s humor and humility. And as we reflect on his example, we find that humor and humility are often related. Think about it. When you are most concerned about yourself, your rights, your desires, your status, you don’t laugh very much. Neither do the people around you.

Pride is a joy-killer. It shrivels smiles. It spreads sullenness. And fighting always follows.

Pride distorts our view of reality. We take ourselves too seriously to laugh at ourselves. We feel too indispensable to take a break from our work. We’re too important to allow others to have unflattering impressions of us.

But then – one glimpse of the glory of King Jesus exposes all this absurdity for what it is. It’s embarrassing, really. We act like gods, when in comparison to the glory of God, we are mere ants jockeying for prestige. We’re like candles, boasting about our light, when in reality, we’re outside in broad daylight. Jesus outshines us all. The only way to get over ourselves is to get into Christ.

C.S. Lewis writes:

The point is, God wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble – delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.

Lewis learned the lesson well. Terry Lindvall writes in Surprised By Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis:

Laughter is a divine gift to the human who is humble. A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego….Only the truly humble belong to this kingdom of divine laughter…Humor and humility should keep good company. Self deprecating humor can be a healthy reminder that we are not the center of the universe, that humility is our proper posture before our fellow humans as well as before almighty God…