Here are some more messages that have been causing me to think deep and hard over the last little while.
Dr. Timothy Keller: Made for Stewardship
(October 22, 2000) iTunes Link
Tim Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He was passed onto me by a friend in ministry as a pastor well worth listening to. This was the first sermon of his that I've listened to and I've enjoyed his messages so much that two have made it onto this installment! I downloaded it looking for some insightful reflections on Stewardship as I plan to preach on the topic this fall but instead what I got was a powerful and sermon on the value and nature of work (which is in the technical sense stewardship - but I'll contend that the title is a little misleading). The text is out of the creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 and is a powerful portrait of a God who gives value to that which all other "gods" contemporary to the ancient Israelites demeaned as beneath them. Keller paints a picture of a God who "gets his hands dirty" in the act of creation and calls us to work alongside him - reflecting His likeness in our work. I really can't do it justice, but it's well worth a listen.
Dr. Timothy Keller: Can Faith be Green?
(November 16, 2008) iTunes Link
"Genesis shows us the goodness of creation, the stewardship of creation, the fallenness of creation, and the final restoration of creation. The Bible calls us as Christians to be careful stewards of creation because nature reflects God’s goodness and because nature will ultimately be restored in heaven" One of the best arguments for Christian environmentalism that I have ever heard. And also one of those messages that I wish I had been able to listen to live because from listening to what is said it seems to me that the whole worship event was built around a performance of Haydn's "Creation". I can only imagine how powerful that would have been to be a part of live. Well worth the listen.
Beau Hughes: Establishing a Healthy Church (Part 3)
(July 17, 2011) iTunes Link
So I'd been hearing good things about this Pastor named Matt Chandler from a place called the Village Church and I decided that it was high time I checked him out for myself to see why so many people were being blessed through his ministry. So I went on iTunes and downloaded the last month worth of sermons they had there and went for a long walk one night to start listening. Wouldn't you know my luck - it turns out that I tune in just as Matt goes away on a study leave/vacation. So here I am stuck listening to another one of the pastoral staff deliver part three in a series that I haven't been following along in from the start. Part of me wanted to switch to something else but I was already outside the range of my house's wifi signal and walking in the wrong direction and I had nothing else downloaded that I hadn't already listened to so I decided to give this guy a shot. The Sermon was on the 2nd chapter of Titus (the WHOLE chapter) and I have to admit that it started out a little slow. But it wasn't too long before the pastor found his stride and things actually got interesting. The bulk of the message was focused on mentorship (I can't recall if the pastor ever used that word - but it was clearly what the process he was describing was) and it was encouraging to hear about the development of a cross-generational practice of teaching the younger generation how to be the men and women of God that Christ demands his church be populated by. I'm not sure I buy into everything he said about the role of women in the church and home (this is one of those passages) but nothing he said was so far outside of my theological comfort zone as to ruin the rest of the message. If nothing else this message has made me think long and hard about how we do discipleship and mentorship in our church. I guess it wasn't a waste of time after all. God wanted me to hear that message - and perhaps it would be beneficial for you to hear it too.
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