Series: Blogs

January 6, 2016

Christian Standard

Kingdom Power

By Jim Tune Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water in a basin and began to wash his disciples” feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:3-5). There was never any question regarding appropriate etiquette. It was the privilege of the most powerful person in the room to never need to worry about his

January 5, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

A Welcome””and More

By Mark A. Taylor It”s tough to be a child in America these days, especially if you”re one of the children described by statistics like these: “¢ One in 45 children in America experience homelessness each year, a total of 1.6 million children.1 “¢ More than five children die every day as a result of child abuse, and about 80 percent of these are under the age of 4. A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.2 “¢ One-third of American children””a total of 15 millions””are being raised without a father. Nearly 5 million more live without a

December 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Empty

By Jim Tune Madeline Levine had been practicing psychology for more than 25 years when she began to observe a new category of unhappy teenager. As her book The Price of Privilege relates: “America”s newly identified at-risk group is preteens and teens from affluent, well-educated families.” Social and economic advantages notwithstanding, children of affluence “experience among the highest rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, and unhappiness of any group of children in this country.” Levine admits to being startled when a bright, socially adept, 15-year-old girl from a loving, wealthy family came into the office with the

December 29, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Four Days Later””Still Time to Ponder

By Mark A. Taylor Today, just four days after Christmas, some of us are ready for the celebration to be over. We”re tired of travel (or worn out by our houseguests), we”ve exchanged or returned gifts that weren”t right, and we”re looking forward to a little rest or maybe even getting back to work. And even if we loved every minute of our family Christmas, we may still pause to wonder whether the impact of the incarnation penetrated our celebration. And so, today, here”s a word of inspiration. The following is adapted from a column first posted here two years

December 23, 2015

Christian Standard

Peace on Earth?

By Jim Tune In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a racist, embittered, retired factory worker and Korean War veteran living in a deteriorating Detroit neighborhood dominated by gang violence and Asian immigrants. Walt has little relationship with his grown sons and their self-absorbed suburban families. His two loves are his dog, Daisy, and his cherished 1972 Ford Gran Torino. A family of Hmong immigrants has moved in next door, and as part of a gang initiation, the teenage boy Thao is pressured into trying to steal Walt”s Gran Torino. Walt interrupts the attempted theft, and over

December 22, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

We Do Not Suffer Alone

By Mark A. Taylor Death intrudes into thousands of lives every day. But to each individual losing someone close, death seems like a singular experience. I remember the comment of a good friend whose dad died decades ago. He returned to his job after several days grieving with his family and found everything there decidedly unchanged. “Everyone”s just doing what they usually do, working on their own tasks as if nothing has happened,” he said. Here he was, trying to cope with his life that had been upended. But everyone around him, it seemed, was getting along just fine. This

December 16, 2015

Christian Standard

Two Sizes Too Small

By Jim Tune There”s been an explosive fascination with all things zombie in pop culture. The AMC series The Walking Dead has enjoyed stunning commercial success, so I wasn”t surprised to see a flood of big-screen zombie productions hitting local theaters. Most of them focus solely on gore and body counts. The 2013 zombie film Warm Bodies was unique for this weird film genre: It”s a zombie love story. I remember watching it on a transatlantic flight in the middle of the night, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. The film”s tagline more or less summarizes the plot: “He”s still

December 15, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

The End of an Era

By Mark A. Taylor “Do you still have a job?” The text came to my phone Friday evening from a friend cross-country who had just read the news about David C. Cook”s purchase of Standard Publishing assets. I assured him I”m still working at CHRISTIAN STANDARD, even though most of Standard”s product lines went with the sale. David C. Cook, an evangelical publisher with almost as many years of service as Standard Publishing, has acquired Standard”s complete line of Standard Lesson Commentary products as well as our Heartshaper Sunday school curriculum and related teaching resources for children. The purchase effectively

December 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

By Jim Tune Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth”s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit around and pluck blackberries.” I need to reflect more often on the awesomeness of God. I want to live with my shoes off, recognizing holy ground moments as God saturates everything with his awesome light. My posture ought to more often be that of a man standing in amazement trying to fathom the glory of Christ. Isaiah 55:9 reminds us, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are

December 8, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

The Greatest Impact

By Mark A. Taylor How should we worship? Maybe we can take some comfort in the fact that throughout church history, Christians have answered that question in wildly differing ways. As both Paul Blowers and Tom Lawson point out this month, lavish artistic expressions of worship centuries ago eventually gave way to abandonment and even destruction of them by Protestant reformers. The motivation for each approach was the desire to please and praise God. Across Christendom today, we find everything from formal liturgy in classic settings to simple, quiet contemplative gatherings in smaller groups to exuberant, loud, guitar-driven, drum-syncopated megachurch

December 2, 2015

Christian Standard

Christmas: It”s a Heart Thing

By Jim Tune In his excellent book simply titled Preaching, Tim Keller commits an entire chapter to the notion and need for preachers to preach Christ to the heart. “Preaching,” according to Keller, “cannot simply be accurate and sound. It must capture the listeners” interest and imaginations; it must be compelling and penetrate to their hearts. It is possible merely to assert and confront and feel we have been very “˜valiant for truth,” but if you are dry or tedious, people will not repent and believe the right doctrine you present.” Arguing that we should preach “wondrously,” Keller contends that

December 1, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Moving Beyond “˜Color Blind”

By Mark A. Taylor Many thoughts have threatened my internal comfort zone since I attended a daylong conference on racial unity outside Baltimore, Maryland, last month*. I came face-to-face with the reality of racism that still flourishes in my country. I came to understand the privilege that comes automatically, systemically to white people in America. And I was forced to consider how that privilege has benefitted me and hurt others. I came to see that Jesus” prayer for unity will not be answered when Christians of different races distrust or blatantly denigrate each other. (Nor will it happen when members

November 25, 2015

Christian Standard

All You Can Do

By Jim Tune (This column was first posted November 26, 2014.) In Star Wars: Episode V””The Empire Strikes Back, Luke talks to the ever-wise Yoda about the enormity of his mission. Luke finally says, “All right, I”ll give it a try.” Yoda sagely offers his famous advice: “No! Try not. Do . . . or do not. There is no try.” Yoda was wrong. Sometimes there is no do. There is only try. I am frequently discovering that try is enough. What”s more, there are many things not worth trying or doing! Not everything is up to us. We are

November 24, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Why Weren”t They More Thankful? (Part 2)

By Mark A. Taylor As we bustle through Thanksgiving with our eyes on Christmas, many of us Americans are counting the cost of our Christmas gift-giving. “Please bring a $25 item for the gift exchange.” “How much does your brother spend on us for Christmas?” “What will we give Sue and Bill? I can”t remember what they gave us last year.” The thread through most of this is a concern to “stay even,” a compulsion coming largely from pride (we don”t want to be seen as cheap) and selfishness (we have our own expenses, after all; we can”t let this

November 17, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Why Weren”t They More Thankful? (Part 1)

By Mark A. Taylor I love the family times, the meal times, the kick-off-the-holiday-season times that usually surround Thanksgiving Day. But every year as the holiday approaches, I”m tempted to wonder if we should change its name. Considering how most Americans actually celebrate, maybe we should call it Have a Crowd for Dinner Day or Shop Early for Big Savings Day or Watch Some Football Day. Don”t misunderstand. I don”t mean to be a grump. As I said, I”m grateful to have the day off and to spend it with people close to me. But I am a bit chagrined

November 11, 2015

Christian Standard

The Secret-Driven Life

By Jim Tune (This column was first posted November 5, 2014.) To be real is to risk. I know many preachers who feel a deep reluctance (often well-founded) to reveal who they really are to those they lead. Henri Nouwen suggests that pastors are the least confessing people in the church. The expectations demanded of pastors in our Western culture are often unattainable, unsustainable, and soul-withering. I admit that I have sometimes allowed my own fear of vulnerability to push me into hiding. The trouble with life in the shadows is the double life it promotes in the shadow dweller.

November 10, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Changes for the Better?

By Mark A. Taylor Every missions leader and missionary watcher will tell you missions is different these days. A generation or two ago, missionaries departed for a foreign field with the intent to spend their lives there. Now “long-term missionaries” stay for maybe two or three years. Those days, and in the generations before, missionaries went from the West to the rest of the world, and most American church members assumed “we” had the solution to the problems suffered by “them.” Now missionaries from Asia, Africa, and South America are going all over the world with the gospel. And some

November 4, 2015

Christian Standard

Listen

By Jim Tune Earlier in my ministry, I viewed evangelism as almost entirely an act of proclamation. Evangelism meant “telling.” It was shaped by modernism and was largely “proof” oriented in its content and approach. A logical argument would be presented following defined lines of traditional apologetic thought. Equipped with the facts and bolstered by books such as Josh McDowell”s Evidence that Demands a Verdict, I could boldly offer “five arguments for the existence of God” or “seven reasons why we can believe that Jesus really did rise from the dead.” The problem with this approach is its reliance on

November 3, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Beyond the Ballot Box

By Mark A. Taylor Once again it”s Election Day in America, and as Christians march to the polls to express their convictions, it”s time to remind ourselves why we go and what we hope to accomplish. Do we expect to change America through the ballot box? As candidates bob and weave to attract the Evangelical vote ahead of caucuses, primaries, and the presidential election a full year from now, how much hope are we hanging on their positions and pronouncements? Jennifer Johnson offered her answer in her message Saturday morning at the International Conference on Missions (ICOM) in Richmond, Virginia.

October 27, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Nothing More Valuable

By Mark A. Taylor Maybe most wouldn”t suspect that loneliness, discouragement, temptation, and insecurity are companions of the person leading their church””especially growing, dynamic ministries like those led by the four guests in our most recent Beyond the Standard podcast. But each of them””Ben Cachiaras, Tim Harlow, Eddie Lowen, and Greg Nettle””admitted to at least one of these problems. And all four credited their association with each other as a key to rising above barriers to emotional and spiritual health. They”ve created a group where they”ve found the freedom to confess sins, share doubts, discuss problems and possibilities, and discern

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