A couple days ago Russell Moore posted an awesome article about Sesame Street and the church.  Check it out.

Sesame Street turns forty this week. And, if you’re under forty, I’ll bet just seeing those words in type means a theme song is now running through your head. That’s because the children’s educational television show has worked itself through an entire generation of American popular culture. There’s something here I think the church can learn from the Children’s Television Workshop.

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What is justification?

Justification is an act of God’s free grace, by which he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Romans 3:24; 5:19; Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; Galatians 2:16.

Because of the fall of man, there is a curse placed on him, the woman, and the serpent.  It says:

I’m not going to write anything about this curse.  I think it’s pretty self explanatory.  Plus, the solution in my next post is really going to focus on part of  this passage as well.

These guys are teaming up with Advent Conspiracy.  Awesome.

A few weeks ago I mentioned Advent Conspiracy and that I’d be doing an Amazon Review after reading the book.  Here’s what I wrote.

3,900 children died today because of their lack of clean water. What did you do to help?

Everyone knows that Christmas has moved away from it’s true beginning; our infant Messiah given to mankind in a manger. Now, it’s commercialized. Advent Conspiracy is a call to get back to the original meaning of Christmas. This book is an explanation of the program started in 2006. It’s a simple and inspiring read. Although it is a Christian book, both Christians and non-Christians can surely agree on it’s call to help others (which is both a pro and a con of the book).

I was personally inspired by this book and I highly recommend it. If you don’t feel like reading it, at least check out their website.

Though not what I expected, The Servant Leader had some good insight into how one moves from being a self-serving leader to a servant.  It would have been helpful to see practical ways servant leadership plays out; specific examples would greatly clarify their points.  Some of the practical application steps did not seem practical or relevant to the topic, but were still somewhat helpful.  As a gift-book that is supposed to be light and encouraging, one can not be overly critical of the brevity and lack of many deep points in The Servant Leader.

So what happened after Adam and Eve had their sinful snack?  Literally, all hell broke loose.  Sin entered the world and there were ugly consequences.  Genesis 3:7-13 records

So the first thing we see is that they saw their nakedness.  The realized their true state and sinfulness.  This is why they covered themselves with fig leaves (Instead of the strategically placed hedges in children’s Bibles…).  And this is why they hid from God when he came looking for them.  Jean-Paul Sartre, a philosopher, said that the greatest fear of man is being exposed.  This is exactly what they did.  So Adam and Eve hid from one another and hid from God.

Sound familiar?  Don’t you (and I) cover yourselves with layers so that no one sees our true selves.  We don’t want people to see us for who we are.  We don’t like being vulnerable, being exposed.  As another philosopher, the great Billy Joel, says “We all have a face that we hide away forever and we take them out and shouw ourselves when everyone has gone.”  No one wants to be exposed.  Why?  Because we’ve done wrong, and we don’t want others to see it.

But it gets worse.  They also hid from God.  Everyone inwardly knows that there is some perfect moral standard – this is God, no matter what they think it may be.  There is a definite right from wrong – morals don’t come from conviction or culture but an objective source.  We hid ourselves from God because we do wrong.  Satan deceives us and we sin.  Everyone’s done it.

I don’t want to give away the ending of my blog series – but I can’t stop here.  There is only one solution to this problem, and that’s Jesus Christ.  God gave his only son to live a perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection to overcome the power of sin and death.  Only by trusting in Him and not our own abilities can we truly not be afraid and hide anymore.

The habits section gives a few brief disciplines one should partake in if he wants to become a servant leader.  The first of these is solitude; this is the practice of being alone and letting God speak to you, without imposing your agenda on the time.  The second discipline is prayer, one of the most powerful activities that one can engage in.  Third, the authors say to memorize the Word of God.  The fourth habit is believing in unconditional love and living as a reaction to it.  Finally, they urge leaders to have an accountability relationship.

Servant leadership comes from a vision that the leader gives, and a vision comes from three main components.  First, the leader needs to determine his purpose, or, as some would call. mission.  Then, he needs to envision what his ideal picture of the future look like.  Thirdly, the leader needs to clarify his values to himself and the group he is leading.

These three components of vision, however, can benefit both a self-serving leader and a servant leader.  To keep on the track of servanthood, relationships must be fostered.  One needs to know the needs and aspirations of people he is leading; he needs to see them as people and not machines.  Also, he must learn that effectiveness is more important than success.  According to the authors’ definitions, “‘Success’ can involve accomplishing short-term goals at the long-range detriment of those engaged in creating the success.  ‘Effectiveness’ accomplishes the long-range growth and development of those involved in producing the desired end as well as the result itself” (58).  Finally, the servant leader must follow Christ.  Unless his leadership is sacrificed to Christ, it will fall back to being self-serving.

John Piper and the folks over at Desiring God have produced an updated Baptist Catechism that I really like.  I’ll post one of the questions and answers each Tuesday for the rest of the year.

What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 16:11; 37:4; 73:25-26; Isaiah43:7.