Clint Ellis

Our church will begin a new sermon series through 1 Peter this Sunday. I am excited to share with you all that God has been teaching me through this fantastic book. As I was preparing, I spent time thinking through the mechanics of planning a series through a book of the Bible. I’ll probably post an article about that a little later, but it dawned on me that a sermon is not a spectator sport. Likewise, it is not simply an auditory exercise. Perhaps you are wondering what I mean. Consider what James wrote in the first chapter of his letter: “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” We are called to do what the Word of God says. I have found the best way to understand and carry out what I hear from the word is to prepare to listen to it. Therefore, I want to offer you a couple of suggestions for preparing as we begin our new series.

Read the book in your devotional time.

            The first way to prepare for a new sermon series is by familiarizing yourself with the material. In the days leading up to a new series, incorporate the book into your devotional time. You can do this in a couple of different ways. First, you can read a chapter a day. Since the Epistle of 1 Peter is only five chapters, you will have time to read it completely this way. If you want to devote more time to the book, you can read through the entire letter daily. This will help you see the book as a whole and trace the message of the author’s argument. As you are reading, I encourage you to make a note of any questions that arise as you read. This way, you can listen to see if these questions are answered. (If you don’t receive an answer to one of your questions once the sermon on that passage is complete, send me an email).

Consult other places in Bible that are connected to the book in the series.

            A second way to prepare for our new sermon series is to consult other places in the Bible connected to 1 Peter. The Gospels and Acts are filled with stories about and sermons from Peter. One of the things we will see as we walk through the book of 1 Peter is where the epistle emphasizes themes found in Peter’s apostolic preaching recorded in Acts. This gives a sense of authenticity to the Petrine authorship of the epistle. This week, I’d encourage you to peruse those accounts of Peter and see how his life was changed because of his relationship with Jesus Christ.

            I can’t wait to begin our time together in 1 Peter. See you on Sunday.

I love C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. They are fantastically written in a whimsical, conversational style that engages and creates within the reader the illusion that you are sitting around a fire listening to a master story-teller weave an enrapturing tale. Other reasons I love them are legion, but only one of them I intend to expand upon here: The presence of implicit and explicit allusions to the Christian faith of C.S. Lewis. There are many of these allusions that I could write about and perhaps will do so in the future, but for this post, I wanted to talk about my favorite scene from all of the books. (Disclaimer, I am currently re-reading these with my youngest child, so this designation may change several times before that journey is complete.)  The scene to which I refer takes place in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and describes Eustace Scrubb’s first encounter with Aslan. (Aslan represents Jesus Christ in the world of Narnia.)

It does not take long in one’s first encounter with Eustace Scrubb to ascertain the opinion that the boy is a beastly fellow. If you were to look up the definition of a brat in the dictionary before the book’s completion, you would not be shocked to find a school picture of young Eustace. Everything changed for Eustace when he first encountered Aslan.

The Dawn Treader (the boat belonging to the king of Narnia) was damaged and harbored on an uninhabited island for repairs. As one whose disposition is allergic to work, Eustace wanders off from the crew. He soon discovers that a dragon inhabits the island. The dragon, fortunately for Eustace, is dying. He watches from seclusion as the beast breathes his last steam. When curiosity sparks in the boy, he explores the area around the dragon and discovers the vast horde of treasure. He loads his pockets and places a golden bracelet on his arm. Once the adrenaline from his dragon sighting subsides, exhaustion sets in, and he falls asleep on a bed of treasure. He is awakened later by a terrible pain in his arm. In the comical scene which unfolds (I’m certain Eustace did not find it funny), the boy discovers he has changed into a dragon. The subsequent scenes are a transformative experience for the young man. In this new state, he encounters his old friends and the golden lion, Aslan. In much the same way that a sinner who has been introduced to Christ recognizes the depths of their sinfulness, Eustace realizes the type of person he has been to every one.

Aslan informs the boy that he could be human again, but first, he must bathe in the waters before him. To enter the waters, Eustace must remove his dragon scales. The boy/dragon immediately sets to work painfully ripping away the scales, but no matter how hard he tries to remove them, they always seem to be replaced by new ones. The lion eventually steps forward and informs the boy that only Aslan must remove them. Then he extends his claws and rips them away.

The first time I read this part of the book, I’ll confess that I got emotional. C.S. Lewis encapsulated the state of man. We all have lives calloused by the dragon scales of sin (Romans 3:23). There is nothing we can do; no self-sufficient remedy can remove the sin from our lives. Only Christ can take away our sins. When Aslan finished removing the scales, Eustace was himself again, the self he was intended to be. He was not a perfect child afterward, just like Christians are not perfect, but he was different, as are all who encounter Aslan in Narnia and Jesus Christ in this world.

If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

God won’t forgive me for that. I’m too messed up, too dirty to be forgiven. I’m too far gone for God to care about me. These and other excuses like them are often repeated in gospel conversations. If we are honest, they often echo through our internal dialogue as well. I have good news for you: 1 John 1:9 is an amazing promise for you. Confessing our sins to God means dealing with God about the ways we have fallen short of His standard. If we seek his forgiveness, then it is available to us. Not only is it available, but it is also accessible to us because it is tied up in God’s nature and character. The second half of the verse says he is faithful and just to forgive us. He is fully trustworthy. You can bank on him. Take your sins to him today and find forgiveness and cleansing through his Son Jesus Christ.

Today I am introducing a new series on my blog. I find people and their stories fascinating. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to conduct brief interviews and share some fruits of those conversations. These will appear periodically on my blog. I am going to begin with Dr. Barry Sproles. So without further ado, here we go.

1. Who are you, and what do you do? My name is Barry Sproles, and I am the Florida State University Baptist Collegiate Ministry director. That means that I have the task of making disciples on the campuses of Tallahassee as an extension of Florida Baptist Churches. Within that, I exist to serve the churches of Tallahassee, and we do that through a variety of ways, on-campus and off-campus.
2. In your work with college students, what would you say is the greatest spiritual need of college students today? If we are speaking generally, the vast majority of college students are unbelieving,  so their greatest need is to hear the Gospel and respond to that gospel message. For Christian college students, it is understanding the vital role the local church plays in their spiritual development. They need to see their campus ministries as an extension of the local church, knowing that there is no such thing as discipleship apart from the local church, and to that end, churches and campus ministries need to come together in more intentional ways to make sure that could be actualized in their life.
3. How can the local church be involved in that process? First, for our ministry, it starts with getting together and getting to know one another. As relationships develop, the individual needs that every church has—each one is a little different—become apparent.  We can customize our efforts to the need of the local church and they can customize their ministries to the students. More than anything, just being present around the students helps. It is interesting that the more time a pastor spends around college students in the BCM or church, the more the Lord gives clarity of what those ministries should look like. 
4. Over the last 3-4 months, what are some books you are reading? I recently started reading Cal Newport’s, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. A second book is the biography of Bubba Watson, Up and Down, the golfer from Pensacola who is a believer. I saw someone recommend that on Twitter. I am also reading the book of Jonah as I teach through it. Does that count?
5. If you could encourage Christians to read one book, aside from the Bible, what would that be? I’m inclined to try and impress you and give you a puritan title (grins widely), but I won’t do that. Any book on biblical spirituality is a win, but I’m pretty biased, so I would say Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian lifeis a fantastic book. It’s a little more exhaustive than some would prefer, but that’s really the book’s win. Whitney gives you a lot more spiritual disciplines than just the typical ones, which are vital. What makes it worthwhile is his emphasis on the participation in the local church as a spiritual discipline.  He also writes pretty extensively on the spiritual discipline of fasting. While there are other resources on fasting that exist, there are not many. You might even say it is the lost discipline. Whitney writes extensively on that. In fact, lately, several of my students have even finished the book, and they considered that chapter exceptionally helpful. 

Bonus: How can we pray for your ministry and college students at Florida State? This connects with the 2nd question. Obviously, pray for students to be converted, discipled, and to grow in their walk with Jesus. Pray that they would grow as students of the Word and prayer. Next, ask God how your church can meaningfully disciple college students in the ordinary rhythms of their church life. What does that look like? The truth is that lostness is profound, not just in Tallahassee, but at all of our universities. And the few evangelical ministries and churches engaging them are just not enough. It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort. You are serving well by praying about how you can meaningfully disciple college students.