Godward Toil

Matt Perman on Connected Kingdom Podcast

Tim Challies, a brother whose work on the web I admire and appreciate, has a relatively new podcast called the Connected Kingdom (iTunes link). This week (episode 9) he hosted Matt Perman, the senior director of strategy for Desiring God. Matt blogs about productivity and other kingdom work at What's Best Next. The discussion between Tim and Matt this week will be a great interest to readers of this blog. These two godly men tackle many of the themes I've blogged about here, and do so from an intelligent, gracious, and measured way.

Here are some of the topics they discussed and the approximate timecode when each starts:

• Matt's testimony and recent biography (0:55)
• Defining productivity as getting the right things done (7:30)
• Risk of making efficiency and productivity functional idols (10:15)
• Productivity and list management software, and the "strange" mindset one can fall into  (12:50)
• Getting Things Done (GTD) strengths and weaknesses from a Christian perspective (15:15) (includes incisive contrast around the 23-minute mark between the approach to peace of mind in GTD and Philippians 4)
• The value of forgetting, and the potential tyranny of lists (27:00)
• Recommended books (28:15) (includes helpful discussion about reading Covey with discernment)
• Life at Desiring God Ministries with John Piper on leave of absence (33:30)
• Gospel-oriented book on productivity Matt is planning to write in August (35:00)

Near the end of the episode, Matt mentioned that he is writing a book this summer on productivity in the context of the Gospel. That is a book that I have desired to write (and read!) for a long time, but which I've never believed God had called me to commit to. I'm thrilled that God has given a reformed brother like Matt that desire, and the resources to accomplish it. I will pray for him in this effort. Please do the same--the Church needs it!

 

Q&A primers that sharpen and prepare

Nothing drives me to be more careful or thorough in my study of doctrine than teaching children--my own or other children that I love. Recently, I've been so helped by a couple of works in a genre of catechesis with which I was previously unfamiliar: fictional dialog. I don't even know if that is the official name of this genre of literature, but the idea is that the author teaches doctrine through an imaginary conversation between two people--one is usually a naive but interested young person or seeker and the other is a wise and learned saint. The dialog is not meant to be realistic, but rather is intentionally contrived to bring about all of the key aspects of a given doctrine. The two works in the genre that have helped me lately are The Child's Book on Repentance by Thomas Gallaudet and a A Primer on the Atonement, by John Gerstner. The Child's Book of Repentance is an old puritan book that imagines a dialog between a Christian mother and her children, who crave to know what true repentance is. A Primer on the Atonement comes from a larger book of compiled primers by Gerstner, portions of which Ligonier Ministries has been posting as a series (now on Part 5). Both of these are wonderful and have sharpened me to teach more faithfully and thoroughly. 

Can a Christian do GTD and Col 2:8?

A dear brother emailed me this afternoon to alert me to an interview with Wayne Grudem by C.J. Mahaney.  Grudem is a theological giant of modern orthodox Christianity.  I have heard several Christian leaders (including Sally Michaels of Children Desiring God) say that Grudem's Systematic Theology is the most important book, outside the Bible, for anyone with a teaching ministry to own.

In the interview with Mahaney, Grudem says:   "As far as human advice and counsel, I have found the system described in Getting Things Done by David Allen to be very helpful—I am just now rereading that to try to get all of my “in box” items back under control again and listed in one place, and then processed. I should add that I find effective use of time to be a continual challenge and I keep making small modifications here and there."

I have mentioned before that I approached GTD with a fair amount of skepticism because of Allen's New Age background and aims.  I'm in the middle of reading his latest book, Making it all work and I remain on guard against the promise of "Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life" (as the full title offers).  The Bible is about victory in life and everything else!  And because it is, there is a part of me that wants to throw into the fire any other book that makes a similar claim.   I think that part of me is righteous and I want to keep that fierce rejection of claims that compete with the Bible's claims.   And, at the same time, I have found that, as a bottom-up approach (set of tools) for managing what God puts in my life, GTD has helped me serve my family, teach, fight sin, lead, pray, and respond to the Spirit in church more effectively.  I love and desire productivity for the Lord, and want to steward his time and tasks well.  The disciplines associated with GTD are not essential for me to do that, but they do help.

So it is comforting to hear that someone whose heart and mind I admire as much as I do Grudem's has come to similar conclusions.  I do think it takes an enlightened mind and a strong foundation of faith and theology to read David Allen and remain true to Paul's exhortation in Col 2:8, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."  But it is possible.  And if the heart and mind conditions are right, GTD can be a powerful tool in the hand of a Christian.

"Lived theology:" Biblical productivity in the public sphere

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virgina just won a $2.1 million grant from the Lily Foundation to study the relationship between Christian spiritual beliefs and social action.   Although I went to UVA for graduate school, I had never heard of this project until a dear friend and brother sent me a link to it.  I had a host of reactions to the project and grant, and thought I'd record them here:

• I rejoice to see theology taken seriously in academic institutions.
• I am thankful that believers are being productive in the public sphere.
• I pray that the good works of Jesus followers relieving human suffering will bring Him glory.
• I fear that the good works of Jesus followers will (at best) bring "belief" glory, or (at worst) appear to be a worthy end in themselves.  Relieving human suffering is essential and reflects a Godly weeping heart.  But the source and final goal (telos) of all good works must be the experience and glory of God.
• I am challenged and convicted to ask myself, "Do I have a lived theology that extends beyond private behavior and church service?"  With all I am called to do in God's service, how can I best respond to social injustice and pain in the wider broken world?
• I am thankful for movements in the evangelical church to respond in greater depth and number to suffering in the world.     The global diaconate at Bethlehem Baptist Church sets a worthy example in this regard.

I congratulate my alma mater and the Project on Lived Theology on their grant, and pray that God's people will give them much to write about!

Who is "getting things done"?

In my post yesterday about Psalm 127, I offered a few reflections on the relationship between Psalm 127: 1-2 and productivity.  Today I want to add a related point about the strange and wonderful revelation in these verses of God's sovereignty and our co-workmanship.

Similar to the verses I posted about after hearing a Piper sermon, and so many others (like Phil 2:12-13), verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 127 has that strange and wonderful property where the subject or actor of the sentence fluidly shifts between God and man: "Unless the Lord builds...those who build..."   Who is doing the building here?  The Lord or those who build?  The answer, inexplicably, marvelously is YES!

How could the Maker and Sustainer of the universe being doing the puny little things I'm doing?  Building houses, writing emails, teaching classes..he's doing all of it!  What power...and what an unbelievable foundation to stand upon upon as I go about trying to manage what seems like an impossible number of tasks.  Keep me on that Rock, oh God!

Productivity reflections on Psalm 127

Yesterday, I posted about my resolution to taste God's word and pray each day before launching into other work.  Today, I want to add a reflection on portions of Psalm 127  to draw the connection between this resolution and productivity.

A dear friend and mentor once pierced my heart with Psalm 127, when I told him I was getting busy with my day and leaving aside my regular routine of devotions.   He quoted me the first verse of this passage:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.

This passage has become something of a guiding light for me in how I think about productivity from, for, and with God.  Here are some ways that this passage has worked on me:

• Without the Lord either:
  • my plans will fail (whatever I'm trying to do will not happen or will fall apart).
  • my plans succeed, but whatever I manage to achieve will not be of any true value.
• I deeply relate to "eating the bread of anxious toil."  I hate it and don't want it.
• It is a lie that I will have rest from writing that email that tempted me yesterday morning.  The Lord gives me sleep, not getting things off my plate.
• My Bible has a note that says the last line is sometimes translated "gives to his beloved in their sleep."   If so, then true productivity does not ultimately depend on my hard work. The Lord is Getting Things Done, giving power, productivity, and purpose to my work, even as sleep. 
  

Looked at from this perspective, it is not only bad for my soul to skip or delay my morning feeding of God's Word, it's highly unproductive!

Testimony of Trust in God's Wisdom and Sovereignty

Not obviously productivity-related, but such a glorious and Bible-saturated testimony that I want to capture it here.   Thanks to Justin Taylor for his post pointing to this 4-minute video.

Of course, there are productivity implications for this kind of trust (there are implications for everything of this kind of trust!).  The consequence for productivity is that we do not have to rail against any circumstance or task before us, however painful or distasteful, but rather can direct our energy and focus on diligent work for the Lord.  I often waste much energy wishing things weren't so, or cursing unexpected trials.  I want to be an imitator of this man's faith (as Paul put it in Heb 6:11-12), and focus my energy instead on God's work for me and go about doing it diligently, fervently, and to the praise of his glorious name.

Godward Toil in Piper Sermon

I listened to a 2005 sermon by John Piper this morning, "Boiling for Christ."  The sermon is an exposition of  Romans 12:11  "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord."   The primary exhortation in the message is to serve passionately ("feel!") and productively ("get it done!"), receiving the passion, strength, effectiveness, and service from Christ.   The whole sermon is glorious and I can't do it justice.  But the last 7 minutes or so (33:00-40:47 if you want to download and listen) particularly caught my attention because Piper brought together three verses that I had not previously enjoyed as a trio proclaiming that productivity for God is productivity from God:

• Romans 15:18, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
• Colossians 1:28-29:  “[Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

We work hard.  We must toil.   And even as we toil, it is Christ who is accomplishing.  How strange and marvelous to be God's conduit.   May the knowledge that it is not me working, spur me to work even harder!

My Godward Toil Story (Part 2)

(continued from Part 1)
In my searches, I looked at lots of productivity systems, including the most common ones.  I eventually found my way to David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) work via the MindManager world. I had purchased Mindmanager a week earlier, and had barely begun to experiment with it. I don't remember the exact search string, but it doesn't take long to find GTD if you enter "Mindmanager" and almost any productivity-like term.  I started surfing blogs and blogrolls, and eventually understood enough about GTD to know that I wanted to know more.  It was a case example of the power of Web 2.0 social networking (though I had never heard that term at the time).

I borrowed the book from our wonderful town library.  As a Christian,I am wary of any kind of self-help book.  Most pop psychology or self-help books glorify the inner power of the human being.  They make much of people, and little (or nothing) of God.  They offer people the promise of change and happiness, if only they will believe in...themselves.  I understand and respect the earnestness and good intentions of authors in the genre (and, in a previous time looked for Answers in these and New Age spirituality books), but most are not compatible with a Biblical worldview.

So, I approached the book with skepticism and caution.  In fact, I was even a little embarrassed when I checked it out of the library.  And, indeed, I did find some of the hallmarks of humanistic self-help and the elevation of human potential (in the last couple of chapters of the book, in particular).  But I also found a methodology that was manifestly sound, and, in ways I didn't expect, adaptable to my worldview.

The bottom up approach of GTD is what makes it so compelling in this way.   The methodology can be applied as a discipline, without even needing to buy into "stress-free productivity" (the subtitle of the book) as a primary goal.  Rather, the methods can help a reader bring order to his life, such that he can more effectively discern and pursue the right ends (telos).

Nevertheless, the Biblical Christian does need to do some work to filter, alter, and morph GTD in order to bring it under God's authority and to make it consistent with a life of Godward orientation and childlike dependence in faith.   That is the work I aim to do in the seminar I'm developing and in this blog. 

To be continued in Part 3...

This I believe

First things first.  This I believe:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  (Nicene Creed 381AD)

For further explication these beliefs, see this Baptist Catechism.