Weekly Homeschool Wrap-Up 2/20

Outside my window:

Outside here in northeast Ohio we're having the coldest winter in at least ten years, which is about how long we've lived here. Tonight it will be 13 below--and not just wind chill. My husband is depressed about having to get out of bed in the morning to face it, being a winter hater. Usually, I balk at complaining about the weather, rolling my eyes at those who view snow and cold as the anti-Christs, but even we die-hard optimists are tired of the cold this year.

Inside Our Homeschool:

I mentioned last week that my boys, ages 11 and 13, are abandoning Sonlight Core G (World History Part 1), only to take up Sonlight Core H instead (World History Part 2, the last 500 years). We'll finish the Core G at another time.

We'll be using Core H's Bible, History/Literature, some of their language arts writing lessons based upon the readers, and all the read-alouds. So basically, the whole curriculum will be enjoyed.

They've delved in joyfully and I'm so pleased. I put each synopsis for the books in red type, so if you're not interested just skip all the red type. Here is the first reader:

The King's Fifth

Set in the year 1541

Amazon reader synopsis: (by reader Chatelaine) Esteban was a cartographer, or map maker, on a ship on the coast of South America. Their ship was to rendezvous with another to make a search for the Cities of Gold. One of the officers aboard the ship wants to mutiny, and strike out to search for the cities, in hopes of collecting even more gold and fame. He talks Esteban into accompanying him, along with some others.

They travel and encounter all kinds of dangers from nature and from the natives. They ask the people they come across for gold, but to them, it is not important. Esteban and his companions find it all important. As they travel on toward the Cities of Gold, their lust for gold gains a tighter and tighter grip upon them. At the beginning, Esteban marveled at the way the desire for gold had warped others, but later on, he ceases to care for others, and is willing to sacrifice whatever and whoever may come between him and the riches his soul so greedily craves. He ends up with a great amount of gold, which he tries to carry back with him. Eventually, he sees that his greed was killing him, and deposits the gold where it can never be recovered.

The story is told from Esteban's prison cell. It is the law to give one fifth of all discovered treasure to the king of Spain. The chapters alternate with Esteban recalling his journey through South America, and his recording what is happening in the prison. He says his indictment is true; he did discover treasure, and he did not give the king his fifth. His prosecutors and jailor are not so much concerned with the king's fifth, however. They want to know where the treasure is, so they can find it. They ask for maps, which Esteban draws; but he says they will never find it. Even he, who knows where it is, could never find it. He is offered his freedom from his sentence if he will be a guide to the gold, but he turns it down. He has realized that, after all, the gold is not important. He has learned what is important, and when he has served his sentence, he will pursue the things and people that matter.

Bible Devotionals

Sonlight Cores come with assigned daily Bible verses, as well as accompanying devotionals. There are five devotionals for teens/tweens in Core H, the first being The BBC Manual: Turning Your Bedroom into a Bible College:

Synopsis: The Bible, What A Book! No other book has influenced the world like the Bible. No other book has sold more copies, been translated into more languages, yet suffered as much persecution as the Bible. A miraculous compilation of 66 different book, written over a period of 1,600 years by over 40 different authors, yet possessing a supernatural unity from Genesis to Revelation. Impossible, if written by many minds, yet possible if written by one God through the hands of many men (II Peter 1:21). The Bible is God's marvelous "love letter" to man. 

FEED "Feeding" on the Word of God is much easier when you learn the principles of observations. "How to Read the Bible" and "How to Study the Bible" will help you unearth the treasures found in God's Word. Bible study sheets and Bible reading plans will help you to "chart" your progress as you get a "grip" on the Word. 

HEED Meditation is the key to "good success." Moving the Word of God from your head into your heart is the goal of Biblical meditation. Practical pointers on how to get God's Word into your mind and heart will make memorization and meditation a delight. 

DEED Learning to apply God's Word to your life is the goal of a devotional walk with God. Determining your objectives, defining your goals and developing your action plan will help you to "deed" the Word, not only "read" the Word. Climb the staircase to realized objectives. Gregg Johnson is a gifted speaker, writer and musician. Gregg travels internationally ministering to tweens and their parents, young people, youth pastors and adults in camps, conferences and churches. At 14 Gregg turned his bedroom into a Bible College and his devotions became a delight.

On Fridays they'll be reading Don't All Religions Lead to God?

Synopsis: Insightful comparison of Christianity to several other key religions. Concise, accessible arguments against today's tolerant culture and for faith in Jesus. An easy-to-read apologetics work.

The History spine includes The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times, and The Story of the World Volume 4: Modern Times. Two other spine books included are The Usborne Encyclopedia of the World (I have the 2009 edition), and The Kingfisher Encyclopedia.

Synopsis: 

Volume 3 in this series covers the major historical events in the years 1600 to 1850, as well as includes maps, illustrations, and biographies.

This captivating guide to the history of other lands is written in an engaging, straightforward manner and weaves world history into a story book format that is entertaining and easy to read.

As always, I'm very impressed with Sonlight. I didn't dislike the novels from Core G, which we abandoned. It's just that the topics were mature for my boys' ages, more so than Core H novels as a whole. Each child is different and you can't always go by suggested ages. We'll get back to those books in the next couple years.

K and 2nd Grade News

The girls, ages 6 and 8, are still enjoying Sonlight Core B books, read to them by myself and by my two boys. They are also doing All About Reading Level 1 and 2, and All About Spelling Level 1. Mary, age 8, will be finishing both her spelling and reading soon, and we move on to Level 3 in reading and level 2 in spelling.

All About Reading Level 1, for Beth, age 6 - learning /ch/ and /sh/ consonant blends. The mouse gets to eat the cheese (words written on back of the cheese pieces) if child can read the words correctly.

All About Spelling Level 1 - Learning when to use /c/ at the beginning of a word, and when to use /k/. Student is taught to leave the slot for the /c/ sound blank, and go on spelling the rest of the word. Then, go back to the /c/ sound and use the spelling rule. C says /s/ before e, i, and y, to decide whether to use a c or k. Always try c first. 

All About Reading Level 1 - Learning /ch/ and /sh/

Kitty gets to help read the words. Stuffed animals go to school too around here.

Drawing books used for their daily drawing time, during morning devotions. We started this so the six year old would stay still during devotions, which is sometimes a problem. 

Personal reading time for Mary, age 8.

All About Reading Level 2 - Gerbil game for practicing the rule: G says /j/ before e, i, or y.

Read each word as gerbil goes through his "cage".

Melissa and Doug Body Puzzle, 2-sided

Learning how to make a stitch. Paul is teaching Beth, which resulted in two needle pokes and some tears;, after which my six-year-old started making a doll from felt pieces and glue instead.

This is Mary's "workshop" pose, used when she really needs to concentrate to decode a word. She's a hoot. I love teaching my own kids!

In case you think we are rich and can afford Guess jeans, let me just say those were brand new jeans from a thrift store for $2.50. I don't buy any new clothes, except socks and underwear and sometimes winter coats and shoes. If you are willing to look through every child's garment on the racks at Goodwill, your kids can come out looking quite nice...and you too for that matter. You just need a two-hour chunk of time about every couple months to store up for future seasons and sizes, taking from the best they have.

Health News
Beth's eye muscle surgery to correct wandering eyes (strabismus) will be on April 2. She also goes for another infusion of Orencia next Tuesday, which she is dreading. Still no side effects so far from this new medicine. The swelling in her arthritic knees is down slightly, but the full effect won't come for a couple months. She is now taking two immunosuppressants and it's hard not to be concerned about her getting sick. I am trusting God, but I have to keep giving it to Him. I hate sitting in the waiting room, too, when someone undergoes surgery. I always imagine--what happens if they never come out of anesthesia? How will I make it through that? Then I remind myself how rare that is, but it's still incredibly nerve wracking.

Other News
It was a shorter week. We took Monday off for President's Day, but it was too frigid to go anywhere. Then Tuesday we took off to deep clean and organize the bedrooms, which were all an eyesore. Everything still looks spiffy in all the bedrooms, which is so nice!

Compassion International News

Compassion International took a team of bloggers to the Dominican Republic this week. I love to support Compassion International! See my highlight of favorite Dominican Republic posts here. I think of the four Compassion children we write to as my own children. I feel wholly invested in their lives and hopes and dreams, and in their spiritual growth. I just know you will be changed, and your children too, if you sponsor a child. Outside of being a mom and wife and daughter of the King, writing to these children is my greatest joy! The Lord loves the little children and He loves it when we speak life into them. We represent Him when we love a child and give the gift of Hope.

Difference Between World Vision and Compassion International

Different than World Vision, Compassion International works with local churches to administer their program, which uplifts these children and their families spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. 84% of your $38/month sponsorship money goes directly to the children so they can attend the Child Development Center (at the local church, administered through Compassion staff), and receive health care, Bible teaching and discipleship, emergency food, supplemental food, and school fees and uniforms, and benefit from parenting, nutrition, vocational, and hygiene classes. Every child or family gift you send goes directly to the family, which is not true of World Vision, which operates a far less direct organization, using a different approach (bottom-down approach--change the neighborhoods to change individual outcomes).

Compassion goes with the family to the marketplace to spend your gift money, and helps them analyze their needs and how best to use the money. In this manner, local economies are stimulated. You receive a photo of the child next to all that was purchased with your gift money. Understand that you are not required to send any gift money. The letters you send make the most impact on these families. They treasure them like gold, rereading them for years. Many of these children are never told they are loved, until they receive a sponsor and start going to the Compassion Child Development Center, where staff love on them two to three times weekly, after school and on Saturdays. Their parents are in survival mode, and showering love on their children isn't part of their daily reality, which is characteristic of abject poverty households generally speaking, but not in all countries.

The difference between World Vision and Compassion International is that Compassion invests heavily in one child and that child's family, and through that intense investment, changes a whole neighborhood for Christ. The bottom-up approach, with the pastor of the local church and church attenders helping the whole process along as well, partnering with Compassion staff.

Neighborhood children are enrolled and their families are helped in emergencies even before their child is chosen by a sponsor (but they can't attend center activities unless they have a sponsor). World Vision does work with families, but less directly. They hope to change things by also changing the community the children live in, but without the discipleship involved in Compassion International's approach. World Vision works even in regions where the Bible and Christ are forbidden topics, and you cannot mention anything about these topics in your letters to children in those regions.

Compassion only administers their program where they can use the name of Jesus and bring Bibles and Bible teaching. You as a sponsor are encouraged to speak spiritual life and hope into your child through regular letters (hopefully at least monthly letters). They need to know that poverty need not define them. Your child will write back to you three times a year at the very least, or after every one of your letters, depending on the staff available to help the children. My children answer almost every one of my letters.

How was your week? Thank you for reading here. Bless you!

Sharing with other moms at this link-up, here.

The Joy in Compassion

Compassion bloggers are in the Dominican Republic this week, sharing the incredible blessing Compassion International is in the lives of these precious families. I am linking to my favorite posts below.

Read on to find out why $38 a month to sponsor a child is the best decision you'll make this year.

Bonnie at Faith Barista: Why One Country Road Paved With Dirt Let to a Waterfall of Joy

Bonnie at Faith Barista: Meeting Braudy: How One Tin-Roof Shack Turned Brokenness Into Beauty

Bonnie at Faith Barista: The First Child I Saw, Standing in His Story


Brianne McCoy: To Even Exist

Ruth Soukup : The Last Thing I Expected to Find

Holley Gerth: Hopes and Dreams

Modeling Humility for the Children

Today was a long, hard day characterized by non-stop deep-cleaning of the bedrooms. We take better care of common areas than we do the bedrooms, so it was time to take a snow day and get busy. I rarely give my children snow days or cold weather days as the local school district does, so there was no guilt in this decision, but I definitely wanted it done in one day.

Thus, the non-stop pace. Being a very goal-oriented person and knowing my kids don't do well with too much time off, I put a lot of pressure on myself to finish by evening, working hard from 10 AM on, only stopping to eat a sandwich while standing up.

We got all the junk out from under the beds and off surfaces and processed all the paper, dust, and unneeded stuff.

Boy that's a good feeling, and it makes the bedrooms easier to dust and vacuum in a snap.

The master bedroom was the worst; that's where stuff is stashed when I don't have time to process clutter before guests arrive. I was so ashamed of that room, yet there was never a chunk of time to tackle it.

The kids did a share of the work, then had free time while I finished up--free time that led to more messes. I tried hard to curb my growing irritation, but near dinner a headache pounded, so off we went to the pharmacy for my Imitrex, as well as to Little Ceasar's.

If you're a mom, you know what it's like. Sometimes you just have to stop everything and deal with clutter to get your sanity back. And when you've knocked yourself out and the rooms look smashing and ultra-organized, you probably expect some praise or at least a thank-you.

My kids were very grateful and full of praise, knowing how hard I worked. They went to bed in very nice looking rooms, happily. I'd even made special places for their stuffed animals, which thrilled them.

But hubby? It wasn't good. 

The pharmacy didn't have my prescription ready so we returned with me still sporting a pounder, already having tried the over-the-counters.

Hubby got home and went into the bedroom to get something. He paused more than usual, surveyed the room, and only came out to say, "Where are my CD's?"

Oh, man. That didn't go over too well for me. That room looked superb, after looking like trash for weeks, and that's all he has to say? Did he even have a clue how much paperwork and clutter I went through to thoroughly clean in there?

Exhausted and head-achy and mad, I could only think of how much he's becoming like his father. Mean-spirited, never praising, never appreciating anything...or so it seems.

In front of the kids I told him he's becoming just as mean as his dad and why couldn't he at least say the room looks nice?

When I'm mad he says nothing, always waiting for a calm wife to address anything that was said. He's amazing that way and I love him for it. Because of it, we aren't fighters. The Lord works on me, and him, separately, and then we move on easily, understanding each other without many words. I always apologize humbly for carelessly thrown words or wrong attitudes, and he always sees where he might be wrong, without me having to explain anything further.

As soon as the belittling comment left my lips I was horribly ashamed, but too shaken and exhausted to do anything about it just then. I went off by myself to finish the vacuuming while they ate pizza. Then, because I was still mad about being overworked and under-appreciated, I let loose some anger on the kids for their messes during the day, which still lay unattended.

So, that was my day. Productive yet shameful, and too much pressure on myself.

They're all in bed now and I'm just sitting here, feeling oh-so-humbled, analyzing it all in the quiet of the night.

I don't know what I would do without this time alone in the quiet of the night to process my day, my feelings, my shortcomings and my sins. It's a time to pray and process Scripture and listen to the Holy Spirit, before writing out what He wants from me.

My husband's love language is quality time and mine is affirming words, though these days I do fine as long as people aren't hurtful with their words; I no longer need much affirming, as long as there isn't a lot of criticizing.

Despite understanding love languages, I'm not very good about spending time with him and he's not very good about being appreciative or affirming. Somehow, the marriage grows in grace nevertheless, with the commitment unwavering. We need to be educated in love languages to understand where a spouse is coming from, but we don't learn new tricks easily.

My husband's father was a critical man who never praised his wife for anything, no matter how hard she worked at home. My husband is an improved version of his father--not generally critical, but he does take my work for granted most of the time, which I'm used to and handle fine on typical days. As he gets older I see more of his father in him and I wonder how I'll handle it.

I'm afraid to ask if he sees my mother in me, but he's spent very little time with her, so I think I'm safe for now, even though I must admit my temper to myself and to God.

That's got to be a pretty universal thing among spouses, I would think...or maybe it's just me. You think you're seeing the worst of your father-in-law in your husband. Or a husband sees the worst of his mother-in-law in his wife. Probably true, but probably exaggerated in our minds as well.

Some time ago I realized I would never become the perfect, submissive wife. My kids would never see in me the biblical model of womanhood...or at least not consistently. So I began to pray about my weaknesses in front of them. I wanted them to understand that marriage is about continually praying you'll get better. Better at respecting your husband. Better at loving your wife. Better at forgiving. Better at being kind to an overtired, overworked spouse. Better at turning the other cheek. Better at praying for the marriage, for the spouse, for one's own humility before God.

At the end of the day, the message is the same from the Holy Spirit. I don't have to be the perfect wife or mother. I just need to be a humble wife and mother who leads her children to Jesus by going ahead of them, to His loving, redeeming arms, asking yet again for His forgiveness and blessing.

In the morning during devotions with the kids, I'll apologize and confess my impatience and harsh words, and ask that the Lord make me a submissive, loving wife, and a kindly, gentle mother.

We can't be good, so we better be humble. Once we realize we'll never be good, we grow in grace.

Do you have days like that? When you try to please everyone, only to end up making a fool of yourself?

Why Can't We Wait? The Marshmellow Test

Have you heard of the famous marshmellow test? Maria Konnikova, writer for The New Yorker, wrote about psychologist Walter Mischel in October, 2014, after Mischel published his first popular book at age 84: The Marshmellow Test: Mastering Self-Control.

She writes: Mischel is the creator of the marshmallow test, one of the most famous experiments in the history of psychology, which is often cited as evidence of the importance of self-control. In the original test, which was administered at the Bing Nursery School, at Stanford, in the nineteen-sixties, Mischel’s team would present a child with a treat (marshmallows were just one option) and tell her that she could either eat the one treat immediately or wait alone in the room for several minutes until the researcher returned, at which point she could have two treats. The promised treats were always visible and the child knew that all she had to do to stop the agonizing wait was ring a bell to call the experimenter back—although in that case, she wouldn’t get the second treat. The longer a child delayed gratification, Mischel found—that is, the longer she was able to wait—the better she would fare later in life at numerous measures of what we now call executive function. She would perform better academically, earn more money, and be healthier and happier. She would also be more likely to avoid a number of negative outcomes, including jail time, obesity, and drug use.

Mischel followed the preschool subjects for many years, recording their SAT scores and other measures of success, before drawing his conclusions. The initial study included a presumably elite segment of the population, made up of Stanford professors' children and Stanford graduate students' children. Arguably, the group was too homogeneous for a sound study, so he replicated it with inner city children and found the same results: children who can wait--who can delay gratification--do better in life.

Last night my husband and I packed up the flawed computer we bought. He mailed it via UPS this morning around 7:30. Around 11:45 this morning I received an email from Amazon indicating they were refunding my money, which should show up in my account within a couple days. What!? That's insane. It arrived in Kentucky from northeast Ohio...in four hours? Did they decide to refund me just from the tracking information?

Really, I love their customer service, but I could have waited until they'd unpacked it and checked it out--you know, in case I'd mailed rocks or something instead.

My point is, we're a society who doesn't know how to wait...and businesses bank on that. Amazon is widely popular partly because they're fast. Too fast, it would seem to me. We rarely had any packages get lost in the mail until we signed up for a trial of Amazon Prime, which comes with a free, two-day shipping perk. Suddenly, packages are showing "delivered" which we never received--small packages mostly. It would seem that fast shipping comes with a higher rate of human error, or we have a punk kid stealing from mailboxes around here, which seems unlikely.

As a society, why can't we wait anymore? Why can't our kids wait anymore? What does this say about Christians and our relationship with God? I'll explore that question in a minute.

It's a day off school and six-year-old Beth wants Paul to make her a small fabric doll, which he's been making as sibling presents for a couple years now. Yes, he's creative that way, though the dolls or stuffed animals look impressive mostly to a proud mother's eyes--and maybe a sibling's. He tried teaching her to sew the pieces together herself, but that resulted in tears and two needle pokes. She's whined three times today because Paul wants to do other things with his President's-Day free time--though he promised her he'd get to it later and I believe him.

Mopping the floors and tackling the folding of linens, I reminded her of the marshmellow study and asked her to come up with strategies to distract herself from her strong desire--something Momma had to do when there were peanut butter cups hidden away for Valentine's Day presents.

Gosh, if I sew or knit or read for a hobby, someone runs out of clean socks or underwear. If I read a book, it's after midnight or forget it. That leaves Paul, kind-hearted and excellent with art and handiwork, to fulfill these requests. He's also a teacher at heart.

Around 3 PM she couldn't stand the wait any longer so she took my advice. She distracted herself by making her own fabric doll with googly eyes, felt circles for buttons, yarn for hair, all with glue (and a mess left behind of course). I don't know how durable her doll will prove, but for 24 hours it will be her new best friend until another stuffy comes along to love. She even makes stuffies out of paper--drawing a picture of a girl or stuffed animal, then cutting it out and dressing it up to carry around like a precious baby. She's a hoot and I love her to pieces--though the whining grates on me.

As a parent, I've learned that to teach kids to wait we have to endure some whining. Don't negotiate or offer something of lesser value to circumvent the whining. Just grit your teeth and bear it, forcing them to come up with strategies to distract from the wait or the desire. The psychologist in the study said kids who were able to wait distracted themselves with their toes, their nasal orifices, etc. They were creative, in other words, in their attempts to keep their minds off the edible treats in front of them.

Credit card debt, two-day shipping, whining and having fits, new furniture or clothes before the old are truly too-old, needing constant Internet access, over-spending instead of saving or giving to charity, sex before marriage, divorcing instead of working on hearts...they're all symptoms of a chronic failure to wait and a sense of entitlement.

What needs are we so rushed to fill--and are they physical needs, or spiritual ones? Real or perceived?

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I submit to you that we're too far from God as a society, and as individual Christians. and therein lies the problem. The Lord's timetable is perfect for us. He works all things for our good, all the time. If we don't feel that in our Christian souls, then we don't know our Lord intimately enough. We don't know his Word intimately enough. We're not hiding it in our hearts.

Let us not follow the world and demand what we want. 

Let us be in the world, but not of it. 

Let us teach our children that patience is a virtue worthy of our prayers and effort. 

Let us model patience and praying for patience. 

May we teach them and model for them the distinction between wants and needs. 

May we not spend more time on our stuff than we do with one another.

May our homes not be full of stuff, but full of life, love, faith, virtue, and relationships.

Psalms 27:13-14 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Psalms 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Are you good at waiting? Are your children? What works to help you wait on the Lord?

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What God Wants From Us, Part 3

Note: This is a long one, but worth your time.

Today's northeast Ohio forecast? An arctic front bringing -20 wind chill...so we skipped church. In lieu of a corporate sermon I decided to read sermons at home and continue a series I started in late December:

What God Wants From Us in 2015, Part 1

What God Wants From Us in 2015, Part 2

God wants us to:

To Love Him

To Seek Him

To Serve Him 

To Trust Him

Part 1 discussed Loving God

Part 2 discussed Seeking God

Now it's time for Part 3, which is Serving God.

I must admit that when I peered into and studied John Piper's sermons and devotionals on Serving God, I was surprised, for there was nothing about working in your church, your neighborhood, or your community, or even serving the less fortunate living abroad. 

So, other than loving our families, how exactly do we serve God?

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). What does that mean?

• It means to do what he says in a way that makes him look supremely valuable in himself.

• It means to submit to him in a way that makes him look thrilling. 

God has told us not to serve him as though he needed anything.

“He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 

Both these texts put all the emphasis on God’s giving to us when we serve.

So the kind of service that makes God look valuable and thrilling is the kind that serves God by constantly receiving from God. The key text to describe this is 1 Peter 4:11 —

“Whoever serves, [let it be] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

God is seen as glorious when all our serving is moment-by-moment receiving from God’s supply.

We receive this supply by faith. That is, we trust moment-by-moment that what we need, in serving him, he will supply (“life, breath, and everything”). This is the opposite of being anxious. Such serving is happy. And it makes God look no less authoritative, but infinitely more desirable. This is the glory he means to have. The giver gets the glory.

Therefore, “serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2).

Taken from a Piper devotional : What Does It Mean to Serve God? John Piper  July, 2011

The message to us this: Our purpose in serving God is to glorify Him, not to help Him.

Whatever we do, we're to do it through God. The strength must come from God, who serves us. He didn't come to be served, but to serve. He doesn't have a laundry list of things for us to accomplish. 

He doesn't need us to feed the poor, for he can do it. 

He doesn't need us to feed his sheep spiritually, for he can do it. 

He doesn't need us to disciple our children, for he can do it. 

He doesn't need us to toil for our daily bread, for he can supply it.

The above "tasks" are all part of the Christian life, but they are not our purpose. Without that distinction we run astray easily; we grow weary in doing good; we get lost in ego and experience frequent conflict with our fellow man. We lose hope. We choose the wrong things, or the right things at the wrong time.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:24–25)

We do not glorify God by providing his needs, but by praying that he would provide ours — and trusting him to answer.

Here we are at the heart of the good news of Christian Hedonism. God’s insistence that we ask him to give us help so that he gets glory (Psalm 50:15) forces on us the startling fact that we must beware of serving God and take special care to let him serve us, lest we rob him of his glory.

This sounds very strange. Most of us think serving God is a totally positive thing; we have not considered that serving God may be an insult to him. But meditation on the meaning of prayer demands this consideration. Acts 17:24–25 makes this plain.

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. . . . Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:12, 15).

Evidently, there is a way to serve God that would belittle him as needy of our service. “The Son of Man came not to be served” (Mark 10:45). He aims to be the servant. He aims to get the glory as Giver.

Excerpt from John Piper's book: Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, pg. 168

In a November, 1997 sermon, John Piper teaches why the Gospel was so detestable to Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. Can you guess why? What was Paul (Saul) like before his conversion? An excellent Pharisee. The best of the best. 

Here was a man who had spent his whole life till that moment defending a way of salvation - a way of acceptance with God - that basically said, "If you want to be right with God and have eternal life and everlasting joy with him, then take the law of God, put it on like an ox wears a yoke, and pull your own weight and show God that you are good enough to go to heaven." Now Paul had heard the message of Jesus. He probably had heard it straight from Jesus' mouth while Jesus was teaching in and around Jerusalem. But we know he heard it from Jesus' early followers like Stephen - and the message he heard was not the way of salvation Paul himself preached as a member of the Pharisees.

This is what threatened Paul in those early days and made him hate Christianity. He was a very successful Pharisee. He had accomplished things in religion and morality beyond all his peers (Galatians 1:14: Philippians 3:4-6). His whole identity hung on serving God with resolve and strength and rigor and accuracy and beyond all his contemporaries. This was his identity. This was his boast and significance. And here comes a message about God that says, "God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything." Well, Paul did not hear this as good news. It was shattering. His whole life seemed in vain. What have I worked for? Why all this study of God's law and all this moral striving if God cannot be served? It would be like spending your life doing aerobic leg exercises only to discover that the final contest of life is hang-gliding, not running.

What's wrong with saying that the law of God is like a yoke, and that you put it on, and exert yourself morally to show that you are worthy to be in God's presence and have eternal life and everlasting joy? Isn't that what our consciences tell us: God is great and holy and righteous? And we are sinful and make many mistakes and can't even do well enough to satisfy our consciences, let alone God? So we must work harder, and pull our own weight and offer God better service? What's wrong with that?

That's what I want to ask this morning, so that we can get the meaning of Christianity very clear in our minds, and see how different it is.

This view of serving God is bad news for some, and good news for others, Piper tell us. If you are like Paul used to be and do everything in your own strength, and have a high opinion of your abilities, it's bad news. God cares nothing for our efforts, in so far as they are aimed at glorifying us and our worth. 

On the other hand, if we are aware of our weakness, our insufficiency, our total dependence on God, than this view of serving Him is a glorious, life-giving one. I don't need to have all the answers, the strength, the courage, the intelligence, the creativity, the stamina or the perseverence. I just need God...serving me, as he came to do.

If you are weak and helpless and sinful and know that any good you do, you need God's help to do, then this comes as the best news in the world. That God is the kind of God who cannot be served, but loves to serve. His message to the world - the Christian gospel - is not a "help-wanted" sign, but a "help available" sign. He is not served as though he needed anything, but he gives to all people life and breath and everything. To those who feel morally self-sufficient this is bad news. It threatens to take away our basis for boasting. But to those who feel morally desperate and hopeless before a holy and infinitely righteous God, this is good news. Maybe a God who doesn't need me would be willing to be for me what I need.

"Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Here we have Jesus telling us why he came into the world. This is the central Christian claim: Christ, the Son of God became a Son of Man and lived among us. Why? Did he come to recruit workers and servants for God? Did he come like a employer's company scout goes to a job fair at a college to find bright, young, able workers to help him keep his company afloat and prosperous?

No. That is not why he came.  Jesus came not because he needed us, but because we needed him.

Specifically, how do we need him? There are hundreds of ways that we need him. But he tells us the main way in the rest of the verse: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." What we needed most of all was someone who would die in our place. Because the Bible says, "the wages of sin is death." When we are honest with ourselves, we know that we have neglected and offended God very deeply. He has not been first in our lives. He has not even been second or third or fourth. And we know that this is a great offense to him. And we are in grave danger because of his righteous judgment.

So we are in no position to serve him, or impress him in any way with our abilities or our moral prowess. We are rebels at the root, and God is not our loved and honored and trusted and treasured king. We are captive to sin and destined for righteous judgment. That is why our greatest need is not for health, or wealth, or marriage repair, or job, or obedient kids. Our greatest need is someone to die in our place and ransom us from the penalty and power of sin, so that we escape God's judgment and enter eternal life.

Jesus is the very One we need above all other needs. God sent his only Son to pay what we could never pay: an infinite ransom price because of an infinite debt to God because of our sin. Only the Son of God could pay it. Only he is infinite.

Being a Christian means getting up in the morning and saying in your heart: Jesus, you are my Savior, my King, my Friend, my Treasure, my Hope, my Joy, my Guide, my Protection, my Wisdom, my Advocate, my Strength. I need you, I love you, I trust you to be all that for me today. I know you have given me muscles and a mind and a will. I know you intend for me to use them all in doing things that are just and loving and God-honoring. But you have shown me that without you my will is rebellious, my mind is darkened and my muscles obey the rebel will and the darkened mind.

And so, Lord Jesus, I need you every day. Work for me today - not because I deserve it, but because you paid my ransom. Serve me today - to subdue my will, so that I love what you love and find joy in doing your will; to bring light to my mind, so that I think the truth and see you for who you are, infinitely valuable and beautiful. And so may my body magnify you whether in life or death. That's what it means to be a Christian.

The good news this morning is not that God offers to keep us from death or suffering. He doesn't. The good news is that God works for those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4), even in suffering and death. He forgives all our sins, he removes all our guilt, he takes away all our condemnation through the death of Jesus. And in the place of sin and guilt and condemnation God works for us - he makes himself our Servant not only at the cross but every day of our lives. He pursues us with goodness and mercy. He works all things together for our good - even the hardest things. He never leaves us for forsakes us so that "we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:6). And in the end he will carry us safely through death and bring us home to heaven and everlasting life and joy. And there too he will serve us. He will never surrender the all-glorious position of infinite self-sufficiency as the overflowing fountain of life and joy.

His closing word to you this morning is this (Matthew 11:28-30):

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The yoke of faith and obedience are easy and light because even when he puts it on us he carries it. "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

John Piper: Why God Cannot Be Served But Loves to Serve 

This is particularly life-giving to me in this season. The future is murky for one, perhaps two of my children: Peter and Beth. 

If Beth isn't one of the 50% who grow out of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, she may face life-long need for dangerous drugs just to function...just to avoid a wheelchair and have full use of her wrists and other joints. She may face one or more joint replacement surgeries. Can she be a mother with the physical ability needed to serve her active children? Will she be able to handle a special-needs child, given that special needs run in her family?  Will she be fulfilled and not bitter if she never grows out of this?

And Peter? What if he never gets his concentration and intellectual stamina back after suffering the August, 2014 concussion? What if he wanders around not able to focus or meet goals? What if he continually serves his OCD rituals, allowing them to deplete his energy and hope? His ADHD makes it harder for him to concentrate on beating the OCD, and the OCD makes it harder for him to compensate for the ADHD. We fight for hope daily, even though it's clear he's a young man after God's own heart--even more true since his injury. Still, he drives himself and all of us crazy with the symptoms. Will he drive a wife crazy? Will he be able to concentrate well enough to serve highly demanding children of his own? 

The answer to all these questions is yes...if we allow God to serve us. He came to be for us what we couldn't be. His purposes are served quite well when we are at our weakest. 

So I need not worry about my children's weaknesses, nor my weaknesses and imperfections as a mother and wife. I can live in peace, in joy, knowing that the Son of God came to be for me what I couldn't be. My service to him is to allow him to serve me...not to give me everything I want, but everything I need to glorify Him. 

The book I am reading, Grace Based Parenting, teaches that the most important thing we can do for our children is to raise them with hope. To raise them with hope is to raise them with grace. We do that by making sure we are, ourselves, living by the Hope of the Gospel. The hope of the Gospel is that the Son of Man gives us life eternal, and everything we need until then.

He will give me everything I need, everything you need, everything our children need. Amen. 

End of story...but oh, how we complicate it!

Prayer Time: Dear Heavenly Father, we love you. Thank you for coming to serve us. Thank you for loving us, forgiving us, for continually working in us your glory, reflected. May we stop complicating it all, Lord. Forgive us for making it about us. Forgive us for living by fear and in doubt. Help us to live through you, glorifying you with our humility, our simple faith, our sincere worship and gratitude. Help us to switch our view of serving you from "Help wanted" to "Help available". In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

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