The Faith, Worship, and Life Sermonettes

Under Construction Part IV: The Christian and Citizenship

2008-07-07T07:20:00.001-07:00

Though some do not think so, many in our churches and culture seriously confuse being a Christian and being an American. Many blur the lines between worship of God and patriotism. When this happens, we cheapen both being an American and being a Christian. For many people evidence of this blurring is all-to evident in their lives despite their erroneous blindness to it. For these well-meaning folk, living the Christian life is largely determined by their larger allegiance to their American culture.

These well-meaning folk enter into church expecting to simply receive from their pastor. They expect that if something needs to be done, well then, we pay him to do it. Any Christian "service" they might engage in is largely determined by how much freedom and privilege and safety I'm willing to give up for service to the least of these. The result is that we have churches, that compared to other churches in the "Third World," come off looking like groups of spoiled brats.

We must take great care in giving serious thought to where the firm line lies between my American citizenship and my Heavenly citizenship. We absolutely must take great care to keep from confusing the two, or else we will seriously cheapen both. I am certainly not throwing mud on the concept of patriotism. Patriotism can be good.

Patriotism can be a glue, holding a people together. Patriotism can be a virtue propelling people to self-sacrifice for their neighbors and posterity. Patriotism for believers can be a way to worship God for his marvelous provisions for their peace and safety. Patriotism, for believers, may also simply be their prosperity thrown into Aaron's fire ... out of which pops a calf, wearing read, white, and blue.

But we need to ask the question, who is defining what it means to be an American today. We saw from the last sermon that increasingly it is less likely that people with Scriptural worldviews are doing so. It is increasingly likely that people with non-Christian or even anti-Christian worldviews are defining what it means to be an American ... and by default ... what freedom means.

Consider the song, "America the Beautiful," written by Katharine Lee Bates. Each verse praises some facet of America ... from the beautiful lands we possess to the beautiful concept of freedom. Then she calls our attention, "America! America!" to certain character traits she believes are necessary for our country:

From Verse 1: God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

From Verse 2: God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.
From Verse 3: May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine!

From Verse 4: God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

Question: Is that what we see in the character of pop culture today? Certainly, we have seen glimpses of this during and following the World Trade Center attacks. During other times of crisis the American people seem to come together and live out this national hymn.

However, pop culture increasingly has a different message. Consider some examples.

Car dealerships crown their advertising during this season with fireworks and the flag, leaving the message that the truly American thing to do is to come on down and buy a car that you don't need with money that you don't have. Buy, buy, buy! is increasingly the national motto.

I took my family to a fireworks festival last Friday (July 4th). One girl sported a tank top that read, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of boys." That is cute for all of about .326 seconds or until you realize that she probably means it. Hey, freedom is being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want, so leave me the _____ alone. What I do behind my door is my business, and if you come knocking, you had better be bringing a pizza.

We in the church seem curiously slow at picking up on the need to recognize that serious reconsideration of what it means to be a Christian and an American. Consider a particular bulletin that was distributed to some number of churches in celebration of July 4th by Cathedral Press (http://www.cathedralpress.com/every_08.html). What, pray tell, is the central message of this picture?

Before I tell you the two messages that I take away from this picture, allow me to draw your attention to certain aspects of this ... to build my case for you. The word that draws your attention is "FREEDOM." Below that is this family, complete with a dog, posing in front of the American flag. Fireworks are blazing in the background. Let's stop here. What seems to be the message so far? It seems to be a typical message about the preciousness of our American freedom and its gloriousness.

Question? How many of our families today look like that? I would say less than half. Yet, still the concept of "freedom" captures the hearts of all people, despite whether they came from a stable family or not. And keep in mind, that freedom is the ability to do whatever I want, whenever I want, however, I want. Nonetheless, the picture is still about the freedom aspect of pursuing our American way of life.

Now let me draw your attention to the words that are barely noticeable under the picture, "... IS OURS IN CHRIST." I mentioned above that there are two messages I take away from this picture ... as a whole.

I, personally, can have the American dream (however that's defined) ... if I become a Christian.
In order to preserve my American dream, I need to get everybody to go to church on a regular basis.

Now, there is a third message that explodes on the scene, once these two messages are understood ... my American dream is the most important facet of Christianity and achieving my American dream is what God cares most about.

These messages are inherently selfish and borderline ... if not blatant ... idolatry. This is the American culture and way of life dictating to me what Christianity is all about. This is not the message of Katharine Lee Bate in her 19th Century American hymn "America, the Beautiful." Perhaps in her day it was more of the case that Christianity informed what it meant to live as an American. In our day American life and culture dictates what it means to live as a Christian.

Before moving on, allow me to consider the message of the bulletin picture at hand on a global scale. What are believers, living in oppressive regimes to make of this picture and its messages? If the American dream is the reward of choosing to be a Christian, then perhaps these believers living in oppressive regimes are not really loved by God? Perhaps they are not living as good of Christian lives as we in America are?

Whatever the messages those people living in oppressive regimes might take away from this picture, a statement by a Kenyan pastor to the largely American student body of Asbury Theological Seminary a couple of years ago is quite telling. He told them it seemed harder to be a Christian in America than in Kenya or other African states. His point was that prosperity dulls ones sense of duty and need for self-sacrifice for others and need for real, living, breathing faith in everyday life ... which is the life blood of Christianity.

Is all of this what was perhaps intended by the bulletin picture creator? Let's hope not. Let's hope that the bulletin creator meant that true freedom (freedom from sin and for Christian ministry) is ours in Christ ... but that message is lost in the flag and blown up by the fireworks.

Again, I'm not speaking against patriotism per se, rather I'm speaking against any form of patriotism that distorts authentic Christianity and takes away from the Lordship of Christ. People who are blatantly unpatriotic can be just as selfish as those who want to replace the cross with the flag. Consider the excellent article by Thomas Sowell on the necessity of patriotism.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell070208.php3

What then is the proper relationship between heavenly citizenship and that of the land of one's birth or residence? As we work through the following Scriptural material, let's keep two questions in mind:

What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our American citizenship?
What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our Salvation, our citizenship in Heaven?

Let's begin by turning to II Corinthians 3:17:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

That verse is popular this time of year, and if we're not careful, we'll commit the same sins as discussed above. We'll come to the conclusion that in order for me to obtain American freedom I must be a Christian ... and in order for God to continue to give us American freedom we must get everybody to go to church. This is silly at best ... sin at worst. We'll come back to this verse in context in a bit. I want to communicate three points:

Christians Are Pilgrims before Citizens of Some Earthly Land
Pilgrimhood Enhances Citizenship, as Christians Are to Be Loyal Citizens
... but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in our manna.

Christians Are Pilgrims before Citizens of Some Earthly Land

Ephesians 2:8-22:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands---remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (ESV).

In 2:8 we read that we are saved by grace ... and we normally stop there. However, we need to continue to read through verse 10. We are his "workmanship," which is a term for salvation. We are his workmanship ... created .... for ... good works. We were not created to be fat and happy. We were created to produce good works with our Salvation.

Paul talks about "the circumcision" and "the uncircumcision." Paul is speaking about certain Jewish Christians who were teaching that in order to truly be Christians you must first be circumcised and then follow all 613 of Moses's laws. Paul is saying that our primary identification is faith in Christ. He is not saying the teachings of Moses are no longer important, but that we are primarily identified by our faith in Christ.

He then talks about how we who were once "separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." He is speaking to people, some of whom have the privilege of Roman citizenship ... in that day and time Roman citizenship carried with it greater relative privilege than our American citizenship does in today's time. In our day non-citizens are afforded many of the same privileges that citizens are afforded. In Paul's time, non-citizens were afforded precious few privileges at all.

At any rate the main point is that the primary identification for these newly baptized Roman citizens is there citizenship in Heaven ... and no longer their citizenship in Rome. Did they retain their Roman citizenship ... yes. But their primary identification was as citizens of Heaven ... as the temple of the Spirit of God (verse 22).

Question: Who do we feel a closer kinship with?

Our pagan or nominally Christian neighbors?
Our Christian brethren over seas that don't look like us?

If we are to be true to the lordship of Christ, we should feel a closer kinship to our Christian brethren overseas, despite the fact they don't look like us.

Genesis 12:1-3:

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (ESV)

Our heritage as the people of God is as a pilgrim people. The father of our faith in the true and living God, Abraham, was first and foremost a pilgrim. His relationship with the living God began by God asking him to leave his precious country and family and take God at his Word. We have strong indication that Abraham thought of his home country as precious because he refused to take a wife for Isaac from among the people in which he currently lived. He sent for a wife for Isaac from the home country. When Abraham left, in essence God became his country and heritage (Hebrews 11).

Question: Are we willing to go for God ... or does our American sense of freedom, peace, and security curb where we are willing to go for God?

Colossians 1:9-23:

And do, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. My you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (ESV).

Paul prayed for these Colossian Christians to have knowledge of the will of God for their lives. Notice the purpose to Paul thought for having the will of God in verse 10: "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work ...." When was the last time we prayed for God to give us his wisdom to bear "fruit in every good work?" When was the last time that we came to church with the mindset of seeking to bless the people there? Yet, if my Christianity is determined by my American freedom, I might be more inclined to come to church to receive what I'm entitled to.

Paul speaks in verse 13 of our being delivered from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son? Again, who do we have closer kinship with? Our American pagan neighbors or our non-American Christian brethren oversees who don't look like us?

Paul next speaks of stature of Jesus ... the Lord. In everything he is to be preeminent! ... including how I use my American freedom ... and how I define my American freedom. Again, is what I'm willing to do for him in any way curtailed by some American sense of peace, security, and/or freedom? Am I willing to take his Gospel to the projects? to some repressive regime overseas?

We are pilgrims before we are citizens of some earthly land.

Pilgrimhood Enhances Citizenship, as Christians Are Supposed to Be Loyal Citizens

Again, let me not be misunderstood. I am not bashing patriotism. I am not bashing this country at all. I'm bashing idolatry. I'm bashing the creation of secular progressivism. Jesus said that we do owe allegiance to both kingdoms ... heaven and the earthly land.

Matthew 22:15-22:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.

And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"

They said, "Caesar's."

Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away (ESV).

Jesus does not consider paying allegiance to Caesar as taking away from the Lordship of Jesus ... in and of itself. Jesus told his accusers they were to pay taxes to Caesar and to the Temple. They had responsibilities to country and God.

Here is the kicker that is easy to miss. The Jews of Jesus's day lived under Rome and prayed for God to deliver them from Roman/foreign rule. They wanted and waited for God to set them on high as a people and as a country. God's messiah was supposed to do this. Jesus was God's messiah, but Jesus, the Messiah, told them they were to pay taxes to Caesar, their foreign lord.

Question: What if we were to lose our sovereignty? We we be able to serve a foreign power? This is a question ... if we are to be true to the Lordship of Christ ... that we must seriously ponder. Do I want a foreign power? No. Would I join in the fight to repel any foreign invaders? Yes. Even still, we must consider what whether we are Christians first or Americans first.

Romans 12:1-2:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (ESV).

Paul is speaking about our worship and says something here that is truly stark. He says that our bodies are to be living sacrifices. In other words the mark of my Christian life is not gluttonous revelling in freedom and getting fat. Rather worship is with my body and is sacrificial. My whole life is to be a living sacrifice with the extremities of my body. Worship is not sitting on pews in church. Worship is actively living as a living sacrifice for God in the world.

Paul gives us ways that we live as living sacrifices unto God. In 12:3-8 we physically touch the lives of fellow believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. In 12:9-21 we are to do such physical things as practice honest love and the abhorance of evil (verse 9), as practice abstaining from weak enthusiasm and practicing fervent enthusiasm (verse 11), and taking no revenge (verses 14-21).

Paul then continues his train of thought in chapters 13, 14, & 15. All of these chapters speak to how to physically live as living sacrifices to God in the world. Of particular importance is chapter 13.

Romans 13:1-3:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists teh authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (ESV).

Again, these verses are the continuation of Paul's teaching on how to physically live as living sacrifices in the world. Again, the question is could we submit to a conquering foreign power? If we have trouble with this ... it is to be expected ... as we often define our Christianity by our American context. But we are not permitted to anything that takes away from the Lordship of Christ. Paul says that to resist the government is resist God, himself.

We cannot simply read this verse and then pooh pooh our situation. We must wrestle with what the teaching means for us as freedom-loving Americans. Our American founding fathers had to wrestle with it, since they were in essence resisting the Crown of Great Britain. We must also wrestle with it. It is not something easy to do, but in wrestling with these hard questions of Christian faith we can become better American citizens, more faithful to the land we love. Yet if we refuse to do the hard work of putting good thought into daily practice, then how, pray tell, are we to reasonably be expected to choose between the candidates up for election?

... but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in our manna.

Pilgrimhood can enhance our American citizenship, but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in the manna of our American freedom. Here is the perpetuating question with which we must answer:

Does the peace, security, and freedom afforded me by my American citizenship in any way override the duty that I have to do gospel ministry in the world ... in any part of the world in which God might be calling me to serve?

Matthew 25:31-46:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty adn you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? adn when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these me brothers, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'

Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (ESV).

This is a teaching of Jesus that we not overlook. How are these people in the hereafter judged and then assigned their eternal place of residence? In this parable there is no mention of belief only what these people did with their beliefs. These people are judged by their treatment of "the least of these."

Let's remember the two questions we were supposed to keep in mind as we ploughed through the matterial at hand:

What have we produced with the freedom and privilege affored by our American citizenship?
What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our Salvation, our citizenship in Heaven?

In light of the above teaching of Jesus, concerning "the least of these," these two questions become even more pertinant. Since we will be judged on what we did with what we had ... simply put ... how are we using what we have been given? Are we even producing anything at all for God and country? Or are we merely consuming? Are we merely consuming our American culture? Are we merely consuming at Church?

Do we remember the story of the rich, young ruler from Matthew 19:16-29? This dude was a morally upright dude. Yet, he refused to relinquish his power and position and wealth to follow Jesus in order to inherit eternal life.

Does the peace, security, and freedom afforded me by my American citizenship in any way override the duty that I have to do gospel ministry in the world ... in any part of the world in which God might be calling me to serve? In other words, do I refuse to reliquish my own comfort for service to God in the world?

Let's now return to the opening verse of II Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

The context of this verse is that Paul and his missionary band are being accused of not being anointed of God and of not being apostalic because of his sufferings. Obviously God is mad and displeased with him. However, if we read through the rest of the chapter and through chapters 4 and 5, Paul staunchly proclaims that God's marvelous light and freedom from His Spirit is found in "jars of clay." His marvelous light and freedom is found in human vessels marked out for suffering for God in doing Gospel ministry in the world.

Consider 4:16-18:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting asway, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that arde seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (ESV).

Paul goes on to say in chapter 5 that he does not even regard outward appearances anymore, because ... "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (5:17).

Rather Paul's sole focus, instead of outward appearances, is on being a part of an ambassador minstry for God. What then was the focus of his ministry? We see this in verse 21. So let's consider 5:20 & 21:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so htat in him we might become the righteousness of God (ESV).

They were not simply out to get people to make decisions for Christ. Rather they were out to see people come into the kingdom of God and be transformed into the righteousness of God.

Again, Paul writes in II Corinthians 3:17:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

Paul's concept of freedom is not our contemporary concept of American freedom. It is not the idea of freedom from trials and tribulations so I can be fat and happy, able to click my remote control in complete freedom and safety. Rather Paul's idea of freedom is the empowerment to do Gospel ministry in the world, even from the confines of severe trials and tribulations.

Freedom for Paul is the ability to produce with the least internal encombrances. Freedom for the contemporary American is the ability to consume with the least external encombrances. Sadly, this contemporary concept of American freedom marches its way into our churches and dictates our Christianity. The result is a worm-filled Christianity and America.

Under Construction Part III: God Bless America or America, Bless God?

2008-06-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

This particular sermon was delivered last Sunday, June 29th, in view of the upcoming July 4th celebration, and is actually a transition sermon, leading into a series on Christianity and Patriotism.

My baby girls are a vibrant joy in my life. My oldest, who is now 2 & 1/2, wakes up in the morning with deep emotion, emphatically exclaiming, "Daddy, I missed you!" How can your heart not simply melt. When I consider the many reasons why I am proud to be an American, this is certainly one of those many reasons. I want for a place where she can grow up in relatively safety and security. As many of you know, I served in the Marine Reserves, but was trained as a "normal" Marine. At the end of our training we were presented with our fist Marine symbol, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. In the background Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American" was playing and our drill instructors were filing through our ranks presenting our EGAs to us. It just so happened my favorite drill instructor presented me with mine and said, "Daniel, Congratulations, Marine." There wasn't a dry eye in our midst. I carry with me a key chain that has the EGA and the motto, "Semper Fidelis" (always faithful) on one side and the flag raising over Iwa Jima with the pronouncement "Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue" on the other.

As I presented this sermon this past Sunday, I stood before those people, and write this for you, very proud of my country. Just like you cannot remove my Marine heritage from me; you cannot remove what it means to be an American from me. They are part and parcel to who I am, and am very appreciative of the culture I've inherited from both.

Now having said all of that, since I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ before anything else, I must ask myself the following question from time to time about my country and patriotism. I urge all of you to do the same.

Question: Where does our primary loyalty and allegiance belong?

God & Country

Country

Now while we might give knee jerk reactions to this question and might even get offended at our being asked, this question is not meant to be answered lightly. This question is one in which we must wrestle around with on a regular basis.

At one time we could take for granted that those who crafted what it meant to be an American for everyone else could be depended upon to do their crafting from a Judeo-Christian framework. Certainly, no one is perfect and mistakes have been made. But it certainly is beyond dispute, at least in my opinion, that in yesteryear the decision and policy makers subscribed to a basic Judeo-Christian frame work. Certainly this was true in the first days of the Republic, for over 99% of the American people were self-described Christian.

Taking a look at some Census data from a table known as "Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990 and 2001," (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0074.pdf) we see that the religious picture of the Republic is quite different. In 1990 there were 175,440,000 adults in the US. In 2001 there were 207,980,000 adults in the US. However the total number of self-described Christians rose from 151,496,000 to a whopping 159,506,000. Needless to say that the adult Christian population did not rise at nearly the same rate as the general adult population. Keep in mind this Christian self-designation includes some questionable groups, such as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Is it possible to say that the movers and shakers in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Raleigh, New York, Sacramento, etc are less likely to adhere to a Judeo-Christian framework than yesteryear? Let's take a look at a couple of other surveys, both by The Barna Group of Ventura, CA.

In a surveys of Church attendance (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=10) Barna Research found in 2005 47% of adults attended church on a given weekend that was not a special occasion. 50% of women were likely to attend a regular weekend service (2006). Whereas only 44% of men were likely to do so. 54% of Midwesterners, 51% of Southerners, 41% of those from the Northeast, and 39% of those from the West were likely to attend a regular worship service on the weekend.

Here are a couple of questions:

Are all people in this country Christian? Given the above survey of Church attendance it is highly unlikely.
Are all the above people who go to Church ... even regularly ... Christian? This is quite unlikely.

In surveys of the unchurched (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=38) Barna Research found a 92% increase of unchurched people in this country in the last 13 years from 39 million in 1991 to 75 million in 2004. In 2006 men were a larger unchurched group than women at 55%. The unchurched live throughout the country, making up 43% of the Western population, 40% of the Northeastern population, and 28% of the populations in the South and the Midwest (2006). Interestingly enough 62% of unchurched adults consider themselves to be Christian (2006). 44% of unchurched adults claim to have made personal commitments to Jesus Christ and still find that commitment important today (2006).

Here are a couple of questions:

Are all of the movers and shakers in the power centers of our country only going to come from the churched group? No, it is highly unlikely.
Who are most of the decision makers in the power centers of our country today ... right or wrong? It is men ... a larger unchurched group than women.
Besides this is it a guarantee that simply because someone goes to church and claims to be Christian that they will possess a Scriptural world view? No, of course not.
Lastly, is it possible for some in our country to think they are Christian ... simply because they are Americans? In other words do they define their "Christianity" by commonly held American values? I think this is very likely and very dangerous, because not only are many of these people likely be political influencers in our society, they are also just as likely to be theological influencers in our churches.

If you think the last question is a bit weird, consider the Marines' Hymn ... something along with the national anthem and Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American" resonate deep within my heart.

The Marines' Hymn

Verse 1

From the Halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli;

We fight our country’s battles

On the land as on the sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

Of United States Marine.

Verse 2

Our flag’s unfurled to every breeze

From dawn to setting sun;

We have fought in ev’ry clime and place

Where we could take a gun;

In the snow of far-off Northern lands

And in sunny tropic scenes;

You will find us always on the job

The United States Marines

Verse 3

Here’s health to you and to our Corps

Which we are proud to serve;

In many a strife we’ve fought for life

And never lost our nerve;

If the Army and the Navy

Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;

They will find the streets are guarded

By United States Marines.

(from http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/learning_tools/library_and_archives/resources_and_references/marines_hymn.htm)

Consider the third verse. While most of us will readily smile and laugh at the friendly jab towards the other branches of our armed forces, the third verse captures the point of the previous question: Is it possible that some in our country consider themselves to be Christian simply because they're American? Does being a Marine automatically guarantee a duty spot in Heaven?

Here is the ultimate point. In yesteryear we could take for granted that our movers and shakers held to a basic Christian world view. In other words, those who crafted what it meant to be an American did so out of a Biblical world view. Today, that is no longer the case. If we're not careful, we might well say that we're proud to be something that is anti-Christian.

Am I patriotic? You better believe it, but my patriotism is held with eyes wide open, with constant vigilance. In other words I don't take things for granted. Blind patriotism is one of the several factors that led the German population, which was mostly Christian, to shout, "Heil Hitler." In our day and time we cannot afford blind patriotism.

Patriotism can be a glue, holding a people together. Patriotism can be a virtue, propelling people to self-sacrifice for their neighbors and posterity. Patriotism for believers can be a way to worship God for his marvelous provisions for their peace and safety. Patriotism, for believers, may also simply be their prosperity thrown into Aaron's fire ... out of which pops a calf wearing red, white, and blue.

Consider the words of the Apostle Paul:

Colossians 1:15-20

He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (ESV)

This is of course describing our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are serious about our Christianity, we must be serious about this passage, especially two points.

He is before all things
That in everything he might be preeminent

Those are absolutes and non-negotiables. However, my concern is not an overt trashing of these ideals. Rather, I'm concerned about what our actions and attitudes might be communicating, whether we know it or not. For example if we are serious about Jesus being Lord over all, then why do we say the Pledge of Allegiance in our worship services before the Pledge to the Christian flag and the Bible? (as is commonly done during "patriotic" services and Vacation Bible School) Why do we pledge our allegiance to a state in any service at all, where we are supposed to be pledging allegiance to our Lord through our worship ... where he is supposed to be the focal point of our worship?

I'm all for being patriotic, but lets be very careful about what we're pledging our love and devotion to. Let's be very careful that the objects of our love and devotion do not steal the worship due only to Jesus as Lord.

Under Construction Part II: "Rebuilding Fatherhood"

2008-06-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

This particular sermon was presented on Father's Day.

"And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers ...." (Malachi 4:6; ESV)

It is safe to say from reading this verse out of context that the relationship between fathers ... at least the fathers in this verse ... and children ... at least the children in this verse ... are important. What I aim to present today is that not only are fathers important but fatherhood itself is important. Some children of all ages and times have lost their fathers through untimely means such as disease, war, etc. Some have even lost them through horrible choices on the part of fathers. However, in today's society our children ... for the most part ... will grow up not only without their fathers around ... but also without the concept of fatherhood. What we have seen in our society is that "being a man" no longer includes being a father and that fatherhood no longer includes being male. I contend that nearly all problems in our society result from the castration and euthanizing of fatherhood. We don't simply need to repair what it means to be a father ... we need to rebuild fatherhood itself in our society.

Let's consider some of the problems in Malachi's day and the two pronged solution he offers.

Malachi 1:6-8

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, 'How have we despised your name?' By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say 'How have we polluted you?' Buy saying that the LORD's table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts." (ESV)

We see here that defiled worship was being allowed by the priest and offered by the people. What made this defiled worship is that the people and the priests were withholding the best of their animals from Temple sacrifice ... which is totally contrary to Torah. If the people were withholding their best from the LORD, then they were keeping it and its benefits for themselves. Can we not say this is deceit and violations of sacred trust?

Malachi 2:7-9

"For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for the is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have cause many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction." (ESV)

We see here that charges of corruption and deceit are more overtly levelled at the worship leadership, which was the hub of Israeli life at this time. The priest are polluting the teaching going out to the people. If the teaching becomes polluted, which fills the minds of the people, then the minds of the people ... concerning the things of God ... will become polluted.

Malachi 2:10-14

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

And this is the second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. but you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring? (ESV)

Malachi has levelled a charge at the people in general of being unfaithful (deceitful) to God by going after foreign gods? ... and this after being exiled and being allowed to return from exile! Malachi levels another charge at the men of the society ... in against particular husbands and fathers. The men have violated the sacred covenant of marriage ... leaving their wives and children. Another charge has been levelled at these "dead beat dads." They have not brought up godly offspring ... either because they chose not to have kids or because they and their godly influence were absent ... or because they had no godly influence to give.

Notice also verse 15 "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring." Because of these absent men, husbands, fathers, the marriage and family could not represent the character and nature of "the one God." Is it possible to read between the lines here and speculate on good grounds that these men were off pursuing their own interests to the exclusion of their own families and their covenants ... and thus true unity became impossible because these men pursued their own selfishness at the exclusion of their covenants?

Malachi 3:5

"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me," says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)

Here we see that social injustice is being practice by the people. It is possible that many more injustices were being committed besides these. But these are the ones we have to work with in our understanding of this passage. We have adulterers, liars, oppressors of employees and widows and orphans. The common thread here is deceit and cheating for selfish personal gain at the expense of these victims' helpless and defenseless welfare.

On either side of the list we see God is angry with the sorcerers and "those who thrust aside the sojourner (alien)." If cheating and deceit is the common thread in the middle categories then is is possible that thread is wound through these categories as well? Perhaps people were going to the sorcerers to have them curse their neighbors? Perhaps God feels cheated by people going to them instead of himself. Concerning treatment of sojourners or aliens, the term is thrust aside. This perhaps speaks to their justice under the law being "thrust aside" or the poor laws from Torah being ignored on their behalf.

(An aside here perhaps speaks to the illegal immigration debate of our own time. Torah does not wield or add to the sojourners or aliens the same privileges as citizens. But Torah certainly does prohibit the citizens from taking away from the sojourners or aliens some basic temporary beneficence. Deporting illegal immigrants in a humane manner is hardly denying them basic temporary beneficence. Rather is it not more unjust to allow people who chose to enter this country illegally the rights of citizenship before those who entered this country and stood in the lines and did it legally?)

At any rate what we have here is a citizenry who are now practicing deceit and cheating. It is possible that we have seen the citizenry delve down into this low state because the worship leaders and the fathers had become corrupt? Oddly enough in 3:6-12 we see the priests being cheated out of their living expenses because the worshippers are cheating God out of his tithes. What goes around comes around huh?

Malachi 3:17

You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" By saying, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?" (ESV)

The worship establishment and the people are corrupt, but they each complain that others get ahead by evil while they themselves languish in their good ways. They in their unjust and corrupt states have the gall to ask, "Where is the God of justice?"

Malachi offers a two-pronged solution on behalf of God to the people.

Malachi 3:1-4

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (ESV)

Here we see the two pronged approach God is offering the people through Malachi.

His messenger is coming.
God himself is going to show up.

Who is the one we are two think of as the refiner's fire and the fuller's soap? I think it's best to think of God and his messenger as working together, though its always spoken of God as wondering "who can stand in his presence." Either way God is going to show up in the Temple for the purpose of purifying and refining the Temple ... or can we say the worship therein and the leaders thereof? We can also say that God was planning on bringing revival to that society because Scripturally worship is not simply that moment before the Lord, but indeed worship was seen as the whole lifestyle lived under the yoke of Torah.

Malachi 4:1-6

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." (ESV)

We see here that a day is coming when God himself will act to destroy the wicked, leaving them neither root nor branch. Is it possible that part of the solution of destroying the wicked is to allow them to simply die out as a population by not repopulating themselves? At any rate God is supposed to show up and bring healing.

We also see that the prophet Elijah is supposed to return, who is most likely the messenger of the LORD spoken of earlier. Elijah is going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. If the turning of hearts is part of the solution, then the hearts must be away and thus be part of the problem. Indeed we have seen earlier that a major part of the social problems of Malachi's day was men abandoning their covenants as husbands and fathers.

What we see here then is that a major prong of this two-pronged solution is the restoration of responsible fatherhood ... a fatherhood that is committed to covenant with family and committed to covenant with the LORD via Torah (see 4:4).

Since God does not change (3:6), if God thought restoring fatherhood to society was key in bringing lasting and sustaining social renewal in Malachi's day ... and again in the day of John the Baptist and Jesus (they were the fulfillment of Malachi's prophesy) ... then is it possible that God thinks restoring fatherhood to our society is key to our social renewal of any lasting and sustaining worth?

According to David Blankenhorn (1995), a father's investment in the lives of his children bring

physical protection
his money and resources
"paternal cultural transmission" (identity, character, and competence)
day-to-day nurturing (Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, p. 25)

Also according to Blankenhorn in order for fathers to have any real investment in the lives of their children, they must have to a) live with them constantly and b) have a good working alignment with the mother. Part-time fathers can't contribute (or won't contribute) the above four necessities to any measurable comparison of full-time dads.

According to Armin Brott (1999) in his essay, "Not Just Another Pair of Hands," both boys and girls receive priceless cognitive development from consistent and faithful interaction with their father. For boys the social and emotional nurturing received contributes to greater academic skills in both high school and college, higher IQ score and higher scores on other standardized tests ... than boys who do not receive this from their fathers. These emotionally nurtured boys tend to be more empathetic, nurturing, and better behaved (in The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action; eds Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn, & Mitchell Pearlstein; pp. 37-40).

Girls who receive the high physical play from their fathers tend to be more popular and assertive with their peers and thus less likely to passively accept their environment (Brott, 1999). These girls are more interested in pursuing higher levels of education and more involvement in sports. The more involved in sports girls tend to be, the less likely they are to wind up pregnant.

On the other hand, "When a girl cannot trust and love the first man in her life, her father, what she is missing cannot be replaced by money, friends, teachers, social workers, or well-designed public policies aimed at helping her. She simply loses. More over, as more and more girls grow up without fathers, society loses. From a societal perspective, this particular consequence of fatherlessness is very much like most others. It is not remediable. Paternal disinvestment cannot be offset by either maternal investment or public investment. As a society, we will not solve our crisis of fatherlessness with prison cells, mentoring programs, antiviolence curricula, boyfriends, antistalking laws, children's advocates, income transfers, self-esteem initiatives, or even mothers. We will solve it only with fathers." (Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, p. 48).

Two other quotes by Blankenhorn capture the importance of not merely men sharing the load with women, but of men assuming and embracing a fully-male fatherhood ... with society's celebration.

Prisons cannot replace fathers. At best, new prisons constitute an expensive endgame strategy for quarantining some of the consequences of fatherlessness (Fatherless America, p. 32).
Fatherhood is a social role that obligates men to their biological offspring. For two reasons, it is society's most important role for men. First, fatherhood, more than any other male activity, helps men to become good me: more likely to obey the law, to be good citizens, and to think about the needs of others. Put more abstractly, fatherhood bends maleness--in particular, male aggression--towards prosocial purposes. Second, fatherhood privileges children, In this respect, fatherhood is a social invention designed to supplement maternal investment in children with paternal investment in children (Fatherless America, p. 25).

Under Construction Part I: Is God with You?

2008-06-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Where is my world from yesteryear? I feel left behind. As much as we don't care to admit it, things are changing in our world ... and have been for a long time. And where is God in the midst of all this? This is not the time for fear or anxiety. Jesus still has plans for us. Now is the time to take heart, follow Jesus, and move our church ... "Under Construction."

We're beginning a new series ... or at least several Sundays ago we did ... entitled "Under Construction." This sermonette seeks to explore the idea of God being with us. We typically think of God being for us, but how often do we meditate on God's promise to be with us? Consider the following words of Jesus from John 14:12-18 ...

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you (ESV).

We typically think of God sending someone out on a mission to do work for him. We are scared to go out into that frightening place ... that godless place.

Question: What would happen to our sense of mission and purpose in life ... our church's sense of mission and purpose as well ... if we understood God's not so much as sending us out but calling us to his side ... out in the midst of the world ... where he is already at work?

Here are a couple of things I want us to capture from the above passage from John.

The context of the passage is Jesus's promising them they would do "greater things" than he did as far as ministry in the world.

Let us fully capture the last words of our passage. The Holy Spirit would not only be with us ... but also in us. The Holy Spirit would be so much with us ... that he would be in us. You can't get much more with us than being in us.

Let us now consider Moses's example from Exodus 3:1-12:

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned."

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"

And he said, "Here I am."

The he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The the LORD said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt."

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

He said, "But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain" (ESV).

Here are three observations.

Notice that God didn't simply show up and commission Moses for some mighty work on God's behalf. Rather God shows up and essentially asks Moses to join him in the work God is already doing.
Instead of Moses simply obeying. Moses offers the "but."
God's assurance to Moses was that God would be with him.

I wonder how our church would change is we changed our view of God's calling from simply "Hey, go gettem and make me proud." to "I'm already here ... why don't you come on and join me." From the John passage above we have seen that the Holy Spirit is already at work in the world and our commission from Jesus to go where the Spirit is and work the works of Jesus ... and even greater works that he did.

Moses offers the typical response we give back to God ... especially in our church. "But...."

But, God, I'm too old.
But, God, I' can't do such and such.
But, God, that's what we pay the preacher to do.

Do you reckon that God is growing a bit tired of wiping our "buts?"

Lastly, we see God assuring Moses that he would be with Moses. As we've seen above that is essentially our assurance as well. By the way, what is the name promised to Joseph of Jesus? Is it not "Immanuel ... God with us?" Remember, we said that not only would the Holy Spirit be with us, but also in us. You cannot get much more "with us" than being "in us."

Remember God has not given us much choice in the matter of whether or not we should go out for ministry, working the works of Jesus, in the world. We have not been given an option ... rather we've been given a God who will be so much with us that he will be in us.

Beware of Idols

2008-06-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

This particular sermon was actually preached Sunday, May 18th ... instead of the previously posted sermon, "Knowing God." "Knowing God" was actually preached last Sunday, June 1st. I was on vacation in the mean time.

When we typically think of the Epistle of 1 John, three ideas surface. First of all John profoundly tells us that God is love (4:8). Secondly, we come across the idea of authentic love for one's neighbor ... particularly his challenge to people who claim to love God but in actuality hate their brother (4:20). Thirdly, we typically come across the extremely reassuring idea of God's faithfulness to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sins (1:9). Perhaps authentic love could be a title for John's epistle.

What is interesting to me is that off all the words John chooses to close his epistle with, he chooses, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (5:21; ESV).

At first glance this might seem anti-climatic. Idols? Aren't those wooden blocks that island natives worship merely wooden blocks? If it was anti-climatic in John's day, how about in our day ... when our scientific skepticism keeps the supernatural out of our imaginative reach? Idols? Haven't we in our "sophistication" rendered all things supernatural, un-natural, for the 21st Century?

While those of us who attempt to take Scripture seriously balk at the above attitude, there are "practical" atheists who fill our churches. I'm sure we know some. Of course we might actually be some of them ourselves. Of course you at least know some.

What happens when we need medical attention? Who do we call ... at least first? Well ... we might voice such prayer requests for other people but not until Sunday morning worship. But we certainly don't voice any need for ourselves of others. We can do these things on our own.

Folks, I hate to tell you, but this privatized version of Christianity is nothing more than practical atheism, which is acknowledging God with the lips but leaving him out of the planning and doing and needing.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

Actually, we might serve more powerful idols in our culture than in some others ... at least more deceptive idols. An idol is pretty powerful to convince you he's not real and then con you into serving him whole-heartily.

Do we have idols in our American sophistication? What about great wealth? What about sexual prowess? What about being power-hungry, unable to allow others some measure of control?

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

What then is the nature of an idol? Perhaps we can come close to picture by inquiring into God's nature? He told Moses he is the Great I Am. He is the eternally self-existent one, who needs no one or nothing. This Great I Am made us and owns us and made us to be dependent totally on him who can provide for all of our needs perfectly.

Remember the first of the Ten Commandments?

Perhaps the nature of idols is more a reflection of our nature. In my great desire I absolutely crave _______________ (you fill in the blank) above all else. People in yester-year prayed to the War god, Mars for demolition of enemies. Today, people pray to their own ego and pride for demolition of corporate enemies. Perhaps, then, the presence of idols are our vain judgment God for supposedly not meeting our needs out of his eternal supply.

Well, thinking of the three ideas we mentioned from John's first epistle, the charge to keep ourselves from idols only makes sense. Here are the three ideas once again:

God is love (4:8).
God is love, so we must love our neighbor ... how can we claim to love God but in actuality hate our brother (4:20).
Reassurance for forgiveness and cleansing from all sin upon confessing sin (1:9).

Idols, which are the tangible evidence of my unrestrained belly, sabotage all three.

When I allow my belly no restraints I miss or bypass totally the charges, principles, precepts, directions, and commands that God in his love has put into place for me to avoid hell on earth. If I avoid God's charges, principles, precepts, directions, and commands, then I am avoiding God ... and thus rendering his love for me of no account. If I render his love of no account, then because the nature of God is love, I render him of no account.

If my belly is unrestrained then I will attempt to fill it despite whatever obstacles might lay in my way. In fact I will obliterate any obstacles in my way to filling my belly ... even my wife and children. Oh I might not mean to hurt my wife and children, but if out of my insatiable desire for emotional fulfillment and I enter into an affair, then by default my unrestrained belly has destroyed my wife and children. By default I have engaged in behavior that is actually hate for my wife and children. If I hate my brother, then the love of God is not in me.

God's love knows no bounds, but what happens when I'm continually confessing sin, but continually worshipping my idol, which is my unrestrained belly. Do I not then mock the forgiveness of God? Is it not possible that I would grow callous to the Holy Spirit's pleading and convicting. If so, would I eventually not even care that I am in sin and need forgiveness?

While at first John's final words in his epistle might seem anti-climatic or even trivial. But when the nature of idols are considered along with human nature, they are some of the most profound words in the Bible.

As a side note, while the first of the Ten Commandments directs us to have no other gods, the last of the Ten direct us to not covet. Given the nature of idol worship to be the celebration of the unrestrained belly, the placement of the first and last of the Ten Commandments makes perfect sense as well.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols." John is not speaking to kids but adult believers. Idols are dangerous even for us "sophisticated" adult believers.

Knowing God

2008-05-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

What is the purpose of religion in general and Christianity specifically? Many answers come to the fore ... either verbally or by observing common behavioral patterns. Some might answer to keep society intact. Some might answer to feed one's soul. Others might suggest religion is there to keep you out of trouble and to rescue you when you wind up there. Some others might simply believe that the beginning and end of Christianity in particular is to "land on that happy shore" (heaven).

Reading David's earnest pleas in Psalm 143 might lead us to similar conclusions, but let's not be too hasty.

Psalm 143

Hear my prayer, O LORD;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my hear within me is appalled.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge!
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
For you name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant (ESV).

David may not sound all that different than any of us. Many of us are accustomed to calling out to God when the going gets tough. As the saying goes ... there are no atheists in the fox holes.
Yet, there are several indications here that David is not simply someone who got into trouble and found "Jail-house Religion." Rather David seems to indicate that his common practice is walking with God. Notice verses 3 & 4 describe a living hell on earth being fanned by his enemies. Then verses 5 & 6 describes his meditation on the past faithfulness of God ... and his outstretched soul to bring those memories into contemporary realities.

Interestingly, David is describing the depraved, "cut-throat" world in which he lives in verses 1 & 2, including himself among the unrighteous. In verses 3 & 4 he is further describing their cut-throat activities. In verse 6 David is in essence stretching his very parched but unworthy throat out to the Lord. David deserves to have his throat cut, but is trusting in God keeping his covenant promises. David is trusting that instead of cutting his throat in justice, God will pour watery blessings down it. Actually David is primarily asking for God himself, not simply a quick fix. Leslie C. Allen points this out in his commentary on Psalms.

Further more, David says that God is the one in whom he trusts ... leading to the feel of a pre-existing relationship of trust ... and he asks for God's direction (verse 7). In verse 10 David is asking God to teach him to do God's will. In verse 13 David confesses he is the servant of God.
All of these demonstrate that David's relationship with God didn't just begin when he heard the teacher break the bad news of a pop-quiz. Rather David has a previous habit of nurturing a very passionate relationship with God. And it is out of that passionate intimacy with God that David now turns when he is in trouble.

Yet, some might simply suggest or object by saying that well David was in the Bible and was a superhero. His experience was unique and is not to be expected of the general laity. Politely, I'd like to suggest that reasoning is hogwash. Let's look at the very words of Jesus himself.

John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (ESV).

That word in the Greek is not simply knowing about God. Yet, so much of our Christian worship is geared towards that endeavor ... to simply learn a bunch of facts about God. Rather it refers to knowing someone through committed sexual intimacy. That is quite a depth to knowing! And that is the word used here ... not that Jesus is saying that we are to have sex with God. No, rather we are to know God deeply and intimately through experiencing him in the everydayness of life. And Jesus said that was the essence of eternal life or salvation.

Henry Blackaby and Claude V. King's popular book Experiencing God provide a whole teaching on this subject and a necessary corrective to our cold and formalistic worship. This book has radically changed my life and can change yours as well.

Consider the drive of the Apostle Paul.

Philippians 3:10

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings (ESV).

Paul describes all of his religious pursuits as being "but rubbish" compared to knowing Christ. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think Paul was condemning those particular pursuits per se. Rather Paul was addressing, as he does in most of his letters, the concept of identity. Many Jewish people taught that what identified them as the people of God was their Torah, especially the right required by their Torah ... circumcision. As Paul argued in Romans, no their primary identity marker was faith in Christ. Likewise, as Paul asked, "Do we then overthrow (Torah) by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold (Torah)" (Romans 3:31; ESV). Paul is saying both in Philippians and Romans that the primary marker of being the people of God is faith in Christ ... but having faith in Christ does not absolve you of learning the heart of God as found in Torah and the sayings of Jesus ... as Jesus cautioned, "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15; ESV).

The primary maker is faith, which in the context of Philippians is the lived experience of deep intimacy with God found in learning and living his heart. More simply, it is the practice of intimately walking with God.

Hey, we can wear suits all day long and follow Robert's Rules of Order until we've been suffocated with cold formality ... but if we're not knowing God by intimately experiencing him day by day, we need to check the pulse of our Christianity as to see whether it is alive or dead.

The Sacrifice of Motherhood

2008-05-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

In celebrating those precious people God has elected to raise civilization, it often good to recognize motherly giants as examples to follow. For example Susanna Annesley Wesley was a woman of deep faith, praying that God would use her to spark a movement of God in the churches throughout the English world (Mother's of Influence--Inspiring Stories of Women Who Made a Difference in Their Children and Their World, 2005). Little did she know that she would indeed profoundly influence English Christianity and indeed global Christianity through two of her sons, John and Charles Wesley. They were only 2 of her 19 children ... actually only 9 survived until adulthood. At any rate, she spent an hour praying for her children each day ... and an additional hour per day with one of her children. Wow.

But what about our moms who don't feel they measure up to this spiritually giant status? What about our moms who upon looking back realized they royally screwed up their children? What about our moms who have tried their best and yet their children have become children of the devil?

And what about our moms who feel put-down and spat upon from the ultra-feminist culture for devoting time to their family instead of their careers?

I think we find in the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume a healing example for us to follow. Let's look at Mark 14: 3-9.

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment wasted like that? for this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they scolded her.

But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her" (ESV).

Now we don't know is this woman was a mom or not, but we can find in her a balm of healing. Notice that she comes in and anoints Jesus ... in the midst of protests.

"Why was the ointment wasted like that?"

I think our wonderful "femi-nazi" society looks upon moms who give up opportunities for full-blown, self-pursuit, career as rather wasteful. Let's don't even mention those moms who choose to raise their families full-time!!! "What a waste!" "She could have really made something of herself!"

I also think that many moms look at their current motherhood status and/or perhaps look back on their past motherhood exploits and cry out in despair, "What a waste!" "I could have done better!" "I am such a failure now ... what a waste!"

Now this sermon isn't to justify evil ... as some mom's have much need for repentance. Yet, many moms are naturally idealistic and feel they don't measure up to some artificial ideal ... often imposed by other people.

In the same vein as Jesus, I want to emphasize, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her?"

The present-day dollar amount might well be nearly $25,000 for the perfume she poured out on Jesus.

"Let her alone. Why do you trouble her?"

I want moms to understand that the sacrifices they have made for their families is like this perfume poured out over the body of Jesus.

For our moms who have been less than perfect, please allow Jesus to pour out the perfume of his Holy Spirit over you and feel his forgiveness running down your tear-stained face. This is not at all to alleviate of our dear moms their responsibility for confession of sin and pursuit of repentance. Yet, as an engine without oil will only lock-up and remain that way, our moms need to feel the forgiveness that Jesus offers, so they can do what comes naturally to them ... properly love their families.

Jesus offers that forgiveness and transformation today. Will you reach out and take his outstretched, nail-scarred hand?

Happy Mother's Day

The Crisis of Grace: The Priestly Service of the Gospel

2008-05-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is perhaps an epilogue to my previous sermon series on grace, which focused on what God's grace inspires, transforms, and equips us to do in, to, and for other people. One of the main problems people have with seeking to be used by God in the lives of other is the potential for undesirable consequences.

However, consider a personal example. My 2-year old has just had her toe nails painted for the first time. In enjoying her pure rapture, my heart was saddened by so many teen girls who are nothing more than salivation trips for locker room guys. And ... many of these girls have no problem with this. In fact many girls are far more sexually-aggressive today.

So ... question ... Am I to withdraw support, influence, and personal involvement in her life ... simply because of the potential for undesirable consequences. Most sane people would in no wise hesitate a hearty "No." And yet, this is what we see with God, church, and ministry.

You see Grace brings crisis. Forget the contemporary understanding for crisis (Help! My life is falling apart!). Rather for a moment consider a different understanding of crisis ... which is a fork in the road of life yield the possibility for both opportunity and danger.

Many would do well to remind me that not being involved in my daughter's life in any meaningful way is the only sure fire way to ensure undesirable consequences in her life. Not only is there the possibility for undesirable consequences, there is also the potential for godly-wise success. Let us never forget that. The same holds true for the God/church/ministry stuff.

The basic point of this sermonette is that God's grace is especially designed for his people to take God-risks for his ministry. Yes, there is the potential for undesirable consequences ... but there is just as much (if not more) potential for God-sized rewards and dividends. After all who is the One who is building his church ... but our great Sovereign King. What have we to fear? My desire for my two churches is that we would learn to embrace dreaming God's dreams for ministry.

At any rate let us consider the first part of our text, Romans 15:25-33:

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. (25-29; ESV)

Understand that at this point Paul is writing to the Roman church and is expecting to see them (and minister to and with them, see chapter 1). Yes, the future indeed held a visit from him to them ... but little did he realize his visit would be in chains. Let's continue picking up in verse 30.

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem my be acceptable to the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (30-33; ESV)

Notice here that Paul is dreaming of the possibility of a future visit to this Roman congregation in fullest sense of the word "encouragement." Yet, little did he realize that though he would certainly be making a visit to them, it would be in chains. Though he certainly expected to see some measure of trouble, little did he realize the violent uproar that awaited him. Paul would see this God of peace, who he invokes, is in the midst of this uproar and will be with him during his many future shipwrecks, beatings, tortures, imprisonments, etc. Even in these future messy circumstances Paul is still dreaming God's dreams for ministry. Wow!

And yet, when at first we consider Paul and his life, we shipwreck him on the South Pacific island of great and important peoples, while me, myself, and I live in the real world of the mundane and boring. If there was ever a concept that was destined to shipwreck any church's ministry it is this one: the stuff in the Bible, real ministry, Christian excitement, all that is for paid professionals on staff somewhere in some mega church. Christianity for me is signing my name on Heaven's dotted line, getting my eternal fire insurance, and then waiting on Heaven. What a crock!

Let us simply consider how Paul opens his letter to the Romans in 1:1-17. Keep this question in the back of your mind as you read: What does it mean to preach the Gospel?

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by god and called to be saints; grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1-7; ESV)

We need to understand that this whole passage (1:1-17) serves as an introduction to the whole of his letter. And verses 1 - 7 serve to give us a rather unique pattern. Allow me, if you will, to highlight it.

Paul as servant of Jesus Christ ... Paul as apostle
Jesus as descendant of David ... Jesus as Son of God
Paul's missionary band receiving grace ... his band receiving apostleship
The Roman Church being loved by God ... the Roman Church called to be saints

What we have here is a comparative group of passives and actives. Paul cannot choose to be a Christian. And to be a servant of Christ, he first must respond God's initiating call. This is passive. Paul is called to be an apostle. This is the active outflowing, his Christian production, if you will. His apostleship is what he produces with his Christianity. It is his ministry.

So we have the passive call (passive to man, active to God) and we have the active ministerial production. Yes, God the Son chose to come to earth, but the image is that of a baby boy. A human baby hardly has an active choice concerning which family he is born to. So Jesus is the descendant of David. And his active ministry is as the Son of God ... reconciling the world to God. Paul's missionary band received grace. They could not earn it. All they could do was passively receive it. Yet, they were given to the Christian ministerial production of apostleship.

Here is where it gets interesting. The pattern, again, is passively receiving from God and actively producing by God and for God. Consider the last example. The Roman church passively received love from God. They could do nothing to earn it. They received his love. Yet they are called to be saints.

Our contemporary understanding of Saint is either some mystical superhero in the Roman Catholic Church or some super pious old lady that lives in the church building.

However, if we follow our pattern, this understanding of saint does not hold holy water! Rather saint is a calling for ministry ... for the general Christian population in the church. The Roman church was loved by God ... called to be saints (ministry).

As we pick back up in 1:8, let us ask continue to ask ourselves what Paul's concept (at least in this passage) of preaching and ministry is.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- (8-11; ESV).

Question?: What is a spiritual gift? If we follow Paul's thinking ... and he remains consistent in all his writings ... Let us consider 1 Corinthians 12:4-7:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (ESV)

A spiritual gift is nothing more than a Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered work, event, and activity for the "common good."

What Paul is saying is that he is hoping to visit them to produce in them from his apostleship ministry a special Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered work, event, and activity for the "common good." He wants to empower them for ministry among one another ("to strengthen you.").

Let's continue his thought by picking back up in verse 11 and continuing through:

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers that I have often intended to come to you (but have thus far been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise adn to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome (11-15; ESV).

Question?: How much "mutual" encouragement can 1 person participate in? None. It takes two to tango. So he's coming to them to impart to them some further ability to be used by the Spirit to minister ... and he hope to be ministered to by them being empowered by the Spirit. He's looking to build up and participate in this community of Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministers. He's not coming to laud his Apostleship over them. He's coming to mold them into people who can then mold one another and others.

Notice he's hoping to come reap a harvest among them. But they are already Christians. Here are two possibilities.

He's considering their being further trained for Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry as his harvest "among" them.
He's hoping to work with them in reaping further harvest of Roman pagans.

Either way this harvest "among you" business is not the crusade-style ministry of Billy Graham. Rather its his being deeply and personally and tangibly involved in their being molded for Holy Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry to one another and others outside the Kingdom.

Against this backdrop is his desire to "preach the gospel to you." Again, these people are already Christians, so this must not be so much evangelistic as it must be more of cultivating more and further Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry among them to one another and others outside the kingdom.

Thus Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry is not simply hiring some dude in a suit to run his mouth and tell you that you're going to hell (though this might certainly be a part of it, it's not the whole). Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry involves deep, personal, and tangible ministry in the lives of others.

Let us consider verses 16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for (or to) faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith"(ESV).

Quite the common interpretation of verse 16 is the Gospel is the power of God for the initial conversion experience to everyone who will call upon the name of Jesus at the altar at the behest of some fire-breathing evangelist. However, this interpretation, while true in its own right is quite anemic when read against the backdrop of the whole of the preceding passage. And Paul was talking about reaping a harvest among believers. The preceding passage is about ordinary Christians being transformed by the Spirit for Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry to one another and to those outside the kingdom.

Therefore this verse must be speaking to something deeper than the initial conversion experience. Rather it must be speaking to the salvation experience that is the life-long experience of Sanctification.

This is the power of God to everyone who believes. Well, duh. It only makes sense when read in this light. As a believer, I have been converted, and as a believer, I am being transformed.

"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." In it ... in the ministry of the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. And this happens "from faith to faith." Again what we have here is deep, personal, and tangible involvement that is Spirit-decided, -willed, and -empowered ministry in the lives of and to one another and to those outside the kingdom. Sanctification happens in the relationships of ordinary believers inside the Church to and with another another. The righteousness of God is revealed from my faith to the establishing and building up of your faith and vice versa.

And the passage reads as if Paul were expecting them to continue the pattern long after he had left. (Consider chapters 12-14.)

With this understanding of Paul's heart, let us pick back up in Romans 15:14-16:

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given to me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God (ESV).

Paul knew there were potential problems awaiting him in Judea, yet he continued to dream God's dreams of a super-Spirit-sized Roman church ... and of no doubt the same established in Spain. May we ... in spite of potential problems dare to dream God's dreams for us in ministry. Seeing God do exciting things is not merely reserved from some dudes in the Bible or on TV, rather God expects these things of us. Rather than a few dudes in suits or in the Bible being called to the priesthood, we are called to be priest in the "priestly service of the gospel of God."

A Community of Grace Part IV

2008-05-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Grace Has Boundaries

This is the last in a series of sermons on Grace. We first looked at being saved by grace. We next looked at grace equipping us for special and powerful ministry to one another in the church. We then looked at grace equipping us for ministry in the world.

What happens when the world "gets saved" and comes into the church? What do we do? How do we act? Allow me to suggest that grace has boundaries.

Grace puts boundaries around those "weak" in the faith, giving them time to grow.
Grace puts that same perimeter around me, preventing me from encroaching on their need for time and space to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

Let's begin reading in Romans 13:8-10:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. for the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (ESV).

And out of some convoluted sense of "Propriety" we attempt to make those new and weak in the faith look just like us. They must wear suits, dolled up dresses, short hair on guys, etc. While Paul nor I are about to advocate loose morality, there are certain cultural things which stink like a cheap suit when forced on other people. For example, in this particular culture older people tend to dress their best on Sunday, because they are dressing for the Lord. However, in my last church, which drew people from the inner city and goth-like cultures, to dress up is to be stuck up. Dressing up was to many of those folks a way to say that you're better than everyone else.

Before going on into chapter 14, we must first realize that Paul was writing to Christians who were both Jewish and formerly Gentile. His main point throughout his letter is that faith in Jesus ... not the specific details of Torah is what identifies us as God's people. Thus, such a group would inevitably encounter conflict.

So ... what are we to do with those coming from the world and into the church? Let's begin reading in 14:1:

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions (ESV).

We certainly welcome people to come into our fellowship ... mostly to make them look like us. However, instead of trying to make them look like us, why don't we give them time and space to grow into looking like Jesus?

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. the one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God (ESV).

Notice in this part of the passage Jesus is referred to ... not as Jesus ... but as Lord, which is from the Greek, "Kyrios." One dimension of kyrios is that of absolute ownership ... think of Caesar. We are owned by Jesus ... if we truly claim him as our savior ... which is also to claim him as our lord. Therefore, we have no choice to do other than as Jesus does. Jesus, who is God, has welcomed (see my underlinings in the above passage) the weakling in the faith ... and so should we ... again not for the purpose of quarreling over "opinions." Rather we are to welcome him into our fellowship so that he can have boundaried-room to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

This is a major part of our ministry of grace. Consider daring to envision drunks, wife-beaters, adulterers, racists, homosexuals, gluttons, etc. all becoming/transforming into/morphing into something just like Jesus. Imagine their becoming the righteousness of God. Where are they going to do that? Let's pick up at chapter 15:1:

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written,

"The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me."

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (ESV).

The weak in faith are to be transformed into the righteousness of God in our midst ... and with us ... "with one voice."

A Community of Grace Part III

2008-04-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

Our Church: A Minister of Grace ... Even to the World

We're in the middle of a series emphasizing the ministry of grace. We have seen that grace saves us (Romans 9-11). We have seen that this same grace which saved us, actually transforms us ... and uses us to help others be transformed and made holy ... and ... whole (Romans 12:1-21). We even touched on how this same grace which transforms us, making us holy and whole, fits us for ministry to those in the world ... who might well be persecuting us (Romans 13:1-7).

In this sermon I want to more greatly emphasize this concept of God's grace fitting us for and fueling our ministry to the world. All too often we lull ourselves to comfortable sleep in our pews ... what a way to demonstrate our thanksgiving to the God who saved us by his grace.

Lets take a look at Romans 13:13 & 14:

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (ESV)

When considering these verses isolated from their context, many of us in the Southern Traditional Church will quietly shout "Hallelujah!" We have personal morality down to a fine science, wagging our high and holy heads at those in the world, "Nanna Nanna Boo Boo, stick your heads in hell-fire doo doo!" Yet we might be amazed or even shocked to read these verses in context. The question is why did Paul write these verses?

Let us read them in their context beginning with Romans 13:8:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. the night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day time, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (ESV)

Again why did Paul write for us to "walk properly in the day time, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality ... etc.?" While at first glance it would appear that he is asking those Roman Christians to be good little boys and girls because Santa-Jesus is always watching and is about to return soon with gifts for all good little girls and boys! However, that reindeer simply doesn't fly far.

Question: What happens to us when we're fat and happy following Grandma's Thanksgiving meal? That's right ... we find the nearest couch and fall asleep. If you think about it, all those personal sins listed in verse 13 are simply excesses of things that are right and good.

orgies ... extreme excess of group fun and pleasure
drunkenness ... excess of relaxation in a beloved group
sexual immorality ... excess of marital intimacy breached by married and non-married (but often lonely) folks
sensuality ... excess emotional strokes of my 5 senses. (If God did not mean for us to enjoy pleasurable visuals then why did he create the mountains or oceans or waterfalls or flowers?
quarreling ... excess of wanting my way respected
jealousy ... excess of my appetite desiring something another has

These examples, while yes ... sins of the flesh, are merely excesses of things that are right and good. I believe Paul discusses these in this context to illustrate that our appetites often get in the way of effectively loving our neighbors as God would have us do. We are to "make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

So often when we think of aspects of the corporate worship service which are of dire importance to me, we tend to drift into that which makes us comfortable. I wish to suggest that instead of nurturing our own comfort in the worship service ... we seek to nurture our compassion for our neighbors ... otherwise we disrupt the ministry of God's grace.

Keep in mind that considering Romans 13:1-7, Paul is defining neighbor as anyone ... including the unbelieving world.

A Community of Grace Part II:

2008-04-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Our Church: An Incubator of Grace

We are in the middle of a sermon series on the topic of grace. And I have desired to discuss the community aspect of grace. Part One discusses being saved by grace. Part II, our current sermon, discusses our church being a nurturer of grace. In short grace is not only for our fire insurance. Grace does save us from hell, but grace also transforms us and fits & fuels us for ministry to one another and the world. Let us take a look at Romans 12 - 13:10.

Romans 12:1-13:10
(ESV)

1. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
4. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
5. so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophesy, in proportion to our faith;
7. if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
8. the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
9. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
10. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
11. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

12. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
13. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
17. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what honorable in the sight of all.
18. If possible, so far as depends on you, live peaceably with all.
19. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
20. To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

13
1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? The do what id good, and you will receive his approval,
4. for he is God’s servant for your good. but if you do wrong be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
5. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6. For because of this you also pay takes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect id owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
8. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10. Love does not wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

If we remember chapters 9-11 dealt with Paul's anguish over his kinsmen ... who are the very elect of God, chosen by grace ... have not chosen themselves Jesus, their messiah. Rather the non-elect have chose Jesus. Yet, grace will not leave Israel alone. Grace is wonderful but care must be taken, otherwise we could be broken off as well.

In 12:1 Paul speaks of "therefore," which refers to the above discussion of grace. "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies (grace) of God ... present your bodies as a living sacrifice ... which is your spiritual worship.

Paul says that because of the grace of God worship God with their bodies. With their bodies they are to be vessels for the Holy Spirit to minister to the whole body supernaturally (12:2-8). With their bodies they are minister the grace of God in their relationships with one another (12:9-21). With the grace of God they are to minister to those in the world, including vile people (13:1-7).

Paul sums this concept up quite nicely:

Owe no one anything, except to love eache other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "you shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10, ESV).

Church is not simply for us, and God did not save us simply to give us "Get out of Jail Free" cards. God's grace saves us, transoforms us, and equips us for ministry to one another and to the world.

A Community of Grace

2008-04-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Part I: "Saved by Grace"

All verses unless otherwise indicated are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

Why is it so hard to be nice to some people? Our 2-year old little girl was determined to go see her 6-week old little sister. My wife stopped her, saying that the baby was sleeping. Our little girl, being quite the smart girl she is, sought to rectify the situation. She runs to the end of the hall and hollers, "WAKE UP, BABY!"

Sometimes kids are much easier to be nice to than some adults. My wife was in labor with our oldest little girl from 9 pm until around 6:30 the following morning ... when all labor stopped completely. We had opted for no medication. Four hours later we were out of options. She was given Putosin ... and eventually it was too strong for her exhausted body. We certainly did not want any narcotics ... due to the effects they have on the baby. We opted for an epidural. The nurse understood our concerns about medication. However, the anesthesiologist did not. She busted in the room, shouting to the top of her lungs, "Heeeyyyy. How's it going?" Pointing to me she hollered, "I heard you have a problem with medication."

Mind you we both had already opted for the epidural, but she was having none of it. Evidently her debate team in high school lost the state championship, and she was making up for it now. While my wife was writhing in agony, she was attempting to convince me of the joys of medicating to death mama and baby.

I attempted to once again explain that we had already decided on an epidural, but she was still having none of it. I politely offered to step out in the hall way and discuss this with her ... after she administered the epidural if she wished. She huffed and puffed and stomped out of the room.

Some people are just difficult to be nice to. Many times it's difficult to be nice to me. Grace. We need it. Grace. We need to give it. But do we fully understand it? This month we'll be discussing this concept in more detail. Today, we'll be dealing with being "saved by grace" ... which in our particular church circles is perhaps quite misunderstood.

Consider the following statements:

I can never lose my salvation. After all, I'm saved by grace and not by anything I do, right? So I can do whatever I want and still be saved ... since I'm saved by grace and not by works ... good or not.
I don't think I can ever be sure of my salvation. After all I think God knows what I think and feel at work. He can't be pleased with that.

The above statements are two ditches we need to avoid on this road to understanding Scriptural grace. The first statement renders graces a license. The second statement renders grace unattainable. Following our lesson on being "Saved by Grace," I hope we'll better understand the Scriptural account of salvation by grace. Let's begin our study by turning to Romans 8:31-39.

Romans 8:31-39

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage is one of the most comforting during stressful times and dire hardships. We take it out from its context and sleep with it during the dark night of the soul, as it were a stuffed animal. However, to fully appreciate its power, we must send it back to its textual home and back to its own cultural context. But for now let's make a "simple" observation.

Yes, we certainly inseparable from God's perfect love. Yes, we are more than conquerors in Jesus, being led in his own victory (II Corinthians 2:14). However, notice the context. Sandwiched between these two faith-building declarations is this series of horrible distresses and a very weird proclamational allusion, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." As hard as it is for our instantaneous, entitlement-mentality, hit-me-and-I'll-sue culture, God's grace and love are not promised to keep us from the horrible distresses mentioned in this passage. Rather, God's grace and love are what carries us through the distresses.

Now Paul comes to one particular distress that is nearly overwhelming for him. The whole of Paul's letter to the Romans is his anguish over the in-pouring of the Gentiles to the Church, while many of his own people, "God's elect," have already and continue to do so in Paul's day to reject Jesus as God's Messiah. "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies" (8:33).

You see, all Jews during the time of Jesus, and most likely today as well, believed that they were saved by God's grace from slavery in Egypt. There was nothing they could have done to make God go into Egypt and rescue them. They were certainly not the most impressive people on earth at that time. They were quite an obscure lot wallowing in Egyptian slavery. God miraculously saved them. He led them out of Egypt, where at the Red Sea they were born again by water and by the Spirit. They entered on the other side of the sea a new people, having been led by the pillar of fire, which is always understood to be the Holy Spirit.

Paul's anguish: He fellow Jewish brethren were "God's elect" saved by grace, born again through water and the Spirit, married to Him at Mt. Sinai. Why are they rejecting God's messiah to them? They are the very ones who should have eagerly embraced him? We read further of his anguish in 9:1-5:

Romans 9:1-5:

I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship,m and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Again Paul's anguish is simply that his people saved by God's grace are missing out on God's grace in God's messiah. This touches on a particular debate that has been raging since the early days of the Church. Does God choose to save some and damn others? A very cursory read of chapters 9-11 without the Jewish background can leave one to wallow around in the anguish of Calvinistic predestination. Yet, a closer look, keeping in mind the Jewish background, will alleviate us of this dreaded near-Islamic concept of God. Let's turn over to chapter 11.

Keep in mind as we proceed further that God had chosen his people and saved them by his grace. A simple question, though ... did all Israelites who were "saved by grace" respond positively to his grace?

Romans 11:1-6

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you knot know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."

But what is God's reply to him?

"I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Again, a simplistic reading of this might well lead one to the near-Islamic concept of a God who controls all aspects of life--human, animal, plant, planetary, etc. The pine cone that drops to the ground was caused by God to do so. The men who refused to worship Baal were made to refuse Baal worship by God. The Israelites who worshipped Baal were made by God to do so.

(To be fair, not all Calvinists believe in this concept of the sovereignty of God. This concept is sometimes known as double-predestination ... God chooses who goes to heaven. God chooses who goes to hell. I argue that regardless if Calvinists don't accept the premise that God's damns people to hell, they believe this by default. They believe people can only come to Jesus, if God calls them to do so. Coming to Jesus is the only means to escape hell. While God might not damn people to hell, if he only doesn't call someone to Jesus, then he has by default damned them to hell ... by not enabling them to come to the only fire escape available.)

Again, remember that all Israelites were chosen--saved by grace, despite whatever time and age they live in. By throwing this caveat into the mix, one arrives at a not-so-Islamic picture of God. The Baal worshippers could have joined Elijah's group, but they chose not to do so. They resisted God's grace ... they removed themselves from the remnant, from their chosen status.

Likewise, the remnant of true Israel (see Romans 2-4) was not predetermined to accept Christ, nor was the false Israel predetermined to reject Christ.

Keeping in mind that all Israelites were chosen--saved by grace, despite whatever time and age they live in, the Israelites rejecting Jesus as God's messiah have removed themselves from the remnant, from their chosen status.

What then of verse 6: "but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace? We must remember that neither Paul nor Jesus, himself, nullified "The Law." "Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? by no means!" (6:15) A little background would be helpful here.

The word we translate as law actually is best translated as Torah. The Torah referred to the first 5 Books of the Bible ... the Books of Moses. Torah was God's projection, direction, instruction, the path in which to walk for his people. Torah or the Law was not law in the modern legalistic sense. Jesus never departed from Torah or God's "projection, direction, instruction." Rather Jesus broke the injunctions which were imposed by the Pharisees to help the common man to keep from breaking Torah.

Thus, the question Paul is wrestling with in Romans is never grace verses Torah or Law. Torah was God's grace for his people. Rather, the question is one of identity. How does one consider themselves to be of "the elect/the chosen/the remnant?" Many Jewish Christians felt that the Gentiles must first circumcise themselves before coming into the Christian fold. Circumcision was their identity marker of being in "the elect/the chosen/the remnant." Paul's argument in using Abraham as an example is that God called Abraham and the basis of his relationship with God was that he believed and later make good on his belief. His faith was his identity ... not his circumcision or any other work he might have done. He was chosen by grace ... not by the face he circumcised himself. Paul nor Jesus seek to nullify Torah ... rather they seek to correctly interpret Torah ... which became modified by Jesus and later by the first Church Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15).

Let's resume our current discussion, picking up at 11:7:

Romans 11:7-10:

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,

"God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

And David says,

"Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."

Again, it looks as if God had predetermined who would accept and reject Jesus. Yes, I understand that. However, we need to pay closer attention here ... especially to reading these citations in their context here in Chapter 11 of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Paul is asking "What then?" This is the very question he has been struggling with during the whole letter. He answers himself with what appears to be a tentative hypothetical, "Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened...." The reason I say "hypothetical" is because he has already said that not all of Israel has failed to obtain what Israel was seeking (see 11:1). Look also at verses 11 and 12: "So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means. Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? (italics mine)

In looking at the flow of chapter 11 so far, Paul is emphatic that God has not cast Israel away ... though some have taken themselves out of his remnant status. Did Israel fall beyond his reach? "By no means." Those who insist on Calvinistic-near-Islamic predestination need to wrestle around with the last clause of verse 12 "how much more will their full inclusion mean?" Let's continue with the flow of Paul's anguish and hope by picking back up in verse 11.

Romans 11:11-16

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy so are the branches.

Again Paul is emphasizing that the Jews have not been forgotten ... but might actually still be considered holy ... on the account of future acceptance. Notice the last verse above (verse 16), "If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy so are the branches." Israel is known as the olive tree. Her heritage ... "the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises" (9:3) is the root and the individual members are considered the branches of the olive tree. Let's read further.

Romans 11:17-24:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant towards the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but root that supports you. Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. for if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own tree.

First we need to observe that the church has not replaced Israel. We have not become the new Israel. We have been grafted into the true Israel, whose root is the Old Testament ... Torah, the prophets, and the writings. The Church was never intended to replace Israel.

Similarly, notice that some believed that God cast away some in Israel so that Gentiles could come into the commonwealth. Notice that God did not arbitrarily elect some to the root and other to be broken off. Notice why those who were broken off were broken off: "They were broken off because of their unbelief" (verse 20). Notice what keeps the branches (wild and natural grafted into the olive root: "but you stand fast through faith" (verse 20). Notice again the warning in verses 21 & 22. Notice particularly the caveat in verse 22: "Provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off." God has bestowed his grace on us, but we must continue or persevere in it, which is dependent on our faith. This is not predetermination on God's part, rather it is his grace working with our faith resulting in our perseverance in his grace. If you think that is something, consider the next verses:

Romans 11:23 & 24:

And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

In these verses Paul seems to suggest that those natural branches (who are currently broken off by God not because of his sovereign, arbitrary choice, but because of their unbelief) can be grafted in again ... returned to the root. Also Paul alludes to how weird all of this is by alluding to the "natural" process of grafting. In nature, I'm told, wild olive tree have a stronger sap than domestic or natural ones. Thus, natural branches are taken and cultivated onto the wild trees. Rather, in God's horticulture of salvation the wild branches are cultivated onto the domestic or natural tree.

So what are we to make of all of this?

God's grace is something that is highly misunderstood by many Christians today. Many Christians believe God's grace to be some force or fence keeping the bad of the world out and the good of God in. However, God's grace consigns us to live in the midst of the bad of the world, shouldering one another's burdens ... and bearing the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus to a screwed-up world in need of his healing.

God's grace is not a license for sin, as Paul never nullified the Law or Torah. Rather Paul, following the early Jewish Church Council's lead in Acts 15 reinterpreted Torah for the Gentiles God was grafting onto the Olive Tree. Reinterpretation is not whole-scale castigation. Thus, Grace is not something that we have instead of Law. Rather Grace is something we have as we follow Jesus in his interpretation of God's Way or Torah. This is not salvation by works. Rather it is salvation by grace through faith. I really like my folk definition of faith: Faith is the umbrella under which belief spurs one to action for a purpose. What does James say? "Faith apart from works is dead" (2:26). Remember it is dead faith or unbelief that causes branches to be broken off from the Olive Tree.

God's grace is not something within reach only for those talented enough to live purely. Being saved (both at the Exodus and at Calvary) was not something we could ever earn or make God want to do for us. It is purely on Grace ... or his unmerited favor.

God's grace is resistable. "For God soloved the whole world ...." Yet, the whole world has not come into the Church or has not been grafted onto the Olive Tree. Secondly, God's grace is resistable after being grafted onto the Olive Tree. Otherwise, why are any branches broken off, if not for persistent unbelief.

All taken together, we must remember the nature of Grace, when we are expecting God to show up in great power and glory and save our church from dying. God certainly bestows and showers his Grace on us ... but we must unwrap it. Faith without works is what?

Are We an Easter Church Part III: Are We Remembering Jesus?

2008-03-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

Are We Remembering Jesus?

This is the last in a series of Easter sermons targeting the connection between Easter and Pentecost. In this last sermon we will be considering the reality of the culture of depravity in which we will, but also coming to the conclusion that loving Jesus means loving the world ... His world. We cannot separate our call to Salvation in Him from our call from Him to go into the both our church world and the wider world, becoming personally involved in the lives of all manner of people ... with the hope we can pull them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. We cannot in our power get far. We need to continually be filled with "power from on high." We need to continually seek Jesus to fill us up to overflowing with his Holy Spirit. All Scripture references are from the English Standard Version.

My kids are cute. One is 2. One is 6-weeks old. I love it when my oldest has this look of absolute joy at seeing me. I love it when my 6-week old ... after an eternity of screaming ... falls asleep on my chest, with her head snuggled in the crook of my neck.

What would my public image be if my wife and I left them for an evening ... for say 5 or 6 hours ... by themselves so that we could go to a dinner and movie? Hey we would leave them with pizza money. We would tell them we love them and hug them big and tight. We would even bring them toys as souvenirs from our playful frolic out in town.

Yeah, I could see this flying over like a concrete balloon. The family and children's services would lock us away for life. We would never see our kids again. Yet, why is this so? We told them we loved them. We would have even brought them goodies when we came home. Hey, who could resist pizza? Well, reality seems to have the unfortunate habit of popping our day-dream-balloons. Just because we would have said and did things that we labeled as love, "don't make it so."

We can understand the utter stupidity of entertaining in serious thought the above scenario for even a milli-second. Yet, why do we live the above example when it comes to our relationship with Jesus?

Consider the following scenario that is fairly typical of some in Traditional Southern Christianity. We doll our nice suits and dresses, show up to the building we call a church. We smile at each other ... despite the falling apart of our worlds ... and sit in those cushy pews. We drop our tip in the offering plate. We listen to the choir and preacher entertain us. Then we go home. My haven't we done God a wonderful service by simply showing up! Next Sunday we'll do it all over again.

When Paul and the rest of the Apostles took the Gospel into the wider Greco-Roman world, they encountered magnificent temples and religious statues and other works of art. Many gentiles would simply enter those temples burn a pinch of incense to whatever god they wished to invoke and return home.

Ravi Zacharias in his book, Jesus among Other Gods, tells of growing up in Hindu India. He would watch often watch a man bow before the statue of one of their gods by the roadside. After paying homage he would move a bit from the statue and cheat his fellowman out of money.

Unfortunately, I would say that many of us in Traditional Southern Christianity are not practicing Christianity. Many of us are practicing pagan religion wrapped in a beautiful robe. Why do I say this? Let's consider what Jesus has to say in John 14.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. (14:1)

Jesus spoke this to his disciples after telling them of his soon departure. According to Ray Vander Laan, disciples tending to stay with their Rabbis for about 15 years. They had been with Jesus about 3. They were obviously shaken, nervous about having to deal with the world without their rabbi/master.

Actually this is not so different from our common situation. We come to church, attempting to blockade the world from coming in. We turn off our TVs (even unplug them and throw them out). We don't associate with anyone other than our "kind." We are afraid. We're not only afraid of the culture out there (which I admittedly am to an extent), but we're also afraid of involving ourselves in the lives of others sitting across from us in our pagan temple ... we call church.

Yet, Jesus instructs them to live in peace brought on by believing in Jesus and God. You may say that we do believe in Jesus, yet we are still afraid of the world. I say that you might not properly understand what Jesus means by "believe." Let's continue, though.

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (14:2 & 3)

I need to make a side comment for many of my readers who will be attempting to follow me from their "trusty" KJV bibles. The KJV translates a word in 14:2 as mansions. However, this is a very poor translation, if we take the original language ... and 1st Century Jewish culture into account. When a Jewish couple would marry, they did not attempt to finance their first home at the local First Bank of Jerusalem. Rather they lived in the groom's father's home. The groom and his father would build a room onto the existing house for him and his bride. As many as could have 20 to 30 folks lived in one "house" at any given time. Having said this it makes more sense to hear Jesus tell them that his father's house has many rooms. And he is going to prepare a place for them. Besides, it's not much of a heaven to me to have everyone in huge homes by themselves. Living in isolation is the Scriptural concept of Hell.

Notice that Jesus moves from reassurances of peace based on belief in him to reassurance of the afterlife/heaven/the hereafter. Unfortunately, for most of us in Traditional Southern Christianity this is the totality of Christianity. We "get saved," we've got our "fire insurance" and then we simply hold out until we make it to Heaven. Unfortunately, this is a serious misread of this passages and indeed of orthodox Christianity. We need to read Jesus's statements in context. So, let's proceed further.

And you know the way to where I am going. (14:4)

We need to highlight, underline, and memorize this verse. It is key. Jesus said they new the way to where was going. We need to understand that there is a way ... no there is the way to being with him in the hereafter. Let's read further.

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (14:5-7)

Jesus not only says that there is the way to him and his Father in the hereafter. Jesus says he is that way. He also says that seeing him is seeing the Father.

Now most of us in Traditional Southern Christianity abstract this verse/pull it out from its natural habitat/take it out of context. This is fine ... so long as we put it back. Like a fish it cannot survive long out of its habitat. Yet, we tend to take it out, put it on T-shirts and bumper stickers. We use this to tell the Liberal church that they can rot in their pseudo Christian hell. Yet, if this is the extent of our understanding of this verse, we Conservatives are the ones rotting in the Hell of Ignorance.

14:6 is not simply a credal statement. It is an indictment on how weak Traditional Southern Christianity actually is ... so long as it foster the idea that being a Christian is simply believing certain approved statements. Now, certainly, Christianity has truth statements. Jesus is truth, and we should measure our believes and actions against his Truth. Yet, his Truth is not simply credal. Let's read further.

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." (14:8-11)

Now Jesus has moved from a discussion of reassurances to a discussion of how to see the Father through seeing Jesus. We see the Father by seeing how Jesus lived his life. Yes, that includes personal morality. However, seeing how Jesus lived his life includes far more. Jesus mentions seeing the Father by seeing the works of Jesus.

This is important. Remember that Jesus promised to return and take us to himself and the Father in the hereafter. Jesus said that there is the way to the Father. He is that way. Now Jesus is telling us that by seeing his works, we are seeing the Father. Therefore, to see the works of Jesus is to see him, as well. Thus when Jesus tells us that he is the way to the father, his works must play some part in being the way to the father. Let's read further.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (14:12)

Amazing. Jesus in essence said that his works pave the way to himself in the hereafter. Now Jesus is saying that those same works which he did ... we would also do. And not only that, but doing those works was not an option. "Whoever believes in me will also...." Thus, doing the works of Jesus also paves the way to him in the hereafter. This is why I early wrote that 14:6 was not simply a statement about credal Christianity.

Now, this is not salvation by works. Far from it. Rather this is the substance of Scriptural faith. Scriptural faith is belief that spurs one to action for a purpose. Notice that Jesus said "Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do." What happens if we don't do the works that Jesus did? We don't truly believe in him. James would say that our "faith apart from works is dead" (James 2:26).

Now the appropriate question is "What did Jesus do?" Jesus himself tells us that Isaiah is fulfilled in him, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18). Jesus sends the 12 out to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse leper, and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8).

Jesus himself did those things and trained his disciples to do the very same things. In John 14:12 Jesus tells us that whoever believes in him "will also" do his works. There is no option here. All discussions of Spiritual gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit aside, the main point here is that to believe in Jesus is to do the works he did, which requires us to be personally involved in the lives of others both out in the world and inside the 4-walls of our pagan house of worship known as the church building.

We love to condemn Liberal Christianity to an eternity of roasting in the Hell they deny by claiming we have God's Truth, because we believe the Bible. However, why is it that we pick and choose which verses we latch onto, as well as misinterpret others from that infallible Word of God? Let's read further.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (14:13-14).

This is a favorite T-shirt and bumper sticker Bible phrase. We love to quote this phrase in Traditional Southern Christianity. We can pray and believe that God hears me. God will make sure I get that special car one day. God will ensure the restaurant has my beverage of choice on tap. God will ensure, that as one of his special people, I will be afforded special privileges that those sorry suckers on eternal death row don't get.

Now here me right. I do believe God sees and knows us personally. I believe God loves to love on us, his people. However, I also believe our contemporary culture of absolute comfort has given us butt-sores of the heart from lavishing too long on that comfy couch of absolute comfort. Yes, I love to enjoy life and the pleasures thereof. However, Christianity is also about death and discomfort. Christianity is also about leaving our thrones of lavish comfort and entering into the world of pain and suffering of the depraved. Christianity is also about "weeping with those that weep" (Romans 12:15).

In fact if you read the verses at hand from our passage in John in their context, we get a more graphic account that offends our absolute thirst for the lap of luxury. 14:13-14 follows the discussion of the way to Jesus in the hereafter being paved with our dynamic believing in Jesus that results in doing the works of Jesus. Notice the verse which follows.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (14:15)

Again, doing the works of Jesus is not optional. It is the essence of believing in him ... and our loving him. Yet, something in us rises up and paralyzes our hearts. It is fear. We are afraid of the wider world beyond our pagan house of worship, known as the church building. We are afraid. Let's read further.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (14:16-18)

Yes, I am deathly afraid of the wider world at times ... just like the disciples were after the crucifixion of Jesus ... just like the disciples were that night Jesus was telling them this. I would be deathly afraid all the time ... had Jesus truly left me/us alone. Jesus is not only going to return for us at the end of the age. Jesus is also going to come to us, keeping us from being spiritual orphans. He would not leave his 12, and he is not going to leave us. Yet, how is he going to be with us (even unto the end of the age--Matthew 28:20), if he is away at the Father's abode preparing a place for us?

He is sending and has sent his Holy Spirit. We can be involved with those in this culture of depravity and those sitting across from us through being empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper. Notice he is also the Spirit of truth. Jesus said that he is the "way, truth, and life." His works pave this "way, truth, and life." The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Thus, if anyone could empower us to work the works of Jesus which pave the "way, truth, and life," the Holy Spirit ... that Spirit of truth ... can.

And see, Jesus promises that the Spirit would not only be with us but "in" us. How intimate! Christianity is ultimately not about works but faith. Yet, faith without works is dead. Yet belief and intimacy with God is the pinnacle of Christianity. Fellowship with God is the bed and butter of Christianity. This is why the Jews of old talked of religion as walking with God (Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham). We walk with God through intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit along the way, the truth, the life to Jesus in the hereafter, which is paved with the works of Jesus.

Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandment and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loved me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (14:19-21)

Again this is the promise of intimacy with God ... all of him ... Father, Son, Spirit. Actually this intimacy spoken of here is deep and sexual in nature. Now don't read me wrong here. I'm not suggesting that we're going to have sex with God. No No NO. Rather I'm suggesting that the intimacy we are promised with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit) has the depths of passionate sexual intimacy. After all this whole discussion is couched in the cultural metaphor of getting married. Jesus even uses the imagery of helper for the Holy Spirit. Do remember from Genesis 2 that the female would be Adam's helper? Yet, this intimacy is not absent of ties to the commandments of Jesus, one of which is to do his works.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?"

Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." (14:22-24)

This dude Judas asks Jesus how the world would not see this intimate manifestation of Jesus, but we would. Jesus responds by returning to his previous thought ... keeping the commandments of Jesus was the pathway to intimacy with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit). Thus Jesus is the Way to deep intimate fellowship with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit) both in the hereafter and now. That Way is paved with doing the works of Jesus.

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (14:25 & 26)

So how can we become the Easter Christians we need to be, leaving the blockaded room we call a Church and go out into the world to proclaim Jesus? We must constantly seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is through empowering intimacy with the Holy Spirit that will enable us to take the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus to a broken and depraved world.

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Just a side note here. I refered to the church building as a pagan house of worship. Don't take me literally here. Most churches are filled with good people who sincerely seek to love God. Yet these same people either don't know how or they simply don't care to know how, either way they leave a major part of Christianity out of their lives, which is loving their neighbors as themselves. They go to church Sunday after Sunday forgetting about their neighbor. Pagan worship is this exactly ... except many pagans are politically active in some cause in their vision of social justice. Thus, when we neglect involvement in the wider world for Jesus, we become worse than pagans. This is why I refered to a church building as a pagan house of worship. I love church and go every chance I get.

Are We an Easter Church? Part II: Are We Clothed by Jesus?

2008-03-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a series that seeks to investigate whether we are a people who live Easter and worship in an Easter fashion ... or do we simply show up at church dressed in nice, new Easter clothes and hunt Easter eggs?

Part II: Are We Clothed by Jesus?

There is an article that appeared in Slate Online entitled "Happy Crossmas!" written by James Martin (http://www.slate.com/id/2186633/). He seeks to find out "why Easter stubbornly resists the commercialism that swallowed Christmas." Certainly, has found the prize egg on his insights. Listen to his words:

"So what enables Easter to maintain its religious purity and not devolve into the consumerist nightmare that is Christmas? Well, for one thing, it's hard to make a palatable consumerist holiday out of Easter when its back story is, at least in part, so gruesome. Christmas is cuddly. Easter, despite the bunnies, is not .... How pleasant it is in mid-December to open a Christmas card with a pretty picture of Mary and Joseph gazing beatifically at their son, with the shepherds and the angels beaming in delight. The Christmas story, with its friendly resonances of marriage, family, babies, animals, angels, and--thanks to the wise men--gifts, is eminently marketable to popular culture. It's a Thomas Kinkade painting come to life. On the other hand, a card bearing the image of a near-naked man being stripped, beaten, tortured, and nailed through his hands and feet onto a wooden crucifix is a markedly less pleasant pieced of mail."

In other words its a bit easier to miss the heart of Christmas than it is for Easter. Yet, he adds a corollary to this. In essence Martin says that missing the heart of Christmas is easy because its message can be secularized to mean love and warmth ... without having to profess faith in Jesus. Easter is different. The Jesus of Easter cannot be secularized, for the Jesus of Easter was crucified to pay our Sin, so that we might be reconciled to the Father. Martin deftly points out, "Easter is an event that demands a 'yes' or a 'no.' There is no 'whatever.'"

Yet, my contention is that so many of our precious people attending the gazillions of churches across our fruited plain have said "Whatever" to Easter and her Jesus. Let's take a look at Luke 24:36-53.

Luke 24:36-53:

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!"

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."

And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Have you anything to eat?"

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God (ESV).

The first thing we can notice is that the emotional status of the disciples is markedly different in verses 36 & 37 than in verses 50--53.

36 & 37.

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!"But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit (ESV).

50--53.

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God (ESV).

We surely love Easter, with all of the pretty clothes, pretty flowers, pretty eggs, and the cute & cuddly kids hunting those pretty eggs with pretty flowers in their hair, and wearing pretty dresses. We love our Easter services. After all many of us feel that if we come to church on Easter Sunday, that service is powerful enough to carry us through out the rest of the year ... at least until Christmas Sunday! Some of us even love to sing the Easter carols and hear Easter sermons.

However, many of us are still holed up in verse 36 ... too afraid to move to verses 50--53. The disciples has reason to fear, for in their culture an individual does not carry a separate identity from his group. As it is with the individual, especially the leader, so it is with the group. As it is with the group, so it is with the individual, especially the leader.

Jesus was crucified by both the Romans and the Jews. The Romans crucified him perhaps as a messianic pretender vying to usurp Roman power. (Granted Pontious Pilate attempted to free him.) The Jews crucified him because they were jealous of him. They also crucified him because his flavor of Judaism (Christianity) was radically different from that which would restore their nationalistic hopes and dreams. At any rate the disciples might well have feared that the Jews and Romans were coming after them next.

In a similar but twisted fashion, many of us know that Jesus has been raised from the dead ... and as such has conquered Sin, Death, and the Devil. The disciples knew that Jesus had been raised (see 24:1-12). However, we like to stay holed up in verses 36 & 37, afraid of our culture. We much prefer to stay away from people of different races, different socio-economic stati, different walks of life. We certainly want to avoid Sinners. After all people who look, taste, smell, and sound different than us are obviously in Sin. So we stay holed up in our holy chambers hoping the world will go away. We don't wish to be tainted by their sin. We unplug our TVs, hoping the MTV generation will go away. We sing of our conquering King, but we are conquered by our own fears of the unknown.

Jesus asks us today, as he asked them so long ago, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?" Because you see, we sing of our risen Lord, but we live as if he were still dead. What we need is for Jesus to come to us and reach out his nail-scarred hands and feet. We need to touch them. We need to feel them. Jesus bids us come to him, as he bid Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe" (John 21:27, ESV).

What would happen if we believed as you are saying that we should? What would our lives resemble if we lived Easter as you say we should? I'm glad you asked!

You see we tend to live in another part of this passage. Jesus reassures them beginning in verse 44, " 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead .... "(ESV)

We tend to stay camped out there in our cozy little fundamentalist forts. We sign our names to statements of faith and sing and celebrate that we have certain truths and you don't. We're going to heaven and you ain't!!! While we're hunting our Easter eggs in our pretty dresses with pretty flowers we chant and sing, "Nanna nanna boo boo, go stick your head in Hell-fire doo doo!" We tend to camp out in the above verse.

Let's finish what Jesus was saying that the Scriptures said about him beginning in verse 46 and carrying through verse 47, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (italics mine, ESV). We love to emphasize our fundamentalist beliefs, but we neglect the command of Jesus to go to all nations. To be an Easter people, to truly celebrate the risen Lord, we are to joyfully go into all nations (regardless of race or creed or Sin status), taking the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus.

You might say that I'm not comfortable going to drunkards or druggies. You might say that I'm not comfortable going to black people or Mexican people. Let me ask you, how comfortable was it for Jesus to hang on that cross, so that you can chant and sing: "Nanna nanna boo boo, go stick your head in Hell-fire doo doo!" No, Jesus didn't pay our Sin debt just so that we can be comfortable. Jesus paid our sin debt to reconcile us to the Father ... and so that we can be his nail-scarred body going into risky places full of depravity and pulling people out of that depravity into reconciliation with the Father.

I'm afraid, you might say. Yes, I am too. However, that's why Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem. Listen to his encouragement in verse 49, "And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (ESV). Thus the title of this sermon. Jesus has them to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

What is Pentecost? and what does that have to do with the Holy Spirit and what does that have to do with my fear? I'm glad you asked!!!

Pentecost was a traditional Jewish festival that was celebrated 50 days after Passover. As you may or may not know, Passover was the celebration of God's miraculous deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. At the first Passover each family took a lamb, killed it, spread its blood on the door frame, cooked it, and ate it. The Angel of Death went throughout the land of Egypt to take every first born person and animal. Those with the blood on the door frame the Angel of Death passed over. Those without the blood, the Angel of Death took, including Pharaoh's son. This was the 10th plague, and the Egyptians asked the Hebrews to leave. God miraculously delivered them.

Fifty days later, they came to Mt. Sinai where the people of Israel entered into a covenant marriage with God. They received his Law/Teachings. Pentecost celebrates this event at Mt. Sinai. Yet the people could not keep the Law. The prophets promised that one day God would write his Law on the hearts of his people, thus transforming them into a people who could keep his Law.

At that first Pentecost following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church. This was the promise from on high to which Jesus was referring. The Church would be clothed with Holy Spirit power, not only to be transformed into people who could keep the Law of God, but also into people who could go in power unto all nations ... unto all people regardless of their desirability. We can read of this in Acts 1 & 2.

So what is another way in which to know if we are truly an Easter people? Are we seeking the Holy Spirit? Are we seeking for Jesus to clothe us with the Holy Spirit's power from on high? Are we seeking not only to believe with our minds in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also to take his nail-scarred hands of redemption and healing to all peoples on the face of the earth (regardless of their race or Sin-factor)?

If so, then we might well be an Easter-Jesus people. If not, then we are merely an Easter-bunny people.

Are We an Easter Church? Part One: Are We Able to See Jesus?

2008-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

In this series of Easter sermons, we will be asking the simple question: Are we an Easter Church? As we'll see, going to sunrise services, singing "Up from the grave he arose", and decorating with Easter lilies doesn't make a group of people an Easter church. As important as signing one's name to a statement of faith that believes in a literal bodily resurrection of Jesus, believing such a thing only with the mind does not make a group of people an Easter people. We'll probe into what does make a group of people an Easter people.

Dr. Mark Rutland tells the story of a young teenager who refused to be impressed by anyone or anything. His parents, who cared deeply for their bundle of joy, were at the limits of their creative parenting. As a last resort they decided to take him on a vacation with them and chose the Grand Canyon. If this won't do the trick, then nothing will. They spoke to their tour guide/park ranger ahead of time about their ultimate desire of impressing their boy. So, the guide takes the family to the highest point in the canyon. Calling the boy to his side, he explained that the drop they were viewing was a whole mile.

The boy replied with obvious excitement, "That's a mile?!"

"Yes," the guide replied, winking at the parents, who were thrilled.

Upon the boy's going to sleep, they looked for his journal. Finding it, they turned to that day's entry, which read, "Today ... I spit a mile."

Several people have told me that seeing the Grand Canyon in person revolutionized their appreciation of our Creator-God. Now, the little boy and these people to whom I just refered all saw the same canyon. Yet, their mental filters made all the difference in the world. Many people living today and in Jesus's time all have seen Jesus. Yet, many of us are simply blind to him as he really is. Many of us simply wave Jesus around as our mascot, rather than worshipping him as our master. So in this sermon, I'll be asking the question: Are we able to see Jesus?

We'll be using Matthew 20:17-21:17 as our text. We'll see various vignettes of people who all saw Jesus, but came to radically different places concerning his lordship.

Matthew 20:17-21:17:

and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, adn on the way he said to them, "See we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death adn deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged adn crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him wiht her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, "What do you want?"

She said to him, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom."

Jesus anwered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"

They said to him, "We are able."

He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentile lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Let's skip to chapter 21:1:

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Behphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anthing to you, you shall say, 'the Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey adn the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna in the highest!"

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"

And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

21:12:

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?"

And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"

And leaving them he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

21:18:

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!"

And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"

And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

21:23:

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. the baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?"

And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet."

So they answered Jesus, "We do not know."

And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things" (ESV)

In each of these vignettes runs a common thread. They all saw Jesus, but they missed him. In 20:17-28 Jesus tells the twelve that he's going to be executed. Two of them respond by sending their mama to plead with Jesus on their behalf for high ranking positions in his kingdom.

In 21:1-11 Jesus enters Jerusalem to much cheer and applause. The crowd is huge, waving palm branches (we learn in other places of the exact nature of the trees). The palm branch was the symbol of the successful Maccabean revolt against Israel's powerful Gentile rulers. For the first time in about 500 years Israel is free of Gentile rule. Jesus rides in to their profound and deadly misunderstanding of his messiahship.

In 21:12-17 Jesus encounters marketers in the temple, and he throws them out. Buying and selling of sacrifice material was actually permitted by Torah. However, something ugly and horrid had taken place. Herod the Great began to build onto the temple in Jerusalem. In so doing, he added a special court for women and a special court for gentiles. Jesus tells them in another place that the temple should be a house of prayer for all the nations. The marketers had overtaken the gentile court, leaving the gentiles with no place to worship.

When the temple officials see this cleansing for the purpose of authentic worship take place, their only response was to tell Jesus to make the children shut up (ie not worship). They were blind to the nature of his cleansing of the temple.

In 21:18-22 Jesus curses the fig tree. Many interpret the fig tree to symbolize the temple, which he had just cleansed and its official who categorically misunderstood Jesus. In asking how the fig tree withered so fast, Jesus merely responds by saying with the proper faith they could cast that mountain into the sea. It is very possible that the mountain in question actually referred to the palace built by Herod the Great, known as the Herodium. King Herod symbolized nominal Jewish leadership who were in cahoots with Rome and Hellenistic culture. Jesus also said with proper faith they could cast it into the sea. For the Jews of his day, the sea represented the grave, the abyss, the place of death and destruction. In the days of Jesus many Jewish factions looked for ways to remedy their nationalistic plight. Yet in Luke 19:41-44 we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, prophesying death and destruction to her ... because she did not recognize their visitation from God. Ray Vander Laan says they missed their king for their own kingdom.

Lastly, we have in 21:23-27 the temple authorities questioning the authority of Jesus. Scrutiny is not all bad. However, Jesus lived the Old Testament and fulfilled it. Yet they missed his messianic fulfilling of the Old Testament completely. Interestingly enough this missing the authority of Jesus being rooted in the Old Testament came on the heels of cleansing the temple. In the mid Second Century BC the Gentile King who ruled over Israel hated the Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes IV was king of the Seleucid Empire. Out of cruelty he went into the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar. During the Maccabean Revolt the Temple was cleansed ... sort of. The altar was smashed. The Jews believed when the messiah would come he would cleanse the Temple and put the altar back together again. Out of disbelief, the Temple authorities demanded to know the signs which demonstrated Jesus's authority to cleanse the Temple. They had been deliberately blind to the signs which he had earlier given them.

Interestingly enough we have sandwiched in the middle of these vignettes a rather pitiful story.

Matthew 20:29-34:

And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, son of David!"

The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

And stopping, Jesus called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

They said to him, "Lord let our eyes be opened."

And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him (ESV).

Sandwiched in between several vignettes is this heart-wrenching story of two blind men. They are calling to Jesus, calling him "the Son of David." They understand, unlike all the others we have read, that he is the long awaited messiah. In the midst of stories about people being blind to Jesus in his reality, we have here two blind people who see. Yet they want to have their physical eyes opened. "And Jesus in pity touched their eyes...." The physically blind had 20/20 spiritual vision, whereas those who should have known better were blind as bats and preferred to stay that way.

If we are to be an Easter church, we need to strive to see Jesus ... as he really is. We need to have our eyes open ... those eyes who quite often have cultural cataracts blinding us to the true Jesus of the Scriptures. "Open our eyes, Jesus!!!!"

The Church Part IV: Judas and Peter, Our Brothers

2008-03-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is the last sermon in our current series on what virtues I believe vibrant churches will embrace and live. We'll be looking at Peter and Judas and considering the concept of perseverance. We have previously looked at faith, love, and hope. Yet, what good are these without perseverance. What becomes of a faith lacking in perseverance? What is love without perseverance? Many at-one-time-hopeful couples might shed light on that one. Where does hope without perseverance lead but to downward slumps into anxiety and depression? Perseverance.

We can learn perseverance from one of two people in the New Testament. (There are others, but these of vital importance.) We can learn from and inherit the perseverance of Peter ... or that of Judas. Let's compare them.

Peter

When we think of Peter, we tend to venerate him despite his laughable comments of aggressive ignorance. Many of us see him as an uncle or sorts. Several of us see ourselves in him. Nonetheless Peter is venerated as a champion of faith. Let's consider his famous declaration of faith to Jesus.

Matthew 16:13-19:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of hte prophets."

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earht shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (ESV)

We read this confession of Peter and laud him for his faith. Many believe that Jesus was referring to Peter's faith when he says he will build his church upon some rock.

This was a great moment for Peter, and we rightly celebrate this in his life. However, to be fair, Peter did not figure this one out on his own. Rather, Jesus says that this information was "revealed" to him. Secondly, based on socio-cultural studies of Caeserea Philippi, Jesus was most likely not referring to Peter's faith ... as if Peter's faith is always rock-solid. Rather Jesus most likely was referring metaphorically to the sensually depraved culture of Caesarea Philippi (http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1530; http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=4958).

Caesarea Philippi was a center of worship of the Greek fertility god, Pan. Pagan sexuality was a sacrament to invoke the gods for agricultural blessing. In short this culture was depraved. The shrine to Pan was built in the side of a mountain. At the bottom of the cliff was a cave into which a stream flowed. It was believed Pan descended into Hades through that cave. Thus, it was known as the Gates of Hell. Jesus tells Peter that "upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Rather than referring to Peter's "faith," most likely Jesus was referring to the depraved culture of Caesarea Philippi, and by extension the depraved cultures found all over the world.

At any rate, with all due respect to the Apostle who chose to be crucified upside down instead of rightside up like Jesus, we must examine some snap shots of Peter.

Matthew 16:21-23:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Herusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! this shall never happen to you."

but he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (ESV).

Here we see that right after God reveals to Peter the true nature of Jesus's identity, Peter falls prey to a seductive falsity about Jesus. Caesarea Philippi is all about sensual self-indulgence. Peter rebukes Jesus on the grounds that his self must not be harmed. Where is Peter's faith at this point? It seems possible that not only is Satan at work in the life of Judas ... He is also very much at work in the life of Peter. Let's flip over to Luke 22:31-34.

Luke 22:31-34:

"Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith might not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death."

Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me" (ESV).

Here we see more clearly that Satan has been at work in Peter's life. Jesus tells us plainly that Satan wants to destroy him. Jesus prays that his faith "might not" fail. Even though Jesus tells Peter "And when you have turned," I believe we have to take the "might not" very seriously here. Jesus's statement seems to indicate the timetable would be in Peter's court: "when you have turned again." We know that Peter wasn't much encouragement until after the Church is baptized in the Holy Spirit. Even after the Resurrection and after he reveals his resurrected body to the disciples, Peter still attempts to return to his former life of fishing (see John 21). The others are with him. Is it possible that Peter even led them all to return to fishing as well? More on this is a bit. Let's take a look at the most ignoble moment in Peter's life as described in Matthew 26:69-75.

Matthew 26:69-75:

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean."

But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean."

And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, "The man was with Jesus of Nazareth."

And again he denied it with an oath: "I do not know the man."

After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you."

Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed.

And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly (ESV).

Let me say from the outset that if I were Peter here, I might well have done worse than Peter did. At least Peter followed him to the Inquisition site. Perhaps Peter remembered his telling Jesus he would follow him to jail and death. So, he follow him to the courtyard. However, something seems to harden in his heart; for he not only denies him but also invokes a curse upon himself. Like I said, I might well have performed similarly to Peter or worse, but this is hardly the faith upon which Jesus said he build his church.

So Peter weeps bitterly outside and thus is very remorseful. But what you may or may not know is that Peter actually removed himself from Jesus's band of disciples. Take a look at Mark's account of the Resurrection in 16:5-7.

Mark 16:5-7:

And entering the tomb, they (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome) saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. he has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you (ESV).

Notice that the angel names Peter apart from the disciple band. Culturally-speaking, if Peter had still considered himself a member of this group, the angel would not have mentioned him separately.

Even still, looking back we know the end of the story. Peter still hangs out with them, and Jesus woos him back into his former place. The issue is not whether Peter maintained absolute perfect faith. Rather the issue is what Peter actually did with his failures and shortcomings? Peter persevered. See Acts chapter 2.

Judas

Now let's compare Peter with Judas. Let's face it. Judas falls out of our mouths like poision that we've accidentally ingested.

Let's have a look at John 13:21-30.

John 13:21-30:

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.

So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?"

Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it."

So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.

Jesus said to him, What you are going to do, do quickly."

Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night (ESV).

Yes, Satan entered into Judas. However, let's remember that Jesus did call Judas into his band of disciples. And not only that, but he gave Judas charge over the money bag. Any serious belief in human free will will maintain that Judas began in pursuit of discipleship with Jesus in good faith. Why would Jesus willingly put a rebrobate in charge of their monetary lifeblood? The question, however, is what did Judas do along the way with Jesus's teachings? Was he transformed? I think we can safely suggest--no, he was not changed by Jesus. Let's take a look at John 12:1-8.

John 12:11-8:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"

He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me" (ESV).

Yes, Judas was one of the 12, but John's commentary on him was "he was a thief." This is not a comment on an isolate incident. Rather this was the character of Judas: "he used to help himself to what was put into" the money bag. When we choose to follow Jesus, this is a total lifestyle commitment. Thus, in reality we have the opportunity to say yes or no to Jesus with every behavioral choice. After a series of choices we are either closer to Jesus or closer to the depravity from whence we have come. When Satan entered into someone who belonged to Jesus, he entered into one who seems to never really have submitted to Jesus. His works didn't match his professed belief. His faith was dead, devoid of the works which make up the soul of faith.

However, I believe that the Holy Spirit was still attempting to pull Judas away from the grip of Satan. Let's take a look at Matthew 26:75-27:5.

Matthew 26:75-27:5:

And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delievered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."

They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself."

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself (ESV).

Notice that Judas had "changed his mind." Another way of saying this is Judas began the process of repentence. Of course repentence involves more than simply changing one's mind, but this is the first major step. Could it be that Judas returning the money was his attempt to put feet to his changed mind? At any rate, who is the one that initiates the process of repentence? Thy Holy Spirit. I really believe that the Holy Spirit even at this point in Judas's life was reaching out to him. Yet, Judas was quite possibly in a place to where he could effectively respond to the Spirit. Psychologically, we know that behavioral choices affect thoughts which affect emotions which affect thoughts which affect behavioral choices which affect emotions ... etc. This cycle in turn affects the neural circuitry in the brain which in turn affects the thoughts, feelings, and actions. Let's not forget to throw into the mix his default-invitation to Satan. Yes, Acts 1:15-18 seems to suggest that Scripture prophesied Judas's betrayal. Yet, did Scripture randomly determine 500 years before Judas that he would do the unthinkable? Or, did Scripture merely forsee Judas's actions of free will?

Here's a side question at this point. How important is it to say "yes" to Jesus in every thought we think, in every response to every feeling we feel, in every action we partake? Yet in reality its not really a side issue here, but rather the heart of it all. Basically defined in a rather folk-way, perseverance is faithfully determining to say "yes" to Jesus in every thought, in response to every feeling, and in every action we partake ... and actually carrying this out despite our slip-ups. Both Judas and Peter were called by Jesus. Yet Judas and Peter made radically different "everyday" choices, which played into their ultimate choice following both of their betrayals. We are no different. Let us persevere!

Hebrews 12:1,2:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run wiht endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (ESV).

The Church Part III: Mary, Our Mother

2008-03-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a series, wherein we are investigating four virtues which I believe vibrant churches to forcefully possess. We looked first at faith, with faith being the umbrella under which believe spurs one to action for a purpose. We next looked at love, with love being that which is willing self-sacrifice and others-promoting in and for the community of faith. Today we'll look at hope.

As in faith and love, our culture has vastly misunderstood the concept of hope. We often use it interchangably with wish. "I wish they had my favorite flavor of ice cream in stock today. I wish the boss were a bit nicer. I wish the IRS didn't exist."

Hope is an inappropriate word for those day dreams. Rather hope confident expectation while I wait. Confident expectation. We clearly see hope embodied in Mary, who is our mother in the faith. No we may not be Catholic, but she is clearly a vastly deep influence in the faith. She is to be celebrated. No, we may not worship her nor pray to her, but we should respect her given the situation in which she found herself ... but clearly did not ask for. Let's read from Luke 1:26-45.

Luke 1:26-45:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to im the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be since I am a virgin?"

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God."

And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
And the angel departed from her.

In those days mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." (ESV)

Hope. Mary is our mother in the faith from whom we must nurse and be nourished in her hope. Consider her situation. Quite often we only give thought to the polished and pristine Maries of the nativity scene world. Consider her situation. She is probably no older than 12 or 13 years old. She is betrothed. Betrothal was engagement on steroids. The betrothed couple was engaged to be married, but though the ceremony had not officially taken place, they were considered legally married. Dissolving a betrothal required a certificate of divorce. She is now pregnant in an unconsummated relationship. Whose was the baby? Joseph knows the baby isn't his. For Mary to explain this as the work of God would have rendered her as "mentally challenged." Joseph wants to divorce her and get out of this psycho relationship. Joseph attempted to do so quietly, but did not have to. He could have raised a big stink about it ... which would have gotten her a first century "rock concert." They would have stoned her for sure.

Yet, how does Mary respond?..."Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Wow! that's hope. Now, the term hope has been thrown around during this Presidential campaign. Unfortunately, definitions have not. Make no mistake. Mary's hope was not some empty platitude that would keep her from a backstage pass to her "rock concert." Her hope was a confident expectation that God would show up, because she knew the character of God. In other words, her hope was defined by God and his character. Let's turn to Isaiah 40:9-31 to see a bit of that definition.

Isaiah 40:9-31:

Get you up to a hight mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Behold your God!"
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently leade those that are with young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beats enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
To whom then will you liken god,
or what likeness compare with him?
An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsmas
to set up an idol that will not move.
Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stertches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of hte earth as emptiness.
Scarcely are the planted, scarecely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy ONe.
Lift up your eyes on hight and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right hand is deisregarded by my God"?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint. (ESV)

This was Mary's God. This was the God who was asking her to walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... quite literally: death to her reputation, possible death to her betrothal with Joseph, possible death to her very life. This was the God on whom she was confidently waiting ... confidently expecting he would show up.

In fact let's take a look at the preceding verses to this Isaish passage.

Isaiah 40:6-8:

A voice says, "Cry!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever. (ESV)

Mary could trust God's word through the angel by responding: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word," because she knew that "the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever."

In fact listen again to Elizabeth's encouragement to Mary: "and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." Elizabeth knew that "...the word of our God will stand forever."

Consider for a bit the term "blessed." Often in today's time it is used interchangeably with "Happy." Truly we can say that in the coming months there would be times Mary would not be "happy." Traveling by donkey over miles and miles of rocky terrain at the 9th month of pregnancy and risking potential opportunities for being robbed and raped along the way would perhaps be one opportunity where "happy" is a misnomer. Oh no doubt that its use in this context during yesteryear would have meant something different than this year. Today happy is simply an emotional high that comes and goes based on external circumstances. However, blessed is a term that biblically means God is stirring up your circumstances, being deeply involved in your life. And it is his involvement in your life, his constant presence and absolute faithfulness which forms the emotional anchor in your life. Can we not the say from bump to bump on the donkey, though Mary may not could have expected absolute happiness, she can confidently expect and wait on God's faithfulness ... God's word?

Listen to how she responds in Luke 1:46-55:

Luke 1:46-55:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thougths of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever." (ESV)

Mary is our mother in the faith. Let us nurse from her and receive the ability to hope in the Lord. One area in which we need the hope of Mary is in waiting on the Lord while we confidently expect he will show up in our midst and do powerful things in and through us.

When you come to church on Sunday morning or on Wednesday for prayer meeting, what do expect of the Lord?

The Church Part II: Jesus, Our Bridegroom

2008-03-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a series addressing four habits or virtues in Scripturally-vibrant churches. We first considered Scriptural faith in the life of Abraham as our father in the faith. This time we will consider love.

Our culture is often quite confused, when it comes to understanding the true nature of love. One person loves pizza. One mother loves her screaming newborn, who cannot love her back. Consider one more contrast. I loved my wife dearly when I was recently sick. She's a great nurse. On the other hand, my wife loved me and so went out of her way to nurse me back to health and with a smile on her face.

Certainly in both contrasts, the love is real. However, in the examples of loving pizza and my loving my wife, self-gratification is the root of love. I loved my wife for what she did for me. In the examples of the mother loving her infant and my wife loving me, the love is self-sacrificing. My wife loved me and so she gave to me. If we are to be a vibrant community of Scriptural love, we shall have to develop and nurture the love that willingly gives and sacrifices out of its nature.

Let's take a look at this love we can inherit in our bridegroom, Jesus. We'll consider three snapshots of THE Church. Our future glorified state, our former state before becoming apart of the Church, and what our present is called to be by our Bridegroom.

The Church's Future: Revelation 19:6-8

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out:

Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (ESV).

This is the Church in Glory. The End of this Age has come and gone. We are living with Jesus forever from this point on. Let's make a couple of observations. The Church had responsibility for becoming ready for the return of Jesus. "...for his Bride has made herself ready." Part of the Church's responsibility is to be concerned not only for the hereafter, but also for the here-and-now. Secondly, the wedding clothes of the Church, which she will put on for her wedding, is "the righteous deeds of the saints." These righteous deeds have not occured in a vaccum, nor have they been done totally by God, himself. Rather they are those "of the saints." (By the way the saints are who make up the Church.) Thus, if the Church is to prepare herself for Glory, she is to do this in the here-and-now through deeds of righteousness.

Let's make a side observation. As we know clothes are made of threads ... yet the threads are not isolated. They are held together ... that is they are sewn together. If we press this analogy further, then the righteous deeds are not isolated events but are sewn together. I'll argue from our Ephesians passage that Christ-like love is what binds these deeds together. In order to further pursue the picture of who the Church is responsible to become in the here-and-now, let us consider from where we've come.

The Church's Past: Ephesians 4:17-5:18

Before beginning in chapter 4, let's consider 5:15-21:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand waht the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)

If we look carefully, we'll see that this passage is the balance of the whole passage we'll consider from 4:17 through 6:9. In particular verse 18 needs to be highlighted:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.... (ESV)

What we are comparing here is debauchery with being continually Spirit-filled (the Greek seems to convey the idea of keep on keeping on being filled with the Spirit. Debauchery versus the Spirit-filled life. Debauchery is the lifestyle of seeking to fill one's own inner appetite at any expense. It's the tireless pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification as one's overriding passion in life. However, if we read Paul's instructions following the call to the continuous-Spirit-filled life. It is a life lived in constant giving to others and promoting their welfare.

To get a flavor of the verses leading up to this point, let's consider 4:17-19.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance taht is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (ESV)

The people before truly becoming Christians and truly entering the Church were "greedy to practice every kind of impurity." Do you see how that fits with the understanding given above of debauchery. Self-gratification above all. In the verses leading up to our crux passage Paul implores the Ephesians to "no longer walk as the Gentiles do." According to Paul's thinking, anyone not in the Kingdom of God is a Gentile, and anyone in the Kingdom is a true Israelite. In coming up to the passage we are seeing Paul plead with these people to move from self-gratification to self-sacrifice and service as a lifestyle.

The Church in the Present

Consider now 5:22-33.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

Do we see how this passage flows rather seemlessly from our crux passage, comparing the debauched lifestyle of self-gratification with the Spirit-filled lifestyle of willingly giving and self-sacrificing and others-promoting. Also bear in mind that what is directed to wives in this passage is not written for husbands. What is written for husbands is not written for wives. Husbands, it is not your job to patrol your wife in these regards. You are to petrol your own responsibilities to her. The wife is to give according to her husbands needs and vice-versa with the husbands.

We should also notice at this point taht 6:1-9 also follow this patter of giving according to the needs of others or mutual submission to the needs of others. Parents and children, masters and slaves/servants are to mutually submit to the needs of others.

Our example right slap-dab in the middle of all of this is Christ and his self-sacrificing & others-promoting love for the church. This type of love is consisted of and measured by deeds ... and dare I say righteous deeds. These deeds are not done in isolation. Rather this is the members of the Church in mutual submission to the needs of one another. This is the wedding dress mentioned in the Revelation 19 passage. These are the righteous deeds of the saints, woven together by, through, and in Christ-like self-sacrificing and others-promoting love.

The Church Part I: Abraham, Our Father

2008-03-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

In beginning the new year, I wanted to help cast some vision for my two churches, to enable them to stretch their ability to dream God's dreams. Thus, in February I preached a series entitled simply "The Church." Each week we looked at one particular virtue that I believe vibrant churches possess and one or two particular person (people) in Scripture from whom we need to inherit that virtue. In week one we looked at Abraham as our father, from whom we need to inherit Scriptural faith. In week two we looked at Jesus as our bridegroom, from whom we need to inherit Scriptural love. In week three we looked at Mary as our mother, from whom we need to inherit hope. In week four we compared Judas and Peter as our potential brothers, from whom we can either inherit perseverance our giving up.

Abraham is indeed our father in the faith. No we don't have to be Jewish to claim him. Actually Paul teaches us in Romans that believers in Jesus ... Jew or Gentile ... are the true Israel, the true and living sons of Abraham. Let's take a look at this father of faith and perhaps grasp a better understanding of the Scriptural concept of faith.

In our society most equate faith with deep and sincere belief in something. Certainly, deep and sincere belief is a major part of faith, but I'm afraid that in this common cultural understanding of faith, something vital is missing. Let's take a look at a couple of snapshots of Abraham in Genesis.

Genesis 15:1-6:

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great."

But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"

And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, adn a member of my household will be my heir."

And behold the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."

And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

And he believed, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."

But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" (ESV)

In our opening verse we read "after these thing ...." After what things? Abraham ... or rather Abram (this was before God changed his name) ... had just led an early version of special forces to recover people and possession stolen by raiders. After defeating the enemy, the king of Sodom offers Abram a reward, which he turns down, I believe, out of faithfulness to God. Abram is despondent.

God appears to him and encourages him with the revelation he is Abram's great reward and defense. Does Abram say thank you? Does Abram act out of humility? In our culture of sugar-sweet politeness and non-confrontation, Abram looks down right rude and unappreciative. However, this happens to be the common means of pressing deeper into God out of faith. Notice that Abram does this sort of thing twice ... and God credits him as righteous for his believing God. According to Dr. Ray Vander Laan this is what is called chutzpah ... a deep persistence of pressing in to God unabated and undeterred. However, this is not the end of the story. We must read the companion story found in Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1-12:

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!"

And he said, "Here am I."

He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and boy will go over there and worship and come again to you."

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, "My father!"

And he said, "Here am I, my son."

He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."

So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. The Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the Angel fo the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

And he said, "Here am I."

He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seein you have not witheld your son, your only son, from me." (ESV)

So here's the question: Why did God have to test Abraham? When Abraham pressed into God and came to believe, his "belief" which was "credited" to him as righteousness, was really untested. He might have been quite sincere, but it was as of yet untested. It was belief without works ... or faith devoid of works. You see, Abraham's faith is not pictured simply in the Genesis 15 story. Rather it's pictured together in Genesis 15 and 22.

As I said earlier, in our culture we equate faith with simply believing. However, this is not a complete understanding of faith. Perhaps we should understand faith as:

Believing which spurs action for a purpose.

But wait a minute! That is starting to sound a whole lot like works-righteousness or being saved by works. Well, let's compare the thought of Paul with that of James.

Romans 4:1-3:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Now let's turn over to James and read 2:14-26:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself , if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works. you believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart form the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (ESV)

Woeeeeee! This sounds like a contradiction ... at first. But let's take a closer look. If we consider Paul's arguement in context, we will come to understand Paul as pondering the question of how we come into the kingdom of God and become the people of God. In his day Gentiles were told ... quite wrongly ... that they had to first become Jewish, which meant being circumcised and then keeping the ceremonial aspects of the Law in addition to the moral aspects of the Law. Paul argues this was certainly not how Abraham was chosen. He was chosen and then he responded by believing God. Abraham became our father before Moses gave us the Law. Likewise the Jews believed they were the people of God simply because they had been born Jewish and they kept the jots and tittles of the Law. So Paul was addressing an identity crisis of sorts, while James was addressing the Christian lifestyle.

Taking James and Paul together we can again define Biblical faith in the following way:

Believing that spurs me to action for a purpose.

The question is "Do we have faith in God, I mean truly have faith God?" Are we willing to continue to press into the deep recesses of God ... even when the going and believing gets tough? When God shows up in our church, are we willing to respond in obendience ... even if responding is painful and unpleasant?

Consider Jesus in Matthew 9. He encounters several different people: a group of friend who carry their crippled friend to him; some scribes who critize Jesus for healing on the Sabbath; a tax collector who leaves his family and job to follow Jesus, carrying his reputation with him; some Pharisees who critize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and other sinners; a ruler who presses Jesus to heal his daughter; a woman who presses into Jesus who has been menstrating uncontrollably for 12 years; and two blind men who continued to follow after Jesus begging him to heal them.

Each of the people are compared by what they believed and did with what they believed. The lost and lowly believed Jesus could heal them and fix their situation ... and pressed undeterred into Jesus. The ones who should have known better, who claimed to truly believe God, rejected his messiah ... thus rejecting God.

Jesus tells the blind men in verse 29: "According to your faith be it done to you."

Question: if Jesus did to our church according to our Biblical faith, what would he do?

I pray we inherit the faith of Abraham our father.