"Anti" Christians

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that we was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures...” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Facebook is an interesting phenomenon.  This free social networking site allows people to create their own web page on the internet and is a useful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family.  One of the noteworthy features of facebook is your status line.  Status lines are simply a headline that is easily changeable and is often used to let people know what you are thinking, feeling, or doing at any particular moment.  A recent facebook status by a friend of mine announced that he “is anti-gay.”  This caused me to pause and think about how we define ourselves.

The truth is that evangelicals are often identified by what we are against.  We may be anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-slavery, anti-liberal, and even anti-catholic or anti-Islam.  Sometimes, some of us may be anti-alcohol, anti-tobacco, anti-dancing, anti-movies, or (like my paternal grandparents) anti-playing cards.  In extreme cases, some would go so far as to say they are anti-drums, anti-guitars, and anti-syncopated beat.  

Some of these things that we are against arise from right, Biblical convictions, while others tend to be more personal preferences that have taken on a traditional appearance of greater holiness.  Clearly, in today’s day and age, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who would advocate for slavery.  At the other end of the spectrum, it is becoming increasingly hard to find those who hold to the idea that playing crazy 8s or hearts will banish someone to hell!  

Regardless of which end of the spectrum that these issues may be on, there is a great danger that occurs when we define ourselves by them.  Certainly some of these issues require us to take action, such as slavery or abortion.  Yet, why do we take action?  What is the purpose and attitudes that are behind our activism?  Are we proceeding out of a self-righteous pride that motivates us to condemn those involved in a particular activity?  Or are we lovingly advancing the Gospel as we interact with the homosexual, the unwed mother considering abortion, or the person who likes rock music?

D. A. Carson, in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry,  recounts an assessment from a Mennonite leader as follows:

“One generation of Mennonites cherished the Gospel and believed that the entailment of the Gospel lay in certain social and political commitments.  The next generation assumed the Gospel and emphasized the social and political commitments.  The present generation identifies itself with the social and political commitments, while the Gospel is variously confessed or disowned; it no longer lies at the heart of the belief system of some who call themselves Mennonites.” (p 63)

As we look to 2009, will you resolve to make the Gospel more central to your identity?  Will you humbly start each day by thanking Jesus for dying as your substitute, to satisfy the wrath of God against your sin?  Will you ask him to send the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the glory of the Gospel and lead you, day by day, to lovingly and faithfully proclaim that Gospel to the people you encounter?  Will you define yourself by being for the Gospel, rather than against something else?  May God bless you in this coming year and draw you ever more deeply into the beauty and glory of the cross of Jesus Christ!

Six Things God Has Taught Me This Year

My daughter Olivia tagged me in her blog post with the same title.  In blog culture, that means I need to respond with a post of my own.  It is a good question for all of us to ponder frequently and even to share our thoughts on, so I'll do it.  But the REAL reason I am doing it is because my little girl asked me to!

1.  If you are a visionary person, you need to be very careful about who, when, and how much of your vision you share publicly.  You also need to make it very clear when you are brainstorming versus when you are sharing actual plans of action!

2.  I need to practice disciplines of abstinence (fasting, silence, solitude, etc.) more consistently.  (And not just during deer season!!!)

3.  God is giving me a deeper understanding of the absolute ugliness of pride, self-righteousness, and all forms of idolatry -- including materialism, gluttony and lust.  For our churches to faithfully proclaim the Gospel, we must preach the horror of the sins that we are most prone to and not just the ones we see in others outside the church.

4.  I do not adequately appreciate God's kindness to me in a faithful wife, children who fear the Lord, and loyal and loving friends.

5.  Duck hunting from a kayak is a lot of fun.  

6.  There are people of all age, gender, and station in life who earnestly desire to live lives of eternal significance for the sake of Jesus, but they don't really know where to start.  I think that God wants me to focus on equipping, training and launching them.

 

Even as I wrote this, I realize how little time or thought I give to this question on any kind of regular basis.  Perhaps number 7 would be that I need to pay more attention to the lessons God is trying to teach me this year....

Celebrating Citizenship

Today, the 2008 election campaigns are over.  There are very few people that I know who have not been emotionally effected by the outcomes.  A quick glance at facebook profiles of my friends can illuminate who is ecstatic and who is depressed.  

For some, the elections were a sign of great hope that changes are coming that will usher us into a new era of enlightenment where all our troubles will be miraculously melted away.  A new day is dawning and it will be bright and clean with great promise for the future.  There will be fairness, compassion and perhaps even world peace!

For others (I am a white evangelical who hangs out with a lot of white evangelicals!), there is a heavy spirit of doom and gloom that has descended along with the election results.  The way some of these friends are reacting, you would think that not only will abortion rights be expanded, but that there will be death squads dispatched to throw young infants into the nearest river; that the only way anyone will be able to get a marriage license anymore is if they can prove they are of the same gender; or that Sharia law will be in place before the end of the next year.  The end is nigh -- stock the root cellar and buy as much ammo as you can get your hands on!

I, however, want to take this opportunity to CELEBRATE my citizenship.  Colossians 1:13-14 states, "He (God) 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."  While it is certainly a physical blessing to be an American citizen, my American citizenship is NOT what I take my pride or comfort in.  My primary citizenship is not to a nation of this world (which will one day pass away!), but I have been transferred to a citizenship in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that will NEVER pass away!  Since Jesus Christ has made it possible for God's righteous wrath to be removed from me by being my substitute, bearing the punishment for my sin on the cross, I have now been reconciled to God the Father and transferred into the kingdom of his Son.  I am no longer an American citizen who holds the Christian faith, but a Christian citizen who is sent as an ambassador to America.  (See 2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

So, if you are a democrat, remember that it is much easier to blame someone else (George Bush!) for difficult and complex problems, than it is to actually fix problems and govern.  You will have no excuses now for being unable to accomplish all the utopian dreams that you have been promising to the country if you could only get your way.  Prepare to be disappointed by your leaders -- for the greater the power that is held by men, the greater the corruption that normally follows.

And if you are a republican, understand that your leaders lost badly largely because they had sold out to corruption when they held power.  In 1994, they surged to an unprecedented measure of control -- much like the democrats did last night.  However, once they tasted the perks and privilege of holding power, they abandoned their principles, broke their promises (like term limits!), and increased the size of the government that they set out to make much smaller and more efficient!  This doesn't even touch on the 15 or so major moral corruption scandals that various national republicans found themselves involved in over the past few years.

Let me close by quoting Philippians 3:20-21 -- "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."  Jesus is the King of all kings and the Lord of all Lords!  That will never change.  I pray that you will find the peace and joy that comes from yielding your life and allegiance to King Jesus, before the day comes when all his enemies will be made a footstool under his feet!  Do not trust in democrats.  Do not trust in republicans.  Trust in King Jesus!

Evangelism Without the Cross

Monday night I attended a large youth rally.  All day, a team had been to area high schools doing school assemblies in order to invite kids to a large community rally that evening.  They must have done good work, because nearly 700 kids showed up for the evening rally.  They had a cool, hip band and cool, hip speakers.  There was pizza and pop waiting for the end of the rally.  Everything was in place as the speaker moved towards calling kids to make a decision. 

The speaker told them, "Jesus isn't some guy sitting on a chair waiting to throw lightening bolts at you when you screw up.  Give your heart to God, he'll take the bad and the good.  Come forward and come to faith."  On the count of three, about 400 kids went forward to "come to faith."  

As I sat and observed, many of these kids were busy chatting with their friends or texting as the speaker made the invitation.  They went forward chatting and giggling with their friends.  Some rode piggy back on others.  Their were no tears of repentance or even serious looks of determination, rather there was chatting and autograph requests as they got close to the entertainers.  

Other than the chair comment, not one word was said about WHO Jesus is, or what he did.  The entire content of the rally could have easily been done at a public high school without raising any concern from the most liberal teacher or student.  Most notably absent was the Cross.

Paul writes to the Corinthian church, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

I think the young people doing this assembly are sincere followers of Jesus who want to see teens come to faith in Jesus.  However, they have fallen victim to the lie of our day and age that we must make the message of Christ more acceptable to our day and age.  They want to make sure that nothing prevents kids from being saved.  While we want to remove any obstacles that stand in the way of coming to faith, there is one obstacle -- a stumbling block actually -- that Jesus does not give us the option of removing -- the cross.  Again Paul writes, "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)  

Please remember that our duty is to simply proclaim the Gospel message.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Certainly we want to proclaim it to the best of our abilities.  We want to proclaim it in language that will be clearly understood by our listeners and we want to make it as readily accessible as we can.  

However, we can not alter the message.  Ultimately, we cannot convert one single human being through our own abilities or efforts.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate the dead hearts of humans and to cause them to spring to life.  And it is the pleasure of God to use a message that seems like complete foolishness to those who are perishing to accomplish this purpose.  In this way, He receives all the glory and honor and praise.

Due to the number of kids who came forward, the counselors were not able to meet with them one on one to help be sure they understood the good news.  Instead, the groups of teens continued chatting and texting as they received their promised gift -- a tract and a copy of the Gospels in chronological order.  Many were clearly disappointed in the promised gift -- it wasn't an ipod touch like they hoped, so they passed them on to other friends so that they wouldn't have to carry them.  But God is sovereign, and hopefully there will be even one teen who the Holy Spirit reaches through these imperfect efforts.  Which gives me hope that maybe my imperfect efforts at proclaiming the message can bear fruit too.

Friendly Versus Intimate.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. James 2:1

The official word is that Chisholm Baptist is a friendly church.  I frequently hear people from the church talking about what a wonderful, friendly place this church is.  There is no doubt that the people I hear this from are sincere and really love this church – as they should!  

However there are other voices that I hear from time to time.  These voices share another message.  These are the voices of people who feel lonely and isolated.  They are voices of people who are never included in the private parties, or invited to dinner.  These are people who are new, or poor, or single, or in some way don’t “fit the mold.”  These voices talk about a Chisholm Baptist Church that seems cliquish and sometimes shallow in our relationships.  

It isn’t that people are necessarily mean or unkind.  It’s just that most of us do not get beyond a smile and light chatter on Sunday morning in the hallway.  Most of us, frankly, like it that way.  Do we really want to know about someone else’s pain or trials?  Do we really want to put up with stories from people who seem “weird” to us?  Are we content to remain blind to any problems that aren’t far away and disconnected from our day to day lives?  

This becomes even more evident as we get closer to issues of sin in people’s lives.  Do we ask each other tough questions to hold one another accountable?  Do we confront people who offend us, or do we hold grudges and talk behind their backs?  Do we ignore sinful patterns of behavior in other people instead of lovingly and humbly encouraging them to repent?  Have we quietly embraced the modern notion of tolerance when we let people continue uninterrupted in their involvement with church activities despite their blatant and unrepentant sinning?  1 John 1:6 says “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”  

While Chisholm Baptist may be a friendly church, it is not always an intimate church.  All of us need to examine our hearts, our attitudes, and our actions to see if we are making efforts to love and serve other people in our midst.  We need to reach out to others in the church who are hurting, lonely, struggling with sin, or just a little different than us to be able to serve them in their walk with Christ.  We must love people enough to correct them in patterns of sin in their lives – not because we have reached a level of perfection and can sit in judgment – but because we need them to be there to do the same for us in turn.  If we fail to cultivate deep and intimate relationships with one another that are centered around Jesus, we will end up as hearers of the Word, but not doers of the Word.

Even if you feel that you are rich in intimate relationships here at church, ask yourself these questions.  When was the last time someone loved me enough to confront me on sin in my life?  When was the last time I felt the need to confront someone else and actually did it?  When was the last time I invited someone over for dinner for the first time?  When was the last time I prayed to ask God to guide me to a person who needed me to serve them?  What is the biggest struggle with sin for each of my three closest friends at CBC?  What am I doing to help them overcome that sin in their lives?  When was the last time I confessed my sin to someone else?  All of us MUST fight against our sinful tendency to be selfish and our desire to be served, and seek, by God’s grace, to become servants to others around us.  Only then will Chisholm Baptist be not just a friendly church, but an intimate one as well.

Feminist Template Obliterated...

Click here to read the article by Kathleen Parker in USA Today...

Here is an excerpt:

"But the greatest insult was yet to come. Republicans — those anti-woman, patriarchal Neanderthalian gun-clingers — nominated a woman whom Democrats would call a "Stepford wife," except she'd beat them to a bloody pulp with a moose antler.
The irony is almost too on-the-nose to be enjoyable, but there is other cause for satisfaction. Even if Sarah Palin ultimately fails to prove herself worthy of second-in-command, her enthusiastic reception has proved that there are other kinds of women in the USA — lots of them — who have a different idea about what's best for womankind."

I find the current discussions fascinating in light of Biblical teaching on the roles of men and women as God has created us. Certainly, none of the models on display in the current public debate are necessarily Biblical, but I love how this is shaking up so many stereotypes. Our cultural stereotypes need to be shattered, so that ultimately people will turn to the Creator with an open mind to how He made us in the first place.

Please weigh in with your observations on this topic!

Democrats Must Learn Some Respect... Lessons for the Church???

Here are my thoughts on this article: Democrats Must Learn Some Respect, by Clive Crook

I find Mr. Crook's observations to be very interesting and generally accurate. While it would be easy to simply blast liberalism, I think to do so would miss a very important teaching opportunity.

Is it possible that American Evangelicals could suffer from the same afflicition of arrogance and entitlement that the author points out in regard to liberals and the media?

Within much of the evangelical world, we have a tendency to be extremely harsh and shrill in our criticism of the world around us. We don't hear ourselves very well. As we criticize homosexuals, liberals in politics or academics, abortion rights advocates, or anyone else that we deem to be opposed to our Biblical worldview, we come across frequently as arrogant and judgmental. Our message is largely lost, because of the tone and mode of how we convey it. As a result, we end up preaching only to those who already share our views, and the rest of the world tunes us out as bigots and hate-mongers.

Please understand that I do not disagree with most of the content of these messages! However, many of our chief spokes-people are doing more harm than good to the cause of Christ. Here are some ways that we have not been good followers of Jesus' example as we engage the culture around us:

1. Jesus clearly distinguished between this earthly kingdom and His kingdom. When asked about his kingdom by Pilate, Jesus responded that his kingdom was not of this world. (John 18:36) Jesus paid taxes, obeyed the laws, and otherwise submitted to the authority of this world so long as it did not directly contradict the greater authority of his own kingdom. Ultimately, he expressed this proper perspective between kingdoms in Matthew 22:21 -- "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." We must remember that our true citizenship is in Jesus' kingdom and that we are simply ambassadors and aliens to the kingdoms of this world. Therefore, we obey and honor the laws, but recognize our first allegiance to our true King.

2. Jesus clearly modeled an authority structure based on service, rather than perks and privilege. (See Mark 10:42-45) Jesus exemplified leadership by pouring out his life in loving service not only to his followers, but also to his enemies. We need to serve the very people who we are tempted to hate. Good examples of this include many of the pregnancy centers that take care of pregnant women and their unborn children. We need more of this type of service to those with addictions, homosexuals and AIDS victims, and the poor.

3. Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for the religious people! Jesus repeatedly goes after those who have great head knowledge about God, but whose lives are not consistent with the scriptures. Jesus repeatedly offers forgiveness to wretched people who are humble, but continually opposes religiously proud people. In many of our churches, we have reversed this! We give in to the most religiously proud people and heap condemnation on the broken. We should be very careful about condemning homosexuals, addicts, abortion rights people, etc., if we are tolerating heterosexual adultery, pornography, divorce, greed, materialism, and pride in our own people and even in our LEADERS!

4. Jesus stayed on message. Jesus purpose was to preach "good news." This is also frequently stated as the "gospel of the kingdom." We are called to be ambassadors of this gospel (good news) of the kingdom. We must stay on message with the Gospel as well. As we observe and interact with the culture around us, we must always return to the message that Jesus commissioned us to carry. We must resolve to preach the truth that Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, to satisfy the wrath of God against our rebellion, and that he rose again to give us hope of a new life as subjects of His Kingdom. We need to continually remind everyone we meet that the kingdoms of this world are about to be destroyed by the rightful King who is offering amnesty in advance of final destruction.

Will this message still be heard by many to be harsh and shrill? Probably. But we need to let the CROSS offend people, rather than our arrogance or our methods.

A feminist view of recent political developments....

A Feminist's Argument for Mc'Cain's VP, by Tammy Bruce -- click the link to read the article.

Perhaps many women who have been indoctrinated in the liberal world-view are beginning to see that those of us who lean conservative really value women as something more than just a voting block we can manipulate to gain power.

Hopefully, at some point they can see that even our stance on abortion is ultimately because we value ALL human life -- including the lives of women. Now we just need a feminist to write an article about how abortion is devastating the lives of the women who have them....

We have seen some strange alliances between Christian conservatives and feminists before -- regarding pornography and human trafficking. Perhaps a new day may be dawning after all....

My primary concern in recent developments is that it has been yet another opportunity to put down women who CHOOSE to dedicate their lives to being wives and mothers FIRST. Just last night, we heard Geraldine Ferraro ask what Sara Palin would do all day at home -- as if she would be completely wasting all of her talents and abilities. Let me make it clear -- my wife has chosen the HIGHEST calling available to any woman. She has dedicated her entire life to raising, educating, and discipling our children for the glory of God. Her sacrifice of public acclamation and acceptance of public scorn is noted by me, but more importantly it is noted by Jesus, who will grant her great reward and honor when she appears before his throne. Thanks honey, and do not lose heart....