It seems that when most people outside of the church hear the word "Christian," they associate it with people who are judgmental, rigid, condescending, and exclusive. To be fair, this notion does not come from nowhere. It is not simply made up and plastered onto people they already don't like. Those in the Church do not have the best track record when it comes to loving those they disagree with.
One of the reasons for this is the lack of love when engaging with those who do not hold the same beliefs. We are quick to point out where those who disagree with us are wrong without understanding the full ramifications of doing this. Speaking the truth without love gets us nowhere. I have never heard of someone who didn't believe the Gospel suddenly turning their life around because someone else gave them a rock solid proof for something they believed. In the name of "defending the faith," much damage is done to those who do not believe. Scroll through the comments on almost any YouTube video and you'll eventually find an argument about Christianity with Christians throwing verses and proofs at those who don't believe in a very unloving manner. This is fruitless and counterproductive. These Christians are probably well-meaning but in the end, it turns people off. Even as a fellow Christian, I am embarrassed to read some of the things that are being said. I almost want to apologize for them.
This is why Paul emphasizes in Ephesians 4 that it is not enough to speak the truth. It must be said in love or you are better off not saying it at all. Love does not engage in conversation simply to win an argument or to justify its own beliefs but it puts the other person ahead of itself, keeping in mind that the person you are conversing with may have been through much pain because of "religion" and therefore wants nothing to do with it.
People were not drawn to Jesus because He gave bullet proof arguments for everything He was teaching. They were drawn to Him because of His love and humility. It is easy to get caught up in the apologetics side of faith and to believe that it is up to us to bring people to Christ. If that were the case, we would be weighed down with an incredible burden and responsibility. We do not bring people to Christ. The Holy Spirit draws people to Himself and often uses us as the tool. But to believe that we are responsible for other people's salvation can lead to unloving arguments in an attempt to win people over.
Christian faith as Jesus taught it does not make us arrogant because we have the truth and everyone else needs to figure it out too. Quite the opposite. One of the greatest signs of a change in our hearts because of Christ is the replacement of pride with humility. This leads us not to be exclusive but to love those who desperately need Christ because we know that we have done nothing to deserve Him. Christianity in its truest form should lead to tolerance and acceptance, but not in the "do whatever feels right for you/believe whatever you want" sense. It is tolerance that stands for truth and does not compromise but that lives in the midst of and loves those who do not yet know the truth.
Finally, it should be noted that this post is not at all advocating spotty doctrinal stances or being sketchy on important truths of the Christian faith. Speaking the truth in love does not mean apologizing for what Scripture says or compromising on various points just to avoid conflict. While I have been highlighting the importance of loving discourse, it is not at all loving to not speak the truth to those who need to hear it. We must be loving but we must also not be afraid of speaking the truth. The problem is not whether or not to speak the truth, it is how to speak it. When the rich man went away sad because of what Jesus told Him in Matthew 19, Jesus didn't chase him down or apologize for being too harsh. Jesus never apologized for the truth (He characterized Himself AS the Truth). However, He also never spoke it in an arrogant or judgmental way either.
May we learn to not fear speaking the truth or apologize for it but do so in a humble, loving, nonjudgmental way, extending the love of Christ to others knowing that we did nothing to deserve it.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Grace
"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of His power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, Who created all things." -Ephesians 3:7-9
How we view God's grace plays a monumental role in what our churches look like and how they function. Whether we realize it or not, we have an ingrained idea of what grace means for us and what its purpose is. Most of us would agree that grace is an undeserved gift from God that we receive because of the blood of Christ and our faith in Him. From there, the paths diverge greatly and they impact how we see the church.
The first way of viewing grace is seeing it simply as a gift of God that we receive and hold onto. When we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we receive salvation (Romans 10:9). This is all good and true but the first view of grace ends there. When we see grace as something we receive, it becomes about us. We see ourselves as the recipient of a fantastic gift, which we hang onto. Church is then a place to hang out with other people who received the gift where we praise God that we're going to heaven someday and it ends there. Grace and God's gifts are simply for us to enjoy and feel good about.
The second way of viewing grace is, as Paul says, something we receive and then pass onto others. Paul says that God's grace was given to Him but it doesn't end there. The grace he received is for someone else. It comes with direction and purpose. Why did Paul receive grace from God? To preach to the Gentiles and to make known the mysteries of God which are revealed in Christ. The astonishing truth is that God's grace was not just for Paul, it was for Paul to pass along to those he was ministering to. The grace of God cannot be contained because it comes from the overflow of Who God is. God's grace is so wide and deep and long that we could never use it up or ask too much of Him (Ephesians 3:20) It is not meant to be hoarded. Grace is given to us so that we might give it to others.
When we see grace as simply a gift for us, we become self-focused. We gladly receive God's grace, then are unwilling to extend it to others. This causes us to become resentful, judgmental, unaccepting, and secluded. We start seeing forgiveness as simply accepting an apology while continuing to harbor bitterness and anger in our hearts. We see other people as not deserving grace because of how much they've wronged us. We become the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18 who is unwilling to forgive the debt of a man who owed him a day's wages when he was forgiven a debt of 18 year's wages by his master. When we freely receive but don't freely give, the poor and needy become unimportant and this life is seen simply as a holding pattern before heaven.
But God calls us to something far bigger than ourselves. Salvation in Christ is just the starting point of receiving God's grace. He gives us His grace so that we will then share it with others. Grace means reaching out to those in need, accepting without judgment into the church those who are lost and seeking, truly forgiving without fear of being wronged again because we are eternally forgiven by God. The pouring out of grace allows us to act as a pipeline through which God achieves His purposes and blesses the world. It allows us to constantly be full of God's grace and goodness while passing it on to others.
How we view grace radically shapes our churches. Will we hoard it and turn Sunday mornings into an hour of feeling good about what we received from God while doing nothing for others? Or will we freely give it to all, gathering as a missional community of broken people who deserve nothing, yet have everything in Christ?
How we view God's grace plays a monumental role in what our churches look like and how they function. Whether we realize it or not, we have an ingrained idea of what grace means for us and what its purpose is. Most of us would agree that grace is an undeserved gift from God that we receive because of the blood of Christ and our faith in Him. From there, the paths diverge greatly and they impact how we see the church.
The first way of viewing grace is seeing it simply as a gift of God that we receive and hold onto. When we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we receive salvation (Romans 10:9). This is all good and true but the first view of grace ends there. When we see grace as something we receive, it becomes about us. We see ourselves as the recipient of a fantastic gift, which we hang onto. Church is then a place to hang out with other people who received the gift where we praise God that we're going to heaven someday and it ends there. Grace and God's gifts are simply for us to enjoy and feel good about.
The second way of viewing grace is, as Paul says, something we receive and then pass onto others. Paul says that God's grace was given to Him but it doesn't end there. The grace he received is for someone else. It comes with direction and purpose. Why did Paul receive grace from God? To preach to the Gentiles and to make known the mysteries of God which are revealed in Christ. The astonishing truth is that God's grace was not just for Paul, it was for Paul to pass along to those he was ministering to. The grace of God cannot be contained because it comes from the overflow of Who God is. God's grace is so wide and deep and long that we could never use it up or ask too much of Him (Ephesians 3:20) It is not meant to be hoarded. Grace is given to us so that we might give it to others.
When we see grace as simply a gift for us, we become self-focused. We gladly receive God's grace, then are unwilling to extend it to others. This causes us to become resentful, judgmental, unaccepting, and secluded. We start seeing forgiveness as simply accepting an apology while continuing to harbor bitterness and anger in our hearts. We see other people as not deserving grace because of how much they've wronged us. We become the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18 who is unwilling to forgive the debt of a man who owed him a day's wages when he was forgiven a debt of 18 year's wages by his master. When we freely receive but don't freely give, the poor and needy become unimportant and this life is seen simply as a holding pattern before heaven.
But God calls us to something far bigger than ourselves. Salvation in Christ is just the starting point of receiving God's grace. He gives us His grace so that we will then share it with others. Grace means reaching out to those in need, accepting without judgment into the church those who are lost and seeking, truly forgiving without fear of being wronged again because we are eternally forgiven by God. The pouring out of grace allows us to act as a pipeline through which God achieves His purposes and blesses the world. It allows us to constantly be full of God's grace and goodness while passing it on to others.
How we view grace radically shapes our churches. Will we hoard it and turn Sunday mornings into an hour of feeling good about what we received from God while doing nothing for others? Or will we freely give it to all, gathering as a missional community of broken people who deserve nothing, yet have everything in Christ?
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
One Body
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." -Ephesians 4:2-6
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." -1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Before I go any further with this blog, it's important to acknowledge that it is incredibly easy to criticize and critique our brothers and sisters in the Church. The line between encouragement/exhortation and judgment/criticism is very easily blurred, especially with the ease with which modern technology allows us to share ideas and opinions. What starts as a genuine desire to correct easily turns into an attack to prove one's correctness. Now, I am not at all saying that we should not correct each other or hold each other accountable. These are very good, essential qualities of a healthy Church. What I am saying is that it is becoming more and more common to see brothers and sisters in Christ taking shots at each other. Instead of confronting false doctrine or incorrect actions in love and gentleness, we often demonize the other person or group. This can also lead to a widespread denunciation of the Christian Church as a whole for some perceived error. In my experience, it has been incredibly rare to hear someone talk about how they love the Church and are thankful to be a part of it. The closest it usually gets is someone saying they love the particular church they attend.
Let me reiterate that I think that one of the Church's main functions is to help those who are a part of it to grow. This often means correction, confrontation, and accountability. These very good functions, however, are often twisted to become attacking, gossip, and bitterness. How does this happen?
Throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul's language is heavily Trinitarian. He emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in causing unity among believers in Christ. We are not made to be at odds with each other. In fact, when we receive the Spirit through the "one faith," we are bound together by the "bond of peace." Paul explains earlier in Ephesians 2 that Christ Himself is our peace. In some mysterious, unfathomable way, God becomes our peace and our unity because of Christ through His Spirit. We are made into one body and share in common the Spirit of the Most High God. This body is the Church, of which Christ is the head. He loves His church and gave Himself up for her. How then could there ever be a lack of unity in a body which Christ Himself holds together?
Because of our sinful nature, we are sometimes taken over by our desire to have our way and to be correct. This led the apostle Paul to exhort his readers to be humble and gentle, to correct those in error but to bear with them in love. This takes effort and is difficult but is important if we are to honor Christ as His body. The body is a unit. We are each an individual part of the body but we contribute to the whole. When we criticize, judge, lack grace, and demean each other, we are hurting ourselves.
Of course there are and always will be exceptions to all of these (and I am limited to an American perspective) but it is worth encouraging one another:
I love the Church for caring about sound doctrine and being committed to seeking and learning God's perfect Truth and how we ought to live to glorify Him.
I love the Church for caring for the orphan and the widow and those in need.
I love the Church for acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
I love the Church in parts of the world that are hostile to them for their patient suffering and example of hope in the midst of extreme trials.
I love the Church for being missional and taking the hope of Christ to the lost and broken.
I love the Church for being able to admit its flaws and mistakes and for its willingness to grow in love and unity.
May we, as the Church, be marked by the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, Who is Christ Himself and bear with one another in love and grace.
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." -1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Before I go any further with this blog, it's important to acknowledge that it is incredibly easy to criticize and critique our brothers and sisters in the Church. The line between encouragement/exhortation and judgment/criticism is very easily blurred, especially with the ease with which modern technology allows us to share ideas and opinions. What starts as a genuine desire to correct easily turns into an attack to prove one's correctness. Now, I am not at all saying that we should not correct each other or hold each other accountable. These are very good, essential qualities of a healthy Church. What I am saying is that it is becoming more and more common to see brothers and sisters in Christ taking shots at each other. Instead of confronting false doctrine or incorrect actions in love and gentleness, we often demonize the other person or group. This can also lead to a widespread denunciation of the Christian Church as a whole for some perceived error. In my experience, it has been incredibly rare to hear someone talk about how they love the Church and are thankful to be a part of it. The closest it usually gets is someone saying they love the particular church they attend.
Let me reiterate that I think that one of the Church's main functions is to help those who are a part of it to grow. This often means correction, confrontation, and accountability. These very good functions, however, are often twisted to become attacking, gossip, and bitterness. How does this happen?
Throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul's language is heavily Trinitarian. He emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in causing unity among believers in Christ. We are not made to be at odds with each other. In fact, when we receive the Spirit through the "one faith," we are bound together by the "bond of peace." Paul explains earlier in Ephesians 2 that Christ Himself is our peace. In some mysterious, unfathomable way, God becomes our peace and our unity because of Christ through His Spirit. We are made into one body and share in common the Spirit of the Most High God. This body is the Church, of which Christ is the head. He loves His church and gave Himself up for her. How then could there ever be a lack of unity in a body which Christ Himself holds together?
Because of our sinful nature, we are sometimes taken over by our desire to have our way and to be correct. This led the apostle Paul to exhort his readers to be humble and gentle, to correct those in error but to bear with them in love. This takes effort and is difficult but is important if we are to honor Christ as His body. The body is a unit. We are each an individual part of the body but we contribute to the whole. When we criticize, judge, lack grace, and demean each other, we are hurting ourselves.
Of course there are and always will be exceptions to all of these (and I am limited to an American perspective) but it is worth encouraging one another:
I love the Church for caring about sound doctrine and being committed to seeking and learning God's perfect Truth and how we ought to live to glorify Him.
I love the Church for caring for the orphan and the widow and those in need.
I love the Church for acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
I love the Church in parts of the world that are hostile to them for their patient suffering and example of hope in the midst of extreme trials.
I love the Church for being missional and taking the hope of Christ to the lost and broken.
I love the Church for being able to admit its flaws and mistakes and for its willingness to grow in love and unity.
May we, as the Church, be marked by the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, Who is Christ Himself and bear with one another in love and grace.
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Holiness of God
Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." -1 Peter 1:15-16
Holy is the way God is. To be holy he does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because he is holy, all his attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy. -A.W. Tozer
When examined at their deepest level, every doctrine comes back to the holiness of God. It is vitally important to grasping justification, sanctification, redemption, grace, etc. Without a robust and thorough understanding of the holiness of God, little of who He is, what He does, and what He requires makes sense. God is separate, set apart, and distinct from everything in His creation. This also involves His perfectly pure moral standard. He is good because He is holy. He is perfectly just because He is holy. All of these things come back to His holiness. When Isaiah is faced with God's holiness and glory in chapter 6, he is forced to measure himself against that perfect standard and realizes that he is filthy. He even thinks he will be ruined because of his imperfection in the presence of a holy God.
Christians often see the redemption and salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ as the most important and essential doctrine of our faith. However, God's redemption and salvation don't make sense apart from the context of God's holiness. There is something that we had to be saved from, namely our own sin. There was a desperate need to be redeemed by the blood of Christ because the result of our sin is the wrath of God.
Something that is common to hear from skeptics is, "How could a good God be also full of wrath? That doesn't sound loving or good to me." Without knowledge of God's holiness, this question is certainly reasonable. However, keeping in mind that God is holy and perfect, how could He NOT punish sin? If God did not abhor sin and did not desire to banish it from His presence, He would not be good. God's wrath is the manifestation of His holiness. He cannot look on sin and accept it. Otherwise, He would not be good and just. Imagine that a judge presided over a case where there was overwhelming evidence to convict the suspect of a murder that had been committed. We would be outraged if the judge let the man go free without punishment. We would not say he was a good and just judge. God's justice and wrath is evidence of His perfect goodness and holiness. He cannot allow sin. He would not be holy if He did.
Now, the truly unfathomable mystery of God's holiness is that it led Him to engineer a plan that would be the greatest injustice in the history of His creation. He came to Earth as a perfect man, retaining all of His holiness, and bore the wrath that was meant for our sin. He was perfectly innocent, deserving none of the penalty. Yet, He took it because He loved us and wanted to take away that sin so that He might make us holy through the blood of Christ. He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet did not sin. Even so, He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Without an appreciation for the holiness of God, the cross doesn't make sense. God's holiness keeps Him from tolerating sin but it also is the source of His unconquerable love which conquered the grave for us, if we accept the blood of Christ to cover our sins.
From a sinful human perspective, God's command to be holy as He is holy is impossible. In our natural, sinful state, we can only exclaim that we are men of unclean lips and deserve ruin. But through the holiness afforded to us by Christ through His perfect, holy sacrifice, we can be holy as He is holy. No wonder the Gospel is called Good News.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Abiding in Christ
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -Jesus in John 15:4-5.
We sometimes begin our church services, prayer meetings, and worship events asking God to make us feel His presence in the midst of us. Often what we mean by this is that we want God to provide us with a positive emotional experience that will give us concrete evidence that He has been with us and that He has blessed us. We love the warm, fuzzy "mountain top" experiences we sometimes feel during worship and continue to pray for them to occur. It is easy to feel that God has not shown up or has not blessed us if we feel no emotional or easily perceivable change in us. Discouragement sets in and we feel that we have wasted our time. "Why hasn't God spoken to me after all this praying and seeking?" we ask. We pray for peace and receive none. We pray for direction in a specific area and receive none. We conclude that God has not spoken and He has not met with us.
But abiding in the presence and glory of Christ is far more than a positive emotional experience. It is more than receiving peace or clear direction when we pray. It is more than a perceived satisfaction that we have been in the presence of God. None of these things are wrong in and of themselves but they can become idols if we seek them above God Himself. They are not indicators of abiding in Christ.
Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5 to pray without ceasing. At first glance, this is an absurd suggestion. We have thousands of thoughts every day that are completely unrelated to God. But what he is getting at is the idea of continuously putting the Lord before us and trusting in the reality of His presence in all circumstances. Through the power of His Spirit, God continues to sanctify us and make us more Christ-aware everyday until it is no longer a conscious effort to remain in Him. God wants to break us free from our emotionalism so that our trust and our focus is solely on Him. If we are not abiding in Christ, we can do nothing. He is the source of our joy, strength, and hope. He is the rock of our salvation which can never be moved. He is calling us out of our simple emotional ideas about God's presence into the glorious truth of His constant willingness to abide with us, regardless of the circumstance.
Rather than praying that God would be present with us, we should ask Him to change us and speak to us because of His constant presence. We should ask Him to teach us how to abide in Him and to show us that His answers do not always come through a positive emotion or a clear direction which allows us peace but through the communion of our spirits with His and the changing of our hearts, whether we consciously perceive it or not. Often, we are not made aware of the most profound changes that God's presence makes in us until God reveals it to us. This is not instantaneous and we should not expect it to be. Let us take comfort in the fact that if we ask God with humble hearts to speak to us and to abide with us, He always will, whether our limited understanding grasps it at the time or not.
We sometimes begin our church services, prayer meetings, and worship events asking God to make us feel His presence in the midst of us. Often what we mean by this is that we want God to provide us with a positive emotional experience that will give us concrete evidence that He has been with us and that He has blessed us. We love the warm, fuzzy "mountain top" experiences we sometimes feel during worship and continue to pray for them to occur. It is easy to feel that God has not shown up or has not blessed us if we feel no emotional or easily perceivable change in us. Discouragement sets in and we feel that we have wasted our time. "Why hasn't God spoken to me after all this praying and seeking?" we ask. We pray for peace and receive none. We pray for direction in a specific area and receive none. We conclude that God has not spoken and He has not met with us.
But abiding in the presence and glory of Christ is far more than a positive emotional experience. It is more than receiving peace or clear direction when we pray. It is more than a perceived satisfaction that we have been in the presence of God. None of these things are wrong in and of themselves but they can become idols if we seek them above God Himself. They are not indicators of abiding in Christ.
Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5 to pray without ceasing. At first glance, this is an absurd suggestion. We have thousands of thoughts every day that are completely unrelated to God. But what he is getting at is the idea of continuously putting the Lord before us and trusting in the reality of His presence in all circumstances. Through the power of His Spirit, God continues to sanctify us and make us more Christ-aware everyday until it is no longer a conscious effort to remain in Him. God wants to break us free from our emotionalism so that our trust and our focus is solely on Him. If we are not abiding in Christ, we can do nothing. He is the source of our joy, strength, and hope. He is the rock of our salvation which can never be moved. He is calling us out of our simple emotional ideas about God's presence into the glorious truth of His constant willingness to abide with us, regardless of the circumstance.
Rather than praying that God would be present with us, we should ask Him to change us and speak to us because of His constant presence. We should ask Him to teach us how to abide in Him and to show us that His answers do not always come through a positive emotion or a clear direction which allows us peace but through the communion of our spirits with His and the changing of our hearts, whether we consciously perceive it or not. Often, we are not made aware of the most profound changes that God's presence makes in us until God reveals it to us. This is not instantaneous and we should not expect it to be. Let us take comfort in the fact that if we ask God with humble hearts to speak to us and to abide with us, He always will, whether our limited understanding grasps it at the time or not.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Yesterday, Today, Forever
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. -Hebrews 13:8
At the core of every sin is the belief (whether recognized consciously or not) that we are better suited to direct the steps of our lives than God is. We build and base our lives on the shaky foundations of material possessions, emotions, circumstances, ideology, and even relationships. There is a great temptation to establish ourselves in relation to anything that is not God, thereby making them gods. We have been created with needs that can only be fully satisfied by the Creator, yet we fill these longings with things that cannot sustain fulfillment. In our prideful attempts to assert ourselves as masters of our own lives, we find ourselves empty and mastered by the things we thought would bring us satisfaction. We want a solid foundation but we don't want to give up our right to ourselves. There is something within us that sees submission to God as repugnant, yet we are willing to serve countless other things because we get to choose what they are, even though they can never gratify us.
Yet Christ, through His death and resurrection, has provided freedom from this sinful nature and desperate striving to establish ourselves apart from Him. This is not to say that we cease sinning and do not face daily battles once we receive Him, but those who are being made perfect in Christ are no longer characterized by this tension.
Some of the strongest anxiety felt by human beings is caused by change and uncertainty. When we build our lives on anything other than God, we will undoubtedly be at the mercy of those things as they shift and change and disappoint. However, one of the great blessings afforded to us by the Cross of Christ is the unshakable, unmovable foundation of Jesus, upon Whom we can safely and securely base our lives. In Him, our deepest needs are met fully and we are at His mercy which is new every morning. Jesus Christ will never change and His love and security are more faithful than the sun rising. This great truth is repulsive to our sinful nature but profound joy to that which is being made new in Him.
At the core of every sin is the belief (whether recognized consciously or not) that we are better suited to direct the steps of our lives than God is. We build and base our lives on the shaky foundations of material possessions, emotions, circumstances, ideology, and even relationships. There is a great temptation to establish ourselves in relation to anything that is not God, thereby making them gods. We have been created with needs that can only be fully satisfied by the Creator, yet we fill these longings with things that cannot sustain fulfillment. In our prideful attempts to assert ourselves as masters of our own lives, we find ourselves empty and mastered by the things we thought would bring us satisfaction. We want a solid foundation but we don't want to give up our right to ourselves. There is something within us that sees submission to God as repugnant, yet we are willing to serve countless other things because we get to choose what they are, even though they can never gratify us.
Yet Christ, through His death and resurrection, has provided freedom from this sinful nature and desperate striving to establish ourselves apart from Him. This is not to say that we cease sinning and do not face daily battles once we receive Him, but those who are being made perfect in Christ are no longer characterized by this tension.
Some of the strongest anxiety felt by human beings is caused by change and uncertainty. When we build our lives on anything other than God, we will undoubtedly be at the mercy of those things as they shift and change and disappoint. However, one of the great blessings afforded to us by the Cross of Christ is the unshakable, unmovable foundation of Jesus, upon Whom we can safely and securely base our lives. In Him, our deepest needs are met fully and we are at His mercy which is new every morning. Jesus Christ will never change and His love and security are more faithful than the sun rising. This great truth is repulsive to our sinful nature but profound joy to that which is being made new in Him.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Health, Wealth, and Suffering
Sermon
The preacher spoke of
Healthy, wealthy, and happy,
And I couldn’t keep my mind
From wandering down
The road marked with suffering,
To crosses, camels
And the eye of a needle
As he explained that faith
Was a bank account
In which the smart investor
Accrues interest
On his deposits.
-John Mirisola
At the very heart of the message of Christ is the lavish, insane, prodigal love of God. It is a love that held Him to the cross when it should have been us. It is a love that gives us everything we need if we are found in Christ. God desires to bless us richly. Paul tells us in Romans that we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. He has given us the Spirit of sonship and all the riches of His kingdom are ours in Christ.
It is good to remind ourselves of this and to live in this power and grace that was afforded to us by Christ. It is good to expect the best from God and to entrust ourselves to Him.
Though we are wise to joyfully anticipate God's provision and blessings, there is a great danger in overemphasizing God's blessings as we expect them. Sometimes we have very different ideas of what it means to be blessed by God than what God intends. There has been a strong movement in America that has spread to Africa and Asia that teaches that our faith in God is directly correlated to material blessings. A crude mixture of the American dream and a dumbed down version of the Gospel, it gains followers through promises of health, wealth, and prosperity. God is a Santa Claus who will give us anything we want if we just have enough faith (and donate to the preacher bringing the message).
I'm not saying that God never provides material blessings or that it is wrong to have money. What I am saying is that God is far more concerned with who we are as His followers than He is with our comfort or what possessions we have. What if His blessings come through overwhelming tribulation that push us straight to His arms and force us to realize our dependency on Him? What if Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and the author of Hebrews are serious when they tell us that we will face trials, hardship, persecution and difficulties in this world? What if the mystery of grace reaches much deeper than superficial possessions and temporary comfort? What if joy is not merely happiness but a consistent abiding in Christ through every circumstance? What if peace is more than an emotional, psychological state but a constant reassurance of God's presence in all things?
What makes the health and wealth gospel so heinous is it takes the incredible story of Christ's redemption and makes it all about us and what we can get out of it. It is a hollow, selfish, consumerist approach to the Most High God. But there is value in pain and suffering. There is joy in serving "the least of these." There is hope in learning how to be content in all circumstances. We are to be marked by the suffering of Christ. If we are His followers, we must serve and love as He served and loved, not seek comfort for ourselves. O that we would seek to serve Christ and bring Him glory at all costs, considering everything else rubbish for His sake; that we would find ourselves in Him, not in our comfort and possessions; that we would know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Love Wins
"Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.' But He will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me all you evildoers!' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out..." -Luke 13: 22-28
This past spring, a megachurch pastor from Grand Rapids, MI drew lots of attention and criticism for his views on salvation, heaven, and "the fate of every person who ever lived" when he put out a book that lays the foundations for a more mainstream version of a fringe doctrine called Christian universalism. Rob Bell understands that the term "universalist" has a less than favorable connotation in the majority of evangelical circles (he hates labels anyway; they ruin the surprise) and, of course, says that he is not one. Love Wins is more an emotionally-driven opinion piece than a theological treatise but many people have found its argumentation compelling and convincing. Rather than laying out a solid Biblical argument for his defense of the doctrine, Rob Bell asks a slew of rhetorical questions such as "Are only a few people really going to be saved and billions will perish?" and "Could a good God really send people to hell?" or "If God really desires that all be saved, doesn't God get what God wants?" A potential alternative definition to the Greek word for "eternal" and some unanswered (but really they are answered indirectly) rhetorical questions later, we have a book that espouses the idea that eventually everyone who ever lived will be saved and go to heaven because God's love always wins regardless of whether we accept it in this life or not.
It's interesting that Rob Bell asks a question rhetorically that is repeated genuinely almost verbatim by a man in the Gospel of Luke (see above). However, instead of discussing how Jesus answers the question, Bell provides his own answer using some sketchy theology and selective discussion of Scriptures on the topic of salvation. The flaws in this approach should be obvious. God in human form answers a real question from a real person and it's not worth mentioning in a book that asks the same question? It's hard to understand why.
Without a thorough understanding of human depravity and the far reaching effects of sin and the fall, it would seem pretty unfair for God to "send" people to hell. But Rob Bell never once mentions the effects of sin on our relationship with God in his book. He talks only of how sin is what we humans do to each other. There's nothing in the book about our rebellious nature which leads to a broken relationship with our Creator, nothing about the justice and holiness of a perfect God Who cannot look on sin. There's nothing about the wages of sin being death or the desperate need for a perfect Savior Who emptied Himself and was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. We deserve death and the wrath of God for our blatant wickedness but He provided a way to reconciliation through the blood of Christ on the cross. We may choose this path of reconciliation and receive salvation or we may choose to continue to have it our way which leads right to hell. Nobody is being "sent" anywhere. With this understanding, the concept of heaven and hell don't seem so unfair, judgmental, and narrow after all.
Love does not win when what we do and believe do not matter. Love does not win when God's unfathomable sacrifice is a convenient catch-all to get into heaven whether you choose it or not. Love does not win when repentance doesn't really matter in the long run and when the sheep and the goats really aren't that much different after all. Love wins because a perfect, just, and loving God Who cannot look on our sin decided to take our punishment so that we may be reconciled back to Him. His sacrifice matters and so does our acceptance of it.
This past spring, a megachurch pastor from Grand Rapids, MI drew lots of attention and criticism for his views on salvation, heaven, and "the fate of every person who ever lived" when he put out a book that lays the foundations for a more mainstream version of a fringe doctrine called Christian universalism. Rob Bell understands that the term "universalist" has a less than favorable connotation in the majority of evangelical circles (he hates labels anyway; they ruin the surprise) and, of course, says that he is not one. Love Wins is more an emotionally-driven opinion piece than a theological treatise but many people have found its argumentation compelling and convincing. Rather than laying out a solid Biblical argument for his defense of the doctrine, Rob Bell asks a slew of rhetorical questions such as "Are only a few people really going to be saved and billions will perish?" and "Could a good God really send people to hell?" or "If God really desires that all be saved, doesn't God get what God wants?" A potential alternative definition to the Greek word for "eternal" and some unanswered (but really they are answered indirectly) rhetorical questions later, we have a book that espouses the idea that eventually everyone who ever lived will be saved and go to heaven because God's love always wins regardless of whether we accept it in this life or not.
It's interesting that Rob Bell asks a question rhetorically that is repeated genuinely almost verbatim by a man in the Gospel of Luke (see above). However, instead of discussing how Jesus answers the question, Bell provides his own answer using some sketchy theology and selective discussion of Scriptures on the topic of salvation. The flaws in this approach should be obvious. God in human form answers a real question from a real person and it's not worth mentioning in a book that asks the same question? It's hard to understand why.
Without a thorough understanding of human depravity and the far reaching effects of sin and the fall, it would seem pretty unfair for God to "send" people to hell. But Rob Bell never once mentions the effects of sin on our relationship with God in his book. He talks only of how sin is what we humans do to each other. There's nothing in the book about our rebellious nature which leads to a broken relationship with our Creator, nothing about the justice and holiness of a perfect God Who cannot look on sin. There's nothing about the wages of sin being death or the desperate need for a perfect Savior Who emptied Himself and was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. We deserve death and the wrath of God for our blatant wickedness but He provided a way to reconciliation through the blood of Christ on the cross. We may choose this path of reconciliation and receive salvation or we may choose to continue to have it our way which leads right to hell. Nobody is being "sent" anywhere. With this understanding, the concept of heaven and hell don't seem so unfair, judgmental, and narrow after all.
Love does not win when what we do and believe do not matter. Love does not win when God's unfathomable sacrifice is a convenient catch-all to get into heaven whether you choose it or not. Love does not win when repentance doesn't really matter in the long run and when the sheep and the goats really aren't that much different after all. Love wins because a perfect, just, and loving God Who cannot look on our sin decided to take our punishment so that we may be reconciled back to Him. His sacrifice matters and so does our acceptance of it.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Beware of Blaming God
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..." -Isaiah 43
When we face trials, difficulties, and pain, we often have as our reaction an accusatory posture toward God. Surely He has abandoned me to deal with this on my own and forgotten what I need, we say. In the fieriest moment of trial, it is easy to feel so overwhelmed that it seems absolutely plausible that God does not love us enough to intervene, that He is not powerful enough to intervene, or even that He does not exist. When dark doubts like these assail us, we often feel justified in accusing God. We tell God that we know better than Him, that we know our needs better than He does. Even at our lowest points, our pride finds a way to emerge and rebuke the King of the universe.
When we are blinded by pain and difficulty, it can seem that there is no way out, that it will never improve. We lose perspective. Yet God holds true to His promises whether we believe them at the time or not. He is the Author of reality and our flawed, emotion-colored perceptions cannot do a thing to change that. There is rarely an immediate answer to our question of why but we need not be without Someone to cling to. To those who love Him, God promises that He will be ever-present in the fiery trials of life.
To carry us and to be with us in the middle of the fire, God has to feel the flames Himself. There is no other way. When we feel the pain of the fire, so does He. When we suffer, so does He. But by His unfathomable love, He carries us because the flames make us stronger if we face them with Him. James 1 says that the testing of our faith produces perseverance which, in turn, makes us mature in Christ.
When facing overwhelming tribulation, do not blame God as if He has abandoned you without a way out. In so doing, we cause God even more pain. God does not promise to spare us of trials, but He does promise to go with us through them and to bring us through them victoriously if we rely on Him and submit to Him. Consider it pure joy.
When we face trials, difficulties, and pain, we often have as our reaction an accusatory posture toward God. Surely He has abandoned me to deal with this on my own and forgotten what I need, we say. In the fieriest moment of trial, it is easy to feel so overwhelmed that it seems absolutely plausible that God does not love us enough to intervene, that He is not powerful enough to intervene, or even that He does not exist. When dark doubts like these assail us, we often feel justified in accusing God. We tell God that we know better than Him, that we know our needs better than He does. Even at our lowest points, our pride finds a way to emerge and rebuke the King of the universe.
When we are blinded by pain and difficulty, it can seem that there is no way out, that it will never improve. We lose perspective. Yet God holds true to His promises whether we believe them at the time or not. He is the Author of reality and our flawed, emotion-colored perceptions cannot do a thing to change that. There is rarely an immediate answer to our question of why but we need not be without Someone to cling to. To those who love Him, God promises that He will be ever-present in the fiery trials of life.
To carry us and to be with us in the middle of the fire, God has to feel the flames Himself. There is no other way. When we feel the pain of the fire, so does He. When we suffer, so does He. But by His unfathomable love, He carries us because the flames make us stronger if we face them with Him. James 1 says that the testing of our faith produces perseverance which, in turn, makes us mature in Christ.
When facing overwhelming tribulation, do not blame God as if He has abandoned you without a way out. In so doing, we cause God even more pain. God does not promise to spare us of trials, but He does promise to go with us through them and to bring us through them victoriously if we rely on Him and submit to Him. Consider it pure joy.
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I'm not a huge fan of blogs but I figured I'd share some thoughts I have as they come up. What will follow won't be about me. I should start by saying that I'm 22 years old and by no means have experienced much in life or have gained much wisdom. However, I pray that you are encouraged by the words here and if no one ends up reading this, it'll be fun to look back through the magic of the interwebs on what God has been teaching me. Feel free to comment.
-Jared
-Jared
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