Thursday, July 31, 2008

Acts 3

Read Acts 3

The Spirit empowered work begun by Christ is continuing through his church. That’s what we see in the first section of this chapter. His healing power is brought to the earth through his people. Christ’s ascension into heaven does not mean that his work is put on hold. This is a common misconception of Christians. We Christians are just left here reading our Left Behind books waiting for Jesus to come back and do something. We sit and watch the world slip into deeper levels of perversity, oppression, and corruption praying that the last day will soon be here. No, the restorative, healing, saving work of Jesus is to be going on right now by the power of the Spirit in the church. The Christian response to oppression, poverty, and suffering is not simply to pray for the end. It is to bring the love and compassion of Christ into the crisis. It is to bring healing and hope.

But of course, Peter does not let the healing stay at the level of physical healing. His mission is ultimately not to simply bring physical healing. It is far beyond that. Peter has a massive picture of what God is doing through Jesus and His church. This big picture stems first from Jesus’ identity. “You killed,” says Peter, “the Author of life”(3:15). How do you kill the Author of life? How is it that the Author of life comes to die? How do finite creatures slay an infinite Creator? There is such depth and weight to that simple statement. I don’t have the time to attempt answers at all these questions now, but one thing should certainly be clear. If we grasp even a speck of what it means to “kill the Author of life,” then we will certainly grasp that his death and resurrection turns the entire cosmos on its head. The Creator doesn’t die and rise again without the world being forever changed.

These thoughts are clearly running through Peter’s mind. He is no longer thinking of simply the restoration of Israel, though in the past his brain could never expand beyond that idea. Now Peter is talking about the restoration of all things (3:21), the remaking of the universe. Peter cannot leave people simply with simply the benefit of a helping hand, even if that hand makes lame people walk. He longs for them to come to the point of repentance and faith in Jesus, so that they might receive the life refreshing presence of the Lord.

To speak to our day, the church cannot leave the poor in their poverty, the oppressed in their oppression, or the hurting in their pain. Nevertheless, bringing mercy, justice, comfort, relief, healing, etc. is never enough. Our mission is far beyond that. We are after bringing people God and cosmic world change that will result from His presence. A change, by the way, that will only fully be realized at the end of all things.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Acts 2

Read Acts 2

What happened to the first church here is an unique empowering of the Holy Spirit. There is no indication in Scripture that Christians following Pentecost (this incredible event of Spirit empowering) should expect mighty rushing winds and fires. Nevertheless, it is the clear teaching of the Bible that believers in Jesus should expect to receive the Holy Spirit. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is common Christian jargon, and so we often lose our wonder at it. Much time is spent, not all of which is useless, determining what sort things we should expect from the Holy Spirit. Should we expect tongues, miracles, dreams, leadings, promptings, etc.? And sadly too little time is spend marveling at the fact that the third Person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, is dwelling inside of us, working on us, changing us. To put in simple terms, we spend so much looking at vs. 5-13 that we forget about the rest of the chapter.

The Spirit doesn’t move just to produce people who can speak in languages they have never learned. His work goes far beyond that. We see Peter confidently, boldly, clearly explaining the work of the Spirit and the point of Jesus death and resurrection. He thunders statements at the crowd like “Jesus (the Messiah) . . . you crucified and killed by the hand of lawless men.” This is the same Peter that coward before a servant girl’s interrogation, that ever seemed in a daze of confusion at what Jesus was doing, that even following the resurrection decided to go fishing. So what happened to Peter? The Spirit happened.

What followed this mighty, Spirit empowered sermon was not just the conversion of 3,000. No the Spirit’s work continues and forms a community like no other community that has ever existed. The community of Christians in Acts 2 is the kind of community that people of all cultures, times, political views stand back and admire. These people share their food, their time, their possessions, their spiritual experiences, their knowledge, and they do it joyfully, with generous hearts, praising God, and gaining favor with outsiders. What happened to them? The Spirit of God, the Spirit of love and grace, was unleashed upon them.

So my plea to us all is not to lose any thought or concern about miraculous signs or spiritual experiences. But let us dwell less upon the lesser works of the Spirit and focus more upon His greater work.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Gospel Blimp


Okay, no movie this week. Instead, I'm posting a comic. I saw the movie The Gospel Blimp years ago. Though incredibly corny, filled with terrible acting and poor special effects, it made a hilarious and profound point. How do you get on mission with God? Well, the Gospel Blimp is about how not to do it. Click here to download in pdf form.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Acts 1

Read Acts 1

The story of the church does play out like one might think. Jesus dies, his followers grieve and mourn. They are filled with doubts and fear. Then he raises from the grave. Hope is rekindled and excitement bubbling over. However, the first “Christians” weren’t thinking along the same lines as Jesus. They weren’t ready to go out and start a new spiritual revolution. They were looking for the restoration of Israel (1:6). So following the resurrection, the disciples were not ready to take the world by storm, nor were they looking to do so. What is even more surprising is that Jesus doesn’t tell them to do so. First they needed help.

If there is one theme that rings loud and clear in this first chapter, it is the necessity of the Holy Spirit. Jesus commands “through the Holy Spirit”(1:2), promises a baptism of the Holy Spirit (1:5), and guarantees their reception of power from the Holy Spirit (1:8). And just for good measure, Luke throws in the fact that the OT Scriptures quoted by Peter were spoken by the Holy Spirit (1:16). Luke does not have Jesus charging his disciples with a task. He has him giving them a promise. It does not read, “Get up and go be my witnesses.” It reads, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .”

The church is carrying out the mission of Jesus Christ, and they would be it carrying out by the same power that Jesus carried it out. They cannot do it until the Spirit comes upon them. So in chapter 2, as we shall see, we do not find Christians busy spreading the good news. We find them huddled in a room praying and waiting.

Whatever else has changed over the past two thousand years, this remains the same. The Church is nothing apart from the Spirit. The cross unleashed the full power of the Spirit, and it is only in that power that the Church gets anywhere. Before we do anything, we must be leaning upon the power of the Spirit.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Acts Introduction

It is very in vogue these days to cast doubts about the church as we currently find it in America. A lot people are rethinking the church, and thankfully they are asking some very questions. Questions like what is the church, what is the purpose of the church, how does the church accomplish its mission. Every Christian in every age should be asking these questions, and if you are not, then it is time that you start. Whatever “church” is, it is at the heart of what God is doing in this world. If you don’t understand it, if you are not part of it, then as a Christian you are not on the same mission as God is.

As beneficial as it is to rethink the church, every Christian should approach such analysis carefully. We are after all fallen creatures, so our natural inclinations about the church could very well be wrong. We are also creatures formed by our culture, so we are probably predisposed to cling to the water were used to swimming in, even if that water isn’t biblical. As a result, it is very wise to come to the table with suspicions about our own personal agendas. Instead of considering modern thoughts about the church, then, I think it is best to begin with Bible.

There is a lot of good counsel and instruction about what the church is and what it is to be doing in the NT. However, one of the best ways to understand the church is to see it in action. That’s what the book of Acts is. It is the picture of the church and its spread from the ascension of Christ until what was probably the martyrdom of Paul. Now not everything that happened in Acts should be happening today. In fact, there is a great debate going on as to just how much of Acts should be normative for the church today. I don’t plan on settling that debate. Nevertheless, we will see that a lot of it does and should guide us in our understanding of the church.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

iPhone and Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 (Click to read text)

One day until the release of Apple’s newest version of the iPhone. Their slick. I have partly convinced myself that I desperately need a smart phone to do my job. I own a Mac. I like the iPhone. I really like the iPhone. But I won’t be buying one. You may well wonder why, or may be just as well wondering why I’m talking about my desire for an iPhone. And the answer to both questions is, “I’m not buying an iPhone because of Ecclesiastes 12:12-14.” Or at least I like to think that is the reason.

So what does the iPhone and Ecclesiastes have to do with one another? Let me tell you. If you read the previous entry on this passage, you may have noticed that the Preacher doesn’t just say God is necessary for meaning. His conclusion isn’t “The end of the matter, God is necessary.” The conclusion is “fear God.” And he further adds, “and keep his commandments . . . for God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Sounds scary. Everything in your life, everything you’ve ever thought, exposed for the Judge of all things to examine and judge. Like I said, scary. Thus, the command “fear God.” The point is that the existence of a God isn’t just necessary for meaning. The existence of a just God is necessary for meaning.

The Preacher has already lamented the horrors of senseless oppression and the sufferings or our daily existence. How do you make sense of all of that? And his answer is a just God makes sense of it. It is the God who sees, justly adjudicates, and carries the power and authority to enact his fair decisions that brings sense into this world. If you don’t believe that, than talk to the oppressed and see what sense they can make of a world in which their oppressors never meet justice. We need a God of justice to bring meaning to a world full of injustice.

Okay, so what does this have to do with iPhones? It’s simple really. I will one day answer to the God of justice. I fear Him. I fear opposing his plan to renovate the world with goodness and justice. In fact, I love his plan of renovation, so I don’t want to oppose it. I want to be a part of it. An iPhone doesn’t fit the plan, and I’ll give you five reasons why it doesn’t fit it for me.

1. Money - There are better ways to use my money right now to join God’s mission of renovation (like giving some money to help those in need or those ministering to others, like buying stuff needed for my family, like having a little extra cash around so my wife can have a break from cooking every so often, like buying a nice gift for my wife to encourage her and show my thankfulness to her, like buying books to better understand God and His mission or to give others those books, like keeping myself out of excessive debt so I don’t have spend extra time working other jobs to pay the bills, and so on).

2. Time - There are better uses of my time than playing around with an iPhone. An iPhone can do a lot of things. In fact, it can do way too much, and I fiddle with it far beyond what is reasonable. The last thing I need is portable internet. I need less access, not more.

3. Accountability - There are no filters for iPhones. I have filters for all my computers, and logs that my wife checks. Unaccountable access to the internet is not an option for me.

4. Motive - I don’t need an iPhone. I can do most everything that it does with the stuff I have. I just can do it all in one handy, portable device. The actual benefits to me are minimal. My real motive, I think, is to have a new, cool toy. A new, cool toy that costs me a lot of money, robs time, and provides temptation.

5. Joy - There is more joy to be found in abstaining from it, using my money for more God-glorifying purposes, employing my time in serving others, avoiding possible temptations, and saying “No!” to my lust for more.

Bottom line is that I fear God more than I fear life without an iPhone.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

" Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, ESV)
The conclusion of this book is not exactly what you would expect. You expect the Preacher to close with, “The end of the matter. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” This conclusion is absolutely essential to understanding the whole of the book. If it ended as expected, the message of the book would be hopelessness and meaninglessness. But the conclusion “fear God and keep his commandments” does not leave us without meaning. It leaves us with a God.

God obliterates despair. He is the enemy of meaninglessness. The universe, life, you are merely the product of time and chance without God. Many contemporary individuals will see this logic as a sign of personal weakness. Religion is for the weak, they will argue. “You cling to some irrational hope in a God because you are too weak to deal with the realities of death, despair, and pain without him. This is no argument for the existence of God. It is merely a naive hope.” This line of thinking, though, misses the point of this book. The argument is not, “Life really stinks without God, huh? So you better believe in Him.” Rather, the argument is, “Life makes no sense without God.” It is not merely an existential argument (“life feels really lousy”) as much as it is a metaphysical argument (“reality has no explanation, thus no purpose, thus no meaning, thus regardless of how you feel about it, it is inexplicable hopelessness”). It matters very little whether you are strong or weak. The argument is not about whether you can cope with death, despair, and pain. Deal with it or no, the reality is that it is meaningless without God. All the intellectual reasoning, philosophical inquiry, and scientific exploration you can muster cannot make sense of senseless world. You are simply left to pretend that you believe in a purpose that you know doesn't exist. You may say religion requires weakness, but a godless world requires daily self-deception.

Monday, July 7, 2008

2008 Desiring God Conference

SInce I've been listing some of the sermons from the Desiring God Conference Above All Earthly Powers, I thought I'd post the trailer for the upcoming 2008 Conference The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. I don't think I'll be able to go to the conference, but I will definitely be listening to the sermons.

Sermon of the Week

I've saved the best for last. This sermon is again from the Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World Conference. It was one of the best conferences I have ever heard, though I was not able to attend. This sermon is from Tim Keller about evangelism in a post-modern culture. For some, I think, it will be very eye opening.

The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern world - Tim Keller

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Driscoll on Osteen's Prosperity Gospel

That's about all the introducation needed.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8

"Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8, ESV)

Most everything in this passage the Preacher has stated before. Rejoice in the sweet, painless days of youth while you still have them, but just remember that you will be judged for everything you do. Put off worry and frustration, because all is vanity. If you detect more than a hint of sarcasm, you would not be mistaken. The key sentence in this whole section is this: “Remember also your Creator.” There is the signpost guiding us to where the Preacher is going. But for the moment he would have us ponder again why it is that we need to remember the Creator. In this section, the Preacher vividly and in an almost beautiful poetic form captures the despair in life. I don’t think I want to comment too much upon it. Even if you do not understand everything he writes, reading and rereading it will make you feel the message “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” It is a despair that the Creator and the Creator alone can overcome.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

" Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good." (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6, ESV)

So if you read this text and are wondering what in the world it is saying, don’t feel alone. At several points of this passage, I have no clue what the Preacher is talking about. Nevertheless, even in this enigmatic passage there are redeeming lessons.

I always thought that if you cast bread into the water it will just get really soggy and eventually dissolve into little bits. Should I really expect to get it back? Maybe that is the point. Water in ancient Hebrew mind was considered the symbol of chance and chaos. Perhaps the Preacher is saying, “Go ahead. Entrust your livelihood to chance. I’m sure it will all work out in the end. Take a big gamble. I’ll pay off. Or . . . not, idiot.” He follows the thought up with counsel to prepare instead for disaster. In other words, don’t look at life and think, “Perhaps there will be no problems, no disasters. Maybe everything will just work out. Maybe I’ll be the only person in existence that never faces tragedy.” Instead, think realistically about reality. Disneyland doesn’t exist, so stop acting like it does. Stop thinking that if you just think positively enough, everything will be okay.

Such realism can lead to paralyzing pessimism, which is why the Preacher balances these thoughts with a call to action. Rain or lack of it can negate all your efforts. Tragedy can come and destroy all your work. But don’t sit and fret about the tragedy that could be; otherwise, you will never get anything done. This line of logic may sound like a contradiction to the preparation for disaster the Preacher just encouraged, but it’s not. Preparing for tragedy doesn’t mean fret and do nothing. It means realize that life is fraught with problems and be ready to deal with them. Just as you cannot know how the spirit of life enters an unborn child (ponder that one for awhile), you simply do not know what is going to happen. But not knowing the future doesn’t mean stop trying. Use your time significantly, both in the morning and at night. Perhaps, one will be in vain or both. But then again, perhaps they will be both succeed.

The Preacher gives good advice that Americans in particular need to hear. We want life to be the simple, fun, entertaining world of TV sitcoms. We even half expect it (perhaps even more than half). We are shocked by tragedy. And the result is that when disaster comes, it renders us useless. “This isn’t supposed to happen.” “Why me?” “I can’t deal with this.” These generally lead to “What use is it anyway?” Ever wonder why the most privileged and prosperous nations in the world’s history is also one of the most depressed. Here is a clue.

Sermon of the Week

This is a biography in sermonic form of the life of Adoniram Judson given by John Piper. Judson was the first American foreign missionary. He went to Burma which was then a very closed and dangerous place (even more so than today). If you want a picture of what true, radical Christianity looks like in practice, Judson is a great place to look. Suffering, pain, failure, and ultimately joy was his lot, and he experienced all of them to their fullest. Just to give you an idea, Judson lost two wives, several children, and he labored eight years before he ever saw a convert to Christianity. If you are interested in his life, a very readable biography is To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson. By the way, all sermons that I post here can be listened to or downloaded for free.

How Few There Are Who Die So Hard