The Power of Gift Giving

I'm currently reading through Miroslav Volf's Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. Here are a couple of great quotes just in time for the Christmas season.

This the the paradox of self-love: The more you fill the self, the more it echoes with the emptiness of unfulfillment. Living in itself and for itself, the self remains mysteriously unsatisfied and insatiable. . . . The paradox of true love is exactly the opposite . . . When loving truly, the self moves outside of itself to dwell with God and neighbor, and only then is it truly at home. (p.52)

You sit on your couch, beer or soda in your hand and junk food by your side watching TV for hours – that's ordinary. You work around the clock not because you have to feed your family, but for no other reason than to park a better car in your garage than your neighbors have – that's ordinary. You get up from the couch to play with your kids or you give your time and energy to help educate a prisoner or lend an ear to an elderly person – that's extraordinary. Why? Because you are giving. Every gift breaks the barrier between the sacred and the mundane and floods the mundane with the sacred. When a gift is given, life becomes extraordinary because God's own gift giving flows through the giver. (p.53-54)

Missional Singing

Immanuel: A Poetic Journey

I don't know exactly how to classify this. Call it a poetic meditation. But it summarizes many a journey my mind has taken.

Can you live and not grow weary of life?
Will not decay or disease rent a beloved from my side?
Shall my child grow cold and silent before my days have gone?
I am no coward, so I tell myself.
At the right time, in the right place
Perhaps even the heroic could leap into action
I do not fear pain, nor flinch at threats.
But at death’s tormenting whispers
I would rather flee to distraction than boldly turn and stand.

A valley of shadow of death indeed.
And who shall shepherd our gropings in the dark?
Who shall be our comfort or guide?
Who shall start the feast?
And for what shall we feast?

I cannot fathom Trinity,
Or omnipotence, or eternity.
They are utterly other;
Beyond all that is common or safe;
A bottomless chasm of unknown.
And I dangle from the precipice in quiet terror.
The call is to come, to surrender, to fall in.
But should I fall?
Will not the fall never end?
Sinking ever deeper,
The terror giving way only to the weariness of no end

Shall I meet the Maker?
The utterly Other One?
Me? Part animal crazed with desires,
Part fiend scheming, manipulating, using,
Part human hating the hateful in me,
Striving for a better self.

I am no mystic
No sparks in spirit and soul
No ecstatic visions of divine Love
God is an ominous cloud of otherness
A terrifying storm of infinite unknown
Shall I give myself to this Shepherd?
And recklessly dive into the abyss?

Now at edge of eternity look and see Nativity
A man, a woman, and a baby.
A baby.
The infinite other, a crying baby
I’ve touched babies, loved babies.
Infinite God I cannot know
But a baby, a child, a man I can know
With an eternal divinity I cannot converse
But my God I can speak to, dare I say it,
As man to man, as brother to brother.

O blessed Nativity
God meets us not on the terrifying horizon of infinity.
He meets us in the here and now,
In flesh and bone,
With cries and laughter.

O blessed Nativity
Omnipotence made helpless
All knowing made knowable
The Untouchable made touchable

O blessed Nativity
God in pursuit
Love incarnated
Man made of Joy

O blessed Nativity
God is with us

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Well its that time again. A new Narnia movie is out and all Christian bloggers with a smattering of familiarity with C.S. Lewis' work are eager to post their reviews. I am no exception (only I hope I know a bit more than a smattering of Lewis). I had the joy of taking my daughter to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader yesterday, and today I'm ready to review.

I base my judgments on really two main categories. First and foremost in my mind is whether or not the movie carries the main threads of the book. Main threads would be the key term there. What works in a book doesn't always work in a movie, and all Narnia lovers need to cut Michael Apted some slack on that point. I didn't watch the movie for what was changed, but for how well it carried the primary themes of the book. Secondly, the movie should itself be good in its own right. I don't want to see a movie that just makes C.S. Lewis fans happy. I want to see a real piece of art. I think the Lord of the Rings movies are perfect examples of what the Narnia movies ought to be. At times in Peter Jackson's films I grimace over certain changes to events, characters, dialogues, but the movies carried the day on both criteria I have given. In the end, the main themes were all there, and they were there in a trilogy of excellent art. To this point in the Narnia series, the score is 1 for 2. The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe was a good film. Prince Caspian bombed on all counts.

Main threads. On this criteria, I give the movie a B. Overall, I think Lewis' book is fairly well represented. My major complaint is that two key themes, the longing for Aslan's Country and the spirit of adventure, were present but not emphasized like they were in the book. At the end of the film, sailing on to Aslan's Country is sort of just a nice way to end the story, but Lewis' makes it the climax. Adventure loving is also somewhat lost. For instance, in the book Caspian decides to avoid Dark Island because its a terrifying place. Reepicheep then lectures Caspian for forsaking an adventure simply because what is ahead is fearful and unknown and persuades Caspian to approach the island. In the movie, they go to dark island because they have no choice. It is full of a vague, green mist monster (they don't call it a mist monster by the way) that is going to corrupt all the world. A little hokey, I know. More on that later.

But I must give credit where it is due. There are actual shockers in the movie. At one point Caspian and company are told that they can't defeat the evil (the mist monster) unless something is done about the evil inside of them. In fact, the power of the mist monster is to use the evil lurking inside of you to control and destroy you. Wow! That's not just in a Hollywood movie. That's in a Hollywood movie geared towards kids! The redemption theme with Eustace also remained in tact. In describing how he went from dragon back to boy, he says that though he tried to be free of the dragon skin he could never get it off. He had to let Aslan do it for him. And when Aslan does it, it really hurts. Only its a good hurt like a thorn coming out. Finally, and most shockingly, Aslan parts from Lucy by telling her that in her world he is known by another name, and the reason she was brought into Narnia was to know him better in her world. Thus the movie ends with the message that there actually is a real Aslan.

Good Art. On this criteria, I go with a B as well. It's a movie worth seeing, but I think they could have done better. Granted this was a difficult job. More so than the other books, in my opinion. Doug Wilson noted that the book is very episodic, which isn't easy to translate into one cohesive movie. So in the attempt to create one over-arching story, they added things like the mist monster, and human sacrifices to the mist monster, and swords being placed together to defeat the mist monster. All of it a little bizarre and thoroughly unnecessary.

And of course there are those strange glitches that we as an audience are just supposed to miss. Immediately following Eustace's transformation back into a boy, he is suddenly running on Ramadu's island ready to put the final sword in place. How he got there is not so clear. Then when he does get the sword in place and the mist monster is defeated, he is suddenly miles away from Ramadu's island and swimming next to the Dawn Treader. His movements equally baffling.

Casting was good (especially Eustace who is as annoying on screen as in the book). I'm not a real special effects guy, so I thought they were more than adequate. Dialogue could have been better. Acting could have been better. But in comparison with much of what comes out of Hollywood, it was pretty decent. So that's my take.

Sin and Righteousness and Judgement

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:5-11)

Outsourcing? The gospel mission is a daunting task. And for some reason we like to make a lot more daunting. When Jesus commanded his disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, he wasn’t outsourcing. Jesus didn’t ascend to the right hand of the Father because he was tired of getting his hands dirty and wanted his church to finish what he started. Yet somehow this is the vision we often have of our mission. When we think of evangelism, discipleship, missions, charity, etc., we generally see it as our work, the Church’s work. God has outsourced it to us.

The Promise. Jesus, however, said that he was ascending to the Father in order to send the Spirit to us. Jesus wasn’t abandoning the work to us; he was making way for the Spirit. The “Advocate,” he promised, would come and convict the world of its unbelief, its culture of injustice, and the impending day of judgement. Talk about a fun list of subjects, and yet salvation cannot come into our lives, communities, nations unless we are convicted on these points.

Chutzpah. There is an amazing passage in Acts 24 where Paul stands trial before Felix the governor of Judea, an official known for his corruption, brutality, and licentiousness. As his future hangs upon the whims of this powerful procurator, Paul is summoned before Felix and his wife, and what should his topics include? Justice, self-control, and the coming the judgement (Acts 24:24). Luke records the governor’s response: “Felix was alarmed and said, ‘Go away for the present.”(Acts 24:25). Paul had some serious chutzpah, or perhaps he just believed that the Spirit would do his job.

Supporting Cast. Paul grew used to the Spirit doing his job. In Acts 16:14 Luke tells us that as Paul discussed the gospel with Lydia outside Philippi, “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said.” Such is the work of mission. We act, we speak, we care, but it is not our voice, our words, or our giftedness that opens the heart and convicts it. We work in tandem with the Spirit. Mission is God’s work first and foremost. Not ours. God isn’t outsourcing mission to us. He is inviting us to join His mission. So as we live lives of mission, we are not acting alone. The Spirit goes before us, speaks through us, continues his work after we are long gone. We aren’t the main actors in this drama of cosmic revolution; we’re just supporting cast. Nevertheless, by God’s extravagant grace our names are still in the credits.

You Give Them Something To Eat

On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. [11] When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. [12] Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” [13] But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” [14] For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” [15] And they did so, and had them all sit down. [16] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. [17] And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. (Luke 9:10-17)

Overwhelming need is all around. It’s so prevalent its easy to overlook or ignore. The world is teeming with malnourished children, war torn societies, dirty water, AIDS, poverty, sex trafficking, and that’s just for starters. The co-worker next to us has a relational crisis. The lady you met in the check out aisle has a health crisis. Your neighbor has a financial crisis. And, God be merciful, almost every single person you meet is in the midst of spiritual crisis.

Common Sense. In Luke 9 the disciples too encounter overwhelming need in the starving masses. Their solution is simple and practical. The need is simply too big, too expensive, too taxing for them to do anything. So send the people on their way, and they can get something to eat themselves. Jesus, however, has different ideas.

“You give them something to eat.” The command is ridiculous. Is Jesus simply toying with his disciples? He knows what he is capable of, what he wants to do. Why then does he command his disciples to do the feeding? What does he want them to do? The answer, I think, is fairly straight forward and for us quite shocking. When Jesus says “you give them something to eat,” he means “you give them something to eat.”

Big problem or Big Savior? When we encounter a problem, we like the disciples ask, “How big is this problem?” and “Do I have the resources available to tackle it?” If the answer is, “The problem is beyond me and my resources,” the course of action is inaction. But Jesus tells us that we begin with the wrong question. Instead of starting with, “How big is this problem?” we should start with “How big is Jesus?” In the first question we are really asking, “Are we enough?” In the second question we are asking, “Is Jesus enough?” In the common sense approach when we encounter overwhelming need, we do nothing, absolutely nothing. Shrug your shoulders, shake your head, walk away, and try to forget about it. After all, what can you do. But when we begin with our eyes on Jesus, inaction is simply not possible. He commands us to feed them, to help, to meet their need. Of course we can’t. But there is an ingredient that transforms the equation––Jesus. Jesus is enough. Jesus commands us to look at him and at the need, and when we do we act. So when need crosses your path, don’t just look at the need. Look at the need AND look at Jesus. Then get busy.

Act for the Persecuted

That is what you can do right now. Here's the situation according to J.D. Greer

Sayed Mossa is a new believer in Afghanistan who is in jail in Afghanistan because he decided, of his own free choice, to follow Jesus. In this letter he managed to smuggle out through the hands of a Westerner, he describes daily beatings, torture, and sexual molestation. He stands to be executed for his decision to follow Jesus next week. He has a wife and 6 children, one of whom is disabled.

Please visit this post by J.D. to find out what you can do to help prevent this crisis. And pass the word along.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)

Anxiety. It’s what Jerry Bridges would call a “respectable sin.” Notes on a planner, the hands of a clock, the nightly news cast all beckon us to it. We attribute anxiety to our noble desire to be responsible and well-organized. Perhaps we even call it love. After all, we are willing to take upon ourselves paralyzing worry in order to ensure good is done to others. But Jesus calls anxiety something else. He calls it faithless. What’s more, Jesus declares, anxiety is an enemy of the kingdom of God. We will not seek Christ’s kingdom so long as we live in anxiety.

Eyes. “Look at the birds of the field,” Ever notice how many times the Gospels describe Jesus as looking, seeing, beholding, or how often he calls his disciples to see what they don’t see. There is so much to see, but anxiety is blindness. One of the greatest advantages of eyes is that unless I am looking into a mirror they must be fixed upon something other than me. They are ever looking out on the world and not in upon myself. But anxiety renders such a gift useless, for it consumes my mind with me. Anxiety blinds us from God’s care over the worry-free flowers and birds. It blinds us because it short circuits the path between eyes and mind. In anxiety I can only see problems without solutions, bills unpaid, the ticking of the clock, the terrors of the future. Everything else my eyes take in fades into oblivion.

The Moment. Anxiety keeps from us the moment. We must think of tomorrow, always tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes we must think of tomorrow. You cannot seek first the kingdom in anxiety because you cannot see what is front of you; you can only see yourself. You cannot act in the moment; you are too consumed with tomorrow. Jesus is not calling us to abstain from food and drink, from our most basic needs, but he does call us to stop worrying about them. Jesus is simply saying, “Are you hungry, thirsty, naked, cold? If yes, then eat, drink, put on a coat. If no, then live for the kingdom.” And if you say, “But what of tomorrow. What happens when I loose my job?” Jesus replies, “What of today? Will you waste the moment for a tomorrow you cannot control, for the tomorrow that I control? Will you not do my work today because you do not trust me with tomorrow?” Besides the answers for tomorrow are quite simple to solve. If you are hungry, eat something and seek the kingdom. If you are thirsty, drink something and do righteousness. If you are cold, put on a coat and love your neighbor.

Abortion and Slavery

Here is a powerful, and for me convicting, article by Thabit Anyabwile on the comparison of the tragedy of abortion to the tragedy of slavery. For those who don't know, Thabiti is a reformed Baptist pastor ministering in the Bahamas.

The Least of These

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

As I write this a South African pastor has stirred up a heated conversation over his sermon series in which he pronounced that “Jesus had HIV.” Of course, the pastor is not seriously contending that Jesus physically contracted the HI virus, and thus his language is probably misleading. It’s much more proper to say, “Jesus has HIV.”

Many Christians are offended by such language, but it is merely taking what Jesus said seriously. “As you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.” Where does Jesus say he is? Who does he identify himself with? The hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the strangers. That is, with the cast offs, the oppressed, the shameful, the least of society. A person infected with HIV gets put into “least of these” category, and to serve them is to serve Jesus.

The gospel of Luke tells us of a sinful women (probably a prostitute) who finds grace and forgiveness in Jesus. Her reaction is to throw herself at his feet, wet his feet with her tears, pour out her her perfume (her most valuable possession) and with her tears wash them. It’s a flesh and blood portrait of the worshipful gratitude all those who come to Christ experience. There is a problem with the portrait, however; Jesus doesn’t sit before us. We can’t weep and wash his feet. Or can we?

According to Jesus, “flesh and blood” worship can begin today. Jesus stands before us everywhere we turn. He is the “least of these.” As we wash the feet of the “least of these,” the poor, the hurting, the shamed, we wash the feet of Jesus. As disciples of Christ and recipients of his extravagant, blood shedding love, every morning we should wake up eager to find Jesus’ feet and start washing. We only need to look in the right places.

Bonhoeffer Says

Bonhoeffer on Christian action (you must put these words in the context of Nazi Germany to get their full power):

If we want to be Christians, we must have some share in Christ's large-heartedness by acting with responsibility and in freedom when the hour of danger comes, and by showing a real sympathy that springs, not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ for all who suffer. Mere waiting and looking is not Christian behavior. The Christian is called to sympathy and action, not in the first place by his own sufferings, but by the sufferings of his brethren, for who sake Christ suffered.

Bonhoeffer on Success:

In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity. The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done . . . With a frankness and off-handedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means. . . . The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.

Bonhoeffer on Cheap Grace:

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.

Bonhoeffer on Costly Grace:

It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son . . . and above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.

Bonhoeffer on Marriage (to his fiance from prison):

May God grant us this faith daily. I don't mean the faith that flees the world, but the faith that endures in the world and loves and remains true to that world in spite of all the hardships it brings us. Our marriage must be a "yes" to God's earth. It must strengthen our resolve to do and accomplish something on earth. I fear that Christians who venture to stand on earth on only one leg will stand in heaven on only one leg too.

Nastiest Election Ever

Joe Carter:

Whenever I hear a pundit or politician say—as they do every two years—that this season has seen the nastiest, most negative electoral campaigning in American history, I wonder: “Who was their history teacher?” Because the midterm elections of 2010 ain’t got nothing on the election of 1800.

The Twins of Science and Magic

C.S. Lewis from The Abolition of Man

You will even find people who write about the sixteenth century as if Magic were a medieval survival and Science the new thing that came in to sweep it away. Those who have studied the period know better. There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse. I allow that some (certainly not all) of the early scientists were actuated by a pure love of knowledge. But if we consider the temper of that age as a whole we can discern the impulse of which I speak.

There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious—such as digging up and mutilating the dead.

Amazing Church Plant

Gay Bar and church planting. What do they have in common? Watch this video and find out.

Bonhoeffer Says

I've begun reading Eric Metaxas' excellent biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer's writing is not new to me, but as I now read of his thoughts and life I find my heart increasingly knit to his. Through routes of my own, I have come to share many of his thoughts. Only his convictions run deeper, and he expresses them far better. Here is one quote that hit me.

Every day I am getting to know people, at any rate their circumstances, and sometimes one is able to see through their stories into themselves--and at the same time one thing continues to impress me: here I meet people as they are, far from the masquerade of "the Christian world"; people with passions, criminal types, small people with small aims, small wages and small sins--all in all they are people who feel homeless in both senses, and who begin to thaw when one speaks to them with kindness--real people; I can only say that I have gained the impression that it is just these people who are much more under grace than under wrath, and that it is the Christian world which is more under wrath than grace.

How To Miss Jesus

Dave Dorr at the Resurgence lists some sure fire ways to miss Jesus when you read your Bible

• You read the Bible to reinforce what you believe, not challenge what you believe.
• You imagine yourself as the type of person who believes the things you read about.
• You think the things you read are especially applicable for people you know, but not for you.
• You imagine yourself as the hero of the story, not the person or people who are unbelieving. You frequently ask in your heart, “How could these people be so unbelieving?” For instance, when you read the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert you might say, “How could those Israelites grumble about food and drink when they just saw God part the Red Sea?” But you are completely blind to how you grumble at work or home when you’re afraid of losing something.
• You love the attention garnered from your knowledge of the Bible, but give little thought to how you have applied what you have read.

Being Missional May Kill Your Church

I found this post from the Resurgence strangely comforting.

Bible-Centered or Gospel-Centered

Did you know that you can be Bible-centered without being Gospel-centered? Surprising? Well, it shouldn’t be. You may recall that Jesus repeatedly scolded the Pharisees for not knowing the Scriptures. Did they miss too many Bible studies? Hardly. Those heartless paragons of hypocrisy knew their Scriptures backwards and forwards. No, they knew the Scriptures and yet they didn’t know.

How many times have you read of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness by Satan and come away thinking “I should commit more Bible to memory like Jesus if I’m to resist Satan’s attacks” or “I should grow closer to God through prayer and fasting so that I can handle temptation”? How about the story of Jesus‘ healing of the paralytic? Generally applications run something like “We shouldn’t be annoyed by the needy and helpless even if they do a cut hole in our roof!” When you read these passages who are you identifying with? When we put ourselves into the story we are Jesus! Isn’t this what we ought to do? Aren’t we Christ-ians? Jesus is after all our example. To be sure, but Jesus is more than our example. Much more. He is our Savior.

The story of Jesus’ temptation isn’t told primarily to give us tips on our duel with the Prince of darkness. This is a David and Goliath moment. The giant is bigger, stronger, scarier than all of us. But Jesus, our hero, our warrior, our deliverer marches onto the battlefield and slays the beast. He did in the wilderness what Israel failed to do, what we all fail to do. The lesson isn’t tactics on how to cross swords with the great Deceiver. The lesson is Jesus fought and won for me.

When Jesus heals the paralytic, it is quite absurd, nay asinine and arrogant, that we place ourselves in the position of the Healer. There are only two positions we can occupy. Either we are the Pharisees who stand in judgment over Jesus (“We know our Bibles. Let us see if this fellow does it by the Book. Oh, blasphemy! Forgiving sins! Outrageous. Only God does that. Yes, yes the poor, paralyzed wretch is doing jumping jacks. No, I don’t know how that was done, but you’re missing the principle of the matter.) and tragically never realize that they need healing and forgiveness. Or we are the paralytic and his friends desperate for healing, desperate to meet the Healer, desperate to hear those words, “Your sins are forgiven.”

So do you know the Gospel, or are you content to just know the Bible?

The Church Problem is a Man Problem

That's what Darrin Patrick thinks, and I think he presents a compelling case.

Worship Music

Jeremy Pierce just can't stand some worship music. Here's why.

Dancing in the Minefields

Today Jen and I have been married 11 years. They haven't been pure bliss, but they have been the sweetest years of my life. Her beauty seems ever growing, and my heart seems ever more captured. I'm not a huge Andrew Peterson fan, but he does right pretty good lyrics. This song, I think, perfectly fitting for our marriage.

I love you, Jen. As the song says, I gladly dance with you "in the shadowlands until the shadows are no more."

Chan, Driscoll, and Harris

Excellent interview of Francis Chan by Mark Driscoll and Josh Harris. If you are not familiar with story, recently Francis Chan resigned from a megachurch, Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA, for reasons that even after this interview seem a little hazy. What I find most intriguing is the discussion on poverty vs. wealth and simplicity vs. complexity.

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

False Assumption #4: What's Grace?

Grace is not a very popular concept. Not sure that it is ever been. Being nice, courteous, thoughtful, fair are all quite popular. Not grace. By grace I mean, as one song puts it, the ability to “make beauty out of ugly things.” The world assumes the ugly gets treated as ugly. So if ugly you are, then better do your best to put on a pretty face. But real grace looks at the vilest evil and doesn’t even blink but suffers to transform it into good. Real grace hurts so that the offender doesn’t have to. Real grace gives selfless love when justice demands punishment. Such grace, as I say, is not very popular.

What’s wrong with the human race? A popular Christian answer to that question would be pride. And no doubt there is tremendous Biblical as well as practical evidence for the thought. But I’ve begun to wonder if there is a deeper issue than pride. An interesting story was told by David Brainerd, the 18th century missionary to New England Native Americans. Brainerd said that in his preaching to the Indians, conviction over sin seemed to be felt most by the Indians when he was presenting the grace and excellencies of Christ. Now Brainerd was mentored by the likes of Jonathan Edwards and his crowd, and if you know anything of those “New Lights,” as they were called, you know they could bring the thunder when it came to sin. Reading a few entries of Brainerd’s journal will leave the most smug of us deeply convicted over our own godlessness, for Brainerd was a man fully acquainted (and some would say morbidly acquainted) with his own depravity. In other words, Brainerd’s sermons on sin were not soft and light. Yet it was not discoursing sin that produced conviction. Rather, says Brainerd, conviction occurred as he proclaimed the grace of Christ to suffer for that sin.

Too good to be true. Brainerd’s testimony seems to suggest there’s more than pride at work in the human heart. Perhaps, we can’t admit our messed upness because we don’t believe, we can’t believe that there is actually a grace in the world that would look on our ugliness and make it beautiful. That there is grace that doesn’t treat us as we deserve, but instead lavishes gifts on us that we could never earn. That there is a grace that doesn’t even blink at what we ourselves can’t look upon, and then takes the hurt to make the evil into good. Such a grace is just too good to be true.

Grace is a message the world has never heard. It’s a message that they almost never see. They don’t believe it exists. They’ve never even considered the possibility that it could. That’s why the grace of Christ has the power to do what they law (God’s standard of good) could never do. The law can bring conviction of sin, but not like grace. The law points out our flaws, but grace shines hope onto them. The law fills us with guilt over our transgressions. Grace makes us sing about them.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.”

Christians have long thought that step #1 in conversion is understanding sin, and thus the need of evangelists to lead with the law. But perhaps step #1 is understanding grace, so that those living in the fog of unbelief can feel the freedom to come into the light.

ESV+ app for iPhone

iPhone and iPad users should find the new ESV + app from Crossway extremely helpful. In addition to ESV Bible (which you can get for free), the ESV + app offers all the ESV Study Bible notes and the ability to write your own notes. The interface is slick and I think the best out there. The ESV Bible app has become my Bible on the go, and this is just a nice upgrade. The app cost $9.99 for a limited time.

Breaking Through the Fog: Questions

Solomon said, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” It takes no skill to humiliate and offend, and it takes little more to win an argument. But living in peace with those you strongly disagree with, that is a divine talent. Christians can sometimes wear their offensiveness like a badge of honor. After all, Jesus was offensive. Of course, he mainly offended the religious self-righteous who claimed to represent God and was generally patient and winsome with religious outsiders, but whose keeping track.

Offending in an Unoffensive Way. I have a radical question perpetually nagging me. Is it possible to unashamedly present the gospel, to proclaim a message that is fundamentally offensive to the religious and irrelegious (1 Cor. 1:23), to actually offend with that message, and still live at peace with the offended? In another words, is is possible to have only the message (the gospel) offend while the messenger (me) remains thoroughly unoffensive. To a degree, I think it is possible. And the method that helps make it possible is asking questions.

Asking Questions. Questions was Jesus method. When asked a question, he responded with a question. Think of all his questions: “Who do you say that I am?” “What do you ask of me?” “Do you see this woman?” “Why do you call me Lord and do not do what I say?” “What does the law say?” “Which man proved to be a neighbor?” “Why do you call me good?” “Who made me a judge over you?” “Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath?” And on it goes. So why are questions so helpful? Why did I just ask that question? And why did I just ask the question to follow up the question? Okay, getting a little out of hand. Here are some reasons question asking is so beneficial

1. Questions are an indirect challenge to another’s position - With a question you simply bring up the possibility of their error without flatly calling their ideas rubbish.

2. Questions invite a person to think through their position - A question is really an invite go underneath the surface of their belief.

3. Questions allow us to treat others like real people - Instead of treating people like propaganda machines to be crushed, we treat them like real thinking, feeling images of God. After all, you didn’t come to your position by someone trashing your argument.

4. Questions allow us to assume the best about others - We aren’t talking to morons. Well, not usually. People have genuine reasons for their beliefs, and asking a question assumes that that is true. “I guess I’m not sure why you believe that. Can you explain it to me?” Such a question in itself can be wonderfully winsome.

5. Questions appeal to a most cherished desire, to tell others what I think - Listening is a lost art. I’m not sure it was ever found. People aren’t used to someone genuinely interested in their opinion, or to sharing it without someone constantly trying to one-up them. If you give them that chance, they will love you for it.

6. Questions exude humility - What better befits a Christians attitude than the asking of questions? By asking a question I assume that there is much I don’t know, that I don’t have everything figured out, that another’s voice is more important than my own, that the Spirit’s work on another’s heart and mind is more essential than my words.

Hybels, Bono, and Aids

Last year at Willow Creek's leadership conference Bill Hybels interviewed Bono Here are parts of the interview. Pretty interesting stuff.

A few thoughts that struck me in this interview.

1) Bono's articulate faith - I don't want to oversell Bono on this (as you will see below), but I was pleasantly surprised that his passion for engagement on the issues of AIDS, world poverty, etc. are driven by his faith in the teachings of Scripture and personal faith in Christ. In fact, his biblical arguments for engagement are, I think, irrefutable. If you don't think so, then check out Isaiah 58 for yourself.

2) The need for the church - Good to hear Bono say that the church is a necessary ingredient in elevating the suffering in developing countries. I agree that such a mission will never get far off the ground in the US unless the church makes it an issue. Evangelicals are among the most generous Americans and are the leading suppliers for charities. And, as Bono said, the church has the power to set the moral climate on these issues for millions of people.

3) Bono's lack of need for the church - Here is where I get concerned for Bono. He recognizes the need for the church to curb the AIDS epidemic, but he doesn't seem to recognize any personal need for the church. In the interview, Bono points out that passages on helping the poor are second in number only to passages about personal salvation. I haven't done the numbers myself, but I assume he is correct and wouldn't be at all surprised if he was. But I am pretty certain that passages on the poor are a very, very distant second. That doesn't take anything away from the importance of these Scriptures, or that Bono is wrong to point out our negligence. But the church cannot forget what is number one. In answering why the church is behind, Bono noted evangelicals disdain for the immorality that causes AIDS and its historical reluctance to get into politics. I agree with both answers (and also that they are lame excuses), but there is a third. The church has a tremendously difficult time, and always has, on how to balance evangelism with social work, a struggle which is absolutely appropriate (albeit a sad excuse for inaction on issues like AIDS). I'm not sure Bono feels the tension. Nor does he seem to feel the need for Christ's body to be a significant part of his life. My prayer is that Bono would see the church as more than a strategic partner. That for him the church would be a source of partners in the journey of faith offering the embodiment of Christ's grace, teaching, forgiveness, encouragement, rebuke, and so forth.

4) The church's lack of desire for Bono. Bono's struggle with the church is a two way street. He said in the interview that he never had a problem with Christ only Christians. Bono, I'm sure, is not an entirely innocent party in the friction. Nevertheless, the Church seems all too eager to distance itself from the artsy, edgy, and hip among us. Especially if they show sympathies with "radical" views. Christians must draw lines in the sand. The uniqueness of Christ demands it. But Jesus never drew a line apart from himself (e.g. "no one comes to the Father except through me."). Jesus and only Jesus has ever been the true dividing line for Christians. To create another line is to elevate something to the unique status that Jesus alone deserves. To create another line, in others words, is not only unwise it is idolatrous.

Charlie Bit Me Auto-Tuned

I love this video. Apparently, Time magazine has called it the best viral video yet. And now there is an auto-tuned version. I've included both for your pleasure.

DG Conference 2010 Trailer

This is the trailer for the Desiring God Conference coming up on October 1-3. Great trailer, great theology, and it looks like a great conference.

Prayer Update

As many of you know, things have been quite out of whack in the Strong household. My wife, Jen, is expecting our fifth child and about two weeks ago was put on bed rest to prevent her going into pre-term labor. She has a history of that with all of our other children, and she was experiencing some early labor signs.

As of Sunday, Jen will have made it to 35 weeks! We've been praying for 36 weeks, so we are very close. For the last two weeks or so she has been on some meds that have pretty bad side effects (nervous, shaky, headache, heart-pounding, etc.). She'll be able to stop those on Sunday. Bed rest, however, will continue until next week.

All in all, it has been a great experience. I'm not trying to sugar coat or overlook the anxiety that Jen and I have both felt. But God has proven faithful time and again. He has answered our prayers continually. So many, especially our church, have aided us with prayers, meals, help with the kids, house cleaning, etc. Jen and I have both been learning that life in the slow lane (that is being unable to accomplish much of anything except the basic necessities) is a pretty good place to rest in the goodness of God. Our weakness shows his strength.

Thank you for all your prayers. Please keep them up. Our Father delights to hear them, and we appreciate the love for us that they express. When the dust begins to settle, I should be able to get back to some more faithful blogging.

Growtivating to Become Contemporvant

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Work & Rest

Work and rest make up the rhythm of our lives. If we are serious about living out the gospel in daily life, then it seems mandatory to bring that gospel into our work and rest. The Bible has a lot to say about these issues. One could even say that the Bible is, in a sense, all about these issues. At LBBC, we have spent the last several weeks exploring work and rest. If you're interested, you can follow along with the study here. The first sermon began on 4/11/10. Hope the sermons serve you well.

False Assumption #3: Everybody Has An Angle

Everybody has an angle. It’s not an assumption, like many others, that we are born with, but one we learn by experience. Foucault said that all human beings are on a quest for power. That’s not your typical Sunday School lesson, but if you know anything about yourself and others, you know that he wasn’t far off the truth. Humans love power. We do. We like the power to manipulate, influence, “nudge” others into a path of our liking. And usually that path happens to be to our benefit.

Information is power. When the doctor says, “you really need this surgery,” generally you have no idea whether you really need it, or whether he is just padding his pocket by performing a non-harmful yet unnecessary surgery. He has a power over you in the form of expertise information. Tyrannical totalitarian governments are in the business of information. They keep much of it secret by hijacking the press and media outlets, they ruthlessly extract it with their brutal crews of secret police, and they run countless campaigns of misinformation. Why? Because the more information the more power.

The Angle of information. We all want power, and information is power. Logically, then, the world should thank us when we provide life-changing information like the gospel. However, what often happens is people become very suspicious of your information. And they do it for the simple reason that if you know something they don’t, then you have some power over them. They automatically assume that you are using your power to “nudge” them into a path that benefits you. Everyone has an angle, and the Jesus’ stuff is just your angle. This very logic is why the gospel is so radical, so counter-intuitive. At its heart is power that is used not for personal benefit, but for the benefit of others. It is power sacrificed, power in service. However, people don’t assume that. All they see is Mr. Information trying to sell them a bill of goods to pad his church’s attendance, add to his own level of self-righteousness, and play the admirable role of the hero saving them from so-called eternal peril. Call it blindness, hard-heartedness, or whatever you like, but it is the status quo perception in a broken, power hungry world. Better get used to it.

Living Proof. “Keep your conduct . . . honorable . . . so that they may see your good deeds and glorify God”(1 Peter 2:12). It has often struck me how often NT writers, like Peter here, emphasize Christian living far more than proclaiming the gospel. I doubt that it is their preference for “lifestyle evangelism” over against proclamational evangelism. After all, “how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”(Romans 10:14). Nevertheless, the early church was obviously aware of their need to persuade hearers that their love was genuine. The gospel is power sacrificed, power in service, but until individuals see and experience that power in action, they are not likely to believe in its existence. We must be living proof of the gospel. How is power in service being lived out in your life?

Living the Safest Life Possible

Great stuff by Francis Chan

You Can Change

Just started on Tim Chester's book You Can Change. Here's a great quote from chapter 2"

"You will cleanse no sin from your life that you have not first recognized as being pardoned through the cross."

Gospel and Cultural Engagement

One of the big divisions in the young, restless, and reformed movement is over cultural engagement. Last week Thabiti Anyabwile addressed the issue at the Together for the Gospel Conference, which I was grateful to attend. It seems to me that a big part of this divide is the inability of both sides to hear the concerns and understand the language of the opposing side. I thought this critique of Thabiti's message by Joe Thorn to be fair and balanced.

Overall, I thought Thabiti made some good points. I appreciated his observation that we don't just shape culture, but culture also shapes us. However, I also thought his message was overly simplistic and reactionary. I don't know that I disagree with Thabiti, but sometimes I had the feeling that his message was more like "What is culture? How do we engage? What will engagement accomplish? We don't know any of these answers, so let's just stick to Jesus and stop talking about it." That is probably not a fair assessment of his message, but I, and I think quite a few others, had more questions than answers after he was done.

For a different take on this issue, check out his helpful article from Boundless.

Endangered Ethnicity

False Assumption #2: The Bad Is Out There

Everyone knows that there is something wrong with the world. That’s why when the lights go out, we instinctively lock our doors and listen for strange noises. It’s why our children wet their beds rather than face the valley of shadow and death lying between them and the bathroom. So where does all this badness come from? Most of us think we know that answer. It’s them. It’s those people out there. You know, those liberals, those right-wing radicals. It’s Hollywood and their gay-loving. It’s the terrorists, the druggies, the whites, the blacks, the hispanics. Christians are hardly an exception to this line of thinking. Ask the average mid-western church goer and they’ll tell you where the badness comes from. It’s the world.

Strategies for Badness. If the problem is those bad buys out there, then the solution is pretty simple. If you’re a democrat, then beat the Republicans. If you’re an American, then kill the terrorists. And if you’re a Christian, then tell the world how wrong they are, boycott their services, and most of all, just stay away.

The Bad Looks Familiar. What makes an Islamic terrorists strap explosives to a subway, wait for hundreds of people to clamor aboard, and then mercilessly send them to their grave? Ask them, and they will tell you. They are doing the work of God. They are carrying out his war against the bad people that are corrupting his world. The bad people are out there, they say, and their job is to beat them. Sound vaguely familiar? The terrorists aren’t bad because they have falsely identified who the real bad guys are. They are bad for the same reason we are. They have never stopped to consider whether they might be the bad guys too.

Same Old Problem. The danger of this assumption is that it always puts me on the side of the good guys. The bad may be terrorists, the rich, the young, the old, the church, the world, the politicians, the lawyers, ad nauseum. But whoever the bad guys are, there is always one constant. They are whoever I am not. There is a problem with the world, and it is always the same problem--them.

Salvation and the Bad. But the gospel says just the opposite. It says the problem with the world is that it is filled with people just like you. Yes, you have been abused, corrupted, victimized, and all of that was bad, unjust, and wicked. But it happened because the world is full of people like you, not unlike you. So salvation doesn’t lie, it can’t lie, in beating the bad guys. At least not in you beating the bad guys. Salvation is God dying for your badness, forgiving your badness, and transforming your badness into goodness. That is the way salvation always works. There are no people on God’s side until he puts them on his side. That is, until he brings them to repent of the their badness and trust in his goodness. If the bad is always out there, then it is never here. And if it is never here, then salvation has never come here either.

Legalism 101

From Resuregence.

Peter Hitchens

I already posted a video about Peter Hitchen's (Christopher Hitchens brother) new book The Rage Against God. However, this video, which better document's Peter's journey, I found both fascinating and insightful.

Peter Hitchens Author Interview--The Rage Against God from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.

LBBC 2.0

Just launched the Lebanon Bible Baptist website 2.0. We still have some stuff to add and kinks to work out, but the framework is pretty much all there. Let me know what you think.

Breaking Through the Fog

The difficulty with false assumptions, as I have already said, is that they are assumptions. They are those beliefs that you didn’t know you had. Generally, you’ve never thought about them, never realized they could be challenged, and certainly aren't looking for them to be corrected. So as we go through the list on what we are battling (i.e. the false assumptions), I thought it best to ponder also how battle to them. Thus, as we go along, I will sprinkle in some ideas on how we go about breaking through the fog.

1. Pray

For many Christians this may read like the obligatory nod to prayer. It’s not. Trust me, I have a visceral even violent reaction to the ‘obligatory’ (It’s a serious weakness of mine, which by grace I’m working on). How do you break through the fog of a false assumption? “Uh . . . hi . . . um, I think you are building the house of your life on a foundation of sand. See, the problem isn’t your job or your insomnia. It’s you. You’re a mess, and you don’t even know it.” That just doesn’t seem very effective, and it’s not.

Few things will make you feel as helpless as bringing people out of the fog. I started praying because I knew I should. I keep praying because I don’t know what else to do. G.I. Joe used to say that “knowing is half the battle.” Actually, it’s a lot less than half. There is a power that can make blind men see, but you and I don’t have it. So we talk to, we plead with the One who does. If we don’t start with prayer, we are going to war in flip flops. We’re showing up at a well-armed fortress, and we’ve brought super soaker. You may know what to hit, and you're aim may be dead on, but annoyance is about all you are going to accomplish.

The Other Hitchens

Some of you may know that Christopher Hitchens is a well-known and outspoken critic of all things religious. He is one of the leaders of what has been deemed the "new atheists" and is active both in writing and speaking against theism. Well, here is a clip of Christopher's brother, Peter Hitchens promoting his new book The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.

Gospel and Social Action

Tony Payne has a good and helpful article about the relationship between gospel and social action. Here's my favorite point from the article:

3. Evangelism and social action are inseparable
All the same, the language of ‘priority’ is probably not so useful (as in ‘evangelism has priority’), because it might imply that we sit down and devise our evangelistic ‘To Do’ list, and then see if there is any time left to help people (agenda items 16 through 20). In reality, the two happen side by side as we love people, live among them and seek to bring them the gospel. Proclamation may be central, but its context will be a life of love that seeks to do good to those around us. The nature of this loving social action will be largely determined by our circumstances (i.e. preaching the gospel in the slums of Calcutta will require a different form of action than if we were preaching in a leafy, materialist suburb, where the pressing need may not be material deprivation but a breakdown in relationships, marriages and family life)

Photos of Chile

Here are some heart breaking photos of Chile.

False Assumption #1: "I'm Alright"

Last week I described what I call the fog of false assumptions. You can see what that means and why I’m concerned about it here. In a nutshell, I mean there are many false, unquestioned beliefs in our society that blind us from seeing that the good news of Jesus is even good news. So now the task over the next several months is to identify those unchallenged assumptions and think about how to get ourselves and others to question them.

See You Next Week. I have now had the privilege of working with individuals fighting their way through highly volatile marriages, crippling and suicidal depression, financial ruin, just to name a few. And I’ve only been a pastor for two and half years! Inevitably, somewhere in the process, something positive will happen to one of these people. Suddenly, the marriage seems a lot better. A sudden revelation came and the depression fades. In excitement the individual comes to me explaining the thrilling new turn life has taken. “I’m changed,” they say, “Everything is different.” I smile, tell them how excited I am, and then think to myself, “See you next week.”

I’m Alright. The next week comes, and they are back, bewildered and troubled. The problem isn’t gone, and they aren’t changed. Generally, the experience they had was real and helpful, but they had one fatal flaw in their hope. They failed to recognize just how messy they actually are. They were operating under the assumption that basically I’m alright. Now no one thinks they are completely alright. “We’re human,” we like to say. But our problems are pedestrian, more like a midwest town after a bad wind storm. Tree down here, some shingles off the roof there, but all in all not too bad. We’ve never stopped to think that maybe are problems are more like New Orleans after Katrina. The rebuilding won’t take months, but years, even a whole life time.

The Bad News. Sadly, without realizing our messiness, we just won’t get the gospel. After all, what sense does it make for God to enter history in flesh and be slaughtered for our pedestrian problems. A radical act of salvation implies a radical problem to be saved from.

The Good News? Fortunately, we are not without ample material to convince individuals of their messiness. Their relationships are broken, they repeatedly make self-destructive choices, everybody around them is aware of some major changes they need to make. Should be an easy sell, right? Yeah, well it’s not. The problem is that much of our significance is built upon what we think about ourselves. Even the most rational man can’t rationally conclude that he is a mess. He’d rather go with his gut, and his gut is crying out, “You’re okay. You have to be okay. If you’re not okay, then what are going to do? What hope do you have?”

What We Need. So what we need is a way to cut through this self-preserving assumption. To help ourselves and others to see that coming to terms with our messiness isn’t the end of hope; it’s the beginning. But that will have to wait until next time. In the meantime, any ideas?

Books on Resurrection

If in anticipation of Easter you are looking for a good book to read on the resurrection of Jesus (which I know you all are), then I have a recommendation for you. Actually, I have several.

First, I have an anti-recommendation. This is a popular new book on resurrection by a well known blogger, but I wouldn't advise you to put your money or time into reading it. Grab a collection of quotes from John Piper, Charles Spurgeon, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones on regeneration and resurrection, throw in some filler, and you have this book. I would recommend just reading Piper, Spurgeon, or Lloyd-Jones.

In my opinion, this is the best book out there on resurrection. I have a love/ hate relationship with N.T. Wright. Sometimes he blows my mind with his insight, and sometimes he seems terribly narrow in his perspective. For the most part, Wright falls into the former category in this book. If you want your view of resurrection hope expanded to the point of transforming your entire view of the world, then read this book.

This book is the manual on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ. It's thick, it's scholarly, and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. But if you want a book that will cut down any and all objections to the historical veracity of the resurrection of Jesus, this is your book.



Finally, for those lacking the time (or desire) to read, here is a DVD by N.T. Wright on the resurrection. I haven't seen this video, but if it is anything like Wright's other work on the resurrection then I'm sure it's helpful.

Face Lift

So I've given the blog a face lift. My goal was to balance aesthetics with readability. Take a look and let me know what you think.

iPad and eBooks

I admit it. When the iPad came out, I thought it had some potential but not as an ebook reader. But as this video (which is a video of another video) demonstrates, the iPad opens up a whole new world of ebook possibilities.

What Evil Really Does

Chrysostom:

"It is not so much that sin plunges us into disaster as into despair."

Similarly, and just as true, G. K Chesterton said

"Evil doesn't make men wilder. It makes them meaner."

Colbert and the Ten Commandments

Russ Moore alluded to this clip in the article I linked to in the last post. A congressman wants the ten commandments in public buildings. Stephen Colbert wants him to name them . . . all. The result is hilarious and, well, depressing.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a District - Georgia's 8th - Lynn Westmoreland
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Christian Outrage

There's way too much of it. That's Russ Moore's point in this article, and I for one think he is dead on. I'm not sure why Christians are so surprised and outraged that the culture around them doesn't care about God, but instead of yelling at them, or sending 5 forwards a day griping about how secular America is, it seems like a good idea to tell people about Jesus. Should Christians ever be offended?

The Fog of False Assumptions

When it comes to changing lives, there are no easy roads. As Bono says (yes, that Bono),

“Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot.
How can you stand next to the truth and not see it.

Oh a change of heart goes slow
It’s not a hill; it’s a mountain
As you start out the climb.”

In a faith erected upon the foundation of the brutal murder of the God-man, that should seem obvious. Sadly, for me it has not been. Early in my life I was influenced by what has become known as the Church Growth Movement. Polish up your church, make your teaching “relevant,” sing modern songs, adopt the right ministry model--just do the right things, and you’ll change lives. This vision though influential never captivated me. It lacked that ingredient I and my generation are starving for, authenticity. Enter stage two, the truth stage. Get the truth about you, about God, about Jesus and what he did. Just teach the right things, and you’ll change lives. I found this approach easier to accept as it connected me with a big God who I could get excited about. Plus, it had the added benefit of making you feel like you were in the know (read “made me arrogant”). There was just one problem. People’s lives still weren’t being changed.

“It’s not a hill; it’s a mountain.” Ironically, both of these approaches forget that. Jesus, however, did not. Church Growth guys say making church as attractive as possible results in change. That’s a relatively easy fix. Truth guys say getting your doctrine right leads to change. And that’s a relatively easy fix. Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” That’s not an easy fix. As a pastor, you are forced into the dark realities of people’s lives. Here on the battle lines for hearts, marriages, and literally lives, it becomes clear that the reason change is a mountain is because our messiness has dug us into such a deep pit. Bono’s was right. We can stand next to the truth and not see it. Teaching the right things, just put people next to truth. They still don’t see it.

The Cop Out. At this point, many just throw up their arms. “Of course, we can’t make them see the truth, that’s God’s job,” they say. And on that point they stand on firm biblical ground. Only it’s interesting that Jesus who came with his revolutionary message and his deep insights into the soul and his masterful grasp of Scripture should spend so much time telling pretty earthy stories to people. Reading Jesus is reading a master story teller who obviously spent much thought into crafting illustrations and stories to make his point stick. How offensive, comforting and brilliant is his story on the prodigal. How penetrating the tale of the Good Samaritan. Jesus believed that “all that the Father gives me will come to me,” and yet he spent a lot of effort in translating his truth into their language.

The Fog of False Assumptions. Assumptions are dangerous things. They are the beliefs that you don’t even know that you have. Those hidden things in the soul that you’ve never even thought of questioning. Chances are that when you look at a man and consider his actions absurd he is not absurd at all. He just has a different set of assumptions. But since you cannot even begin to challenge your own assumptions, you call him absurd. False assumptions then are dangerous things indeed. They create a thick fog around minds, even whole societies, and blind them from the truth. To tell a man standing in a fog thick enough to blind him from the sight of his own feet that he should walk away from the cliff and toward the bridge is no help at all. He needs someone who knows the trail, who can in a way “see” through the fog, to walk to him, grab him by the hand and lead him to safety. This is Jesus’ model. He didn’t just send true information into the fog. He penetrated it. He shined his light into the darkness. Therefore, it is the duty of Jesus’ body, his present, living, breathing hands and feet, to do likewise.

So all of this has been a bit of intro into a new series that I want to write about. Over the course of the next few months, I want to consider the false assumptions that blind individuals, and particularly individuals in our context, from seeing Jesus. My hope is that this will aid us all in penetrating into the fog and grabbing the hands of bewildered and lost men and women and lead them to Jesus. As we go along, I am very interested in what false assumptions you’ve encountered, and perhaps how have you have answered them.

Matt Chandler in the AP

Great AP article about Matt Chandler and his struggle with brain cancer.

The Gospel and the Economy

I had a conversation a while back with a Christian brother who has a management position for a manufacturing company. At one point our conversation turned to the state of the economy. I asked him if there were any improvements in the manufacturing sector in recent months. He said there wasn’t. I asked him if he was optimistic about the future. He again said no, and then began to tell me why. I was a bit excited. As a pastor, I feel somewhat separated from the daily grind of the business world. Now I was talking to an insider, and I thought I was about to receive a piece of pertinent information. Information that I hoped was filled with both direct knowledge and Christian principles. My friend’s rationale, however, quickly digressed into a capitalistic speech that sounded more like Rush Limbaugh than Christian. The problem, he said, was that America was again engaging in a massive social experiment. FDR did the same thing in the 30s in attempt to bring the US out of the depression, and we’ve paid for it ever since. If FDR would only have left things alone, my friend said, if he would only have let the markets work everything out, we would have been fine. And now Obama was making the same mistake and thus crippling our country for years to come.

I didn’t respond to my friend. I didn’t think it would do any good, but I was thinking, “Do these hyper-capitalists even know their history? The market was naturally going to pull us out of the depression? What market? There was no market. 40% unemployment was just going to go dissolve away in time? Have these guys ever read Steinbeck? Have they ever tried to raise a family in a cardboard box with no work?” But I’m not here to rant about the historical inaccuracies of hyper-capitalists, for that isn’t my main concern. What bothers me most about this view of the economy is how non-Christian it was. How little of a role the gospel plays in it. And yet how prevalent this view is among evangelical Christians.

Capitalism and Human Depravity. The market will sort things out if we will just leave it alone. Get government out. Less regulation the better. So the hyper-capitalist say (for the record, I’m not against capitalism). They speak as if the markets are weather patterns operating according to the laws of the natural universe. Spring always follows winter. But the markets aren’t run by natural laws. They are run by people, and people are selfish, foolish, and sinful. The market isn’t an “it.” It is a “them.” It is people. Many right-wing Christians point out that the government is run by selfish human beings who morally are no better than the people they rule. Government can’t be the answer, they say. I agree. But I also would like to remind us all that human depravity runs the market place. Should we have more confidence in it? Isn’t pretty much every economist in agreement that the cause of the recession was not government regulation but capitalism gone awry? And the fact that it goes awry shouldn’t catch us off guard.

Capitalism with a capital “C”: Capitalism will save the day, if we just put our faith in it. Those aren’t the exact words of the hyper-capitalist, but it comes pretty close to that. Such a view to me is flirting, or perhaps more than flirting, with idolatry. It is sub-Christian. Jesus, not capitalism, holds the answers to our economic needs. For human sin and not socialism, communism, or any other “ism” is the true enemy of prosperity and life. Governments and markets always fail because humans fail. Our only hope for not failing is to be radically changed by his grace.

I have yet to cement my political views on many things, but it seems to me that this is not the path to a gospel-centered view of governance. I'm interested in what others think.

Churches In Haiti

A new mission effort is being erected in attempt to help the churches in Haiti. If there is going to be longstanding spiritual help to these poor people, it seems clear that the Haitian church must be aided. Not only are they recovering from their own losses, but they need our support in bringing the hope of Christ to Haiti in this tragic hour.

Bonhoeffer's Life Together

I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together, and several quotes have been ministering to me.

On Christian identity:

[The Christian] knows that God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteous, even when he does not feel that he is righteous at all. The Christian no longer lives of himself by his own claims and his own justification, but by God's claims and God's justification. He lives wholly by God's Word pronounced upon him, whether that Word declares him guilty or innocent.

On Christian Community:

Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hinderance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

The man who fashions a visionary ideal of a community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.

Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body . . . in Jesus Christ, we enter into [community] not as demanders but as thankful recipients. . . . We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily. . . . Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love God in Jesus Christ?

Future of the Blog

Some of you have probably noticed the drop-off in blogging Bible. So I just wanted to update you on a decision that I have had to make. As much as I would like to continue blogging through Romans, logistically it just isn't working. I have been trying to fit the blog somewhere into my life, and right now I just don't have a space for it. So the future of the blog, as least as of right now, will be more thoughts that arise out of my everyday life (thoughts from books, sermons, news, etc.). I still hope you find it profitable.

David Brooks on Haiti

David Brooks as usual provides some clear and thought provoking observations on the poverty of Haiti.

On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.

This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.

Read the whole thing to discover what those truths are. In my mind, they all lead to the gospel. One of my growing prayers is that this tragedy leads many in the Church to devote their lives to shining the light of Jesus into this very dark land.

More Haiti

Justin Taylor recommends Children's Hunger Fund.

I have found Samaritan's Purse to be a wise choice as well.

Haiti Help

If you wondering what a Christian response to the recent tragedy should be, perhaps some of these pictures can give you some inspiration.

Here are some charitable organizations at work in Haiti.