Martin goes trick or treating…

You may not know it, but today is one of the greatest Christian holidays we celebrate all year.  In a few months, we’ll celebrate the birth of Christ, the fact that God emptied himself by taking the limitations of humanity and appeared in the likeness of men.  Shortly after that, we will remember the sacrifice He made by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, bearing all our sin and shame, only to victoriously rise again from that death and call an end to the deserved punishment for those who would trust Him.  Behind those two days, this day stands as a day of remembrance, reflection, and hope.  On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther bravely nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg thereby paving the way for bloggers everywhere to have their voices heard, or something like that.  We observe this occasion by dressing up as Luther’s favorite superheroes and boldly demanding candy corn and colorful Chick tracts with cartoon characters presenting their case for “Why Your Church is the Whore of Babylon” from the weird lady with all the cats who lives across the street.

I think this is also when we drink green beer, but only if you’re Irish.

Okay, maybe I’m a little mixed up, but what I am sure of is that 489 years ago today, Luther did indeed take a stand against the very church that he was a part of.  He ignited the spark that would drive men like Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin and eventually become what we now call the Protestant Reformation and lead us to celebrate Reformation Day.

When Luther posted his concerns on the church door, he was not intending to bring about a new age in the life of the church, only to engage in debate with those who were abusing the teaching of scripture and in fact even adding to it in order to use fear to manipulate people into turning their bling over to the church.  Sound familiar?  The more things change…  Anyway, the people who had gathered at Wittenberg to celebrate All Saints day got wind that Luther had posted something a little bit edgy and they demanded that it be translated from Latin, the language of the scholar, into German so that they could see for themselves what he had written.  Long story short, the issues he raised caused many to question the teachings of the church and the authority of the pope and now almost 500 years later we have denominations who read the word of God for themselves, pray to God without a human mediator, and trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation.  The church was formed anew, hence Reformation.

Interesting thing is that at this point in time, the greatest Reformation Day in Luther’s life hadn’t taken place yet.  According to his writings, it wasn’t until 1519 that all the things he had been thinking, all the problems within the Catholic church, and all the scripture that he had been teaching came to a head.  In his own words:

“Meanwhile, I had already during that year (1519) returned to interpret the Psalter anew. I had confidence in the fact that I was more skilful, after I had lectured in the university on St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans, to the
Galatias, and the one to the Hebrews. I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.

Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what
St. Paul wanted.

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also fount in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.”

It was here that Luther understood that the righteousness that God’s righteousness requires Him to require of us is provided only through the substitutionary atonement of Christ and the imputation of His righteousness to those who come to Him through faith alone.  Luther was not justified before God because he was a monk, because he had taken a stand against false teaching, or because he tried to live a “good life.”  He was justified by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, for the glory of God alone.  And this, is Christianity.

Reformation Day provides each of us who are in Christ a time to reflect on what has happened in our own lives.  In Titus chapter 3, Paul says, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”  This is who I was.  I was a slave to my own lusts and desire for pleasure.  I was seeking happiness no matter the expense to those around me because truly, I hated others.  I only wanted what was best for me and had no concern for how it affected friends, family, and the freaks who clogged Dallas freeways. 

Paul goes on, “But when the kindness of God our savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”  There is a time in the history of the world when the kindness of God was manifested in human flesh, the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all men.  Jesus made himself known to the world and was clear that his intention was to “seek and to save that which is lost.”  In the history of ME, there was a time when the kindness of God appeared in a lonely bedroom through the words of 1 John and suddenly I was a child of the sovereign creator of the universe.  I realized that no amount of sin could keep me from becoming His own.  I saw that no amount of goodness or “deeds done in righteousness” could effectively endear me to God.  My good deeds were, as Isaiah said, “like filthy rags” in the sight of God.  The only way that I could be reconciled to Him was by His mercy.  God had to perform an act of regeneration, rebirth, and renewal.  All of this, he has “poured out richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”  Only through Jesus could I be made new by God.

Paul continues in verse 7 of Titus 3 that, “being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  By the act of God pouring his redemption out in my life though I did not deserve it, I now have “the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” (Titus 1:2)  There is something to look forward to, the joy of spending the unfathomable eternity with the God who created me and longs to bless me and desires for me to love and serve Him.  Pretty sweet.

489 years ago today, Martin Luther drove the nail of justification by faith into the door at a church in Germany and returned to the scriptures as the source for the knowledge of God giving you and I the opportunity to hear the truth of what God has done in history and the chance to respond to our Savior through faith.  The church reformed.  So too, you and I are formed anew, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, new things have come.” 

Go ahead, ask a coworker if they know what today is.  Look puzzled when they start talking about Halloween and instead share with them the good news of the reformation in your own soul.  Tell them of the regeneration, share with them the renewal, and never stop speaking of the Reformation.

Mr. T and the Wisdom of Solomon

A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish man despises his mother.

Proverbs 15:20

I pity the fool…

Love you Mom.

What hath the Church to do with Howard 100?

I sometimes fancy myself a student of popular culture.  I enjoy finding out what it is that people pay attention to, what gets their motor running.  It’s interesting to get a whiff of what the masses are stepping in on occasion.  A few problems arise with that, of course.  One, sometimes you can fall into the snares of the world and find yourself as equally entertained as everyone else.  Two, you set yourself up for “loving rebuke from a brother”, the nice way of saying that you get people ticked off that you seem to be having more fun than them.  Now understand, by the grace of God, I’m a pretty freed up guy.  I don’t live by any checklist of do’s and dont’s that measure how holy I am.  And I think Paul was serious when he said, “I have become all things to all men so that I may by all means save some.” 

The verse prior to that he makes it clear that while to those without the law he becomes without the law he is governed by the law of Christ, meaning he will do what is necessary to identify with others on their own turf as long as it comes nowhere close to the appearance of evil.  A few chapters before, he stands firm that a change has taken place in his life and the lives of the Corinthian believers that has taken them out of the realm of sin, washed them, sanctified them, and justified them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He then goes on to say that while all things may indeed be lawful, they must be kept in check by asking “Is it profitable for the kingdom of God?” and “Am I enslaved by it?”  2 Corinthians 6:9-12

All this to say, I watch television.  I listen to the radio.  I surf the net.  Of course, there are some TV shows that I will not watch, some radio stations that I avoid, and billions of websites that I run scared of.  Verse 18 of the same chapter says “Flee immorality.”  I believe that I can do that and still be tuned into the culture that I am trying to minister to.  Mark Driscoll, in discussing the incident with Jesus and the woman at the well in his book The Radical Reformission, says ”One of the underlying keys to reformission is knowing that neither the freedom of Christ nor our freedom in Christ is intended to permit us to dance as close to sin as possible without crossing the line.  But both are intended to permit us to dance as close to sinners as possible by crossing the lines that unnecessarily separate the people God has found from those he is still seeking.”

All that is just a prologue to allow me to bring up the name Howard Stern.  Say that name around some Christians and they’ll beat the skubalon out of you and lead you in the “sinners prayer”.  I admit that there was a time prior to my conversion when I listened to Howard.  Being an 18 year old kid working construction, I was flocked with individuals who found fart jokes and off color conversation to be the epitome of comedy.  I found the man to be a bit of an enigma.  Who was this guy?  Where did he come from?  How was it that every weekday morning millions of people began their day listening to him and his gang of miscreants?  After becoming a Christian, I stopped listening to Howard, I no longer found him funny and I knew that there was nothing about him or his show that was edifying to my relationship with Christ. 

At the time he went off the airwaves of terrestrial radio in December of 2005, 12 million people tuned into his broadcast each day.  They claimed to be loyal listeners and indeed the coveted stat of “time spent listening” would prove that even those who hated Stern were fanatical in their disdain for his show.  After he left, TSL for his morning slot at former stations dropped several hours per week.  In 2006 he was named among Time magazine’s “100 people who shape our world.”  Forbes magazine listed him as the 7th most influential celebrity in the world.  In January 2006 Stern made the move into the realm of unregulated satellite radio.  A contract for 500 million dollars over five years made the change worthwhile. 

 A few nights ago, I saw a commercial promoting the fact that Sirius will be offering Howard100, Stern’s Sirius channel (along with all of their other programming) free of charge online for a few days.  If you aren’t familiar with satellite radio, the way I understand it is that it is mostly commercial free with the bulk of the revenue stemming from the $12.95 per month people spend to subscribe.  For that price an individual can listen to any variety of stations centered solely around bubble-gum pop to old time country to jazz, hip-hop, alternative rock, and anything else that can remotely be described as music.  You want all Elvis all the time?  Got it.  The Stones, The Who, The Metropolitan Opera?  Each have their very own non-stop channel.  Dying to find out who won the big CFL game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Edmonton Eskimos?  Don’t wait, just tune to channel 125 this Friday night.  There’s also endless streams of stand-up comedy, a Martha Stewart channel, news and entertainment specifically for the gay and lesbian community, and even a Playboy channel, which for the life of me I can’t figure out how that translates to radio.

The main event on Sirius though is still their 500 million dollar man.  What I find interesting about the whole thing is that even after millions spent on advertising and 10 full months of Howard being on the air, the number of Sirius subscribers hovers around the 4 million mark.  Now obviously if you do the math, it doesn’t appear that Sirius is in any financial danger and they can continue to spend 100 mil each year on their slugger.  But, the thing that strikes me most is that this is only a third of Stern’s previous market.  And you would have to assume that all 4 million people with Sirius radio are not spending their mornings riveted to Howard interviewing a one armed midget lesbian.  At least I hope not.

So what does this have to do with the church?  I’m glad you finally asked.  Howard had incredible numbers when what he was offering was free, but as soon as it began to cost people, millions wandered away from supposed devotion to him.  And so it is with the church.  When we offer the masses a variety in order to meet their tastes, desires, and demands, they will flock to the church.  Need someone to entertain your kids for a few hours each week?  We’ll do it!  Want to be able to play softball against a bunch of noodle-armed sissies?  We’ve got our own league!  Don’t like that worn out old “churchy” music?  Our drummer toured with Iron Maiden and still smokes two packs a day!  Get bored listening to an old guy drone on about Jesus?  We’ve got flashy powerpoint slides on high-def screens and we won’t even mention ol whats his name!  Don’t want to get dressed up?  Our pastor wears Hawaiin shirts and cut off jean shorts!  If none of that works, we’ve got a monkey that rides a unicycle and juggles kumquats, just come! 

 And they will come.  But the moment the church asks something in return, all bets are off.  People don’t want to have to spend their time learning scripture.  They don’t want to give any of their hard earned cash to missions.  They’ll refuse to become accountable to another person for their actions.  They won’t spend time in prayer, seeking fellowship with the creator.  They only want what is free and at least mildly entertaining.

The Church that Jesus Christ left in the world is not intended to be a day care center, a dodgeball league, or a production utilizing flashy technology.  It is not about cool bands, trendy preachers, or anything else that distracts from the mission of evangelism and discipleship.  Jesus was quite clear that a person must leave everything behind in order to follow him.  “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26  Jesus couldn’t get elected room mom saying things like that, but he wasn’t running for office.  He was telling us to count the cost.  We may have to be willing to leave the comforts of our lives in order to follow him, and we may face persecution.  In fact, hard times are a guarantee for the believer in Christ.  “In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage;  I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33 

 I don’t have a problem with youth programs, church sports, or powerpoint, please don’t misunderstand.  I’m just saying that those things shouldn’t be our focus.  Our focus as a church should be to be His witnesses, and if Hawaiin shirts and circus animals are truly profitable to that end, have at it.  The main thing, though, is that we get to carry a message of redemption and forgiveness to the world.  But it will cost you everything to do so.  That’s the paradox of Christianity, the free gift that will cost you your life. 

The “king of all media” is missing a great portion of his audience because it was going to cost them about 45 cents a day to listen to him.  Some devotion.  The King of Kings demands that “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  In January of 2006, Howard found out how dedicated his vast audience was, the true fans were separated from the rest.  A day is coming when Jesus will separate the true wheat of believers from the tares of those who were just pretending.  (See Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.  Tares are a poisonous plant that appear identical to wheat up until the time for harvest.)  Many will say to Him on that day “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?”  And our Savior will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”  Matt. 7:22-23.

 Are you completely devoted to Christ?  Can you say with the hymn writer “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my ALL?”  Can you say with the apostle Paul that you have counted all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ?  How does this look day in and day out?  Are you redeeming the time God has given you on this earth and using it for his glory?  Are you telling people of the sacrifice Jesus has made and teaching other believers how to know Him more?

Our churches have a sad tendency to imitate the world, probably because they’re full of human beings.  Maybe we can learn some things about ourselves by watching our culture and take those attitudes, actions, and thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. 

Deepak asks the world…

Deepak Chopra is a medical doctor turned writer who has relentlessly bombarded the world with his mix of Hinduism, Transcendental Meditation, and Primordial Sound Meditation.  Collectively, all of this is known as “Hooey”, a Greek word that means “load of poo.”  Okay, I made that up but it may as well be true.

 Recently, Deepak asked Yahoo.com’s readers, “What do you think happens to your soul when you die?”  As of this writing, 26,483 people have responded.  While I don’t have the time or the patience to sift through all of the answers I’ve seen enough to believe that there are as many different answers as there are answerers.  Of course, there are some common themes such as reincarnation, oblivion (nothing happens, you just cease to exist), roaming the earth haunting ex-girlfriends and hanging out at Starbucks, and the typical if you’re good your soul goes to heaven and if you’re bad your soul becomes the next Quarterback of the Cowboys.  You think I’m being silly, but the answers have a tendency to leave out any mention of “Hell”, instead preferring the term “a not so good place”, which tonight I am sure you would agree that being under center in a white jersey at Texas Stadium fits that bill.  Check out the answers for yourself here.

 Originally I envisioned a post that would examine some of these common themes and pick them apart, but after reading a hundred or so answers, the life has been sucked out of me and I plan to post this, remove my pants and watch football.  The responses that have been particularly frustrating are the ones from those who claim to be Christians.  People seem to have amalgamated scripture, pop culture, mysticism, and wishful thinking into an idea that edits, misconstrues, or all together ignores what God has said in His word. 

So, I ask you.  Do you have an answer to this question?  If a non-believer were to ask you would you be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is within you?  I hope that reading some of these answers opens your eyes to the billions of individuals alive on this planet today who apart from Christ will fuel the fires of Hell for eternity.  I hope it makes you ache for those who are separated from Jesus having no hope and without God in this world.  I hope it compels you to share the Good News today, for we cannot all just take off our pants and watch football.

Gracefully Intolerant

Last week Peggy Noonan ran a column that brought up some interesting points about free speech and other constitutional rights.  Namely, how those who argue loudest for their rights to freedom of speech are often doing so in order to silence others from exercising theirs.  I’ll spare you from any lengthy quotes though it is recommended reading to fully understand my line of thinking.

 

Read it here.

Her observations in the realm of politics got me to thinking about many Christians.  We have a tendency to fall into two extremes in the way we deal with the non-Christian world.  On one hand we have believers who are far too timid to take a stand for their faith.  They prefer to skip past Jude 3.  Deep inside they long for a rewrite in the vein of “I thought it might be helpful to perhaps suggest that you meekly and humbly submit to others that perhaps what was given to us through the prophets and ultimately through the Son of God might be at the very least an option if folks were so inclined to consider it, but if not just relax and let them find whatever works for them.”  These folks rally around the banner of “Why can’t we all just get along?”  I run into these types often.  They are usually well meaning individuals and generally they are trying to live a life that is morally pure and socially acceptable but they find it to be quite pretentious when someone presents Christianity as exclusivist in nature.  They are Oprah Christians, happily nodding along to her statement, “One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there is only one way.  Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God…Does God care about your heart or does God care if you call His son Jesus?”

On the other hand are the militant Christians.  These are the ones who give us the reputation of being narrow-minded, bible-thumping, outspoken, evangelical, fundamentalist, knuckle dragging, church going bigots.  And rightly so.  These are the types who, at the extreme, name their church website www.godhatesfags.com.  On the “softer” side of this, we all know the guy who shuns evangelism training and prefers instead to brow beat people with “YOU NEED JESUSSSS!”  Maybe this approach works for some but I had my fair share of dealings with these people and I can say it helped solidify my disdain for Christians and their message for several years.  People like this have a tendency to congregate with each other (though they don’t actually like each other) and I’ve sometimes wondered if they had a club would it be the FCA-Fellowship of Christian A-holes.  Sorry mom, should’ve warned you to stop reading there.

Perhaps this has been an ongoing issue in all of Christendom from the time Peter stood up at Pentecost until now, but seeing as how I’ve only been around for 27 years and history in my mind really only exists so far back as I can remember riding my tricycle on the tough sidewalks of Lubbock Texas, I would suggest that the current spirit of the age has created this chasm.  At the very least, it has made it more noticeable.  In the PoMo world, the catchphrase, the one word that solves all problems and puts all issues at rest is Tolerance.  

But, what is tolerance?  Used to be that it was recognizing and respecting others’ beliefs, practices, and values without sharing them.  In other words, “I respect your right to be wrong.”  This seems to be in keeping with the biblical idea of “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”  However, our world has redefined the word tolerance.  Now, every individual’s beliefs, values, lifestyle, and perception of truth are equal.  There is no hierarchy of truth.  “Your beliefs and my beliefs are equal and all truth is relative.”  Some of my thoughts on this have been shaped by Josh McDowell’s book, The New Tolerance, and though I don’t have it in front of me I can remember him quoting a U.S. Court of Appeals judge who wrote in effect, “adherents of all faiths deserve equal rights as citizens and all faiths are equally valid as religions.”  So, what was once every person’s “equal right to believe what he thinks is right” now becomes “every belief is equally right, equally valid”.  All truth claims are equal. This makes it necessary to vindicate all truth claims.  Religion, homosexuality, abortion, etc.  Hitler was right in killing the Jews, rapists are right in satisfying their desires, and Osama Bin-Laden was merely attempting to eliminate the infidels.  Scary?  I think so.  Here’s the thing, McDowell goes on to state that 57% of teens in strong evangelical churches believe what the so-called new tolerance teaches, that what is wrong for one is not necessarily wrong for the other.  80% of 18-34 year olds feel there is no unchanging ethical standard of right and wrong.  So, maybe you and I don’t buy into this, but some of the students in your youth group do.  The situation won’t get better by itself.

As Christians, we hold up a book in which our founder, the author and perfecter of our faith, claims “I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”  Therefore, as Christians we believe that anything other than Jesus Christ that claims to be a way, a truth, a life is completely unapologetically false.  That’s right, we take a stand to say that we believe a book that makes ipso-facto claims, that is that if God’s word is right, anything that runs against it is wrong.  And that makes you intolerant.  Maybe not by the original definition, but this is what the world we live in views us as.  How do you feel about that?  If you just started reading again because you fainted during the last few sentences, chances are you are in the first group I mentioned.  If you spilled your Heineken from pounding your computer desk and shouting “Amen, preach it brother!”, I have a feeling you are a member of the aforementioned FCA. 

And you need to start drinking a real beer, but that’s another topic.

So what now?  How do we as members of a body that is to be gracious, is commanded to pursue peace with all men, yet is also told to earnestly contend for the faith once for all handed down to the saints, how do we operate?  How about this for an answer:  Like Jesus.  Saw it coming didn’t you?  John 1 tells us “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  Jesus was both grace and truth.  That’s pretty amazing.  Some have said that we as Christians are to be velvet covered bricks, soft to the touch but ready to pack a heckuva punch if necessary.  Bob Briner wrote a book called Roaring Lambs, I have it on my shelf but I’ve never read it.  I just like the title.  That’s what we are.  I like to think of us as Razzle Christians.  Remember Razzles from when you were a kid?  Was it candy or was it gum?  It was both.  We are to be gracefully intolerant.  Johnny Mac (aka Dr. John MacArthur) wrote in his book Hard to Believe, “I’ve made no truce with the way the world is.  I resent everything that dishonors the Lord.  I’m against everything he’s against and for everything he supports.  I long to see people brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ.  I hate the fact that sinners die without any hope.  I’m committed to the proclamation of the gospel.  I want to preach the gospel to every creature.  I cannot compromise the message, the message is not mine, it’s from God and it is by that message that he saves.”  This captures it pretty well, both the hard stance of uncompromising truth and a grace that comes from recognizing that the truth we carry is the very grace of God that plucked us from the deserved judgment of hell.  Understanding our salvation gives us the love, joy, peace, patience, and compassion that we need to be able to stand firm on His truth.

Tolerance says, “You’re into this Jesus thing, and this weak Jew on a cross and that’s your truth.  Good for you, but you must be more open minded.  You are welcome to your silly little story about a resurrection, your foolish view, but that’s just your truth.  It’s not mine.”  But the fact is, it is everyone’s truth.  The power of the crucified Christ is the only power by which man is reconciled to a righteous, just God.  Salvation comes only through confessing him as Lord of your life.  Christianity is exclusive and absolute.  Truth is non negotiable.  Other religions lead to damnation.  Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, any ic, ism, or spasm that promotes no need for the substitutionary atonement of Christ Jesus for our sin leads to Hell.  Am I intolerant?  You bet I am.  I pray that it is gracefully so.  No one enjoys the smell of spiritual B.O.

I know a lot of guys who get fired up over 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.”  Sadly, they don’t get the context from verse 1 where Paul sets the tone in “the meekness and gentleness of Christ.”  I also know a lot of people who perform hermeneutical gymnastics with any number of verses to justify the idea of just loving people and never telling them that they’re wrong.  Love ‘em straight to hell, that’ll show ‘em you care.  There is a middle ground.  I think it’s called Biblical Christianity.

Paul said “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.  Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”  It is a speech seasoned with grace in response to something that is not right.  Graceful intolerance.  I won’t exegete the passage for you, but read Acts 17:16-34 and see how the great apostle lived out what he wrote in Colossians.  See how he came to the men of Athens in grace and humility and how he stood firm against their false ideas of God, and showed them who God really is.  See how he stood firm on judgment and repentance.  See how he was faithful to just tell the message that was not his own and leave God to sort out the results.  And notice too how he used their own culture to make his point.  Learn from him.  Become observant of the things around you and think through the big issues of the day.  Use them to take a simple lunch conversation at work over a newspaper article or a political issue and bridge into the gospel.  

Two things to sum up.  One, the only other thing I can recall from McDowell’s book was his exhortation to “humbly stand for truth” and to “boldly live in love.”  That is how you become a Razzle Christian.  That is what I mean by graceful intolerance.  

Secondly, in light of all of this and considering Paul’s methods on Mars Hill, become conversant with the world in which you live.  We are told to be “in the world but not of it.”  Being in the world means you understand how it operates.  Being of it means you are how it operates.  We want to understand this thing.  We want to think through our world, whether it is politics or pop culture, and find ways to steer conversations about those things into an opportunity to share the gospel.  Some are easier than others, such as terror attacks, the war, the upcoming election, and so on.  Other things are tougher, but I can tell you from experience that it is possible to share Christ with someone by starting out with American Idol.  (“Isn’t it amazing the lengths some people go to in order to be loved and accepted and to have a purpose?  What do you think your purpose in life is?”  Sounds corny but it has worked in the past.)  An obscure verse in 1 Chronicles speaks of “The men of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.”  We too should understand the time we live in and our knowledge of what should be done ought to compel us to passionately, lovingly, earnestly contend for the faith.

 

I don’t know who wrote The Fellowship of the Unashamed, but I like it:

I am a part of the “Fellowship of the Unashamed.” The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line.

I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, love with patience, live by prayer and labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and spoken up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner is clear: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”

Thanks for reading.  I’ll keep it shorter next time.

Barely blogging and already stealing…

My buddy Josh King, the Student Minister at FBC Gun Barrel City, has (as usual) an interesting post on his blog www.jowiki.net. Here’s an excerpt, actually it is most of it, but go check out his site for yourself.

“So far the scariest thing is being able to admit that I do not know all the answers. Even though that statement in and of itself is one of the answers. I try so hard to keep ahead of the game and be able to anticipate that which I can not see. I try to instill vision wrestle with ‘life’s questions’ while I manage my finances and change my oil. It is a humbling and confusing thing. It, most times, doesn’t feel real. In fact sometimes I am so confounded by the idea of what I do, that is standing between God and man, that I will very oft just decide to give up all the while knowing deep down that is just not an option. I find it unusually smothering to know that I have eternal responsibilities while my neighbor is able to check out at the door and come home to relax. If I am not able to fix all of the problems in my marriage and my ministry immediately with a holy swagger and finesse I am ultimately a failure and would have been wiser to finish a secular degree. I can not think of another profession or calling in which the threat of utter failure is at every turn and in every conversation. No more can I think of a profession in which success is not based on one single thing that I can do, manage, perform, practice, or buy. I don’t know all the answers and that is part of it.”

He captured the great paradox of this whole ministry thing pretty well. It’s the problem of being a thinker. Matt Chandler at The Village Church said once, “Sometimes I just wish I could go to work, hammer crap, go home and drink beer.” Irreverent? Maybe. Honest? Darn tootin. I understand what he means when he says this and I’m not even in full time ministry.

I have the privilege of speaking to a group of High School students at a home here in Denton each Wednesday night. Tonight we had about 45 kids and at one point, during one of the lighter moments when all the kids were laughing at the appropriate punch line a little girl popped off a question that wasn’t even all that serious. It was more of a punchline in and of itself rather than one of “life’s questions” like Josh is talking about, but when she asked it, there was a screaming in my head. “Don’t answer that, don’t even try.” In a span of about four short seconds before I went on teaching, my mind and my heart were filled with the gravity of what I was doing. I was standing in the gap, proclaiming the great things of God, shaping what these young people believed about Christ, salvation, scripture, and the Christian life. It’s scary.

The other night one of the boys asked me a question and after a sermons worth of explanation he laughed and said, “You’ve got an answer to all the questions, don’t you?” I smiled and told him he just wasn’t asking the right questions yet. By the grace of God the poor kid has no idea how hard I’m scrambling just to stay ahead of the curve. If only he knew a little bit more, he would see how little I truly know. That’s okay with me. It really is. I’m a learner. As T. Nelly says, “A beggar showing other beggars where to get bread.”

It didn’t used to be this way. Pride caused me to want to have all the answers. And when I felt the answer wasn’t good enough I dug deeper, labored, sweated, poured over scripture, devoured commentaries, and finally cussed it all. Because the great thing about God and His word, the rabbit trail always goes farther than I can chase it. I guess that’s what is so amazing about worshipping an infinite creator, the hole is always deeper, but I can rest in knowing that he has it all worked out. Of course I still scamper down that trail every chance I get, why do you think I’m awake at 1 a.m.?

One of my old buddies and I had a little deal worked with each other. If I posed a question that he had never even conceived of before, he would smugly answer to the effect of, “If you understood Lamentations 3 in the context of Nahum you wouldn’t have asked such a silly question.” And I would do the same, the more witty the answer and the more prideful the attitude, the better. And we would just smile and relax and know that if God were found true in the things we could understand, it was safe money that He had the rest of it worked out as well. All that was left was awe, wonder, and worship.

Do I have any words of wisdom for Josh? Not likely. I quit the ministry every Wednesday night, and most Sunday mornings. But I can say this. Just humbly point to The Book and pray for wisdom. Sound too easy? Too cliche? Too weak, finite, and human? Good, cause that’s all I am, an earthen vessel that has the high honor of carrying the treasure of a reconciling God to the world. I’ll give my life doing so.

Blog Time

When I was a kid, I loved to read Blackie Sherrod in The Dallas Morning News sports section. He would flit from one topic to another in a style that brought to mind catching glimpses of conversation from the adults table during Thanksgiving dinner. Each thought was separated by an ellipses, you know…the three dots you’ve seen in print but never known what they were called…you know now. Each column would begin with “Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to *insert name of obscure athlete here*.” I loved the old boy even though half the time I didn’t have the slightest clue what he was talking about.

So with Blackie in mind, I begin my trek into the blogosphere, and sadly with very little to say. My prayer is that on occasion you would find something uplifting, encouraging, enraging, inspiring, thought-provoking, or just plain silly. My promise to you is to never discuss at length what I’ve had for breakfast, who broke up with who, or the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I ask this in return, accept this for what it is, merely my thoughts, the ramblings of a young man still learning what this whole living thing is all about. I’ll try not to bore you, but I make no promises. If you learn something here, it was not by design. Enjoy it at your leisure as I write it in mine.