Our God Is In Heaven

At some point, all believers are frustrated by seeming difference between the boldness of their faith claim on the one hand and what they see going on in the world on the other hand. Our faith proclaims that our sovereign God reigns over all His creation; He is Supreme and All-Powerful. We proclaim with David, "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." (Psalm 115:3). On the other hand, what we see around us is a world that seems to spin out of control. Not only does it not appear to be under the control of a holy God, it doesn't appear to be under control at all. How can we say that God reigns over all the earth while there seems to be so little evidence of that reign? We see many evidenced in this world-- power and greed and pride and wealth. But sometimes God is not seen nearly so obviously.

In Psalm 115, the psalmist asks us to look at this from a very different perspective. The nations taunt Israel, "Where is their God." Unlike the nations, Israel's God was not represented by an idol. The temple of Yahweh contained no representation of His likeness; there were no gold and silver statues that portrayed His presence. The gods of the nations were cast in silver and gold because they were too small to be God. Yes, these idols could be seen... and that was precisely why they could not really be God (Psalm 115:5-8).

5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Our God truly is God because He is in heaven. He reigns above this material reality because He is beyond this physical reality.

Yes, we see the material things of this world more plainly than we do the spiritual realities beyond. We have material eyes, and we see the material-- and those things can impress us. Wealth and power and prestige are real and visible, but they are only idols. They are not God. These things can distract us with their immediacy, but they are not worthy of our affection or our praise. Our God rules above the things of this world, and thus only God deserves worship. The nations may ask, "Where is your God?" One day they will see... and bow down.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

I hope you don’t have a case of paraskevidekatriaphobia. That is the irrational fear some people evidently have of today-- Friday the 13^th. Some people are so convinced that this is a day of extreme bad luck that they stay home where it’s safe. Of course, the majority of accidents happen at home, so staying home may be the most unlucky place to be.

Why is Friday the 13^th unlucky? No one knows. Some connect it to the death of Christ on Friday after there were 13 people present at the Last Supper... but that is a stretch. The DaVinci Code says the Knights Templar were betrayed and killed on Friday the 13^th (Dan Brown is so careful with history that there must be something to that... not!) The truth is, there are no historical references to Friday the 13^th as unlucky or sinister until the 19^th century, so it is a thoroughly modern superstition. And it is likely that references to Friday the 13 in 20th-century books, movies and even TV have created the superstition.

My grandmother was superstitious about a number of things. When we moved her from Arkansas, we have to buy her a new broom as soon as she got here because she believed that it was unlucky to move a broom. The Bible actually condemns the “superstitions” connected to witchcraft and astrology (Isaiah 2:6). But the superstitious fear of bad luck contradicts the belief that God is sovereign and in control of his world. Faith in God protects us, not throwing salt over a shoulder or knocking on wood.

Have a great day today. And don't be lucky... be faithful!

Are You Happy?

Are you happy? More specifically, are you very happy, pretty happy or not too happy? Last year a survey suggested that 32.4 % of us are “very happy,” 55.9 % are “pretty happy” and 11.7 % are “not too happy.” In 1977, a similar survey found that 35.7 % of Americans were "very happy.” (1977 was a very happy year for me—Lynn and I were married and Arkansas destroyed Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.) Why are fewer people “very happy” today than we were 30 years ago? After all, we now have high speed internet, flat panel TV’s and the iPhone!

Could it be that it is precisely because of all of those things that we are less happy today? Could out rising affluence push us to acquire more and more of things and thus leave room for less and less happiness? We never can keep up with the Jones’ and our effort to do so leads to more debt, more stress, more anxiety and much less self-fulfillment. There is an interesting article in Newsweek by Robert J. Samuelson entitled “The Bliss We Can't Buy.” He suggests that economists have recently been studying this question to find out why we aren’t as happy. Ultimately they won’t find answers; happiness is not an economic question. Notice this quote from Samuelson’s article—

The old adage is true: money can't buy happiness. We ultimately get satisfaction from our relations with family and friends, the love we give or receive, the meaning we find in work, service, religion or hobbies.

The American Dream has often been couched in terms of things—2 cars, 2.5 kids, the house in the suburbs, etc. That is not a recent development. Alexis de Tocqueville observed in 1840, “Besides the good things which he possesses, [the American] fancies a thousand others... This thought fills him with anxiety, fear, and regret.” There is the problem with looking to stuff for happiness—you can never have enough stuff.

Jesus warned a young man (and us) long ago, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Ultimately what money buys is diversion, not true meaning or lasting happiness. In fact, pursing and possessing money can divert us from both meaning and happiness. Integrity before God, good relationships, meaningful work—that is the stuff of true happiness. Pile up a bunch of cool junk, and you just might end up being the same unhappy person with a pile of cool junk… and looking to add to the pile.

An Apocalyptic World View

Richard Hughes’ book Reviving the Ancient Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1996) suggests that the paradigm for understanding our history in Churches of Christ is the basic tension that existed between Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell (and that was passed on to their followers) in how they understood the end of time.

• Campbell was postmillennial. He believed that Jesus would return to earth after the golden age of the millennium. The world would get better and better until there came to be the kingdom of God, and Jesus would return for us after that kingdom. The mechanism that would bring about that millennium was restoration of the ancient order. Campbell called his paper The Millennial Harbinger.
  
  
• Barton W. Stone was a product of the great camp revivals of the Second Great Awakening. The Cane Ridge Revival which he led in 1801 was marked by charismatic outpouring that Stone insisted was the work of God. Stone was premillennial in his view of the end time, believing that the world would get worse and worse until Jesus came to rule over the millennial kingdom.

Campbell and Stone viewed the world very differently. Campbell saw an advancing world in which science, education and "the restoration of the ancient order" was making the world better and better. Stone saw a retreating world that could only be saved by an act of God. Stone's premillennial view wasn't the full speculative "Left Behind" theory of today; he didn't have a "In case of rapture, this mule will be unoccupied" sticker. But he did have what Hughes calls an “apocalyptic world view.” He looked for God to break into His world at any time, which is why he was perfectly willing to accept Cain Ridge as the work of the Spirit. Hughes sees the clash of those two different views as the engine that drove the history in churches of Christ. Though Campbell and Stone forged a unity in 1832, they continued to see the world very differently. Hughes suggests that the Campbell view gradually came to he held and that we lost Stone’s “apocalyptic world view.” We become more and more comfortable belonging to this world.

David Lipscomb was the most influential leader among our churches in the last quarter of the 19^th century. Lipscomb believed that Christians should not serve in the military, run for office, work for the government… or even vote. He believed Christians were citizens of the kingdom of God and that we must keep ourselves from entanglements in the kingdom of men. Many accepted Lipscomb’s views until World War I. By the 1930’s, Lipscomb views came to be denounced by many leaders as heretical. By then, many had crossed the tracks, become successful, educated, connected and thoroughly entrenched in the things of this world. The “apocalyptic world view” of Stone and Lipscomb seemed pretty strange and radical.

What’s my point? Maybe I don’t have one. Right now my big project is ripping up carpets in my house and so that the hardwood floors underneath can be refinished. We just replaced the our upstairs air-conditioning unit (I don't known when A/C moved from luxury to necessity, but am sure that move in status has taken place). And the Palm Treo that I wrote about in my blog last year was finally ordered this week (now that the iPhone is the gold standard of conspicuous consumption, it is OK for me to have a rather pedestrian Treo, right?). In other words, I’m pretty invested in this world. Last night I thought, “Would Paul rip up perfectly good, 40 year old carpet like this?” I decided, “No, Paul wouldn’t, but Peter probably would because he was married.” If I really believed that Jesus could come tomorrow, would I rip up carpet? Would I order a fancy phone?

Peter says, “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear” (1 Peter 1:17). Are we strangers here? Do we have an “apocalyptic world view” where our identity comes from the kingdom of God? Or have we settled so comfortably into this world that the real “strangers and aliens” are those who take the kingdom of God seriously.

Responsibility-Disabled

Roger Tullgren is a 42 year part-time old dishwasher in Hässleholm, Sweden who has a partial pension because of a disability. Tullgren is addicted to heavy metal music (specifically Black Sabbath), a condition recently recognized by the Swedish government as a disability. He first became “addicted” in 1971, and it seems that little else has mattered to him since that time. He attends 300 concerts a year, often skipping work to do so. For some reason, Tullgren has had a hard time holding a job. But now with an official diagnosis of a disability, Tullgren cannot be discriminated against. His current employer allows him to listen to his music while he is working and gives him plenty of time off to attend all of his concerts, as long as he makes up the time later.

So, is rock and roll an addiction disorder? Well, if he really attends that many heavy metal concerts, he will likely eventually become deaf, and that IS a legitimate disability! If we want to call Tullgren’s behavior an addiction, then that is OK. Or we can call it an obsession, an extreme passion or a manic fascination. The label really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we not excuse the personal responsibility that Mr. Tullgren has in choosing music over gainful employment. An addictive behavior does not remove responsibility. One skeptical psychologist comments on the Tullgren story, “If somebody has a gambling addiction, we don't send them down to the racetrack. We try to cure the addiction, not encourage it.”

Nature and nurture factors leading to our moral choices do not remove responsibility from making those choices. Some people are prone by nature or nurture or both to easily loose their temper. Or to abuse alcohol or drugs. Or to homosexual attraction. Or to any number of things. But ultimately the choice to engage in immoral behavior is just that—a moral choice for which we are responsible. We need to understand the forces that drive our addictive behaviors because that helps us to overcome those behaviors. But as in the case of Mr. Tullgren, very often we rather use them to excuse behavior and mitigate moral responsibility.

At some point, someone should have told Tullgren, “Dude, you can’t keep acting like Beavis and the other guy; you gotta grow up and take responsibility for your life. Sloth is irresponsible and immoral, and you need to stop it now.” Whatever our sin struggle, that is what we need to tell ourselves. And that is what we need others to tell us as well!

Endowed By Their Creator

On July 4, 1776, John Hancock was the first to put his John Hancock on Thomas Jefferson’s little document that we call The Declaration of Independence, and the grand experiment that we call “The United States of America” was born. Those who signed this document pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the idea that “these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” Among other things, this documents says—

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain Inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Jefferson and his friends staked their claim to their right to freedom and independence on God. The right of freedom was given by God, and the inalienable rights that they were claiming had come from God. From the beginning of our country, there was an assumption that things like freedom, rights and liberty were not human constructs at all. These were things intended by God and came from God.

It is hard for many to imagine this foundational assumption in our modern secular culture. The founding fathers did not want a state religion; they certainly did not envision a religious state. But the idea that there was some sort of wall of separation between faith and the state would not have been imagined. James Madison knew something about the intent of the Bill of Rights—he wrote them. But he also said this—

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

Would Madison think that displaying of the Ten Commandment on a courthouse wall somewhere somehow violated the Bill of Rights? Certainly not! He saw the Ten Commandments as the foundation of government.

Well, we live in a different world, don't we? In our multicultural secular world, the Ten Commandments are seen as “establishing religion” and having Christian chaplains pray in the name of Jesus is seen as sectarian. Granted, being even-handed in a diverse world is not such a simple thing. Most of us would be offended if a Muslim chaplain prayed in Arabic at some official government function, wouldn't we? There very ones who complain about the lack of prayer in school would complain if prayers were led in school in "tongues" while the teacher handled snakes. But the end result of being "sensitive to diversity" has been the disappearance of faith in the public arena or the creation of a civic religion that doesn't really mean anything.

So what do we do? What are Christians to do who still believe that God is and must be the foundation of all true freedom and justice today and forever? Well, what we do is trust God, honor God and live for God. Hear the word of the Lord in 2 Chronicles 7:14—

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

What do we do? We humble ourselves, pray to God, continue to seek God and turn from sin to live in holiness. What we do is live faith. The faith upon which America was founded and became great was never an official and national faith. It was rather the faith of men and women who believed in God and who acted in accordance with that belief.

If you and I live our faith even when the world around us doesn’t seem to acknowledge it, if we live by the standards of God even when those around us don't, if we can depend upon God even when the world tells us to depend on ourselves, then we can make a difference. God told Abraham that only ten holy people could have saved Sodom from destruction. Our call as "believing Americans" is to live such consistent lives of faith and service that we are a leavening influence on those around us. American never has been a Christian nation. But it has been a nation in which Christians live and work and pray… and make the world better. And it can be that again!

What They Are Saying

Paul had been eagerly anticipating his return to Jerusalem following his third missionary trip. This was not because he was homesick; he was from Tarsus, and Antioch was his "home church." No, he was returning to Jerusalem with a financial contribution from the Gentile churches he had planted to help the needy Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It seems that Paul saw this as an important opportunity for the Gentile church to express unity and solidarity with their Jewish brothers and sisters (see Romans 15:26-27).

What did Paul find waiting for him when he arrived in Jerusalem and met with church leaders? Rumors. Gossip. Scandal. People had been talking. Particularly the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem who were still “zealous for the law.” Luke records these words of James in Acts 21:21--

They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

Yep, people had been talking. And what "they" were saying was that Paul had been teaching Jews to give up Jewish practices and traditions. What "they" were saying was that Paul was on a mission to completely eradicate their Jewish heritage. That is what they were saying. But that was definitely NOT what Paul had been saying at all! He taught Gentiles that they did not have to follow Jewish customs or proselyte to Jewish faith. He taught Jews that they were not to judge Gentiles as inferior because they were not Jews nor kept Jewish law. Not only did Paul not try to inhibit Jewish Christians from continuing Jewish practices, he himself participated in those practices (see Acts 18:18). The entire Jewish church was suspicious of Paul because of all the things that "they" were saying. His entire "peace mission" to the Jewish church was compromised because of what they were saying.

Historian George Bancroft once said, “Truth is not exciting enough to those who depend on the characters and lives of their neighbors for all their amusement.” Unfortunately, far too many of us seem to depend on our neighbors for amusement. How many people have, like Paul, been hurt because the rest of us mindless listen to and pass on what they are saying. Besides being a sin against God (see Rom. 1:29, 2 Cor. 12:20), gossip undermines the work God is able to do through and among his church. The reason that many refuse to seek help at church with their struggles is because they fear the rumor mill. Many suffer in silence, choosing to keep their pain hidden, because they don't want to be the subject of gossip. If Paul was derailed by the rumor mill, how much damage can it do to us? The next time sometimes begins to tell you something that “they” are saying, why not remind them about what God says?

Milestones

For the first time since 1993, I am no longer the father of a teenager. And unless God has a big “Abraham-and-Sarah-meet-Isaac-like surprise” in store for us (a possibility I bring up in jest and don’t want to even contemplate in real life), I will never be the father of a teenager again. Angelynn is twenty years today. That hardly seems possible to me. I am tempted to say something about Angelynn being such a great kid. But she isn’t a kid. She is gown young woman… who is still financially dependent on Mom and Dad so we still get to treat her like a kid. That’s in the contract somewhere, right?

I still see Angelynn in my heart as the little kid pictured at right. And what is more, I still see myself as the thirty year old that I was when Angelynn was born. But I’m not. Time marches on, and it reminds me of its march ever morning when I get out of bed with the kinds of aches and pains I used to have to chop wood or something all day to get. I don’t know where the time has gone, but it is gone.

I’m not the parent of a teen any longer. Now, I’m not saying that like that’s a bad thing. It’s not! At times (just sometimes, not most of the time) the best thing about raising a teen is that you know that you will be done at some point! But milestones like today do remind us that time is rapidly slipping through our fingers, and we’d better made the most of the 24-hour chunk that we have today.

Happy birthday, Angelynn! You are still Daddy’s little girl… and you always will be!

The Case for Teaching the Bible

There is a very interesting article that appeared earlier this year in Time Magazine entitled “The Case for Teaching the Bible” written by associate editor by David Van Biema. The article makes a case from a secular point of view as to why Bible literacy courses need to be taught in our public high schools. While there aren’t that many such courses, they are rising in popularity. And in our multicultural, secular world, these courses in basic bible literacy are precisely what we need, according to Van Biema.

Note one example: a 1995 a federal appeals court upheld the overturning of a death sentence in the case of a Colorado kidnap-rape-murder because jurors had inappropriately brought in Bibles to discuss the Exodus verse “an eye for eye, tooth for tooth ... whoever ... kills a man shall be put to death.” Focus on the Family complained that "It is a sad day when the Bible is banned from the jury room.” Van Biema asks, “Whose most at fault here?” The jurors who didn’t realize that Jesus rejects the eye-for-an-eye rule? The Focus on the Family spokesman who likely knew of Jesus' repudiation of the old law but chose to ignore it? Or liberals who were too ignorant of the Bible to bring it up?

Why should Bible literacy be part of a secular high school education? The Bible is the most influential book ever written, far more so than the writings of the prolific bard who occupies second place (they do still read Shakespeare in high school, right?). And the rest of the literature that is studied, from Shakespeare to Hemmingway, is so influenced by the Bible that knowledge of the Good Book is helpful in reading other good books. Much of the political rhetoric of today is couched in Biblical references. Van Biema observes that while liberal Democrats seem to accuse Bush of “speaking in code” when making Biblical references, “the Democratic Party seems to have come around to the realization that a lot of grass-roots Democrats welcome such use.” He argues that in a world driven by political harangue, blogs, and advertisement, references to scripture (and other great literature) keeps us from being so shallow. He says, “The world is flat, sure. But Scripture is among our few means to make it deep.” Since our heritage is one so influenced by the Bible, even the non-religious among us would be served by better knowing the Bible.

You need to read this article. It makes a great case for the need for Biblical literacy in the public square. Let me end with a point he makes in passing. This one should hit closer to home. Are those of us who are Christians and who claim to hold the Bible in such high regard really acting consistently with that claim? You see, Biblical literacy is a bigger problem for the church than it is for the world. While we claim to know and follow the Bible, we see to know the Bible less and less. Let me leave you with the quote… think about it.

According to Religious Literacy, polls show that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible holds the answers to "all or most of life's basic questions," but pollster George Gallup has dubbed us "a nation of biblical illiterates." Only half of U.S. adults know the title of even one Gospel. Most can't name the Bible's first book. The trend extends even to Evangelicals, only 44% of whose teens could identify a particular quote as coming from the Sermon on the Mount.

First Things First

I thought I had been caught in some kind of time warp this morning. The headlines read “Paris Liberated!” Had the news people picked up a World War II headline bouncing around in hyperspace or something? It is not exactly news that Paris was liberated by the allies on August 25, 1944. So why would all the news sources now want us to know about the liberation of Paris? Of course, what they were talking about was the releasing from jail of Paris Hilton after serving 23 days of a 45 day sentence for driving after her license was suspended following a DUI. Paris is our of jail, so stop the presses!

It seems to me that there may have been a few more significant things going on in the world yesterday. Like a key Republican senator and supporter of the President urging him to make a complete change in the entire course of the Iraq War. Or the eleven Americans killed in Iraq on Monday. Or a dangerous, drug-resistant staphylococcus germ that may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital patients. Or any number of other stories. Evidently all of that pales in comparison to the big news that Paris Hilton is free. There are some priorities mixed up here somewhere, don't you think?

But then, we all have our priories mixed up, don't we? We all have a problem separating the really important things from the more pressing urgent things in our lives. I spent 30 minutes yesterday on the web finding the very best deal for a wireless network adapter for Tressa's computer. Was that important? Not even a little bit. But then it did seem urgent... to get her computer working so that she would get off of mine! Urgent, but not important. It seems these are the kinds of things we so often spend out time doing. Urgent, perhaps, but not important.

Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…” (Matt 6:33). We believe that, don't we? We do know that eternal things are the most important because they are eternal-- they will last forever. Paul tells us to focus on spiritual things because “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor 4:18). We agree with that… and then we spend the bulk of our time pursing the urgent things that won’t last. Someone has their priorities mixed up. Is that someone us?

Both... and Neither!

Ann Holmes Redding has been an Episcopal priest for 20 years, and this fall she will teach as visiting professor of New Testament at Seattle University. Fifteen months ago, she also converted to Isalm. Today she claims to be both a Christian and a practicing Muslim. There is no real conflict in this to her. Sure, some minor details have to be worked out, but then people in every religion disagree over some of the details. “So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam.” She goes on to say this—

At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That's all I need. ... It wasn't about intellect. All I know is the calling of my heart to Islam was very much something about my identity and who I am supposed to be. I could not not be a Muslim.

Both Christian and Muslim leaders puzzle over her affirmation that she is both Christian and Muslim. One Muslim professor said, "The theological beliefs are irreconcilable… for Muslims to say Jesus is God would be blasphemy." A Christian professor says, "I think you have to give up what is essential to Christianity to make the moves that she has done.”

What Redding has given up is Jesus. Christianity stands or falls with the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his followers, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me… Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:6,9). Christianity is built on the foundation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16). He is the ^“radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” who is today “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb 1:3). Jesus is the eternal word of God who was with God at the beginning and who is Himself God (John 1:1).

Either Jesus is who he said he was or Christianity is false. Either faith stands on the foundation of God’s action in history in the person of Jesus or it does not. Either Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and who was raised as the firstfruits of the dead or He was not. Either Jesus is Lord or he is not. One really does have to choose. And to try to accept both Jesus and Mohammad is to choose against Christ.

What do we think about Jesus?

Experts vs the Collective?

Andrew Keen has a new book entitled The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture. In his book, he points to some of the dangers created by the internet and things like blogoshpere and Wikipedia. Of course, I didn’t read the book; I read a review of the book by Michael Rogers on MSNBC’s website, which probably proves Keen’s thesis about the dumbing-down of our culture!

Think about Wikipedia here. As you likely know, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that is written, edited and rewritten by its users. The information is “peer-reviewed” in the sense that anyone can correct and add to information in its articles. It is “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” according to its homepage. The “collective” provides its own checks and balances for accuracy, so there is no need an “expert” to edit the information. Keen worries that a “cult of amateurs” becomes the authority on information, and then points to its own work as authoritative. So like American Idol becomes the authority on music, so the collective becomes the authority on information.

What Keen is worried about is things like the loss of objectivity in reporting on news. Of course, as I was reading this, I was translating his points to church? Who provides checks and balances on what the church teaches and practices? We would say, of course, that God and His word is the authority for the church, and that is true enough. But who decides what God means and what the Bible says when there are disagreements in teaching and application? You may have noticed that people and groups equally committed to God and scripture sometimes disagree. So who is the “editor” of what the Bible means?

• Is it the “collective?” Is the church a kind of Wikipedia in which every member constantly writes and rewrites an understanding of how we are to live scripture? Are we not all accountable for what we believe and how we live? Is not theology an ongoing process in which all Christians participate?
  

• Is it local leaders? Does God not God gift each church with leaders that are called to feed, shepherd and protect the flock of God? Are elders called to pastor? Aren’t preacher’s called to teach? Is there not a leadership that goes on in every church where “the collective” is instructed, taught and guided by those called as leaders?
  

• It is “the experts?” Doesn’t God also gift the church with scholars who are themselves gifted in areas of language, church history, theology and the like? Should the church not listen to those who have expertise in ways that local leaders never will?

The answer has to be “all of the above?” The church is “a Christian collective” that writes and rewrites our story in the world and to the world. But God has given us local church leaders to teach and shepherd us. And God has given us “experts” and scholars that serve as resources to the church. What God hasn’t done is left us alone as individuals to figure all of this out for ourselves.

Another Night with the Frogs

The pool at Camp Idlewild was always one of the most popular places for campers, but one year it was the place to be if you were a frog. Hundreds (thousands?) of little green frogs descended on the pool, many finding their into the pool skimmers. It was a huge mess. The camp director issued the edict that our athletic director would also be given the job of frog wrangler; it was now his job to remove all the frogs from the pool area. Well, he couldn’t just blow his whistle and say, “OK, everybody out of the pool!” (Come to think about it, that didn’t work with the kids either). So the athletic director spent much of one night capturing hundreds (thousands?) of frogs and placing them into five gallon buckets... which he then placed outside the camp director's door! I could not stifle a laugh the next morning at breakfast when the director said, "Boy, those frogs sure made a lot of noise last night!"

The plague of frogs on Egypt in Exodus 8 was far worse that the one that we had at Camp Idlewild. God showed his sovereignty over the nature deities of Egypt in dramatic ways— the sacred Nile River turned into blood, the sun (god Ra) was hidden by darkness, etc. The people of Egypt suffered because of Pharaoh's stubborn refusal to release his Israelite slaves. One of these plagues was a horde of frogs that found their way into every nook and cranny of Egyptian life. It was so awful that Pharaoh sent for Moses and begged him to remove the frogs. Moses told Pharaoh that he could pick the time that the frogs would be removed, and Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." In essence, he chose one more night with the frogs.

So why do we choose one more night with frogs? We often make the decision to go on a diet or start a exercise program or do something else to improve our lives... and we always decide to do it “tomorrow” (or "next Monday"). Sometimes our resolution is more spiritual— we will start reading the Bible daily or attending church more faithfully or get involved in a small group or get some help in overcoming a recurring sin. But again it seems that our favorite time for starting is always TOMORROW. We chose another night with the frogs. But tomorrow often never seems to come. This Monday always seems to slip into the next Monday. We always seem to choose another night with the frogs. And we never seem to get rid of them.

What is it that you need to do for the glory of God? Don't put it off! Get rid of the frogs today!

Til I Entered

H. G. Wells once described God as “an ever absent help in time of trouble.” While we may be annoyed by the accusations of the agnostics, most of us have felt that way ay some point or another. We believe God is there and in control, but what we see going on in our lives doesn't really seem to match up.

That is exactly what Asaph struggles with in Psalm 73 (my daily reading for today). What Asaph sees in the world does not correspond with what his faith taught him. Faith said that God was good to Israel and to those who are pure in heart. But what Asaph saw around him was that the wicked prospered and the righteous often did not. He says in verse 3, "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Then he describes the prosperous wicked in verses 4-12, ending with “This is what the wicked are like-- always carefree, they increase in wealth” (v. 12).

But as Asaph struggles with this view of the world, he gets another and fresher perspective. And that perspective comes to him in a surprising place. He enters the sanctuary of God, the place of worship and praise, and then everything becomes clear to him (Psalm 73:16-17)

When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

As long as Asaph was isolated from the people of God, from the community of faith, then he struggled with his doubt. But when he goes back to the sanctuary, when he reenters the community of believers in worship, then his faith is renewed and refreshed. His faith in God is restored as his participation in worship with the community of faith is restored.

And within the house of God Asaph gets a whole new perspective of the wicked. He begins to see their prosperity as a house of cards, vulnerable to every wind of chance (73:18-20). This new assessment led to the strong conviction that God does not forsake His own! God is present in the valley of darkness, even in the valley of the shadow of death. He offers comfort in times of distress, counsel in times of perplexity, and strength in times of weakness. So the psalm that began as a bitter cry of disillusionment and lost faith ends with one of the strongest statements of faith and confidence that we find in scripture (Psalm 73:25-28)

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Being a Bit Conservative*

* I am being a bit conservative today... in the sense that the entry below was part of yesterday's sermon that was cut out because of time considerations. (When I recognize in advance that I'm being long-winded, then I am being long-winded indeed). But why waste a whole page of type, especially given how slow I type? So here are my recycled thoughts that I present in interest of conserving work.

Sigmund Freud would have said that people with poor impulse control have “weak ego boundaries.” Freud’s theory of personality saw the id as the pleasure principle, the superego as the morality principle, and the ego as the reality principle. The ego’s job is to satisfy the needs of the id while respecting the superego and the needs of other people. So Freud would have said that people who don’t seem to be able to delay gratification have an unbalanced id that the ego can’t control, this weak ego boundaries.

Freud was no friend of Christianity, and he indeed saw this whole process a as purely psychological phenomenon. But several years ago, Joe Beam (in his book Seeing the Unseen) suggested that Freud may have been on to something here. Not that this process is merely a psychological issue; Beam argues just the opposite. But he suggests that there is a indeed a three-fold battle that rages within.

• What Freud calls the “id” the Bible calls the “sinful nature” or literally “the flesh.” This is the part of us that wants what it wants when it wants it. It is inherently selfish, and it cares nothing for delayed gratification or the needs of others.
  

• What Freud calls “the superego,” the Bible calls “the conscience.” This is the part of us that tells us to do what is right, moral and good. It is the “sense of oughtness” placed inside each of us by God that spurs us to do what it is that we ought to do, even if that is not what we want to do
  

• What Freud calls “the ego” the Bible calls “the mind.” It is the rational part of us that makes choices and decides what we will do. Our minds get messages from both our “flesh” and our “conscience,” from our “sinful nature” and from our “higher nature.”

This is the battle that rages within us, but there is more involved than just what is within us. Our sinful nature wants what it wants when it wants it, and it is precisely here that Satan tempts us, prompting us to do evil. While our conscience prompts us to do what is right, Christians receive promptings from the Spirit of God within us. So this struggle between good and evil within us is really a spiritual battle. But we have the final choice-- our minds decide what it is that we are going to do.

Is all of that clear? Sure it is! Well, maybe my explanation isn’t all that clear, but we are surely clear in the way that this works in our lives. Each human heart is a spiritual battlefield that Paul describes so vividly in Romans 7:18-23—

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

There is an ongoing spiritual battle between flesh (our sinful nature plus Satan’s temptation) and the Spirit (our conscience plus the prompting of the Spirit within). We always receive mixed signals. But we remain key players because our minds (our conscience selves) make the choice as to which voice we are going to hear and which action we are going to take. Our inner being (conscience) delights in God's law, but there is also a law at war within us (sinful nature) that wars against our minds. And the war goes on.

Extraordinarily Tragic

Angelynn decided Monday night at 8:30 that she could not survive another day without getting to Target to buy some make-up. I think she looks fine without all that stuff, but surprisingly she wasn’t open to that suggestion. She HAD to go to Target that night right then, and she needed someone to go with her. Neither Mom or big sister were able to go, so of course I was the next choice… and last resort. Great chance for a little father-daughter quality time, right? Yeah, well I had a headache from working all day scrapping up 40 year old carpet padding that is welded onto our floors (in preparation for getting the floors refinished). I was in no mood to make a run to Target to buy makeup (as opposed to most days when I would jump at the chance to do so). So Angelynn went to Target alone late at night, grumbling to herself about her family.

The next day, the national news started carrying the story of Kelsey Smith, an 18 year old woman from Kansas City who was abducted from a Target parking lot on Saturday night seconds after coming out of the store. Security video from the store shows her leaving the store with the gift she had bought for her boyfriend; another security tape shows her forced into a truck and driven away. Her body was found yesterday afternoon in a wooded area about 20 miles away from the store. Today police arrested a suspect in her abduction and murder.

I wasn’t a bit concerned about Angelynn going to Target Monday night. But then Greg Smith (Kelsey's Dad) probably wasn’t a bit concerned about his daughter going to Target two nights before. This world is filled with evil, and we never know when that evil will cross our paths, when the ordinary will be shattered by the extraordinarily tragic. Greg Smith would give anything today if he would have made that Target run with Kelsey on Sunday evening. To tell you the truth, I’m feeling guilty for not going with Angelynn on Monday night. We always think that those things we see on TV happen to someone else; I’m sure that’s what the Smith’s thought too.

I’ll pray for the Smith family as they deal with their loss. I’ll also pray that nothing like that ever happens close to home... or close to anyone's home. And I’ll pray that Tressa and Angelynn’s Daddy does a better joy of enjoying them and not taking them being here for granted.

From the Land of Fruits and Nuts

All Leo Serrano thought that he was doing was renewing his driver's license. Evidently in California, part of that process us having your fingerprints scanned into a database, and that just struck Serrano the wrong way. He made an offhand comment to the DMV agent, "I'm against their mark of the beast system." He thought no more about the incident until he discovered last week that his new driver's license had been suspended.

He was told by the California DMV that his comment about the “mark of the beast” had raised red flags. This reference from Revelation refers (in one interpretation anyway) to the end of the word, and that evidently flagged Serrano as being suspicious. He was given a medical form to fill out and was told to call a driver's safety official in Fresno. In other words, referring to the book of Revelation was enough to call into question his mental health! I know how he feels; I once preached a sermon series on Revelation and several people thought I was nuts! When the DMV was asked to clarify their position, they declined to comment because the case involved medical confidentiality! Isn’t that cute!

Now, I don’t believe that scanned fingerprints are “the mark of the beast” of the Apocalypse. In fact, I have a totally different take on the book than the one evidently espoused by Mr. Serrano. But to have one’s mental health questioned because one makes a passing reference to the Bible is itself crazy, even given the "Continental Shift Theory." That's the one where the continent shifted and all the fruits and nuts rolled over to California!

At any rate, we can no longer assume appreciation for the Bible is a mainstream view in our culture. To take the Bible seriously as a spiritual guide in the 21^st century will be viewed as quaint (at best) and as crazy (as with Mr. Serrano). The time when most people recognized the Bible as the “Good Book” has long sense past. To follow God in our world will more and more take us out of step with the culture around us. So what are we to do? Peter tells us to live such good lives before the world that their insults pack no punch—

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

Feel the Love

I have always been amazed and amused by churches who regularly have a “love offering” for their minister. I know of churches who have a contribution each week just for the preacher -- “separate and apart” from the regular offering for the church. And if the preacher doesn’t “feel the love” and believes the people can give more, they send the baskets around again! Wow! I feel guilty sometimes just cashing my paycheck, let alone having a special contribution just for me.

But then I may give that love offering deal a try. For years several years, Lynn has really wanted to rip up our 40-year old carpet (exaggeration, it’s only 38 years old) and have the hardwood floors underneath refinished. Just as we decided to splurge and have that done (and ripped up the old carpet, making a huge mess) our upstairs AC unit died a horrible death… and needs to be replaced. The air handler is fairly new, but the upgrade from 10 to 13 SEER means the air handler also needs to be done. The old bank account is beginning to hemorrhage… so if we have a love offering next week, you’ll understand why.

This has been a rather interesting lesson in priorities. There was absolutely no question about whether or not to get the AC replaced. My first question when we got estimates was not “how much” but rather “how fast?” We can go without food, but we really have to have AC! Actually, God has blessed us with some fairly cool nights (while doesn't the AC ever go out on February?). And Dan’s Heating and AC has promised to put in a temporary unit tomorrow so that we’ll have air while we are waiting to have the new system installed.

As near as I can figure it, by the time the new AC is installed and has things cooled down, they will just be getting started on refinishing the floors. So between the heat and toxic fumes, the old homestead is not going to be a pleasant place to live for awhile!

A Powerful Testimony

We know that we are to take every opportunity to share our faith story whenever we have the opportunity. We also know that most of us don’t do that often enough when we have the opportunity... or look for ways to create opportunities. Lauren McCain is still taking the opportunity to share her faith more than a month after she died in the Virginia Tech massacre. Lauren was videotaped on February 22 on the Tech campus as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ project to compile interviews of students discussing their faith. Her interview is an enthusiastic and profound testimony to her relationship with God. You can watch the video on the Daily Press website.

Perhaps the most powerful moment comes when Lauren describes a moment of longing for God when she was particularly down and depressed, and she asked God during a time of worship to show her His presence. She said, “As human beings, we're not going to see his face until we're in Heaven, but I was like, ‘Oh man, just let me die then, and let me see your face.’” Little could she have that less than two months after her testimony was filmed that she would see God face.

What a powerful testimony to a living faith.

An Atheist Goes to Church

Jim Henderson runs Off The Map, a church growth ministry and the website ChurchRater.com. His group created a stir several years ago when they hired atheist Hemant Mehta (actually bidding for his services in an eBay auction) to visit churches and give observations as an unbeliever. Well, he is at it again with a new book, Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians. Matt Casper is a marketing copywriter and singer… and he is an atheist. He was hired to travel with Henderson to visit megachurches around the country like Saddleback (Rick Warren), Willow Creek (Bill Hybells), Lakewood (Joel Osteen), Potter’s House (T.D. Jakes) and others. This book seeks to be an insight for churches into how they are seen by outsiders.

I’m not completely sure that the exercise is completely fair. Casper is not a seeker—he is an unbeliever who is 100% sure that there is not God. He likely would have never stumbled into any of these churches looking for God, so maybe his observations aren't all that reliable. But it is certainly true that the church’s view of itself is almost always different from how it is perceived by non-believers. This is especially the case even the church prides itself on being “user-friendly” to outsiders like these megachurches.

What exercises like can this help us see is this-- the things we might think are important to outsiders may not be all that important. Henderson suggests that things like worship style, church size, the charisma of the preacher, or presentation of the preaching are largely “culturally determined.” Henderson suggests that the most significant factors of a church on non-churched visitors are their outward friendliness, their bias toward action (doing things that serve others) and what he calls “grace/tolerance” (a willingness to accept people “just as I am.”) This grace/tolerance is the reason why AA is safer for struggling people than church.

One thing these three have in common is that they are not easily manipulated. It’s fairly easy to sing peppy songs and preach upbeat sermons. But it's hard to be friendly and accepting without really being friendly and accepting. Studies show that most churches that rate themselves as “very friendly” do so because they are very friendly to each other; outsiders often feel that these “friendly” churches aren’t very friendly at all! It is easy to say that we accept and show grace to everyone… while we actually expect them to basically look and act just like us. And it is extremely hard look like you’ve involved in the lifestyle of Jesus without actually living like it. In other words, the kinds of things that may actually attract outsiders are those things that cannot be manipulated or rearranged to make us more attractive to outsiders.

Someone observed that a stagnant church that changes its worship style in an effort to grow will most often end up a stagnant church with better worship. Outward changes to make us more “user-friendly” to those outside are necessary and important; sometimes we have to get ourselves out of the way so others can better see God. But these external changes are helpful only if they reflect changes on the inside, changes that reflect the power and presence of God Himself.