Is Divorce a Sin? - Part 3 (Grace, Healing, and a Future for the Wounded)

It was a theology conference.  I finally reached the Leawood, KS church campus and drove onto the lot.  But there was a mild surprise.

In front of the "this is who we are" sign (Christ Community Church) was a "this is how we care" sign (Divorce Care - classes starting now).   Signage which did not escape the notice of one of the speakers who had come to address the topic, "Christian Living in a Modern Culture."  He noted, pointedly, that this was a church ministry that was getting it right

ENCOURAGEMENT TOWARD DIVORCE

Increasingly, our societal culture regards marriage as a temporary contract that merits faithful commitment only if  it is working.  If it is not working, and if you can afford to exit, why not?  Recently, our local newspaper included this article, "Study: Divorces rise as economy recovers" [Ames Tribune, Wednesday, January 29, 2014, A5].   It noted "Married couples promise to stick together for better or worse.  But as the U.S. economy started to rebound, so did the divorce rate.  From 2008-2009...the divorce rate dropped among married women...then crept back up in 2010-2011.  'This is exactly what happened int he 1930's,' said Johns Hopkins University sociolgist Andrew Cherlin. 'The divorce rate dropped during the great Depression, not because people were happier with their marriages, but because they couldn't afford to get divorced.'"

Beyond dollars and lack-of-sense, you don't have to go far to find a chorus of voices that chime in, "If you're not happy, get out while you can."  One Jesus follower whom I talked with recently, who is staying faithful even while her husband is demanding a divorce, shared with me that many of her acquaintances and friends (some fellow Christians) offer very strange encouragement.  "Are you sleeping with someone else?  Why not?!?  You deserve to have your needs met if he (her husband) won't meet them!"

What these ill-suited counselors overlook is that casual sex with others joins divorce in the tearing and shredding of the one-ness God has created--and still exists--with one's original partner.   As such, when it occurs, the collateral damage is frequently and badly underestimated -- damage to the partners, damage to the children and grandchildren, damage to the concentric circles of relationships around. Divorce destroys and wounds.  It rarely fixes.

MANY A WOUNDED FROM DIVORCE

Like broken soldiers returning from the chaos of Afghanistan, many wonderful people bear the wounds and scars of an exploded relationship.  Wounded soldiers want to rehab and recover, and a chance at a brighter future.  So do those emerging from damaging marriages; women and men of every age who feel like damaged goods.

Some of the most deeply wounded are those who fought hard to save their marriages.  They are the heroes in our day.   Hosea-types who loved and continued to love and be faithful even as the partner took advantage time and time again.  Hosea-types who hung in there even when mistreated emotionally and physically and even sexually, hoping and praying for a genuine repentance to break into the partner's heart.  Hosea-types who did their best to put 1 Peter 3:1-6 in play in obedience and reverence for God's Word.  Hosea-types, whose perseverance was not helped by our society's "no-fault" divorce laws.

It takes time and God's grace to get back on your feet again.  It takes compassionate friends who know God and know hurt and know that God is in the business of second chances.  It takes a church of Jesus-followers who are committed to the best things the Spirit teaches us in the Word about the permanence of marriage, the damage of divorce, and the application of grace when former partners have been blown apart and need to recover.

DIVORCE IS NOT THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN

One of the great joys of my life as a pastor has been seeing God apply His grace through His people to those who have been through agony and terror of the mine-field of divorce.  What I know is this - God hates divorce but He also forgives and restores those who have been humbled by a failed marriage, and want to move forward in holiness.  He can turn the bitterness into future blessing.  Some of the most godly people I know have survived a dismantled marriage, when out of the ruins they clung more fiercely to Jesus and His leadership in their lives.

Refuse to prematurely end the marriage you are in!  Rather, have the courage to ask the Holy Spirit to change you from the inside out, to make you more like the Lord Jesus in attitude, character, conviction, and practice.  Beg for the fullness and fruit of the Spirit in your life.  Be willing to come under the tutoring of Scripture and other godly people.

If your marriage has been taken apart, embrace Jesus more fully.  Refuse to rebound into yet another faulty relationship.  Refuse to "play-the-field" sexually.  Find a church of Jesus' followers who don't mind putting "Divorce Care" before their "Church Sign," because they know (and are partners with) Jesus, who can make all things new.

Is Divorce a Sin? - Part 2 (Biblical considerations)

"What does God think about divorce?"

I've been asked that question hundreds of times.  Anyone who gives you a simple answer to that deserves to be ignored, and anyone who expects a simple answer to that needs to get real.

IT'S COMPLICATED

My second major encounter with "divorce" (cf. Part 1) happened  in the rigors of multiple theo-academic courses at Dallas Seminary.  The school's Th.M. curriculum required that not only we well understand the common Greek language (Koine Greek) in which the New Testament gospels and letters were written, but also to "exegete" this revelation.   That word means, essentially, to "carefully observe at all the grammar, history, and context of the words and phrases" and then, accurately "take out" of the written text what the author(human and divine) intended to say.

A key exercise in those days was to exegete passages which spoke to marriage, divorce, and remarriage.  Because marriage was a big deal in the early church like it is today, there are alot of passages to "look carefully" at and (hopefully) get the meaning of God's words right.  Key NT passages include Matthew 5, 19, Mark 10, Luke 16, 1 Corinthians 7, Ephesians 5 and a number of others -- which all tied back into key OT passages like Genesis 1-2, Deuteronomy 24, Ezra 9-10, and don't forget to throw in there the Song of Solomon, Malachi (2) and the not-so-minor prophet named Hosea.

Young pastors-in-training were to study all those passages and then write a "divorce/remarriage paper," a summation of what you came to believe about marriage, the possibility (or not) of divorce, and the possibility (or not) of remarriage.

The bottom line question was - "If God has joined you together (into a covenant, one-flesh relationship for life), is it EVER right for man to separate it?"   From what you can read, Jesus said "Nope" (Mark 10:9), but he also admitted that "Moses permitted divorce because of the hardness of men's hearts."  Still, Jesus said, "From the beginning..." God has never wanted any man to separate what He has joined (10:6-7).

Yep...it was a bit overwhelming and complicated.  But the intent was to launch you into ministry with some kind of consistent, Biblical position on life's most entangling relationship - MARRIAGE!

IS THERE A SHORT VERSION (TO WHAT GOD HAS SAID ON THIS)?

I've had over 30 years to mull over my original "marriage/divorce/remarriage" paper.  I won't rehash with you my early-edition conclusions.  I believe my original convictions were, in the main, honestly come by and accurate.  But short of a 20 page paper, let me give you a (non-inspired) "short version" on what God's word teaches.

#1    True marriage is essentially a God-creation between two people of opposite genders; it is not merely not a human, civil union or arrangement.  The heart of a marriage is a promise, a vow, a covenant - made with God first, with one-another second, and before witnesses to enter and be faithful to a ONE-NESS that God supernaturally creates, and that sexuality (both the joy of sensuality and reproduction) celebrates.  It is a one-ness that man is not to flee-from or separate.  The death of one's partner alone brings this covenant relationship to a close.  Jesus affirmed that even in a broken, hard-hearted world, God is still in the true marriage business.

The fact that societies and governments have made marriage more a civil union or contract does not diminish from the true character of what God does when a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another in a covenant vow.  It is clear from passages like 1 Corinthians 7 that God regards all marriages (between non-believers, between a believer and a non-believer, and between two believers) as a relationship in which He has created a one-ness.

#2   All people, and especially those who have a redeemed relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, are to be faithful in the covenant vows they've made to their marriage partners.

Scripture affirms it is to be a life-long faithfulness.  This faithfulness is best pictured in Jesus' faithful love and nurture to His bride, the church, and the church's faithful submission and love to her husband, the Lord Jesus (cf. Ephesians 5:22-33).

#3   All marriages face a host of substantial challenges which seek to separate the ONE-NESS God has created.  Marriage partners need more than their own resources to stay faithful and fulfilled in their marriage; they need the presence and empowerment of the Spirit of God.  When partners simply rely on themselves apart from a humble dependence upon the Lord, a marriage can quickly degenerate into frustration and failure.

#4   All marriages are to take their examples to persevere in their covenant vows from the faithfulness of God toward His often (adulterous) people.  One compelling example is Hosea, who married a very unfaithful bride, but continued to love her through extraordinary difficulty...an example of God's relentless love and faithfulness to His promises to Israel.

#5   When marriages are experiencing difficulty, there are resources from God available for the partners to grow and persevere through the struggles, so that Christ can be formed in the partners and in the relationship.  I Peter 3:1-7 offers some key instruction, perspective, and resources.  We can do "all things" through Him who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13).

BOTTOM LINE - ENTER TO STAY

God doesn't think much of divorce.  He does hate it (Malachi 2:16).  His righteous character is grieved when promises taken are promises broken.  It is such a deeply intertwined, intricate ONE-NESS that taking it apart simply tears and destroys everything around the shredding.  The old marriage meditations would say that "it is not something to be entered in to lightly, but advisedly."  In other words -- and Jesus affirmed this -- we do well to well consider what this relationship really is, and then enter it only under the call of God upon the heart.

Is Divorce a Sin? - Part I (Looking over the Cliff's Edge)

Recently, a friend asked me this question.  "Is divorce a sin?"  The email was brief and to the point.

My answer was equally short.  "It can be."

Clearly, my short response was less than satisfactory.  "What do you mean, It can be?  Is the action itself a sin or the reasons behind it that count?"

STARING DIVORCE IN THE FACE

My first encounter with "divorce" happened when I was barely a teenager.  My mom and dad were arguing, sometimes fiercely.  Not physically, but verbal guerrilla-warfare that sounded awful to me as I tried to get to sleep each night in the downstairs bedroom.  Frustration was running high, on a number of days of any week.   Then, one afternoon, I found myself in our automobile with  my father in our driveway at 1933 19th Avenue.  He spoke directly.  "I'm going to leave your mom."

I have often pondered that tense moment in the car.  I knew how frustrated my father was, and no doubt mom was too.  Her values, and my dad's values, on a number of things, were miles apart, and it effected their involvement in church, their social life with friends, other things too.  Don't get me wrong.  They were both Christians, trusted in Christ, loved the Scriptures, and went faithfully to church.  But their differences were driving them apart, and destroying the heart of their marriage - their friendship.

"You can't," I replied to my dad.  "Why can't I?"  He genuinely wanted to know.  By that time in my life, I had already sensed a call of God upon my life to preach the gospel and to teach the Word.  I also knew that my home church regularly taught that divorce was sin and something that God hated.  So I put 2 + 2 together.  "If you and mom divorce, I will never be able to go into Christian ministry!" I countered.  Essentially, I laid my future calling across my dad's broken heart.

Honestly, I don't know why I thought my parents' possible divorce would disqualify ME from serving the Lord, but I thought it would.  I had concluded that if God hated divorce and He couldn't help my parents get along -- if I came from a broken home, who would want to listen to me about God's solutions in His word?

AWAY FROM THE CLIFF'S EDGE

For some reason I've yet to fully figure out (not dismissing the Holy Spirit's intervening grace), what I said helped reverse something in my dad's mind.  Dad did not often get angry, but when he did, the coals would get white hot.  But in a few minutes, they were cooling.   My recollection is that dad walked in to the house, and didn't walk away from Mom. 

For my Mom's part - even as terrible as things got -- divorce was NEVER an option.  She believed in trying for God's ideal (even when the set of the home was less than ideal), and never giving up on it.

Dad and Mom had been married perhaps 15 years at that point.  The year?  Around 1967.  45 years later, in August of 2012, they crossed the 60th Anniversary finish line together...deeply in love with eachother and with the Lord, who miraculously kept their feet on the path.  We had a really cool party with them in Wisconsin, and the photographs shine with the beauty of their persevering relationship.

Mom's home with the Lord right now, and no doubt anxiously awaiting when Dad and she can be together again. 

IS DIVORCE SIN?

What I learned from all that was this.  Divorce is often sinful because it is the decision of frustration and self-centered fighting, rather than humility before the Lord and His Word.  No wonder God hates it (Malachi 2:16).  It would have been in my parents' case. 

It would have been an early, tragic loss in a young boy's heart, a kid trying to figure out if God could be faithful even in the most frustrating families and times.

What will God do with "those who have never heard" (the Gospel)?

According to the US Center for World Mission (www.uscwm.org/the-call/the-unreached) "unreached people groups are those whose populations (which can range from hundreds of people to millions of people) contain only a very small percentage of people who follow Christ (2% or less).  Typically, this small percentage is not sufficient to build and sustain a movement to(ward) Christ internally.  Those who are part of an unreached people group have little-to-no opportunity to hear a clear presentation of the gospel -- one that is culturally intelligible to them.  In this case, the gospel must be presented and lived out by people from outside their people group."

7,000 people groups - mostly living in the 10/40 window (northern Africa, Middle East, and spanning east throughout southern Asia).  82% of these peoples are the poorest in the world; 84% have the lowest quality of living in the world.  Most are dominated by Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.  In them is the least amount of investment by global followers of Jesus.  Hundreds of thousands, millions, will likely not hear the gospel in their lifetimes.

ROMANS 1 and 2, and THE UNREACHED

In Romans 1:19-20, Paul explains that any human being can see from his/her environment  that Someone he/she doesn't see exists and is the Creator/Fashioner of all there is.  Any human being (who has sufficient, normal thinking capabilities) can perceive through what has been made that there is an Eternally Powerful and Divine Being whom they can't see.  There is "intelligent design" in the created order, and it points to an awesome, uncreated, unseen God.

Many, knowing this, reject what they know and exchange this basic theological truth for anthropological lies; that is, choosing instead to worship the creation and craft images of worship that resemble human or animal figures.

In Romans 2, Paul continues.  He explains that peoples who don't have a written copy of the Law of God (O.T. Torah) show that they have a (moral) law written on their hearts (C.S. Lewis called it "the Law of Human Nature"), an undeniable code of right (what should be done) and wrong (thoughts and actions which violate that code).  By this code, men feel a sense of guilt and condemnation in their hearts.

The remedy for our unrighteousness (rejecting truth about God shown in nature, rejecting a righteous standard from God written in Law and in Conscience) is Jesus Christ, the perfect God who became Man and died to satisfy God's wrath against all unrighteousness of men. 

The problem?  Many of people caught in the sins of Romans 1 and Romans 2 never hear of Christ, an die without having an opportunity to understand the gospel and believe.  They remain "unreached" while still condemned in their sin.  

So...what does God do with them?  If they were never tossed the life-ring, does God blame them for drowning in their sin?

IS THE ETERNAL, DIVINE GOD FAIR WITH ALL PEOPLE...AND EVERY PERSON?

It doesn't strike us as "fair" that God would fail to "toss the life-ring" to the unreached?  Can't an all-powerful God -- who claims to love all people -- get that done?  It appears that sometimes He doesn't.  So what are we to think, or say, about this?

It is impossible for any one of us, or all of us together, to know accurately what God does with each human being who lives; that is, whether or not God has given each person a sufficient enough opportunity to know, and then respond to the truth.  But here is what we do know, and have seen.

First, "the Judge of all the Earth" will do what is right with people under condemnation (Genesis 18:25).  This is the conclusion Abraham came to as he and God were conversing on whether to "scorch-earth" Sodom and Gomorrah.  God was willing NOT to do this if even a few people who worshipped Him could be found in the city limits.  This means a couple of things, of course.  (1) God had already planted a witness about himself within reach of the people of those cities.   (2)  God had already been patient.  (3)  God was willing to continue to be patient.  The point - Biblical stories like this reassure us that when people are wiped out by God, it is not a sudden or rash act on his part.  God waits longer than any of us would wait to execute His righteous judgment.  When it falls, it is the right time and it is the right expression of His wrath.

Second, there are examples in Scripture of people who responded rightly to the truth that God revealed to them.  When this occurred, God responded by getting more truth to them (e.g., Cornelius, Acts 10) so that their faith in Christ could occur.  Some have argued -- to be sure from "silence" but nonetheless with weight - that God does this more than we can see or know about.  How interesting that when Abram showed up in Palestine around 2100 BC, with a new faith in the true God, that he met a High Priest of the Most High in the land (i.e., Melchizedek) who was already ministering the things of God there!  The point - God is perfectly capable of getting truth to people who respond rightly to the light they have.  Missions initiatives will sometimes find this to be true when they come upon a new group.

Third, Scripture reminds us that there is no injustice or unfairness or partiality with God.  His holy and righteous character will not permit Him to do anything but that which is fair and equitable with the peoples of the world, and the persons in the human family.  We can simply say, with confidence, that God will "do what is right" in his role as the "Judge of all the earth.

OUR MARCHING ORDERS

Jesus said, "Go preach the good news to all creation, I will be with you in this."  Rather than worrying about whether or not God will be fair with "those who have never heard," better that we become more passionate about being His ambassadors in our world (2 Corinthians 5:15-21).  Whom have you begged, this week or in this past month, to be reconciled to God?

"We're in debt! How can we give?" Struggling with Stewardship

It's not secret.  Many of us, perhaps most of us, are in debt.  We spend more readily than we save.  During the last few years of climbing out of the 2008 recession, I can't recall our President once suggesting that Americans should "save" money.  We believe, oddly, that the way out of debt is to spend more.

The statistics are sobering.  Today, the average credit card debt per U.S. household is $15,270; the average mortgage debt is $150,000, the average student debt is a whopping $32,258.  Moreover, Americans as a population group are $11.36 trillion dollars in debt, including $857 in credit card debt, $7.93 trillion in mortgages, and over $1 trillion in student loans.

Numbers which make your eyes hurt, and yet you too may find yourself drowning in those numbers.

SCRIPTURE'S TRAINING WARNING

In many ways, the free American people are in bondage, in the chains of debt.  "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." Proverbs 22:7  Maybe you've heard that verse before.  "Everybody knows that!" (to borrow from the Geico commercial).

"OK...but did you know WHERE that verse is found?"  Here's the larger context - Proverbs 22:6-8

Train up a child in the way he should go

Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity and the rod of his fury will fail.

 

Hmmmm.  Perhaps what this "training" of young people is all about is fiscal responsibility, a clear lesson on understanding that what one sows that which you also reap...and therefore staying out of debt.  It takes a wise parent to intentionally train a child in good money management.

 

CAUGHT IN DEBT, WANTING TO GIVE

 

This blog begins with a question posed to me.  "How can we keep our commitment to the Lord to tithe (i.e., give to the ministry of a local church or kingdom work) when we are struggling with debt?"

 

This is a well-placed desire, and a brave question.  And it will take some bravery to apply the answer.

 

First step - have the courage to get some debt counseling from an agency or financial planner with a Biblical, wise outlook.  In other words, seek some good help.  You'll never regret you did.

Second step - give in faith.  Jesus promised that if you "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things (Matthew 6:25-32 - food, clothing, God's provision) will be added to you."    Again, Jesus (Luke 6:38), "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use (to give) it will be measured to you."

 

Funny thing.  When a Jesus-follower puts God first in his/her finances, and gives of the first of one's income (be it a tithe or an amount you've promised to the Lord), God provides for the giver what is needed.

 

MY DAD TRAINED ME

 

I remember years ago, my father wanted to buy a lot of nice things for my mom.  And he did.  An in-home organ, new carpeting are the things I can remember.  Mom didn't ask for them, but my good-hearted dad was just trying to be generous with the woman he loved.  Easy credit was coming on line back in the 1960's, and dad took advantage of it.

There were two problems.  First, in order to buy these things and try to pay for them, dad had to cut back on giving to the Lord.  Second, the debt was still washing over us, and not getting better.

 

I don't remember what prompted it (it may have been some faithful teaching done at our local church), I remember the night my dad came down to my basement bedroom, and without me asking, said, "David. I've sinned.  I've gotten our family into debt, and I've not been tithing to the Lord.  I just want you to know that no matter what, the Lord's portion is given first.  And, I'll do my best to work and get us out of this hole."

 

I'm proud of my dad.  He did both.  Gave first to the Lord, and worked hard, and Mom was with him all the way.  In a few years, our family climbed out of debt.

 

GET COUNSEL - TRUST GOD - WORK HARD - GIVE FIRST

 

Jesus is alive and his word about giving is still good.  You can give and you can, God's wisdom and strength helping you, come out of the hole.  Seek first His kingdom.  God has a lot he want to add to you as you are obedient to Him...with courageous faith.

 





To Judge or Not To Judge - Sorting it Out

"You're being judgmental!  Didn't Jesus say that was NOT what we are supposed to do?"

The person who says that has a point.  Jesus said, "Judge not, and you will not be judged" (Matthew 7).  Through Paul, the Holy Spirit  put the smelling salts under the noses of those who thought they were morally superior to others.  "You are without excuse, O man, when you --the judge--condemn others for the very things you do yourself" (Romans 2:1-2).  James didn't mince words with Christians who functioned as judges making preferential distinctions about various people in their assembly (James 2).

JUST WHAT IS JUDGING?

The first step to sorting this out is to understand that the word "judge" is used in a number of differing ways in the Bible.  Do a more careful study of when this word occurs (especially in the New Testament) and you discover that there are times when "judging" is completely out of bounds, and there are other times and situations when "judging" is exactly what God wants you to do.

The basic idea behind the Biblical word "judge" is "to distinguish between."  The point is that distinguishing can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing.

Judging is a bad thing (or "out of bounds") according to Jesus (and his apostles through whom in Scripture the Spirit speaks to Christians) when someone believes himself/herself to  be morally superior to another, and from that over-reaching attitude, expresses (either verbally or through their actions) a condemning, rejecting assessment.   In essence, such a "judger" virtually assumes a position that only belongs to God -  only God knows all the facts and issues about any given person, and only His "distinguishng" about someone is accurate.

The result is that when you or I attempt to "judge" like this, we expose ourselves to several dangers.  Jesus said that such "judging" overlooks that there will come a time when the judger himself/herself will fall under the measuring stick used on others, and found wanting (cf. Matthew 7:1-3).  An accompanying danger is the inflating of personal pride, which invites God's humbling judgment.  Beyond this, such "judging" often keeps us from loving others who are caught in sin, the very thing God does call us to do.

On the flip side, there is a "good" judging.   Paul said that we should "judge ourselves" - we should honestly assess our own sin foibles (and confess/repent, cf. 1 John 1:9), so that we will not be "condemned with the world" (1 Corinthians 11).  Paul also urges that brothers and sisters lovingly help one another when sin has crept into the Christian fellowship (cf. , James 5:19-20, 1 Corinthians 5).  The point of this assessing is not to condemn, but to help one another out of the sinning in which we are caught, and restored to full fellowship in the Lord.  Paul told the Galatians that such "judging" must be done with humility (Galatians 6:1-2) - "If somone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a one, looking to yourselves so that you do not get similarly caught."

Beyond the interpersonal "judging" we are called to do humbly with each other, the Scriptures also urges us to "judge" the condition of a world apart from God, and not participate in the darkness and evil of it.  By "judge," God's Spirit means "to assess and appraise, so as to understand its true nature."

 Still, this should not lead us to pridefully condemning the people in the world.  Even Jesus said he didn't "come in to the world to judge the world" (John 3:17), but rather that the world might have life through him.  So our posture, even with a world of men caught in evil, is to both understand and to love toward the life of Jesus.

HUMILITY IS THE KEY

The other night, I had the delight of an extended phone conversation with a great friend in Christ who lives in Colorado.  We began to speak about the attitudes which advance God's purposes in our lives.  He reminded me that St. Augustine said it.  "There are three key words to the life that is spiritual:  humility, humility, and humility."

Augustine was right.  Let God be the Judge (He is anyway!) and let's be His servants of love with wisdom.   No way away from Christ needs you or me to be their SRJOC (self-righteous judging-others critic).   What someone needs is for us to be an expression of Jesus love, so that such a person can meet God some day, not as her/his Judge but rather as his/her Savior.

Jesus' Church midst the Smoky Decisions of our Culture

It began to happen last year.  The questions crept closer.   Finally, two male Iowa State students stopped by to ask outright.  "Should a Christian?...Can a Christian?...Why shouldn't a Christian smoke marijuana?"

Frankly, I had to hide a smirk.  But I was thinking, "You've got to be kidding, right?"  But they were not kidding.  One student felt it was dead wrong, a sin.  The other student, with a history in weed, leaned hard toward "Why not?"  He continued, "It's gonna be legalized, so what's the problem?"

The problems are several.

THE ABSENCE OF A BIBLICAL MIND

Christians, especially young ones with little awareness of the guidance provided by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, often "bottom line" such an issue, be it drinking alcohol or questionable entertainment or any "pleasureable" offering so available in our culture.  Rather than thinking Biblically, as a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, many Christians simply opt for unthinking, and often unwise, use of such things.

Where is the Biblical thinking that brings wisdom?  Three passages quickly come to mind.

Ephesians 5:15-18
Look very carefully then how hou walk, not as unwise but as wise.  Make the very best use of thetime, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand whatthe will of The Lord is.  Do not get drunk with wine, for this is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, because of the mercies of God (which have been extended to you) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13
"All things are lawful for me" (you like to say), but not all things are helpful.  "All things are lawful for me" (you insist), but I will not be dominated by anyaathing.  "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" (you parrot like the world around you) - and God will destroy both one and the other.  The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for The Lord, and The Lord for the body...(6:20) glorify God in your body.

Honestly, can you read those verses and with any kind of a right-thinking, clear conscience, say to the Spirit of God, "Yeah...I think I'll get high to the glory of God."?

The Lord is looking for young men and women who have crucified their fascination with foolishness, and have brought their minds, their bodies, and their souls under the Lordship of Christ.

THE PREVALENT PASSION FOR PLEASURE

When you live in a culture like ours that idolizes sensual passion and personal independence, there is a strong invitation daily issued to all of us to jump in, to simply float along with many, many others in the filth of our modern moral sewage.

The salvation we have in our marvelous Savior is so much more than a pass out of hell.  It is a rescue from the "corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4).  God provides us promises and power to live to His glory and with His excellence.

And you are asking if you can light up weed?  Give me a break.

WWJD (seriously!)

In a world of mediocrity, where "men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil" (John 3), Jesus himself cut a different path.  He wouldn't even make stones into bread after 40 days of  extreme deprivation and hunger unless His Father gave the signal.  "Man does not live by bread alone," he said in humbling his tempting enemy, "but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

My take - think Biblically about choices in your lifestyle, keep your steps out of the moral sewage of our day, and give Jesus room to live His life out through yours.

Which is easier? Filling a Friday-Nite Bar or a Sunday morning Pew?

Someone texted me an interesting question this week.   Why is it easier to fill a tavern on a Friday or Saturday night than a church pew on Sunday morning?

THE APPEAL OF A TAVERN

Chuck Swindoll, a successful pastor on the West Coast and now in Texas, wondered that same thing.  His answer was that the atmosphere in a bar was much more accepting, that there was little-to-no "judging" going on between people, that people in a tavern had the freedom to be themselves without someone trying to make them feel poorly about themselves.

Add to the accepting environment the comfort many people find in the buzz or sedation of alcohol.  The effects of alcohol consumption can eclipse, at least for a time, the larger pains of a failing relationship or business or personal life.

Finally, media advertizers have done a pretty good job "selling" the "good times" that come with sexy looking young people partying and dancing and engaging in sensual, life-giving (it is alleged) experiences.  Sub-consciously we've bought the message - alcohol makes the best times happen.

THE GUILT OF THE PEW

Conversely, many people are staying away from church.  The reasons span across a spectrum - growing up and going to church was not helpful, it's boring and dull, who gets the songs and why do we have to sing (?), the long religious speeches are hard to understand, and if clear, usually just make you feel guilty for not being more religious, and on top of all that, the church wants (and needs) your hard-earned money.

Beyond all that, why would you go and sit in a pew on a day off when you can lay in bed and sleep and wait for the NFL to come on?

HOWEVER, THE TRUTH IS...

From my experience of traveling around our country and the world -- and seeing many people in both taverns and churches -- quite frankly, I haven't seen all that many happy people in taverns, and surely not as many as you can find in a healthy church.  The truth is that if leaders of churches are in tune with Jesus and aware of the needs and desires that people have, they can design a church environment of worship and encouragement that can beat a tavern hands down.

My challenge - ask people who have spent a good piece of their life in a tavern and are now in a healthy church.  I believe they will tell you where they would rather be...

Straightforward, Accurate Bible Interpretation - Yes, you can

Alistar McGrath wrote a book in recent years entitled Christianity's Dangerous Idea.  McGrath is both a church historian and a Biblical scholar.  Christianity's dangerous idea, he writes, was promoted by the insistence of Protestant Reformers to translate Scripture into the common languages of the people; namely, that any Christian with the Bible and the Holy Spirit can accurately interpret the intended meaning of Biblical passages.

One reason why the Roman and Orthodox Church did not want copies of the Scriptures in the common language of the people was their concern over this issue.  Why should an individual Christian's interpretation "trump" the interpretations of the Churches' scholars and the pronouncements of Popes and Bishops?  If the official Church's interpretation is not accepted, and the  interpretations of individiual Christians proliferate, the only result will be Biblical confusion and theological (and ecclesiastical) chaos!

SHALL WE LEAVE INTERPRETATION TO THE SCHOLARS?

While most right-thinking Christians value the contributions of humble, insightful Biblical scholars which can be found (mostly) in commentaries published over the past 400+ years, they also should affirm (I believe) that the common, everyday believer does well to engage in interpretation.

Interestingly, Luke records in his account (ACTS) that the "people in (the city of) Berea where more noble than those in Thessalonica" because they "searched the Scriptures" to see whether or not what Paul was teaching was true.  In a very quiet way, Scripture encourages every-day believers to carefully "observe," and "interpret," and then "apply" the Scriptures to their thinking and life.

WHAT DOES GOOD INTERPRETATION TAKE?

First, it takes "time."   It takes time to read and re-read and make observations about what you are reading (grammatical, historical, and contextual).  Howard Hendricks rightly said, "The greater the observation, the more accurate the interpretation."

Second, it takes a "whole-parts-whole" approach.  What is that?  It means that the books of the Bible - virtually all of them - were each written with a unique, and key, purpose in mind.  That's the first "whole" of the formula above.  Someone has compared it to the "picture on the front of the box" of the bicycle you have to assemble.  Any interpretation of a particular passage should fit with the "whole" picture.   Usually that "whole" picture can be seen by reading an entire book of Scripture several times, and then writing out your sense of "what this book is about."

Then, with that front-of-the-box picture, you take the time to look at the parts, or passages of Scripture.  Each passage (or paragraph) makes a point which fits into the whole picture.  Then, when you gather the points of all the sections or paragraphs, see them together and restate your view of the whole.   Yes, it really does work.

Third, good interpretation is often the result of work done together in a team of people.  With two or three working through Scripture together, the observations go up and the accuracy of the interpretation is increased.  Usually, a group can come to a good interpretive statement which answers two questions.  (1)  What is this passage talking about?  [What's the subject of this passage?]  and (2) What is the passage saying about this subject?

Finally, one's skill in this increases the more you do it.  Take time with the Bible and over the months, you will grow in your confidence to understand the wonderful book God has given us.  He will help you.

MY ENCOURAGEMENT

Read the Bible!  Take it a book at a time.  Take time to read, observe, reflect and pray.  God's Spirit can help you understand what is being said, and apply it to your life.

It's a good thing, and it's not dangerous!

Romans 1, Homosexual Sexual Practice, and Responsibility

Recently, I taught a large group of people from the Biblical book Romans, chapter 1, on "How does God respond to Unrighteousness?"  The Apostle Paul's answer is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth (Romans 1:18, ESV).

Writing at the prompting and under the direction of God's Holy Spirit, Paul continues to say that a result of men "suppressing" the truth they have about God (and themselves) is simply this -- that women abandon their natural function for sexual relations with other women, and men abandon their natural function with women and commit shameful acts of sexual practice with other men.  Homosexual practice, therefore, is the result of suppressing the truth we have from God.  Homosexual practice is, by Biblical definition, unrighteous.

There is little doubt that a good number of people in the human race have found themselves more attracted, relationally and sexually, to someone of their own gender.  Questions have been raised about where this same-gender attraction comes from. 

• Does such an orientation come from "nature" or "nurture"?
• If  "nature," can someone claim that "God made me this way."?
• Is there any validity to such a claim?
• Does such a claim, if believed (by the person or affirmed by culture), give the person the "right" or green light to practice same-gender sexuality, with the attending freedom to believe that he/she is not doing anything wrong?
• If such a claim is not valid, what should such persons -- with deeply ingrained feelings and a 'natural-feeling' orientation - think about themselves and their relationship to God, who (if the Bible is to be believed) calls gay sexuality "unrighteousness"?

UNDERSTANDING THE CLAIM - "God Made Me This Way"

At first blush, such a claim is not patently unreasonable.  Why?  Because conservative Christians have often appealed to Psalm 139 as a description of how God is involved with every child conceived in the wombs of women.  In this inspired song to God, David (seemingly speaking not just about himself, but more broadly about God's hand in the creating and shaping of human life) appears to think that God particularly shaped him from the earliest moments and from the most rudimentary earthly elements.  It is not a far stretch to imagine someone with undeniably gay tendencies drawing the same conclusion - "I'm this way.  I've been this way since I can remember.  I didn't choose this.  Therefore, I was created this way.  God is the author of my gay-ness."

Still, there is a problem.  We live in a "fallen" creation; this is, in a physical universe that has been impacted negatively by the moral choices of Adam and Eve.  An originally "very good" creation has been impaired, distorted, marred - some would argue increasingly so -- by God's judgment on the physical order because of the moral sin of Adam.  Instead of the ground simply yielding healthy plants with seed for reproduction of more healthy, helpful vegetation, God told Adam that now the ground would be, in some sense, his enemy, and that it would more naturally yield "thorns and thistles" (Genesis 3)

The point is that not everything that happens in the process of physical reproduction is the "way God made it."  Everything in the physical order is laboring under the degenerating impact of sin.  Plantinga said it, "Things are not the way they are supposed to be." 

Some wonder, "What if a 'gay-gene' is found?  Won't that prove that God makes people this way?"  Not so fast.  Genetic make-up is also under the "curse of the fall."  What we may or may not find in our genes does not give us a pass to commit unrighteousness.

Clearly, the degenerating impact of sin has also scared and distorted our sexuality - our drives, our passions can be very wrong even though they may feel so natural.  And we can know which drives or passions or tendencies are wrong by evaluating them in light of a revealed moral standard; that is, the Word of God. 

UNDERSTANDING THE RECOVERY - "God can re-make me in Christ"

Again, led by the Spirit of God, Paul wrote this:  Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God's Kingdom.  Do not be fooled.  Those who sin sexually, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob -- these people will not inherit God's kingdom.  In the past, some of you were like that, but you were washed clean.  You were made holy, and your were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NCV).

When anyone comes to Christ in a humble repentance, in faith on His ability to change us from the inside out,  God does the most loving thing He can for each of us.  He refuses to leave us where we are.  He insists on something better, something that is washed and clean and out of the unrighteousness we may have felt was so very natural, even inbred.

Let's take responsibility for our unrighteousness, instead of making genetic excuses for it.  And, let's trust our Creator, who can lift us out of unrighteousness and make us clean and washed and holy in Christ.

Addressing the Evil in our Culture

Not long ago, I taught from Romans 1:18-32.  Reading and thinking about this passage brings up a host of important questions.

One frequent question asks, "How should Christians (operating from a Biblical viewpoint) address the evil that seems to multiply in our culture?"  One can quickly list how evil is growing --

• millions of abortions each year
• increasing, inhumane violence in entertainment and sports
• distorted sexual practices and addictions
• public and personal dishonesty as a way of living

Those committed to Jesus Christ in faith and life, and seeking to make a difference in a culture that is degenerating in the acceptance of sinful practices, wonder what kind of role they should have in calling out sin, standing against it, and perhaps even "turning the tide" the other way. 

ONE APPROACH-SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

The desire to make a godly difference in one's culture and society is a good one.  We are to be "salt and light."  Paul urges that we not engage in the deeds of darkness in our day, but rather "show that they are wrong" (Ephesians 5:11, NCV).  We are children of the light.

But how?  One common mistake that occurs among Christians is the insistence by some that we all "show that these things are wrong" in the same way.  For example, some believe the best way to do this is in public demonstrations, or even in confrontational approaches like letters to the paper that tell-it-like-it-is from Scripture's perspective.  These well-meaning believers are convinced that the best approach is "speaking out," insisting that our convictions and voice be heard in the public forum.

There is nothing necessarily wrong about such an approach.  It may well be what God's Spirit is leading some to do.  The mistake is insisting that any one approach should be, and must be, adopted by all, and if not, then "something is wrong."

On the flip side, there are others that believe that a quieter, more relational, even one-on-one approach of influence, perhaps that of less-confrontational love, is the more effective way to make a long term difference.  These too may insist that the less confrontational approach is the best way, and could be inclined to insist that those jousting in the public arena are doing more harm than good, and should desist.

LET THE CONVICTION UNIFY, LET THE STRATEGIES VARY

One thing you learn from reading both the examples and teaching of Scripture is that while the truth we have from God is indeed truth, the approaches to communicating that truth and influencing our world can be different.  God's Spirit leads various Jesus followers to impact their culture and world in different ways.  No one should insist that "the way I am doing it must be the way you do it."

We are called by God's word to share God's perspective on what evil is and the kinds of consequences evil brings to our living environments--to our neighborhoods and schools and cities and states, and even to our country.  We can honor God by clearly communicating to our culture, through our life and our words, the eschewing evil and seeking God's righteousness is the better course to take as a community or nation. 

Most important is for each of us, as committed Jesus followers, to ask God's Spirit how He would have us impact our world for Christ, and for righteousness, and follow His leading.  It may be the same as the way your fellow Christian is being led.  But then again, it may be different.

If the Spirit of God is leading each of us, and we are responding, it's all good.

"Here comes 'da judge?" Sharing Truth without Judging

Ever been around someone who is really convinced of something, and wants you to be just as convinced of the same thing...just because he/she is so thoroughly convinced?

"Man...these vitamins have REALLY changed my life.  You should try them.  No!  REALLY! Try them now!!!"

And then, if you decline - as kindly as you know how -- still your friend is offended that you weren't convinced and wouldn't try the vitamins!?

A mentor of mine once said, "No one can live on borrowed convictions."  That quiet but important idea has helped me often when I think about how I offer to the truth to others.

RELATIONSHIP AND TRUST COME FIRST

That same mentor also said, "Rules without relationship results in rebellion."  He was addressing how parents sometimes impose their rules on their children without or apart from a nurturing, affirming relationship.  The same principle works when it comes to sharing truth.  We might say, "Truth shared without trust established results in truth dismissed."

NOT CALLED TO BE THE JUDGE

God has not called us to be "judges" in the lives of other people.  A judge is someone who has the law and declares sentences of condemnation or penalty for violation of the law.  The Bible is pretty clear that all judgment belongs to Jesus.

But God has called us to lovingly and earnestly build relationships with others and in the context of that relationship, share the truth about our need of Christ and God's provision in Christ.  It is truly possible to have relationships of trust with those who are currently caring little about God's standards, and be that important presence and voice when the Spirit of God opens the door.

A GREAT EXAMPLE

A top-drawer example of this is found in the recently published book The Secert Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, written autobiographically by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield.  Dr. Butterfield was an associate professor of English who taught at Syracuse university, was in a lesbian relationship, and had a heart grounded in the political and philosophical views of Freud, Marx, and Darwin.  She was progressing professionally, but (unknown to many) falling apart personally.  As a lesbian activist, she was very involved in her gay community.

Read her story, and you will find a compelling example of how she was won to faith in Jesus Christ, and stepped away from her gay sexuality, lifestyle, and sin.  It all happened through the loving, non-judgmental sharing of a pastor and his wife, who began with her in a caring relationship, never judged, and in time shared the life-changing gospel of Jesus with a ready heart.   Pastor Ken and his wife set the pace for us here.

And, may their tribe increase!

Humble Giant - Curtis Bray (1970-2014)

Anyone who wants to get it right, personally, should read the classic by Andrew Murray.  Humility.  At the end of chapter 4, he simply asks, "Are you clothed in humility?"

From what I could see, Coach Curtis Bray was.  He was a tenacious and bright-star young football player (Monroeville, PA and University of Pittsburg).  He also was a deeply admired, albeit quiet, coach.  He didn't say much, but he worked very hard.  He didn't berate or dress-down kids, but he got all they had to offer, and more ("right, Cory?")

Curtis would rarely miss our 30 minute "Coaches Huddles," a simple Bible study in which a few of the Iowa State University football coaches came together -- usually the day before the game -- to listen to the Spirit's voice in the Father's Word.  He loved when Scripture made sense, could sharpen his outlook, and sculpt his character.

I will deeply miss Curtis, not because I knew him so intimately or because we had long, important talks.  But I think the world loses hugely, and the ISU football family has lost particularly, a gentle, humble giant who quietly loved Jesus Christ, valued his salvation by faith, and did his job.  I grieve for his wife Heather, and for his two unbelievably beautiful children Sydney (8) and Colden (6),  Few things are as valuable as a faithful husband and intentional father - Curtis was both of those.

May God's comforting grace be the sustaining strength of the lives of his loved ones and friends.  Our  Father's timing is always best.  But in a significant part of my heart, there is a gaping hole.

What's luke-warm Christianity?

I've hung around Division One football for some 14-15 years, as a voluntary team chaplain for the Iowa State Cyclones.  Thank you, Dan McCarney, for my entree in, and thank you, Coach Rhoads, for the honor of being a part of your team.

You can't hang around Division One football and not see injuries.  Twisted limbs, bruised muscles, backs, a raft of physical hurts without number.

EXTREME TEMPERATURES ARE EFFECTIVE

Athletic trainers are professionals who bring athletes back by their skill in administering treatments and therapy.

Sometimes, an injured athlete can be seen sitting in an iced tub of cold water.  It is bitingly cold water that reduces blood flow and swelling so that the extent of an injury can be kept to a minimum.

Sometimes an injured athlete can be seen with a heating pad around a thigh, or wrapped around a back.  It is heat that increases blood flow, and brings much needed oxygen to areas that need healing and strengthening.

Cold.  Heat.  Injuries can begin healing through them.  Strength can be recovered through them. Temperatures which are useful and effective.

COLD, HOT, or LUKEWARM CHRISTIANS

In the Biblical book of REVELATION, chapters 2-3 record Jesus sizing up the effectiveness of 7 churches which were organized and operating in the region of Asia Minor (today, modern Turkey).  Jesus assessed the faithfulness and fruitfulness of these churches, and more particularly, the ministry effectiveness of His followers in these churches.

In Revelation 3:15-16, the Lord of the church of Laodicea makes a startling statement:  I know your works, you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  History tells us that near Laodicea, there were both cool healing water pools, and hot spring healing water pools.  Both were effective for the restoration of people's physical bodies.  No pool was effective if it was lukewarm.

Jesus rebukes his followers for being "luke-warm."  He sized up their "works" and found them not effective for the kingdom.  The graphic is powerful.  "Because you are luke-warm, I will spit you out of my mouth," a metaphor of disapproval.

WHAT IS LUKEWARM SPIRITUALITY?

Over the centuries of Christian thought, much has been written about what being "luke-warm" is?  In keeping with the historical context (and you can read the rest of what Jesus says to the Laodicean church), it must be related to Christians who are not willing to become effective, self-sacrificing servants of Jesus toward others. Perhaps people content to keep their Christian faith to themselves.  Perhaps Christians who are content in their self-assessment of being "rich" without caring for using what God has put in their hands to minister to others.

The solution (as you continue to read Jesus' letter to them, Rev. 3:17f) is to reopen the door of their hearts to Jesus, let him come in and fellowship, and restore His passion for ministry to their lives.

Never forget - Jesus is on a mission for people.  He loves them.  He died for them.  He expects His followers to join Him in effective, fruitful ministry.  He doesn't have much time for posers, benchwarmers, the complacent, the uncommitted.

I wish you were hot, or cold!!  the Master pleads.  Let Me back in to the center of your heart, and what you do with your life.

SO...whom DOES God love?

Someone recently asked, Can God love someone who does good but does not worship Him?

The Scriptures of God offer a very clear "yes" answer to that question.

GOD LOVES ALL MEN AND EVERY MAN

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (i.e., His Son).  John 3:16-17

But God demonstrates His own love for us in that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

But God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their tresspasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:18-19.

Repeatedly, God's Word assures us that no matter the condition of a person's heart, whether he/she worships Him or not, God has loved and does love every person.

A SECOND QUESTION...

But there is a second question implied in the first one.  It might be stated something like this:  Will someone who does good things, but does not worship God, be spared from the wrath of God against his unforgiven sin?

Again the Bible is very clear about this.  Even someone who attempts to do good things in life still has a personal sin problem.  And that sin, when appraised by a thoroughly righteous and holy God, requires justice.  Romans 6:23 - "the wages of sin (or the penalty of sinning) is death...."  In God's system of justice, good works do not cancel out the death penalty of personal sin.  The penalty can indeed be canceled -- such is God's offered gift to everyone  -- but it must be cancelled through the substitutionary death of Christ, who paid for that sin, and whose sacrifice must be trusted in by the sinner, no matter how "good" that person has tried to be.

Paul said it to the jailmaster in Philippi, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).  God loves us all, those who do good and those who do evil.  Christ died for all.  And all must trust, not in their own goodness, but in Christ's sacrifice, if they desire to enjoy the eternal benefits of God's grace and love.

Can God's Gift of Righteousness Be Lost?

Someone recently asked, "When we accept righteousness, does that mean we live righteous, or do we have to accept it over and over again when we slip in sin?"

Great question.  We must think the way God asks us to think about this.  We must accept as true what He says to be true.

First, when God declares us "righteous" in Christ when we believe, we "have become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This simply means that all our sin's penalty and guilt has been paid for, the debt is paid, the issue of our eternal righteousness is settled.  Simply put, we have a RIGHTEOUS STANDING in Christ, by the grace of God (cf. Romans 5:1).

Second, even though we are declared righteous, we still live our lives in a body and with a mind that can sin and does sin.  Hear this clearly - declared righteous people, in Christ, still sin!   John reminds us, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1).  But our new life in Christ means that we are on a new path to overcoming the practice of sin in our lives, and having those practices replaced with "righteous" living.  In other words, God's talk about us (RIGHTEOUS) starts to become our walk in life day by day.

So, the God's word makes these two realities clear.  We are declared RIGHTEOUS, and we are growing in day-by-day RIGHT LIVING.

When we slip up in sin, here is what our heavenly Father asks - If we confess our sins (to Him), He is always faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  Because Christ's death has covered our sins, even the ones we will commit, God is always ready to forgive our slip ups.

In other words, by faith in Christ, we belong to Christ (Romans 1:6-7).  We are saints, who are growing in Christlikeness, growing in our righteousness.  Sin happens, but God's grace covers our sin and motivates us to make God's talk about us our walk before Him.

RIGHTEOUSNESS - Given, and something for which to Hunger and Thirst

"How thoroughly happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for such will be satisfied" (Jesus, Matthew 5:6).

What in the world does that mean?  Better - what did Jesus mean by that?

In a recent teaching, I contended with my audience that our most pressing, most urgent need is righteousness.  Our problem - the God before whom we will stand requires righteousness at the doorway into eternity.  Those who have it "will see His face."  Those who do not will be lost, forever.  That the Scriptures of God make clear.

Righteousness is that quality of character, thought, and action which exactly and consistently conforms to a clear, moral standard.  More briefly, if anyone can always keep God's law, he or she has righteousness.

And therein lies our problem.  None of us have or can get it on our own.  Without some Divine help, we all will step into eternity without the condition which is required to be in God's presence and joys for days without end.  Again, the Scriptures of God make this crystal clear.

THE GOOD NEWS OF DIVINE HELP

The Scriptures of God make something else clear as well, to our great relief.  A thoroughly righteous God knows we don't have righteousness.  Furthermore, He knows we cannot achieve it.  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Yet the good news is that this same God offers what we don't have and what we urgently need freely to us, without cost and apart from personal achievement.  God the Father is eager to do this because God the Son - who was and is righteous - lived a righteous life and then died in our place to pay our sin's penalty.  He cried on the cross, "It is finished."  His in-my-place sacrifice was completed, and the Father proved the sacrifice was sufficient and completed by raising His sacrified Son from the dead.  "He was raised for our justification."

So here is the good news.  I don't have righteousness, and I cannot earn righteousness...but I can be GIVEN Christ's righteousness, by faith; that is, if I will trust in what God has said about what Jesus did for me.  "God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin on my behalf, so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

How about you?  Do you believe this?  Read the previous paragraph again.  Now, I ask you again, do you believe this?  If so, your faith is counted as righteousness.  God, in your believing, gives you the gift of righteousness.

A HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

I believe Jesus meant at least two things when he uttered the teaching quoted in the first line of this piece.

First, Jesus was teaching that every person who longs for God's righteousness to be applied to their life -- and that longing is expressed in faith -- is "satisfied."  The promise of God is simply this - when you believe, God saves.  When you believe in Christ, his death for sin is applied to you, and his righteousness is given to you.  God declares you, in Christ, "righteous."  Romans 5:1 says, "When we are justified (declared righteous by faith), we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, Jesus was also teaching that once a person has been "satisfied" by being declared righteous by God, the longing continues.  Such a person wants his/her living to be more and more an expression of the righteousness of God.  Such a person grows in a Christ-likeness of thinking and acting.  A "righteous living" grows.  The declared condition of such a person ("righteous", by faith in Christ)  becomes more and more the daily lifestyle of the person ("right living" by faith).

This is what the writer to the Hebrews Christians meant when he said, "Strive for...the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord"  (Hebrews 12:14).   We might say, "Let your declared-by-God condition, RIGHTEOUS, become more and more your daily-before-God way of living."

Let God's talk about you ("Bill, in Christ, is righteous!") become your walk in the world ("Bill, on the job, lives in a way pleasing to God")

David put it this way - Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O God of my salvation.

How important are "on-fire" relationships?

Not too long ago, we tore an ugly deck off the back of our home.  In its place went a stone patio that helped the back of our house -- exposed to a major road in our town - to look like we "meant it."

My favorite feature of the stone patio is the fire pit.  Few things I enjoy more than building a tee-pee style fire with dry wood, and watching the flames for an hour in the cool of a darkening evening.  Something about burning logs fully aflame, each leaning into each other making the whole fire have a greater light and warmth.

In the course of the fire's life, as the wood is consummed, at times the structure of the logs falters, and  one of the burning pieces falls away, down on the side of the fire...and within short minutes, its flame is gone and the charred sides are growing cold.

No ember stays aflame on its own.  Each log needs both enough oxygen and other combustible pieces to keep the fire a-burning bright and hot.

FOSTERING ON-FIRE RELATIONSHIPS

One thoughtful dad texted this question to me during a recent worship-service teaching:  "How can we foster those daily sharpening relationships if other people in our church fellowship are not involved daily with us?"

This is an important question, one that internally expresses the core dilemma.  To use the fire-pit picture, the flame of personal spiritual fire happens when logs lean together and a greater Someone sets them on fire.

Two factors must be present.  One is Someone to light the flame - and undoubtably, that is The Lord Himself, through His Spirit and His Word.  A second is the intentionality of the logs to lean together...on a regular basis.

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING...

I believe The Lord is ready and willing to light the fire.  We have his call to "lean together regularly," to get together  often enough in a posture where He can light the flame among us.  Very practically, this means being intentional about getting together with others (e.g., from a church fellowship) of a similar passion and mind, in order to listen to The Lord in that relationship and encourage one another in being spiritually aflame.

One couple can invite two or three other couples to a regular meeting for these purposes.  Families could gather together monthly for fun and spiritual encouragement and accountability.  Individuals can call others to such a group.

The question has its own answer.  Taking initiative to be together and to burn brightly together can have incredible benefits.  The Lord is always ready to light the flame.  He just needs the logs to decide to lean together in regular rhythms of interaction, prayer, and encouragement.

There's nothing like "on fire" relationships.

Not on the same page. Now what?

On Sunday mornings where the body of believers I serve meet to worship, part of the teaching time is a Q-A.  People can text questions to 515-209-2060.

This question came after today's teaching:  My colleagues (at the university) do not recognize the Bible or Jesus as the standard of righteousness.  What can I say to these people?  Worse, claiming to belong to a denominational church, they do not acknowledge a Biblical view of righteous living?

LITTLE CONSENSUS ON MORAL STANDARDS

This questioner, a friend of mine, has put his finger on something that is, indeed, so very true in our 21st century milieu.  Like the ancient days in the Biblical period of the JUDGES (cf. Old Testament book, 1350-1050 BC), people "do what is right in their own eyes."  In those days--and in ours--respect for the historical standard of righteousness (i.e., the Torah, or OT Law, or more broadly the Bible) evaporated.  Each crafts his/her own moral code.

Nonetheless, people generally do believe in some code of "right" and "wrong."  As C.S. Lewis argues effectively in Mere Christianity, an ingrained sense of "oughtness" is a unique and undeniable human trait.  He called it the "law of human nature," and pressed the question, "From where does this come?"  For Lewis, this inbred moral code and the logical answer to its origin, was the clue to understanding the meaning of the universe.

Perhaps there is more consensus on a "standard of righteousness" generally among people -- and thus an opportunity to talk about the implications of this -- than we may have realized.  Perhaps the place to start is not with God's or Jesus' standard of righteousness, but with this persistent code of morals which seems deeply stamped on the human heart.  Our tutor in engaging in such discussions would be the former Oxford don, who himself was led from atheism to theism, and eventually to Jesus, because he could not explain away the origin of the "oughtness" in his heart.

WILL THE WRONGS EVER BE RIGHTED?

The other starting place with colleagues or friends who do not acknowledge the Bible's or Jesus' standard of righteousness is to ask, "Lots of human beings have gotten away with lots of evil, for which there has never been justice.  Do you think those wrongs will ever be righted?  Is there no final reckoning?"

Most people believe God exists and most might agree that the injustices need a "righting."  If so, who will do this?  If God is perfect and just, will he not "set things right"?  And if so, how?  On what basis?  What will be the standard?

Such a discussion could lead back to who God is and a future accounting.  In such a dialogue, we might find people leaning their thinking back to the clarity of the moral measuring stick which was the teaching of Jesus and is the Bible.  Especially if we pray that the Holy Spirit will do the convincing (cf. John 16:8-11)

TO THE ROMANS: Why did Paul write?

"To get a letter, hand written, on paper, sent to you.  Now that's a treasure1"

So the testimony of Bill O'Reilly recently on his O'Reilly Factor show.  His point -- make the effort and write a encouragintg letter to someone else.

If such items are indeed treasures (do you keep the letters written to you?), such was the preferred method of God Himself in the early days of the church.  As Jesus grew His church around the Roman Empire, the Spirit was active sending such treasures to congregations which dotted the landscapes around the Mediterranean Sea.

THE LETTER TO ROME

In time, perhaps sometime shortly after A.D. 55, a church was born in the empire's capital city.  While in Corinth, and about to head to Jerusalem--though never having been to Rome -- Paul felt the Spirit's inspiring tug to write what we now have in our Bibles as a 16 chapter letter.

But why?  All the letters written to the 1st century churches had targets they were written to hit.  At what bullseye Paul was aiming with his pen?

ROME DIDN'T KNOW PAUL

The Apostle to the Gentiles had not yet met these believers.  Paul knew that the Spirit's itinerary for him would eventually take him there.  His letter would help clarify for those believers who Paul was and why he should be welcomed.

ROMAN BELIEVERS WERE DIVIDING

A careful reading of any letter can tell you the fuller story.  In ROMANS, Paul addresses those things which would naturally divide believers of different backgrounds.  Jewish believers  would take pride in their religious heritage and naturally look down on non-Jewish Christians.  Gentile believers would naturally be dismissive of, and even trample on, Jewish traditions and laws.  Preferred differences and  sectarian prides makes for a divided body of Jesus.  Paul wrote to unify through humbling both sides.

ALL NEED GOD'S GRACE

What could well introduce Paul and bring sides together was that which God could give - GRACE.  Unmerited grace.  Saving, redeeming, wrath-satisfying, pride-diminishing grace.   "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have our introduction into God's grace, in which we stand" (Rom 5:1-2).

There is a remarkable treasure in your copy of the Scriptures.  It is Paul's letter to the Romans.  Make the time to open it, prayerfully read.  Imagine being a young Christian in a young church and needing with others to hear God's voice about your need of grace.

We will be opening this treasure beginning this Sunday at First EFC in Ames.  You're invited to come, or at least, to join us online (www.amesefc.org at 9:00 or 10:35 AM).

What about a "good news" app?

What kind of news might the peoples of the world welcome?  What would bring a smile if it were to flash across the screen, pop up in an email, or scroll across a tweet?

If there were a GOOD NEWS app, what might bring joy when someone clicked on "open"?

GOOD NEWS CANDIDATES

From what I can observe, people welcome the following news -

• someone (at best, "me!") has won a multi-million $ lottery
• a cure for some wasting disease has been discovered
• my team is national champion!
• great weather ahead
• I've been given a raise!
• the economy is improving
• a grandchild is on the way!
• a hero came through for someone in difficult straits
• a criminal received his/her due
• a billionaire has given it all away

It's worth asking: what news would lift your heart?

BEST NEWS APP

I've been asking people what they perceive that they really need.  I'm grateful people I've approached have thoughtfully responded on simple surveys.  Answers like "more time," "to find a well paying job that fits me," and "to be loved" are common.  People are clearly preoccupied with the immediate, or the very personal.

God has the best news for each and every person, a sort of "good news app" if you will.  Anyone can download it by reading Paul's letter to the Romans.  The "app" offers that for which our greatest need begs.

Our greatest need is found in our lack of righteousness, and the inevitable prospect of standing before a thoroughly righteous God at the end of our threescore and ten here.  The best news available is (to use John Stott's well-crafted words) that "God's righteous initiative is putting sinners right with Himself, by bestowing on them a righteousness which is not their own but His...God's righteous way of pronouncing the unrighteous righteous...He has done it through Christ."

Share the app (Romans 1:16-17)!

What does the love of Christ do...

"The love of Christ _________ us."

How might you fill in the blank with a word?

Various translations of 2 Corinthians 5:14 offer various words.

LIVING BIBLE and ESV and RSV - "controls."
AMPLIFIED BIBLE - "controls and urges and impels"
GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION/CEV - "rules"
NIV - "compels"
GOD'S WORD TRANSLATION - "guides"
WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE - "constrains"

What does the love of Christ do to you?

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Of course, the phrase can be understood in two ways.  Is the "love of Christ" His love for me?  Or is the "love of Christ" my love for Him?  What did Paul mean when he wrote this phrase?  How are we to understand it?  Greek grammarians would say it's the difference between an "objective genitive" (His love for me) and a "subjective genitive" (my love for Him).  The context should lean you to one or the other.

In the context of 2 Corinthians 5, it is likely the former.  Jesus' love for us -- more particularly -- Jesus love for me, for you, has a clear impact on the way the one loved lives.  Jesus' love for me "controls, urges, impels, rules, guides, constrains" me in a certain way.  The rest of the verses (5:15-21) explains.

Paul writes he is compelled, constrained, guided and urged by Jesus's self-sacrificing love for everyone and every one TO BE God's ambassador.  To be someone who communicates for God (God making His appeal through us) to men and women, girls and boys, that they be reconciled to God.

Jesus' love makes us beggars.  We beg people to receive God's love and forgiveness.  We beg people to understand that God "poured our sins" into Jesus, so that he could "pour Jesus' righteousness" into us (5:21, Living Bible).

Our men's group this morning was checked up by this applicational question:  With how many people in 2013 did you plead with to be reconciled to God?  And how many in 2014 will hear God pleading through us to this end?

What does the love of Christ do to you?  Or should I say "through" me, and you?

Listening to the Ancient Giants

If you think seriously about matters which truly shape and turn the life you are living, then the following question should not be dismissed.

To whom are you listening?

There are 10,000 voices that fill your ears and vie for your heart on a regular basis.  The onslaught of modern voices is not necessarily a life-giving stream for the heart.  It appears more to be the shallow, swirling, and muddy backwash of an unwelcomed flood.  Paul worried over young Christians who would be "carried about by every wind of doctrine."

A Proverb suggests that we do well to "guard the heart, for from it flow the springs (or issues) of life."

Jesus remarked, "It's not what goes into a man that defiles him, it is what comes out of a man."

If our heart requires rich and nourishing deposits in order to produce that which is wise and life-givng to others, guarding the heart means carefully selecting its inputs.

I'm not suggesting ignorance of the current blather.  However, awareness of the chatter within the "backwash" is not the same as drinking regularly from it.

READING THE OLD BOOKS

In his biography of C.S. Lewis, McGrath draws attention to an important essay the Oxford scholar wrote in 1944 entitled "On the Reading of Old Books."  Lewis observes:

Every age has its own outlook.  It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook—even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united—united with each other and against earlier and later ages—by a great mass of common assumptions. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?"—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Dr. HG Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.

This quote from the essay offers substantial wisdom about shaping the perspectives of my heart.  The full piece is worth reading, and can be found by doing a search with Lewis' title.

"What 'old books' might I read?" you ask.  That's a fair, and important question.  

You might begin by asking a more precise question.  "What are the issues (or core questions about life) that need firm resolution in my heart?"    Or, more simply, what inside do I need to get straightened out?   It can be helpful to write out the key matters upon which you need conviction grounded in truth.

Then, once you have determined the answers which need discovery, as the wisest people you know -- and especially those who know God well -- for suggestions on which ancient giants are worth listening to.

Your heart --and life -- will be grateful you did.

Scripture: Revelation or Shrugged Away

Our conversation somehow shifted from Rick's 16-rounds-in-10-days trip to Scotland to his surprise over what happened in a Bible study he was leading recently.  The latter was clearly more important to him.

"I was stunned at how quickly some in the study sided with prevailing cultural opinion," Rick said.  "So I asked, 'What do you do with Leviticus 18?'  They just shrugged their shoulders."

Rick attends a leading evangelical church in Wheaton IL.  A church that has long heralded the authority of straightforwardly interpreted Scripture - in its historical context, allowing the Biblical (and Divine) author speak.   Yet he finds himself in a study with Jesus followers that struggle sticking with Scripture.

REVELATION or DEBATED INTERPRETATION

Several years ago, Alistar McGrath's book Christianity's Most Dangerous Idea argued that one of the difficult ideas emerging from the 16th-17th centuries' Protestant Reformation was that any Christian, with a Bible and a the presumed guidance of the Holy Spirit, could authoritatively interpret the Scriptures for himself/herself.  

To be sure, the freedom Christians (especially those where personal freedoms are honored) have to read, interpret, and apply Scripture provides us tremendous spiritual growth opportunity.

But this immense privilege has a less helpful, if not harmful, aspect.  When Christians "interpret" Scripture by reading it and then dismissing any particular passage's right to speak against the grain of current cultural opinion, God's authoritative voice is muffled, if not muted.  Divine Revelation is emasculated.  Don Carson called it "the gagging of God."  The clear meaning arising from a Scripture passage ceases to be God's voice.   We somehow feel justified in shrugging  away our need to bend the knee in humble worship and obedience.

STOP SHRUGGING - THINK BIBLICALLY

Let's re-anchor our approach to Scripture in the Biblical doctrine of Inspiration.  Ryrie defined it as "God's superintendance of human authors so that using their own individual personalities and style, they composed in the autographs (the original writings) God's authoritative revelation to man."

Let's read Scripture, reflect on it, intepret in its grammatical and historical context, and let it speak as God's Spirit delivered it.   Doing this gives us a chance to do in our generation and in current culture, the important privilege of thinking Biblically and living in alignment with God's revelation.

Remember - God didn't set forth the 10 commandments as a referendum for public vote.  He revealed them as an unmistakable and life-guiding moral compass.

For What do You Pray?

While conducting an informal survey in my favorite coffee haunt today (sure...ask me about the survey!), a friend came in and we shared a few moments over the dark, black stuff.  I shared that I am praying through our church ministry's missionary prayer calendar.  There are several missions needs listed for each day.

"What do you pray?" he asked.

That's a great question to be asked, and to answer.  Many secularists (perhaps all) dismiss prayer as foolishness; not me.

My response to my friend was that I try to imagine (if I'm short on up-to-date info) where the missionary is, his/her setting, and think about the spiritual life and ministry challenges he/she may be facing.  We finished our conversation noting the importance of not just speaking with God, but listening to Him as well.

FOR WHAT DO YOU PRAY? [Finish the sentence]

I've been reflecting on our conversation in the after-burn hours.  My thoughts about what to pray about returned to a fresh conviction that grew in my heart last year.  I believe it was from the Spirit.

Succinctly, to pray "that Jesus Christ become the most important person to...." and you finish the sentence.

Perhaps the finish for you is a close friend who has not bent the knee of his/her heart to the grace and love of God found in Christ.  Pray that Jesus become her most important person.  Pray that Jesus become his model, friend, and Lord.

Perhaps the finish for you is your local church.  I find it odd that so many churches seem to talk so much about everything else but Jesus Christ.  How can this be?  Even a cursory reading of the New Testament puts us in a full-nelson about this.  He is central to everything...why not his local churches.

Perhaps the finish for you is your community, or the college/university which you serve in some capacity.  Perhaps the finish are the employees in your business, or your exercise mates at the local "we never close" fitness center. 

You finish the (above) sentence.  And let's pray together for the supreme centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ, in 2014, for everyone and in every place. 

Why not now?

What are your 2014 Kingdom opportunities?

January 1, 2014 was an unscheduled day for me to get a few things back on the tracks.  These include --

• another run at shedding the "middle-earth" pounds (i.e., around my mid-section) I've re-acquired in November and December
• a strong prompting from the Spirit to get on my knees every day for many minutes a day, including praying for and writing to our missionaries around the world
• a personal promise to blog and tweet more frequently
• a few great starts on good reading, with the lead off read being John Stott's great commentary on ROMANS: God's Good News for the World

Popping in on the email list was a great note from a family in our church which is making friends with a family from India who are Hindu.  The wife/mom wrote to explain the relationship that is blossoming between them, and then concluding, "Any advice?"

Nothing thrills the heart of a pastor more than when a Christ-following family is given this kind of kingdom opportunity by the Spirit, and is eager to make the most of it.

What are your 2014 Kingdom opportunities this year?  Have you thought about it?  If not, why not before this 1st week of January gets away from you?

Here was my advice to my inquirer.

First, pray fervently for the Holy Spirit to lead and do the heart work.  From everything I understand from Scripture and theology, we plant and water, and must do so with loving as our lead.  But it is God who gives the increase.  It is the Spirit who persuades, draws, convicts, and gives birth.  What kingdom opportunities are you praying about already in this year?

Second, be patient and wait for good, Spirit-directed opportunities to share the truth claims of Jesus.  Yes, there are many gods in our world, but God the Son clearly and compassionately insisted that there is One True God and that He is the way home to our Creator and Redeemer.

Third, get your hands on a tool that can equip.  Read it (or listen to it) and use it.  Good resources abound about which can help "sharpen your saw" so that you are the best tool possible in the hands of the Spirit.  You can always do a topic search at a Christian Book website for the tool you need.

My encouragement?  Assess the Kingdom opportunities God is setting before you, and start praying for a fruitful year of impact and ministry in the lives of others.  Who knows what the Spirit might do, through all of us Jesus-followers this year.

START RIGHT - Resolve to Read...and be choosy

One of the reoccurring frustrations in my life is the tension between so much to read and the lack of time to read.   I subscribe, and then unsubscribe, to rich feasts of the heart.  My apologies, again, WSJ.

Last summer, I attended a preaching workshop led by a gifted communicator only to hear him say, "I don't read hardly anything...especially not books.  Takes too much time." 

Sorry, I'm not that gifted, nor that original. I constantly have to stand on the mental shoulders of others in my desperate attempt to keep a fresh stream flowing through my heart.

If you are reading this, I hope you will resolve to read in 2014.  Shut down the Xbox.  Forget another 30 minutes of Sports Center, and for goodness sake, stop blathering on Facebook.  Start feeding your heart with great thoughts well written.  Buy a Kindle or a Nook, and start downloading.  Then find a coffee shop that doesn't dominate your ears with crude music, pick a favorite corner, and read for an hour.

Hey, why not?

A COUPLE OF RECOMMENDS

If you love anything written by C.S. Lewis, then let me recommend Alistair McGrath's new Lewis bio: C.S. Lewis-Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet.  His chapters leading up to Lewis' transformation from atheism to embracing Christianity are quite insightful, and his chapter on Lewis' conversion is fascinating.  Kudos to J.R.R. Tolkien!   Lewis, as you will discover, was quite human (that is, fallen), and he also was quite converted!

Another important book you might consider is by Os Guiness, a Christian philosopher/historian who as written extensively on a number of subjects.  His latest challenges us all (and in the camp where I usually hang out, evangelical Christians) to join the call for "soul freedom," the opportunity for all (religionists and secularists) to affirm the right of every human being to freely think and believe and practice what they believe, and extending that right to all others. 

"Soul freedom," Guiness offers, "is for the good of all, down to the very last human person."  This recognition is something which will necessitate "that educated elites in the Western world must overcome their personal prejudices about religion in order to take it as seriously at it deserves, ad that no solution will be possible without a partnership between responsible religious believers and responsible secularists." (p.27)

Yes, it's a heavier read, but Guiness' approach provides us with an opportunity offer others the truth of Christianity without insisting on cramming it down others' throats, and asks for the same from those with different or even opposite views.

I am thankful to friend Tom Ingebritson for giving me a copy of the book, and recommend it your way.

ONE MORE THING...

If you do decide to read more and Facebook less, and you are a follower of Jesus, be sure to pray over what you are reading.  I mean, why not ask the Holy Spirit to give you His insight on what you are putting in your mind and heart?

Happy 2014