Loving the truth

Christians, at least Western Christians, are an odd bunch.  Even within denominational lines you have varying battles over what's right and true, what's central to Christianity and what isn't.  My observation is that there is a struggle for people to really engage in these debates and see them through to the end; so many times I see people throw up their hands after the first or second response and walk away simply because they dislike conflict.  That's understandable; I know of few people who enjoy getting into fights with others.  But the problem here is that by not taking a firm stance on defining what Christianity is and what the truth is on many subjects, the faith has absorbed a strange mishmash of beliefs that, in reality, bear no resemblance to biblical Christianity.  For example, this particularly vexing bit of malarkey from Joel Osteen's wife, Victoria, followed by very poignant commentary by Bill Cosby:



There has been a lot of commentary and snark on this, unsurprisingly, but I want to respond to this with a much more serious tone.  My concern is one for my family, my friends, my brothers and sisters in the faith who hear this and may not be deeply rooted in the Word or simply don't think that what she's saying here is really that big of a deal.  I've responded to Joel Osteen before, and I want to flesh out my problem and preach the truth of the Gospel to my friends and family that happen to read this here.

Firstly: I've seen responses to this that offer a tongue-clucking "Poor dear, she just had a little slip-up" excusing of her bizarre, patently unbiblical statements.  I do not agree.  What you are hearing from her is not atypical from the prosperity gospel crowd, because it's precisely what they believe about God.  You would never hear the Westminster Catechism's "The chief end of man is to glorify God" because they view salvation and, in fact, all of God's activities, in an ultimately man-centered way: Jesus died to save us from our sins, yes, but the reason isn't because God is glorifying Himself by displaying both His mercy and His justice.  It's because He is just so into us that He can't think of doing anything but making us happy.  In this philosophy Jesus is not the mighty King of the universe who will return wielding a sword to vanquish His enemies.  Instead, He is a meek servant that waits on us kingdom kids hand and foot, taking away anything that might stop us from having a grand old time.

"But doesn't the Bible promise rewards to the faithful?"  Absolutely it does.  And it also promises that those who follow Christ are walking in a way that is contrary to what a man who is dead in his sin believes is right, and because of that, this life is not one of ease and pleasure, but rather one that involves sacrifice and, often, persecution:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.--John 15:18-20

This is not to say that Christians therefore can expect painful lives of drudgery either; certainly we take a great deal of joy in what God does provide us, and He knows exactly what we need so that we might live to His glory:

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.--Luke 12:22-31

Believing that your relationship with Jesus exists for the purpose of giving you something else that you want, even something undefinable like "happiness" or something ostensibly good like healing from sickness, is not Christianity.  It's idolatry, for two reasons: 1) Scripture says that the only thing we can earn from God is death.  That which we receive from God that is good is a gift from Him.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23) 2) You cannot make God owe you anything.  "The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." (Prov 10:3)  Is this a God which can be made to perform based on our deeds, words, or our "faith?"  Of course, when listening to a prosperity preacher, faith is not the gift Scripture describes it to be, but a tangible commodity that one can gain or lose and without which God is incapable of acting because of...something.  "Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—   I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly."--Isaiah 1:13
God is speaking to the Israelites who are doing--on the outside--exactly what he commanded them to do, and He is telling them that He wants nothing to do with it.  Is this a God who can be manipulated into action?  Of course not.  God is our source of life, of existence, He provides all things and lays out our steps in life.  Read the Psalms--firstly, of course, because they are amazingly worshipful and refreshing to the soul, but also because there is no way to study them and come away with a picture of a God who is constrained by anything or who is standing there trying to please us.  Quite the opposite: "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." (Ps 115:3)  

So let's move from criticizing a lie to this post's title: the truth, and why it is critical that we love the truth.  As I said, it is impossible to study the Word in any depth and come away with an image of God that is in any way weak, needy, or anything other than absolutely sovereign and in control.  He is infinite, all-powerful, yet utterly personal, and it is His good pleasure not simply to "make us happy," a simple yet ultimately meaningless goal, but to make us His:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:1-10

We were spiritually dead, He made us alive.  We were astray, He put us on the path of righteousness.  He took out hearts of stone and replaced them with hearts of flesh.  And we can take credit for none of it.  Our God is in the heavens and He does what pleases Him, and what pleases Him is to save a people for Himself through Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His role as the first of the resurrection, and as great high priest for all who are His.  Why on earth would I waste my time on the God of the prosperity gospel, one that can't act unless I "have enough faith" and offers nothing but the same earthly pleasures that everyone else pursues, that will all perish in the end?

If we will not love the truth, we will be caused to love a lie.  For this reason, and because there is no greater calling to which a human can aspire, I call on my readers, my friends, my family, to love Jesus and follow the King!  To repent of sin and leave your burden nailed to the cross is true freedom, to grow in grace is true joy.

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.--John 12:44-46

Taking a break

Blogger has an interesting little feature--well, interesting to an analytical type like myself--that shows me a breakdown of blog visitors by what post they are going to.  Now, of course, I certainly get my share of bots crawling around looking for whatever it is they're looking to suck up into Google's ever-hungry maw, but I have been blessed with readers and I can only hope that I have been used by God to speak the truth of the Gospel into someone's life.  I find it interesting that my all-time most-read post is not some controversial rant or deep theological thing, but a simple post written during a time I was hurting and struggling to trust in God's providing hand.  It is in that vein that I write here, and my intention to announce a small, (God willing) temporary change.

The joy and frustration of living in this "already/not yet" world that contains the Gospel but not its ultimate fulfillment produces lots of hard times.  It is unfortunate that I am crossing over into one of those right now.  I take a great deal of joy in knowing that God has promised exactly what the result of a time like this will be already:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.--Romans 8:18-30

 Knowing that to be true, the painful time that I am passing into right now is tempered by a very strange sense of peace, one that I know the last few years have been shaping me to go through, and a time that I know God will use for further shaping.  I am purposefully not giving any specifics at this time, but my point in writing this is to say that I will be taking time away from here, and those of you who follow me on Twitter or chat with me in the Reformed Pub or elsewhere on Facebook will probably be seeing much less of me.

I know, I know: "How can you take a hiatus from something you do maybe 2 or 3 times a month?"  But I actually do it more than that; I just take time with things, and I've always got numerous posts sitting in draft status waiting to be finished even as I post new ones.  I'm writing simply to say that I covet your prayers, and that I hope to return to this space shortly with a testimony that will give glory to God for the incredible work He is doing in our lives.  He is good, and I desire to have that perfect love cast out all fear and leave in its place the sort of strength that does not rely on human will, but on a God who is the sovereign King of the universe.  May He be merciful and wise.

Freedom in Christ; or, yes, it's okay to have a cold one

Over at the Reformed Pub someone posted a link to this article on a website for a church called Crossroads Christian Church.  The article asks the question, "can a Christian drink alcohol?"  Now, in the interest of fairness, I am going to get all the sarcasm out of me right now: The short answer, is yes.  The long answer, is yeeeeeeeeees.  Also, in the interests of full disclosure, this post (like others) is written with a stein of beer next to me; in this case, St. Arnold's Summer Pilsner.  Highly recommended for that "I've just finished mowing the lawn" time of day.

Okay, silliness aside, I'd like to provide a response to their claims.  Now, if I was a member of this church I would be under their authority and would have no interest in stirring up trouble.  However, my church does not make any such claims and I do have an interest in promoting the full truth of Scripture over and above man's traditions.

On Monday night, news broke that Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, Shaun White, had been charged with vandalism and public intoxication. On my Facebook wall, I posted the following comment: “This just in . . . and the gold medal for character enhancement, once again, goes to alcohol.”

I see this quite a bit in writings by Christians promoting abstinence from alcohol: no longer is man's sin at the center of his depravity, but an inanimate substance that by itself does nothing.  It's not that Shaun White acted like a fool, it's that alcohol destroyed his brain and removed his ability to think for himself.  Let's be clear: Shaun White didn't do anything that was not in his heart already.  Alcohol may have lowered the gate, but what roared out into the night was Shaun White Uncensored and Unfiltered.

For years, well-meaning, sincere Christians have debated the subject of drinking. Let me be clear by saying there isn’t a single verse in the Bible that says a Christian cannot have a drink; although the Bible clearly warns about the destructive and addictive nature of alcohol (Proverbs 20:1; 21:17; 23:29-35; Ephesians 5:18) and is very clear that drunkenness is always wrong (Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 4:3; Habakkuk 2:15; 1 Corinthians 5:11).
The Bible is also clear that mature Christians should avoid causing others to stumble by drinking (Romans 14:21), and that leaders ought to avoid drinking alcohol (Proverbs 31:4-7) and cannot be given to drunkenness (1 Timothy 3:3, 8 Titus 1:7.)

 The "destructive nature of alcohol" is not simply about alcohol; the Bible warns over and over and over again about the sinfulness of idolatry: putting anything as preeminent in our lives above God.  And yes, for many people alcohol becomes that idol; a man who knows this is wise to avoid it.  But what about for the Christian for whom something the average person might consider innocuous or even good is an idol?  We've appended "-aholic" to words like "work" to demonstrate how someone is allowing an overriding desire to rule their lives in a similar (and similarly destructive) fashion, but no one calls for Christians to give up work.  The fear of alcohol as more dangerous or inherently evil does not benefit the believer who doesn't struggle with the idol of alcoholism, but has another issue in its place, nor does it honor the Scripture which also uses wine as a picture of blessing, commands for wine to be used in Jewish offerings to God and as a reward of obedience, and so forth.

And of course, I haven't even gotten into issues like Jesus turning water into wine. The idea that we can derive some kind of support for the last century and a half or so of American temperance from Scripture just make no sense.  But it's not my desire to play "dueling prooftexts," but to point to one undeniable truth: alcohol, and the methods by which we come by it, were established by God on purpose and for our benefit.  The author of this piece apparently believes the opposite:

I have yet to hear from anyone who drinks how alcohol enhances anything or blesses anyone. Max Lucado said, “One thing for sure, I have never heard anyone say, ‘A beer makes me feel more Christlike . . . Fact of the matter is this: People don’t associate beer with Christian behavior.”¹ I’ve yet to see how it improves someone’s testimony or makes anyone a more effective witness for Christ. Quite the contrary, like Shaun White mentioned above, or Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts’ son, who was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, driving under the influence, the result doesn’t enhance your testimony. Rather, it takes away from what testimony you had.

Then hear from me, now.  Some of the most inspiring and moving moments of conversation with my brothers have come over beer.  I have been blessed by going up to the Ginger Man in Dallas with two godly men who desired to raise a glass to the King, and watched as one turned to an Indian couple next to them, engaged them in conversation, and bore witness to them of what Christ had done for him.  They never once said "Well, that's nice and all...but you're drinking!  How can you say you love Jesus when you're drinking alcohol?"  It's irrelevant, and the argument has no grounds to stand on.  Once again, alcohol did not create anything in these men that was not there to begin with:

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”--Matthew 15:10-20

Let's continue, to what I consider the real crux of the problem with this article:

Recently, a friend of mine, former mega-church Pastor, John Caldwell, wrote an article in Christian Standard magazine called To Drink or Not to Drink? Here’s the link to his article. John’s article explained why he has personally abstained from drinking alcohol and dealt with the bigger issue of the contemporary church becoming more and more like the world.
Not surprisingly, a number of people responded to John’s article and some called him to task for taking such a strong stand against drinking. In response to the responses, my good friend, Ken Idleman, former President of Ozark Christian College and now Pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Evansville, IN, wrote these words, which are among the very best I’ve ever read on this issue. I asked Ken for his permission to share them here.
“Okay, I am conscience bound to weigh in on this one…. For a minute, forget about making a definitive case for or against ‘drinking’ from the Bible. Here’s the truth from logic and real life. No one starts out to be an alcoholic. Everyone begins with a defensive attitude saying, ‘I’m just a social drinker and there is nothing wrong with it!’ no one says, ‘It is my ambition that someday I want to lose my job, my health, my self-respect, my marriage and my family. Someday I want to be dependent on alcohol to get through my day.’ yet, this is the destination at which several millions of people have arrived. Why do you suppose that is? It is because alcohol is promoted and elevated as a normal/sophisticated activity in life…. It is also expensive, addictive and enslaving. People get hooked by America’s number one legal drug. And just like all illegal drugs, alcohol finds it way into the body, the bloodstream and the brain of the user/abuser.

 The bolded part in particular is troubling to me, if this church is also preaching on any level the truth of man's depravity and inherent sinfulness.  Man absolutely starts out intending to be, if not an alcoholic, then a rebel sinner of some kind.  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  We have taken alcoholism out as some kind of uber-sin, but I would like to ask the pastors of this church a question: how many people in your church have families falling apart because the husband is obsessed with his job, to the detriment of his marriage and his children?  How many have women obsessed with, say, the desire to have and raise children, beyond the actual desire to be content and obedient to God's will for their lives?  How many kids in your congregation wile away hour after hour wasted in the great god Entertainment?  "Well, none of those things kill people!" is the common response.  On the contrary, a man who dies enthralled with any god other than the one true God is just as dead.  But we don't tell our people to quit their jobs, to avoid having children, to reject all forms of entertainment.  I would argue that you could say all this and a good deal more about one of the most destructive forces and addictions in our culture today: sex.  But we would certainly say that sex is something created by God, for His glory, and is properly enjoyed within the bounds He established for it. 

Scripture calls us to worship God in all things; the joy we find in the world is not for its own sake, but rather is to point to the Author of that joy.  God has established the boundaries for all things, and in all things we are supposed to worship Him.  Happiness and pleasure in this world is bittersweet in a way; because it is wonderful, it is fleeting, yet it also is a taste of the eternal joy of being in Christ's presence.  When anything--including alcohol--becomes central, when we try to take something intended to give only a shadow of true joy and instead make it ultimate, we are worshiping an idol and not the true God.  On this, I think there would be no disagreement.  Where there is going to be disagreement is on this idea that alcohol is this cursed thing, irredeemable, serving no good purpose.  American evangelicalism with its roots in the traditions of the temperance movement of the late 1800s/early 1900s, has found a hobgoblin in "the bottle," but I reject that claim, and raise my glass to the Creator of the grape and grain and hops and the fermentation process and the true King of all things.

Cheers! and Amen!

Beer. Bacon. Battlestar Galactica

Book review: Finally Free

Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace
By Heath Lambert, forward by Joshua Harris

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.--1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

I have written before about my struggle against addiction to pornography and the ways in which God poured out a great deal of grace into my life as He matured me and led me onto His paths.  The incredible mercy God showed me through all of that, the way He broke in to destroy strongholds of sinfulness while showing me His immense love and gentleness is the reason I have no problem accepting as true the idea of God saving those He wills by His call and not by anything they have done--because surely, I did nothing to deserve that mercy.  That struggle, of course, is not completely absent from my life, but it is much smaller now; no longer is my life dominated by wicked desires that drive me between lust and despair.  However, I still have times when its ugly head is reared, and I desired to sharpen my arsenal especially as we moved; I was temporarily without a group of close brothers to turn to and I desired to put my mind on something that would help me deal with this specific issue.  When I read some reviews over at The Gospel Coalition, this book excited me a lot and from the first time I got my hands on it, its words have had a great impact on me and the way I deal with my struggles.

Finally Free is very well-done in its approach, for several reasons:

Firstly, it is not the typical guilting rant: there are so many books out there that attack the reader seeking a way out with "Do you know how horrible it is for women in porn?  You're part of the problem, you need to stop!"  To which the addict replies, "You're absolutely right and I want out.  How do I get out?"  But unfortunately that's not what those books are covering.  Pointing out the evil of sin and its effects on our hearts is critical and we need to continue, but it is not the end; indeed, if that's all we do, then we have failed to preach the Gospel or truly call anyone to repentance.

Likewise, this is not a heady treatise, nor is it purely practical in nature.  However, it absolutely is practical, in fact I would argue that its effect is most practical simply because the author spends so much time preaching the simple truths of Scripture and God's grace.  It's not just "here's how to get away from looking at porn," though that certainly is an aspect of it; rather, it is a call to recognize that when we allow pornography into our lives, we are allowing another master besides Jesus to rule over us.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.--Matthew 6:24

I've long contended here that Jesus' specific attack on one of man's most common idols, an idol that reveals how much (or little) man really trusts God to provide for him, can be extended to cover all of our idols.  And truly, one cannot serve both God and wicked sexual desire at the same time.   But that is the point that Lambert builds up to and makes very well: the point of this struggle is not, as I said, to simply cease looking at porn for its own sake, but rather to walk with Christ, to know Him deeply and have that relationship with Him that He has called us into.  It is the very reason grace is extended, and it is why in the epistles to the churches Paul and the other apostles who we see writing spend so much time over and over again, speaking out clearly both against legalistic rule enforcement and against licentiousness--they're simply two sides of the same coin, and equally lead away from Christ.

Thirdly, it goes out of its way to not be graphic or vulgar in its approach to this issue.  Since this is an issue that revolves a lot around a struggle with thought life, obviously a book that went into detail about what people are already struggling with could itself prove a trigger for further problems.  It has a lot of specific examples of people dealing with this struggle drawn from Lambert's ministry, but it focuses on how they deal with it rather than what they deal with.  The reader is able to see his struggles pictured and feel the gravity of the seriousness of these sins, without also being drawn into the downward spiral of thinking about the particulars.  And that particular issue is a big one: when speaking to someone struggling with pornography, the issue is not getting a sinner to be ashamed of his sin and desire freedom.  The issue is getting them move away from worldly grief that brings only death, to godly grief that brings life and inspires real transformation.  This transformation, of course, is a work of the Spirit, but a work like this is a great motivation in that work to the struggling believer.

The book is not a long read, but I took my time with it.  It's very straightforward, and anyone willing to find the time to sit down and read can easily make their way through it in a reasonable amount of time, but there are some study questions in the back and I think it could easily be used between accountability partners or in a small group.  The first few chapters Lambert spends time writing about different weapons we can employ in the fight against sexual idolatry.

One chapter in particular that had a big impact on me was the one about using gratitude.  It did give me a great weapon in my battle, but in addition it spurred me to think about gratitude, and to realize how much I really take what Christ has done for me for granted.  By realizing this I found myself able to shine a light of truth onto those desires to look at porn when they came up, by remembering: this is not simply some random physical desire, this is an element of spiritual brokenness that is revealing an area of ingratitude, where instead of thinking "I wish I could do this but it's wrong" instead I can take the positive track of "I am grateful for the mercy and grace Christ has shown to me, not just to pay for my sin but to open my eyes to it and call me into relationship with him!"  That made a huge difference to me--not to perfection, but in the striving for it.

The end of the book ties everything together with the point I mentioned earlier: the real purpose.  We aren't simply trying to end porn addiction for its own sake, but because it is a roadblock in our walk with Christ.  Sanctification is not about a single item but dealing with all the things in our lives that do not reflect the image of Christ, and as we walk with Him we see those things turn up--the anger, the impatience, the fear and anxiety in places where we don't trust Him like we should, and so on.  Defeating pornography's hold on a generation of Christian men is crucial, but it is only step one, and that point is made clearly.

I highly recommend this book because it is both practical and Gospel-centered in its approach.  It contains a great description of specific things Christians can do in going to battle against their sins, but also consistently reminds and calls Christians to an understanding of the fact that their relationship with Christ is not something offered reluctantly by a God who had no other choice--it was given freely, lovingly, and the freedom to accept it granted out of that love by our Heavenly Father.  Know that truth, brothers, and run after it; this book is an excellent tool in that pursuit.

A Jesus for every taste

Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”--Luke 9:18-20

I try not to simply mock things on here, as I would prefer interactions here to be thoughtful rather than short, unpleasant slapfights.  I've also learned the hard way the truth about how dangerous a weapon a man's tongue can be, and so I take full advantage of the fact that writing allows me the maximum time to be thoughtful in word and deed.  On the flip side, I have to be honest: I really hate bumper sticker theology.  There is nothing more unhelpful to sharing the Gospel than some fool who's stuck a "How would you like your eternity: regular, or extra crispy?" on the back of his car.  Likewise, theology by meme is usually just as unhelpful; in a world that so despises anyone who tells them of absolute truth, they certainly like their world served up in great big Impact letters pasted across an image, leaving no room for discussion or thought.

Which brings me to this:

I've seen this floating around in the past, and a friend recently posted it again on Facebook.  I think her reason for posting it was legitimate, in that the desire was to see Christians cooperating and showing love to their fellow man, both true and worthy things to desire.  What Jesus is to someone saved and transformed by the Holy Spirit is King, Lord, Savior, Author of our faith, and we should be saying "Come here and drink this living water Jesus has brought!"

The thing is, most people aren't interested in the Jesus that believers know, that the Bible talks about.  They aren't interested in the king who became a servant, lived a life none of us could ever live and paid the penalty for our rebellion and wickedness.  No, the Jesus most people want is the Jesus that's just like them, and that would never condemn them.  Above we see "hippy Jesus," who just wanted everyone to love and help everyone; there's Republican Jesus, who stands apart and pronounces judgment on sinfulness while patting the righteous on the back (he looks a lot like Democrat Jesus, who stands apart and pronounces judgment on greed while patting redistributionists on the back).  There's Western Evangelical Jesus, who wears a shiny white robe with a red sash just like the paintings and turned water into grape juice, and just wants to smile and pat you on the back because you're doing a great job, buddy!  The point is, we ought to look at these sort of images and be able to say, "I don't know what Jesus he's talking about, but it's not the one who saved me."

Why does this matter?  Why can't I just let people have what they want?  Because I love Jesus, and I want others to love Him too: the true Jesus, not one of our own imagining.  This weekend we celebrated Easter, which is to say, we celebrated something very real and meaningful: we remembered Christ's death on the cross and what it means that He accomplished our salvation, and His defeat of death in His resurrection.  This is critical, and understanding who Jesus is and what He did in His life and ministry is part and parcel of truth-loving, honest worship.

Initially I wanted to spend time tearing the above image apart, responding to every bad argument, every misunderstanding and bad exegetical claim, but after spending time doing that I felt like it wasn't making the point any better than I could make it by simply saying this: if a person is studying the Word, sitting in prayer, and putting himself under authority of godly leadership that is doing the same, he is going to look at something like this (or Republican Jesus, or Democrat Jesus, or Homeless Jesus, or Is Okay With My Personal Sin Jesus, or...) and say, "That's not right."  And our society is full of this sort of thing.  Normally this is where I'd quote Romans 1, but instead since it's been rolling around a lot of the discussions I've been reading/listening to online, I'm gonna go to John 6:

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 

They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”--John 6:22-44

This entire scene speaks clearly to me about the friction between how Jesus is made known in the whole of Scripture, and how people tend to actually want to view Him.  After all, we have plenty of churches in this world that preach an image of Jesus similar to the ones the people Jesus is speaking with see him: not as our Sustainer and King, but as Giver of Stuff, and the difference is significant.  As Sustainer Jesus is worshiped because He made us out of love and calls us to Himself in that same love; as King, Jesus is worshiped as the one who made us and glorifies Himself through redeeming us and bringing us in line with His will.  As Giver of Stuff, Jesus is a magical fairy that can be manipulated into giving us what we want through behavior.  Jesus sees this in these people who followed Him across the lake from the day before, when He had fed them miraculously.  When they approach Him, He knows what they want: more miracles.  They want the Giver of Stuff to Give up the Stuff already!

Jesus isn't going along with this, and calls them out on it.  They try to ask for what they should be doing in order to get more of what they want, and He does what He is seen doing many other times throughout the gospels: He calls out their hearts for disbelief and lets them know, there is no work that can be done.  Those that will know Him, will come because the Father has given them to Him.  That work is written and will be accomplished perfectly.

And that is something we can take great hope in: Jesus, our Sustainer, will do exactly as He says and bring His people to Himself perfectly!  That, friends, is huge, but if you're coming to Jesus looking for an idol to please in exchange for things, or a political ally, or someone to give a thumbs-up to sinful aspects of your life that have become identity-driving...I'm afraid you're out of luck.  There is no knowing Christ, without turning one's back on all of that as what it is: rubbish.  He will be your Sustainer and King, or He will be your judge.  I continue to do battle with sin in my life, but in carrying those to the foot of the cross and exposing them to the light, by living the life the Holy Spirit has empowered me to live and trusting Jesus as my Savior, Sustainer and King, I am able to know Him fully and joyfully.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.--Colossians 2:13-15

Theology matters

Play on words title!  The best kind.  Theology matters, like "issues of theology," and "theology is relevant and important and you should care about it."  Let's go!

The saying, of course, is thieved with apologies from Dr. White.  I've wanted to write something about this for a while, but I feel like I finally found some more coherence to what I wanted to say after seeing an article on a friend's Facebook wall, and after Sunday's sermon.  The Holy Spirit really used the sermon to convict me and teach me about critical issues of theology, which I want to raise here.  I've talked about the doctrines of grace, and how I believe they are not the objectionable things many people believe them to be, but are instead a message of hope that all Christians should embrace joyfully and rely on in knowing that God has made promises to His people that He will fulfill.  First, though, to the article.

It's from the TED Blog, on "10 facts about infidelity" from Helen Fisher.  I have not gone out and studied her work in detail, but it's evident that she has done quite a bit of study on relationships.  It's not my intent to dissect her work on any level other than that presented in the blog post, with the perspective of a believer.  Those who love to dig into this topic will note that there are quite a few books on the subject linked from the article for further reading.  While there are points made that most anyone could agree with, it is clear that what we have here is what happens when you look at relationships with a presupposition that simultaneously tries to deny God as having any role or say over us, yet still maintain some semblance of purpose to sex and relationships.  The result is...well, we'll see below:

1. Pairbonding is a hallmark of humanity. Data from the Demographic Yearbooks of the United Nations on 97 societies between 1947 and 1992 indicate that approximately 93.1% of women and 91.8% of men marry by age 49. More recent data indicates that some 85% of Americans will eventually marry.

2. However, monogamy is only part of the human reproductive strategy. Infidelity is also widespread. Current studies of American couples indicate that 20 to 40% of heterosexual married men and 20 to 25% of heterosexual married women will also have an extramarital affair during their lifetime.

And let's back up to the introduction:

Love isn’t so much an emotion, says Helen Fisher in her TED Talk. No, love is a brain system — one of three that that’s related to mating and reproduction.  It’s those other two systems that explain why human beings are capable of infidelity even as we so highly value love.

 And the third point from the post:

3. Brain architecture may contribute to infidelity. Human beings have three primary brain systems related to love. 1) The sex drive evolved to motivate individuals to seek copulation with a range of partners; 2) romantic love evolved to motivate individuals to focus their mating energy on specific partners, thereby conserving courtship time and metabolic energy; 3) partner attachment evolved to motivate mating individuals to remain together at least long enough to rear a single child through infancy together. These three basic neural systems interact with one another and other brain systems in myriad flexible, combinatorial patterns to provide the range of motivations, emotions and behaviors necessary to orchestrate our complex human reproductive strategy. But this brain architecture makes it biologically possible to express deep feelings of attachment for one partner, while one feels intense romantic love for another individual, while one feels the sex drive for even more extra-dyadic partners.

Now, it's not my intention to dissect this or necessarily respond to this in depth; the problem, of course, is not that I am some science-ig'nant fundie--the problem is the fundamentally different worldviews that we are bringing to the table here.  I don't deny the possibility that what the article says is factual: that there are brain architectures that relate to love, faithfulness or lack thereof, and all related issues.  What I say, however, is that this is not proof of the accidental nature of our creation or the impersonal nature of our existence--rather, that it points to a very personal Creator who makes us in His image.  We will come back to this another day as it relates to the question of "does that mean God made us to be unfaithful" (the answer is no), but only because I want to get to the next point:

God has made us in His image and loves us.  Because He made us He despises the things that destroy that image and distract us from being that.  It's why the dual nature of God as being both infinite and personal is crucial to understand, and why Jesus coming as a human and living the life of poverty that He did is such an immense display of God's love, for so many reasons; indeed, there are good reasons why discussions of that subject fills untold volumes and I suspect I will be able to write here for years to come as I examine the many facets of that particular gem of truth and beauty.

But when we abandon the theology of a Creator God who made us for a purpose, whose purposes are definite and involve the ultimate good for His children, and who uses all circumstances for His glory and our ultimate benefit, we end up viewing things like sex, marriage and fidelity in such a way where it is simply the byproduct of chemicals mixing, genes creating tendencies and all of it is...well, the only real descriptive word is "purposeless."  It exists for the sake of us, it terminates on our desires of the moment, and if that philosophy becomes dominant, why is anyone surprised that a culture becomes obsessed with self and death?  But the alternative is just as vexing:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”--1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The point is that it matters how we view God.  This is a difficult thing to discuss in America especially, because of our idea of the "separation" of church and state and the way that most people operate their lives, with everything in its neat little box and ultimately there to serve our desires rather than everything existing in the single box of "this belongs to God and serves His glory."  In all honesty I have a huge struggle with this, and I have to spend time praying about things like my attitude at work and the way I interact with others.  I know where I'm strong, but my weaknesses sometimes seem overwhelming.  But I have been blessed with people around me who encourage me, pray for me and remind me to keep praying in turn, and God has shown the fruits of submitting all my life to him.

So this is the fundamental split between where I was, and where I am, and it comes down to the name of this blog and its inspiration: the purpose of a man's life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Glorifying God is not drudgery--it is joy, and it's a joy we are able to partake in because we are made by a loving God!  Because He is a loving God, He has seen fit not to leave man purely to his own devices and ultimate demise into death, but to secure a people for Himself, to pay the ransom for them, and to move perfectly to set them from bondage to the slavery of sin and adopt them as His own.  


But if we view God as nonexistent, irrelevant, or something that goes "over there, between 9 and 11am on Sunday," rather than our Creator, Sustainer, Father, and King, then why is anyone surprised when we find our lives out of wack, imbalanced, and broken?  We try to sustain ourselves with spoiled food, to drink water from broken cups. 

And this is why I am unashamed to use the word "reformed" about myself and why I was glad to hear Ross' message Sunday: God made me in His image, but even as the rebellious, self-centered image-tarnisher I was, God loved me and let me see the glory and the mercy of Christ on the cross, let me be indwelt by the Spirit and know Him as my Father, who cleans me up and keeps on pushing, loving, and encouraging.  Not because I have done or ever will do anything to deserve it, but because it is His good pleasure to do so--He knows better than anyone that I certainly do not deserve it.  And that is why seeing an article that discusses sex and infidelity in such empty concepts as "pair bonding" just struck me as bizarre: sex was created and given as a gift, marriage given as a mysterious and beautiful image of the relationship between Christ and the church, and my wife given as a gift to me by a gracious God who uses both of us to sharpen and sanctify the other.

This has been somewhat rambling, but in the end this has been an opportunity to reflect with deep gratitude to God for who He is and for His incredible mercy and grace in my life.  It's not reflected by things or finances or anything except a heart that longs for Him and a family that seeks to grow closer to Him daily.  I pray for more and more of that, that He would increase in my life, and that I would decrease.

Tuesday night viewing

No big long post tonight.  I watched this a long time ago, and I watched it again tonight, and feel as convicted to pray and sit in the Word as before.  Everyone needs to watch this as well, and I pray that its effect is to cause people to do the same.  It's called the "shocking youth message," but really this is what I hope would be brought to every group whether youth or old or somewhere in the middle: the uncensored, basic Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the incredible need we all have for it, especially those of us who call ourselves "Christian."


UPDATE: apparently Blogger likes to strip out the video, so let's try this again.

Let's try this again

Well, the last post certainly brought one of the more heated responses this blog has ever gotten.  Not on the post itself, but on Twitter it certainly brought on some discussions as well as some rather uncalled-for responses, which I will not get into here.  The author of the piece I was responding to, Micah J. Murray, did in fact reply to me on Twitter.  In the process we learned several things:

1. Micah does, in fact, believe that one can be walking in something the Bible calls sin unrepentantly and still be saved. 
2. He was unwilling to directly answer the question of who, exactly, was saying that gay people were worse sinners than other sinners; his first response was a vague comment about "conservative churches," when pressed for specifics he did not reply. 
3. Those who agreed with him continued to argue a point I specifically disagreed with, preferring to set up a "hater" straw man to actually engaging my arguments.  They operated on the assumption that I was setting gay people apart from others, rather than insisting that they be counted as part of the population that makes up the world: rebel sinners in need of God's grace.
4. Where Micah did attempt to engage my actual arguments, his position was Scripturally deficient, rooted in his opinion rather than anything biblical.  Where Scripture did enter into it, issues of definition abound. 

Now, let me say that I believe I understand the driving force behind where he is right now.  I've walked with many men and women who have felt burned by the church, felt like they came into a body of believers with struggles and pain and needing someone to listen and help them, and came away feeling rejected and lost.  And this is a compassion that I share, and that ought to be shared by every believer; like him, I want people to know Jesus not as a condemner but as a savior, one who sets people free from their slavery to sin.  I want people to rejoice at the name of Christ, to have the ability to trust him wholly and freely.

But the problem, and the place where we are going to part ways, is that I cannot see biblically how any argument can be made that one can be unrepentantly in any sin and still be saved.  Furthermore, the modern cultural redefinition of sin to "if it doesn't hurt anyone else, it's okay" is not an allowance Scripture provides for.  Not that Jesus cannot save anyone the Father gives to Him, because we know that He will do so.  But with he and his followers unwilling to even acquiesce to the idea that homosexuality is a sin, the struggle here is with presuppositions.  So let's start from the foundation, from the beginning of understanding our relationship with God and why Christ came.

The uncensored Gospel: Responding to Micah J. Murray

This is a long one, folks.  Stay with me.

I have struggled over how exactly to approach this subject; I've probably started and deleted at least three previous posts on this over the last couple weeks.  I think, perhaps, that it's a good thing that I typically don't get around to writing about current event type stuff until it's somewhat settled and done, because it means I've had time to consider and digest information, to see how things have shaken out a bit.  There was a time, after all, where rushing to be the first to respond to and report on an event was not the primary goal, but rather, thoughtful discourse was the word of the day.  It is my hope to provide that, here, on the subject of homosexuality as it is working itself out as an issue in our country today and in the public sphere.

Of course, this is not a new topic, but the latest fire set on this issue came when Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame gave an interview to GQ.  Robertson is a believer and a long-time member of the Church of Christ, and while there are some soteriological issues such as baptismal regeneration that we would disagree over, from his words and actions I have no doubt that he is a brother in Christ.  I wouldn't want him to be my lead pastor, but I'll pray with and for the man with no fear of rebuke.  If you aren't familiar with his story, you should check it out.

However, I'm not wanting to talk about reality TV, the Robertson clan, or freedom of speech issues as they relate to employment, but rather the visceral reaction that came as a result of his quoting scripture that names, among other sins, homosexuality explicitly as sinful and rejected by God.  We've had posts saying that it is "morally irresponsible" to speak to the issue of sin as it relates to homosexuality, but what I want to respond to here is a post from the HuffPo called, "Why I Can't Say 'Love the Sinner/Hate the Sin' Anymore," by Micah J. Murray.  It's been a while since I've done what's known in the blogosphere as a "fisking," and I don't feel like that's exactly what I'm doing; my desire is to discuss, in love and rooted in Scripture, why I disagree with this author and believe his argument to be based, not in truth, but in emotionalism and a desire to avoid confronting others in their sin.  But I want to break this down and examine his argument; if Christians are going to truly understand why God rejects sin and why He sent His Son to die to atone for it, if we are going to understand the magnificent gift that He has given and be able to preach the Gospel to everyone, not just the people who will hear it without anger, then his position demands refutation.

Picking tulips

It was my occasion today to engage in conversation with some fellow believers on Facebook, over the subject of limited atonement. My brothers and sisters were incensed at the idea and, like many people brought up in our tradition-bound churches, believed that it was opposed to the message of salvation as being a message of hope for all people.

I have seen a lot of different reactions from people in these sorts of conversations: in a couple instances I had people who just switched to full emotional outburst mode, not wanting to even discuss the topic and calling the idea of Calvinism "satanic." In such cases while I often press them to explain more, typically it's something ingrained deeply and it's beyond my purview to dislodge such thoughts. In other cases it's just because they have certain understandings about what the Bible says, and while we have had respectful conversations it's simply a matter of disagreement. And in some instances people have applied terms such as "four point Calvinist" to themselves, meaning that they believe in some of the less controversial doctrines that descend from the famous TULIP acronym, but limited atonement or unconditional election are sticking points for them, usually for the same reason as the second group but with less reticence over the term "Calvinist."

My desire here is to expound on why I believe in the doctrines of grace, and to explain my contention that, as Charles Spurgeon put it, "Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else." I want to say first and foremost that I'm not here to defend John Calvin as a perfect man, and if your response to this involves wrongs committed by Calvin then quite frankly I'm not interested. John Calvin was just a man, and like myself, a sinner. But he provided a thorough, deep, and accurate understanding of what the Bible teaches about God, about us, and about God's role in bringing about salvation for our sakes.