Category Archives: christian thought

Making Disciples in a Bookstore

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images-stained-glass-calling-the-fishermen-tm1Recently I was in a Christian bookstore and I asked an employee if I could see their books on making disciples.

You know that feeling when you are shocked by something you were also expecting? Like you’re surprised but not surprised all at the same time?

That’s how I felt when the employee said he would have to ask the manager. I kept the look of surprise / not surprise off my face when the manager thought for a minute as we wandered aimlessly through the rows of books, and he was telling me they didn’t have a section on discipleship and he would have to think about where I might find something on discipleship. The perplexed look of surprise / not surprise started to surface on my face when he went to look it up on the computer and came back with no results.

I probably wasn’t going to buy anything, I just wanted to see if there’s anything new and interesting. I like to see who is writing about discipleship today and see what they are saying. To the bookstore’s credit, they did have a few books on the subject after I dug through the “spirituality” section and the “pastoral counseling” section. I guess I was surprised because as followers of Jesus we have been commanded to “Go and make disciples”. The Bible is clearly our best guide for that process, but with all the books on prayer and Christian living and world missions and biographies etc. we can’t find a dusty corner of a lonely shelf to place a few books on the matter of making disciples?

On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised. Other than some biographies of a few people who have done discipleship well, a few books that focus on the matter, and a few other books that have a section about it, discipleship is not fun to talk about. Discipleship involves commitment. Most churchgoers are content to attend a weekly service, place a twenty dollar bill in the plate once a month, and try not to snicker at the bad jokes told at work each day (that’s “witnessing” in their opinion). Discipleship is so much more. Discipleship is what Jesus called us to. Discipleship is obedience. Discipleship is discipline but it’s messy at the same time.

Our churches have such a screwed up idea of what discipleship is meant to be that we’ve got to start thinking about it, praying about it, writing about it, speaking about it, and DOING IT! People are led astray by church leaders who think discipleship is another class to attend. Instead, discipleship is living, breathing, and being family together with other believers. It should involve a mentor-type figure through a one-on-one relationship but it definitely involves the community. The community (characterized by words like “small”, “intimate”, “missional”, etc.) disciples the person. They live life together. They get in each others lives. The community confronts, encourages, exhorts, prophecies, and serves the disciple. The community plays together, serves together, suffers together, prays together, and lives together.

These are the kinds of things that aren’t being talked about by the church. It is definitely important to think about how to be missional, but what happens when we’ve unlocked the culture code and God gives new believers to the church? Stick them in a class? Guilt trip them when they don’t make it to the church service because if they don’t get that feeding then they are going to starve the rest of the week? If they were being discipled then the leaders of the weekly worship gathering wouldn’t have so much pressure placed on them to perform.

What is discipleship? What church leaders today are the most effective at calling the church to discipleship? What are the best books, young and old, to read about making disciples?

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Notes from my Preaching Class

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bibprerob1I’ve been preaching for years but I am just now taking a seminary class on the subject and it has transformed the way I approach the preparation to preach. My professor is Haddon Robinson (one of the top ten most influential preachers according to Christianity Today. He wrote Biblical Preaching which is “Still the preaching primer of choice!” according to Preaching Magazine) so you can imagine the intimidation I felt yesterday when I preached in front of a class of my peers with Dr. Robinson and his little yellow notebook sitting directly to my right.

Does preaching have purpose? I’ve written elsewhere that I believe preaching is Biblical and necessary for the strengthening of the church but in this post I want to describe my personal experience with what happens when a pastor faithfully preaches the Word of God.

Praying the Text

What I want to describe here is something I have experienced many times, not just in preparing a sermon, but also in personal Bible study. However, as I prepared to preach Romans 3:21-26, I remember spending a lot of time in prayer and reflection. These times of prayer change me every time I preach. It helps me to move from thinking “I hope I do well” and “I want a good grade” and “Maybe I will win some kind of preaching class award” to praying “Lord, may I find your Truth from this text” and “Who cares if I get a good grade, if only you will change me through this process”.

Preaching is a Discipline

Prayer helps to reduce my own pride in preaching. Preaching is a discipline that encourages me to pray for humility, to pray for the people that will hear the message, to pray for transformation in my life and theirs. Preparing to preach is a process of thinking Christianly. This isn’t a time to search the internet for someone else’s sermons. It isn’t a last minute scrambling to throw something together because you “have to”. Preaching is a unique exercise in loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It is introspective and revealing. I experienced a transformation in my own heart as I wrestled with the main idea of the text.

Preaching is a Process

As I submitted my study to the rigorous discipline of Dr. Robinson’s “stages” of sermon preparation, I was amazed at how articulate I became. I couldn’t just throw something together. I had to wrestle with the text. I had to argue with it. I had to be frustrated by it. I had to ask my wife for help. I had to come up with a way to articulate. When I finally wrote down the words that became my “homiletical idea” it was a word from the Lord. It hit me hard. I literally fell to my knees and wept when God gave it to me. What struck me were the words in Romans 3:26 which says “He presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time so that He would BE righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.” After struggling for hours over how to articulate the main idea I wrote, God would not BE a good God, if He had not sent His Son to die. I didn’t get that sentence from John Piper or Mark Driscoll or from someone else’s blog. I received it as a reward from God as I wrestled with Him and His Word. Feel free to disagree with my homiletical idea…feel free to disregard it as common knowledge. But it was so clear to me that this was the word I was to preach for that particular time and place that I was overcome with emotions of gratitude and praise to God for His providence – not just of providing the words for a sermon but of providing us with His Son.

Where We Go Wrong

If I hadn’t waited for that word from the Lord I would’ve settle for something else. I would’ve preached a message that hadn’t gripped my heart. I think preachers often sell themselves short. Many preachers don’t preach a word from the Lord; they preach a plagiarized copy or a watered down version of what God has to say in His Word. If we don’t grapple with the main idea of a text and let it shape us and let it guide our prayer for the congregation and for the world and let it tackle us with its simplicity and its power then we will never be preachers, we will only be talkers. Preaching is discipline. Preaching is a selfless, pastoral act given to the church of God. Preaching is humility. Preaching is a process. If our preaching is anything less then it is disqualified.

What Happens After the Sermon?

What happens after the sermon leaves our mouths? That is not my concern. I don’t need to hear “Good job, pastor!” or get a pat on my back. I don’t need to hear someone talk about how it changed their life. I don’t need an email from someone on the mission field saying I preached a sermon that inspired them to move to Africa. If I prepare to preach with discipline and humility I will know that whatever happens after I preach has nothing to do with me. If I am diligent in my preparation then I will know that God’s Word changed me, that God’s Word presented me with the main idea, that God’s Word shaped how I crafted the sermon, that the Spirit presided over the process and the delivery, and that the Spirit of God was at work in the people’s hearts and minds. Charles Spurgeon entered his pulpit every time praying, “I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit.” A preacher is a servant with a mouth, nothing more.

So these are reflections of my experience in preparing to preach yesterday. What are your thoughts on the purpose of preaching?

Did Jesus Claim to be God?

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jesusteachingsqLast night my Bible study group had a great discussion from John 10. Since I’m working on translating Greek all day today for my Exegesis class, I thought I would take a few minutes and share what we talked about and invite you to join the conversation.

To begin with, we talked about how Jesus claimed to be God here in John 10. There are dozens of other places that can be discussed but from this one passage, there are several proofs that Jesus was claiming to be God.

1. John 10:25 – After the Jews said, “If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus responded and said, “I did tell you and you don’t believe.” Don’t believe what? Obviously, the Jews were having a hard time believing that Jesus was the Messiah. We can infer, therefore, that Jesus is saying “I did tell you [that I am the Messiah] and you don’t believe.” Clearly, Jesus is NOT saying “I did tell you [that I am NOT the Messiah] and you don’t believe” because there is no ambiguity on what the Jews believed and didn’t believe.

2. John 10:28 – Jesus goes on to talk about how His sheep follow Him and then He says, “I give them eternal life.” That’s a pretty bold statement for a mere human to make. The Jews believed that only God Himself could give eternal life. Therefore, Jesus is clearly stating that He is God.

3. John 10:30 – Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” Again, the devout Jew would never claim to be one with God. For Jesus to say this is to say that He is God.

4. John 10:33 – If we knew nothing of the Jewish context and couldn’t read between the lines of what Jesus said, the clearest proof that Jesus was claiming to be God doesn’t actually come from anything that He Himself said. The clearest proof of Jesus’ claim to divinity comes from the critics. They picked up stones to kill Jesus and said that their reason was “because You – being a man – make Yourself God.” They sensed no ambiguity in what Jesus was claiming. They knew that He was claiming to be God and were ready to kill Him for it.

5. John 10:36 – Jesus asks rhetorically, “do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the One the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?” He then tells them to look at the works that He is performing as evidence of the veracity of His statements and then says, “This way you will know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father.” Here Jesus alludes to the fact that He has said, “I am the Son of God.” and further reinforces that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. This could be two separate proofs of Jesus’ deity but I’ve rolled it into one proof for brevity. It doesn’t need to be repeated that this was a clear indication to the Jews that Jesus was claiming to be God and once again they try to seize Him so that they could kill Him but he escapes.

So, did Jesus claim to be God? Here are several proofs that that’s exactly what Jesus was claiming. We could also look at all the times Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man” – the Old Testament reference to the Messiah. We could look at Colossians 1:15-16 which says, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the One who is preeminent over all creation; because by Him everything was created…” We could look at John 1:1 which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Of course, Colossians 1 and John 1 are not evidences that Jesus Himself claimed to be God, but they reveal what His disciples thought about Him because that’s what they wrote about Him. Taken together, Jesus clearly claimed time and again that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. So, if there are any Jehovah’s Witnesses reading this, I would love to hear your thoughts.

What do you think? Did Jesus Claim to be God? Anyone else want to offer insight into Jesus’ claim to be God? Does anyone see a flaw in the logic here? Let me know what you think.

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Happy Birthday Martin Luther!

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Martin LutherSince my blog is all about reforming the church and thinking Christianly about the habits and the reputation of the church, I thought it would be good to take a moment and wish Martin Luther a happy birthday. Who is Martin Luther? Luther was a great reformer who stood on Biblical principles at the risk of his own life. I also wished Martin Luther a Happy Halloween on October 31st because that was the day he posted his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg. That event launched the Protestant Reformation but it hasn’t brought an end for the need to seek reformation in the church.

So, though it may seem a bit dated, I think you will appreciate the post I wrote to Martin Luther on Halloween. Read it, comment on it, make sure you subscribe to my feed, and share this post with others. Thanks for reading and happy 595th birthday Martin Luther!

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Election 2008 and Predestination

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Things to keep in mind as we approach the voting booth tomorrow.

The definition of predestination according to the Westminster Confession of Faith is that, “[God] freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” God is in control. God is sovereign. We can trust that no matter what happens tomorrow God is our ultimate source of hope. He is the true cause of life and liberty. No government grants that to us…we can’t vote that into office. God is the source of all life and He wants us to have it in abundance.

Having said that, we live in a nation where we get to choose. This choice doesn’t negate God’s sovereignty, this choice is a part of God’s sovereignty. Only God in His sovereignty can maintain complete control when idiots like us head to the voting booth. God has allowed us freedom to choose and we get to exercise that freedom in electing a new president tomorrow. The person we choose will not surprise God and cause him to have to do damage control. Instead, our next president will be precisely the person God has chosen for our country.

What we can’t know in our limited human understanding is what goes into God’s choice for president? We do know some things from Scripture that inform our thinking, but they give us no hard and fast answer on who God wants in the office.

Here are a few things God has promised us in the Bible that might inform how we vote:

God Bless America?
Psalm 33:12 ”Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Will the candidate I vote for acknowledge God as the Lord? Will he try to govern justly? Will he adhere to Biblical principles and be concerned with deeming others as more important than himself? Will he look out for widows and orphans? Will life from conception to death be of importance to our new president? Will alleviating poverty be at the top of his agenda? Will he desire God’s blessings on all nations and not just the one we happen to have been born in, not allowing our “American Dream” to come at the expense of other struggling nations? The list could go on, but ultimately will he acknowledge God as the Lord and seek to align his policies with the will of God? These are the questions that will help us determine who we should vote for on election day.

Patriotism or Priesthood?
1 Peter 2:9 ”But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

As we vote, we need to keep everything in perspective – that God demands a loyalty from His children that goes beyond party loyalty. We aren’t Democrats or Republicans, we are Christ followers. This world is not our home and therefore, we can’t be swept away by party loyalty or even extreme patriotism when there are millions of people suffering around the world due to our country’s greed and selfishness. I am patriotic but I am also part of the priesthood that has been called to “proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Casting a vote is patriotic and I believe it should be done carefully after much prayer by responsible Christians. But sharing hope and love and the story of God with your neighbor is something we should be doing no matter what. That is a higher and more important calling.

Presidential Predestination
Romans 11:33-36 ”Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” 

Can any of us determine who God has predestined to be our President? I know who I am voting for and I’m voting for him based on Biblical values. I’ve spent much time in prayer for our country, for our world, and for our current and future leaders. I pray for them by name. I have thought long and hard and consulted other wise men and women of God for their thoughts on the issue. But at the end of the day, we don’t know God’s plan. God can certainly intervene supernaturally and change the course of history. Do we deserve blessing? Do we deserve a curse? Will the next president lead us further down economically, militarily, and morally? If so, could it be that God allowed that to happen so that we can turn to him yet again to bring healing to our nation? On the other hand, might our next president lead us into economic prosperity? Which would be better for our country spiritually speaking? Who can know the mind of the Lord?

What About Abortion?
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Should Christians vote based on one issue? Should this verse be used to demand pro-life legislation? The answer to both questions is “No” but I don’t think the issue of abortion needs to be abandoned as a hopeless cause either. We should consider the entire panoply of issues that face the American public on election day, but there is no greater injustice in our society than the refusal to grant rights to the unborn. I personally don’t believe that all abortion should be outlawed. In cases when giving birth will cause harm to the mother (6% of abortions) abortion is one option that should not be totally disregarded. But how can we be a blessed nation by God when 93% of abortions in America are done for convenience? If we don’t get this issue right, how can we ask (and even demand) God’s blessings? There are about 4,000 abortions performed every day in America. We need to be concerned about poverty and crime and the environment but there are close to 4,000 children who are unborn every day who will never even get a chance to experience life. Why is it such a bad thing to value this issue higher than other issues? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is helpful to think that people first need physiological needs met (food, clothing, shelter) and from there they move on to more sociological and emotional needs. However, we seem to forget that the Hierarchy of Needs is predicated on life. I want every man, woman, and child to have the basic essentials of food, clothing, and shelter, but even more important is that they are alive to enjoy them. 

As Christians we must evaluate each candidate and determine his stance on the issues that are important, not to our country, but to God. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority.” Our prayer should be that God would guide our country and would bring us back to Him. Not that we would become a Christian nation, but that we would desire to do His will and allow other nations to be blessed through us. We have a responsibility to cast a vote…it’s a choice between two men. Our choice will not hinder the sovereignty of God and He will maintain control over His universe. God is sovereign and sometimes we don’t fully know His will or His plan but in our freewill I hope we will choose a president based on our values and on Biblical principles.

What about you? What Biblical principles inform your decision to vote or not to vote?

Happy Halloween Martin Luther!

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Happy Halloween Martin Luther!

It has been 491 years since you nailed your 95 Theses to the Wittenburg Church door and what a reformational act that was! Your “protests” against the corrupt Roman Catholic Church lit a fire that continues to burn to this day. You created a separate branch of the Church that we now call Protestantism but even the Catholic Church has gone through some major reform as well.

Dead Ancestors, Dead Saints, or Dead Doctrine?
Oh, and good choice of days for nailing up your protests against the corruption in the Church. October 31st used to be an ignorant pagan festival where people would dress up in scary costumes because they thought their ancient ancestors were coming to wreak havoc on their crops. Maybe if they looked scarier than their dead ancestors they might be scared away and leave them alone. They even sacrificed to them. In 800AD the Roman Catholic Church declared the day “All Hallow’s Eve” and the next day to be “All Hallow’s Day”. This was a day to celebrate the saints and martyrs of the Church. The church leaders had hoped this would take the place of such a barbaric pagan holiday.

Maybe you had the same thing in mind when you chose October 31st to start the Reformation? After all, what’s the point in celebrating dead saints and obtaining relics like a tuft of hair from this saint or a toe nail from that saint? Too bad Christians today neither celebrate the saints and martyrs (such as yourself) that have gone on before us or the Reformation. Instead, we choose to dress up in scary costumes and ward off little witches and goblins by giving them “sacrifices” of candy (and at $5.99 a bag it’s quite a sacrifice). It’s a pretty inane holiday and my wife and I give away candy to the children just so we can meet our neighbors but it’s sad that nobody thinks of what an incredible day this really is for God’s Kingdom.

Indulge Yourself
Anyway, enough about Halloween, I’m sure you wouldn’t be too happy that rather than celebrating the reformation of the Church we would rather carve gourds and eat ghost-shaped peeps. Let’s talk about penance instead. It seems that you spent a lot of your time trying to convince the Church that repentance was a matter of the heart and had nothing to do with some priest absolving you of your sin…especially through the sale of indulgences. I mean, what a rip off that was. We wouldn’t think of doing anything like that today. Instead, we do everything we can to guilt trip people into repentance. It’s the priest or ministers job to say things like, “I only saw you at the church (meaning a building) 5 days this week, were you partying the other 2 days?” or “I notice you didn’t check ‘Bible read daily’ on your offering envelope, care to explain?”. We would never stoop so low as to sell something when we can take the moral high road by guilting people into confession and repentance.

Poverty or Property
I also want to commend you for condemning the Church for using the money obtained through the sale of indulgences to build St. Peter’s Basilica rather than to give it to the poor. That was a lesson that we have taken to heart and I am happy to say, poverty is no longer an issue in the Church today. Not that poverty doesn’t exist anymore, it just doesn’t exist in the hearts and minds of most Christians, therefore, it’s not an issue in the Church. Problem solved. And we certainly wouldn’t waste money on a massive church building project to the detriment of the impoverished either. Why do that when we can just buy an already built football stadium and fill it with people and tell them that if they are poor or in need they should just believe…I mean really believe that God wants them to have their best life now. Maybe the reason they are poor is that they don’t smile enough.

Get Me A Tweezer
Finally, I should say that we are grateful for the movement you started in reforming the Church. You were right, the Church was greedy and corrupt and in need of reform. Unfortunately, almost everyone coming out of the reformation has a different idea on what needs reforming in the church and as a result, the Church today has never been more splintered. There are about 10,000 denominations around the world…some of them good, some of them not so good. We are divided doctrinally, geographically, racially, culturally, and in polity, purpose, and practice. I’m not sure what sort of tweezer is needed to start taking out the splinters in the Church but we are still in need of some desperate reform 491 years later.

So, I just wanted to say Happy Halloween and let you know how things are going here in the 21st century. People are just knocking on doors rather than nailing things to doors (my neighbors would be a bit upset). There is some good news: there have never been more Christians in all of history, but I guess the bad news is there have never before been so many people that have never heard the name Jesus. The world population is multiplying exponentially but the Church seems to still be using its fingers and toes to add and subtract. Hope you enjoy your peeps!

Sincerely,
Nathan Creitz

PS – I know my letter to you sounds negative but I do not wish it to sound like your work was in vain. My gripe is with today’s Church. You helped to start a necessary movement that brought reform and change to the corruption of the Church in your day. My prayer is that the bad habits and false beliefs that the modern Church holds will continue to be reformed and transformed. There is much concerning the Church with which I am sure Christ is pleased and I enjoy writing about that as well, but you set the tone…October 31st is a day to think about reform and change. This is a day to boldly protest so that we can see reformation happen again in every new generation of the Church. Let the Protest begin again!

PPS – Not everyone has forgotten that this is the day you kicked off the Protestant Reformation. A guy in Canada named Tim Challies has started a Reformation Day Symposium to get people talking about what this day should be celebrating. I’m sure he would love it if you dropped by and checked out what everyone is saying about you.

Distinctively Christian: The Trinity

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This series of posts will address the theological and practical ways we as Christians are encouraged to be different. Some Christians become very different and are seen as quirky and out of touch. Other Christians try to blend in and seek to keep their faith to themselves. Both of these extremes are destructive to the Church. The thinking Christian has to discover those areas where they are to be different in thought and action from the world without sacrificing influence and reputation with the world.

GOD

Our view of God is the most radical and original view known to humanity. It is not in the best interests of humanity to come up with the God of the Bible which is a strong argument (though not the only one) in favor of the God of the Bible. All the religions of the world come up with a god in their own image but, again, no human could have anticipated our God.

One God in Three Persons?

The distinct doctrine of orthodox Christianity is that God is one God in three persons. At the beginning of his Gospel, John writes, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I encourage you to continue reading chapter one of John’s Gospel to discover that “the Word” is referring to Jesus and it goes on to say that “all things were created through Him…” Here, John is not only placing Jesus as an equal with God, he’s teaching something that grates against our human understanding – that Jesus is with God and, at the same time, that He IS God! How can Jesus be with God and be God at the same time? At other places in the Bible we also see that the Spirit of God is a separate person and is also with God and is God at the same time. I’ve said elsewhere that it’s difficult to explain this concept other than to say that if God were easy to explain then there wouldn’t be any mystery or awe when we ponder His divine nature. God is Father, Spirit, and Son together in perfect unity and community and oneness.

One God Not Three gods

This post will not delve into all of the wonderful ramifications of worshiping a God who is One yet three. However, I do want to say a little bit about who or what God is not. The God of the Bible is not three gods. The God of the Bible is not many gods. He also is not simply a god with only one person. In order for God to be God, He must be viewed in terms of the Trinity. Herman Bavinck, a Dutch Reformed Theologian said, “The confession of the Trinity is the heartbeat of the Christian religion. All error is traceable to a departure from this doctrine.” As a result, the God of the Bible is the only God that exists and the only God worthy of our worship. To worship any other god is to deny the one true God, placing oneself in opposition to God. To reject the triune God is to rebel and to be willing to suffer the consequences.

I realize this sounds exclusive and close-minded. As Billy Graham puts it, when he flies he hopes his pilot is close-minded when he decides to land the plane. We certainly don’t want our pilots to be coming in any way they want. We are all close-minded to some extent. I refuse to drive on the wrong side of the road. I guess I could choose to drive on the wrong side of the road but then I would be inviting destruction upon myself and others. You could say I am closed to the idea of driving on the wrong side of the road. G.K. Chesterton said, “The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” Let’s all just get over the fact that close-mindedness is not always a bad thing. God will not accept our worship of false gods any more than my wife would accept me giving myself to a prostitute (even if she did look like my wife). When you get married, you close yourself to other women. Now that I know God, I have chosen to reject all other false gods.

The God Who Came Down the Mountain

So, is Christianity exclusive and intolerant? Is it bad news to suggest that Jesus is the only path the triune God has given us by which we may know Him? The Trinity is the most inclusive and inviting God humans could ever have wanted. Our God has invited all to repent and believe in Him and has promised eternal and abundant life for those who do. Christians often quote Romans 3:23 out of context: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is definitely bad news but in the context or Romans 3, it is part of the best news humanity will ever receive. In context, Paul is saying that God is aware of our helpless condition and that we are His enemies because of our sin against Him. Romans 3:23 is from God’s perspective. In other words, He is aware that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” so He chose in His mercy and love to do something about it. The very next sentence says, “They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The next sentence tells us that God removed His wrath from those who have faith in Jesus and that He passes over their sins. The next sentence after that says that He did all of this to demonstrate His righteousness and to declare us righteous. He doesn’t make us stop sinning and make us perfect (have you met any Christians lately?), but He declares that we have become holy and blameless in his sight.

Every religion of the world says that different religions are like different paths to God. They suggest eloquently that we are all climbing the same mountain and God is waiting tolerantly and lovingly at the top for us to arrive. The thinking Christian has discovered that God is not a passive God waiting for us to figure it out and make it to the top. The thinking Christian knows that those paths lead to nowhere and will eventually end in death and eternal separation from the one true triune God because those religions are seeking a god of their own making (God calls it idolatry). The good news is, the thinking Christian knows that, even though we cannot attain God’s good favor through our own effort, God is an active God who has already made it possible for us to know Him and have fellowship with Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) Sounds very exclusive, but it is the most inclusive offer humanity will ever receive. Though we are completely cut off because of our sinful nature and our rejection of God, God has offered us life through His Son Jesus Christ. Anyone is free to accept Him and enter into a relationship with the Creator God.

Our Trinity is a wonderful God. He is the God who created us. He is the God who saves us from ourselves. He is the God who offers eternal and abundant life through faith in Him. He is the God who will not tolerate a world that denies Him. He is the God who won’t accept the worship of counterfeit gods. He is always consistent, He is always faithful, and He will always love us. He is One God in three persons. This is the God whom I love and serve.

If This Were Christianity, I Would Quit!

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I just had to laugh at this video. 

However, there’s something scary about this knowing that there are still people today who have some sort of emotional, silly, unattractive faith in Jesus. It shows up in unfair caricatures of Christianity like Bill Maher’s new movie Religulous. I won’t provide a link to the film because the trailers I’ve seen for it are completely unfair. He found the people in the world that have the kind of faith that is found in this ridiculous YouTube video and exploited their ignorance and stupidity and dares to call it a documentary. This is why I blog about thinking Christianly in a post-Christian world about issues such as social injustice, environmental responsibility, reforming the church, and having the Mind of Christ. If we can’t offer the Truth about God to a world that desperately needs Him then we need to give up.

On the other hand, we are blessed to be called children of God and therefore, we have something to be excited about and something to share with others. We should be living transformed lives that have been transformed by the renewing and the exercising of our minds. Studying the Bible, reading books on theology and culture, having open discussions about faith with church and unchurched friends, practicing a faith that is visible but not for show. These are the sorts of things we should be doing. Otherwise, people like Bill Maher will continue to reject God and the gap between thinking followers of Jesus and everyone else will grow by default.

I don’t want my thoughts to be rejected just because someone associates me with all the stereotypes of Christianity. I want people to let the Word of God speak objectively to them. This is a call to action, a call to think, a call to love and serve, a call to non-stupidity. If you’re not up to the challenge, then you are forsaking the two greatest commandments: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. Can any rejection of the greatest commandments be called Christianity?

Main Street Solutions for the Economy

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wall-st-bullWall Street and our politicians think they have the answers to our economic woes, but maybe the answers should come from Main Street instead. Apart from being forced to give Wall Street one trillion dollars there are several things that “Main Street” can do voluntarily to keep the economy from going under.

Don’t make drastic changes!

With the panic that is setting the pace for our government (“We have to do something NOW!”) and for Wall Street (“Sell, sell, sell!”) it’s hard to remain calm these days. However, I’m convinced that greed is what is causing our politicians and business leaders to act drastically. I’m also convinced that the average American has some basic common sense. I have a retirement account and it’s scary to watch my stocks go lower and lower in value, but I know it will make a comeback. There’s no reason to cash them out now before they go lower (they may go even lower before the go higher). I also am not going to drastically change my banking practices. There is no reason to cash out your savings account or hold back half of your paycheck and put the cash under the mattress. The banks will be just fine if we don’t make any hysterical changes in our accounts.

Live Within Your Means!

The problems we are currently facing in our economy are a result of greed. It has become TOO easy for people who make $30,000 a year to live like they make $75,000 a year. People who can afford a mortgage on a $150,000 home are taking out mortgages on a $400,000 home. People who can afford to rent an apartment for $650 a month are renting an apartment for $1500 a month. Graduates freshly out of college think they need to immediately have a 5 bedroom house, fully furnished, with two cars in the garage. As if all of these things will make them acceptable to their friends. Let’s be clear, the mortgage crisis is the fault of the homeowners who bit off more than they can chew AND the banks who knew it was an unhealthy risk AND the politicians who forced the banks to loan a certain amount of “bad” mortgages. It’s true, if people start living within their means, there probably won’t be as many purchases and there may be some jobs lost but our economy needs to re-stabilize.

Go Green!

Wall Street and politicians need to know that we will not be a country of excess anymore. We don’t want millions of cars polluting our air. We don’t want 5,000 square foot homes that must be heated and cooled and cleaned and lit. We don’t want to buy food from South America when we can buy local. We don’t want a lifestyle that destroys our environment. For too long we’ve known we don’t NEED all the wasteful things that we spend our money on, but now we are telling the world that we don’t WANT those things either. It’s time to demand transportation that doesn’t harm the environment, homes that are practical but comfortable, and food and clothing that is simple and affordable. Those are some of our basic needs. It’s ridiculous that we are at a point where we can’t even distinguish between needs, wants, and ridiculously excess. Going green makes our environment cleaner, saves money, and encourages responsibility and Godly stewardship of His creation.

Give It Away!

Finally, a way regular Americans can strengthen our economy is to give. I’m not talking about giving to get. I’m talking about giving sacrificially and with no strings attached. John Wesley was a great preacher who became very successful and began to make a lot of money but he lived a very simple life. He lived almost all his life on 30 pounds a year. One year he made as much as 1400 pounds (making him one of the wealthiest men in England at the time) but he gave all of it away except 30 pounds. Wesley’s philosophy was “Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” He wasn’t against making money, but he believed the more money a person gained, the more money a person could give. He said, “In the hands of (God’s) children [money] is food for the hungry. Drink for the thirsty. [Clothing] for the naked. It gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”

Conclusion

Our politicians tax excessively. Business leaders are getting millions of dollars in bonuses. Everywhere we turn, money is the goal. The average American pays about one third of their income to taxes. The government spends some of that money on necessary things: defense, education, etc. However, they are also using our money to support things I wouldn’t be caught dead spending my money on. Then there are those things that I find unnecessary. The government thinks it is their job to give to the poor and needy, leaving less money in my pocket to give away to people in need. As John Wesley said, “I cannot help leaving my books behind me whenever God call me hence, but in every other respect, my hands will be my executors.” Wesley gave as much as 98% of his income away. Today that would be impossible because so much of our money is tied up in taxes and rising costs of living. The more greed in our economy, the more things cost and the less we can give to those who have a real need. I thank God that I have an apartment I can afford and the clothes and food that I need. I wish that more people could begin living within their means and giving away the rest.

Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

Why Is A Sermon Still Important?

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Wesley-PreachingI’m concerned about a movement today to do away with the sermon. The argument is such that many believe sermons are irrelevant in a postmodern society where experience and stories are much more transforming in a person’s life. Many believe that sermons have slipped in their importance in the process of making disciples for the following reasons:

1. Fewer people are preaching.

2. Many that are preaching, aren’t preaching well.

3. Fewer preachers truly understand the changing culture today, therefore fewer preachers are connecting their sermons to people.

4. The Church has become consumeristic and so the sermon as part of the buffet isn’t as appealing as the music and the candles and the emotions.

5. Maybe most importantly, too many people have begun giving “talks” rather than sermons unintentionally undermining the value of the sermon.

But rather than allow sermons to be thrown out because the ones being preached are not relevant or they are preached by people who think little of the sermon itself, we need instead, to begin thinking about the role a sermon plays in the life of a local church.

A Case Against Preaching

I agree that we live in a new world and a new culture. We need to rethink church life from every angle. As we look to our future, we as Biblical preachers must always be looking to the Ancient Way as described in God’s Word. I recently heard someone condemn preaching and say that in order to make disciples we need to “Midrash” because that’s what Jesus did.

This is an incorrect interpretation of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus preached! The person who rejected preaching and elevated the Midrash (a discussion where the community interprets a passage together) gave two evidences that this was Jesus’ default position: 1. Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” (which has nothing to do with the way the Jews conducted a Midrash), and 2. people called Jesus “Rabbi”…. That’s it. I had to infer that his logic was thus: a) Rabbi’s in Jesus’ day taught Scripture through Midrash. b) People called Jesus a Rabbi. Therefore, c) Jesus taught Scripture through Midrash. This ignores all of the Biblical evidence of what Jesus did throughout His ministry.

A Case For Preaching

For one thing, chapters five through seven of Matthew (the first book in the New Testament) gives a detailed sermon of Jesus to His disciples. Luke 4 tells us that it was Jesus’ habit to teach in the synagogue. Mark 2 tells us that he was preaching the word to a packed house. Romans 10 asks “How will they hear without a preacher?” Throughout the gospels people were amazed at the teaching of Jesus because He taught as one who had authority.

This gets to the root of why I have a problem with people discarding the sermon: authority. Bible discussions are healthy and good and I enjoy doing them on a weekly basis with my small group (and even more often when possible). However, the sermon is just as important because it bears with it the authority of God to proclaim Truth into people’s lives. A sermon is meant to proclaim Truth whether it is to unbelievers or to the faithful. Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” was delivered specifically to the disciples. He also taught in the synagogues regularly to those who were not necessarily His followers.

Jesus didn’t Midrash the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Here is a passage from the Old Testament that says not to commit adultery, what do you think this means Peter?” Instead, Jesus proclaimed Truth with authority. A sermon does the same thing. The phrase, “The Lord says,” appears hundreds of times in the Bible and that is what a preacher does when he preaches a sermon to the Body.

Conclusion

Regardless of what people think, the sermon is an important part of the overall formation of a Christ follower. It isn’t meant to be THE way a disciple learns Scripture, instead it’s like a meal. We eat meals three times a day and every once in a while we get together with others and share a meal with them. Just because we got a meal on Sunday that someone else cooked doesn’t mean we stop eating for the rest of the week.

We have to have a steady diet of God’s Word and it is beneficial to receive a word from someone else every once in a while. The sermon is not the WAY to make disciples, but it is something that God still calls people to even in our postmodern era. I’m convinced that the people who are against preaching are people who’ve never heard a Spirit filled sermon or they’ve never given one. That’s no reason to deny Jesus’ use of the sermon and God’s call for certain people to be set aside for the ministry of the Word. The Church needs the full spectrum of gifted men and women to be apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers. We need elders and deacons in the church to oversee and to serve the family of faith faithfully. May God continue to raise up qualified people to lead our local churches closer to being like Christ.