mileskiblog

Christian is as Christian does.

2011-10-12T00:26:00.002-04:00

I've been having a great time in the book ofGalatians – I’m leading our seniors through it once a month. They love having ayoung guy sounding the horn for faith alone; I love hearing their stories ofhard-learned lessons of what following Christ looks like in one’s fifties,sixties, seventies, and even in one’s eighties. I love hearing them articulate that many whom they were raised to see as their enemies (e.g., Roman Catholics) aren't. I love hearing them explain that some Christian practices need to change, and are based more on traditions than on the clear teaching of the Scriptures.

Most recently we spent some time in the last bit of chapter 4. There,Paul compares the children of Hagar and Sara and Hagar (Ishmael and Isaac, respectively) to illustrate two ways we try to approach God: bythe flesh (i.e., human effort, willpower) or by faith in God’s promises. Inreading this chapter, it occurred to me that the ‘big idea’ that’s so easy forus to miss is that Christian is as Christian does. No, that doesn’t come from adeleted scene from Forrest Gump. It’s Paul’s point here.

²¹ Tell me, those of you who want to be under the law,don't you hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had twosons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. ²³ But the oneby the slave was born according to the impulse of the flesh, while the one bythe free woman was born as the result of a promise. (Gal4:21-23)

Why does Paul tell a bunch of Christians that gaining eternallife isn’t about the works of the Law? Because he wants them to make a choice. Justbefore this was written, the Galatians were being thrown into confusion by somewho wanted them to go back to obedience to the Law of God as a basis for theirjustification before God. They argued that Paul was crazy, and that onlyobservance of the Law, including the circumcision of new converts, was acceptableto God. Here in ch.4, Paul argues that the way of the flesh cannot achieve whatit tries to. They have to make a choice now between putting their confidence inGod’s promise, fulfilled in Christ, or in their own flesh:

³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? Drive out theslave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a co-heir with theson of the free woman. (Gal 4:30)

In other words: there’s really no choice. All the willpowerand human effort in the world can neversave you.

For a typical evangelical, that seems like a no-brainer. ButPaul says it anyway, because Christian is as Christian does. In other words, whateverChristian ‘team’ we claim to be on is really irrelevant; it’s the pattern ofour living that matters. You can go to a church that teaches that salvation isby faith, and you can claim to believe it yourself, but the proof is in yourlifestyle.

Many of the most legalistic people I know are very orthodoxin their beliefs, and they look down on Roman Catholics as though they’re ashopeless as the devil himself. When I’m not careful, I can easily fall into legalism:confessing evangelically, but living legalistically, as though God should beimpressed by my rule-making and rule-keeping, and He should be less impressedby those who don’t observe the same rules as me. That’s why Paul’s letter to the Galatians isso important for us all: it reminds us that the real test of one’s faith isn’tin their profession of faith, but in their demonstration of it. The one who claimsto believe in salvation by faith, but lives a legalistic, judgmental lifestyleis really no better off than the person who is at least honest enough to admitthat they believe God should save them because they’ve never killed anyone andthey did their best.

What I and my friends need to be reminded of is that Tom theevangelical legalist is really in no better a position to inherit eternal lifethan Dick the nominal Catholic who lacks assurance of his salvation, but ishopeful that God has forgiven him because he did all his sacraments, and triedhis best to keep his nose clean. Harry, who is spiritually interested but not aprofessing Christian looks on from the outside and doesn't see in these two oneguy who obviously “gets it” and one who is hopelessly lost. Harry sees two guyswho have nothing great to offer him or the world.

We’re not saved by our understanding of salvation by gracethrough faith. We’re saved by grace through faith. And if that’s true, a coupleof implications are stunning, if not uncomfortable:

First, it’s possible to believe truth and yet to not havebeen transformed by it. Lots of those who we would consider ‘born-again’ don’ttrust that Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross was enough to securetheir acceptance with God; instead they trust that their rule-keeping impressesGod enough that He accepts them.

Second, it’s possible to have a cleansed heart but aconfused mind. I've known lots of Catholics (most, sadly) who didn’t claim to understandwhat is meant by atonement, propitiation, justification, expiation, etc., anddidn’t know their five Solas, but some of them nevertheless put me to shame by their faith-filled lives. They’renot guys like Harry, but people who really think Jesus is the big deal, even ifthey feel too insignificant to claim a relationship with Him. They’ve bankedeverything on the goodness and promises of God. That doesn’t mean that there’sanother way, or that all Catholics are ‘saved’ – but it makes me hopeful thatthere are some who’ve been saved by faith even without knowing it.

And so Paul’s summary at the end of ch.4 is really important.It’s not a new command to do somethingdifferent, but a reminder of good news they heard a long time ago, but whichthey’ve forgotten:

³¹ Therefore, brothers, we are not children of theslave but of the free woman. (Gal 4:31)

Remember what you are, and live like it. Christianis as Christian does.

Why Porn is Making You Dumb

2011-07-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

Sixteen reasons...

It makes you relationally dysfunctional. It drives you inward into an alternate reality in which you can experience pleasure “with” other people without really knowing them at all. You don’t need to talk to the woman you’re lusting over. She’ll never make fun of you, reject you, or even challenge your opinion. She doesn't even need you to brush your teeth, change your clothes, shave, or be polite. It’s your world, and it’s full of people who are way less maintenance than the ones you meet in real life.
It makes you a liar. Why were you so late for this morning’s meeting? Why can’t you stay awake in church? Why are there these weird charges on the credit card bill this month? Why is our computer acting up? How come you never want to seem to have sex anymore? Any man or woman who has wrestled with pornography – married or unmarried – has had to come up with quick, convincing responses (i.e., lies) to calm the concern behind questions like these. Porn makes you a skilled liar.
It eats up time that should be spent doing more productive things. Like thinking. Like talking to someone. Like reading something. Like praying. Like thinking. Just because it’s late at night doesn't mean there won’t be an impact on your other responsibilities. The time you spend looking at porn will come from somewhere.
It makes you paranoid. You constantly have to cover your tracks. You’re constantly deleting the history on your internet browser. You’re constantly wondering whether you might have forgotten to delete it, for fear that someone might accidentally find it, and you’ll be exposed.
It keeps you from being able to appreciate real beauty in the world. Porn thrives on a utilitarian approach to the female body. The porn star isn't there to be known; she offers herself for your use. And if that’s what gets you really excited, you’ll never be in awe of a glorious sunrise, or majestic mountains, or the real beauty of a woman’s godly character. You’ll see these and know that you should be more impressed with them than you are, but you’re unable to appreciate them because you don’t know what purpose they serve. Mountains, sunrises, storms, etc., aren’t useful. Not in the way that a picture of a hot woman is useful.
It lies to you about what women want. Like these women you’re staring at actually give a rip about you. Like they’re glad you’re back. They’re not. They don’t want you. They want money. They want drugs so that they don’t have to reckon with life. They want to forget what was done to them when they were little. They want to matter to someone– and if taking off their clothes is what makes them feel important, then that’s what they’ll do. They want to forget that somewhere out there is a daddy whose heart is breaking because of the choices his daughter is making with her life. And you’re the reason she’s doing it.
It makes you think that it’s a victimless crime. Like the fact that you’re more excited about masturbating to images of women you've never met is okay with your wife, for whose sake you once vowed to forsake all others. Ask your wife if she’s okay with being your second choice for sexual fulfillment.
It grows and grows and never lets go. The more you see, the more you want to see. The more risque it becomes. The more hard core it’ll have to be in order to interest you, until you’re disgusted with yourself for a) enjoying it, and b) not being able to stop.
It’s costing many guys their jobs, and the risk of being fired doesn't seem to deter them. They actually believe they’ll never be caught. The truth is, most organizations monitor bandwidth usage, and if you’re looking at porn, your boss already knows it. They probably have a file.
It’ll cost many guys their marriages and families, but they won’t believe that until it’s too late.
It’ll send people to hell. Jesus said so: “But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell! (Matt.5:28-30 CSB)
In the life of a Christian, the struggle with pornography – though a sin – is a defeated sin, and yet it has Christian men and women living like slaves.
It renders you useless for ministry. It's not because God refuses to use you, but because your overwhelming guilt keeps you sitting on the sidelines.
It makes us protect it – because even though God has promised an abundant life apart from this sin, to experience that life requires us to really repent – all the way – of this sin. For a lot of guys, letting go of their ‘precious’ is like letting go of their identity. Without this ongoing struggle, they wouldn't know who they are anymore, and that’s scary.
It makes us fear the wrong thing. Like for this sin to be exposed would be the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't. For it never to come to light would be far worse, because it’d be a sign that God has given you over to it. In other words, confess it to someone you respect, and whom you trust to be able to guide you toward Gospel-centered recovery.
It leads you to believe that God is either a) as dumb as you, or b) indifferent toward your sin. Wrong on both counts. You can lie to your friends, and your wife, and your pastor, and your family, and your church, but you cannot lie to God. And if you are lying to God about this – running from Him, rather than seeking His help to repent – then you’re probably lying to everyone else anyway. God is not mocked. You won’t be able to go on like this forever. It’s going to catch up with you. Either you’ll be found out, or you’ll get so sick of the shame that you refuse to give up, that you’ll seek to be free of it by giving up on God altogether.

Confess this sin to God. Believe that it’s forgiven. Itis. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us oursins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9 CSB). On the onehand, this battle is really simple, because porn’s power over you comes fromthe guilt and shame and fear it stirs up – and all of that was taken care of onthe cross, where God “…made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of Godin Him.” (2Cor. 5:21 CSB), and “…our oldself was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may beabolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin” (Rom. 6:6 CSB)

If you have it in you to repent, do so. Look what thisthing is doing to you – do you like being porn’s idiot? It’s making you dumb,and you must fight. I’m all for practical suggestions and setting boundariesfor ourselves. I have many of my own. But none of those will make thetemptation go away. The problem isn’t “out there” somewhere. It’s in me. It’sin you. It’s not going to go away easily. It’s a fight.

Do you think you’re the only one who’s ever struggledwith sexual temptation? You’re not. God promised, through the Apostle, that “Notemptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God isfaithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, butwith the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are ableto bear it.” (1Cor. 10:13 CSB) So guess what? The good news about your lustproblem is that you’re not special. You’re not beyond the reach of God’s grace.In this area, you’re not unique. It doesn’t have to be this way; there’s anotherway out. That’s a promise.

Biblical Inerrancy Media Roundup

2011-07-27T20:13:00.000-04:00

Here are some links to helpful resources that should deepen your appreciation of the importance of affirming the inerrancy of the Bible...

For a brief (5 minute) overview of what it means, watch this explanation by Don Carson:

Books:

Greg Beale's book The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority. Check it out here.
John Wenham's Christ and the Bible. Check it out here.

Articles:

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is essential reading, and can be read in pdf form here.
An wikipedia explanation of its origin can be read here.

Audio / Sermons:

Wayne Grudem gave two lectures on the Bible's authority, three on its inerrancy, one on its necessity, two on its sufficiency, and those can be downloaded here.
Matt Chandler led the men of his church through some awesome teaching about the pastoral value of affirming inerrancy. Awesome pastoral stuff here.
Greg Beale's interviews (here and here) are very helpful for explaining why many of us don't really affirm inerrancy, even though we think we do.

On the Bible's Inerrancy...and Ten Ways to Show You Don't Believe it

2011-07-27T14:14:00.000-04:00

In a few nutshells, inerrancy means that the humanauthors of Scripture didn’t record anything that God didn’t want them torecord. What they wrote was the truth, and so today, to affirm the inerrancy ofscripture means that whatever the Bible teaches as truth is actually true. Whateverthe Bible wants us to believe is true istrue. On that basis, we say that the Bible is the highest authority for us inall matters on which it teaches. Itsteaching is entirely trustworthy, reliable, and authoritative for us. That’swhy the authority, sufficiency, and inerrancy of the Scriptures are usuallypart of the same section in your theology textbook. God’s people are to bowbefore God’s Word, accepting it and submitting to it.

Sometimes when I consider the debates withinevangelicalism (three that come immediately to mind are the nature of hell, thepractice of homosexuality, and everyone’s favourite elephant in the room:gender roles) I wonder whether those on either side agree that God’s book makesno mistakes. They probably think they do. Don’t we all think we do? I think Ido. But the test of the Bible’s authority isn’t in the degree to which itagrees with us, or even in our being able to say that the Bible is inerrant.The real test of our belief in the inerrancy of the Bible is in what happenswhen we don’t like what the Bible teaches about something.

What do we do when a text offends us? What do we do whenwhat seems to be the clear teaching of a passage strikes us as culturallyregressive? What do we do when that text seems to say things about God that wedon’t want to be true? What do we do when the Bible seems to call us to dothings that we don’t much want to do? The answer to questions like these is afar better indicator of whether or not we believe the Bible is inerrant, orauthoritative. Why?

When we don’t like what the Bible teaches, there aredifferent approaches to saying so without really saying so. Each of these is asubtle way of showing that regardless of what you think, the Bible isn’t really authoritative for you, butsomething else is. Each of these is a way of showing that something (usually acultural assumption or pre-commitment) has eroded your view of the inerrancy ofthe Bible. Ten examples:

· The Postmodernapproach: “No thanks – your claim to truth is just another way for you to tryto control me, and your certainty is arrogant. Of that I’m certain.”

· The “Rejectthe Clear in Favour of the Vague” approach: “This passage seems to besaying…(insert highest consensus interpretation here) but because of… (insertrare, unlikely-but-not-impossible interpretive option here) it could also mean such-and-such.

· The “Principle-Trumps-Text”approach: “That’s not really what this passage means, because… (insert God /love / salvation here) is… (insert positive attribute here) and that would be acontradiction.”

· The “HistoryTrumps Study” approach: “Well I was always taught that that means (insertunchallenged, traditionalist interpretation here).”

· The “Lovefor Jesus Qualifies Me” approach: “I’m no theologian; I’m just a pastor, so…” or “I’m no theologian; I’m just trying to help people get saved”

· “EvangelicalPapal Deference”: “Hmmm. Interesting.” (Then leaves to see what celebrityteacher X has taught about this text first. That teacher’s view is adopted astheir own.)

· “ChronologicalSnobbery”: “Yeah, but what the author didn’t understand at the time isthat…”

· The “Canon-within-a-Canon”approach: “Yes, but you can’t take that seriously, because Jesus said…, andhe’s the Son of God.”

· The “NoExplanations Welcome” approach: “There’s no way that happened / is true.You’d have to be an idiot to believe (insert biblical proposition). I justcan’t imagine that God would…”

· The “Authorityby Bandwidth” approach: “Yeah, but this is just one passage. I don’t wantto put too much stock in one passage.”

What difference might it make in some of the debates inthe church if we were to pause for a while and revisit the doctrine of theinerrancy of the Bible? I think it might help. If we could be reminded – in apastoral, devotional way, not an academic, cavalier,this-is-interesting-but-there’s-nothing-really-at-stake way – that there are nomistakes in the Bible, and that what’s there is really what God means for us tobelieve and practice, then I can’t help by think that we might make someprogress in some of these debates.

A qualification: submitting to the Bible doesn’t make thediscomfort go away. But that’s how you know you’re submitting. It’s notsubmission unless you disagree. Otherwise it’s called consensus.

This issue is worth our attention. Where God’s peopleaffirm the inerrancy of the Scriptures, debates and discussions take adifferent tone altogether. That’s a practical reason we need to recover the doctrineof the Bible’s inerrancy. There are better reasons, and I need to spend sometime wrestling through the meaning of each. And so do you. Here are some ofthose reasons, and I aim to turn these into future posts:

· Because it’s God’s book.

· Because it’s counter-cultural

· Because an errant Bible can’t be authoritative

· Because reliableand authoritative aren’t the samething

· Because the Bible can’t be true about somethings and not true about others

· Because it’s the only way to maintain both thedivine and human origin of the Bible

Nineteen Things We Assume the Bible Teaches Clearly but Doesn't Regarding Manhood and Womanhood in Marriage

2011-06-28T09:39:00.000-04:00

I'm very thankful (and a little shocked) at the amount of people who thanked me for my message on Sunday about God's unique calling on wives and moms in the context of the family. I didn't have time during the first service to go through this list, but I did promise I'd post it on my blog. So here it is...

That it’s wrong for a woman to wear makeup, nice clothes, and care about what she looks like.
That marriage is commanded, such that it’s a sin to be unmarried.
That a wife’s submission is because she’s weaker, or less intelligent.
Which kinds of clothing are “modest” and which are “immodest”
That headship is easier than submission.
That the man must lead every prayer and family devotion
That it’s okay to abuse a woman in any way.
That for God to give certain roles to some that He doesn't give to others necessarily implies that they’re superior in some way to the ones who aren't given those roles.
That its’ the dad’s job to disciplines the kids (when he gets home from work.)
That Eve was deceived because she was more gullible than the man.
That the husband mediates the relationship between his wife and God.
That a woman should submit to her husband instead of to God.
That a wife must say ‘yes’ every time a husband asks her to do something.
That a wife can’t correct her husband when he’s in the wrong
That every woman must submit to every man.
Which activities in the home are for women, and which are for men
Which characteristics are ‘masculine’ and which are ‘feminine’.
What headship and submission will look like in every season of married life.
That headship and submission will look exactly the same in every Christian home.

Okay, so Bell may be a Universalist.

2011-03-16T11:02:00.000-04:00

I changed my mind. I read the book after all. It was only fair, and turned out to be a pretty decent read. It only took a couple of hours. Had it been formatted like most other books, it could have been about 75 pages, but Rob Bell doesn't...

work..

that...

way.

It turns out he's been influenced pretty heavily by N.T. Wright's perspectives on the Kingdom of God and its implications for our mission in the here and now. He's also been influenced pretty heavily by Tim Keller's preaching / teaching on the parable of the lost sons (a la The Prodigal God). Bell seems to put his own spin on their views, and the result is a good read. I still think that his point about most Christians not believing that God is good is a valid one - one that we need to take seriously.

But I have some great ideas for how to win an argument about our eternal destiny, based on what I've seen in Love Wins:

1. Redefine words/concepts like love, heaven, hell.
2. Attach my views to historical figures like Origen, Augustine, etc., without quoting them directly.
3. Win the Reformed by suggesting that Martin Luther thinks I might be right...but again, don't quote him.
4. Don't answer the questions the interviewers and fans are asking me about what I do and don't believe.
5. Make fun of Christians who I disagree with.
6. Make fun of what lots of Christians believe.
7. Make a case that my view is something that the uncomfortable texts could possibly mean - and ignore the likely, clearer meaning wherever possible.
8. Couch my theology in anecdotal stories of suffering and pain so that would-be critics will feel guilty.
9. Shave my head and wear thick-rimmed glasses.
10. Don't support my propositions; just state my assumptions so unilaterally that any would-be critic will be afraid to argue with them, thinking These must be true; he speaks as though they're so obvious!

2011-03-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

I haven't read Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, and I probably won't, realistically. I'm glad he wrote it, though. While most evangelicals at the moment are scouring the book for quotes to 'prove' he's a Universalist, I find myself wrestling with the idea that he makes in a roundabout, biblically indefensible, historically inaccurate, and academically irresponsible way. What is it?

We don't believe God is good.

Boom. Come one. It's true, though, isn't it?

I just finished watching an interview with Bell in which he did some Q&A with a live audience, explaining his views of heaven, hell, etc. You can watch the whole thing here. I found it frustrating to no end. Bell doesn't like to talk about hell. When people ask him direct questions about what he believes about hell, (e.g., Dr. Ron Walborn, at approximately 55:00 in the video) he says lots of cool stuff and tells heartbreaking stories of people's pain and longing, but he doesn't answer the question. That's frustrating. And people who are looking for Bell to back up his views with biblical texts will be frustrated too. I have the distinct sense that Bell feels compelled to circumvent the Scriptures in order to prove that God is good. That's frustrating. And as he repeatedly explains, love must have the freedom to choose...so God doesn't send people to hell because they're not part of the right religion, club, etc., but because they choose to resist Him. For Bell, heaven and hell is all about the crucial reality that our choices have consequences, and therefore God doesn't send anyone to hell - hell is a present reality and we see it all around us. We create it for ourselves when we resist what God is about. Does that sound ambiguous? It is. And that's frustrating too. Trying to understand what Bell believes is like trying to pin Jello to the wall. That's frustrating.

The thing is, I think Bell is on to something. Toward the end of the video, Bell answers a person's question by exposing the reality that what most of us think we're presenting as 'good news' isn't really. "If you reject what I've said tonight and walk out of here and get hit by a car, God is going to send you to hell forever." And the thing is, as Bell says, any of us who had a Dad who could switch so quickly from love to wrath would be afraid of him; we'd want to be as far from him as possible. We'd see him as toxic, abusive, and fundamentally corrupt.

Bell's reductionist take on the criteria of judgment notwithstanding, he's on to something. His point is that the question behind the question of "what is the good news?" or "does God love me?" is the question "Is God good?" and "Can I really trust Him?" If salvation reconciles us to a God we don't actually love, how is that good? If in our most honest moments, we don't actually believe that God is good, then all our worship and devotion are a smokescreen. They're the epitome of hypocrisy.

Our greatest need in this is to see that God is good. My fear is that most of us don't. We think we do, but we've chosen not to answer certain tough questions the Bible raises. It may be a better answer to these questions than Bell's book is Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God. Nevertheless, thank you, Rob Bell for forcing us to think. Thank you for forcing me to think. When the dust settles, and you've taken some hits because you're an inconsistent Pelagian, and you don't seem to care about the meaning of words, I hope you won't be too discouraged by the attacks of Evangelicals. I, for one, think you're on to something.

Blog Series: Reasons Not to Leave a Church

2011-01-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

Over the next weeks, I intend to blog the reasons not to leave a church. I'm challenging Christians to be fully engaged in the life of the local church that they're a part of. There are at least five reasons for this:

The culture we live in encourages people to 'check things out' to make sure it's a good 'fit'. While I understand this approach, it can't be an indefinite one. People who remain in the "checking it out" period indefinitely will eventually find something that turns them off, offends them, disappoints them, etc. Can you imagine if that happened at a gym? Manager: "Sir, you've been exercising here every week for the last six months. I'm afraid if you don't join us as a member, you can't keep using our facilities" User: "Come on! I'm still checking it out!!!"
I'm reading books by a lot of guys in my generation encouraging people to drop out of the "institutional" church and do the more 'biblical' thing which is to start a house church. While I have nothing against the house church movement per se, I have a lot against much of the dichotomizing between the "Church" (note the really big 'C', which is the same letter as Jesus' last name, meaning it's really important) and the institutional "church" (note the small, insignificant, easy-to-offend-with-no-consequence 'c'). People are being encouraged to leave their churches for any and every reason, and that's not cool.
A lot of our culture believes that formal church membership is a human invention of later Christians, rather than a deliberate practice of the early church.
A growing disillusionment with the church, rooted in an assumption that Constantine's legalizing of Christianity is the reason the church went south, such that there were two periods of church history: the Early (i.e., uncorrupted, denomination-free) church, and everything since.
The celebration of authors referred to in #2 as prophetic. "Prophetic"!? Seriously?

Before I do, I fully admit the following qualifications:

I've left a church in which I was very heavily involved. Not all of my reasons for doing so were God-honoring, but some of them were. We'll talk about that later.
Leaving a church isn't necessarily a sin. I think it can be, and often is, but even then, it isn't the unpardonable sin.
Lots of churches are messed up - and there are lots of reasons for that. Most of the time, it's the people leading it. Nevertheless, not all churches are worth saving. It may be that a local church's dysfunction is Jesus' way of saying "Ichabod: the glory of the Lord has departed" (a la 1Sam 4:21) and Himself shutting it down, so that it cannot do any more damage to the watching community.
Lots of us have been hurt - sometimes deeply - by people in the church. Sometimes pastors have been the cause of some of the deepest offenses. When you're hurt at church, by people who should know better, it's hard to get over. Not impossible. But hard. I get that.

2011-01-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I. [1Corinthians 12:14-27]

I love the church. Unfortunately, when many people think of the church, they think of this:

Today more than ever before it’s cool to make fun of the church. It’s not only acceptable to criticize local churches, but there’s actually a growing movement of Christians who are leaving the ‘institutional’ church, starting house churches, and it’s considered progressive. It’s more spiritual. It’s closer to what Jesus had in mind. It’s what you need to do if you want to really experience Jesus. It comes from books like:

Life After Church: God’s Divine Call to Disillusioned Christians;
Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God;
Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation
Quitting Church: Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to do About it;
So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore;
Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices;
Revolution: Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary;
UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...And Why it Matters
They Like Jesus but Not the Church

And in those books, you’ll read things like this:

“Rather than draw people out of the world and into a relationship with an institution, Revolutionaries demonstrate what it means to be the presence of God wherever you are.” –George Barna
“A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith.” - Reggie McNeal
“If the local church is the hope of the world, then the world has no hope.” –George Barna

I agree that there are some serious problems in some churches, but we’re going to see today that while some see the local church as the problem, the Bible, rightly understood, shows that the church is actually the solution

II. Context:

The church in Corinth was a mess; they’re divided into two camps: the super-spiritual “varsity Christians”, and everyone else. And it showed up in a lot of conflicts they had:

· Over teachers: varsity Christians followed Apollos; everyone else followed Paul.
· Over sexual rights (ch. 5) –there’s a guy sleeping with his mother or step-mother; some think he should not be welcome in the church until he repents; the varsity Christians were willing to put up with it because he seems to be someone of status (e.g., Brad Pitt), and maybe having him around will bring more people into the church.
· Over civil issues; (ch.6); they can’t settle their disagreements through face-to-face discussion, so they take each other to court…they’re too proud to apologize, or admit their wrong.
· Over marriage rights (ch.7) – some were spreading the teaching that marriage is for the weak; because if you’re a varsity Christian, you can control yourself; you don’t need marriage.
· Over food rights (ch.8) – if you went to the market to buy meat, the best deal was on meat that had come from the bulls and lambs that had been sacrificed to the local gods. But the varsity Christians were saying, “No, no no – that meat was offered to an idol – if you eat that it’ll make you unclean.”
· Over spiritual gifts (12-14) – The members of the church in Corinth had been given all kinds of different gifts by the Holy Spirit – but there grew this hierarchy of spiritual gifts. The varsity Christians spoke in tongues, and if you wanted to be as spiritual as they are, you should speak in tongues too.

Sum: and do you see what’s at the bottom of it all? Pride. Because these varsity Christians believed that the whole church should be like them, it was resulting in divisions and splits, and all kinds of hurt feelings.

III. Text

I would argue that the same mindset or attitude that was leading these so-called varsity Christians to divide the church at Corinth is alive and well today. In fact I’d say that the same attitude that led some of the Corinthians to look down on those who weren't like them is the same attitude that is leading some evangelicals to give up on church altogether.

To do that, I want us to look at 1Corinthians 12 (p.881) where Paul responds to the divisions by giving them a picture: a body. As messed up and as divided as they are, they’re still one. They’re still a church. In fact, not only are they a church, but they are the church according to (v.27). George Ladd comments:

“The congregation in Corinth was anything but a “holy” people in terms of life and conduct; …Still, it was a congregation of saints, of the sanctified, because in spite of the sinful conduct of many of its members and the worldly character of the church itself, it was still the church of God in Corinth.” George Eldon Ladd

*Goal: The greatest danger to the health of the Body of Christ is the cancer of pride.Let's compare and contrast what it would look like if you could have church the way you want it, with what it should look like when the church functions the way the Spirit wants it to. There are four things based on this passage that I think we should see in a church that functions his way…

1. Every member has a unique role

[vv.12, 14, 20 - one body with many parts / members] Explain: no single member of the body can claim to possess all that the Body ought to have. The Body should have eyes – eyes are great; but there should also be ears, hands, feet, noses, etc., etc. And we’re better off this way!

Paul explains it in [vv.15-16] Explain: Every member of the body belongs; not matter how insignificant they think they might be compared to other members.

He goes on: [v.17] Explain: The ability to see well is great, but good sight isn’t the only thing a Body needs.

Illustration: Your sight won’t protect the body from danger when the lion is hiding behind a tree. So seeing is great, but seeing plus hearing is even better. And being expert at hearing is great, but at mealtime it’s not your hearing that helps you enjoy food, but your sense of smell. So hearing is great, but hearing plus smelling is better. So in the Body of Christ, there are many, diverse, unique members, and each member belongs.

Why is Paul saying this? Because church is messy. I have a hunch that if we’re honest, most people like diversity in theory, but not in practice. On one hand, it’s great to be able to look around your church family and see people who represent all the races, languages, cultures, classes, education, spiritual gifts, etc. On the other hand, these diverse people bring with them diverse views and commitments that can make church life messy. But here, God’s Word is telling us that that’s not a problem – it’s the sign that this is truly the Body of Christ. Pride will lead us toward sameness; the Spirit of God will lead us to embrace and wrestle with our diversity.

“Paul’s vision of the body of Christ is of a unity which consists in diversity, that is, a unity which is not denied by diversity, but which would be denied by uniformity” James D.G. Dunn

You see, if I’m honest, and if I could have church my way, and if you could have it yours, it would be full of people just like me, right? Think of how much conflict and stress and meetings we could avoid if everyone just thought like I do. But here, Paul is saying that (Big Idea) In the Body of Christ, a church that experiences tension and mess because of its diversity is actually better off than a church that experiences none.

2. Every member is God-given.

Now at this point, you may be wondering if this is going to be one of those sermons where you come away feeling beaten up because the preacher thinks you’re too proud. And that’s not what I’m trying to do – what I do want to do though, is to hold up this passage as a sort of mirror, and invite you to look into it and ask is this Word for me? Not “ooh, I can’t wait for so-and-so to hear this.” But honestly: “Is there something that God might be saying to me?”

Have you never said to yourself or someone else “This would be a great church if the leaders would just…” or “We spend too much time on A, B, and C – we need to be doing more of X, Y, and Z!” And maybe those are all fine things, and maybe they’re even biblical, but what we’re really saying is that “I’ve got the vision for this church, and if everyone else would just get on board with my vision, then we’d be great.”

And there’s only one problem with that – you’re one person. And you think your vision is the one we should all follow, but so do we all! And I love that Paul answers that kind of pride with theology. He spells it out here: [v.18] Explain: It isn't an accident that there are all these gifts, opinions, and preferences. The Spirit did this on purpose. God placed the parts in the body just as he wanted. He says it again in v.24: “God so composed the Body…”

Big Idea: In the Body of Christ, there’s something better than getting everything you want - it’s getting what he wants.

3. Every member is necessary.

Vv.21-22: Every member is needed. “all the more” (v.22)

Why does Paul need to tell the “eye” that it needs the hands too (v.21)? Why does he need to tell the head that the feet are necessary?

I think it’s because if you’re a head or an eye, you’ll tend to be busier than hands and feet. That doesn’t make them less important, but less busy. And if you’re a head and eye, it’s easy to get proud and look at the other parts and say “What do you do around here?! I’m an eye; I’m a head! You’re just a hand. You’re nothing but a foot. We could get along fine without you.” And Paul confronts that kind of pride, saying, “No. That’s wrong.”

There are times in the life of a body when the eyes are busier than the hands; and there are times when the head is busier than the feet. But that doesn’t make them dead weight; it doesn’t mean we can do without them. You know, if I could have the church just how I like it, if I’m honest, it would probably be full of people just like me who are active all the time in all the same ways…and anyone who isn’t involved in those ways would be dead weight. I could do without them. But here, Paul is saying that’s wrong. We can’t afford to lose any members. We can’t afford to be dismembered.

Illustration: Do you know what it’s like to lose a part of your body? It’s about the worst pain you can imagine. My friend’s accident: Chaos, panic, physical and emotional agony. He has prosthetic legs that help him get around, but they’ll never be as good as the real thing; he’ll never be as mobile in his chair as he was on his feet.

Big Idea: In the Body of Christ, each member is absolutely necessary, so to be dis-membered is painful and serious.

4. Every member is responsible for every other.

[vv.23-24 ] I wrestled with what Paul means here, but I think I’ve got it. Illustration: being naked in front of a crowd. In a healthy body, you cover up those parts that aren’t presentable. But what happens if there are divisions in that body? The hands might say – “Forget it. You’re on your own!” and refuse to help out the parts that can’t help themselves.

You might think “Why are there any unpresentable parts on a healthy body? Why would the Holy Spirit want a healthy body to include unpresentable parts” If I’m honest, if I could have the church my way, there would be no unpresentable parts –it would be full of beautiful people doing beautiful things that get us all sorts of respect in the world’s eyes.

But Paul answers this when he says, [v.25-26]. Explain: i.e., these unpresentable parts actually help us to build unity. They make us more able to look after each other. Because that part is just as much a member of the body as you are, your own health as a member of the body is inextricably linked to theirs.

“As in a body, the pain of one member is the pain of all. If you smash your finger with a hammer, you may exclaim with equal appropriateness, I hurt my finger! or I hurt myself! …So must it be in the church. No Christian is to think in individualistic terms, but in terms of the body.” Don Carson

Big Idea: In the Body of Christ, no member is truly independent; in reality, they are inter-dependent.

Sum: As you look at that list, maybe it seems to you crazy, if not a bit unrealistic. Every one of these four points runs counter to the way our culture works, and the way we would run the church, if it were up to us. A place where everyone belongs – matter how different they are? And it’s God’s idea? A place where every member is needed? A place where everyone supports each other – rather than kicking out whoever is the weak link? Come on! How can that even work?

Let’s be honest – Unless you only come around on Sunday mornings, church life is messy. Unless you only come around on Sunday mornings, you’ve probably had to serve alongside people you wouldn’t normally get along with. You’ve probably felt over-extended and tired. Maybe you felt frustrated because things aren’t happening as quickly as you’d like. I get that. But if what Paul says here is true, then the mess isn’t the problem – the mess is a sign that we’re getting it. And so we have a choice to make: when life in this Body isn’t going exactly how we’d like it, what will we do?

Dropouts: if you’re like the growing number of people in my generation, you’re going to drop out. You’ll leave your church, grab a handful of friends who are just like you, and you’ll start a house church. Now I have no problem with house churches in principle; but I have a big problem with people giving up on the local church – as though dropping out is for Varsity Christians, and ‘church’ is for the rest of us.

IV. Before you Leave: 5 heart-check questions:

Let me invite you to take a minute to do a bit of a heart-check. I hope you see by now that the real problem isn't with the church as an organization, or as an institution – it’s Christians. The problem is me. And it’s you. There may be a few good reasons to leave a church (I may blog about those later). But before you or someone you know drops out of a church, or if you know someone who has, let me invite you and them to wrestle with a few questions…

1. Do I only hang out with people like me at church?

Am I trying to welcome all newcomers, or only those who dress and think and talk like me?

2. Am I bored of hearing the gospel in sermons?

Do I want something else?
Am I excited to hear of new implications of the gospel for my life, or am I ready for something “deeper”?
There is nothing deeper. You don’t become a Christian by hearing the gospel, and then grow more mature by learning something else.
If you’re tired of hearing about Jesus, the cross, heaven, hell, forgiveness, repentance, then your problem isn’t with the church.

3. Must I always have my way at church?

Am I convinced that I’m the only one that knows God’s will for this church? Am I frustrated with my knucklehead pastors and elders who don’t seem to be listening to me? Or am I willing to humble myself and submit when we disagree over secondary matters?
It may be that the thing that frustrates you about church is the very thing that God has gifted you to help change; it may be that the thing that you’re having a hard time accepting is the very thing that God wants to use to teach you patience, and perseverance, and commitment. And if you leave, you’ll miss out on that.

4. How committed am I to making my church a healthy expression of the Body of Christ?

Am I willing to commit in membership, or do I want to keep my options open?
Have I given my brothers and sisters here permission to keep me accountable and help me grow in my faith, or would I rather keep them at a safe distance?
Would my role be missed if I were gone, or do I leave it to others to do all of the ministry here?
"We must grasp once again, the idea of church membership as being the membership of the body of Christ and as the biggest honour which can come a man's way in this world." -Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"If the church is a building, then we must be bricks in it; if the church is a body, then we are its members; if the church is a household of faith, then we are part of that household. Sheep are in a flock, and branches on a vine. Biblically, if we are Christians we must be members of a church. This membership is not simply the record of a statement we once made or of affection toward a familiar place. It must be the reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless." -Mark Dever

5. How well am I known at church?

Have I made myself available for others to love me?
Does anyone here know the sins I struggle with and pray for me, or am I critical because Christians are too superficial?
Who would miss me if I were gone?
And if I left, would I even tell anyone that I was leaving and why?

V. Conclusion:

I love the church. I hope you do too. I hope you can see that the church is worth keeping. I hope that after this, you have a bit more perspective, and that you can see that maybe the things that drive you crazy about the church are the very things that show that God is at work here. Look at it this way - at least we're not Corinth! But the Spirit of God was there. And he’s here – building this Body of Christ – out of imperfect people like you and me, and those who have been hurt by church people, and those who hurt church people.

One of the other metaphors that the Scriptures use to describe the church is the Bride of Christ. It’s the idea that someday, the church and Jesus are getting married. It seems to me that if anyone had reason to leave the church, it was Jesus. But not only will Jesus not leave her. While so many people in my generation are making fun of the church, Jesus is getting ready to marry her. She’s his fiancée, warts and all, and Jesus will never divorce her.

The Power of Possessions and the Greater Glory of Jesus

2011-01-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Mat 5:6 NAS)

Question: what was the most amazing Christmas present you ever got? Where is it now?

Is it a little disturbing to see so many people’s treasures going for so little at a thrift store? Is it a little upsetting that the stuff that means so much to you might end up here? If so, the problem probably isn’t that we have too much stuff – that may be – but the problem is probably that we’re too attached to it. It means more to us than it should. A.W. Tozer called this a monstrous substitution:

“The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.”

The message that Jesus presents in this short verse is one that fills the Bible. If we want to understand the idol of possessions, there are four things we need to understand first: (1) The nature of the human heart (2) Why our property seems to satisfy us (3) Why Jesus is better.

II. The nature of the human heart
Illustration: Sense of glory; it’s how you know that something is awesome, breathtaking, mind-blowing. You were created with this hunger and thirst; and it was given to us so that we could enjoy God. Listen to this:

• As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? (Psa 42:1 )

• God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water…. .5 You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips. (Psa 63:1-5 )

• How lovely is Your dwelling place, LORD of Hosts. 2 I long and yearn for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God. (Psa 84:1-2 )

• Better a day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather be at the door of the house of my God than to live in the tents of the wicked. (Psa 84:10 )

It’s easy to forget that the guys who wrote the Bible were real people with real problems, struggles and joys, and yet they really believed this stuff: God is satisfying. The human heart actually has the ability to be satisfied in God. Do you get that? We’re born with this appetite; it’s a massive hunger and thirst for what’s glorious; we’re at our most satisfied when it’s being filled with God, but everyone’s going to satisfy it with something.

John Calvin used to say that “the human heart is an idol factory.”

Augustine said: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”

That’s why Isaiah said:

• Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! 2 Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods. 3 Pay attention and come to Me; listen, so that you will live.” (Isa 55:1-3 )

Illustration: Mileski Thanksgiving.

Big Idea: And so the thing we need to know as we begin is that our hearts hunger and thirst for something glorious – and so we’ll fill it with something – either Jesus, or a counterfeit.

III. Why does our property seem to satisfy us?
(1) We use our stuff to earn other people’s respect and admiration.
(Acts 5:1-11 re: Ananias and Saphira).

Big idea: To most everyone, it looked like they loved God; they looked really generous, and really committed. We don’t know how Peter knew the truth, but in the end, it wasn’t what they gave, but what they kept back that destroyed them. They thought they were in control of their property, but the reality is that it controlled them. It was an idol. It had taken God’s place in their lives. And they wanted everyone to believe they were on board with Jesus; their property proved them wrong. Their property made liars out of them.

In the same way, how many of us have made strategic purchases of things – not because we need it; not even because we want it; but because of the respect it gives us among our peers? Our stuff is our ticket to being ‘in’ with them; being accepted: “Oooooh, you own an iPad?! Why not come over and let me have a look?” or “Oooooh, did you hear about Jane in the next office? I heard she just got one of those new electric cars! I’m going to ask her to let me take it for a ride.”

This isn’t just a problem for people out there, right? Churches can be just as guilty of this, right? Here we have a big, beautiful, hundred-year-old building, that looks like a castle, and it’s in the heart of downtown: “Ooooh, you’ve been in the same building for a hundred years; I admire that! You still have stained glass – so few churches these days have stained glass; I admire you. Your building is paid off; I admire that! You have no coffee stains on your carpets; I admire that.” And that feels really, really good, doesn’t it? But whether we’re Christians or not, that respect and admiration can be really satisfying – but at the end of the day, it’s not what we were made for. It’s a counterfeit.

(2) We use our stuff to prove how important we are.
(Luke 18:18-23 re: the Rich Young Ruler)

Big idea: He told Jesus he was willing to do whatever it takes to gain eternal life; he wasn’t. Again, his property made a liar out of him. It was an idol for him – it had replaced God in his heart. If righteousness meant selling all his stuff and giving away all his money, he wouldn’t. He couldn't imagine life without it: “Who would I be without my stuff? Don’t you know who I am?! I’m the rich young ruler! I can’t be without my stuff – I’d have no status! I’d be just like everyone else. No way!” And I know that sounds crazy to us, but we do it all the time, don’t we? Of course we do, because our property can be a badge of our importance; they point to our glory, and that is really satisfying!

Illustration: I recently read about a missionary who returned to the field after a year’s furlough, and after he left, one of his friends back home asked him: “What struck you the most in the time you were home with us?” He answered: “What struck me the most was how people use their houses to make statements to each other; their houses aren’t just places to keep warm and dry, but showcases to display their wealth and impress each other.” (Alcorn)

Is it a sin to own a nice house? Is it a sin, for example, to live in Ancaster? Or Dundas? No. But let’s be honest – why did you really move out there? Was it because God was calling you to reach out to the wealthy or upper-middle-class neighbours? Probably not. You’re probably like a lot of people who can’t stand the thought of living downtown with its crime, and smells, and noise. And besides – everyone knows only the really important people can afford to live in Dundas and Ancaster, right? And there’s something really satisfying about that. -And again – this isn’t something that’s just happening out there somewhere, is it? When we’re honest, we know this. We use our property like a trophy. When you’re recognized as the most important, or intelligent, or published person in your neighbourhood, your church, your family, etc., you find some satisfaction in that, because there’s glory in it. But it’s not the real thing. It’s an idol; a counterfeit.

(3) We use our stuff to earn our freedom.
(Luke 12:15-21 re: the Rich Fool.)

Big Idea: He thought that because he’s got so much saved up, he’ll never need to work again. He can relax for the rest of his life because as long as his barns are full, there’s nothing to worry about. As long as his barns are full, nothing can harm him. If he wants to play Wii for eight hours, and sleep for the other twelve, he can. If he wants to sell a bit of it and buy a sweet home theatre and watch the Star Wars trilogy every day, he can. As long as his barns are full, he can do whatever he wants. He’s safe; he’s secure; he’s free. God calls him a fool. He’s a fool because he wasted his life hording his stuff and gave no thought to God’s will for his life. He’s a fool because he thought that his abundance gave him freedom to live the good life; in the end, his stuff kept him out of the good life God wanted for him. How does it happen? Check this out -

Illustration: my iPhone. Glorious and dangerous! With this one gadget, I can do email, texting, phone, weather, news, calculator, gps, clock, Bible, guitar tuner, and MP3 player. I have this with me and I feel free – I never have to worry about getting lost again, or getting caught in a storm, or missing an important message. And there’s glory in that! There’s glory in being able to protect yourself from loss and harm. There’s glory in having the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want to do it. It’s satisfying, but the trouble is, one day you wake up and you find yourself at church, and you realize that everyone’s singing about God’s majesty, and How Great is Our God – and you’re like: “yeah, I guess.”

It’s not that you’re against Jesus – it’s just that he’s no big deal anymore. You don’t hunger and thirst for him like you once did. You don’t really need him anymore –you’ve got the counterfeit; you’re “free”.

Sum: So our property can be a powerful idol: it gets us respect and admiration. It shows the world how important we are. It frees us from the worries of life. And there’s glory in all of that. And whether you’re a Christian or not, the result is that we’re part of a culture who can’t hunger and thirst for righteousness because we’re already full. We’re stuffed. And our sense of glory is numb. We’ve so satisfied ourselves with stuff that when Jesus presents himself as a feast, he’s just not a big deal. And if that’s you today, then what you need more than anything – more than any advice about simplifying your lifestyle, or giving it all away, or changing your behaviours – is to be convinced in your heart that Jesus is better.

IV. Three reasons why Jesus is better:

(1) You don’t have to earn his admiration.

When you’re using your stuff to impress others, and to buy your way into the cool group, it’s an idol. If it’s a source of boasting and pride for you, you don’t really own your property – it owns you. You’ll never part with it. At least not voluntarily. And we can talk all day about how committed and devoted we are to God’s mission, but when push comes to shove, our property will call us liars. Just like Ananias and Saphira, you’ll use your stuff to buy people’s respect, and when push comes to shove, it doesn’t work. People won’t really respect you for what you’ve got. We think that’s respect; that’s admiration; that’s acceptance; that’s love. It’s not. It’s a counterfeit. Jesus is better. He loves you. He really does. His love for you has nothing to do with what you own, or what you can afford. It has nothing to do with what you can offer him. It’s not for sale. His love is yours just because you’re his; he made you, and he knows you better than you know yourself. Is there glory in that? Sure there is. He loves you like no one else can. And that’s free. In fact, it’s already yours, whether you know it or not. That’s amazing. Could that satisfy you? I think it could.

(2) You can’t prove your worth to him

If your property is the symbol of your status, then you’ll never give it up – even if God asks you to. We’re like the Rich Young Ruler – we can say that we love God with all we’ve got; and we’ve loved our neighbour, and that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus; but if, in your honest moments, God is telling you “Sell it. Give it away. Move downtown” then my fear is that there may be some here who would walk away from Jesus and be “very sad”. When we define our worth and our value in terms of what we own, it doesn’t work. There’s always a bigger, nicer home. There’s always a faster car. There’s going to be an iPhone 5; then a 6. Bet on it. And when you aren’t the first person to have one, you’ll feel worthless. You’ll feel small. You won’t know who you are anymore. Jesus is better. He knows your value. He gave it to you. In the Gospel, we’re free from the need to impress God, because how do you impress the one who made the universe? You’ve got a dishwasher that gets every dish clean; you’ve got an oven that cleans itself; you’ve got a microwave that knows when to stop cooking your popcorn. God says: “Ooooh! Those are cool tricks. Guess what – I made the world.” How does any of our stuff compare to the ability to speak a world into being? He’s the Son of God…and he’s on your side. You don’t need to prove yourself to him – He proved himself to you when he let himself be tortured and killed for you. Is that amazing? Is that glorious? The world was made by him and for him. At every second, he’s keeping the whole thing from flying apart. What can you do? “Well, I’ve got an app that can make my voice sound like a robot…” or “My house has central vac.” Come on. Can he satisfy you? Do you think you can out-thirst his ability to fill you? I doubt it. Is your hunger for glory bigger than what he can fill? No way. He’s better.

(3) Jesus offers a true and better freedom.

If we count on our stuff to save us when we’re in trouble, to protect us, to keep us safe – not only is it an idol, but we put a weight on it that it just can’t carry. It can’t make your problems go away – not your real problems. It can’t heal your pain – not your real pains. But most of all, your stuff can’t die for your sins. We can talk all day long about how much we trust God, and how we’ve been saved by the grace of Jesus, but if our functional saviour is our stuff, then we’re no different from the Rich Fool – we can eat, drink, and entertain ourselves to death – and God’s Word will call us a fool. Why? Because if Jesus Christ isn’t your Lord and Savior, but your property is, then someday, your lord and savior is going to end up on a shelf at Value Village with a price tag attached, and after that, in a landfill. It won’t be able to save you. But Jesus is better. Jesus gives real freedom in that he’s the only one who can give us eternal life – immortality. You’ll never outlive him. You’ll never outlast him.

The Gospel says that Jesus Christ died for sins, and that he didn’t stay dead. In Romans we read that "…if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.” (Rom 8:11 ) Do you realize what Paul is saying? It means that we’re free from the worst thing that can happen - death. That’s amazing. How crazy, and silly, and foolish it must look from God’s perspective when we surround ourselves with these toys, and think that we’re free. I picture Jesus saying: “Yeah – you’re free, eh? Check this out -I can’t die. How do you win against someone who won’t die? How can you intimidate someone who won’t stay dead?! You can’t!” And if you’re in Christ, that’s you. You have nothing to fear. You don’t need to be afraid, because there’s a sovereign, good God running the show, and not you. You don’t need to worry anymore – going without the biggest and best toys isn’t going to kill you. And even if it does, you still win, because if we’re in Christ we will be raised with him. Isn’t that glorious? Now if he can raise you from the dead, do you think he can satisfy your sense of glory? You’ll never face a trial that he hasn’t permitted for whatever reason he’s got. You’ll never face a problem that he can’t help you through. He’s absolutely large and in charge; and he’s given you eternal life. That’s freedom.

V. Conclusion:

Thanksgiving could be the start of something glorious for you and your family. Do you believe this? How great would it be if you got this sorted out, and your property wasn’t an idol for you? Why not just have this conversation with your family? Ask: “Do we really need all this stuff?” Real thanksgiving comes from the reality that we don’t need this stuff to be satisfied in Christ; it’s all extra. Believe it or not, we can live without it, but God lets us enjoy it anyway.

Illustration: Maggie and I at Toys R Us.

And we need to know that we can say that we love God, and we trust him, and we can preach that Jesus is better than anything else the world has to offer; but there’s a world that needs to see our lives backing it up. Now I get that none of us have this worked out perfectly; we all struggle with materialism. But the reality is that if this is an idol for us, we can say whatever we want, but our possessions will call us liars, and God’s Word will call us fools. And so when Jesus says to us, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Mat 5:6 NAS) It’s an amazing offer.

Jesus looks at our culture and says: “I get that in this kingdom, what you own will determine who your friends are; and your toys show how important you are. And they keep you safe. In this kingdom, that’s the blessed life. But I’m here to tell you, there’s a better way. If you would trust me, you’d see that I’m enough. You hunger and thirst for what’s glorious – you’ll only truly be satisfied when you can hunger and thirst for my righteousness. I’m better than anything and everything else the world has to offer.”

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-10T16:53:00.002-05:00

Purity and the Precious: Matthew 5:8 and the Idol of Sex

2010-12-02T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here are my notes from the sermon I preached on the Idol of Sex...
=========================

October 31st 2010

A. Introduction:
The Ted Haggard scandal... Here’s what Haggard said in his resignation letter: [read from p.1] From what he said, sexual sin was a big problem. But it wasn’t the only problem. In fact, it turns out it wasn’t even his main problem.
[Read Matt 5:8] There are a lot of Christians who hear Matthew 5:8 as an amazing promise: it’s a source of hope and encouragement. But for some, it’s a source of discouragement, and defeat.

I. The Problem of Impurity
1. The problem is here – not “out there”.

Men: More than half of the men in this room will look at sexually explicit images on the Internet this month - on purpose. These aren’t just young single men; they’re in their 40s / 50s, sometimes older. Most of the time, they’re doing it at work, where they earn an average income of $60,000 a year. When they’re not looking at work, they’re doing it at home and masturbating, even though many of them are married and could have the real thing. That should be upsetting – especially if you’re that guy’s wife. These are men you know; they want to please God. They want to serve God, but they’re overcome with guilt and shame; they’ve got this dirty little secret, and for it to be exposed is the worst thing they can imagine.
Women: Many of you women feel insecure and unattractive because of your husband or father’s use of pornography. Our daughters are more afraid of becoming overweight than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing you. Because of the advertising images you’ve seen, most of you women are dissatisfied with your appearance. By the way, a third of all pornography users are women.
Children: The average age of first exposure to internet pornography is 11. And if you have children between the ages of 8 and 16, they’ve probably seen pornography online already; for most of them it was an accident – either at school, or on your computer at home, which is upsetting – although most of us aren’t using any kind of internet filtering software on our home computers.
Retirees: Could we be funding the problem? If you have RRSPs, mutual funds, etc., in Canada, and if you haven’t intentionally gone with funds that are designated SRI’s, then your investments are almost certainly making money off of the production and sale of pornography. That’s your retirement plan. That’s your kids’ inheritance.
Kingdom: George Verwer, who was the head of Operation Mobilization named sexual sin as the reason why young people are not passionately involved in reaching the world for Jesus:

“There’s a tragic number of people who at one point in their lives dreamed of radical obedience to Jesus and were joyfully willing to lay down their lives and sacrifice anything to make Jesus known among the nations. But they’re fading away into useless, North-American prosperity because of a sense of unworthiness and guilt over sexual failure that gradually gave way to spiritual powerlessness and the dead-end dream of the middle class security and comfort.” Goerge Verwer

2. This is our problem.

Level 1: There are really blatant forms: having an affair, pre-marital sex, hiring prostitutes. [These involve other people, planning, and effort. You have to go out of your way to make these happen.]
Level 2: Then there are less obvious forms: guys/girls who are players / flirts, sexual jokes with friends, or in movies; staring at billboards or magazine covers on the newsstand, dressing seductively, taking indecent pictures of yourself to give to your boyfriend or girlfriend. These are more subtle because they’re acceptable in our culture. They don’t have the same stigma as having an affair or hiring a prostitute, but they’re still sin.
Level 3: But then there are even more subtle forms: various forms of pornography, phone sex, masturbation, late night cable television, or stealing quick glances at women or men walking by; stealing glances at those magazine covers. These are your own little secret. They’re not visible to anyone but you, which makes it that much harder to repent, because if you want to be accountable, you need to be humble enough to confess it.
Level 4: Then there are the most subtle forms; these are the most dangerous because we don’t always do these on purpose: fantasizing about people you know; thinking of someone else while you’re being intimate with your spouse; comparing your spouse to others – imagining what it might be like to be married to him or her instead of this dud; bringing up scenes from past sexual experience – replaying them in your mind to relive the thrill; etc. These are completely invisible; they happen in the mind. No one knows but you, and sometimes even you don’t know when you’re doing it. The images and feelings are just there.
Illustration: Remember Gollum? The ring divided Gollum’s heart: he loved it and couldn’t bear to be without it on the one hand; but he hated it at the same time. Eventually it destroyed him. Some of you know what that’s like. You’re like Paul in Romans 7, where he said: “I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.” (Rom 7:15 CSB)

And it may make us upset; we may not like to talk about it, but here’s the big idea: as a church we are way more affected by the idol of sex and the sin of lust than we realize; it’s all of our problem. We’re all affected, and all our effort to fight this on our own, in secret isn’t working.

II. The Path to Purity
"You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. 28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Mat 5:27 CSB)

“What then is necessary before I can see God? Here is the answer. Holiness, a pure heart, an unmixed condition of being. Yet men and women would reduce all this to just a little matter of decency, of morality or an intellectual interest in the doctrines of the Christian faith… nothing less than the whole person is involved.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

1. God wants to be enthroned in the hearts of broken, discouraged people.
[ Psalm 24] Psalm 24 tells of the return of the Ark of God to Jerusalem after they had failed to take care of it. “Lift up your heads! Look! Open up! so that the King of Glory may come in. Yahweh is back, and wants to take his rightful place in the heart of Israel! Let him in!” And so a thousand years before Jesus, King David wrote this psalm to remind Israel that just when they thought: “God has given up on us; God has forgotten us; God wants nothing to do with us. We’ve worshiped idols; we’ve become impure. God won’t use us because of how badly we’ve blown it;” that’s when we see God breaking in and taking his rightful place at the center of their lives. They don’t return to him; he returns to them.

2. God provides the purity he requires
"For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. (Ezekiel 36:24-29 CSB)

In Matthew 5:8, what Jesus say is saying to his disciples – and to us – is something like this: “You can try all you want to overcome your impurity – whether it’s from lust, or whatever the idol is – but if you want to see God, then what you need isn’t stricter rules and stronger willpower. You need to let God take his rightful place on the throne of your heart! You need to ‘lift up the ancient doors, so that the King of Glory may come in!’”
In Christianity, we don’t have a God who tells us how badly we’ve blown it and leaves us there. Idols do that. The devil does that. And in your life, and your struggle for purity, maybe your friends or parents did that. Maybe someone in the church or a pastor did that. But that’s not who God is. God requires purity, and he achieves it for us

III. Conclusion: The price of purity
Lots of Christians who struggle with purity hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:8, and are discouraged. You prayed the prayer, and you’re still struggling. You’ve been coming to church, singing the songs, going to growth group, and you’re still struggling. You’re still feeling disqualified, defeated, and discouraged.

The price of purity may be your pride. Do you think the worst thing to happen to you is for this to be exposed? No way. That might be the best thing for you.
“What did I learn? I learned that what I had been teaching others for years is true: We should all live our lives as though there is no such thing as a secret. …I was so ashamed of my struggle with sin and concerned about the impact it would have on everyone I loved and who depended on me that I tried to battle it on my own and failed. Secrecy empowers sin.” Ted Haggard
Illustration: Celebrate Recovery. Each week people walk into the room defeated and discouraged, and walk out fired up for Jesus, and ready to fight sin. You know what the difference is between our friends at CR and the rest of us? They’re not hiding anymore.
I know what it’s like to struggle in this area, and wait to feel “clean” before dealing with it. It’s a mistake. You’ll waste your life. Maybe you’re waiting to feel more “worthy” before you step up and get involved in God’s Kingdom work. Maybe you’re waiting till you can go a month or two without falling before you tell someone. Maybe you’re waiting till we don’t need you anymore, or you’re waiting till you’re no longer as tempted before you volunteer your time here.
Don’t. Don’t wait till you’re better. Why? Because it’s probably pride. ***All you’ll have done is replaced one sin – one form of idolatry – with another.***
Who do we think we are?! Are we going to tell God who he can and can’t forgive? Is God so small that he can’t use you in spite of what you’ve done? Are you the exception to his grace? Is your sin so big that Jesus didn’t conquer it on the cross?
Illustration: King David – not that long after he wrote Psalm 24 he slept with another man’s wife and had her husband killed. Centuries later, this psalm is being used in synagogues as part of worship. Do you think the people of Israel don’t know what David did? Of course they do. But God uses people like David, Abraham, Moses, Peter, and Paul, and he’s got something for you, too.
If we won’t humble ourselves, and let God forgive us – not as something we deserve – but as his sovereign gift of grace, then we haven’t really repented of sin. And if the worst thing you can imagine is having your sin exposed, then you’ll never really open up the gates, and let God come in. …not all the way in. We’ll be like Gollum – wanting freedom, but not being willing to let go of our precious – even though we know it’s killing us, and keeping us from something far better.

God was there. God is here - telling the story of Jesus.

2010-12-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

These are some of the notes from my sermon on Nov. 21 which launched the "God was there. God is here." series...

Week 1: God was there. God is here: Telling the Story of Jesus

I. Introduction

• Are you a neo-Marcionite? Since 77% of what’s in your Bible happened before Jesus, if you’re not reading it, there’s a lot you’re not paying attention to.

• Illustration: For a lot of us, the Bible is like the song “American Pie” by Don McLean. Nobody really knows what it’s about. Do you know why? It’s because the author hasn’t told us: "You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me... sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."

• The Bible can feel the same way for us...

II. What we should know about the Spirit of God

1. The Spirit of God is a Person. He’s not a thing. We refer to him as he and not it.

o He has a mind (John 14:26; Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

o He has a will (Acts 16:7; 1 Corinthians 12:11)

o He has emotions (Romans 8:26; 15:30; Ephesians 4:30); Acts 15:28; James 4:5)

o He speaks (Mark 13:11; Acts 1:16; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 21:11; 1 Timothy 4:1; Heb. 3:7; Rev. 2:7)

o He can be sinned against (Matthew 12:31)

o He can be lied to (Acts 5:3)

o He can be insulted (Hebrews 10:29)

o He strengthens (Ephesians 3:16)

o He teaches (Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13)

o He encourages (Acts 9:31)

2. The Spirit of God is God. (Acts 5:3-4)

3. The Spirit of God was there in the Old Testament.

a He was there at Creation (Genesis 1:2)

b. He was there, equipping God’s people to serve him.

o With strength: (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:19, etc.)

o With wisdom: (Numbers 11:7; Joshua in Numbers 27:18)

o With prophecy (Numbers 11:25-29; 1 Samuel 10:10; Micah 3:8; Hosea 9:7; Isaiah 48:16; 61:1-3; Ezekiel 11:5-25; Zechariah 7:12, etc.)

c. He was there, telling the story of Jesus

(Luke24:25-27, 44)
(John 1:45 + 5:46)
(1Cor 15:1-4)
(1Peter 1:10-11)
(2Pe 1:20-21)

Big idea: In the Bible, the Holy Spirit has been very active – for thousands of years, telling the stories that tell the Story of Jesus.

III. Implications.

1. The whole Bible is Christian Scripture.

-“Once we truly grasp the message of the New Testament, it is impossible to read the Old Testament again without seeing Christ on every page, in every story, foreshadowed or anticipated in every event and narrative.” Michael Horton

-“We shall not benefit from reading the Old Testament unless we look for and meditate on the glory of Christ in its pages.” John Owen

-Illustration: The flood. [told in Genesis 6-9] The world has become corrupt; of all the world, only Noah walks with God. God wants to start over, and Noah and his family are going to be the new Adam and Eve.

Is the flood story about Noah? Is it about the importance of obeying God’s commands, even though we don’t see why we should? If it’s really about Noah the savior, then why include the part about the family fighting after? Why include the part about Noah getting drunk and passing out naked in his tent?
When you read this as a Christian story, then you might see that here, thousands of years before Christ, we’re presented with a God who is able to show justice and grace at the same time. He saves people through judgment by sending a savior...
And when the final judgment comes, we'll need a better Noah - a better savior:

We need a savior who isn’t just righteous and blameless in comparison to his contemporaries; we need a savior who is righteous and blameless. Period.
We need a savior who won’t land us in a world devastated by flood where we’re no better off than we were before; we need a savior who’ll land us with him in a new world: a new heaven and a new earth where there’ll be no sin, no more pain or sorrow.
We need a savior who won’t just save his family, but who’ll save a multitude that no one can count, from every tribe, and tongue, and nation.

It points us to Christ. And if we can read the Bible this way, it changes everything.

2. There’s a right and wrong way to read the Bible.

a. What’s the right way to read it? We need to read the Bible like Christians.

You can read the story of how God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac and think “God deserves my very best”. And that’s true, but you don’t need to be a Christian to believe that.
You can read about how David slept with Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah killed, and then the baby died, and if you only conclude: “there are consequences for sinning against God” then that may be true, but you don’t need to be a Christian to believe that sin has consequences. Lot s of religions believe that!
You can read the story of how Ezra and Nehemiah led the people of Israel and they rebuilt the wall, and you can use that story at meetings as an example of what leadership and good teamwork look like, but you don’t need to be a Christian to believe that.

c. And as we read the stories of the Bible, and look at their context, etc, if we don’t dig all the way down to see how the Spirit of God though that story is pointing to Jesus Christ in the gospel, we’re not reading it right.

3. We have to read the Bible

• God has given us a book. The better we can read this book, the better we’ll be able to see what the Spirit of God wants us to see, and the better we’ll be able to live it out.

• Illustration: What I’m talking about here is the difference between raking and digging...

*And it's not: “If you want to be a good Christian you must read your Bible every day.” But there’s something that the Spirit of God wants to tell us; someone he wants us to meet – and if we really want that, we need to be in the Bible.

IV. Conclusion.

o On the road, Jesus sort of shook his head at the disciples because they should have known what was going to happen: that he was going to die, and be raised from the dead. It was there for them all along; the Spirit of God had written it into the story. And the idea is that if they really understood what they were reading, they would have seen that the Scripture point to Christ.

o ***We have more revelation than they did.*** If they were “foolish and slow” because they read the Bible all their lives and still missed the big idea, then what does that make us? God was there, and God is here - telling the stories that tell the Story of Jesus.

something I'm really stoked about...

2010-11-05T13:58:00.001-04:00

This April, Heather and I are taking off (Lord willing) to Chicago for the 2011 Gospel Coalition conference. The conference title is: "They Testify About Me: Preaching Jesus and the Gospel from the Old Testament." We're flying out on the Monday to settle in, check out the city, etc., and flying back on Friday evening. I'm looking forward to the conference for a number of reasons:

The focus of the conference is basically on applying Biblical Theology to preaching. Bring it on.
My wife and I don't get to go to things like this. Ever. This will be the first time since Maggie was born.
Two words: cheap books
I'll get to meet and ask questions of a number of my heroes.
Every time I listen to these guys, I feel like God has spanked me with the Bible. It's a good feeling.
Heather and I have never flown anywhere together.

For more info, or to share a hotel with us, click here.

Stuff I Wish I'd Said...

2010-11-05T13:21:00.000-04:00

In my sermon on Matthew 5:6 and the idolatry of possessions, if I'd had time to get into application, I would have challenged us to wrestle with these questions which are in no particular order. It`s very easy to fall into the trap of legalism when it comes to setting guidelines in our homes and churches regarding this stuff, but I`d suggest that the real danger facing our culture here isn`t legalism, but libertarianism. If you are wrestling with the possibility that you`re a slave to your right to own property, you might consider prayerfully working through these questions during your time with God over the next few days:

Whose money is in your bank account? Does your giving show that God's Kingdom is your priority?
Whose house do you live in? Does God have the right to ask you to sell it and move downtown?
What guidelines (if any) have you and your spouse established to keep you (or them) from buying stuff frivolously?
Would you be willing to let another Christian ask and challenge you about your purchases from the last year?
Are you using your property to prove your value? Would you know it if you were?
Are you keeping for yourself more than you are giving away?
How big an inheritance do your children really need? Are we really doing our kids a favor by giving them less work to do?

The Church has a Man Crisis

2010-09-02T15:22:00.000-04:00

Darrin Patrick, author of Church Planter on the manhood crisis among Evangelicals.

Open or Closed Groups?

2010-08-31T11:01:00.000-04:00

So one of the recurring issues in church small groups ministry involves what happens when bringing new people into an existing group - one where the members already have lots of history and life

The healthiest groups begin as groups of people who share something about themselves in common: new to parenthood; new to retirement; newly married; new to church; new to Jesus. So the best way to bring new people into a group is to start a Newcomers' group. Some churches do that. I think it's great.

But sometimes, those new joiners looking for a group aren't new to the church - they're just (for whatever reason) unconnected. What should happen to them? In most cases, they ought to be welcome in existing groups. That can get messy. When groups are encouraged to welcome new members, the pushback is, "How can we go deep if new people are coming in all the time?" It's a very good question - when a group has been together a while and it's working, the thought of introducing new people into that group can be scary. So if that's how you feel, check this out...

It assumes the joiners are 'new' people, i.e., total strangers to the group, so there's going to be awkwardness.
It forgets the reality that at one point, all of us currently in a healthy group were once new to it.
It assumes that the options for group types are either always open or always closed; nothing in between.
It assumes that the joiners are going to be a poor relational fit for the group. I.e., we won't get along.
By saying 'no' to new members, we're assuming there are other groups who'll take them.

Let me deal with each of these in order:

New joiners need not be strangers. Assuming that you have other friends in the church, what if some of they joined your group? I'm not saying our groups should be social cliques, but if the goal is deep, Christ-centered relationships (and it is) then why not start building on an existing foundation? If you have unconnected friends, your personal invitation might be the very thing that gets them connected. And because you already know them, it shouldn't be too hard to integrate them.
At one point, you were the newcomer. The group you joined, and the people you met there took a chance that you weren't going to wreck their sense of community. If we're not willing to take the same risk for someone else, what are we doing here? It seems to me that there's something worse than a brief period of awkwardness. It's being told "Our church is big on community, but there's no place for you in ours."
There's a third way. Your group could be 'open' for one part of the year, and 'closed' for the rest, in order to deepen those connections. So this year, with its three terms, maybe your group could stay open for two (or at least one) of those terms, and closed for the other(s). And then next year, you could be open for one, and closed for two. Since the majority of people looking to join a group will show up in September, that's the really crucial time to be open - after that it's not as critical.
People who decide to join a group based on its location and time don't tend to have as meaningful an experience as those who join because of who is in the group. More than anything else - including schedule, location, and even study content - relational issues are the reason why a group works or flops. So when you say 'no' to the idea of new joiners, you might be assuming that another group will be a better relational fit for them. It may not be. It may be that the joiner's personality, sense of humor, passions, interests, etc., make them just right for your group. Maybe that's why they wanted to join your group in the first place. And if so, then you're not only doing them a disservice by being closed, but you're doing yourself a disservice too.
There may not be. It's tricky to assume that the other group(s) will take the new joiners. If the other groups thought and felt that way, we'd all be sunk. My most significant growth as a Christian has happened through Growth Groups - it began a long time ago when I was new to a church, and a group welcomed me anyway.

Community is risky. It always has been. But this isn't a choice between welcoming new folks and wrecking the relational depth of the community on the one hand, and being closed to new groups and having deep, healthy community on the other. There's always another way.

More stuff the church could live without

2010-08-28T15:17:00.000-04:00

Nineties Special Music Presentations

The best part - yes even better than the dude's moonwalk halfway through - is what you can't see: the pastors who, watching in amazement, also demonstrated incredible grace and patience.

The Bible is not basically about you

2010-08-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

Test post

2010-07-15T00:46:00.001-04:00

This is the first of what might be one post on this blog. We'll see, I guess.