You call it a...savings?

Piper posted this on his blog today. All to familiar...

Unity Through Diversity

I heard a discussion on the radio yesterday about the division between black and white churches in America today. I didn’t get to hear all of the discussion but what part I did hear troubled me. The statement was made that the most segregated hour in America is on Sunday morning, and callers were arguing that this problem must be remedied in order to achieve the unity that the Christian body should have.

The reason this is troubling is because it reflects a view of Christianity that is present in our culture today that is not only false, but is used as an argument against Christianity. People who disagree with Christianity based on this premise refer to Christianity as an “iron mold,” a cultural stamp that forces everyone to live their lives the same way. In other words, Christianity takes away cultural identity and pushes its adherents into the “Christian mold.” Christianity then becomes a narrow-minded way of seeing the world through an ethnocentric lens where everyone, regardless of their culture, should conform to the “Christian” way of life.

These arguments stem from a gross misunderstanding of what the Bible says about unity within the body of Christ. Christian unity does not mean that everyone is the same, nor does it mean that everyone worships the same way. This is what the callers I heard failed to understand. To say that blacks and whites must worship together in order to be unified not only misunderstands unity, but it flies in the face of the gospel, limiting it to a specific culture.

Paul is very clear when he writes to the Ephesians that unity within the body of Christ is achieved through diversity. In the first six verses of chapter four he explains that the basis for Christian unity is Christ and his teachings. We are unified because of what Christ has done for us and because of what we believe. However, verses 7-12 talk about the diversity that comes through Christ. Christ equips us all for different things, and uses our differences to achieve the best possible functioning of the body. The body works because we’re not all arms, and the gospel is universal because there’s no cultural mold that we must fit into.

It’s these cultural differences that separate us on Sunday mornings. It’s not that we aren’t unified because we don’t fit the same mold, but rather we are unified because the gospel has reached across cultural barriers. Serving and worship God looks different in China than in Nigeria because the gospel is universal, and that is one of the greatest arguments for Christianity. No other religion on earth has ever achieved the global presence and diversity that Christianity has by being able to cross cultures and adapt to meet people where they are. Other religions are tied to specific cultures inherently because humans cannot recreate what God has already done through Christ.

Let me be clear though, there are divisions in Christianity that need to be repaired, and racial unity is one of them. But being brought together in love across races is not the same thing as giving up your cultural identity to conform to another culture’s standard of worship. These differences are not divisions, but they are a picture of the universality of the gospel that comes from a Savior who reaches to all types of people, and a faith that transcends humanity.

Oh Dawkins

So I was doing some research for school and ran across this picture. Of course I had to read the article (You can link to it by clicking on the blog title). The bulk of it consisted of a debate between Richard Dawkins (the mouth of atheism) and Francis Collins (head of the Human Genome Project and a believer)

I don’t have much to say about it other than it never ceases to amaze me how blind and hard we are apart from God. The following is an excerpt from the middle of the debate that closely resembles Dawkins interview in Ben Stein’s movie Expelled.

TIME: Could the answer be God?

DAWKINS: There could be something incredibly grand and incomprehensible and beyond our present understanding.

COLLINS: That's God.

DAWKINS: Yes. But it could be any of a billion Gods. It could be God of the Martians or of the inhabitants of Alpha Centauri.

Wow. Another example of how the knowledge of God cannot be had apart from his gracious revelation to the believer.

We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2: 7-8, 14-16)

The article ended with Dawkins last sentence:

DAWKINS: If there is a God, it's going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more incomprehensible than anything that any theologian of any religion has ever proposed.

Oh if he only knew…

Faith and Works - Legalism

I feel like I need to clarify some of what I was saying yesterday to make sure that there’s no confusion. I said that in order for faith shown as genuine, it must lead to works. In other words, if we have true faith, we necessarily will produce fruit in our lives. It is true that works follow genuine faith, so much so that James can speak in the way that he does in James 2 and not contradict Paul.

But even though they are thoroughly bound together, they still play very distinct roles. Faith is the means of salvation for the believer. Faith in Christ saves apart from any works. Works flow from that and reveal the reality of it, but they do not contribute to salvation in any way.

The notion that good works contribute to salvation, or somehow gains favor in the sight of God for the believer, is legalism. I hesitated to even use that word because there’s a lot of misunderstanding and baggage that comes with it, but then again that means it needs explaining all the more.

First of all, let me make it clear the legalism is not a list of rules, and in fact it has very little to do with rules. The Bible is full of rules that we should live our life by, granted some people misinterpret them or misapply them, but that is not legalism. Furthermore, legalism is not based on whether or not your convictions are biblical or not. My interpretation of the demands of scripture is not what makes me legalistic.

This is how Tony Reinke describes legalism:

Legalism is (most dangerously) a soteriological [salvation] problem. That is, legalism is a false gospel. Legalism is the damning lie that says God’s pleasure and joy in me is dependent upon my obedience.

It is legalism that causes the Pharisee to look proudly into the sky in the presence of a tax collector. It is legalism that causes a missionary in Africa to think God is more pleased with him than the Christian businessman in America. And it is legalism that causes the preacher behind the pulpit to think God is more pleased with him than the tattooed Christian teenager sitting in the back row.

So to say that works are necessarily a part of the Christian life is not legalism. To say that these works put us in a better position with God is.

Faith in Christ makes us fully acceptable to God. When he sees us, he doesn’t see what we’ve done wrong, and he doesn’t see what we’ve done right (because even that is not good apart from his working in us), but he sees what Christ has done. He sees the perfect life that Jesus lived, which by his sacrifice was imputed to us.

Legalism happens in the church when we begin to apply the demands of scripture to our lives in such a way that we begin to see what we have done as good in itself and not boasting in the cross and the cross alone. Romans makes it very clear that the cross prevents boasting of any kind except to boast in the work of Christ.

The irony of legalism is that the strict fundamentalist and the license liberal both have the same potential to be legalistic. When the person who drinks a glass of wine looks down on the fundamentalist for all of the rules and believes himself to be a better Christian because of his interpretation of scripture, he is being just as legalistic as the fundamentalist who looks down on the drunk teenager for being a bad Christian. The question with legalism is not are my beliefs biblical, but rather what do they get me?

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:14-16)

Faith and Works

Grace is an unbelievable thing. To understand who we are in relationship to God as sinners, and then to see what we’ve been made into through Christ is beyond comprehension. We read Paul’s letters and understand that because of our faith in Christ, his righteousness was imputed to us so that we are no longer under the law. I heard Chuck Swindall put it this way: “The life that he [Christ] lived qualified him for the death that he died. The death that he died qualified us for the life that he lived.” In other words, his righteousness has been given to us so that we don not have to pay for the sins that we commit.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. (Romans 3:22)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)

But have you ever heard somebody claim this doctrine when they didn’t want to do something for God? Ever heard someone justify themselves because of their “faith”? I don’t need to do that, I’m under grace. I don’t need to read my Bible, God understands, I don’t need to go to church, God’s grace is enough. And the list could go on forever. We use the doctrine of justification before God as a way to excuse our sins, and in doing so we fundamentally fail to understand what the gospel is about.

The life of a Christ follower, though acting under grace, must produce works. To be saved by faith is to be changed forever, and if there’s no change, there’s no saved. Jesus said himself that the works (fruit) produced in someone’s life is the indication of the heart.

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16-20)

James makes it very clear that if our lives are not characterized by works of righteousness, then we will not be justified. It’s almost a scary thing to think about, but works and faith are so intertwined that James can say this and not be contradicting Paul in the least. Faith alone justifies the believer, but a faith that is justifying is always manifested in works. I want to look at James 2:18-26 to see how serious of an issue this really is.

In verses 14-16 James has just introduced the issue and said that faith without works cannot save because faith without works is dead. He continues in verse 18:

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

He makes it very clear that faith and works cannot be separated. He addresses the person who says that it’s not necessary to live out the Christian life because faith is enough, and he says faith is shown by the works. In other words, faith justifies and brings about the result of good works.

19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Here James addresses the person who justifies themselves by what they know about God. This is huge. He’s saying you have an understanding of God, you know a little about him, you’ve been to church, you know the answers…so does the devil! It’s not enough to know the answers, it’s not enough to have head knowledge, if the faith doesn’t produce a change, then the faith wasn’t authentic. The life of the believer should be consumed with knowing God. We should want to know the Bible, we should seek him above all else, and if we don’t have those desires, then we have to question our faith.

20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Faith apart from works is useless because faith without works isn’t really faith at all. Abraham was justified when he offered up Isaac because his actions showed that his faith was authentic.

22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”— and he was called a friend of God.

Abraham had faith, and that is what saved him, James is very clear about that. But Abraham’s works completed his faith in that his action necessarily followed from his faith.

24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

That’s a bold statement but it clearly shows how intense this connection is between faith and works. The life of a believer justifies them in that it reveals the reality of their faith. James gives another example:

25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Rahab had faith, but her faith was demonstrated in the fact that she did not turn the spies over in order to save herself. She risked her own life for their sake, and in doing so proved that she was justified and her faith was real.

26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

The connection between faith and works is just as real, and just as inseparable as the connection between body and spirit. If you don’t have a spirit, then you aren’t alive. If you don’t have works, then you aren’t alive spiritually.

Science vs(?) Religion

I’ve written multiple times now about the assumptions that we all make in everyday conversation because they are so subtle, and so often misleading, that they can get us in a lot of trouble. We are asked a question or confronted about a topic and we don’t have a response. We feel like we can’t argue against it because we don’t know how, but in reality we don’t even agree with the premise. We engage in conversations in an attempt to defend our position (or at least we should be), but we fail because we don’t recognize that we are working on their premises without questioning them.

One of the ways this most often happens with Christians today is in the case of science. We read scientific apologetics and learn about the holes in the evolutionist argument so we can demonstrate that science is wrong, and that it’s not the ultimate authority. We construct our arguments and debate the issues without ever realizing that we are doing so according to the assumptions of our cultural, namely, that science and religion are in conflict with one another.

There is an unspoken understanding that has come mainly through the media that says that religion fills in the gaps of science. In others words, the things that we don’t understand, we assume that God made them that way. I hesitate to refer to it as a gap theory because I’ve never heard it called that, but in a sense that’s what it is. Science can explain x, y, and z and religion explains all the rest.

The result that comes from thinking like that is the idea that religion and science are somehow competing; that whoever has the best explanations will win over the most people. It also implies that as countries become more modern and developed, and can explain more by science, then religion and the need for God will slowly disappear. (This can be shown to be completely false but that another topic)

So when we argue over scientific claims and search for ways to dispute evidence, we are ultimately falling prey to this assumption. We feel threatened when science makes new discoveries about the world and how it functions because it takes away the mystery that we once attributed to God.

But the fact is that there is no conflict between science and religion, and what’s more, Christians should be the best scientist of all. God is not in competition with science, he created it! Explaining the world around us through scientific discovery does not contradict our attributing it to God, nor does it in any way lessen our view of his majesty. If anything it should increase it! When we make discoveries of how utterly complex the world is around us, we are not learning more about humans and nature as much as we are learning about the Creator!

The idea that being able to explain things rationally takes away from God at all is absurd. Let me give you an example. Some of the most recent cars that have come out have voice command systems installed in them. Imagine that I got one of those cars and I was completely amazed that I could actually talk to my car and tell it what to do. I am incapable of explaining how Mr. Ford was able to make my car do this other than pure magic. So I spend several years thinking about how great Mr. Ford is because he created this magic car until one day the technology becomes popular enough that someone actually explains to me how it works. They tell me that it’s really just a computer with voice recognition software and it’s really all very rational. Now, because I can explain the way it works, I conclude that Mr. Ford didn’t actually make the car, in fact, it’s all completely random.

That seems like a ridiculous example to us but it’s exactly the way that our culture is attempting to explain away God! They say that they can explain to you scientifically how your brain works, thus God has no part in it. If I follow this logic then I completely dismiss Mr. Ford as a superstitious magician. But, if I realize how absurd that is and look at the situation for what it really is, I come to see that, not only did he know exactly how the car worked all along, but he made it work that way. He was so much greater than the “magic” I had attributed to him all along, that my only reaction is to stand amazed at the shear genius of what he had done.

How much greater is the relationship between God and his creation? Science doesn’t take away from God, it adds to his magnificence, and if we see it for what it is, it spreads his glory.

John Stott said it like this:

Natural law is not an alternative to divine action, but a useful way of referring to it. So-called natural laws simply describe a uniformity which scientists have observed. And Christians contribute this uniformity to the constancy of God. Further, to be able to explain a process scientifically is by no means to explain God away; it is rather (in the famous words of the astronomer Kepler) to ‘think God’s thoughts after him’ and to begin understanding his ways of working.

We shouldn’t be afraid of science, but we should embrace it as a tool for displaying the glory of God. We see him in it, we are responsible to him for it, and we honor him by it.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse (Romans 1: 19-20)

The Shame of it All

At Wake Forest we run into a lot of professors who claim to be objective wielders of truth, when in reality they are so blinded by their own assumptions and completely non-objective presuppositions that they fail to see their own ironic flaws. I’ve already written about the importance of getting to the root of these assumptions in a previous blog (Effective Communication: Breaking Down Barriers), but I want to give a specific example of the way in which assumptions affect the conclusion.

I have a religion professor who specializes in cults and cult perception who has written a book about religious intolerance in America. In each section she and a co-writer address a different cult and discuss how and why American society is intolerant towards that cult, and of course how we should change. In the chapter that I most recently read she discusses the intolerance of people in the U.S. against Wicca. She asserts that the main issue is that Christian America sees Wicca (and Satanism) as the embodiment of evil, and thus intolerance is bound to persevere. After quoting a rather long list of Bible verses that directly condemn witchcraft and similar practices, she makes the following statement:

Sorry, God does not like, respect or want wiccans. There is no such thing as a Christian wiccan as some have claimed. And as long as you follow paganism, you will never see the truth and your mind will be forever closed (no matter how loudly you proclaim that it isn’t). That is the shame of it all. 1

Her conclusion is that Christians are intolerant because they refuse to accept witchcraft as an acceptable form of religion. Are you serious professor?! There are at least three very large assumptions that this quote makes, all of which are unfounded, nonobjective, and ignorant, and I want to discuss them so that we can see how important it is to address these things

God’s just like me.
From the very beginning of her statement she starts out on the wrong foot. Her implication in that first sentence is that God is bad because he doesn’t want to give everyone the same respect that she does. Her assumption then is that God fits into the mold that she has constructed of a “good” person. Her western, democratic, everyone’s-idea-is-equally-important mindset is projected onto God, and completely fails to see the bias in that. Not every nation in the world believes like we do. In fact, most nations in the world (other than America) have no problem with the idea of God being a loving judge. They assume that God is the judge of an objective good and evil. To presume that God must fit into her mold is a ridiculous assumption. But believing that everyone’s ideas are equally important and equally right is not just a fallacious western assumption, it stands in direct contradiction to scripture.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. (1 John 4: 1-3a)

God hates Wiccans.
This also comes from the first sentence of the quote, but is based on a very different assumption that is just as equally false. The assumption is that people’s identity comes from their actions. In other words, because someone practices witchcraft, then their identity is Wiccan. This is a false assumption that we all struggle with. Our identities do not come from our actions but from our nature. We are not sinners because we commit sin, but we commit sin because we are sinners, it is our very nature. I am not a liar because I tell lies (bet you’ve heard that one before), rather I tell lies because I am a liar by nature. Another great example is homosexuality. A person is not gay by identity, rather their sinful nature (whether biological or not) causes them to struggle with gay practices. So to say that God hates Wiccans is to say that God hates the person, when in reality he hates the sin.

The Christian claim to exclusive truth is narrow-minded and nonobjective.
That’s basically a summary of the rest of the quote. She says that because Christians claim that they are correct and that everyone else is pagan and ignorant, then Christians are close-minded. The parenthetical statement that follows implies that they are also nonobjective because they discredit the beliefs of others.

Well this is a very interesting claim because it is somewhat self-indicting. The idea that Christians are narrow-minded because they claim exclusive truth is ridiculous. That statement fundamentally fails to understand what Christians believe. We do not believe that Christ was a prophet who helps us understand the way to God. If that were the case, then perhaps we would be narrow for saying our prophet is right and every other prophet is wrong. Jesus didn’t say that he was a prophet; he said that he was God. Now that leaves us with two options, either he was who he said he was (God), in which case we do have exclusive claims to truth, or he was just a deranged man, in which case Christianity should be abolished. It’s impossible to say that everyone is equally right. Either Christianity is infinitely more important because Jesus was God, or it is inferior because it follows a crazy man. That’s not narrow, it’s just a fact.

Furthermore, it is impossible not to claim exclusive truth. A lot could be said about this but not now. In short, everyone claims exclusive truth. My professor may claims that there is no objective basis for truth, but that in itself is a claiming to be true. It’s an inherent contradiction. We all claim exclusive truths and to condemn someone for doing so is to condemn yourself.

The second thing that she implies is that Christians are nonobjective because they discredit the beliefs of others. Well, she has just tried to discredit the beliefs of Christians by making that statement, and I’m sure we would never conclude that she is nonobjective…


1. Corrigan and Neal. Religious Intolerance in the United States.

Everywhere?

For those believers who have been raised in the church, there is often a tendency to not think about the doctrines we hold to and their implications as much as we should. We know the right answers and we’re satisfied with that without ever really thinking about what they mean. The result is the unfortunate answer “I’ve never thought about that” when we are asked questions about our faith. That’s not the kind of answer that reflects well on someone who claims that their faith is their identity.

This issue could be dealt with in and of itself, but it really just serves as an introduction here to a specific example – God’s omnipresence. God is everywhere. Right? We say that he is, and if anyone asks us to describe God it’s usually one of the most popular ways we do so. But do we really mean everywhere? What if someone was to ask the question: “Is God in hell?” How would you answer?

I’ve heard answers from both sides. Some say that God is in hell but they can’t explain how this could happen if God is love and hope and hell is torture and despair. Many say that hell is the absence of God, and that to be with God in it’s ultimate form is the essence of heaven, but to be completely separated from him is the worst punishment of hell. But what does this say of his omnipresence? This second view is vaguely true in that there is something about God’s character that is absent in hell, but completely fails to account for the fact that the Bible teaches that God is present everywhere.

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139: 7-10)

In order to wrap our minds around what it means for God to be omnipresent, we must first understand that his presence is manifested in more than one way. God is everywhere, but he is not manifested in the same way in all places. There are three ways in which God’s presence may be manifested.

God’s Presence to Sustain
God’s sustaining presence is manifested throughout creation, and there is no part of it that is able to exist apart from his presence. Deists believe that God exists but that he is not active in the world. The analogy is that the world is like a pocket watch that God wound up and is now setting back and watching it run. This stands in contradiction to passages that teach that God is both active in the world and upholding its very existence. This manifestation of God’s presence is found in everything that exists, including heaven and hell.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3a)

God’s Presence to Bless
God’s presence to bless is the manifestation of his presence which brings good. This happens generally on earth in that human beings are allowed to live without being completely consumed in judgment for our sins, and even to enjoy the creation of which we are the crown. This presence is also manifested specifically in the lives of believers who are blessed with the ability to know God and enjoy him. This type of blessing is fundamentally different than the general blessings that all humans receive, but is still not the ultimate blessing that awaits the consummation of the kingdom of God. In heaven believers will experience God’s ultimate blessing through their enjoyment of him in the greatest sense possible. Thus, this manifestation of God’s presence is absent in hell. Hell is not the absence of God, but rather the absence of his blessing and the hope that is found in those blessings.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

God’s Presence to Judge
God’s presence to judge is the opposite of his presence to bless. It is manifested in the earth generally though the effects of sin, and specifically through sovereign acts of punishment both on the wicked and on Jesus on the cross. But this presence is manifested much more harshly in hell. God’s judging presence is the defining characteristic of hell, and the dominant way in which God is present in hell. Alternatively, judgment will be absent from heaven because there will be no sin.

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. (Psalm 7:11)

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)

Note: It is important to remember that God’s omnipresence is not the same as pantheism. Pantheism does not say that God is everywhere, but rather that he is everything. The question is one of nature. God is present in your computer (sustaining), but his nature is fundamentally different from it. Christians say that God is everywhere; Pantheists say that God is everything. I can spend more time on this later if it doesn’t make sense.

Cultural Christianity

When I think about living in North Carolina, and how blessed we are to live in a place where Christianity is legal, and even the majority depending on how you look at it, I feel overwhelmed and unbelievably grateful for what God has done in my life. However, at the same time there is a huge crisis for Christians living in the “Bible belt,” and even America in general – cultural Christianity.

When it’s popular to be a Christian we have to be very careful about how we define Christianity and understand its implications for our lives. If we aren’t careful, Christianity can become little more than a cultural phenomenon, a social tool to be used and manipulated however we see fit. Around here, not only is it popular to be a Christian, but it’s powerful. A large majority of the rich white population here are “Christians,” a category of social status to prevent being shunned. It’s really quite simple, if you want to be mainstream here, then you label yourself as a “Christian.” You may never go to church, or you may have been raised in church, but the label that you put on yourself is really all that matters. I’m a Christian, that means I’m a good person and going to heaven.

I don’t think I’ve faced a bigger issue in my ministry experiences than this, and it’s on the verge of destroying the church from the inside out. Unauthentic faith accompanied by the comfort of religion is a dangerous combination, and it’s not just an issue for a few select people, it affects all Christians. We put on a face, we know all the Christian answers, we look like Christians, and we even act like Christians – as long as it’s not too difficult or inconvenient.

The result is a compartmentalized faith and it’s an issue that plagues the church and frustrates our pastors to no end. We have family, we have work, and we have God. He has his place, possibly a very important one, but in general he stays there. As long as we live the “Christian” life, what more could he want? We just need to do enough to check him off for the day or the week and we’ll feel a lot better about ourselves. After all, he doesn’t expect us to be perfect. Right? (See Matthew 5:48)

But it’s not that we are Christians because we live our lives a certain way, we live our lives a certain way because we are Christians. We don’t give God part of our life; we live our life through him. Everything we do, think, and see, goes through the lens of Christ. It’s not the he is first and family is second; it’s that he is everything and family (or anything) falls into place under that. He is not part – he is.

C.S. Lewis said: "I believe in Christianity like I believe that the sun has risen; not because I see it, but because by it I see everything."

This is how the gospel works, it’s all or nothing. Christ doesn’t want part of you, he says put everything aside and follow me, or you will die in your sins. Partial Christianity leads to complete condemnation.

Jesus says:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. (Matthew 7:21-23)

Not all Christians are completely devoted to Christ, but they all want to be. That’s what it means to be a follower of Christ. Of course we all struggle with other gods in our lives, but our hearts tell whether or not we have been truly changed. Acting in perfection is not required, or even possible; but the heart of a Christ follower is nonetheless devoted to the cause.

The Brook Kidron

A lot of times I think it’s easy for Christians to see the Old Testament and New Testament as separate stories, and not a presentation of a unified story about the glory of God and his redemption of sinful man. We see the sacrifices of the Old Testament along with what some see as an angry and vengeful God, and we dissociate it from the loving and merciful God of the New Testament. But the two cannot be separated. No matter how the mind of man interprets or perceives Scripture, God’s unchanging, always loving, and always just character is revealed to us consistently and progressively. The way that the Old Testament points to Christ, and the typology that is present throughout, can produce nothing short of awe in the mind that sees it.

This week as I was thinking and reading about Passover, one particular event in the life of our Savior jumped out at me and left me broken. But before I can get to it there must be some context.

The blood sacrifices of the Old Covenant are one of the most commonly criticized and protested practices of all for those who do not understand their significance. Innocent animals were slain by the thousands at Passover time. During the Passover Jews from all over would travel to Jerusalem in order to offer a sacrifice for their sins. The purpose of this was not just to kill innocent animals, but to literally offer a way for the judgment of God to be appeased. The innocent animal stood in the place of the guilty human, absorbing the justice and wrath of God so that the people would not have to. The lamb would identify with the condition of man, becoming sin for him, so that the wrath of God could be poured out upon it as the very essence of a sinful nature.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)

The sin of man, placed upon the innocence of a lamb, and the wrath of God satisfied.

This is what Jesus did for us. He lived the perfect life and took on himself the full wrath of God against sin. He stood in our place, having done nothing wrong, and bore our burden, a burden beyond imagination. This is the context for the story that stopped me in my tracks…

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:4,5)

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Historians say that during the time of the Passover there were as many 300, 000 lambs that were sacrificed. That’s a lot of blood. So much blood that the Jews had to come up with a way to get rid of fit all. So from the temple where the offerings were being made, which sat above the valley Kidron, they dug a channel that went down into the valley and into the brook Kidron so that the blood could drain away. The brook turned completely red throughout the process, covered by the mass amounts of blood flowing down it, and was on of the most “horrific sights” ever according to historical accounts.

But on the night before Jesus was crucified, during the week of the Passover, he left Jerusalem to go to Gethsemane – on the other side of the valley Kidron. Along the way he would have crossed over that brook, red from blood. Thousands upon thousands of innocent lambs were slain to take away the sins of the people, and now the blood was running by the feet of the Lamb of God. He knew where it came from, and he knew where he was going. But no one was taking his life, he was laying it down.

Ultimate Value

I took this picture last year, and though most people don’t understand it, it is something that is very relevant to me. If you know much about me at all, then you probably know that these three of the things in my life (not including Lora) that are most commonly vying for first place: God, money, and guns.

There are times in my life when I truly believe that, to the best of my knowledge, God is my number one priority. He is the lens through which everything happens; the means and the ends; preeminent. But there are many times in my life when I catch myself serving other things, when my priorities are screwed up and there is something that dominates my thought life and drives my actions other than God. In most cases, issues around money and how to get more of it, or guns (and how to get more of them as well) are the main things that I fight. Some of you have probably seen this firsthand by asking me a question that is in any way related to shooting and getting an answer that is much more detailed and about three hours longer than you wanted. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Guns and money can both be used and enjoyed by Christians in Christ honoring ways, but when they (or anything) become something greater than God in our lives there is an issue that must be addressed.

If we are honest, we all struggle with keeping God first in our lives. Often times we assume that he is first because we say he is, but our hearts really say something different. How do we know when something has become a god to us? It’s really quite simple. Anything in my life that I value more than God is an idol.

Now we must be careful in asking ourselves if we have idols in our lives. Odds are if someone asked you what you value most in life, if you are a believer, you would answer God. This response is the church response, the default response for believers. So when we are looking for idols in our lives it is easy just to say “I believe God is the most valuable thing, so I have no idols.” That’s a faulty assumption because head knowledge and heart knowledge are two completely different things. We can't just ask ourselves the question, we must look at the evidence. What do I love most? What do I spend my time on? Where does my joy come from? God is the ultimate source of joy and satisfaction for the believer. The purpose of our lives is to glorify God, and we glorify God by enjoying him and valuing him above all else.

This is the hard truth about idols. Anything in my life that brings me joy that is not, ultimately, from God is an idol. That’s hard. We were created to be satisfied and to have our joy in God and God alone, and to value him above all else. Everything in life, and even life itself, is given to the believer in order to be used in such a way that Christ is demonstrated as the most valuable thing we have, treasured above all else. Money is given to show that Christ is to be treasured more than money. Guns are given to show that Christ is to be treasured more than guns. Food is given to show that Christ is to be treasured more than food. Life is given to show that Christ is to be treasured more than life, and death is given to show that Christ is to be treasured more than death. The supreme value and worth of Christ is to be displayed in every part of the life of the believer. To do otherwise is sin – serious sin.

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:7-8)

So preferring the pleasures of money or power or fame or sex over the “pleasures at [God’s] right hand” (Ps. 16:11) is not like preferring caramel to hot fudge. It is a great evil. Indeed it is the ultimate meaning of evil. Esteeming God less than anything is the essence of evil. (Jonathan Edwards)

God or us?

The following is a response by John Piper to the question "Is being born again up to us?" In it he discusses some very controversial ideas. Read it and let me know what you think (anonymously is fine). Agree? Disagree? Why? Anything's fair game.

Is being born again up to us?

It's no more up to us than it was up to my grandson, who was born two days ago, to get out of the womb. In other words, birth is something done to us. It's not something that we do.
It is, however, something that we react to. The first cry of a newborn in Christ is faith. I would never write a book on how to be born again—because that is like writing a book for babies on how to get out of the womb—but I would write a book on how to be saved, because that is about faith in Jesus Christ.

I've never met a believer who, when you ask how they came to Christ, really wants to take credit for it. I've never talked to anybody who wants to say that they were the one who really provided the decisive initiative and the decisive work behind their salvation. Almost every believer, because of the work of God within them, wants to give God the credit for their salvation.

When you have two brothers listening to a sermon together, and one is awakened to see the spiritual beauty of Christ while the other isn't, can this awakening in the one be attributed to any innate wisdom or sensitivity to spiritual things? No! These things are not innate. The Bible says that we are all dead in our trespasses and sins and that it is God who makes us alive together with Christ. God, in his sovereign mercy, is the one who quickens people and causes them to be born again.

The new birth is the prior, miraculous, subconscious work by which people are enabled to see and savor and embrace Jesus Christ. Therefore we must pray accordingly.
I've prayed for my own children, before they were born again, that God would do a decisive, regenerating work in their hearts. I didn't pray that God would keep his distance and leave it up to my son to come to Christ. I prayed, "Break in! Crash in! Take out the heart of stone and give a heart of tenderness!"

We pray for regeneration—we pray for new birth—so that people can believe. They don't believe so that they can be born again. They're born unto a living hope so that they can believe. People don't believe unless God breaks into their lives, raises them from the dead, gives them a new heart, and enables them to see the beauty of Christ.

Do you think we'll ever be able to resolve the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility?

Yes, in heaven. I think it can be resolved to a significant measure here, if you read the very best analyses of it. (Jonathan Edward's book The Freedom of the Will is as good as they get, and I think he comes to a pretty close solution. But practically I find that lay people, by and large, are not going to read such a heavy-duty book).

In the end, however, we have to live with mystery because we are finite. And we must make sure that we draw the line for mystery in the right place. I find that a lot of people agree that there is mystery, but they don't agree on what that mystery is.

The mystery is not between the sovereignty of God that governs all things (including the will of man) and the absolutely self-determining free will of man. That is not the biblical mystery.
The biblical mystery is between God, who is sovereign over all things and governs all things (including the will of man), and our accountability and responsibility to will what we ought to even though we don't have absolute self-determination. That's the mystery. And I'm willing to live with that because the Bible teaches both of those things.

What is the first step in our responsibility?

If we read Jesus in John 3 we see that the new birth is God's work. The wind of God's Spirit blows where he wills. And if was talking to another person who showed some interest in spiritual things, I would say to them, "There is evidence that the wind is blowing here because of your concern, interest, and conviction. Therefore, take this initiative that God has wrought in your life and use it to close with Christ. Come to Christ. Come to the cross, and reach out with the arms of your heart and will, and embrace Christ as Savior and Lord."

Then the person must admit, "I was brought to this point by the Spirit of God. Yet now I must use my will, enabled by God, to embrace him, to receive him" (John 1:12).

So I would plead with people to come to Christ as the fountain of living water and as the bread of heaven (Isaiah 55:1-3). And when people come and embrace Christ with faith they are saved, their sins are forgiven, and they have the hope of eternal life. Then they'll look back some day and say, "I came because he drew me. I came because I was born again. He opened my eyes. He gave me ears to hear. He enabled me to taste and see that the Lord is good."

Effective Communication: Breaking down barriers

In order to engage our culture in religious dialogue we have to first understand the way in which society views religion. If we talk about the grace of God with someone who has altogether different presuppositions than our own, the conversation carries no relevance to either us. We should not expect a sin-bound individual to take the initiative to understand our position, but rather as Christians we are called to take the initiative ourselves in spreading the gospel and meeting people where they are. This barrier demands that we be aware of the principles and beliefs of the people with whom we are speaking, at least to the extent that we are able to effectively communicate the gospel.

As disciples of Christ it is necessary that we share him with those around us. This is not an option. But in order to do so successfully we must understand the role that assumptions and presuppositions play in our conversations. The most powerful tool that academia claims to have is objectivity. The purported ignorance of the masses is written off as biased and subjective while the intelligence of the scholarly is deemed objective and thus inherently more accurate. Religion is the “opiate of the masses” as Marx put it, a comfort for the weak and an explanation for the ignorant. Religion is both crux and blinder in the eyes of academia, and to be an “academic” requires unbiased and independent analysis. This view is true with atheists and agnostics everywhere, and let me be clear that, though this issue dominates the university setting, it is relevant to every single one of us.

But this “fact” that is alleged by society is little more than a rhetorical power struggle amidst a fallen people. The idea that someone can present an issue objectively and without biases is an absurd delusion, and yet it fills Christians everywhere with fear. Being told that we are ignorant, that science is the only thing objective, and that God is irrational, has pushed Christians into a frightened retreat with a stifled sense of evangelism. Afraid that we will look stupid, afraid that we won’t have answers that are based on facts, and afraid that we really are too ignorant to engage such people, is central to why Christians do not share their faith. We must understand that everyone has presuppositions, no one is objective, and to point these things out in a conversation can be extremely advantageous. Not only can we have better conversations with non-believers, but we can have more confidence in understanding the rhetoric of our society.

As a part of the religion department at Wake Forest, this is an issue that I face every day of my life, but there was a specific example that I was involved with today that made me feel like I should write about it.

David Bromley, a very respected and leading expert on cults (or New Religious Movements as our objective academic friends choose to call them) from Virginia Commonwealth spoke at Wake today. The most objective among the objective came to give a lecture about the development of cults and how if we can only understand them without biases we can explain them away as sociological defense mechanisms. Early on in his lecture he made the following statement:

The study of religion begins with the understanding that God doesn’t create man, but it is man who creates God.

Not a very objective statement to say the least. This is his assumption. All of the data, all of the research and books, and all of his theories, are viewed through this lens. Were this assumption to be called into question his entire life and academic career could crumble.

How do we discuss issues of God with an “expert” in his field who doesn’t even believe that God exists? The same way we do anyone who we talk to about these issues – address the assumptions.

Bromley argues that humans create religion. I agree. There is more than one religion in the world and they are not all from God. Man has created his own gods since the fall. But we ask why. Bromley says that humans do this in order to give meaning to their circumstances. I agree. There is an innate desire that humans have to make sense of the world around them. We want to have meaning in what we do, and humans often create and manipulate religion in a way that serves this purpose.

But this is where his argument stops, and it can leave Christians in an anxious situation where they feel like they just don’t have the answers. What should we do? Keep tackling the presuppositions, keep asking why. Eventually you will get to the core of the issue and that is where true conversations can take place. In this situation there is only one more question which needs to be asked because that is where the paths will diverge. Why do humans feel it necessary to give meaning to their life? No other animals on the planet do this, it has nothing to do with survival, and no evolutionary benefit. Why would humans have such a desire? From the Darwinian perspective we are mere animals, but animals don’t do this. This is more than just the how things happen, this is the why. The how is necessary for survival and easily explained in the evolutionary process, the why is not. Your dog knows how he gets food, he knows you give it to him, but he does not care why. There is something different about humans that make them ask this question, and by asking one more why we have gotten to the core of the issue. There is no response by an evolutionist that holds ground as to why humans have a special need for meaning in life, but God tells us exactly why – we were created for him. We are spiritual beings created for a much higher purpose. Humans know this because it’s in them and everywhere around them.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1: 19-21)

In order to effectively communicate with non-believers, we must break down their false assumptions and presuppositions. We must get to the core of the issue. Let me be clear though that this in no way negates the action of the Holy Spirit. When we share the gospel the Spirit is at work and he must do the changing in the lives of non-believers. But at the same time, this does not excuse us from our responsibilities as Christ followers. We must understand that we all have presuppositions and learn how to identity them. Effective communication is something the church is failing at, but not because we are ignorant, we have only fallen captive to the rhetoric of our day. We need to ask more questions. Ask why. Ask how. Get to the core of the issue, to the point of dispute, because that is where you apply the gospel, that’s where the healing happens.

Church Membership Response

This question was asked in response to ‘The Church – For Real’

Where does the Bible teach church "Membership"?

Membership is a covenant relationship. It’s an accountability that we see taught throughout the New Testament. John Piper answered the question like this:


Is Church Membership Taught in the New Testament?

Membership in a local church involves commitment to worship the Lord corporately, edifying brothers and sisters through mutual exhortation and service, cooperating in mission, and holding each other accountable to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord as a witness to the truth of Christ in the world.

We believe that covenant church membership is a wise and helpful path for those who desire to walk together in obedience to the Lord and in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). This becomes evident when we consider how the New Testament teaching on church government and church discipline relate to mutual accountability and thus to the concept of covenant membership.

The New Testament teaching about church government and church discipline would be meaningless if some form of commitment to mutual accountability in a body of believers were not expected.

Church Government Implies a Membership of Accountability

The New Testament teaches that the local church has elders or overseers who have special responsibility to equip (Ephesians 4:11) and care for (Acts 20:28) and teach (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9) the members. The New Testament teaches that the members are to respect (1 Thessalonians 5:12f.) and be submissive to (Hebrews 13:17) these leaders, but not to treat them as infallible (1 Timothy 5:20) or in the place of Christ (Matthew 23:8-12). They are servants, not masters (Luke 22:26), and their leadership comes from their divine call to serve (Acts 20:28), not from their desire to rule. Their leadership does not replace the congregation of believers as the body with final authority under the Lord (Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:4; Acts 6:3; 15:22).

This whole picture of called leaders, and people who affirm that leadership, assumes the existence of “church membership” that consists in a corporate life of mutual accountability. Leadership and submission have no meaning where there is no commitment to accountability (that is, to membership).

Church Discipline Implies a Membership of Accountability

Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).

What this implies is that Christians are to be members of churches where they are held accountable to walk in a way that pleases the Lord. If there were no relationship of accountability, it would be meaningless to “tell it to the church,” because the offending person would simply say, “That church has no jurisdiction over me.”

The same thing is implied in 1 Corinthians 5. A man in the church is living in blatant immorality and is proudly unrepentant (v. 2). Paul writes, “Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (v. 2). He goes on to say, “When you are assembled . . . you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (vv. 4-5).

None of this would be feasible if the immoral man could simply say, “I am not accountable to you. I can do what I please. You have no authority or rights over me.” In other words, the teaching of the New Testament on church discipline implies that church membership (involving mutual accountability among the members) is the will of God for all Christians.

Bible Study Response

This question was asked in response to 'More on Bible Study'

What's wrong with doing a Bible study each day by radio? If a teacher has scripture to back up what he teaches can the Holy Spirit not use him to teach me? I'm not really into venturing out on my own. Is that wrong in your opinion?

Is it wrong to follow a radio Bible study and learn from it? Of course not. Is it wrong for it to replace a personal and individual Bible study? Yes. Here’s why:

God didn’t call us to follow men, but to follow him. Anyone who teaches God’s word correctly is blessed and can be used by the Holy Spirit to encourage believers and convict non-believers, but ultimately no teaching of man can replace God’s personal revelation of himself in the life of the believer. The Bible is God’s revelation to man, and to know God is to know his word. Man is fallible, God’s word is infallible. Men all over the world are teaching scripture passionately, but not all of them are doing so accurately. Take the example of the Romans 12 passage that I commented on earlier. It can be taught by a very passionate person who misinterprets it, and I can feel something in me, but that doesn’t mean that I have understood God’s word or grown closer to him. The Bible is the very core of the Christian life; it’s how we know God. The greatest desire of the Christian should be to know God intimately and personally, this requires an intimate and personal experience of his word.

Let me give you another example. Imagine that you are a parent whose son is a soldier in a foreign country and you haven’t seen him in two years. You’re disconnected from him completely except through the letters he writes you. As a parent your greatest desire is to know everything about him that you possibly can. Would it be ok if all of his letters were sent to me and I told you what I thought they said? Even if I was accurately conveying what they say, would it be sufficient for you to not study them yourself? I think we would all want to read them firsthand, how much more should we desire to study and ponder the word of the sovereign creator God of the universe who has given his life to call us his children.

But unless I find myself guilty of the same issue, let me show you how it is addressed in Scripture. The evidence overwhelmingly speaks for itself.

1. We should study the Bible because God command us to do so.

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 11:18-20)

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

2. Direct interaction with the word of God is the foundation of Christian existence.

If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. (Psalm 119:92-93)

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11)

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17)

These verses are only a sampling of the verses that talk about the importance of the word of God in the life of the believer. A desire to study the word of God is so central to what it means to be a Christian that I would doubt the salvation of someone who claimed to be a Christ follower but shows no desire for his Word.

Again, we are taught by this passage [John 5:39-40], that if we wish to obtain the knowledge of Christ, we must seek it from the Scriptures; for they who imagine whatever they choose concerning Christ will ultimately have nothing of him but a shadowy phantom. First, then, we ought to believe that Christ cannot be properly known in any other way than from the Scriptures; and if it be so, it follows that we ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them. Whoever shall turn aside from this object, though he may weary himself throughout his whole life in learning, will never attain the knowledge of the truth; for what wisdom can we have without the wisdom of God? Next, as we are commanded to seek Christ in the Scriptures, so he declares in this passage that our labors shall not be fruitless; for the Father testifies in them concerning his Son in such a manner that He will manifest him to us beyond all doubt. But what hinders the greater part of men from profiting is, that they give to the subject nothing more than a superficial and cursory glance. Yet it requires the utmost attention, and, therefore, Christ enjoins us to search diligently for this hidden treasure. -John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel of John (1563).

The Church - For Real

Unfortunately, the idea of the church in the minds of many believers today is a very skewed and distorted view of what the Bible tells us the church really is. Odds are good that if you asked 100 believers what “the church” is you would get 100 different answers. Views of the church range anywhere from a building to all mankind, and the confusion that has come from it has left many believers in a stalemate in their spiritual lives. Misunderstanding the church is to misunderstand your life if you are a believer.

Some reading this have already thought that I have overstated the issue, that church is something that’s good for us as Christians but not essential, that it doesn’t matter where I am or how I do it as long as I’m growing in my own relationship with Christ. It is a belief that’s a demonstration of the sad ignorance of Christians today. Our society has ingrained us with individualism to the point that, for many of us, it is impossible to see things otherwise. It is an individualism so permeating and so powerful that we think of ourselves (though never admitting it) as the center of existence, individualism so commanding that we see God as responding to us instead of the opposite, so influential that we see the church as somewhere to go to help us if we need it.

The church becomes somewhere I go when I need something; a vacation in the midst of a hectic week, entertainment for the children, and music that I really like. In fact, since I don’t need anything, it’s really no problem if I stay home this week. I’m doing fine in my walk with Christ on my own, I don’t need church to help me. I don’t even like the way they do it anyway, it’s just not my preference. I’ll be fine if I do it my way, God works in each of our lives differently. I, I, I…ad nauseam

Sound familiar? How sad.

The church is not about individuals. It is a radically communal body, the body of Christ, his presence on earth personified. Want to know why the church seems so messed up today? Because of all the individuals. The hands go one way, the feet go another, and the body falls flat on its face. The problem with the church is that’s its not functioning like it was designed. Christians should be the most drastically communal people on the planet. The community that is exhibited by the local church is the reflection of Christ to a lost world, and we must understand that in order to live the way that God created us.

Purposes of the Church
1. Worship
The purpose of the body of Christ is to worship him. This cannot be done by individuals. When I say worship, I do not mean singing the type of music that you like with words about God. Yes music can be a form of worship, but it is much deeper than that. We truly worship God when we live our lives the way he created us, loving one another, building one another up, serving one another – all with total satisfaction from and through Christ alone. The church worships in the way they treat each other, its praise comes from the life of its members, its love for one another from a love for God.

2. Edification
The purpose of the body of Christ is to build one another into the image of our Savior. This cannot be done by individuals. We do not go to church so that we can be helped spiritually, we go to church in order to be a help. We pour our lives into those around us and everyone gains from the effort.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Notice what the leaders of the church do at the beginning of this passage. They equip who? The saints. To do what? The work of the ministry, building the body of Christ. Church is not a place where we come and let the pastor give us a nugget of truth for the week so that we feel better, it’s a place where we come to learn how to sacrifice our lives by pouring it into those around us. Why? Keep reading. So that we’re built up in Christ, firmly grounded in him. Paul says that we aren’t supposed to live life like that but “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” “Speaking the truth” here is one word in the Greek that’s a verb. It literally means “truthing in love.” It’s an action, a way of life, a community. The body works together or it falls.

3. Evangelism
The purpose of the body of Christ is to share Christ. This cannot be done by individuals. The church shares Christ, not only by mission work, but by the way the members live. True community doesn’t exist in America today, and when the world sees a group of people who have been so gripped by the gospel that they sacrifice everything for one another, they notice. And by the way, don’t think they don’t notice if we’re not acting like the body of Christ. If you want to be a true disciple of Christ then you must share him with others, but that cannot be done apart from living the way that God intended for you to live - in service to one another.

Membership
Often times today we see church membership as a type of club membership. It’s something we join for political reasons, a status, but there is no commitment. Joining the local expression of the body of Christ is an unbelievable thing, not something to be done flippantly whenever and wherever you choose. When we become members of a church we are saying two things:

1. “I submit to the leadership of this church.”
This is why it’s important to find a church that shares your beliefs. By becoming a member of the church you are entering into a covenant that says I am submitting to the church leadership. That does not mean I cannot disagree with them, but I am to submit to them as the final authority.

Now, this does not mean we choose a church based on what we like. Church is not meant for entertainment, it’s not about our preferences. Churches today are more consumerist than ever in history, they think they must be in order to fit into an individualistic consumer society. People go “church shopping” and look for a place where the kids can have fun, a place where the music is just right, or a place where the activities are fun. To choose a church like that is to be a consumer, not a servant, and it's not at all the model we see in Scripture.

2. “I submit to the people of this church.”
When we join a church we make a commitment to the body. This is a commitment of service, a commitment of love, and selflessness. This is where we grow, this is where we live and worship, this is the focus of our lives. “Good morning!” and “See you next week!” don’t cut it. This fellowship is the very core and center of our spiritual lives on earth, without we fail. It’s not a social event; it’s a spiritual journey that must be deeply personal and vastly committed to.

We all need church, we all are the church, and it’s time to stop acting like self-satisfying individuals and start acting like the body that God created us to be. It’s called a body for a reason. It living, moving, and growing; all parts are necessary, it takes some conditioning and commitment, but the result is a God-honoring masterpiece.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Sonic Returns

Read this first...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/newzealand.hedgehog.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

When I read this article I couldn’t help but think about the terrible state that our world is in today. Sin has gripped the earth like a parasitic vine that continues to grow and grow, squeezing the life out of humanity. In one sense I was disgusted by what I read, but in another I almost expected it.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come (2 Timothy 3:1)

And then the thought occurred to me, what are we going to do if this catches on in the church? How are we as Christians supposed to respond to fellow believers if they act in such a way? Is it wrong for a believer to throw a hedgehog at someone? Is it clear from scripture how this situation should be dealt with? Fortunately for us we believe in a sovereign God who was able to plan for such an evil event no matter how far in the future, and he has given us guidelines for just such a situation.

First of all it is important to understand that God looks on the heart even though man may judge by the appearance. It is clear from Numbers that in such an instance of hedgehog throwing, the motive must be determined before judgment can be passed.

And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that’s murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him. If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn’t even know was there, and there’s no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger. Numbers (35:20-24)

It is clear from this text that it is not a good thing to throw a hedgehog at someone. However, in order for the person to be judged as having committed a sin against his brother, it must have been done with intentional harm in mind. Thus we can conclude that if a believer throws a hedgehog at someone else with the purpose and intention of harming them then it is a sin. But if that person were to accidently fling his or her hedgehog whereby another person was arbitrarily hit apart from intention or plan, no sin has been committed.

It is important for us to understand though that sin is a natural part of the human state, and though rare, this type of thing has been happening throughout history. It is clear that it was an issue that Jesus had to deal with as well, and can be seen in his prayer at the Mount of Olives.

He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed. (Luke 22:41)

Clearly, Jesus’ going “a stone’s throw” away was not just by chance. He knew that hedgehogs have inferior aerodynamics to stones and thus that if he was a stone’s throw away it would be impossible to be hit by a hedgehog. This is clearly a desired situation when one seeks to be undisturbed in prayer.

We also see examples in the Old Testament of God protecting the faithful from people throwing hedgehogs. Take the case of Job for instance:

Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? (Job 1:9-10)

The Hebrew here indicates that God built a “hedge” around job in order to prevent the devil from being able to throw hedgehogs at him. It is not until God removes this "hedge" that the Devil is able to act against Job.

This sin issue is one that we must be aware of in our own lives. We must constantly be reminded that our heart must be focused on God and that intentional hedgehog throwing is, at the very least, undesirable.

Immutable Comfort

One of the hardest things for me to get my head around is God’s immutability. The fact that he never changes, nor ever will change, in any way, throughout eternity, is baffling. First of all it’s hard for us to even understand his eternal existence because we just try to imagine him as far back as we possibly can, but even then he was exactly the same as he is now. He hasn’t grown, he hasn’t learned, he hasn’t adapted to anything, He’s just I AM. Because he’s perfect he can’t get any better, and because he’s infallible he can’t get any worse.

Furthermore, he doesn’t even change his mind. Psalm 33:11 says “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” But what’s amazing is that He knows that it’s impossible for us to understand that so he speaks of himself in terms we can comprehend. For example, there are a few times in scripture in which it seems that God is changing his mind (e.g. the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah), but this is only his relating to us in human terms. See, he exists outside of time and doesn't experience existence as a sucession of events, but acts inside of time when relating to his creation. So man acts in a certain way at Time A and God acts in time to respond to him based on the circumstances. Then, when the circumstances change at Time B, he acts in time again, still based on his unchanging plan, but in relation to different circumstances. He is still acting consistently with his plan and character, but the circumstances that he is acting towards (us) have changed.

One of the reasons that this is so hard for us to understand is that it’s not a part of our existence at all. We are constantly changing, every second of every day throughout our lives. We’ve never experienced immutability of any sort. The closest thing we could think of might be a rock (which still changes) and we see God compared to a rock throughout scripture. It’s part of what separates the creation from the Creator, to be unchangeable is to be God.

But it’s this very difference that makes him our comfort. Highs and lows, problems, disasters, and difficulties are all results of change and a part of the sinful human condition, but our foundation is immutable. We make a decision today, we change our minds or fail at it tomorrow, but nothing has changed with God. We have no reason to pray – if not for his immutability. We have no reason to worship – if not for his immutability. We have no reason for hope – if not for his immutability. Our salvation comes through his unchanging character.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17)

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed (Mal. 3:6)

Think about it.

More on Bible study

I mentioned yesterday that every Christian is a theologian, and that all Christians are equipped by the Holy Spirit to read the Bible. But I wanted to make it clear that that does not mean that we shouldn’t to strive to be better able to read and understand God’s word. Part of what it means to grow as a Christian is to grow in our abilities to read the Bible well. We can read the Bible as much as we want to, but if we aren’t understanding what we read (or worse misunderstanding) then it is of little use to us. For that reason I wanted to share a method that was shared with me and has been helpful in my own personal Bible study. It’s a series of questions to answer about any given passage in order to better understand it. Each question builds on the previous question and forces you to go deeper in your understanding of the text. Here are the questions and an explanation for each.

1. What is this? What do we have here?

This is referring to what the text is in a basic and broad sense. In other words, is it a command? a warning? narrative? poetry? etc.

2. What, essentially, is being spoken of here?

The subject or topic of the passage, often times it is the bold subheading in your Bible but this is not always the case. For example, a parable heading in your Bible might be “The Rich Young Ruler”, but the subject that is being spoken about in that parable is actually the cost of discipleship.

3. What is the author saying about the subject?

This is a big one. We’ve just answered what the subject is in question two, now what is the author saying about that subject? What is the author’s purpose for writing this? What point is he trying to get across? Remember that every passage only has one meaning. There may be multiple applications to a given text, but it can only mean what the author intended for it to mean. This is one reason why context is so important; it helps us understand what the author is talking about.

4. What response might the Holy Spirit want from believing readers of the text?

This is the application of the point that was made in question three. How do we take the point made by the author and apply it to our situation. This is subjective and non-authoritative. Applications can change for everyone whereas the meaning never changes and is always true.

5. How does this passage move the reader to make the intended response?

This is how the text breaks down, kind of like an outline. What parts of the passage serve what purposes in order to bring the reader to the response mentioned earlier? This is where we look at the function of individual words and phrases in the passage in order to better understand every part of it.

6. How does this text contribute to the larger picture of redemption?

This is the only question that requires some general knowledge of the Bible as a whole in order to answer it well. There is a single storyline that unfolds between Genesis and Revelation about God’s plan of redemption for mankind and every passage fits into it somehow. Of course, some passages may relate more easily than others (e.g. passages about the resurrection vs. Proverbs).

Generally speaking, if these questions can’t be answered then the passage has not been understood (with the possible exception of the last one). I think it’s worth the effort to go through these with daily Bible readings. For young Christians it helps in understanding how to process the information and go about understanding the passage, and for mature believers it prevents the mechanical reading that comes from habit and has no real study behind it. Quality is always better than quantity when it comes to reading the Bible.

Also, we must continually try not to come to the text with our own presuppositions. Almost everyone who reads the Bible already has preexisting ideas about God and how He works, but if we are not careful, we allow our own ideas of God to interpret His word instead of allowing God to speak for himself. We don’t read the Bible to support our ideas, we read it so it will change us. Changing the Bible by our presuppositions is sin; the Bible changing us in spite of our presuppositions is the Christian life.

Understanding the Bible

This is a quote from a man who is trying to prove that God is imaginary:

Have you ever noticed that when you read the Bible, it often makes no sense? For example, you can read Matthew 17:20 and Jesus clearly says, "Nothing will be impossible for you." And yet, you know for a fact that that statement is wrong. Lots of things are impossible for you.

If you ask a Christian about this discrepancy, the Christian will say, "Ah, you see, you are not interpreting the Bible correctly. You need to talk to a theologian. He will set you straight."

Isn't it odd that the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, perfect creator of the universe has written a book, but he was unable to write clearly, so we need human theologians to interpret it for us? Why would a perfect god say "Nothing will be impossible for you" unless he meant "Nothing will be impossible for you?" Surely God knows how humans interpret sentences. So why didn't he speak the truth?

The reason why God speaks so unclearly, and why God fails to speak the truth so often in the Bible, and the reason why we need theologians, is because God is imaginary. (godisimaginary.com)

This quote troubled me for several reasons, some more obvious than others. The first is that this man is so blind to truth that he has resorted to every illogical argument possible in order to prove God doesn’t exist, and therefore he does not have to answer to Him. It is people like this who can make your heart seethe with anger and break in compassion at the same time. We feel the righteous anger rising within us against such claims and at the same time we fall before a holy God who chose us for absolutely no reason and He alone has taken away a similar blindness from our own lives. What a humbling and awe-inspiring thought.

But the quote raises other important issues in regards to both who can understand the Bible, and why it is futile to argue against such claims.

Who can understand God’s word?
In order to answer this question we must first understand what is required to be able to correctly interpret the Bible – the Holy Spirit. Paul addresses this issue with the Corinthians when he says:

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

So to understand God’s word we must first have God’s Spirit. Thus Christians (those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and have received the Holy Spirit) are the only people who can truly interpret the Bible correctly.

Now, before I go on to the second question there is one more thing that is raised in the quote that is unfortunately true. Many Christians today think that they must have a degree in Biblical interpretation in order to really get what the Bible is saying. Not True. Every true follower of Christ is equipped to read the Bible. In that sense, every true Christian is a theologian because every true Christian seeks God (theologia: theo- “God” logia “study/theory of”). So does this man need a theologian to understand the Bible? Yes, but every Christian is a theologian because they are constantly seeking God.

Why is it futile to argue against such claims?
In short it is because he doesn’t have the Spirit. For the same reasons mentioned above, it’s impossible for a non-believer to understand Christ apart from the grace of God. In the same passage to the Corinthians, Paul draws a clear distinction between the understanding given to believers and nonbelievers.

Now we [believers] have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)

You don’t argue with a child about politics because they do not have the mental tools necessary to understand. Similarly, it’s pointless to argue with a nonbeliever about spiritual things because they do not have what is necessary to understand (the Spirit). Studying apologetics and constructing an elaborate and detailed argument for why Christianity must be true is not going to win a single person apart from the grace of God changing them first. Should we study apologetics? Sure, but the main method for sharing the gospel must be the Word of God. Faith comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), and faith alone brings the Holy Spirit and thus understanding.

Studying and applying the Bible is not a characteristic of a Christian, it is the definition, the very core of what it means to be a Christ-follower. We are not just called to do it, but commanded to do it and equipped for it. We should love it, live it, and share it, but all the while remembering that all understanding comes from God alone.

Do not be conformed - context anyone?

Having been raised in an environment where the Bible was esteemed but not studied, I have seen my fair share of misquotes, and if I’m honest about it I’ve misquoted it many times myself. But when the Bible moves from being esteemed to being cherished, such misquotes become significant errors of indiscretion against an infinitely holy text. For that reason I want to talk about a passage that I have seen most often misquoted, and one that is very close to my heart – Romans 12:1-2.

The focus of this passage when it is quoted is usually the first words of verse two, “Do not be conformed to this world.” Many times the speaker is using this phrase in reference to a list of sins that are associated with the world and thus not a part of the Christian life.
      1. Drinking
      2. Smoking
      3. Listening to “worldly” music, etc.
The list goes on forever and ranges from menial offenses to grave transgressions. The result is a list of laws that is determined by the actions of the world and therefore should not be manifested in the life of a Christian. Furthermore, it is purported that because we cannot be conformed to the world, we must separate ourselves from them in every way possible. This is a critical mistake.

Does this verse address the actions of believers? Of course it does, but only secondarily and not in relation to the actions of the world. Let’s look at it more closely.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God
This sentence and the doxology at the end of chapter 11 show that Paul here is beginning a new section in his letter to the Romans. The first 11 chapters deal with theological issues, but Paul is now transitioning to the practical application of those truths in the life of the believer. So, “because of everything I have just said, and because of the grace and mercy of God…” do what?

present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship
Because of the new covenant, and in contrast to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, believers are commanded to offer themselves as living sacrifices which is the only logical thing to do. (“reasonable/spiritual” comes from the Greek word for “logical", λογικός)

This brings us to verse two and the heart of the issue. Now that we have been commanded to offer ourselves to God, verse two shows us how we are to go about doing that.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
This is a negative command followed by a positive assertion. “Do not do this, but do this.” This is a very clear statement that is easy to understand, but the problem is it doesn’t tell us how…yet. By taking this phrase away from the rest of the verse we are able to make it into anything we want. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by not (insert worldly action)” becomes the basis for a set of rules. “Do not do drugs, the world does that” has the same authority as, “Do not chew gum, the world does that.” Fortunately however, Paul didn’t write this phrase without a context, finish the sentence.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
There’s not a list of things here that we must do in order to not be conformed to the world, it is one thing, and it’s not even an external action. How do we fulfill the command? By renewing our minds, by not thinking like the world, by allowing the Holy Spirit to change our thought processes from the inside out, applying a spiritual wisdom that is not of this world.

that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect
Now our actions come into the picture. When our minds are continually renewed and placed in line with God, then we will be able to discern the proper actions. The actions of a Christian that make him a “living sacrifice” are not determined by the actions of the world, but rather by a Christ-centered mind. God’s law is not based on what the world says is right or wrong but solely on his infinite wisdom that flows from his irreproachable character and is revealed to his children through the Holy Spirit and the written Word.

Standing against a moral wrong is one thing; placing the definitions of sin in the hands of the world by misquoting God is something altogether different. Man’s purpose is not to explain the Scriptures in a way that suits him; it’s the purpose of the Scriptures to explain man in relation to an absolute standard – let's be careful with them.