May 8, 2008

“...And peace…from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:2)

 When Paul introduces his epistle o the Philippians, he not only takes the Greek introduction and alters it (grace to you) , he adds to it the Hebrew by-product of grace: peace (shalom). Peace was not merely some common salutation like we hear some hip hop guy say “peace”. The peace Paul is speaking of comes “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” When Paul refers to "peace," he is not talking about some super­ficial psychological giddiness that comes from reaping the material comforts of Western society (as justifiably grateful we may be for the latter) or from absence of conflict or from the serenity of a tropical island. This is the kind of peace that, rather than being dependent on material and physical comfort, actually frees you from bondage to physical comforts and liberates you from dependence on worldly conveniences and appliances and whatever else money can buy.

The peace of Philippians 1:2 is different from, although clearly related to, what I would call the "objective" peace of Romans 5:1. There Paul declares that since we have been justified by faith ^"we have peace with God" through Jesus Christ. To have or to be at "peace with God" is a reference to the nature of our relationship with him now that his wrath has been exhausted in his Son on our behalf The holy hostility and righteous indignation provoked by our sin has been forever satisfied in the sufferings of Christ Jesus. But just as it was the grace of God that first brought peace to sinners, so grace also continues to bring peace.

Here in Philippians 1:2 Paul is describing a felt, tangible experi­ence of mind and heart. Peace is the result of experiencing God’s grace. The order is important: You cannot know God’s peace without first appropriating His grace. Where God’s grace is lacking, peace will also be in short supply. The peace that, like grace, comes from our God and Father is a confident restfulness in the truth that what God has promised he will fulfill. It is that restful assurance and very real sensa­tion that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Perhaps the best way to describe this peace is by pointing to what it does for us in the midst of crisis, pain, and the disillusionment of life in a fallen world. Jesus promised in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” Paul has in mind that glorious work of the Spirit in our hearts that says: "A sudden tsunami may sweep away my house and family, but my life is hidden with Christ in God" (see Col. 3:3). "A terrorist may separate my head from my body, but nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord^" (see Rom. 8:35)."An incurable disease may ravage my body, but God causes all things to work together for good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose^" (see Rom. 8:28). "An unfaithful spouse may walk out, never to return, but God has prom­ised never to leave me or forsake me" (see Heb. 13:5). "Enemies of the faith may persecute me and confiscate my property, but I can still rejoice because I have a better possession and an abiding one, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for me" (see Heb. 10:34; 1 Pet. 1:4). There is a perfect peace that God wants to give you this morning and wants to keep you as you leave (Isaiah 26:3) and it is the peace of God that Paul will say in Philippians 4:7 “surpasses all understanding”.  This is the abundant Christian life: grace that produces a peace and joy and satisfaction in God so deep and unmovable and indelible that no amount of suffering can shake it or induce me to take offence at God.

Pastor Bill

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April 30, 2008

Jonathan Edwards wrote this on the degrees of happiness in heaven. This is a profound and encouraging thought for this week.

Pastor Bill

There are different degrees of happiness and glory in heaven. As there are degrees among the angels, viz. thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; so there are degrees among the saints. In heaven are many man­sions, and of different degrees of dignity. The glory of the saints above will be in some proportion to their emi­nency in holiness and good works here. Christ will reward all according to their works. He that gained ten pounds was made ruler over ten cities, and he that gained five pounds over five cities. Luke19: 17. 2 Corinthians 9: 6. " He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly ; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.^" And the apostle Paul tells us that, as one star differs from another star in glory, so also it shall be in the resurrection of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:41.

Christ tells us that he who gives a cup of cold water unto a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall in no wise lose his reward. But this could not be true, if' a person should have no greater reward for doing many good works than if he did but few. It will be no damp to the happiness of those who have lower degrees of happiness and glory, that there are others advanced in glory above them: for all shall be perfectly happy, every one shall be perfectly satisfied. Every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others; and there shall be no such thing as envy in heaven, but perfect love shall reign through the whole society.

Those who are not so high in glory as others, will not envy those that are higher, but they will have so great, and strong, and pure love to them, that they will rejoice in their superior happiness; their love to them will be such that they will rejoice that they are happier than themselves; so that instead of having a damp to their own happiness, it will add to it. They will see it to be fit that they that have been most eminent in works of righteousness should be most highly exalted in glory ; and they will rejoice in having that done, that is fittest to be done.

There will be a perfect harmony in that society; those that are most happy will also be most holy, and all will be both perfectly holy and perfectly happy. But yet there will be different degrees of both holiness and happiness according to the measure of each one's capacity, and therefore those that are lowest in glory will have the greatest love to those that are highest in happiness, because they will see most of the image of God in them; and having the greatest love to them, they will rejoice to see them the most happy and the highest in glory.

And so, on the other hand, those that are highest in glory, as they will be the most lovely, so they will be fullest of love : as they will excel in happiness, they will proportionally excel in divine benevolence and love to others, and will have more love to God and to the saints than those that are lower in holiness and happiness. And besides, those that will excel in glory will also excel in humility. Here in this world, those that are above others are the objects of envy, because that others conceive of them as being lifted up with it; but in heaven it will not be so, but those saints in heaven who excel in happiness will also in holiness, and consequently in humility. The saints in heaven are more humble than the saints on earth, and still the higher we go among them the greater humi­lity there is ; the highest orders of saints, who know most of God, see most of the distinction between God and them, and consequently are comparatively least in their own eyes, and so are most humble. The exaltation of some in heaven above the rest will be so far from diminishing the perfect happiness and joy of the rest who are inferior, that they will be the happier for it ; such will be the union in their societ_y that they will be partakers of each other^'s happiness. Then will be fulfilled in its perfection that which is declared in 1 Corinthians 12: 22. " If one of the mem­bers be honoured all the members rejoice with it."

This happiness of the saints shall never have any inter­ruption. There will never be any alloy to it ; there never will come any cloud to obscure their light ; there never will be anything to cool their love. The rivers of pleasure will not fail, the glory and love of God and of Christ will forever be the same, and the manifestation of it will have no interruption. No sin or corruption shall ever enter there, no temptation to disturb their blessedness; the divine love in the saints shall never cool, there shall be no inconsistency in any of them, the faculties of the saints shall never flag from exercise; and they will never be cloyed, their relish for those delights will forever be kept up to its height, that glorious society shall not grow weary of their hallelujahs. Their exercises, though they are so active and vigorous, will be performed with perfect ease; the saints shall not be weary of loving, and praising, and fearing, as the sun is never weary of shining.

And to sum up this whole description, there shall never be any end to their glory and blessedness. There-fore is it so often called eternal life, and everlasting life. We are told that at the day of judgment, when the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, the righteous shall enter into life eternal (Matthew 25:46). The pleasures which there are at God's right hand are said to be for evermore; (Psalm 16:11).

And that this is not merely a long duration, but an absolute eternity, is evident from that which Christ has said that those who believe on him shall not die. (John 6: 50).  Revelation 22: 5 says in the description of the new Jerusalem, " And they shall reign forever and ever." The eternity of this blessedness shall crown all. If the saints knew that there would be an end to their happiness, though at never so great a distance, yet it would be a great damp to their joy. The greater the happiness is, so much the more uncomfortable would the thoughts of an end be, and so much the more joyful will it be to think that there will be no end. The saints will surely know that there will be no more danger of their happiness coming to an end, than there will be that the being of God will come to an end. As God is eternal, so their happiness is eternal; as long as the fountain lasts, they need not fear but they shall be supplied.

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April 23, 2008

I read this the other day and it really communicates on the importance of seeing the implications of really seeing and savoring the doctrines of grace by having sovereign joy in what we believe about the doctrines of Grace.

 1. We need to make plain that total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to beauty and deadness to joy

2. We need to make plain that  unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed.

3. We need to make plain that limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for us by the blood of the covenant,

4. We need to make plain that irresistible grace is the commitment and power of God^'s love to make sure we don^'t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.

5. We need to make plain that the perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of pleasures at God^'s right hand forever.

 This note of sovereign, triumphant joy is a missing element in too much reformed theology and Reformed worship. And it may be that the question we could pose ourselves is whether this is so because we have not experienced the triumph of sovereign joy in our own lives. Can we say the following with Augustine?

 "How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!... You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place… 0 Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation’. (Confessions IX, 1)

 Or are we in bondage to the pleasures of this world so that, for all our about the glory of God, we love television and food and sleep and sex and money and human praise just like everybody else? If so, let us repent and fix our face like flint toward the Word of God in prayer: Oh, Lord, open my eyes to see the sovereign sight that in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11).

Pastor Bill

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April 17, 2008

I have been very reflective as I turned fifty five last Sunday. I am so thankful for my life. There are many saints whom I look up to with admiration and respect who did not live this long. I cannot believe that I am eligible for Senior discounts! (I do plan to take serious advantages of them) I am amazed that I have been married for thirty three years, have four adult children, two who are married, and have two grandchildren. I am amazed that I have been a Christian for many more years than I was a non Christian and that I have been a pastor longer than I was a non Christian (31 years). I cannot believe that I have been surfing for forty years (Though it would be nice to be healed in my back so that I would get to surf soon). I am happy that I still have my hair :) , though it is getting greyer and whiter by the year. One thing I know for sure as I turn fifty five: LIFE IS SHORT AND ETERNITY IS VERY LONG. I want my life to be measured not by how long I live but by my contribution to it. As the saying goes, "Only one life will soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last."  In short, I don't want to waste my life.

Brothers and sisters there are two kinds of lives; there is the wasted life and there is the unwasted life. Which is yours? Can I tell you what is the essence of an unwasted life? It is a life lived to magnify Christ. "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored [magnified, made to look great] in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:20-21)

You and I are on this planet for a few years, all for the same ultimate reason but in various forms. This reason is that we would live and die to make Christ look valuable as he really is. When Paul says that to die is gain, he means that Christ is more valuable than anything this world can offer. The key question then becomes, How can I use my getting older, my youth, my possessions and body and time and career, my marriage and family, my singleness, my prayers, my serving, my gifts and talents, my suffering, sickness, and adversity, and ultimately my death to show that Christ is precious beyond everything? 

What makes Jesus look valuable is that you, in your love for Jesus, sacrifice yourself for the good of others so that it is unquestionably apparent that your treasure is not on this earth. How are you going to live a lifestyle that doesn't just look like a carbon copy of the world? Sacrifice in the cause of love is impressive and noteworthy. Jesus says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Good deeds are a part of helping others see the light. But note that our "light" is not good deeds only. Verses 11-15 show the context of our light. Our light is a rejoicing and a being glad in the day of persecution. What shines in the world is when you are being beat up by circumstances or other people and you don't murmur, grumble, or avenge yourself, but rejoice. That is the light and salt that people see. We are to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10).

So the key to living an unwasted life is doing the kinds of deeds—and there are 10,000 of them—that flow from a heart that is embattled with difficulties, yet resting in Jesus Christ as its great reward. We are to magnify Christ, not like a microscope magnifies things but like a telescope magnifies things. Microscopes make small things look big; but telescopes make seemingly small things look like they really are: Huge! The final joy of heaven will be to magnify the Lamb:[I heard] the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5.12-13)

David Brainerd said, "Oh that I might not loiter in my heavenly journey". Jonathan Edwards said, "Resolved to live with all my might while I still live". Let these be your battle cry dear brothers and sisters. Oh brothers and sisters don't waste your getting older, your youth, your possessions, your body, your time, your career, your marriage, your family, your singleness, your prayers, your serving, your ministry, your gifts and talents, your suffering, your sickness, your trials and adversity, and ultimately your death!

Striving for a non wasted life,

Pastor Bill

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April 10, 2008

"Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. " (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV)

How do you pray? I pray that you praying big, sweeping, God centered, bible bleeding, prayers this week. Oh that you would begin expecting great things from God in your life, our church, and among the nations by attempting the great thing He has purposed for us to do: PRAY HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME!

I have been teaching on how important praying God's purposes are in our lives.  God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of His great purposes.

Oh reader, bring your heart into line with the passion of God to hallow His name, and you will pray with great effect. Let your first and all-determining prayer be for the hallowing of God's name, and your prayers will plug into the power of God's passion for His Name  Big general prayers become powerful when they are filled up with concrete, radical Biblical goals for the people we are praying for.

"Hallowed be thy name," is a huge, sweeping prayer. But it asks for two concrete things: that in the entire world God's name would be regarded as precious and that hearts would be changed to do God's will with the same zeal and purity that the angels have in heaven. Oh how I want us to be together as a body to pray great big sweeping prayers filled up with a radical biblical agenda for God to accomplish in us individually, as a body, in South County, and in all the nations.are Father, cause your name be set apart in people’s hearts and minds and lives as the infinitely great and beautiful and valuable reality that it is.

God has every intention to cause His name to be hallowed. Why? Because if God does not do it , it will not happen, and if it doesn’t happen God will not be loved, cherished, and valued. He will not be known and renowned and if He is not known and renowned His purposes will not be fulfilled and if His purposes are not fulfilled than He is not God. Nothing is higher on God's priority list. That God would display the greatness of God. Isn’t it amazing that God commands us to pray about things that He absolutely intends to do yet He does them through our prayers?  There is no uncertainty about the triumph of God. Nevertheless, in God’s providence, it depends upon human prayer. Amazing! The prayers of God’s followers and the purposes of God will not fail.

Pastor Bill

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April 2, 2008

On the first Sunday of every month we here at the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship take communion (also called the Lord’s Supper).  Communion is one of the two unique ordinances (the other is baptism) that Jesus Christ has given us to participate in as a church. I call them "ordinances" rather than using the word "sacraments." By ordinances I simply mean that they were especially "ordained" or instituted by Jesus Christ. It is for believers only. It is full of symbolic significance, yet beautiful in its simplicity. It is not to be treated lightly nor is to be regarded as if it is of little importance. Have you ever stopped to think about this event that we share together as a church?  What a simple yet strange ceremony in the eyes of those who are spiritually blind; a little bit of pastry and a little cup of grape juice-how strange. Up front on this table are little pieces of pastry and little cups of grape juice. What these represent is of paramount importance. The biblical basis of the Lord’s Supper takes us back to the last meal that Jesus shared with His disciples. We read in Matthew 26:26-29, “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.   I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."  The apostle Paul draws upon the scene when he later writes these words in his letter to the Corinthians: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). We will be eating together at this unique table until our Savior returns. This morning let us consider what “remembering” Christ entails.

1. It is a remembrance that is commanded-“Do this…” When we gather, we gather not on our own impulse, nor at our own inclination, but because it is ordained that we should do so. Notice that Paul gives this to us as a command not an option. Paul says we are to do it continually. In fact it is in the present imperative which means “keep on doing this in remembrance of me.” So we obey and observe this by keep on doing it once a month. Sam Storms writes, “Woe to the Christian who neglects the Lord’s Table. Unless there are right reasons for being absent, woe to us if we just walk out when the Lord’s Table is set.” This command also reveals the weakness of the flesh even in those who have been born again, for it is remarkable that we who have been redeemed by Christ should need to be urged to remember him, but the fact is that we do forget and God knows and understands this. That is why I see this as a mercy and gift of grace for that very reason because God knows how forgetful we are. This is what I call one of the “sweet commands” of God. It is not meant to be a burden to us but rather to bless us an absolute delight!

2. It is a remembrance which takes a tangible, visible form- Do this, as often as you drink it…”  The elements are designed to prick our spiritual sense by physical means. It’s not sufficient simply to say, “Remember.” We must go on to present to the eye and to the touch this tangible representation of the truth about which we are speaking. And again, it is surely an act of merciful condescension to our weakness as sinners that the Lord has established it in this way.

3. It is a strengthening personal remembrance. As we do the physical act of eating and drinking, we are to do the mental act of remembering. Jesus says, Do this in remembrance of me.”  Jesus Christ gave us this simple "Lord's Supper" to help us keep Him in memory, especially his blood and body given up in death. We are to consciously call to mind the person of Jesus Himself as he once lived and the work of Jesus as he once died and rose again, and what his work means for the forgiveness for our sins. Thus, the Lord’s Supper serves to intensify and increase our understanding of and love for Jesus Christ and His death. We must remember him because he is the most valuable Person in the universe.  We must remember his death because it is the most important death in history." JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US! Jesus has come. He has died for our sins. He has risen from the dead. Our guilt has been removed. Our sin is forgiven. Our condemnation and punishment have been transferred to Christ. We are acquitted and have been reconciled to God. Our bondage to sin is broken. Our enemy has been put to naught. The sting of death is removed. The destiny of hell is averted. Eternal life has been given. Oh, how much there is to remember!  “Recall and be strengthened and encouraged by all that I have been, am, and forever will be to you. My person, my work, all that is yours by grace,” says Jesus, “let it take root in your souls and remember Me.”  Let the memories of me, in all the fullness of my love and power, flood your soul at this table. Setting out this tangible reminder of Christ time after time in the life of the church will be worship if our hearts feel the preciousness of remembering Christ and tremble at the prospect of forgetting him.       

4. There is more than simply commemoration in this activity of remembering: there is also confession. Whoever comes to the Lord’s Table not only commemorates the death of Christ for sinners but also confesses, “Christ died for me.” Note verse 24, “This is my body which is for you.” What happened to Christ’s body was for me, and in my participating in the Lord’s Supper I thereby make confession to that effect.

5. The inevitable consequence to remembrance is proclamation. In the Lord’s Supper we are commemorating the death of Christ. However, it is not merely a commemoration. It is a celebration. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). We are proclaiming the Lord’s death and therefore go on proclaiming. We do not go on proclaiming the death of any other person. A death is announced, and if we went on perpetually announcing, not to speak of proclaiming, we would be properly regarded as insane. But Jesus’ death we proclaim”  This “proclaiming” the Lord’s death is done silently to ourselves by the action of partaking of the elements, then to one another as we together corporately proclaim this by our actions, and it is also appropriate that a verbal explanation be given. "Proclaiming" (Greek- katangello) means calling to each other what Christ did by his death verbally, plainly, openly, and loud!  This is the normal movement of worship: the preciousness of Christ presses itself on our memory, and then that inner remembering breaks out in proclaiming the worth of what we remember. If you really value something that is relevant for others as well as yourself - if it moves you and delights you - you will speak of it. You will declare it: this death and all it achieved is so valuable that it must not only be remembered; it must be proclaimed." These two meanings of the Lord's Supper support each other. Remembering enables us to proclaim, since you can't proclaim what you don't remember. And proclaiming helps us remember, because not everyone remembers at the same time and with the same intensity, and we need his death to be proclaimed with word and bread and cup lest we forget the preciousness of his death.

In conclusion, we should also note that the Lord’s Supper is prospective in nature as well as retrospective. Paul says that we are to do this “Until He returns” (verse 26).  It is a service of hope, for it constantly reminds us that one day He who is now only represented in the bread and wine will be with us in person, and the fellowship which is now incomplete will at that time be consummated in perfection. “We celebrate the death, but not the death of a dead Savior. He is going to come again and therefore he is alive. Even so, come Lord Jesus! In summary, we both look back to his death and remember, and forward to his coming and hope. May we be charged with perpetual anticipation as you receive the elements and thanksgiving may we both commemorate and celebrate. May your partaking of the Lord’s Supper “hallow His name” because it expresses the infinite worth of Christ to us all. No one is more worthy to be remembered.  No one is more worthy to be proclaimed.

March 27, 2008

What will bring the scent of the bread of heaven to a starving world? What were the two most important things God said for us to do? Matt 22:37-40, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 

  The apostle Paul taught much about this love (read 1 Cor. 13 for example) Paul never desired that love would be nothing but merely an ideal, a utopian dream, or a theological truth. With all his teaching on love, the Apostle Paul also prayed that God would make love grow in the hearts of Christians. "I  pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment" (Philippians 1:9).  "May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you" (I Thessalonians 3:12).  " [I pray] that you [would be] rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17).       It was an urgent plea that was of ultimate importance to him when Paul prayed this way Why?  Because what is at stake in "increasing and abounding in love to one another and to all men" is immense! It is mega-important!   Why? Because at stake is a compelling demonstration of God's reality in the world, a world that so desperately needs to see that reality.

What demonstrates the smell of God incarnate more than anything: LOVE!  John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  John 17:26, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."  The world is a barren wasteland without God and without His love.  Jesus described the impact of the unity of love like this: "I pray Father] that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me" John 17:21-23.  We may not fully understand this.  But it is clear that something tremendous to Jesus Christ is at stake in the practical unity of love in the body of Christ.

Or consider John 13:34-35, where Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." The one indispensable public mark of a Christian is love for other Christians. Francis Schaeffer called it “The mark of the Christian.”  Jesus assumes that the world is watching this and that judgments are being made. He means it to be this way.

Or consider Matthew 5:16: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The glory of our heavenly Father is at stake in the pattern of good deeds of love that flow out from our lives. Colossians 3:17, And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus

What if we were all struck dumb? Couldn’t speak a word. Couldn’t move our lips to mouth one. What then? What would be left? OUR LIVES! What would our lives say about Jesus? Would people smell the scent of the bread from heaven? What would they say about who we are, what we savor and value, believe, and most of all, who our God is? Would we discover that the world is illiterate or that our lives are illegible? 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.  You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts”. Would the writing on the pages of our lives be scribbling or would the pages be blank? “Preach Christ, if necessary use words”, said Francis of Assisi He realized the most important and impactful words are those incarnate in our lives. Words that have been made flesh and dwell among us.

  Small wonder that Paul calls love "the greatest of these" (I Corinthians 13:13). In the early centuries of the Christian church, Christians lived a kind of love that did not always win approval, but, in truth, testified to Christ.  The Epistle to Diognetus, from the 2nd century, says, "They love all men, and are persecuted by all.... They are poor and make many rich; they lack everything and in everything they abound.... They are abused, and they bless; they are insulted, and repay insult with honor.  They do good, and are punished as evil-doers; and in their punishment they rejoice as gaining a new life therein"

So it was said of the early Christians, “Oh how they loved one another.” Do not these testimonies of the early church fill you with a longing to love the way they loved? What shall we be known for? What most of all, shall Christ be known for? 0h to make a name for Christ and to increase His fame by the radical difference of our love-for enemies, fellow Christians, and friends.  To that end I pray in the words of Paul, "May the Lord cause you [and me] to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people" (I Thessalonians 3:12).  This is the great work of God.  This is the great and first fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  "Now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Pastor Bill

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March 20, 2008

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

The apostle Peter, one who knew hope­lessness firsthand, thanks to his own failures, and who experienced, firsthand, what it was like to hope again and again and again, not surprisingly, would be the one who would write the classic letter of hope to those who needed to hear it the most, 30 years or so after the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. He writes a powerful word to us all in 1 Peter 1:3,  " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."  Peter is so excited that he cannot do anything but burst out in enthusiastic song about the hope that he has found or I should say has found him. He calls it a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter does not just call it hope, but a living hope.

Living hope is hope that has power and produces changes in life. It has power to change how you think, how you talk and how you live, just like it did Peter through the preaching of the gospel of the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through the presence of the risen Christ, and through the power of the resurrection that makes us born again into a new resurrection life!

When we look for hope in the world, then, here is what we find: no hope, a dead hope, and an elusive hope. But if you are following Jesus Christ, says Peter, you have a living hope. That is because our hope is based on a Person, Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death itself in the resurrection. The reason we have a "LIVING HOPE" is because we have a "LIVING SAVIOR!"  And so, just as Jesus goes on living so those who go on in Him have a living hope. 

When Jesus rose from the dead, hope was raised as well! But not only that, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, not only does Christ live, but we live! By the resurrection of Jesus Christ Peter says we are given a new birth and thus a new life to be experienced and lived right now by God.  Jesus Christ is alive and is here right now and therefore a living hope is with you and is in you.

Do you find yourself more than ever in need of hope; solid, stable, sure hope. Hope to press on. Hope to endure. Hope to stay focused. Hope to see new dreams fulfilled. There is hope for today for you and me, not a wish, not a dead hope, but a living hope. Oh dear reader “seize the hope set before you. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:18-19); “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

This is what I pray for you and this is what the risen Jesus offers you today. The question is; will you receive the risen Savior so that you can receive a new life and a living hope?

Pastor Bill

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March 13, 2008

In his book Disappointment with God Phillip Yancey says, “What we think about God and believe about God matters-really matters-as much as anything in life matters.” I would add, what we think about Justification by Faith matters- really matters-as much as anything in life matters. Let me illustrate with what I mean. When I was a young boy in the 1960s, one of my favorite TV programs was the Ed Sullivan Show. It aired live on Sunday nights, and it was a mix of big-name performers, promising newcomers, and quirky novelty acts. One of the more popular acts on the show provides a helpful picture of how a wrong view of God can hijack a Christian's life. I'm referring to the "Plate Spinner," who employed two kinds of objects-very thin, flexible rods that were close to seven feet long, and regular round, ceramic plates. The plate spinner would stand a rod on end, hold a plate on top, and spin it with great force. The rod would stand nearly erect, with just a slight bow to it from the weight of the plate, which whirred furiously a foot or so above the spinner's head. Then the spinner would set up a second rod-and ­plate, then a third, and soon the stage would be trans­formed into a small forest of plates, wiggling and swaying on their sticks. By the time eight or ten plates were in motion, the first plate had begun to slow down and wobble dangerously. The spinner would rush over and with remarkably skilled hands, instantly return the plate to top-speed rotation. Then he would be off to set up another rod-and-plate combination.  Eventually, so much was happening onstage that disaster seemed inevitable. As plates wobbled wildly all, around him, the spinner would pretend not to notice, triggering thousands of us to shout desperately at our television sets. But every time, at the last possible second, he would spring into action, running back and forth in a flurry of activity. Somehow he always got there in time.

Though it doesn't involve rods and plates, the life of a person who doesn’t understand the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and what He accomplished can become just as frenetic as the plate spinner performance trying harder to win God’s favor. It is a life that seeks to achieve forgiveness from God and justification before God through personal performance. It’s called legalism. To adhere to legalism is to believe that the Cross was either unnecessary or insufficient (Galatians 2:21, 5:2). When legalism operates in our lives it slowly and subtly overtakes us, and we begin to substitute our works for His finished work. The result is either the pride of self righteousness, fooling ourselves by believing we have gained God’s favor through our behavior; or condemnation because we have failed to live up to God’s standards.

So instead of growing in grace we abandon grace. That was Paul’s assessment of the Galatian church when he wrote, “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Gal 5:4).If you’ve ever attempted to live this way you may have learned by now that legalism is as futile as it is frustrating. Every legalistic attempt at righteousness inevitably ends in failure.

Over the years I’ve learned to recognize some unmistakable signs of the presence of legalism. Here are a few of them: You are more aware of your past sin than of the person and finished work of Christ. You live thinking, believing, and feeling that God is disappointed with you rather than delighting in you. You assume God’s acceptance depends on your obedience. You lack joy. This is often the first indication of the presence of legalism.

What usually follows right along with legalism is Condemnation. Condemnation is a life focus on our sins, failures, and shortcomings rather than on God’s grace. It is a sustained sense of guilt and shame over our sins. It fails to believe that the grace of God through the sacrifice of Christ could possibly be enough to cover all of my sin. Have you been ensnared by the subtle presence of legalism or condemnation?

God has a better way for you than spinning plates and guilt and shame; it’s called Justification by Faith. The only effective way to uproot legalism is with the application of the truth of Justification that God justifies the ungodly by faith. “To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). For the apostle Paul, it was the heart of the gospel message in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith".

Being justified means I am forgiven, acquitted, justified, no longer under the mountain of God's wrath, but now standing on the mountain of his righteousness, I am loved by God, and secured by God forever. Jesus Christ offers you this today as a gift. Will you receive it this Easter week?

Pastor Bill

March 5, 2008

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations...” Deuteronomy 7:6-9 ESV

Imagine that a trusted friend makes you an outrageously good offer; an all expense paid trip to Hawaii, the car you always had eyes on but knew you could never afford, or front row seats at that sold out event. Chances are that when you hear this you won’t merely say “Oh, thank you”. Even as your hopes run high, you will be incredulous. “Are you kidding me?” “No I ‘m not kidding.” “Really?” “Yes, really.” “No way!” “Yes way!” “Honestly?” Honestly.” “Promise?” “Yes, I promise?” “Do you swear?” “I swear.” When telemarketers or emails from Nigeria make offers that are too good to be true, you assume that’s the case, and if you even pursue it a little you ask for documentation, and read the fine print and you don’t ask follow up questions like, “Do you swear?” If they took a solemn oath that what they were saying is true, that would only make you more suspicious. But when a good friend makes such an offer, you ask questions, and each time you get an affirmative response, your smile gets a little broader. By the time you hear “I swear”, there is nothing else to ask. You are certain that your friend will really do it, and you are throwing your arms around the person, hugging, kissing, and profusely thanking him. This is how God response to our doubts. He repeats promises like “I will do it”, “I will help you”, “I will provide”, “I will bless you”, “I will deliver you”, “I am with you”, “I am coming again”, “I will never leave you or forsake you”, and “I will do it” because He means to do these things. He repeats commands like “Do not be afraid”, “Do not worry or be anxious about your life”, “Do not doubt”, and “Do not let your hearts be troubled”, because He has given us good reasons to tell us not to do these things. But it is only the beginning. Although you would expect the King to speak in edicts and forbid questions, this is a king who actually understands and loves us and who invites us to voice our doubts. When we doubt, God does wonderful and amazing things.

We observe in the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15 and in our text which speaks of this event, Deuteronomy 7, that El-Emunah, the faithful God will go as far as make his word a public legal oath that is witnessed by others. God was under no compulsion to make a covenant. He received no benefit from it. He simply revealed who He is: the God who comes close, makes promises, and punctuates them with an oath when times are particularly uncertain. When old, childless Abraham doubted God’s promise to make him the father of all nations, God did not need to say anything more. He had already spoken His promise. But given Abraham’s doubts concerning his age; God reaffirmed His covenant, this time in profound terms. In an ancient version of “cross my heart and hope to die: God again promised both an heir and a land. He swore by His own life and essentially said that He would bring judgment upon Himself if His word did not come to pass. So we learned that He uses the strongest language possible to assure us of His faithfulness, truthfulness, and reliability. The triune God makes promises to doubting people like Abraham and us, seals them with an oath, reminds us of them, and then makes more promises.

The author of Hebrews centuries later reflected on this event when he wrote, "When God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by Himself...For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,   so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us " (Hebrews 6:13,16-18).

The surety of God's promise is God Himself. All that He is stands behind His promise. How much does God want you to see, understand, and have your life and faith anchored in him and His promise? He makes oaths!

All roads in Scripture lead to Jesus. All the oaths God makes eventually have their guarantee and fulfillment in Him.  Hebrews 7:22 says that, Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant. He is the one who writes the last will and testament and willingly dies so that the promises can have their full effect. He is the High Priest who makes the sacrifice for sin so that another sacrifice never has to be made. The sacrifice of course, is Himself. His blood puts an end to the sacrificial system and ushers in an ever-better series of promises. Jeremiah31:31-34, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

This is the covenant of peace that he secured by his own death. All this is unprecedented. When someone makes a promise to you, it is often because he did something wrong. ^"I promise, Mom, I swear, I will never again come in after curfew. Please, let me go out tonight.^" But God makes promises to us because we did something wrong, and we cannot believe we could ever such receive mercy and grace. The apostle Paul put it this way as we learned last week: ^"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ^`Yes^' in Christ^" (2 Corinthians 1:20). God is the promise maker and promise keeper. He is going to keep all of His promises to you, for He is the faithful one, El Emunah.

Pastor Bill

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February 27, 2008

Do you know people who do exactly what they say? Before you answer, let me rephrase the question. Do you know people who do exactly what they say every single time? Let me rephrase it again. Do you know people who do exactly what they say every single time and do it with such thoroughness and perfection that you never have to worry about anything they say or do? Again, before you answer let me ask it this way: Do you know people who no matter what the circumstances and no matter how they feel will always do exactly what they say every single time and do it with such thoroughness and perfection that you never have to worry about anything they say or do because you know if they say it, they will definitely do it without fail, without change, and without excuse? The answer to any question depends on how you ask it. Most of us probably think we know some people who do exactly what they say and perhaps even every single time. That is, we all know some reliable, trustworthy, people of integrity who seem very dependable to us. But in regards to the last two questions, there is no person we know nor is there any person on earth who could meet all the qualifications. But I have good news this morning; there is one person who can. His name is El-Emunah, the Faithful God. He alone is 100% faithful, 100% trustworthy, 100% of the time!

Moses has been telling the Jews who they are and why they are the covenant people of God in Deuteronomy 7:6-8, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Moses makes wonderful statements to the Jews about their identity; you are holy, chosen, treasured, redeemed, and loved by the LORD Your God. Then to confirm it Moses introduces us to the name El Emunah in verse 9. “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations...”  In the light of God’s covenant promises Moses exhorts the people to know intimately that Yahweh your Elohim, is El Emunah, the Faithful God!

The basic meaning of the name 'Emunah is "firmness”, “steadiness”, “certainty" and "faithfulness." So we could say, God, the certain one, the true one, or the faithful one. This is an important word used in the Old Testament in expressing God’s faithfulness which is a key attribute of God. It is so interesting when you get down to the verb use of this word; the Hebrew word is “aman” where we get the English word “amen”. It means literally true, certain, sure, or trustworthy. The Greek transliterates this word as “amen”. When Jesus says in the New Testament, "Truly, truly I say to you", it is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew, the word amen. So Jesus says literally Amen, amen, I say to you. And so when you think about El-Emunah and relating to God and as the Faithful One, the verb form is the amen to the noun. That's exactly what He is, He is the Faithful, Trustworthy, Certain, and true God. AMEN! How often does the scripture speak of God as the faithful one:

Exodus 34:6, "And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’"  Isaiah 49:7, "This is what the Lord says—the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: ‘Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’" I Thessalonians 5:24, "The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it." 2 Thessalonians 3; 3, “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful."

God is faithful.  He is trustworthy.  He is dependable.  He is unchanging.  He keeps His promises.  He acts toward us today the same way He acted in times past toward His people.  This is El-Elmunah, the Faithful God. Your faithful God!

Pastor Bill

February 21, 2008

"Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place shall be my camp." But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, "Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there." And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice. And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?" And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom."  And he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him." It was told him, "Behold, he is in Dothan." So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.  When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." (2 Kings 6:8-17 ESV)

Have you ever felt stuck? When you sense that you can’t fight or flee from your problems, when you feel alone against a multitude of people or problems, it’s easy to want to give up. In 2 Kings 6 we read of an unforgettable encounter. In this time the king of Syria was waging war against Israel. The prophet Elisha, not to be confused with Elijah, had managed to enrage the king of Syria. Every time the king made his battle plans and set his marching routes, God revealed this information to Elisha. Elisha would then communicate this classified information to the king of Israel, who escaped the Syrian attacks. At first the king was convinced that there was a mole, a security leak within his own army. Eventually the king learned it was Elisha who was telling the kings secrets to the king of Israel. Angered by this knowledge the Syrian king set out to capture Elisha. When this king determined that Elisha was in a town called Dothan, he mobilized his army, complete with horses and chariots to surround the city and set up an ambush to annihilate Elisha.

When Elisha’s servant got up early the next morning to pick up the paper, he looked up and saw a mighty army encircling the city. He rightly surmised they weren’t paying a social call!  He panicked and woke Elisha up, exclaiming in verse 15: “Alas my master, what shall we do?” Probably none of us has ever walked out the door in the morning to confront an armed barbarian horde in the front yard waiting to do us bodily harm. But we all know what it’s like to be suddenly confronted with life-threatening problems beyond our control. And we all can relate to the servant’s panic in the crisis. This servant had some vision problems. His physical eyes worked fine but he was in need of some spiritual spectacles. He saw the danger but couldn’t see the deliverance.

What seems strange is Elisha’s cool, calm response in verse 16. Elisha says, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” I picture the servant looking around and wondering what Elisha was talking about. There was a definite conflict of faith. Should he believe what his eyes were telling him or what his master Elisha was telling him? When Elisha told him that those who were with him outnumbered the army of the Syrians, the servant must have wondered about Elisha’s sanity. But Elisha was speaking of supernatural things whereas his servant was stuck in a natural perspective. The two men were speaking on two planes. Theirs was a dimensional misunderstanding. Most of us determine reality by our physical senses. If we can see, hear, feel, smell, or taste it, it must be real. I’m sure that for Elisha’s servant, reality was thousands of soldiers, mounted on powerful war horses, who could wipe out the whole town of Dothan before nightfall. But for Elisha, that wasn’t reality. For him, reality was the even greater and more powerful army of angels surrounding the city. These angels were there all along.

The problem was Elisha’s servant didn’t have eyes to see them. But his not seeing them didn’t make them unreal or non-existent. Rather than argue the point, when words alone couldn’t calm his quaking heart, verse 17 tells us that Elisha prayed that God would give him a glimpse beyond the veil. He asked God to let the invisible become visible, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” The servant’s fear had filleted his faith and so God had to give him spiritual eyes to see the invisible infantry: “So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” God granted his request. For a lifting moment the veil was lifted. The servant peeked across the border and beheld “chariots of fire”. Chariots are symbols of God’s power (Psalm 68:17) and “chariots of fire” communicate the dreadful and destructive power of God to incinerate His enemies. The servant thought he and Elisha were greatly outnumbered but in actuality, the armies of the Lord of Hosts were arrayed against the enemy.

Brethren, never forget that when you are standing next to Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, you are in the majority, no matter what is against you. Allow the truth of Romans 8:31 to comfort you when you feel outnumbered: “If God (Jehovah Saboath) is for us, who can be against us?” We need spiritual eyes to see that the spirit world is more real than this world. Just as God was willing to hear the cry of His prophet, so God is willing to hear your cry for you to see. In Psalm 119:18 David pleas, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”  The commander of the armies of heaven has mobilized the angelic host to do battle in the heavenly realms. Because of that, we can echo the words of David in Psalm 3:6: “I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.”

Asking God to give you sight,

Pastor Bill

February 14, 2008

In The World But Not Of It (Part 2)

by Tullian Tchividjian

In my last post (an excerpt from the book I’m writing entitled Unfashionable) I mentioned that when it comes to how a Christian should engage the world around him, there are two extremes we must avoid: being culturally removed and being culturally relaxed. I handled the first extreme in that post (you can read it here). Here I handle the second extreme. 

Extreme #2: Culturally Relaxed

There is, however, another extreme we must avoid when it comes to relating to our culture — that of accommodation, or being “of the world.” It happens when Christians, in their attempt to make proper contact with the world, go out of their way to communicate sameness between Christians and non-Christians when it comes to style and taste, ideas and morality.

To be sure, we’re to follow the principle stated in Paul’s words: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Christian thinkers call this “contextualization.” It’s the idea of translating the truth of the gospel into language understood by our culture. David Wells has noted rightly, “Theology is undoubtedly about timeless truth that we have in Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But it is timeless truth that needs to be brought by God’s people into their own particular context.”

Missionaries and Bible translators have been doing this for centuries. Every Bible translation available is an effort to contextualize God’s written word (originally written in Hebrew and Greek) for a contemporary audience.

Whether in translating the Bible or simply talking to a neighbor, Christians are to be missionary minded in the way we communicate. This takes work — especially for those like me who are more comfortable with “inside” language. Although we don’t need to shy away from using biblical language, good missionaries go to great lengths to explain that language for those with no biblical knowledge. As Nancy Pearcey says, “We need to be actively translating the language of faith into the language of the culture around us.”

Contextualization also involves building relationships with people who don’t believe. We don’t expect them to come to us; we go to them. We meet them where they are. We enter into their world by seeking to identify with their struggles, their likes, their dislikes, their ideas.

Chuck Colson tells us what this contextualization, properly understood, involves: “We must enter into the stories of the surrounding culture, which takes real listening. We connect with the literature, music, theater, arts, and issues that express the existing culture’s hopes, dreams, and fears. This builds a bridge by which we can show how the Gospel can enter and transform those stories.”

But when Christians try to eliminate the counter-cultural, “unfashionable” features of the biblical message because those features are unpopular in the wider culture — for example, when we reduce sin to a lack of self-esteem, or deny the exclusivity of Christ, or downplay the reality of absolute truth — then we’ve detrimentally moved from contextualization to compromise. And compromise is to be avoided at all costs.

In an article titled “Calling Christian Rebels,” journalist Marcia Segelstein describes what being a Christian in our current culture means: “It will mean taking unpopular stands on highly charged issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and divorce. It means risking derision, humiliation, and scorn. It means looking at the way things are and — when they undermine the Word of God — challenging them.”

In this sense, Christians should always be troublesome. Devotion to God’s authority entails conflict with any authority that challenges his.

In seeking to “engage” and “connect,” Christians must remember that God has called his people not to be popular, but to be faithful. The truth is that many in this world will not take kindly to those who follow Jesus. Jesus himself tells us that if we follow him faithfully, others will insult us, persecute us, and tell lies about us (Matthew 5:11).

Contextualization without compromise is our goal. The great model for this is, of course, the incarnation of Christ. Here was God “contextualizing” himself by taking on human flesh. Jesus Christ became fully human — one of us. He entered into our world. He met us where we were. He made deep contact. Jesus completely “engaged” us. But because he was without sin, his contact resulted in collision. His refusal to “fit in” eventually led to his execution. He contextualized without compromise.

We, too, while we come in contact with the world, must always resist the ways of the world. The ideas, values, and passions of the kingdom of God will always collide with the ideas, values, and passions of the kingdom of this world — and we need to stand our ground when and where this collision happens.

You could summarize it this way: Unfashionable living means that we avoid being culturally removed on the one hand and culturally relaxed on the other; instead we’re culturally resistant. We’re in the world, but not of it; against the world, for the world. We’re to be making contact with the world while colliding with its ways. We’re to be culturally engaged without being culturally absorbed.

We must not fear being different. If we do, we’ll never make a difference. It’s only as we faithfully refuse to “fit in” that we unleash God’s renewing power in this world. So we must always beware that in our attempt to make contact, we do not lean over so far that we fall in.

February 7, 2008

I am going to post for the next few weeks a great series of articles that are timely in discussing the Christian's relationship to the world by Tullian Tchividjian. Pastor Bill

In The World But Not Of It (Part 1)

The great nineteenth-century evangelist D. L. Moody was once asked to describe what he thought the relationship between the church and the world ought to be. Should the church reject the world altogether — separating from it so as to avoid contamination? Or should the church embrace the world wholeheartedly — becoming just like it so as to reach the lost? The evangelist answered, “The place for the ship is in the sea; but God help the ship if the sea gets into it.”

Moody rightly outlined the proper relationship between the church and the world: Christians must be in the world but not of the world — a very difficult balance to maintain, as we will see. To be in the world but not of it assumes two extremes that need to be avoided. We need to avoid being culturally removed (failing to be “in the world”). We also need to avoid being culturally relaxed (becoming “of the world”).

Extreme #1: Culturally Removed
The most explicit antithesis between Christians and “the world” (in the sense of “worldliness”) appears in 1 John 2:15-17.

There’s clearly a sense in which we ought to be separate from the world around us. But this separation is to be spiritual, not spatial. Spatial separation is wrong; spiritual separation is right. If we aren’t clear on this we’ll never be clear on how to execute God’s mission in transforming this present world into the world to come.

As surprising as it may be to some, the Bible never tells Christians to “leave” the world. On the contrary, we’re specifically sent to the world. As Jesus prays to the Father concerning his disciples, he says, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). And also this: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (17:18). Every Christian, Jesus is saying, is a missionary. We’ve been sent by Jesus, the captain of our salvation, into enemy territory to continue the work he began and will one day complete. Cultural withdrawal, then, is not an option for followers of Jesus. In this sense, we are to be for the world.

In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus called on his followers to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” The people of God are to serve the world by acting as both a preservative and a lighthouse. But salt and light cannot make a difference without first making contact. Salt prevents decay in meat only when it comes in contact with it. A dark room cannot be lighted until a lamp is brought in and placed where it will shine. Jesus points out the worthlessness of a lamp hidden under a table; for light to be useful, it must be visible to all, like a city on a hill. So we, who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, must make contact with the world around us — letting our light shine before others so they see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven. Withdrawal from this world is therefore not only selfish, but sinful.

One example of such withdrawal is what happened to Protestant fundamentalism. Although it began in the early twentieth century as a movement to defend orthodox Christian belief and practice against rising liberalism in the church, Protestant fundamentalism soon became strictly separatist. They saw the main problem not as “in here,” but “out there,” and a militant separation from the world became the true test of faith.

Such radical withdrawal by Christians isn’t nearly as prevalent today as it was in past decades. And that’s a good thing, in my opinion. But a less obvious form of cultural withdrawal and retreat is much more prevalent among today’s Christians.

Ironically, many of the churches that seem most interested in cultural engagement actually encourage and practice cultural withdrawal, unintentionally. Many of them now have their own restaurants, gymnasiums, weight-rooms, and baseball fields. They provide their own sports leagues, exercise programs, and yellow pages. I understand the benefit of some of these things, but when churches provide an alternative activity site for everything under the sun, we run the risk of living life without coming into contact with the very world God has commanded us and equipped us to transform.

Similarly, many Christians conclude that being culturally relevant means we should develop a “Christian” version of everything in the world. Walk into many Christian bookstores and you’ll find “Christian” t-shirts, “Christian” candy, and “Christian” board games and toys. (My son was once given a Jesus action figure from his friend for his birthday; I immediately took it away for fear that Jesus would be engaged in a fight with Darth Vader and lose). Even Christian music groups intentionally imitate non-Christian bands. One Christian bookstore I visited even offered a comparison list of Christian bands and their secular counterparts: “If you like the Dave Matthews Band, you’ll love…” or, “If you love Beyonce, you’ll love…”

I understand the good intentions behind some of these efforts. But by developing a “Christian” alternative to everything, we unintentionally reinforce the tendency to withdraw from the very world that God has commissioned and empowered us to renew and transform.

Martin Luther was once approached by a shoemaker who enthusiastically announced that he had recently become a Christian. Wanting desperately to serve the Lord, he asked Luther, “What should I do now?” As if to say, “Should I become a minister, or perhaps a traveling evangelist? Or maybe I should make shoes only for missionaries and preachers?” Luther asked him, “What do you do now?” I’m a shoe maker.” Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price.”

In becoming a Christian, we don’t need to retreat from the vocational calling we already have — nor do we need to justify that calling, whatever it is, in terms of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply exercise whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards — with a renewed commitment to performing one’s calling with greater excellence and higher objectives.

One way we reflect our Creator is by being creative with the talents and gifts he has given us right where we are. As Paul says, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Corinthians 7:20,24). As we do this, we fulfill our God-given mandate to reform our various “stations” for God’s glory.

Christians need to remember that Christ is Lord not only of the church; He is supreme over the family, the arts and sciences, and human society at large. In the famous words of Abraham Kuyper, “There is not one square inch in the entire domain of our human life of which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not proclaim, ‘Mine!’”

That’s why we must not withdraw from the world, but rather bring the standards of God’s Word to bear on every dimension of human culture.

So while Christians are to separate from the self-glorifying motives, God-ignoring goals, and sub-par work standards of the world (our spiritual separation), we are not to separate from the peoples, places, and things in the world (a spatial separation). We are to be morally and spiritually distinct without being culturally segregated. We’re to be fully engaged in every arena of culture — education, art, politics, business, media, science — making a profound difference because we are different.

February 2, 2008

In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13 ESV