tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837847312965259142023-07-17T21:58:28.797-07:00Resurrections Not ResolutionsLife does not always come with packaged answers and resolutions. However, our God makes all things new, and resurrects the dead. Hence the title of this blog, Resurrections, not Resolutions.Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-33988257041376513172012-11-28T10:12:00.000-08:002012-11-28T10:12:03.552-08:00Do You Want a Job or a Body? (Part 2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my last bulletin article I made the following
comment: “Who we are and what we do begins in the body of Christ. Therefore,
every decision we make must be grounded and conditioned by the calling, gifts,
and the responsibilities Jesus places upon each man, woman, and child in the
local church..” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The above quote is attempting to get at the
centrality of the local congregation ought to have in our lives. I also used
the question of what we choose to do for a living as one illustration of how
disconnected we have become from seeing the local congregation as central to
all we do: “For instance, imagine that Christ called you to be a hand in the
local body. But what if you choose to make a living in the world with a job
that takes up all your time and energy, so that you have no time and energy
left to <i>be and do</i> what Christ calls
you to <i>be and do</i> in the local body?
Is it not possible to be faithful and successful to your career, but completely
faithless and sinful in your calling to Christ’s local body?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What we choose to do for a living is generally
regarded as a deeply personal decision in which the fellowship of the local
body of believers has absolutely nothing to contribute. Yet, the apostle Paul
tells us: “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” (Eph 4:11-14). Our first priority in
life is the building up of the <i>local body
of Christ</i>.<i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my more cynical moments I think to myself that
such a notion that we are one body and each of us essential and integral to the
life of one another is a pipedream. Oh, I know we speak a good talk of being
family, brothers and sisters when we gather for worship on Sunday morning, but
what does being members of one another mean realistically and practically?
Being family surely means more than sitting in pews for an hour as we stare at
the back of each other’s heads—does it not? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I recognize that the problem does not rest with
members simply showing up to various activities planned by the congregation. There
is a responsibility for the leadership of West Main to provide, stir, and lead
every member to love and good deeds exercising the gifts Christ has granted
each man, woman, and child of the West Main Church of Christ. Our leadership
must seek to create the necessary space and opportunities for every member to
obey the calling Christ has given them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, no leader of West Main can tell you what
your gift is! So here is what I suggest: Demand from our leadership that you be
put to work exercising the gifts Christ has given you! Pray with us for the
imagination, will, and opportunity for you to be what Christ is calling you to
be for the West Main Church of Christ. Then and only then can we say we are a
body and not just carrying out a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">--Terry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-82010071890596961532012-11-14T09:38:00.003-08:002012-11-14T09:38:57.411-08:00Do You Want a Job or a Body? (Pt.1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">Consider the following
quote from a book on how central the body of Christ ought to be in our lives:
“Christians have to earn a living, but we are not called to particular trades,
careers, or jobs. So Christians should choose those jobs that will best let
them serve the body of Christ (where the body of Christ is understood as local
churches). Our actual employment is of limited importance” (</span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">Being Church: Reflections on How to Love as
the People of God</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">, pg., 70).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I imagine we would all have various reactions to the
local congregation playing such a central role in our lives. Honestly, I have
never personally heard someone decide on a means of employment based on how
such work would serve the local congregation. After all, we might say, my life
is my own and the local congregation has nothing to do with such a personal
decision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet the issue can be raised from Scripture that
perhaps even how we choose to make a living is a concern for the local
congregation. Consider the following familiar passage: “For as the body is one,
and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one
body; so also is Christ. For in one
Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond
or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” (1
Cor 12:12-14). The previous text demonstrates that we are to identify our
individual selves in relation to others in the local congregation, the local
body of Christ. If we identify who we
are in relation to other members of the local body, then how can what we choose
to do for a living not be a concern for the local body?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a moment and think about how especially young
people are often asked, “What do you want to <i>be</i> when you grow up?” The previous question reveals that within our
society we often identify a person by what they do for a living. The apostle Paul says we are to be identified
by the gifts Christ has given each of us and how those gifts serve the local
body of Christ (1 Cor 12:11ff). Now you may object here and say, “But what I do
for a living is a separate question from what I do for the local church. I can
separate my identity in Christ from what I do to make a living.” True, Christ
did not die on a cross and resurrect from the dead so he could give us good
jobs in General Electric. Jesus died and rose again so that we can be and serve
the local body of Christ for the salvation of the world (Ephesians 3:1-12).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Who we are and what we do begins in the body of
Christ. Therefore, every decision we make must be grounded and conditioned by
the calling, gifts, and the responsibilities Jesus places upon each man, woman,
and child in the local church. The question then is not so much what we choose
to do for a living, but how what we choose to do for a living effects our first
priority: What we do for the local congregation to be a living body of Christ
in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">For instance, imagine that Christ called
you to be a hand in the local body. But what if you choose to make a living in
the world with a job that takes up all your time and energy, so that you have
no time and energy left to <i>be and do</i>
what Christ calls you to <i>be and do</i> in
the local body? Is it not possible to be faithful and successful to your
career, but completely faithless and sinful in your calling to Christ’s local
body? We must not imagine that we can justify our careers that take us away for
the local congregation by saying, “I sacrifice time away from church so that I
can financially support all that the local congregation needs to do.” Brothers
and Sisters, Jesus accomplished at the Cross all the work that is necessary for
the body of Christ to exist. Jesus has no need of your career. Jesus is calling
you to serve the local body with the spiritual gifts he has given you. In other
words, you not called to a job, but to a body.</span></div>
</div>
Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-40283370081147283362012-10-31T12:44:00.000-07:002012-10-31T12:44:30.221-07:00Running into a Frequent Truth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">Have you ever had the experience where you learn a
particular truth, or are reminded of a particular truth, and then you seem to
hear that very truth on the radio, in books, on television, and even in casual
conversations? When I have such an experience I wonder if God is trying to tell
me something, or whether it is just some random chance experience. Maybe such
experiences can be explained by our minds attention being filtered to hear that
particular truth, and so it just seems like we are hearing it is more
frequently.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Whatever the case may be, I have recently been
hearing a particular truth quite frequently. Here is just one random example in
reading an article about art that surprised me with my frequently heard truth:
“That the joyful life must be nourished by participation of the individual in a
story larger than his own is everywhere a theme . . . The individual who makes
a choice for life, and for others, finds joy in others and thus in life.” The
truth I seem to be hearing frequently is the need to serve others in order to
flourish as a human being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">Now you may think to yourself, “Wow Terry, you are
just now coming to the realization of the fundamental need to serve others in
order to live fully?” I can say that I realized the necessity of this truth and
even preached and taught it over the years. For instance, I have often drew
attention to passages like Ephesians where the apostle Paul says, “But grace
was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift . . . .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” (4:7, 11-13). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">I have long recognized we cannot reach the fullness
of Christ as individual Christians. We need the gifts Christ has given others
and others need the gifts Christ has given us. Only together as brothers and
sisters in Christ participating corporately can we mature into “the stature of
the fullness of Christ.” What I think has changed for me personally is the
appreciation of the necessity of others in my own spiritual growth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">What I mean is that while I acknowledged the need
for the gifts of others, I looked at that need as for the congregation and not
for myself. “Yes,” I would think to myself, “we need the gifts of all for the
local congregation to grow.” What I have now come to understand is that I have
up until recently still been a selfish Christian in my attitude about the gifts
others. In other words, I had been thinking the congregation needs the gifts of
others, but I do not need the gifts of others. I was looking at the
congregation almost like a sick patient that needs my services and even the
services of others to get well. My problem is that I never saw myself as the
sick patient needing the services of others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">The sin of pride kept me from seeing that not only
does the corporate body of Christ need the gifts of all to grow, I <i>personally </i>need the gifts of others to
grow into the full stature of Christ. May we all run into this truth with ever
increasing frequency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">--Terry<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-14816359516119489032012-09-26T10:13:00.001-07:002012-09-26T10:13:26.719-07:00The Church is on FIRE!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">I was reading a book review this past week where the
author asks the question, “Why is it so hard for us to be church?” One answer
that is proposed is that the contemporary church is on FIRE. FIRE is an acronym
that stands for </span><b style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">f</b><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">reedom, </span><b style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">i</b><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">ndependence, </span><b style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">r</b><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">ights, and </span><b style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">e</b><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">quality.
FIRE at first blush probably sounds like a good thing. After all, FIRE sounds
like the Bill of Rights upon which our country is built upon. So what is so bad
about FIRE?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The author gives the following example of why FIRE
is dangerous for the local congregation: “If freedom seems essential to a
person, she’ll insist on floating from church to church. As soon as she gets bored with the music in
one church, she’ll change to a church with a better choir, and as soon as a
better job beckons, she’ll move to another town.” The reviewer goes on to add the insight that
“Scripture calls us to communities of mutual submission—how can we submit when
we are centered on demanding our own freedom?”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In other words, how can we be the Church of Christ
God calls us to be without commitment and submission to one another? Can you
have freedom without commitment or commitment without freedom? When we read the
pages of the New Testament the image is of a body that needs every member. The
body of Christ cannot function or be Christ’s body without each member
exercising their gifts to the enrichment of every other member. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To be a child of God added to the body of Christ
inherently means we are born again with responsibilities and accountabilities
to one another. Now responsibility and accountability immediately implies time
and commitment. The New Testament is replete with admonitions to use our
Christ-given gifts to the strengthening of the local body (Ephesians 4, 1
Corinthians 12, and Romans 12 are just a few noteworthy passages). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, the Apostle Paul gives us the question,
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20).
What we choose to do with our bodies is a choice about where, when, and
how we value the gifts Christ has given and the value we have for one another
in the local congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whatever secular and political freedom,
independence, rights, and equality we imagine ourselves as Americans to possess
dies with us as we die by faith with Christ in baptism. We are born again to a
new life and a new allegiance to the Church of Jesus Christ. What freedom,
independence, rights, and equality mean are completely re-ordered in Jesus
Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now I recognize that the authority of the local
congregation can become corrupt and even in some cases abusive. The local
congregation must constantly remind itself that we are called to use FIRE for
the sake of others and not for our own sakes. What the West Main Church of
Christ needs is to be on FIRE for one another, and to put out the FIRE that
currently burns the citizens of this world from enjoying the peace of Christ
that could be theirs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">--Terry</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-65088270147291693612012-09-12T11:27:00.002-07:002012-09-12T11:32:32.234-07:00Utopia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">(What follows is a more full text of a recent bulletin article. I did not have enough space in the bulletin to say more fully what I wanted to say. I needed to get this out of my system)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Recently I have been reading, <i>The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History</i> by Samuel Moyn. The quote
I like to share is a bit heady, but stay with me and I will explain why you
should find it relevant. Here is the quote: “In the realm of thinking, as in
that of social action, human rights are best understood as survivors: <i>the god that did not fail</i> (italics mine)
while other political ideologies did. If they avoided failure, it was because
they were widely understood as a moral alternative to bankrupt political
utopias.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">All right, some explanation is in order. “Utopia” is
a word popularized in 1516 by Thomas More’s book <i>Utopia</i>, a book about a fictional island where people enjoy the
perfection of politics, law, economy, and culture. So the word <i>utopia</i> is often generalized to mean “any
visionary system of political or social perfection” (Dictionary.com).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The human rights that Moyn is primarily considering
are the rights delineated in the <i>Declaration
of Human Rights </i>(see the following link: <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/">http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/</a>).
In the declaration’s preamble it states, “Whereas recognition of the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” Following
this preamble there are thirty articles of human rights declared of which the
Church (with Scriptural qualification) could applaud and support. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In a world literally hell bent on killing, humiliation,
and destruction of the human race, The Declaration of Human Rights is a focus
in the right direction. Human dignity in Scripture is grounded in all human
beings created in the image of God and therefore all human beings deserving of
the sanctity of life. Human rights promote the sanctity of life. Yet as
Christians we know from God’s revelation that the world is fallen into sin and
death, so any vision of life not rooted in the sovereignty of God lacks “perfection”
and will fail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We live in a world as the Apostle Paul says, <sup>“</sup>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” (Rom 1:21). </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">When humanity as a whole abandons the truth of God
and gives over to “futile thinking,” such thinking will show up in human
society as a philosophy or doctrine of life. What personally concerns me as
that Paul gives further insight into this “futile thinking” by noting, “Now the
Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by
devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Tim 4:1).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In spite of the world forsaking God, the world still
needs a vision of hope to make life worth the living. Satan’s grand deception
is to provide the world with false visions of utopia that promise salvation and
redemption (“teachings of demons”). These false visions, philosophies,
ideologies, or doctrines come in all shapes and sizes. What makes these
“teachings of demons” difficult to discern rests in the fact that “Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). Satan wraps his deceit
up in presentations of politics (<b><i><u>all</u></i></b> versions and
persuasions), freedom, nationalism, revolution, and religion (to name but a
few). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">What caught my attention in the quote from Moyn
above is the part I italicized concerning human rights as, “<i>the god that did not fail</i>.” While I
believe the author is speaking metaphorically about human rights being a “god,”
nevertheless, from the vantage point of Scripture, he spoke more truly then he
perhaps realizes. In other words, when society puts its hope in a declaration
of human rights (as much good as they may contain), they put their hope in a
false god that will not save or deliver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Paul also reveals that “the god of this world has
blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4). If human rights are
rooted in being created in the image of God (Gen 1:26), then what of the claim
to human rights that do not acknowledge God in Jesus Christ? Is Satan possibly
blinding the world with a false god and hope of human rights? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">We would do well to heed the Apostle Paul’s warning
to the Galatian churches, “You were in bondage to beings that by nature are no
gods; but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how
can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose
slaves you want to be once more?” (Gal 4:8-9). The Church of Jesus Christ needs
to remember that some fallen angels are rebellious “gods” of nations: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">“</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">When the Most High gave
to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed
the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God” [LXX, “angels
of God”!] (Deut 32:8).<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> “</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">God
has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds
judgment: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the
wicked? . . . . Nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince"
(Pss 82:1-2, 7).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">There is much to the above passages that will remain
a mystery, but we can certainly be confident that these angels of nations (ie.,
elemental spirits) seek to enslave humanity with utopian visions. Samuel Moyn
further states in his book, “Human rights were born as the last utopia—but one
day another may appear.” If human rights
is indeed a “god that did not fail,” then it is only a matter of time before
this “god” does fail or is judged by the living God (Pss 82). As a read this
book, I wondered to myself if the demons are running out of utopian visions to
keep the world deceived. We truly are living in the “last days” when perhaps
even demons are running out of teachings to deceive. But rather than despair, now
is the time when the Church can especially make “known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places” the power and truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ (Eph 3:8-11). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The Church of Jesus Christ is city on a hill and a
light in the darkness of lost utopias, darkened understandings, and futile
thinking. What the world needs is Jesus. In our saturated political climate we
would do well to remember what is utopian and what is real.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">--Terry </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-91702365683921005042012-02-01T10:26:00.000-08:002012-02-01T10:26:58.559-08:00What are You Thinking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recently, I have been reading some excellent literature on the Lord’s Supper. What has provoked my thoughts as I was reading was the depth of the meditations on celebrating the Lord’s Supper; a depth of thought I often find lacking in my own </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">contemplation's</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">As I was reading, I thought to myself, “How can an individual author write literally hundreds of pages on this one, though highly significant, act?”</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">What further astounds me is not only a single large book on the Lord’s Supper, but the literally thousands of books hundreds of pages long on the Lord’s Supper.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that the Lord’s Supper does not merit such a sea of words. Rather, what I am saying is that I sometimes feel I could barely fill a dixie-cup of words about the Lord’s Supper. My dearth of words is a reflection of a sad state of affairs. Perhaps I have fallen into such a routine habit of participating in the Lord’s Supper that I just <i>do it</i> without thinking much about it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So what do I think about when partaking of the Lord’s Supper? Honestly, I often think about my week in terms of how sinful I have been, where I have fallen short of God’s holiness, and how I am desiring God’s forgiveness in order to be renewed and live better for God starting anew <i>this week</i>. How pathetic is that? What I notice about my own contemplations when partaking of the Lord’s Supper is that I think of my life in terms of week-long blocks. In other words, how have I lived in relation to God <i>this week</i>? Celebrating the Lord’s Supper each week certainly lends itself to thinking about my life in terms of each week. The Lord’s Supper for me is a beginning and ending point in time. My week is coming to an end, but there is hope and promise that I can live for Christ again this coming week beginning this Lord’s Day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now there is nothing necessarily wrong with the above kind of contemplation. My issue is that I seem to be stuck in the <i>same kind of contemplation</i>. I come before Jesus at His Supper and typically say something like the following: “Lord, you know I have not lived for you as I ought. How can I share a meal with you when I have denied you with my sin this week? There is so much I ought to have done, said, or thought that would have been a witness to your glory and power. I am an unworthy servant. Yet, you died for me so that I might live. You gave your blood and body as a sacrifice of love. I can come to your table precisely because I am a sinner! As I taste this bread and wine, may the sensation of this taste remind me that it is no longer I who live, but it is your body and blood that now lives in me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now I do not say the above verbatim every time I celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but the above contemplation is the gist of what I am typically thinking. In fact, I routinely virtually say the same thing every time that I now use a kind of shorthand thought like, “Lord, you know . . .” Nothing more needs to be said, as both the Lord and I know what follows. As I read the thoughts of others on what they think of when celebrating the Lord’s Supper, I realize I have not thought enough and it is time to think beyond the formulaic, “I sin. I fall short. I need forgiveness.” The Lord’s Supper is far more than what I have thought. The question I leave for you is: “When celebrating the Lord’s Supper, what are you thinking?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-56463551147133650792011-10-26T14:40:00.000-07:002011-10-26T14:40:15.640-07:00Resting at the Bottom of the Sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A truth I keep coming back to in life and that is growing larger and larger in my mind concerns the nature of God.<span> </span>The truth that is looming ever larger in my mind and life is represented well by the literary critic, Terry Eagleton, who says, “For Christian theology there is no necessity to the world at all . . . He [God] created it out of love, not need.” <span> </span>God is not a reason, answer, or an explanation for life. Rather, God <i>is</i> life.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In other words, God is not the final result of an equation, the conclusion to a philosophical riddle, or a scientific solution. You have heard me say on a number of occasions, “God is not the answer, because God is bigger than the question.” What I find so invaluable about God being larger than the questions of life is the fact that nothing in life therefore can rob God of life. Yet we experience much in this life in terms of tragedy and heartache that seems to strip many of hope in this world. Thus, we often want an explanation for everything under the sun, and so there is a human impulse and tendency to try and answer every difficulty, riddle, and mystery in order to cope. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Our compulsion as human beings to seek answers to all of life’s questions is understandable. We not only want to cope, we also want to control the future.<span> </span>If I know the reason “why things happen,” and the “reasons for things happening,” then I think I can increase the good and decrease the bad happenings in my life.<span> </span>Or if I cannot prevent or predict the trouble I experience, then I can at least cope better and deal with life knowing “why” things turned out the way they did. To put it another way, I need to know that what I experience in life has a purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">However, the necessity for understanding the purpose of our life events can bring us into emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually troubled waters. Like a boat being tossed back and forth in stormy waters we often flay about seeking answers and resolutions to our troubles. The old expression, “Any port in a storm will do,” is an apt description of our frequent desperation to escape our difficulties with solutions. To put it simply, we are not comfortable not knowing why something difficult is happening to us, and so will latch on to any answer that would appear to solve the problem or question.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The patriarch Job, along with his four would-be comforters, is a prime example of desperately seeking an explanation to life’s struggles. After Job exhausts his friends’ attempts at explanations for his sufferings and Job concludes his experience is unjust, God speaks. What is particularly interesting about God’s response to Job is the fact that God never answers why or to what purpose Job suffered.<span> </span>Job simply confesses to God, “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 424-6). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">God does not answer the mystery of Job’s life. God is bigger than the question and bigger than life itself. What Job and all of us need to learn is that God in and of Himself is more than what is needed in this life. If there is necessity in this life, then the only necessary necessity is God. Everything and everyone else is ultimately unnecessary.<span> </span>Sadly, it often seems necessary to go through the shortfall of all our explanations and proposed solutions to arrive at what is only truly necessary: the presence of God.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In keeping with our sea analogy, we may often be tossed to-and-for by the waves and winds of life’s struggles. Yet, despite the emotional, psychological, and spiritual hurricanes we encounter, the bottom of the sea where God is present is calm, still, and at peace. We can only manage life’s storms for so long with our answers, solutions, and resolutions. If we do not make our way to the necessity of God’s presence at the bottom of the sea, then we will eventually discover our proposed answers have shipwrecked our faith. Let us therefore abandon the ship of answers, resolutions, and solutions, and come to rest at the bottom of the sea where God is present in peace and rest.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-10390419979907431002011-09-21T10:25:00.000-07:002011-09-21T10:25:40.032-07:00It is time to Stop Shooting Our Own Wounded<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For an upcoming talk I will be giving in October, I have been studying the issue of Christian unity. I came across three statements while studying unity that are worth sharing. One thought contends “only in common ways of reading the Bible” will we have unity. Another insight says what is primary is “embodied immediately in ecclesial communion.” In other words, what matters most is church structure and authority that ensures unity among the members. The final statement under consideration here advocates that unity “is where we fight and pray together, in the same spiritual combat against the same unseen enemies, that we shall find ourselves to be one army—not become one army, but discover that we are one.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Obviously a short article can hardly resolve all the contentious issues that surround Christian unity (does that previous sentence not sound a little strange to you?). What I would like to draw attention to is the above appeal which portends that our common spiritual warfare against our “unseen enemies” is the key to Christian unity. The apostle Paul speaks to our unity in spiritual warfare when he writes to the Ephesian Christians (Eph 6:12-18): <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An old cliché gives further insight into Paul’s words: “My friend is the enemy of my enemy.” In other words, nothing brings people together like a common enemy. As Christians we pledge our allegiance to our one Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ. Our common enemy is “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” exemplified particularly in the presence of the evil one—Satan. Has the church forgotten that we are under daily spiritual fire from the evil one? Is not our amnesia of spiritual warfare evident in the disunity among brethren not only in the church at large, but also within the church local? When we survey this disunity the fights do not seem to be over how to battle our common enemy as much as how to win our own preferences or arguments against one another. Now I have never fought in an actual combat situation, but I imagine that two soldiers taking fire while in a fox-hole are not debating over personal preferences, but over how together they can kill the enemy. When taking enemy fire you are not going to care much about the doctrinal, political, racial, or philosophical views of the one fighting by your side. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Please note that I am not saying that doctrine or propositional truth does not matter. What I am saying is that perhaps we might weigh differently our doctrinal differences, or whatever else is the cause of our divisiveness when we recall that the evil one wants us both dead. Perhaps more forgiveness, patience, and understanding in love would be shown our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ when we see that they too are under attack? We need to turn the popular cliché, “The church is the only army that shoots its own wounded” into a lie. We need to remember we ARE one army in Jesus Christ. Our common enemy is sowing the seeds of discord among us. Let us not be outwitted by our adversary the devil. Let us rather lay down our arms against one another, and take up arms to fight our common enemy. Just maybe then we might find in our common fight that we have more that unites us then divides us? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-28378127428883512562011-08-17T17:36:00.000-07:002011-08-17T17:36:50.722-07:00Thought-full or Thought-less?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I came across a thought-provoking quote this week while reading which says, "All of us, including those who think professionally, are often enough <i>thought-poor</i>; we all are far too easily thought-less. Thoughtlessness is an uncanny visitor who comes and goes everywhere in today's world. For nowadays<i>, </i>we take in everything in the quickest and cheapest way, only to forget it just as quickly, instantly."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What struck me about the above quote is how often I experience my own Bible reading in thoughtless ways. In other words, I often forget what I read quickly and instantly. I struggle against getting a certain amount of reading done for class, sermon, or a counseling appointment. What I have been missing of late, but use to enjoy very much, is reading meditatively and deeply for myself. Fast food can satisfy an immediate hunger, but not a nutritional need. I need to learn to savor the richness of God's Word for the care of my soul, and not settle for less. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The psalmist says, "My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise" (Pss 119:148). I need to rediscover the discipline of meditative reading--turning a passage over and over in my mind, contemplating the wonder and beauty of God's promise and Word for my life. Another psalm that comes to mind says, " . . . in all his thoughts there is no room for God" (Pss 10:4). One question I need to answer is, "Even if I have made room for God in my thoughts, what is the weight of those thoughts?" Is God thought-full or thought-less? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-39740304164793304782011-08-03T11:07:00.000-07:002011-08-03T11:07:33.314-07:00Between Delay and Damnation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><sup><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">“</span></sup><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">who say: "Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!" Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:18-21).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The above words from the prophet Isaiah strike a powerful chord of thoughts in my mind. What is particularly striking is the attitude of disbelief, doubt, and disdain on the lips of God’s covenant people who arrogantly say to God, “let him speed his work that we may see it.” The fact that human beings doubt the existence and power of God is nothing new, but to hear such boastful words from God’s own people is as sobering as it is sad. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The apparent absence of God in immediately judging the behavior of what Scripture deems evil in the lives of individuals, nations, societies, and cultures is perhaps one reason for this doubting disdain of God’s presence and promises. After all, the image of above of driving a cart of sin implies a sinner is in control and determining where, how, and when to live their life of evil. If you take your cart of sin wherever you so desire, and there does not seem to be any interference from the Lord, then why be concerned about what God calls evil, good, bitter, or sweet? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A “successful” life of sin is a terrible blindness. Successful sinning leads one to be “shrewd in their own sight” thinking that deceives one into believing they can figure things out for themselves apart from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The words of Peter are a beneficial reminder that “ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here is a strange thing. On the one hand, God’s delay in carrying out judgment can lead many to doubt His presence and power. On the other hand, God’s immediate judgment can result in the perishing of the unrepentant. It seems that in the eyes of God delay is mercy, but in the eyes of sinners delay is absence. What a peculiar tension God navigates between delaying and damning. The Apostle Paul warns against misreading God’s delay when he writes, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4-5). At the end of God’s delay is damnation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Therefore, between delay and damnation lies the mercy of God. Only the foolish would dare to presume to know the distance between the two. Now is the day of mercy, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). Let us not be wise in our own eyes, but let us be wise in the eyes of God, and experience God’s mercy in this time of delay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-7598979178875451412011-08-03T11:02:00.000-07:002011-08-03T19:15:02.587-07:00Peace in Space and Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Apostle Paul says, “</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom 12:18). What happens though when you have gone as “far as it depends on you” to make peace, but the one you are in conflict with refuses? The simple answer I suppose is that you “shake the dust off your feet” and move on. After all, you have done all that depends on you. However, Paul further encourages us, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:20-21).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In order to have the kind of peace that our Lord desires for us to experience, we must have proximity to the one(s) we are in conflict. You have to see that your “enemy” is hungry or thirsty to be able to provide them an act of kindness. Such acts of kindness imply that God does not want us to abandon our relationships to one another, but rather desires the good of unity to overcome the evil of division. Obviously, there are times when peace is not possible and you cannot be in the presence of one who does not tolerate your presence. Yet, we are to be looking for those opportune moments when the enemy is in need, and are able and prepared to provide such need. Therefore, we must not hope for our enemy to fall, but look to uplift the enemy when they fall. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The hope we ought to be longing for is an opportunity to create a different experience with the one(s) we are at odds. Instead of a remembered experience of hate and division, we seek to create an experience of love and unity. We want our enemy to see us offering them a hand in care, not a hand in spite. However, herein rests a major problem in our contemporary western culture. Today, we are a mobile society. We are capable of packing up and moving not just across town, but across the state, country, and even continents! How then can we see our enemy is thirsty or hungry when those we are fighting with are literally out of sight? Take for example congregational conflicts. Often when members experience conflict within a congregation, they can simply move away and attend another congregation in town. We do not have to worship with or see the one we are in conflict with and so our trouble seems out of sight and out of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We can avoid loving our enemy all too easily today. However, not everyone in our world can avoid their enemies so easily. Recently, I watched a documentary about the 1994 Rwanda massacre titled, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As We Forgive</i>. The film follows the experience of two Rwandan women, Rosaria and Chantale, who come face-to-face with the men who killed their families. What struck me in particular was how the issue of reconciliation was a necessity for these women and their enemies. The Rwandan situation due to cultural, economic, and tribal factors meant that the killers of the families of Rosaria and Chantale would be coming back after their prison terms to live in the same small village. The documentary follows how the process of reconciliation is worked out as victimizers and victims come face-to-face. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As I watched this film, I kept thinking how such a situation would be virtually unheard of in our society and culture. As American’s we would simply move away, whether we were the victimizer or the victim. Yet, as Christians united to one another at the foot of the cross of Christ, can we really do less than what these two Rwanda women were compelled to do by cultural and societal necessity? Should we not as Christians be compelled to reconcile with our enemies, not by physical necessity, but by our choice to pick up our cross and follow Jesus—the Prince of Peace? Chantale and Rosaria were granted about ten years apart from the murders of their families, but in time, the space and time between them collapsed, and they needed to negotiate how they were going to be in each other’s presence now and for the foreseeable future. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">My heart aches when I see brothers and sisters in Christ divide and leave each other over doctrinal, personal, and/or petty reasons. We are so quick to move away from each other in space and time. Let us heed the words of Paul, and be inspired by Rosaria and Chantale to not use space and time to remain enemies, but to find peace in the space and time God has granted us to share with one another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-22533253453399677992011-05-11T09:27:00.000-07:002011-08-03T19:24:57.802-07:00Food for Thought<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was doing some reading this last week on the Lord’s Supper, and I came across a phrase I had not previously heard used to describe the bread and the fruit of the vine. The writer of this article spoke of how when it comes to the signs of bread and the fruit of the vine at the Lord’s Supper, “Christ saturates the sign.” What a beautifully put phrase! In other words in an intimate and unique way, Christ identifies himself so much with the bread and juice of the grape that he saturates these signs with his presence. After all, did not Jesus say of the bread, “Take it. This is <i>my body</i> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">given for you; do this in remembrance of me."</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">” and of the juice, “</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">This cup is the new covenant in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my blood</i>, which is poured out for you” (Lk 22:17, 20)?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Oceans of ink over the centuries have been poured into theological literature over the exact meaning of Jesus’ words at the Lord’s Supper. Obviously, the little ink being spent in this blog cannot contend with every viewpoint on the Lord’s Supper. Suffice to say here I believe the elements of the Lord’s Supper are a symbolic representation (or signs) of Jesus body and blood. In this brief note I desire only to speak about the impact the phrase, “Christ saturates the sign” has on me personally, and I hope impacts you for the better as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Christ saturates the sign” brought to my attention that I have placed most of my focus upon Jesus Last Supper as virtually just a memorial of remembrance. What I mean is I have thought more about the signs of the bread and the cup as just symbolic representation, than I have perhaps considered the actual body and blood of Christ. When I read Luke’s account, my time is often spent on the act of remembrance, and not as much on the One I should be actually remembering—Jesus. In other words, symbols are by function separate and distant from what or whom they represent. Symbols imply distance in the sense that they point to something or someone distinct from the symbols themselves. For instance, a picture of a dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit, but the symbol of a dove is not the Holy Spirit Himself; there is a kind of mental gap between symbol and reality. Therefore, since symbols are detached from what they represent, we can potentially spend too much time on the symbol to the neglect of the reality the symbol is actually meant to convey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Christ saturates the sign” closed the mental gap in my own mind between Jesus and the symbols of his body and blood. The symbolic nature that the bread and the cup carry is unique. Consider for a moment, what other symbols in your daily life do you ever eat? Each Sunday we literally digest these signs of Jesus’ body and blood. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). How wonderfully bizarre and glorious at the same time!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each Sunday we are certainly conducting an act of remembrance, but an act so closely connected to the One we are remembering that He “saturates the sign.” Speaking for myself, I have so often emphasized how the signs of the bread and the juice are NOT literally the body and blood of Jesus that I have overlooked how much these symbols literally ARE connected to Jesus body and blood. This Sunday morning as you eat these symbols I pray that what is written here will literally be food for thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-25955293848834704602011-05-05T10:56:00.000-07:002011-08-03T19:25:43.399-07:00Whose Side is God On?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When the Joshua, the commander of Israel’s army, crossed the Jordan River into Canaan Land, he encounters “a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’” Now apparently this “man” must have presented an awesome and fearful presence for the fearless Joshua to inquire as to which side <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this </i>man was on. The response Joshua received is enlightening: “’Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as the commander of the army of the LORD I have come” (Joshua 5:13-14a). Joshua “fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my LORD have for his servant?’” (5:14b).</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Joshua quickly learns in his encounter with the commander of the army of the LORD that in this world we tend to think of our conflicts as “us versus them,” but the LORD thinks in terms of “Himself versus us and them.” God is on His own side, and we will all be better off in this world with God seeking His own interests above all others, for God is love, and His love is what is most healing, most just, most beneficial for the universe. The universe, everything seen and unseen, is designed to bring glory to God (Psalm 19; Col 1:15-20). We are as the human race designed to declare the praises of God as the Apostle John “heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever’” (Rev 5:13). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When Joshua inquires as to what is the message from the One most worthy of praise, he is first told, “Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15). Joshua further learns in this awesome encounter that we do not just speak to the LORD like we are on the phone, sending a text message, or posting a comment on Facebook. God is holy, and we are unholy, so we must never presume we can stand before the LORD as equals. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Along with Joshua, we too could learn a few other things from this encounter with the commander of the army of the LORD. One, as already noted, God is on His own side and seeks first and foremost His own interests. Christians occupying every nation on this planet must never assume that because they are living within the geographical and political borders of one nation or another, God must be on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their </i>side. Remember, God does not pick sides, He sides with Himself against all others. We must never assume that an enemy of the State we occupy at the moment is the enemy of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Second, in light of God being the only side to a conflict or issue, we must be diligent to remain humble and contrite as we echo the words of Joshua, “What message does my LORD have for his servant?” Servants are not commanders. In other words, we must be ever watchful that we do not take on the air of superiority or self-righteousness. We must not assume any one nation on this planet speaks for God’s army and judgment. We also do well to remember the words of Ecclesiastes that when it comes to God, we “cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Eccles 3:11).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Third, because God is wholly different from us, we must acknowledge His holiness and confess His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isa 55:8). Like Joshua removing his sandals before God, we must remove all human pretentions and presumptions that we know the will of the LORD. Again, we are servants, not commanders.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So in conclusion, whose side is God on? God is on His own side. Whose side are you on?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-55703851033141431792011-05-05T10:09:00.000-07:002011-08-03T19:26:12.315-07:00Eschatological Celebration or When Can We Celebrate Victory Over Evil?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After the news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden there were a number of mixed reactions by Christians to the celebratory responses of various Americans. By mixed responses, I mean some Christians seemed to applaud Osama Bin Laden’s death as a celebration of justice and American exceptionalism with flag waving and shouts of, “USA! USA!” On the other hand, some Christians seemed to be weary of such celebratory gestures as bordering on nationalistic hubris and self-righteousness. Both these respondents to Bin Laden’s death generally concurred that he received a just consequence for his multiple evil acts and heinous crimes. However, disagreements seemed to be sparked around whether it was appropriate or inappropriate for Christians to celebrate the death of an individual, even if that individual committed grievous evil.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Two Scriptures in particular seemed to be referred to by one side or the other in an attempt for biblical support and justification. For those who thought celebrating Bin Laden’s death was justified, Proverbs chapter eleven and verse ten was often cited: “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices, when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.” For those who thought celebrating Bin Laden’s death was inappropriate, Proverbs chapter twenty-four and verses seventeen through eighteen was noted frequently: “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I can empathize with both Christian responses. On one hand, seeing a mass murder like Osama bin Laden reap death for the death he sowed appears like a cause of celebration that is justifiable. On the other hand, celebrating the death of an enemy of the State, can easily cross over into excessive pride, arrogance, and gloating that justifiably ought to be absent from Christian humility. Jesus’ words about regarding others as more evil or more deserving of death than oneself also come to mind: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Lk 13:2-3). In other words, be careful of celebrating the death of other sinners, when we are all sinners being held accountable for our sins (Cf., Matt 7:3-5; Rom 2:17-24; 1 Cor 10:12; Oba 1:12; Amos 6:13). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Is there a time when as children of God we can appropriately celebrate victory over evil? Is there a time when it would be inappropriate to celebrate victory over evil? Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time and a season for every activity under the sun, and that God is the One who makes these seasons and activities beautiful (Eccles 3:1-15). Was it the right time or the wrong time this week to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden as a victory over evil? I am speaking now to the Church, not those of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">One helpful insight that may assist us comes from the Old Testament scholar, Meredith G. Kline, called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intrusion ethics</i>. In brief, intrusion ethics refers to how throughout Scripture God will take something from the end of times (eschatology: the study of last days) and intrudes it into human history. For instance, the tabernacle and temple is a symbolic representation of the actual temple of God in heaven intruded from the future into human history (Heb 8:5). The Word of God is full of such intrusions from the future. The call for the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham is a symbolic intrusion of the Father’s sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ (Heb 11). The Lord’s Supper is an intrusion of the eschatological meal we will celebrate with Jesus when we seem him face-to- face (Lk 22:13-19). Each of these intrusions from God’s future is a way for us to taste in part now what God intends to do completely in the fullness of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the most sobering intrusions from the future concerns the judgment of God. Among the most difficult judgments in scripture to contend with is the annihilation of the inhabitants of Canaan upon Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land. God said to the Israelites, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">“When the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy” (Deut 7:2). Men, women, and children were to be systematically killed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Intrusion ethics can help shed some light on such an apparently horrific command from the Lord. Was Israel somehow more deserving of this Promised Land than the inhabitants of Canaan? Not at all! Scripture reveals, “After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you” (Deut 9:4). The Canaanites were given several centuries from the time of Abraham to repent of their wickedness, but did not (Gen 15:1ff). Thus the judgment of the Canaanites in the time of Joshua can be seen as an intrusion into human history of God’s final (or eschatological) judgment to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In other words, the judgment upon Canaan was a microcosm of what the whole world that absolutely refuses and completely rejects the love of God in Jesus Christ will experience in the fullness of time (Cf. Rev 19:1ff; 1 Cor 10:6ff). What the Canaanites experienced as a local judgment will be experienced as a global judgment in the fullness of time. Additionally, the scenes of final judgment depicted in the book of Revelation are “intrusion visions” warning us now in space and time to repent and return to the Lord. Some of what is experienced in the book of Revelation as a vision will in the fullness of time be experienced as a full and complete physical reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The judgment upon the inhabitants of Canaan is an intrusion of God’s final climatic justice, but not all intrusions of God’s judgments are of the same magnitude nor rightly carried out. For instance, justice in the courts of biblical Israel was to be an intrusion of God’s justice from heaven. God calls his leaders to “judge fairly . . . . I am the LORD” (Lev 19:15). In other words, the judgments against wrong-doing were to be experienced as a type of intrusion of the LORD’s justice. Yet, these types of intrusion judgments were not intrusions of God’s final climatic pronouncement against the unrepentant. Not all intrusions of judgments are the same. The majority of the intrusions of God’s justice leads others to repentance, and thus away from the final intrusion of condemnation at the end of time. However, we know that perversions and brides often occur in courts conducted by fallen and sinful human beings, thus obscuring, hindering, and perverting the intrusion of God’s justice on earth (Eccles 5:8-9; 7:7). Furthermore, the Israelites when entering Canaan did not rightly carry out God’s intrusion justice when they made a treaty of peace with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:1ff).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Thus we can see in Scripture that God’s people as agents through whom He seeks to intrude His justice do not always cooperate, nor express the intrusion of justice rightly. If the intrusion of God’s justice can be perverted even among His people, how much more susceptible will the justice of God be to perversion among the nations of the world? Justice in this world will always be approximate and susceptible to sin and error. Paul the apostle in his letter to the Romans speaks of how governing authorities “do not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Rom 13:4). Yet we know from history that the governing authorities often abuse and pervert the use of the sword, and so the intrusion of God’s partial justice in our world is often tainted by sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So it seems we can only see the intrusion of God’s justice as in a mirror dimly, how then can we celebrate the justice of victory over evil in this world? How do we know if our judgments presently are true and complete intrusions of God’s heavenly justice? Whatever our judgments pronounced in this world, we need to remember that they are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">partial </i>intrusions, not the final say of the Lord. The final court of appeal is not the Supreme Court or the World Court, but the Court of God’s throne in heaven. An intrusion of justice is not the final justice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Intrusion ethics helps us to see there will be a time to celebrate victory over evil. For instance, in Revelation chapter eighteen, the Christians who suffered under Roman oppression are depicted shouting, “Hallelujah!” at the fall of the Roman Empire (Rev 19:1ff). But when do the Christians who suffered under Roman persecution celebrate this victory over evil? The fall of Rome occurred after Constantine made Christianity the favored religion of the Roman Empire, so when exactly are Christians who died centuries before the fall of Rome celebrating? What of the Christians who were presently living under the favor of the Roman authorities? Would they celebrate Rome’s fall? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The only way to have absolute clarity of when judgment over evil can be a cause of celebration is when God’s eschatological judgment in the fullness of time is rendered by God Himself, and no others. Jesus gives an account of this final judgment in the form of an eschatological parable where a man’s enemy sows weeds in his wheat field. The wheat represents the children of God and the weeds represent the children of the evil one. At the end of time, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 13:38-42). Until this final and complete intrusion of God’s justice, always distinguishing the wheat from the weeds will be precarious (Matt 13:27-30; Cf., 13:47-50).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">So is or is not celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden appropriate? In light of this discussion, I would say the celebration of Bin Laden’s death is premature. Just as the Israelites and Romans sometimes obscured and perverted the intrusion of God’s justice, so the world's governing authorities do so today. In the case of Bin Laden, one would only have to research how Bin Laden came to power and influence to recognize that there are multiple nations involved in his rise. How many crimes should Bin Laden be held accountable for and what of the multiple nations who are an accessory to those crimes? Additionally, we need to be careful of seeking to biblically proof-text the celebrations of the nations of the world over their enemies. The intrusions of God’s judgments of celebration in Scripture are not automatic justifications for our national celebrations. God is speaking of His own victory over evil, not ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">While I am glad a partial intrusion of justice has been mediated in the death of Bin Laden, I also recognize that this is only a dim reflection in the mirror of God’s justice. There will be a time to celebrate victory over evil when Jesus Christ is fully revealed. When that day of celebration comes, we will not wave our national flags chanting the name of our countries, but rather we will point to the Cross and the Empty Tomb to shouts of “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ.” Until then, perhaps more reserve and humility is in order for the Church?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-6426168367010979582011-04-28T16:49:00.000-07:002011-04-28T16:49:55.888-07:00Between Scripture and Politics: An Impossible Bridge?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I recently broke a self-imposed rule on avoiding political conversations on Facebook. I do not know what exactly came over me, but I just felt compelled to respond to a number of political posts that were made by various friends not only on Facebook, but via email as well. Additionally, I came across an excellent academic article this week written on immigration by a law professor and a professor of religion. So my week so far seems to be dotted with various political opinions and conversations which, unlike previous experiences, were carried on in a civil and constructive manner.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Aside from any disagreements or agreements I had with friends on political issues, what struck me about the Facebook comments and the academic article on immigration was the difficulty of connecting Scripture to contemporary issues. In some cases on Facebook, there was not even a semblance of an attempt to consider how the Word of God might speak to an issue. In other cases there was reference to Scripture, but with the assumption that no other scriptures then the ones posted were relevant, nor any indication that they might be differing interpretations on the texts being cited. Another difficulty overlooked was evident in the academic article on immigration which seemed to ignore the perils in applying texts from the Old Testament to contemporary immigration policies in the United States. For instance, the article on immigration did an outstanding job of referencing relevant texts on how Israel was to treat strangers and foreigners who came to live among them in the land of Canaan. The authors then proceeded to draw an immediate application of these Old Testament texts to immigration policy for the United States. The question that comes to mind is, “Can we directly apply texts from the Old Testament to the United States?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">While there is no question we ought to be informed by the Word of God on all matters political, spiritual, social, and cultural, just how we are to be informed exactly in specific details and policies is not always clear-cut and obvious. For the sake of brevity, let me note just a few obvious differences between Israel of the OT and the United States today. First (according to both Scripture and the US Constitution), America is not God’s nation as Israel witnessed in the Bible is God’s one and holy nation. Second, Israel (especially in the Pentateuch) is an agricultural society, while America is an industrial-informational-financial based society. Third, Israel was a theocracy and then a monarchy, while America is democratic republic built on capitalism. Just taking the aforementioned differences into consideration, an immigrant in the ancient Near East in the time of Moses seeking to live in the land of Canaan is not the same as an immigrant seeking to live in the United States today. Obviously, therefore, translating the Israel of Scripture to fit the contemporary scene in the United States is not a simple one-to-one transaction. Israel is not America and the Bible is not the US Constitution. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Building a bridge between Scripture and contemporary politics is not something done easily. How Christians seek to build these bridges can and does differ widely. Some Christians I suppose would argue that others are building bridges from wrong starting points (referencing irrelevant scriptures). Others would say that bridges are being built to wrong conclusions (Bible passages do not lead or imply the conclusions being drawn). Yet others would argue that the bridges are being built with faulty material (bible passages being taken out of context). So is building a bridge between Scripture and politics an impossible task or a bridge impossible? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Perhaps, carrying this bridge analogy further, we might consider that more than one bridge is possible and that not all Christians will build, nor cross from Scripture to politics in the same way? Perhaps we are not all standing on the same side of the divide in this world, and therefore how and what types of bridges are built will differ? Perhaps we can respect, and show grace for the hard work and difficulties inherent in connecting Scripture to politics. Perhaps we could encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to at least attempt building bridges, rather than building up dams and condemning the bridges of those we disagree with? Are we all not trying to get to the same side of eternity? Last time I checked, bridges were designed to connect and unite, not separate and divide. What kind of bridge are you building? Just a thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry </span><o:p></o:p></span></div></span><br />
</div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-21460347759392465712010-12-15T11:44:00.000-08:002011-09-02T09:56:40.887-07:00I Might Have a Problem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I recently listened to a brief, but informative talk on the subject of happiness. The speaker commented on how we have happy experiences versus how we remember happy experiences. For instance, he tells the story of one gentleman who recounted how he absolutely enjoyed listening to a an exquisite piece of music for twenty minutes, but then felt the experience was completely ruined in the last second by a horrible sound. Now the question is, was not the man happy for twenty minutes, or was the twenty minutes of happiness totally wrecked by one sour note? The speaker commented on how the man had a happy experience, but what was ruined was the memory of the experience.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The experience of happiness in contrast to the memory of happiness prompted me to think about my own memories. For example, I had wonderful experiences living in Vermont, but my memories of Vermont have the taint of personal sadness. I confess that I often choose to forget the happy experiences that I unquestionably enjoyed, and remember my experience in Vermont as a sad one. However, the amount of happy experiences outnumbers the sad ones. Like the proverbial, “fly in the ointment,” I rightly or wrongly choose to focus more on the “fly” (i.e., the sad moments) over the abundance of ointment (i.e., happy experiences).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">In contrast to myself, the Apostle Paul says, “</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:12-13). Is contentment equal to happiness? Can you be content, but not happy? I would also like to ask the Apostle, “Paul, would you not prefer being happy living in plenty over being happy and in want?” Would Paul consider my question legitimate, or would he say, “Terry, you are missing the point, or rather the person—Jesus Christ.” The question of happiness is not an issue of either/or (either in plenty or in want), but rather, the issue is whether you know the “secret” of happiness: A life with Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In addition, Paul further reveals the secret of happiness when he says to the Philippians, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:7-8). Paul would have described happy moments in his previous life without Jesus, but when he comes to know Jesus, he completely alters his memories of happiness. How we remember seems to depend on how we know Jesus, and not just on how many experiences of happiness or sadness we may experience in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I think I might have a problem. My problem is I may not know the secret of happiness as well as I thought I did. If you ask me, “Do you know Jesus?” I would answer unequivocally, “Yes, I know Jesus!” Yet, if you ask me, “Are you happy?” I would answer . . . ? Well, I am not confident how I would answer. Much of my response probably depends on the day and time you were to ask me. Some moments, I am happy, and other moments I am sad. Paul says he “can do everything through [Jesus] who gives [him] strength.” Yet, I would say, “But Paul, surely it takes more strength to be happy in hard times than it does in easy times!” I think Paul would say, “Terry, what did I say was the secret to happiness? Did I say it rests on your strength? Why are you asking about whether or not you will need more strength? I said, ‘You can do everything <i>through Jesus</i> who <i>gives</i> you strength.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I think I might have a problem. My problem is a lack of faith and trust in the secret—Jesus Christ. I know the secret is Jesus Christ, but I seem to struggle in keeping the secret. I forget Jesus too quickly in both easy times and hard times. In easy times, I tend not to seek Jesus in prayer, and in hard times, I tend to focus on my problems and not the person of Jesus. What about yourself, dear brother and sister? Are you happy? Do you just know the secret to happiness, or are you keeping the secret of happiness? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-35386444166192546932010-12-01T16:18:00.000-08:002011-09-02T09:57:45.266-07:00I am NOT a Hired Hand!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In reading an article recently, I came across a quote that really jumped out at me: "A man feels himself validly judged only if he is judged on the basis of values which he himself admits. If that is not the case, he can only feel something arbitrary and unjust." What struck me about the previous quote is that it stirred up within me long and deep-seated frustrations concerning how serving as a minister has often resulted in my being judged by values I do not admit, and therefore experiencing arbitrary and unjust feelings. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For instance, when I was first contemplating making my living as a "full-time" minister, a much wiser and older minister gave me this bit of counsel. He said that what I desired was a noble pursuit and calling, but I need to count carefully some of the costs of my decision to want to serve as a minister. Here is one cost he suggested to me: "In serving as a minister, you will never truly be a part of the congregation you serve. The congregation will regard you as an expendable employee. Can you live with this cost?" I thought I could easily live with this cost, because I believed my minister friend was deeply mistaken, and therefore I would never have to pay such a cost. After all, I thought in my youthful naiveness, what congregation would value me as an employee over my being a fellow brother in Christ? If there were such a congregation that valued me as an employee over being a brother in Christ, then I would simply not serve that congregation. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Now let me be blunt, even if such bluntness runs the risk of offending someone. My twenty-year experience in serving as a minister has taught me what often the case is in ministerial life: When things are going well with the congregation, I am a brother in Christ, and when things are not going well with the congregation, I am an employee. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Why do congregations so often make such a distinction between employee and brother in Christ? </span>One reason is that it is much easier to dispense and remove an employee than it is a brother in Christ. An employee is not valued in the same way a brother in Christ is valued. A brother in Christ has to be spoken to and dealt with in love, understanding, mercy, and justice. Christ commands brothers in Christ to resolve their differences in peace. An employee on the other hand is a hired hand not necessarily entitled to the same values and rights shared between family members. Jesus gives a good illustration of the difference between family and employee when he says (John 10:11-13):</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Those who are family (owners in Jesus' illustration) make sacrifices for the life of others while employees sacrifice others for self-preservation. Now I recognize there are plenty of ministers who treat the congregations they serve as places of employment, rather than as the body of Christ. I freely acknowledge that there are ministers who regard congregations as mere stepping-stones to increasing financial gain. I know my criticism cuts both ways between ministers and congregations. However, I am speaking now of how I have been cut as a minister by congregations. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">My frustration is best understood by inverting Jesus' illustration. In my case, the sheep (i.e., the congregation) abandons the minister as a hired hand, rather than seeing him as one of the family. Nevertheless, I have valued my role as a servant of Christ called to dedicate my life and resources to helping the body of Christ grow. I honestly love what I do, and could not imagine doing anything else in my life. I love people. I want to help. I genuinely care what happens to others in the congregation. I want to belong to the flock of Christ's sheep. I want to be family, not a hired hand. There is nothing more horrific in this world than belonging to the most powerful, beautiful, loving, and eternal family of Christ called the local church, and then to be treated as a hired and fired hand, and not as a family member. If the cost of serving the local body of Christ is the forfeiture of being family for being an employee, then I for one cannot afford to pay. I rather be a poor family member in the local body of Christ, then a rich expendable employee in a corporate congregation. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-40400828885250232672010-11-05T16:23:00.000-07:002011-09-02T09:58:16.258-07:00Dissecting Frogs and Bible Study<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here is a strange thing: throughout my Christian walk, I have had the experience of both losing and gaining intimacy in my relationship to God while studying His Word. I say this experience is strange, because one might understandably think that one would automatically draw closer to God while studying His Word, and yet often the exact opposite seems to occur. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">On the one hand, we have passages like Psalm 119 in which virtually every segment is a declaration of growing closer to God while reading and meditating upon His Word. For instance, the psalmist cries out, "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word" (Psalm 119:28). The psalmist sees a clear connection between his emotional well-being on one side, and the source of his encouragement in God's Word on the other side. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, I have often had the experience of drifting further in my emotions away from God while engaged in Bible study. For example, I found myself often drifting away from God while in seminary. While in seminary, I was engaged in deep study of God's Word in terms of exegesis, theology, and history. Yet, despite such a disciplined and systematic study of God's Word, I found myself feeling more removed from God in terms of love and spiritual sensitivity. I was becoming more educated about God, but less relationally connected to God. Additionally, the experience of drifting apart from God is not limited to my seminary experience, but is something I have faced often in the course of my studies as a "full-time" minister.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Why does the psalmist grow closer to God when he studies and meditates on God's Word, but I often seem to grow further away from God when I study and meditate on His Word? One difference between the psalmist and me might be illustrated by the experience of dissecting a frog. Perhaps like many, you have had the experience of dissecting a frog while in a high school or middle-school biology class. In order to understand the biological workings of a frog, students dissect the frog and examine a frog's inner workings and structure. The upside of dissecting the frog is students are educated, but the downside is the frog is decimated. Our gain is the frog's loss. So, in studying the mechanics of "frogness," we kill the life of the frog.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In a similar fashion, we may study the Word of God as if we dissect a frog. We know the Word of God contains the promises of hope and life, and so we earnestly study Scripture. We want to know the mechanics of the Word's grammar, exegesis, history, and theology. We study multiple interpretations, and even dialogue about the applications, generalizations, and ethical implications of what we are reading. Yet, like dissecting a frog, we may become better educated about the mechanics of the Word, but possibly miss the life of the Word. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One final example might be of help. When a cosmologist looks up at the stars, he or she may see the astronomical mechanics of mathematical calculations, the explosion of various gases, black holes, and gravitational relationships. The psalmist looks up at the stars and says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of your hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge" (Psalm 19:1-2). If, as the saying goes, we can miss the forest through the trees, so we also just might miss the glory of God through the stars.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Finally, I am not advocating we do not study deeply the Word of God, or advocating we ignore what God has accomplished in creation. Rather, I am advocating for a particular kind of reading. The psalmist never seems to study <i>about</i> God as much as he studies <i>with</i> God. When we try to study about God, there potentially enters a kind of disconnect that is great for dissection, but poor for life. There may be a subtle distinction between these two prepositions, "about" and "with," and yet the distinction is substantial. God's Word is not strictly about education, but relation. If our focus of study remains about God, then we are not necessarily growing closer to God. Only when we study <i>with</i> God, will we draw closer to God. The psalmist did not experience the drift away from God when studying the Word of God (Psalm 119), because the psalmist never left God to learn about God in the first place. Therefore, what I need to do is not necessarily learn how to read better, but perhaps what I need to learn is how to read <i>with</i> a better partner!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">--Terry</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-69434229091000004232010-11-03T13:00:00.000-07:002010-11-03T14:44:37.762-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part 6)<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Throughout these series of bulletin articles dealing with attendance, I think at least one valuable insight has surfaced. The valuable insight that has surfaced is that attendance is more of a result than a cause. For instance, attendance by itself cannot cause an individual to be faithful anymore than a student merely attending college will guarantee learning. Now it certainly helps a student to become educated if he or she actually shows up to class, participates, and studies. In a similar fashion to a college student, an individual who attends and participates in congregational worship, Bible studies, and fellowships will also likely learn and grow in faith.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, we know from the book of Hebrews that at least one cause for the result of attendance is the fact that we see the Day of Christ approaching, and so we increasingly spur each other on to more and more good deeds and the fellowship of mutual encouragement (Heb 10:24-25). Therefore, if attendance is more of a result then a cause, then does attendance not partially serve as an outward sign of an inward belief and conviction concerning matters of faith?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are now bumping up against a difficult question concerning what takes place in an individual’s heart. However, the truth is, there are multiple causes operative within an individual’s heart that may prompt him or her to attend activities of congregational life. Unfortunately, there is not a strict one to one correspondence between congregational attendance and purity of heart. In other words, a genuine belief and conviction concerning the coming of Christ and the common faith we share does not necessarily drive all the internal causes within the heart. Members attend for all kinds of reasons that may or may not be rooted to the best of motives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">One example of congregational attendance not rooted in the best of motives is the case of some Christians we read about in the books of First and Second Corinthians. In Corinth, apparently, there were individuals who gathered in part for the purposes of showing off, pride, and control of others (1 Cor 1:1ff; 3:1ff; 5:1-2; 12:1-13:1ff; 2 Cor 11:1ff). Another example of a faulty sign of attendance is from the book of Jude that speaks of men who are “blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves” (v.12). Now I doubt that individuals in Corinth or those of whom Jude speaks of actually stood up in the gathered assembly and said, “We are attending this congregation because we like to show off, flaunt our pride, and control and take advantage of others.” Therefore, attendance can be a deceptive outward sign of what is actually taking place in the heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nevertheless, despite the above mentioned difficulties discerning the outward sign of attendance, attendance is still one criterion by which faith, belief, and conviction in the heart becomes manifest. Not all signs are false signs. The question, dear saint, is what does your outward sign of attendance say about what is truly in your heart? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">--Terry<o:p></o:p></span></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-514938746824844872010-10-26T17:09:00.000-07:002010-10-26T21:32:11.724-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything (Part 5)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I recently learned a wonderful word, <i>aporia: </i>1)<i> </i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Rhetoric</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">: The expression of a simulated or real doubt, as about where to begin or what to do or say; 2) <i>Logic,</i> <i>Philosophy</i>: A difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it” (definition from <i>dictionary.com</i>).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I am coming closer and closer to concluding that attendance is a kind of <i>aporia</i>. In these past five bulletin articles on attendance, I find myself struggling over where to begin and often what to say conclusively. Additionally, there seems to be both positive and negative evidence concerning the meaning of attendance. I find myself almost saying attendance means everything and attendance means nothing. For instance, at minimum attendance means everything in that it ought to be a reflection of our love, commitment, and support for one another and the church as a whole. On the other hand, the mere act of attendance does not necessarily mean you actually are committed, loving, and supporting one another and the church as a whole.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Part of the struggle in defining the meaning of attendance may be rooted in the fact that attendance is more a reflection (or result) than a cause. In other words, attendance does not necessarily cause one to grow in faithfulness, but rather is more a reflection of your faith. In brief, attendance is a reflection of your faith in terms of choice, time, and value. We often make the <i>choice</i> of what to attend or not attend based on how we want to spend our <i>time</i> according to what we <i>value</i>. In short, an implicit question being answered by our attendance or lack of it, is what we think is worthwhile to spend our time upon. For example, do you think there is value in making the choice to spend your time attending Bible class, worship, and fellowships? Your answer will greatly depend on the value you see and reap from these kinds of participation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Over the years as a minister, I have heard people say, “I do not attend Sunday morning Bible class because it is boring.” I know, you are thinking, “No way would anyone say that about one of Terry’s classes” </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">J</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">. Now whether we find this claim of boredom sad, but true, many often do not find personal value when it comes to attending a Bible class, or even a worship service, and therefore do not see the value in making the choice to spend their time in attendance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Let us be honest. Some classes and indeed some worship services are indeed boring. Classes and worship may be boring because teachers, preachers, and worship leaders are boring. They may be boring because perhaps they do not prepare or study well enough to give well enough. On the other hand, some attendees are themselves boring. They are boring perhaps because they do not care to truly listen, seek understanding, or choose to participate in discussion. The truth for all is, you often get out what you put in. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">In conclusion, the questions I would like you to ponder are the following: What does your <i>choice </i>of attendance or lack of attendance say about what you <i>value</i> to spend your <i>time</i> upon? How did you arrive at this value and is it truly what the Lord would have you value? You just may discover in your own thinking how much attendance truly is an <i>aporia</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; line-height: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">--Terr</span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">y</span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-89380695179769303722010-10-20T17:41:00.000-07:002010-10-20T17:59:00.130-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">In some of the sociological and economic research conducted on church attendance, there is reference made to the “U” shape model of church attendance. In brief, the U-shape reflects data on church attendance over the average churchgoer’s lifetime. Typically, attendance starts high in a person’s younger years, and then as careers and/or families are formed (marriage, children, etc.) attendance tends to dip, and then usually around age fifty, attendance typically rises back up, with a slight dip in an individual’s latter years due to failing health. While there are always exceptions and qualifications to the norm, I would say personally, the U-shape pattern of church attendance generally holds true.</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">What is at least one potential implication that we might draw about the U-shape pattern of church attendance? One implication is that we need to be mindful and aware of the forces that might interfere with our faith development that church attendance may reflect. For instance, what do we do as a congregation to help young people concerning their career choices, and the potential impact those choices may have on their faith? Are we having the right discussions and asking the right questions about the kind of impact the type of work and work schedules they choose can have on their faith? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">It seems to me many local congregations fall short in being creative in the opportunities they provide growing families. Often throughout the years, I have heard families with young toddlers speak of how difficult it is for them to attend, say a Wednesday night Bible study or Sunday night study, because of the effect such late evening events have on their young children. Now I recognize that we sometimes can just make excuses, or not seek to be disciplined, but the issue of when and what time we schedule church-related events is not without value. In other words, if we can provide better and more conducive times for various members to study and/or fellowship given their circumstances, then should we not seek to provide them as a congregation? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Let me share one personal account to illustrate some of the struggles today facing young people about church attendance. I have a dear friend of mine who recently shared with me his current struggle with church attendance. He is a young man, faithful, godly, and well versed in Scripture. He is also married with a young child. Recently, my friend finished college, and was blessed with a wonderful career opportunity. However, like many newly hired individuals, he was given the least desirable work schedule. He is working over sixty hours a week and primarily in the evenings. He shared with me how the only time he has to spend with his family is Sunday evening. My friend would prefer not to attend Sunday evening service, as he would like to rest before having to start his grueling workweek, and spend quality time with his wife and child. The problem is the congregation where he attends has hinted, and not so hinted, that not to attend Sunday evening is questionable. The result is he ends up feeling guilty if he does not attend, and guilty for not spending the kind of time he thinks is more beneficial for his growing family. In short, my friend is at the bottom of the U-shape pattern. What is he to do? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">I guess one thing I am trying to get at in this article centers on how the contemporary church can help its maturing members get past the bottom of the U-shape attendance pattern. Speaking critically, but lovingly, we cannot afford to just let brothers and sisters “tough it out” by themselves, or offer no assistance to encourage their faith development. We should all be mindful of where we are in our attendance at church. Yet the better question might be, “Where is the local congregation itself when brothers and sisters are sloping down the U-shape of attendance?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">--Terry</span></div><div align="justify"></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-35612476445503260202010-10-16T10:57:00.000-07:002010-10-16T12:27:16.317-07:00Disunity in the Church<div style="text-align: justify;">I read this week what is perhaps the best article I have ever read on disunity in the church. The title of the paper is <em>Disunity in the Church and the Credibility of the Gospel</em>, by Bruce D. Marshall. You can access the article in its entirety with the following link: <a href="http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1993/v50-1-article8.htm">http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1993/v50-1-article8.htm</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Marshall centers his comments primarily around John 17:16-21. You will recall, this Scriptural passage is where Jesus prays that we would all be one as Jesus and the Father are one, so that the world would come to believe in Jesus Christ. What I found particularly helpful and insightful in the article was the emphasis on VISIBLE unity being a necessary component of church life. For example, take at look at this one short quote from <em>Disunity</em>: "<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The world, so this passage suggests, can <i>see </i>the unity of the church; since it is the church's unity that leads the otherwise unbelieving world to believe in Jesus's saving mission from the Father-that is, to believe the gospel-the church's unity cannot itself be accessible only to believers (as, for example, the invisible and perhaps not yet extant object of their faith and hope) but must lie open to the apprehension of all, outside the church as well as within." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The previous quote is as encouraging to me as it is discouraging. I am encouraged to think about the power and influence that unity in the church can exert for good in this world. I am discouraged when I think about and witness so much disunity in the church today. To be honest, when the world thinks of the church today the word, <em>unity,</em> is not the first word that comes to their minds. To be blunt, <em>unity</em> is not the first word that comes to mind for most Christians when thinking about the church.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Over the years, I have taught several classes on unity in the church. One question I typically ask is, "What do you think is more miraculous, that the church could be one or that Jesus rose from the dead?" Usually, without being at all facetious, brothers and sisters in Christ will say being one is more miraculous than Jesus rising from the dead. Why would so many in the church today think unity is more miraculous than resurrection? Perhaps one answer is that we have <em>seen</em> church unity less than we have seen people raised from the dead? We believe Jesus was seen risen from the dead, but who has ever seen the church remain unified? So we may think, "Well, one man rose from the dead at least once in human history, but when has the church of Jesus Christ ever been completely unified?" </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Brothers and sisters in Christ who have especially been members of the church for most of their lives, or a good portion of their lives, have typically witnessed much disunity. I personally have had my fair share of witnessing the ugliness of disunity in countless "men's business meetings," and "congregational meetings." The sad reality is that most members who have a long duration in fellowship with the church will experience a church split, or at least a hurtful disunity in the church. I think it would be a fascinating research study to tally the percent of Christians just within the Church of Christ who have experienced division and disunity. I imagine, if you have never experienced a church split, or a destructive and disruptive disunity in the church, then you are the exception rather than the rule. </span><br />
<br />
What has happened to our passion for unity and our hatred for disunity (John 17:20-21; Prov 6:16-19)? It seems to me we have a growing tolerance of disunity that borders on apathy. As a result, we often settle for shallow notions of the "universal church" being one, and abandon notions of the local body of Christ being one. In other words, unity is more of a mystical concept than a concrete reality. I may have oneness in my heart with brothers and sisters across time and space, but disunity with the brother or sister sitting in the pew across from me. However, unity that is not local, visible, and concrete is a fantasy and not a reality. The cost of unseen universal unity is virtually nothing, but unity with the brother and sister I see will cost me time, effort, energy, and sacrifice. Yet, Jesus died and rose from the dead, so that we may be one with God and one another, so how can we expect anything less in our pursuit of unity? <br />
<br />
In closing, if we settle for a tolerance of disunity and an apathy for unity, then what are we to make of Jesus prayer that we would all be one as He and the Father are one? Where has all the love for unity gone? Has the prayer of Jesus fallen of deaf ears in the church? How many congregational splits could have been and be avoided if we would but have a conscious and sensitive awareness for the unity Jesus desires for us? Have you been scarred by the evil spirit of disunity? I have. Disunity is a darkness I care not to see again in my life. What are your feelings about unity? How has disunity affected you? Who is listening to Jesus pray for unity?</div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-40657735742072235252010-10-13T11:16:00.000-07:002010-10-13T11:16:16.089-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part 3)<span lang="EN"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Is there any meaning just in the mere act of attendance? Do we “get any points” for just showing up? I have often heard the expression, “Half the battle is in just showing up.” I assume the previous expression means that even to think of achieving or experiencing something, you at least need to be present to begin achieving and experiencing. A similar expression that might highlight the meaning of attendance is, “Better to have tried and failed, then to have never tried at all.” In other words, there will be no potential benefit to attendance unless we at least attend. So in light of our discussion so far, what might be the benefits of attending church-related activities?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">People attend church for a variety of motives and perceived benefits. For instance, broadly speaking, some attend church-related activities for the perceived benefit of enjoying eternal life. I often hear Christians say, “We want to attend church services, because we want to go to heaven.” For some, there is a perceived correspondence between attending church services and entering heaven—better attendance at church equals more assured access to heaven. While it is true that faithful people attend, it is false that attendance itself can make people faithful, or assure better access into heaven (sorry, no points for just showing up). We do not earn eternal salvation with the down payments of church attendance, but with the life, Jesus Christ laid down for our sins and took up for our justification (Rom 4:25).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Others attend church-related activities for the benefits that accompany fellowship: friendships, social interaction, fun, emotional/psychological / moral and spiritual supports are just some of these benefits. Therefore, the fellowship benefit tends to focus often on the perceived rewards of personal consumption. In other words, “What do I (or my family, children, etc.) get out of attending church?” While such a consumption motive may come across as potentially selfish, there is benefit in personally enjoying the blessings of more brothers and sisters interacting with one another. Jesus himself assures us that, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">"no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-- and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30). Space constraints here demand we simply move on and leave untouched the Christian paradox that in giving, we receive, and in serving, we are served. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Ultimately, we attend church-related activities because Jesus draws us together to glorify God. Jesus declares, <b>“</b>But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). Why is Jesus pulling us all together through his sacrifice upon the cross? The Apostle Paul answers, <b>“</b>Then the end will come, when [Jesus] hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Cor 15:24). Once Jesus draws us together in Christian unity, he will hand us over to God the Father, and we will sing together with all God’s chosen ones:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth . . . . In a loud voice [we will sing]: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! . . . To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Rev 5:8-13).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Regardless of why people may choose to attend church-related activities, if they are not attending because they have been drawn to do so by the sacrifice of God the Son, to the glory of God the Father, through the work of God the Holy Spirit, then they are not attending the Church of Jesus Christ, but are just going to church. So, does Church attendance mean anything?” One answer depends on what draws you to church in the first place. What is drawing you, dear brother and sister?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></span>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-45208742725623404502010-10-07T13:12:00.000-07:002010-10-07T13:12:06.748-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part One)<span style="font-family: inherit;">First in a series of bulletin articles on the meaning of Church attendance (for all those not actually reading the bulletin sent to them in the mail. :))</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An often-heard question from the lips of children is, “Do I have to go to church?” The proto-typical parental response is, “No, you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get</i> the privilege of going to church.” What about your view of church attendance, do you get to go to church or do you have to go to church? Is church attendance a privilege or just an obligatory duty? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ultra-conservative congregation where I first became a Christian gave me some of my own initial impressions of church attendance. Sunday morning attendance was obvious, and Wednesday night and Sunday night attendance were expected. A verse I frequently heard was Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” In addition, an unwritten rule for being a deacon or an elder was faithful attendance. If a brother’s name were not considered for the deaconship or eldership, a common reason stated would be, “He is a good man, but he does not come on Wednesday night.” Even if this brother’s work schedule prohibited Wednesday night attendance, the implication was that he should be striving to change his schedule or perhaps there was some kind of hidden unfaithfulness. In other words, if he is a good man, then why has God not blessed him with the time off to attend? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What does church attendance mean? Is attendance really a proper biblical gauge or measure of faithfulness or faithlessness? What exactly do we mean by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">church</i> attendance? Does church attendance mean any and every activity of the church, or are we talking primarily about Sunday morning worship? My conservative upbringing taught me that if the elders designate times to meet, such as Wednesday night and Sunday night, then the members ought to honor the authority of the elders by attending those set times. If you “forsook” (a favorite word of my conservative congregation) meeting with the saints, then you are disrespecting the elders and working against their spiritual obligation to tend to your soul. Now, who would want to be guilty of working against the soul-care of the elders? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We ought to honor the times set by the elders for the care, development, and growth of our spirituality and faith. However, such honor given to elders assumes the elders have taken the time to know what the schedules, obligations, obstacles, and challenges each member faces. Elders cannot simply throw out times to meet, or blindly depend on traditional meeting times to meet the needs of an ever-growing and ever-changing congregation. For instance, in today’s culture, businesses operate 24/7, and young people especially are prone to have to work nights and weekends. For many today, even Sunday morning worship is becoming a luxury to attend. Elders today have an awesome responsibility to schedule congregational times of faith development and soul-care amidst a sea of changing times, work schedules, and other obligations. I am uncertain that any congregation in our present culture and society could schedule meeting times to accommodate all members at all times. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nevertheless, elders must try and they must be creative in the times and opportunities they structurally offer members of the congregation. A hint of one creative response comes from church history. Pliny the Younger (61-112 AD) was a Roman magistrate who wrote a letter to the Emperor Trajan on how to judicially deal with the growing number of Christians under his jurisdiction. After torturing two Christian slave girls for information on what Christians were doing, Pliny reported this interesting little nugget to Trajan: “They had been accustomed on a fixed day to meet before dawn and sing antiphonally a hymn to Christ as a god.” Why were these Christians meeting before dawn? The answer is that these slave girls, like the majority of slaves that were Christians, could not meet any other time due to the nature of their work. For Christians in the first century, church attendance at least meant you loved and cared for one another to the point that the Body of Christ was willing to rise before dawn in order to be together. How many elders and congregations today would be willing to rise before dawn to meet the needs of its members? Just what does church attendance mean to you, dear brother and sister? In the following weekly bulletin articles, we will explore this question more in-depth. Until the next time, I pray you do not “give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">--Terry</span></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-783784731296525914.post-73171577330720580842010-10-06T13:01:00.000-07:002010-10-06T13:25:48.164-07:00Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part2)<span style="color: white;">The following article is part two in a series of bullietin articles on church attendance. The scope of the article is limited due to the limited space of a bulletin. However, I would like to see and interact with the thoughts of others on this topic of church attendance, especially when it comes to structured congregation times like Wednesdays and Sundays. Be sure to see part one.</span><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="color: white;">Does Church Attendance Mean Anything? (Part 2)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Our English word <em>attendance</em> comes to us from the 14<sup>th</sup> century French, <em>atendance</em>, meaning<span style="color: white;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">"attention, wait, hope, expectation," from <em>atendant</em>, of <em>atendre</em>, meaning "action of waiting on someone." The notion of attending in the sense of presenting oneself with the intent of taking a part developed in the 1560’s. The idea of <em>attendee</em>, “someone “who attends something” comes to us from the 1960’s (<em>source: dictionary.com</em>).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">The above dictionary definitions of attendance are helpful in our continuing look at church attendance. Additionally helpful, is a key verse noted in the last bulletin article which says, “</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;">Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb<span style="color: white;"> 10:25).</span> Together, the combination of our English understanding of attendance and the Hebrew passage influence what many of us think about church attendance. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: white;">For starters, some simply participate in church as someone “who attends something” in the sense that they merely show up. Pejoratively, we might call such an individual a “pew-warmer” or “pew-packer.” An “attendee” often is just checking off the “box of attendance.” Sadly, many attend church and sit in the pews like flowers in a vase waiting <em>to be attended</em> <em>to</em> rather than <em>attending to</em> others. Hebrews tells us to “encourage one another” when we gather. Even those physically confined can encourage us with their presence and prayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;">The “action of waiting on someone” corresponds well with the previous verse in Hebrews, which says, </span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:23). Furthermore, we all have gifts by the Lord by which He expects and holds us accountable to use for His glory to the benefit of all (Eph 4; 1 Cor 12). We cannot spur what we do not see and cannot touch, and therefore we must not “give up meeting together.” The Greek word for <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“give up” used in Hebrews has the idea of <span style="mso-themecolor: text1;">“normally referring to a small part of a larger whole - 'to cause to remain, to leave to exist, to leave’” (<em>source: Louw-Nida Lexicon</em>). What a potent image is, “to leave to exist.” A sobering and sad thought is how many in the local congregation are willing to leave the “smaller part” of those who attend church to exist on their own. All have gifts, all are necessary, and all must attend to others. </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;">Thirdly, attendance as “wait, hope,” and “expectation” is clearly seen in the Hebrew writers admonition to attend to one another as we “see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:25). The Day we see approaching is the Day of the Lord, the second coming of Christ. Therefore, <em>one</em> gauge of a congregation’s and an individual’s belief, hope, and expectation in seeing Christ’s return is church attendance to church-related activities. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;">So in conclusion (to part 2), to answer the question, “Does church attendance mean anything?”; we might be better off asking the question, “Does Jesus coming again mean anything to you?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-themecolor: text1;">--Terry </span></div></div>Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15113945619644710261noreply@blogger.com2