The fellowship of the Unashamed

I heard someone quote from this, and fell in love with it. My hope and prayer as a pastor is that every member of my church can says this with hope, and joy, with fire in their eyes, as they seek to live for the furthering of the kingdom of God.

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)

Dr. Bob Moorehead

Jesus Verses Religion

Last week, Jefferson Bethke’s spoken-word YouTube video was uploaded; and it immediately went viral.

It's worth watching. It's not without weaknesses, but it's worth watching. Enjoy, then think through some of the wise and thoughtful responses from Jared Wilson here, and Kevin DeYoung's response here. Also, check out the interaction that DeYoung and Bethke had here. These discussions are awesome, they are, as Justin Taylor noted "a model of brotherly love", as the two recognize that they work for the same side, and are seeking the same end, rather than a win. 

Here's my take. Valid critiques aside (and they are valid), what I like is that Bethke uses the careful and artistic crafted words and impressive filmography to oppose dead, false religion that preaches self- justification and a lack of concern for the things that break God’s heart, with Jesus and His Gospel. As you watch the video, you get the sense that Bethke has understands grace up close and personal, and he has a deep desire to communicate to the world the true Jesus and the true Gospel. He gets it, and he lays out the distinction between dead religion, and true Christianity clearly.

In a sermon awhile back, I shared a list from Tim Keller (who, like Bethke, recognises false religion as present in the Bible as well as today) offering a comparison of the features of ‘religion’ and ‘the Gospel’. Here is a revision of that list (which comes from the Gospel in Life) done by Tullian Tchividjian. It’s spot on, and worth revisiting as the discussion swirls.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

A man I respect (although I'm glad he lost)

As a Patriots fan, I was more than happy with the results from Saturday. My heart lay with brady and the boys in Foxboro, however, read this, it will make you stand in awe of Tebpw the man, if not Tebow the quarterback. It's written by Rick Reilly. A guy who is very objective. A former Tebow naysayer. This article will amaze you. I guarantee whether you’re a sports fans or not, this is worth your time.

 I believe in Tim Tebow

I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.

No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.

Who among us is this selfless?

Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.

Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.

Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?

Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.

"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."

More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.

Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.

"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."

I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored. Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."

It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.

For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.

"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."

There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.

Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.

And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."

This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.

Isn't that a huge distraction? 

"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."

So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.

Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.

Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?

"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."

Black Friday Materialism and True Contentment

I found myself thinking at times this week, I'm so glad I'm not working retail anymore. Ministry can be hard. But i think there was something about retail at Christmas, that gives you some unique insights into greed and materialism. Working Black Friday was always hellish. It was profitable as a commission salesman, but it was hellish. It was materialism on display, and people treated you like a tool to give them the "stuff" they wanted. Usually the ones that got there the earliest were the most obnoxious. It never failed.

But it didn't stop at black friday. It went on all Christmas season. At Christmas, we get some of the worst displays of obnoxious, materialistic behavior. So often we miss the reason for the season, because we are seeking stuff. But why is that? Why are we on a stuff hunt? In part, because we are looking to stuff, to provide what only God can give you. We look at stuff to stuff to get an identity, and standing, and acceptance. We give stuff to get an identity, and standing, and acceptance, as people say how wonderful you are and how much they love you, and we look to stuff, and think, how will this make me feel, and look, and if i get this, it will make me content. Consequently, we go crazy to get and give stuff.  And we become ungrateful, and materialistic. I remember one year when i was young, i looked at my Nana, who had just given me all kinds of wonderful gifts, and i turned to her and said, is that all? To my everlasting shame. I get tormented with this story at least once a Christmas season. Just so i wont forget (or something).

Unfortunatly, it doesn't do what we want it do. Stuff doesn't make us happy, or content. It wont fill the void that we are looking to fill with stuff, with materialism. What will? The only thing that will fill the void is to find the acceptance of God in Christ. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:6 that "godliness with contentment is great gain". It's only when we see that Christ gave up everything, he gave up the contentment, love, and acceptance of the Father, He gave up the throneroom of heaven, so that we might gain the riches of heaven, the love and acceptace of the faither, that we will find that the center of our being that we are trying to fill with stuff, is filled. When we turn to Christ, and hold to Christ, we find that that fills us at the center of our being,  and it makes us truly contentment, frees us from materialism, changes how we approach Christmas, changes how we approach gift giving and receiving, and fills us with true hope and joy at Christmas (and it means you can be nice to the cashiers at Christmas to).

Thankful worship for God’s benevolent blessings

Thanksgiving is here again, and like so many of you, I enjoyed gathering with friends and family, and thanking our God for all that he has done this year in our lives, and in First Baptist. 

 

 As I look back at this year, we have much to be thankful for.  God has provided for us through another year. He has blessed us with a church family that loves one another with the love of Christ, and God is bringing new life into our church in a way that I hope and pray continues. We’ve seen God care for those that have struggled with their health; we’ve seen his provision in the midst of some extremely weird weather. We’ve seen projects completed, and began a few more. What’s more, I look around First Baptist, and I feel like life is slowly beginning to bloom again. In the last year, God has brought several families into the life of the church, and we’ve seen what feels like an explosion of kids around the church. When I arrived, there were few kids. Now, I go to coffee hour, and I feel like there are kids running all around. Children are a blessing of God. This is a huge joy. On top of that, there has been birth. Both natural, and people being born again, to borrow John 3 language. As a pastor, I have found the new births in the kingdom of God to be a particular source of joy in the last few months. Scripture tells us that there is more rejoicing over one sinner who repents than 99 righteous people who need no repenting ^{(Luke 15:6-7),} and I rejoice greatly for new births in Christ. Here in 2011, we have much to be thankful for.

And yet, this year has been a weird, hard year for many. It’s been another year of economic downturn. It’s been a year marked by protest, and strange weather. I’ve watched people struggle with the pain of being out of work, or in jobs that don’t quite make the bills, and battle for their health, fighting sickness or surgery. Personally, I will always remember this as a hard year. First, because of Irene, and the damage it brought to Vermont. I remember looking at Facebook, seeing my hometown underwater, and standing in the muck at my grandfather’s house, looking at a place that I used to play wrecked beyond belief by Irene.  It’s one thing to see a tragedy on TV, it’s another to see your hometown underwater and your grandfathers’ home destroyed. But Irene pales in comparison to the pain Veronique and I felt at losing our child. While still in the first 6 weeks of pregnancy, life begins at conception, and Veronique and I felt that pain deeply.  And I am not alone. The tragedy of death has touched many in the family of First Baptist. Parents have been lost. Siblings passed. I’ve prayed at the bedside of a close friend and watched her try to be brave for her father as he faced a surgery he did not survive. I’ve seen a heart-wrenching moment, where a young boy sought to flee the crowd, and just get away from his mother’s funeral. As a family of faith, we’ve been touched by sadness and hardship in this past year.

            This week, as I reflected back on the year, I found a greater appreciation for the great statements of thanksgiving. I am always amazed at the fact that the greatest statements of thanksgiving came in dark moments, but this week, they came home in a new and deeper way this week. Think about the pilgrims. They buried over half of their original band of 110. They dug 7 times more graves than they built homes, and yet at the same time, the set aside a day thank the Lord for His blessings. One o-f their leaders, Edward Winslow, wrote of that first Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621: "And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." What’s more, Lincoln’s famous thanksgiving proclamation came in the middle of the suffering of The Civil war, and yet He said the country's blessings were due to the "ever watchful providence of Almighty God... No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy." And he then asked for the "Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it." 

What can motivate that kind of thanksgiving in them, and what can drive us to give thanks in this way? First, I would encourage you to give thanks because the promise of scripture is that God is faithful, and His love endures forever. Time and again, scripture reminds us, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever.” It’s all over the place. His love endures forever. And when life is hard, we can cling to this. His love endures forever. It just does. It does not cease. It endures forever, and in the end, he is working all things on the behalf of those who love him and have been called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28), and He plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). He will restore the years that the locust have eaten. He will. Even when you can’t believe that this is true, it is, and you can rejoice in this truth, He is Good, and His love endures forever. 

 But there is more,  God pours out his grace on his children in times of hardship, and gives us the tools to deal with it. His grace is sufficient, Paul writes. He discovered that when he found himself facing hardship, God’s grace was sufficient. This is true for us to. When we find ourselves facing hardship, he shows a grace that is sufficient even when we can’t understand it.  Church father Augustine wrote, There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake, whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for Thee; this it is, and there is no other. He provides his grace, he really does. I’ve found this to be true. One way that I have found his grace this year is reflecting on the wonderful truth that we do not have a savior who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows what it is to suffer. This year, as I have struggled with the pain of losing our child, I’ve found his grace most fully as I have reflected on the suffering of Christ. It’s been said that in the gospel, we find a significant tool to face hardship. This is my experience to. This is no longer an academics statement; it’s mine. I have found comfort time and again in this truth. I do not have a savior who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. My savior was tempted. My savior suffered. My savior did not stand far off, above my pain. My savior came near and knew it, completely. The end of Hebrews 4 reminds me and you of this, and then it tells us something wonderful. Because he suffered, “we can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence draw, knowing that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I can draw near, you can draw near. Because of his love, because of His graces shown to us in the cross, we can draw near, knowing that he has not left us alone. SO while our weeping lasts for a night, joy will comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5) because of what he has done. 

So, as you look back on the year here at Thanksgiving, my encouragement to you is simple. Give thanks to the LORD. Give thanks, because our Lord’s love endures forever, give thanks because He knows our suffering, and because He does, we can draw near and find grace to help in time of need. So give rejoice and give thanks. Whether this has been a banner year, or a terrible year, rejoice in these great truths. Give thanks and worship Him. Psalm 100 tells us, Come before him with shouts of joy, Worship Him with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD, He is God. It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. When troubles come, he will show us mercy and grace. So  “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Worldview

Since I was in college, I have been hearing the word Worldview. When I was a freshman in college, we had a whole class on thinking through our worldview, examining it, thinking about it, pondering it. Worldview has been a popular word in many Christian circles, and as we went through Who Stole My Church, I was surprised to find out how few in the room where familiar with it.

So what is a worldview? A worldview is a framework through which we view reality and make sense of life and the world. It’s the glasses that you look at life through. For example (and this is not original to me), a 2-year-old believes he's the center of his world, a secular humanist believes that the material world is all that exists, and a Buddhist believes he can be liberated from suffering by self-purification.

Everyone has a worldview, whether we realize it or not. We all have certain presuppositions and biases that affect the way we view all of life and reality. Where does it come from? Where do we get our worldview? Everywhere. Our parents and family, our culture, our family class, our education, the music we listen to, the books we read, the things we watch, the websites we look at, and much, much more. Most people don’t think through their worldview. It’s something we have absorbed by osmosis from the surrounding cultural influences, and they haven’t thought strategically about what they believe, and may not even be able to give a rational defense of their beliefs to others.

Why is all this important? Because a persons worldview is their personal theology of life, it is the foundation for everything they think and do and say. A persons worldview serves as their decision-making filter, enabling them to make sense of the complex and huge amount of information, experiences, relationships and opportunities they face in life. By helping to clarify what they believe to be important, true and desirable, a worldview has a dramatic influence on a person’s choices in any given situation.

Here’s the problem (or the one I will mention). Most American Christians don’t have a biblical worldview (Only one percent of Mosaics have a biblical worldview and 9 percent of all Americans have a biblical worldview). Only 20 percent of those who call themselves born again have a biblical worldview. How is a biblical worldview defined? For a survey two years ago, the Barna group asked people to answer several questions, based on claims found in the Bible: Do absolute moral truths exist? Is absolute truth defined by the Bible? Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life? Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today? Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned? Is Satan real? Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people? Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings? (http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years).

What they found was that less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth, and while only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior, they also found that only 47% of born again Christians strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds  (i.e. -53 percent of all born again Christians think you can earn it – for a rebuttal to this position, please read Ephesians 2).

Worse, they found some troubling patterns as well. They found that although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions. There’s a story from the White Horse Inn (a Christian radio program), that when they  started to do a series examining Galatians last year, they went to a conservative, evangelical Bible college (a place you would expect high biblical knowledge) and asked, “What is the book of Galatians about?” The result was not good, wrote the blogger who told the story, He said, “It was almost jaw dropping to hear some of these responses and how completely wrong they were.” Here’s some of the other answers they got “Community in the church. I’m not familiar with it. Strengthening others in Christ. I haven’t read it all the way through. I don’t remember.” Let me help here. Galatians is about freedom in Christ (5:1)

In addition, they found that , the generational pattern suggests that parents are not focused on guiding their children to have a biblical worldview. One of the challenges for parents, though, is that you cannot give what you do not have, and most parents do not possess such a perspective on life” (ibid). This week, a Barna pole noted two more disturbing facts. Twenty-five percent of those who claim to be born-again Christians said that “all people are eventually saved or accepted by God”. A similar proportion, 26 percent, said a person’s religion does not matter because all faiths teach the same lessons. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/many-born-again-christians-hold-universalist-views-barna-finds-49883)

Why do we care that many American Christians don’t have a biblical worldview? Because if we don’t hold a biblical worldview,, it damages our ability to glorify God with our lives, and it destroys our witness. If we don't really believe the truth of God’s word, if it doesn’t shape our thinking and our actions, then our lives will not consistently honor and glorify God. It may sometimes, but not consistently. Furthermore, our witness will be confusing and misleading. We may want to have a good witness, but we will struggle with being influenced more by the philosophy and thinking of our post-Christian culture than by scripture. Colossians warns us, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ (Col 2:8 NIV). Many American Christians are completely taken by the philosophy of our culture, and while we say that we believe the Bible, our words, actions, tell us that our worldviews are often being shaped by other things.

So how do we develop a biblical worldview? First, and most importantly, we get in the word. We read, read, read. I can’t begin to tell you how important this is. Time and again, the Psalms tell us the value of scripture; Psalm 119 says that Gods word “is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105 NIV). Psalm 1 tells us, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2 NIV).  “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple”. Psalm19 tells us “The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.(Psalm 19:7-11). As you read scripture, it will change you, because it proclaims the message of God’s saving work, warns us, directs us, guides us, and does more than we can ask or imagine.

Second, Be Bereans. Acts tells us “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (Act 17:11) When you come across ideas, examine them, don’t just let them flow in and sit. This goes for everything I say too. Hold it to the light of Scripture, and see if it matches.

Third, really start to think through what you believe, and why you believe it. In Romans 12, Paul writes, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:1-2 NIV) To not conform, you have to examine what you believe, and how that shapes your life.

 Fourth, read books that help you wrestle with big questions. Read like crazy. I would recommend four books to start with: Tim Keller’s “A Reason for God” (I highly recommend “A reason for God” if you are trying to engage postmoderns), John Stott’s “Basic Christianity”, Lee Strobel’s “A Case for Christ”, and C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”. Start with Keller, his book is worth it.

Finally and most importantly, constantly preach the gospel to yourself, remind yourself every day of all that God has done. Remind yourself that Christ died for you, He lost his life, so that you might have life in him. He died as a sinner, so that you might be righteous. He died, to make you God’s child in his image. He died a terrible death, so that you might know “the all surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”(Phil.3:8). If you seek to build a biblical worldview and live a life that glorifies God without understanding this, you will fail, because the efforts will be either based on guilt, or emotions; and both eventually both power sources run dry. But if you remember the cross, if your remember that Christ became weak, so you might be strong, it will give you the right motivation, not on your actions earning Gods grace, but based on a joyful response to all that Christ has done for you.

In Christ,
Pastor Jonathan

Osama Bin Laden

Yesterday, I was asked what I thought about Bin Laden's death.A member of the church wrote.

"I'd love to know your thoughts on Bin Laden's death.  I am struggling with it today - celebrating in my mind, but feeling guilty at the same time.  This was, after all, a man, whom God loved, and we (USA) have now taken away any possibility there might have been (slim possibility I know) that at some point in the future he might have felt remorse for his actions and turned to God.  Is there a point where the needs or interests of the many truly do outweigh the needs of the one?  Or is that just a myth?"

Wow, what a great, loaded question. Here is a short, imperfect answer.


Let me start by saying this. I think that celebrating is a natural reaction. But as I look at this, I wonder, are we celebrating his death per se, or all that is wrapped up with that? I think that from my perspective, what we are celebrating is that a major threat has been eliminated, and that justice has taken place. This is a just execution.

What makes it a just execution? Is there such a thing? I think so.

Genesis 9:3-6 teaches that if you take a life, your life is forfeit. Now the Law makes this principle more explicit, differentiating between manslaughter, and murder (Numbers 35 makes a distinctions between - malice aforethought and accidental death without hostility). The bible never condemns capital punishment. Christ never condemned capital punishment. He had ample opportunity to say something on the topic, and he didn’t. In fact, in Luke 23:41, we see that the dying thief says to the other, “we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong”. Jesus does not say, “no, it doesn’t matter what you did, capital punishment is wrong”. He could have, but he doesn’t.

A passage that may be used by some to say that Jesus is against capital punishment is John 8:1-11. There, a woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus, and while the Law said she should be stoned, Jesus says, let the person who is without guilt cast the first stone. This whole scene is a setup. The Pharisees are trying to Get Jesus to reject the law of God. He doesn’t do it. Instead, he invites anyone who is sinless to take the first crack. This is not a rejection of capital punishment; just trap avoidance.

When we look at Romans, we see that Human government is ordained by God (Romans 13:1-7). They have the power to tax (6-7), the power to enforce laws (2-3), and the power to punish evil. Romans 13:4 tells us that “If you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer”. In other words, the sword is placed in the hands of the state to administer Justice. Peter adds to this, when he says “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” (1Peter 2:13-14)

Now, let’s put all that in the context of killing of Bin Laden's death. Did he take part in murder? The case is pretty clear that he masterminded 9-11, which means he was involved in committing murder. Should we celebrate the death? I don’t think so. I don’t think we should ever celebrate when someone dies. Might he have repented? Might, might, might he have felt remorse for his actions and turned to God? Maybe. I’m not going to pretend that this is not the case. And, while I don’t know that I want to say that there a point where the needs or interests of the many truly do outweigh the needs of the one (although that may well be the case), I think that at a point, the interest of justice does need to be served.

With Bin Laden’s death, justice has been served, and a major threat has been eliminated. It is fair to celebrate that reality: and I think that allot of what is going on is a celebration of the fact that justice was served. It’s like a whole nation is finally getting to celebrate outside the courthouse of justice like a family who lost a son or daughter to murder might celebrate finally feeling the relief of relief knowing that the murderer of their child met justice ten years later. A wrong is not righted, but justice has finally been served.

That’s my thoughts after chewing on them for a bit. In the end, what I feel most of all is sadness. Sadness for the loss of life that’s been caused already. Sadness that we will most likely see more violence. Many Muslims are mouning Bin Laden’s death (ironic- given that somewhere around 90 percent of all Al-Qaeda fatalities have been Muslims (stat from- http://www.congress.org/news/2011/05/02/obama_no_war_against_islam). There is no good end. Just an end. But at least, for a day, we can celebrate justice.

Serious sin, and a Serious solution

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:45-46 

This year, we suffered the never ending winter. It seemed like every time I turned around, it was grey and snowy. But as I think about the never ending winter, and the beauty of spring, I can’t help but think about the grimness of the cross, and the bright joy of the resurrection.

The day of the crucifixion seems like the grimmest of moments. On the face of it, this day is the darkest moment in history. Jesus is beaten, tried and found innocent, then condemned to die. He is forced to carry his own cross, and then he is nailed to that cross. When He is lifted up, the religious leaders and crowds stood and mocked Him, and even one of the criminals mocked Him. It was so dark and grim, that God the Father turned away, from this awful scene.

It was a grim day, a day that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, went to the cross. He went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, your sin, and my sin. All too often, we see sin as a joke, live comfortably with it, and condone it. But the reality is that sin is nothing to joke about. It is, to quote R.C. Sproul, ‘cosmic treason’. It is “treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself”, and it leads to separation from God, because God can have nothing to do with sin. In the Levitical sin-offering (which only atoned for unintentional sin, and did not cover willful disobedience or sin was punishable by death), this was symbolized by the burning of the flesh of the bull outside of the camp.

Sin is serious, it’s no laughing matter, because it offends a holy, righteous, and just God, and leads to death, both physically and spiritually. Sin required a serious solution. Jesus was that serious solution, He was, for all times, the perfect, sinless substitute. He was the perfect sin-offering for His people, the perfect sacrifice that was dealt with Sin in the only way possible, by shedding his blood. The writer of Hebrews tells us that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). When Jesus was on that cross, he bore in His own body the full weight of the penalty of sin as he shed his blood. He bore it alone. He was forsaken by God, bearing our sins as the perfect sin offering, taking God’s just wrath on himself. In doing so, He provided the serious solution that we need, in His mercy and love, and as the sun darkened, as He experienced the separation from the Father that comes from sin, He paid the penalty for all time, providing a new and living way for us to enter into the presence of the Father.

As we celebrate Holy week, as we gather together in the Tilden Library on Maundy Thursday, as we gather at 6:30 on Easter morning at the Wheelock field for Sunrise Service, and as we gather for Resurrection Sunday worship in the sanctuary, think of all that happened throughout this week, think of the cross, think of how serious sin is, and how serious the solution was for our sins. At the same time, rejoice. “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27: 51). We can go before the Father with boldness. Rejoice, the sun has broken forth! Jesus rose, and His resurrection is a proof that he made a full atonement for our sins! It is proof that His sacrifice was accepted as a satisfaction to divine justice, and that His blood was the ransom for sinners! Rejoice, because the resurrection of Christ is also a pledge and an earnest of the resurrection of all believers (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:47-49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). As He lives, we also shall live. Rejoice! Your sins are paid for! ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’ (Isaiah 1:18). In Christ, they are washed as white as snow! Rejoice, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins, and the resurrection gives proof of that fact. Rejoice! He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

    In Christ