Wednesday, May 30, 2012
My practice of preaching a
“theme” for the new year, and of late, incorporating this into our Conference
theme, was never intended to be a gimmick or trafficking in mere
sloganism. No, it is based on the
conviction that the Holy Spirit is
truly saying something to the church, at strategic times and places. I consider Conference to be one of those
times in our lives and churches. This
theme in part, then, becomes a reference and rallying-point for our faith as we
move forward in God’s will throughout the year.
The inspiration “At All Costs” predates my personal
medical conditions last year, 2011. That
wouldn’t make it inspiration but it
would be projection of my challenges
on to everyone else. That is certainly
not my intention. Where it originated
was the testimony of Youcef Nadarkhani,
an Iranian pastor who was arrested and convicted in Iran, and is facing the
death penalty. What is his crime? They call
it apostasy, but it is in fact
believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and being a faithful pastor in an
Islamic country. Right then and there I
was “quickened” with the thought, at all
costs. Whether you are a pastor
persecuted for your faith and faithfulness to the Gospel, or a housewife
raising a Christ-centered family, or a plumber or teacher working a job but
your main calling in life is to glorify Christ, or a student, or a lay leader
in your church: we can ALL be faithful to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. The
price tag is always the same: at all costs!
There are 3 potent truths that this is meant to present to our
minds. Think about them with me for just
a bit.
Our Costly Salvation
This is the starting point for
everything. The foundation for our
lives, our faith, our hope, our eternity, our service to God is based on the
price paid by Jesus Christ for our salvation.
At the center of redemption is the love-motivated,
obedient-to-His-Father self-sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. John tells us, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his
only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love,
not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins.” (1John 4:9,10) This is why we never move beyond of the Cross
of Jesus Christ, for it is our measure and model, because it reveals two
awesome realities. First, it reveals for
us the character of God. Everything originated in the heart of God,
and I can only truly grasp His character when I look to the Cross. The second thing is it reveals the way to live as the redeemed and loved
children of God. John again told us, “By this we know that we love the children
of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of
God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
(1John 5:2,3)
Our Costly Service
I was intrigued by a question
that was posed to a pastor of a huge mega-church, that over all the years what
was the hardest topic he’s had tried
to get across? The hardest truth and
theme to convey to people? Without
hesitation, he replied, “Becoming totally
devoted to Christ.” One of the facts that church history teaches is that a
leader can do more through a handful of totally devoted believers than through
a Church full of half-hearted ones.
What’s so powerful about this is that it presents us with a a clear
purpose for life. The sub-title,
“Serving God’s Purpose in Your
Generation” gives a life context for every believer and follower of
Jesus Christ. The text tells us that
David chose to center his life on serving and doing the will of God in every
season and phase of life. This gave him
and you and I a singular focus for
our lives. Success in the Bible is only
measured in the context of God’s will, where we shift from being devoted from
living for my will to living for God’s will.
Grace, though wonderfully free, is by no means cheap but, true grace
inspires both committed and costly service.
We’re talking about the driving
force in our lives. What gets you up
in the morning and powers you through each day?
What floats your boat? For David,
for Paul, and for a host of others, it was the cause of Christ. Jim Collins who has written extensively on
the subject of leadership coined this phrase, “Level 5 Leader.” This
refers to someone who “blends extreme
personal humility with intense professional will.” They are very often strong leaders. Collins went on, “their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not
themselves...for the company and concern for its success rather than for one’s
own riches and personal renown.
How should I look at my
life? The Lord’s call is certainly
beyond just comfort, east, or worldly success.
Life is a sacrifice, so offer it! (2Tim.4:6,7) “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of
my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.” Life is also
a currency,
so spend it! (2Cor.12:15) “I will most gladly spend and be spent for
your souls.”
“Our Costly Sacrifice”
David grasped this in a powerful
way! When he chose to offer sacrifice to
avert the plague that had descended on the land and was killing thousands of
people, (2Sam.24:23-25) gives us the account, “All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to
the king, "The Lord your God accept you." But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I
will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord
my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the
plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.” He said he would not offer God that which did
not cost him personally. He knew that if
he accepted Araunah’s gracious offer, there would be a missing element to his
offering.
This is why, beloved, to this
day there is no such thing as “no cost”
discipleship or Church planting. I’m
sorry, it does not exist. Looking for
bargains may be fine when shopping or doing business, but not the things of
God.
There is a “cost factor” to all things. We’re not talking here about the “fine print” but something that Jesus
put right up front. I think we’re all
the same in many ways. Most of us don’t
look forward to reading the fine print in contracts and manuals like mobile phone
contracts, or the licensing agreement in software purchase that ask you to
click “Agree.” Jesus spelled this out in
discipleship, “For which of you, desiring
to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has
enough to complete it? Otherwise, when
he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to
mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another
king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten
thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great
way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not
renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:28-33) The very
essence of the Christian life is to give up our lives to Christ; to say “no” to
yourself and give your life over totally to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, there is a cost to doing God’s will; but
there’s also a cost to compromise and not doing God’s will...you decide!
As we begin our 2012 Bible
Conference, I trust that the Holy Spirit will take God’s Word and this theme,
and cause it to powerfully resonate in our lives and bring encouragement and
fresh strength to our lives, our families, our ministries, and our
careers. I don’t have adequate words to
express my gratitude for the faithful saints of God in our church in
particular, which have been faithful to “serve God’s purpose in our generation.”
Not because of coercion, but motivated by the love of God, they continue to
invest and seek to be fruitful in every season of life. In investment, there is what’s called the “risk-to-reward” ratio that must be
considered: how much risk are we willing to bear in order to see an abundant
return. Jesus has already made clear for
each and everyone of us how that correlates to serving Him. “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say
unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions;
and in the world to come eternal life.”
In other words, He said you can take this to the bank: YOU WILL NEVER BE
A LOSER IF YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR GOD’S PURPOSE AND GOD’S GLORY!
Monday, May 21, 2012
One of the most famous speeches
in recent times was delivered by President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg
Gate, prior to the demolishing of the Berlin Wall that has had existed for many
years, and symbolized the divide between freedom and communism that marked the Cold War. One of the most memorable lines the President
delivered was, “General Secretary
Gorbachev, if you seek peace for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe...Mr.
Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev,
TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!” He firmly
believed that freedom would pave the
way to prosperity, and result in the burying of what he called “ancient hatreds”, as well as clearly
marking the path forward.
Take
A Visit With Me To The Wall
I want to take you to another
wall, if that’s alright. I’m not talking
architectural such as the Great
Wall of China; not geographic/political as the Berlin wall. This is not historical or memorable
such as the Vietnam War Memorial dubbed
simply “The Wall.” I don’t have in mind the religious or
symbolic such as the Western or the
Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem that carries with it profound implications
of identity and title deed to the Jewish people. No, what I have in mind is much, much closer
to home. In fact, it resides in the
human heart and is referred to as “the dividing wall of hostility.” Please read and consider (Eph.2:11-18) ESV
which so richly declares:
“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
Recently, much of the nation was
stunned and captured by the tragic events surrounding the slaying of a 17-year
old teenager Trayvon Martin, by a
local neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, FL, George Zimmerman. There are
certainly a lot of unanswered questions, but almost immediately this even was
jumped on and politicized by numbers of people. There were very few sober,
restrained voices warning of the dangers of any case being tried in the media without all the facts investigated
and corroborated. In the end, what we
are left with is a sad, sad legacy that will forever scar this teenager’s
parents, and all the others close to the case and individuals. What it has served to accomplish is to bring
the issue of “race” or racial
divisions to the forefront of the cultural conversation. I don’t have statistical evidence of this,
but it seems that the “race card” is
being played and exploited by a lot of people more & more frequently, and
is not helping. So, instead of people
being brought together and old wounds being healed, the racial divide seems
more pronounced than ever. This was not
supposed to happen!
It is right here that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ shines! The Gospel paints the glorious picture of
humanity reconciled to God, and thru Jesus Christ, to each other. Ephesians 2/3 present us with the Biblical
and theological foundation of this reality. According to God’s word the life
lesson about the problem is two-fold. First,
the one word that sums up the human condition and so much of human history is
the word...alienation. As a very young Christian, the earliest
explanation given to me about sin was the fact of separation: sin separates
people first from God, and then from one another. The second lesson that follows is that
the roots and origins of racism are not political, social, or
economic (although these certainly contribute to the problem); no, they are spiritual. You don’t have to look any further than the human
heart to what gives this its death-dealing power!
It’s also true that you don’t
have to go very far or look very hard to find examples and illustrations of
this alienation, this “dividing wall of
hostility.” You have the tribalism in Africa that often carries
genocidal tendencies like what happened in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis,
which much of the world turned a blind eye to.
In the Asian community, the
Koreans don’t like the Japanese, and vice versa; plus they both dislike the
Chinese. I live in Arizona where the
label ‘racist’ is attached to any attempt to address the problem of illegal
immigration. Among some Latino people they get very offended
and say, “Don’t call me Mexican; I’m
Spanish.” Amongst the Native Americans you find the neighbor
on neighbor conflict between the Navajos and Hopis that has been going on for
generations; also including their neighbors to the north, the Utes. Then there’s the Islanders. In the
Micronesia, the Chamorros hate the Chuukese.
Not to be outdone, in the Polynesians,
the Samoans and the Tongans are not wild about each other. My chaplain friend, Bob Mecado, confirmed
that the prison system is one of the most segregated places on earth where
you’re forced to make a choice about “what
car you’re going to ride in.” Will it be white, or Mexican, or Black? It’s hard to fight a war and bring stability
in Afghanistan to a people where
tribes or clans have been fighting one another for generations. Dear ones, this is just a small sampling of
the world we live in, with all its walls. I haven’t even got into the travesty of
apartheid in South Africa, and the
wall between whites, blacks, and colored.
Or Sierra Leone, where you
have the Mende and the Temne, with the Creole feeling superior to all the
indigenous people. We can look around
and find the ancient political tactic of DIVIDE & RULE is being propagated,
and originated with and learned from the “father”
of it all, which is the devil!
Where I get some hope is from
our Scripture. As real as these and all
the other social distinctions are: they can’t hold a candle to, and are not
nearly as intense or unrelenting as the “dividing wall of hostility” between Jew and Gentile in Bible times. The
Jews believed that Gentiles were only good for and were created to fuel the
fires of Hell. It was not lawful for a
Jew to give aid to a Gentile woman giving birth, since you’d be helping to
bring another heathen into the world.
The collision of Jewish/Gentile exclusiveness was monumental. The Gentiles were dogs in Jewish parlance; and the Jews were homicidal enemies of the human race in Gentile terms. Among the Gentiles as well it was written, “The Greeks wage a truceless war against
people of other races (whom they consider to be barbarians). My reason for
wanting to visit this wall with you is that if we’re going to experience
revival and kingdom fruitfulness then...this “spirit” must be broken.
The
Miracle Of The Church
I guess the question that begs
to be asked here is what about single-ethnic churches? I understand there are some exceptions due to
various circumstances factors, historical, linguistic, and geographical. The idea is that people come to faith easier
when there are people of the same ethnic and socio-economic background. That might have some truth to it, but how
does it differ from a religious-flavored being comfortable with our kind?
The real model should be local churches that reflect the ethnic
diversity of heaven and God’s glory. The song of redemption that says, “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy
are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by
your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people
and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they
shall reign on the earth.” (Rev.5:9, 10) A church where Jesus Christ reigns will
be a “pocket of reconciliation and shalom
in an alienated world.” Dr. Martin
Luther King is noted for saying that the most segregated hour in America is
Sunday morning at 11:00am which is when whites go to their church, and Blacks
go to theirs. I’m not denying that this happens;
I’m saying that this is not manifesting the life of Jesus Christ or His
Kingdom. A people whose prayer and heart
desire is “thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The building of God’s kingdom necessitates
the ministry of racial reconciliation (“tear
down this wall!”), which results in a multitude of diverse people
worshiping, serving together, loving, and seeking first the Kingdom of
God. The witness that the Kingdom of God
is “righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit.” (Rom.14:17)
Ministering
The Mystery
Our calling as Christians and as
a church is to manifest this mystery: “so
that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to
the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” We are called to give truth and validity to
the “many-colored wisdom of God” in
the fellowship of the Church! This will
come at a cost since the flesh (fallen human nature), the world (with its many
power-centered agendas), and the devil is constantly trying to re-erect what
Christ came to tear down. A Church that
is “manifesting the mystery” is a work of God, not something we can concoct on
our own. It happens when the central
impetus of ministry is preaching the Gospel and making disciples. It also is the fruit of the pastor’s heart. He must be seized by the Biblical conviction
and cast the vision that God wants the local church to reflect the “manifold
wisdom of God,” or a multi-ethnic ethos. It is also the fruit of a spiritual principle
found in (1Jn.1:1-3) that the closer we are to God, the closer we become to
each other.
It’s easy to take the posture or
attitude of “being more comfortable with
people like us...people of our kind.”
But, if we are going to think and live Biblically, then we are Christian’s first, and then whatever
else: white, black, Mexican, Asian, native-American, rich or poor, educated or
uneducated etc. Why? Because WE ALL HAVE
THE SAME FATHER, THE SAME CITIZENSHIP, THE SAME FAMILY, THE SAME GRACE AND
SALVATION, THE SAME PROMISES, AND THE SAME HEAVENLY HOME by aligning ourselves
with God and His truth and His people, we too, become part of something much
greater than ourselves in a world hopelessly alienated. That, my friend, is worth contending for;
don’t you agree?! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
Note: Pastor Warner is a white guy from New England, married to a Mexican girl from the barrio, going on 40 years. He is also glad and privileged to serve in the same church made up of numerous ethnicities, with a burning desire to “manifest this mystery” as a living illustration. They seek to do this in the context of a passion to reach the world with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, which at this time includes people from 5 different continents, and 26 different countries.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Sports fans around the world can
usually rely on one fact: the home team
wins more often than the visiting team,
hence, we talk about having a “home field advantage.” Sports Illustrated stated, “Home field advantage is no myth. Indisputably, it exists...across all sports
and at all levels, from Japanese baseball to Brazilian soccer to the NFL, the
team hosting the game wins more often than not.” Well, I have a suggestion: for the Christian,
our “home field” refers to the particular local
church where God has called and placed us.
Yes, I understand fully the theology that we don’t just go to church, but we are the church. But, after nearly 40 years of pastoring what
I’ve observed over and over is that IF WE DON’T GO TO CHURCH, THEN WE CAN’T BE
THE CHURCH.
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb.10:24,25)
Jesus’s
Mission Statement
In a pivotal encounter in the
Gospel, Jesus said to Peter (Mt.16:18) “And
I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
What more do you need? Jesus is telling every generation what his
building project is! It seems to me that
the church has been battered a lot lately.
Andrew Sullivan wrote an article recently in Newsweek magazine, “Christianity
In Crisis.” It was your typical Holy
Week “hit piece” by a supposed Christian author and political commentator. In the article he makes the case, “Christianity has been destroyed by
politics, priests, and get-rich evangelists” and that Christians should
walk away from the church altogether and follow the teachings of Jesus
individually. Oh, boy, another person who has a better idea
than Jesus! Sure, it’s easy to chronicle
all the problems around us, but what are you doing personally to make things
better? I’d suggest that we walk away
from Mr. Sullivan, since his diagnosis betrays an abysmal lack of understanding
of New Testament truth and ecclesiology. Churches are flawed, just like people,
but it is God’s will that you and I be part of a local expression of the Body
of Christ. Phillip Jensen said, “The distinctively Christian gathering or
assembly, that historically has come to be called ‘church’, is made up of those
whom God has saved and redeemed in Christ, and who now in repentance and trust
gather around him to listen to his word, so that they may persevere and grow in
holiness and righteousness.”
Watch
Your Manners!
Paul warned “not forsaking (neglecting) the assembling of ourselves together, as is
the manner of some.” We’re not dealing with anything new, but
it is definitely a spiritual issue. One
author recently stated that there is an epidemic of American Christians of
floating, leaving, or switching churches, that carries with it the mindset of a
consumer, or at least an independent
spirit. The simple truth that Paul
emphasizes here is that faith in Jesus Christ will ultimately lead to
functioning in a local church. Hence, he
writes, “let us draw near”...“let us hold fast”...“let us consider how to stir up one
another.” One of our pastors told
me about two women in his church, both in their mid-30's. They recently went to work at a Christian
bookstore in town, exposing them to a large swatch of the religious community
in their city. One pastor was talking to
them, and asking them where they went to church. They told him that they had been going to The Door for the last 18 years. He was very surprised to see people committed
to the same church for that long period of time, especially coming from that
age demographic.
Necessary
Steadfastness
I love the testimony of the
Colossian church in (Col.2:5) where Paul told them, “For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit,
rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in
Christ.” They displayed the discipline of staying put in God’s place for
your life. It is very doubtful that
without steadfastness to God, our spouse, our church, our work, our vision,
that we can enjoy the fullness of human life and God’s blessing. There are those who would argue, “I don’t have to go to church to be saved.” Exactly....just like you don’t need to bathe
to keep on living, but, trust me, it will affect you and others! There was a brochure entitled “Why I Never Take A Bath” where someone
had listed reasons for avoiding bathtubs and showers. It included things like:- I was forced to bathe as a child.
- People who bathe are hypocrites; they
think they’re cleaner than others.
- There are so many different kinds of
soap, I can’t decide which is best.
- It’s boring.
- I wash only on special occasions, like
Christmas and Easter.
- The soap makers are only after your
money.
- The last time I bathed, someone was
rude to me.
- I’m too dirty to get clean; I’d clog up
the drain.
- I can watch other people bathing on
television.
- I’ll bathe only when I find a bathroom
exactly right for me.
- I can bathe at the golf course.
- The bathroom is never the right
temperature, and I don’t like the sound of the plumbing.
I think you can see my
point. The Lord Jesus established His
church to carry on His work until He comes again. It’s not perfect, but it has changed the
world! This is the lost blessing of
constancy. It is what David promised
when he said, “Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts
of our God. They will still bear fruit
in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” (Ps.92:13,14)
Enduring
Satisfaction
OK, I’ll admit it that it
touched a nerve in me! Church leaders in
England were discussing how they could stop the steady decline in their
churches, and the best they could come up with was shorter services. After all
they said, church services already have to compete with shopping, lying in bed,
or taking the day off. So, the idea of
giving God any meaningful time is not very appealing in today’s society. They were Anglicans,
and their conclusion to reach people was shorter services, no longer than 50
minutes in their entirety. The Vatican took it even a step
further. They told their priests to keep
their sermons under 8 minutes, because, on top of everything else, people’s
attention spans are not what they used to be.
My advice, for what it’s worth,
is not for shorter services (or longer), but...better services! More
Jesus-centered, more faith-filled, more Word-saturated, more praise-uplifting
services! We need to echo David’s
sentiments about the house of God. (Ps.26:8) “I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence
dwells.” (Ps.36:8) “They feast on the
abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” Then
there’s (Ps.65:4) “Blessed is the one you
choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
Ministry
Motivation & Methods
Here’s the exciting challenge
before us, vs.24, “Let us think of ways
to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” (NLT) Let’s give
some thought and consider how we can spur one another to grow in love and good
works. This makes plenty of room for
creativity, but there are two simple ways here for every Christian to be
involved in meaningful ministry. First,
is the ministry of showing up!
Yes, as simple as that, if you make assembling together a priority, it
becomes a real blessing to others. Over
the years I’ve learned that for people just to make it to church sometimes is a
huge accomplishment. The second
opportunity is the ministry of encouragement, vs.25b, “but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
drawing near.” This introduces the edification factor to our coming
together. (1Cor.14:26) “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together...let all things be done for edification.” The word means “to build up” but we can simplify that we’re talking about friendliness. I was reading an interesting study from the
White House Office of Consumer Affairs (I’m sure you all have a
subscription). It found that 96% of
unhappy customers never complain about rude or unfriendly treatment, but 90% of
those unhappy persons will not return to that place. Furthermore, each one of those unhappy
persons will tell 9 other people about the lack of friendliness and
courteousness, and 13% will tell more than 20 other people! A later study discovered that the number one
reason why individuals do not return to a particular establishment is an
indifferent, unfriendly employee attitude.
Work on your attitude and the church will be blessed; because one
unfriendly saint can do a whole lot of damage.
A Churchgoer wrote a letter to
the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to
church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something
like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of
me, I can’t remember a single one of them.
So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by
giving sermons at all.” This started
a controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, which went on for weeks
until someone wrote this clincher:
“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of men, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
Where’s
Waldo?
Our webmaster forwarded me an
email from a young man who attended our church in the 1970's. Listen to what he said: “Pastor, you may not remember me.
My name is Walter Nichols. It
used to be Whitehead, and you always called me Waldo. I remember the church doing outdoor concerts
in the park. Just to let you know, I am
married to a wonderful woman, and have four wonderful boys.....There is not a day that goes by that I have
not thought about you or the church that I used to go to. Just thought I would say hello, and may God
richly bless you. Walter (Waldo).”
That really floored me. The grace
of God through the ministry of the Gospel and the Church had made a divine
deposit in his life. It also convicted
me to think back 30+ years and wonder, “Lord,
I hope I was a good testimony and friendly towards Waldo!” I think we should realize that there are a
lot of “Waldos” in every city and place, and the Church is God’s vehicle to
touching their lives.
When we honor God and one
another by coming together faithfully on our home court, it aligns the internal gyroscopes of our soul with
God. One of the brethren who heard this
message put it the best, when he told me that our “home field advantage” means that the church is home
for all of us! I couldn’t say it any better!
Friday, April 6, 2012
The event caught my attention on
a number of different levels. It was
billed as a “Reason Rally,” and it was held in Washington D.C.’s National
Mall on March 24, 2012, ostensibly to promote and bring recognition to non-religion and atheism. First, I guess I
don’t grasp the motivation of why someone would travel such a significant
distance at significant expense, to rally around what you don’t believe
in? If you know anything about the
National Mall, a gathering of 20,000 people is small in comparison to other
similar events. That didn’t keep someone
though from engaging in shameless self-promotion or inept reporting calling it,
“the largest secular event in the history
of the world.” Really?! In the history of the world?! Then, there was the overall tenor of the
event, which seemed more about attacking Christianity than celebrating the joys
of atheism. There were signs that read, “So many Christians, so few lions.”
Numerous references were made that speaking about your faith was tantamount to “hate speech.” And, oh yes, calls for everyone from Rick Santorum to Pope Benedict XVI to Tim
Tebow to be arrested. Their crime? I
guess if you have faith, you should literally be silent about it. Anyhow, it inspired me to wade in to make it
perfectly clear that ours is a “reasonable
faith.”
Faith Under Fire
You should know that when it
comes to Christianity and especially belief in Jesus Christ, there has always
been its detractors and its skeptics. One of the unique features of our age is we
are witnessing the rise of both
skepticism and faith; doubt and belief are growing side by side. This accounts for the resurgence of what’s
been called the neo-atheists, with names like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins
(author of “The God Delusion”), Sam
Harris and others.
“New atheism is a more aggressive and anti-religious form of atheism that presupposes the validity of scientific theories and reason, and applies them to religious phenomena in an attempt to disprove that God exists and that religion is dangerous”
 |
| Richard Dawkins |
Have you ever looked up the
definition of skeptic or skepticism? The dictionary says, “To look at a matter closely; to scrutinize; to study with great care;
in minute detail.” True skepticism
is not an excuse or refusal to think or investigate things closely; just the
opposite. I think this is what’s
different about today: the goal is not honest dialogue or even honest
disagreement, but the intention is to disparage and refute the truth of the
Bible, often using mockery to
intimidate believers. I think of that
intellectual giant, Bill Maher, of
HBO who along with others have alleged that Christians should be in mental
wards and are nothing more than sycophantic sheep. That tone was definitely present at the “Reason Rally,” when Richard Dawkins
told the crowd that (Christians) “need to
be ridiculed with contempt...mock them, ridicule them! In public!” Uhhhm, where’s the civility and the towering
“reason” in all of that? The bottom-line
is that faith in Jesus Christ has always been “ground zero” of spiritual
warfare. Every believer and generation
will be faced with its own adamant rejection of the message and truth of the
Gospel.
By No Means A New Phenomenon
 |
| Francois Voltaire |
Looking back, there is a long,
long list of famous or infamous skeptics, agnostics, and atheists who’ve
crossed the stage of history. There was
the noted French author, historian, philosopher, and infidel, Francois Voltaire, whose boast and aim
in life was to demolish Christianity. He
said, “In twenty years, Christianity will
be no more. My single hand shall destroy
the edifice that took twelve apostles to rear.” Well, Voltaire died like everyone else, and
what’s more is that his home was used by the American Bible Society for the
publication and distribution of Bibles!
In America, Robert Ingersoll
drew large audiences for his lectures on atheism. He liked to shock his hearers by taking out a
big pocket watch and announcing, “I give
God — if there is one — five minutes to strike me dead.” When someone called this to the attention
of the English evangelist, Joseph Parker, I like his answer. He said,
“And did the gentleman presume to exhaust the patience of the eternal God in five minutes?”
 |
| Nate Phelps |
There is an added question here
that is valid and interesting, and it is what makes an atheist. I certainly don’t know everything or have all
the answers, but I can tell you that there’s almost always a back
story! I was fascinated by the
author and professor from New York University, Paul Vitz, in his book called Faith
Of The Fathers. He studied the 72 most well-known atheists in history,
the Bertrand Russells, the Voltaires, and the Freuds, to see if they had
anything in common. The only thing he
could find in common with every one of them is they all hated their dads, every one of them. They had a distant dad, a demeaning dad, a
dead dad...they had no relationships with their fathers. That’s why it wasn’t surprising, but a bit
sad, that one of the speakers at the Reason
Rally was Nate Phelps, the son of Westboro Baptist Church pastor, Fred Phelps. The church has become infamous fore picketing
military funerals with signs and epithets such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.” Their
position and ugly misrepresentation is that all of this represents God’s
judgment on America for homosexuality.
Just imagine growing up in that home environment. Is it surprising that at the stroke of midnight
on his 18th birthday, he packed all of his belongings and left home,
rejecting God and the distorted faith of his parents, in particular his father? There is always a story behind things, often
hidden, but nevertheless real.
In the end, you have to work
hard at suppressing your belief in God since Scripture tells us “He has put eternity into man’s heart.” It’s describing man’s instinct for God, not
the result of some evolutionary process but God’s creative design. You are either a Christian or an atheist, you
see, by faith! Robert Rowe is an atheistic professor from
Purdue University, educated at Oxford who said: “Even as the evangelical Christian accepts God by faith, I reject the
idea of God by faith, but I cannot reject God by reason alone for there is too
much evidence of His existence. It is by
faith I am an atheist.” I can
appreciate the man’s honesty.
If you keep telling a lie
frequently enough, eventually people believe it. It seems that the common claim and biggest
misconception about Christianity is that it’s all about “blind faith.” It is portrayed as a blind leap into the dark, instead of a bold step into the light!
The caricature presented is that to become a Christian is to commit “intellectual suicide.” In order to become a follower of Jesus Christ
you have to unplug your brain first. We
need to dismantle that deception so that the truth can really set you free!
The Wonderful Possibility
God is such an awesome God! The text that comes to mind is (Isaiah 1:18) “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
shall become like wool.” Can’t you see the heart and the character of God
here? God is saying “Why don’t you and I sit down and reason together about the things that
really matter in life.” You know,
the big things, the big questions that set the direction of your life and
ultimately determine both its quality and outcome. True wisdom possesses this quality as well, “But the wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, open to reason,
full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)
Christianity is open for reason because of a simple fact: Christianity holds
its own and can operate in the arena of ideas!
Throughout the NT, this was the
Apostle Paul’s strategy. (Acts 17:2, 3)
“And
Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with
them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom
I proclaim to you, is the Christ."
He reasoned with them from the Scriptures. The word means “to dialogue; to discuss
thoroughly; to open, explain, and give evidence.” Arguments by Christians are more “reasonable”
than those of the skeptics or the atheists.
Dr. George Eldon Ladd in his book, I
Believe In The Resurrection, observes that “faith does not mean a leap in the dark, an irrational credulity, a
believing against evidences and against reason.
It means believing in the light of historical facts, consistent with
evidences, on the basis of witnesses.”
It is completely “reasonable” to put your faith in Him and serve Him all
the days of your life. There is a
“divine reasonableness” to faith, to the Cross, to the resurrection, and to the
call to holiness. That is why ours is a “reasonable
faith” to those who will take the time to examine and then to trust.
Here is insight into the task of
every believer. (1Pet.3:15, 16) tells
us, “But in your hearts regard Christ the
Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you
for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and
respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” To live winsomely for and effectively for
Christ in our age, we must first make Jesus Lord of every area of our hearts
and lives. Until this is done our lives
will be half-hearted and we will not be taken seriously. The second thing is we must be ready to give
an answer (make a defense; reasoned argument) to everyone for the reason for
the hope in our lives. He’s talking about
the field of apologetics. Not that everyone has to be a Bible scholar,
but we should be able to enunciate the what
and the why of our faith and hope in
Christ. Then he tells us that our
attitude and approach is what backs it all up.
A winsome witness is underscored by our lifestyle, “do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that,
when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be
put to shame.” The truth backed up
by a committed lifestyle is a winning strategy!
The Verdict
Paul’s closing argument was
concise, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” I was
intrigued reading about an award-winning writer, John Jeremiah Sullivan, who had what he called an adolescent “bout
with evangelicalism.” Sullivan walked away from the church and a biblical
faith, but after all these years he can’t fully reject the person of Jesus
Christ. He claims, “Once you’ve known [Jesus] as God,” it’s hard to find comfort in
Jesus as just another man. And even
after years of unbelief, Sullivan admits, “one
has doubts about one’s doubts.” You
see, it always comes back to Jesus and our encounter with Him. When the Apostle Paul made his defense before
King Agrippa in Acts 26, the final piece of evidence was his testimony of how he met Jesus on the Damascus Road! It was there that the greatest destroyer of
Christianity became its greatest defender!
That’s why the saying is true: A MAN WITH AN ARGUMENT IS NO MATCH FOR
MAN WITH AN EXPERIENCE. That’s why
Paul’s life passion from that point on became “that I might know him and the power of his resurrection.” Christianity is both a FACT to be believed and an EXPERIENCE to connect with. One without the other is to have a form of
religion with no power. DO YOU KNOW THEM
BOTH? Christianity says if you want to
experience God, you have to believe the truth: you have to believe that He
really lived that He really died, that He really raised...which leads to a real
experience, which leads to more understanding of the truth, and the truth leads
to more experience. And this cycle keeps
growing and being repeated in our lives!
Ordinary Or Extraordinary God
God needs to deliver us from the
idolatry that is so common
today. Idolatry is defined as “the worship of anything or anyone other
than or less than the true and living God” revealed in Scripture. Several years ago in Britain, researchers
went door-to-door asking persons about their belief in God. One of the questions: “Do you believe in a God who intervenes in human history, who changes
the course of affairs, who performs miracles etc.?” When the report was published, it took its
title from the response of one man who became typical of many. He answered, “No, I don’t believe in that God; I believe in the ordinary God.” If all we
have is the ordinary God, then He certainly wouldn’t be worthy to be worshiped
or adored with all your heart, soul, and mind!
I am so grateful that Jesus Christ is an extraordinary God and Savior; otherwise, I wouldn’t be a Christian
today.
In some of my reading for this
message, I read Tim Keller’s introduction to “The God of Reason” - Belief
In An Age of Skepticism. He told of
a Columbia University graduate and atheist, Kevin,
who was working on Wall Street with J.P. Morgan. He and his future wife, Kelly, had their doubts about
their doubts, so they started going to church. It was still a slow grind, since they had a
lot to work through. But, let me put it
in his words:
Kelly wrote, “As an atheist I thought I lived a moral, community-oriented, concerned-with-social-justice kind of life, but Christianity had an even higher standard–down to our thoughts and the state of our hearts. I accepted God’s forgiveness and invited him into my life.” Kevin wrote, “While sitting in a coffee shop reading C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, I put down the book and wrote in my notebook, ‘the evidence surrounding the claims of Christianity is simply overwhelming.’ I realized that my achievements were ultimately unsatisfying, the approval of man is fleeting, that a carpe diem life lived solely for adventure is just a form of narcissism and idolatry. And so I became a believer in Christ.” Oh, yes! Oh, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.
Dear ones, “Reason Rallies” come and go, but the God of Reason endures
forever, and one day we will all stand before Him. In fact, “In
Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” and He invites
you to give Him your hearts and your head, and discover that He is in the
life-transforming business! There is
a tipping
point for this to be a reality in your life? The prophet Isaiah tells us
in this internal reasoning process: “If
you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you
refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord
has spoken." I URGE YOU THIS
EASTER SEASON TO BE WILLING AND OBEDIENT: AND GIVE THE LORD JESUS WHO IS THE “”RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE” A PLACE IN
YOUR LIFE! YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT.
Friday, February 24, 2012
To all of you who read the postings on my blog, thank you. I have been a bit tardy in “feeding the beast,” but I assure you it’s not from a lack of desire. The combination of the holidays, preaching and pastoral responsibilities, Conference in Prescott, my mom visiting her firstborn son, have all put the discipline of writing on hold a bit. My hat is off to those who can preach and pastor full-time, and still write books, articles etc. But, I’m still IN THE GAME, and will contend for more “scribal momentum!”
SIGHT FOR SORE EYES!
That particular morning I saw there were several new men serving as ushers. This blessed me for a number of reasons. I felt blessed for a number of reasons. The first reason is that for years, our head usher John McClune has been very conscientious about this ministry. He has expressed to me his burden for a sufficient number of men to rise up to serve in this way week after week. There are a minimum of three worship services a week, so you can do the math. I was glad that day because John’s prayer was being answered. The other thing that blessed me was who had risen up to fill that gap, such a great diversity. One was a former pastor, another a long term disciple in our church for over 36 years, and also a young man recently graduated from high school. Their names might not mean anything to you, but they speak volumes to me!
You would expect that as a Pastor, I love seeing people come to church, and you’d be right. I love it even more, though, when they are not Christians, and they answer an altar call to come and repent and receive Christ! It’s even more exciting to me to see these same people come back to church, and begin to grow in their relationship with Christ. We are deeply committed to this discipling aspect of evangelism. Then, as the icing on the cake, I love to see them beginning to serve the Lord in the church in a variety of different ways. It is part of my “super team,” the church, as the body of Christ.
HOW’S YOUR CHURCH DOING?
SUPER SAINTS!
No church will function to the glory of God, or to her full potential without the contribution of faithful saints who are “set apart” to volunteer generously and serve in the local congregation. Just think about the contribution of these, who I consider to be part of God’s “super team.”
- The people who watch your children so you can enjoy the service, and they must listen to the message on tape.
- They set up and breakdown all the equipment for every service, plus the various special events and outreaches that are a regular part of our church’s life.
- On Saturday night, when we go home to bed, they are setting things up for the Sunday services.
- They clean up your mess, giving up their Sunday afternoons while we fellowship or take a Sunday afternoon nap, so that things are nice and neat and ready for the evening service.
- Saints prepare lessons, and often open their homes, so that we can meet in our HHM small groups for fellowship, support, and edification.
- They practice long hours instrumentally or vocally for our worship services, not to lift themselves up, but to help us enter into the presence of God.
- They are the ones who put huge effort, expertise and excellence into the church web-site, in order to present an attractive, informative, and substantive web-based church presentation.
- They are the people who mobilize to present outstanding dramatic and musical presentations during Easter and in the Fall.
- These are the ones whose gift is their “availability” to: visit and pray for those who are sick, prepare meals for those in times of need, labor in all the preparation for real ministry at weddings and funerals, they put together awesome times of church-wide fellowships.
- Saints are the people who “step up their game” and prepare for a genuine time of excellence to the glory of God during our annual Bible Conferences, and in the process touch people from around the world.
- They are reaching out to and pouring their lives into your teenagers to see Christ formed in their lives.
- They are the ones who prepare lessons and programs for children’s ministry, not baby-sitting, but an authentic Gospel ministry to the “little children.”
- They will run the sound and lighting, they will usher, they will prepare the weekly bulletin, they will serve in the parking lot, they will pray with people at the altar, they will follow-up on young converts to see them established in Christ. THE LIST GOES ON AND ON, WHICH IS WHY THEY ARE IN MY ESTIMATION A “SUPER TEAM!”
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!
- “I want to go where I’m fed”: not where we can learn to feed ourselves, or more, to feed others.
- “I need to be ministered to”: making it something that happens to us, instead of something we make happen through us for others.
- “I didn’t get anything out of the service today”: placing our edification before God being glorified.
All of these represent a kind of “spiritual narcissism” and it has invaded our thinking, making the individual needs and desires of the believer the center of all attention. No team can function effectively or victoriously when this is the moving force. Written into the DNA of every cell in the human body by our Creator God is the principle that each cell serves a specific purpose for the good of the whole. Every organ is dependent on the selfless service of other organs and cells. Without this, life ceases! This is true whether it is our human body, or the Body of Christ, the Church. It causes people to miss one of the deepest spiritual truths you can discover in life, and it is: “It’s not all about me!”
POSTURE GUARANTEED TO BRING SUCCESS & VICTORY
The exciting thing for me is that this carries with it the release of the miraculous! The scripture says, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man.” It is repeated three times directly about his life, telling us why he was successful. This helps to answer a bit of a riddle. (Acts 19:11,12) talks about “special miracles.” The actual text says, “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” These handkerchiefs were not a fashion accessory, and they weren’t something that a TV evangelist is selling, promising you your miracle if you’ll place it on your body or on your wallet. These were cloths used to wipe sweat away while working. They were sweat rags! God connected His miraculous power to these symbols of a servant character and hard work. When people are ready to invest labor to make the Gospel available; when they are willing to give their all and their best wherever they serve, you will find the release of the miraculous! It is significant that this is how the apostle Paul measured his life, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24).
We are traveling in the footsteps
Of those who’ve gone before
But we’ll all be reunited
On a new and sunlit shore
Oh when the saints go marching in
When the saints go marching in
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in!
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