Sad but true

It is hard to believe that someone could be within 100 yards of an 1,100-foot tall rock and not know where the rock is. Yes, it happened. Apparently, a drunk driver stopped to ask police where Ayers Rock (in Australia) was, when he was pointed right at it!

We should not be surprised by that, however. Throughout Scripture we see that sort of thing all of the time between human beings and God. It was part of God's judgment as recorded in Isaiah 6:10 where God says, "Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." This passage is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 13:14-15 in reference to the people in Israel.

Isn't that sad...having eyes to see, but not really seeing?

Last night our Bible study centered on 1 Samuel 4 where the fulfillment of God's prophetic judgment took place in the death of the high priest and judge Eli, and his sons and daughter-in-law. The text of that passage fascinates me.

We are told in 1 Samuel 3:2 that Eli's eyesight had begun to fade, "so that he could not see." Eli was old, and the natural progression of age had deteriorated his eyesight. But that was not all. In chapter four there is a play on words that give us insight into the spiritual condition of this priest, and Israel as a whole.

After Israel is defeated on the battlefield, Eli is sitting by the roadside near the city gate waiting for news of the outcome (Israel had taken the Ark of the Covenant into battle -- trying to force God's blessing on their actions--Eli was concerned about the Ark). The text actually says, "Eli was sitting by the road watching...." He is watching? But isn't he blind? When the messenger from the battlefield comes running into the city shouting the news, Eli misses him, and doesn't get the news until a little later. Why did he miss the messenger? "Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were so set that he could not see" (v. 15).

Here is a sad saga: Eli, the spiritual leader of Israel, is out watching, but he cannot see. He cannot lead Israel in the proper spiritual direction because he is himself unable to see. It was the blind leading the blind. Like the man at Ayers Rock, he was pointed in the right direction, but was totally lost.

In the New Testament, the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3 was very close to the same situation. That is why Jesus cautions them to "anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." This is not speaking of physically, but spiritually. Perhaps this is a good lesson to remember; we may have eyes, but that doesn't mean that we automatically "see." Let's get some of that eye salve from Jesus...

A Great Example

I'm sure that most of you have heard of by now of Mary Winkler, the lady who killed her husband Matthew, who was a pastor. There are not many details available, but Matthew's parents have spoken with Mary and have assured her of their forgiveness.

Though they don't understand what reason Mary Winkler would have had for killing their son, her in-laws have "assured her of their forgiveness," a longtime family friend said Monday.

Winkler confessed to shooting her husband in the back, though they haven't discussed a motive. She has since apologized to his parents, Dan and Diane Winkler, and their sons, Daniel and Jacob, according to Billy R. Smith, dean of the School of Biblical Studies at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson.

Smith has known the Winkler family for 25 years and said he and Dan Winkler have been friends for that long. Smith has talked to Dan Winkler several times since the tragedy and planned to attend visitation for Matthew Winkler on Monday night in Selmer, he said.

"They were able to visit with her in Alabama, and she expressed her great sorrow for what she'd done, and they assured her of their forgiveness," Smith said. Dan and Diane Winkler "have loved her as a daughter, not as a daughter-in-law, and if they could take her home with them right now, they would," he added.

"They're a great example of what it means to forgive," Smith said of Matthew Winkler's parents. "... That's because of their faith, their character and their love."

What a great example of forgiveness and the display of Romans 8:28. Don't forget to pray for all involved.

The "Separateness" of God

I was reading yesterday of God's directions to Moses regarding the construction of some temple implements in Exodus 30. Of the altar for burning incense (placed before the Holy of Holies) God says,

"You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering,
or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it."

Speaking of the basin for washing He says of the priests,

"When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near
the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord,
they shall wash with water, so that they may not die.
They shall wash their hands and their feet,
so that they may not die."

Sounds restrictive, doesn't it? The priests can only offer incense that has been directed by God, and they have to make sure that they wash their hands and feet before embarking upon their ministry duties.

I came away from this passage with a few thoughts. First, God is directing the institution of temple worship. As the sovereign God and the object of the worship, He has the right to require these details. In the same way, God has every right to establish boundaries for us today--He is God, and He is the object of our worship.

Second, this speaks of man's sinfulness...and these are the priests! Even those called by God to lead His people in worship must understand that they are not perfect. This passage addresses two aspects of this: man's idea of what is appropriate in the worship of God (specifically the incense) is tainted; thus, only what God ordains is acceptable. Also, man himself is unacceptable to God as he is...he must be cleansed. Thus, the restrictions are not so much about "do this...don't do that" as it is about teaching people the character of God and the character of man.

Third, this expresses volumes about God's holiness. While the previous items are involved in the passage, the intent of these specific directives is to teach the priests and all of Israel how holy, how separate from sinful humanity God really is. Deuteronomy 4:23-24 says,

"Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God,
which He made with you...for the Lord your God
is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

God's character is such that He is so holy, so pure, so separate that man must tread carefully when coming into His presence. After the "incident" with the golden calf, God instructs Moses to pick up camp and move on. God will send an angel to go before them, but God Himself would not. Why? "I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." God's holiness cannot placate (to put off through concessions) man's sin.

On the opposite side of the coin, the wonderful truths of the New Testament are that the barriers between man and God are now removed. Among the wonderful promises those in Christ are given is that we can come into His presence with boldness (Hebrews 4:16) and confidence, much like Moses did when entering into the Tent of Meeting to speak face to face with God.

I am concerned, though, that in our desire to be faithful to the New Testament teaching on the church, we have neglected the OT teaching of God as incredibly, infinitely holy...a consuming fire and a God who is jealous of His Name and attributes.

What are we declaring to the world? Truly, we are declaring that our God is approachable in Christ. But are we not neglecting that our God is a consuming fire? The seeker sensitive movement, the emerging movement, and others (even evangelical churches), downplay this picture of God. We must remember that the Old Testament accounts were written for our instruction.

Moses prayed, "please show me Your ways, that I may know You..." (Exodus 33:13). God's ways also include His holiness, His wrath against sin, and the fact that He is a consuming fire.

Perhaps we need to learn from God's temple directives...

Persecution Update

After pressure from the international community, and Afghan court has dismissed the charges against Abdul Rahman. He may be released today, placing him in what could be even greater danger. Read this for the full story.

Persecution

Perhaps some of you are aware of Abdul Rahman who was arrested last month in Afghanistan on charges of apostasy. He had become a Christian several years ago. That is an offense against Islam and is deserving of death. In the last few days a couple of other Christians have been arrested.

This past weekend, one young Afghan convert to Christianity was beaten severely outside his home by a group of six men, who finally knocked him unconscious with a hard blow to his temple. He woke up in the hospital two hours later but was discharged before morning. "Our brother remains steadfast, despite the ostracism and beatings," one of his friends said. Several other Afghan Christians have been subjected to police raids on their homes and places of work in the past month, as well as to telephone threats.

Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.

Doing what is right...In your own eyes

Some time ago I began a study on the book of 1 Samuel during our Wednesday evening study time. I thought I would post some thoughts from that study occasionally.

1 Samuel follows on the heels of the book of Judges. This is important to understand as it helps us grasp some things that take place in the book of 1 Samuel. The period of the judges was chaotic at best. The nation of Israel was mired in a cyclical pattern. After the conquest of the land of Canaan and the subsequent death of Joshua, the book tells us that Israel disobeyed God who then allowed them to be plundered by neighboring nations. Then we read this:

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them.

It really is a sad situation. For years and years they followed a pattern of obedience which turned to disobedience followed by oppression and plundering. Then Israel repented, and God sent a judge to free them from their oppressors and turn them back to God. Then the cycle began all over again. After awhile you feel like banging your head against a wall!

The key verse, though, is the last one in the book. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Read that last sentence again.

Sound familiar? Our own country -- even our entire world -- fits that description. That is why some in South Dakota are offering instructions on "do-it-yourself-abortions" after the legislature banned abortions. That is why divorce is so prevalent, our prisons are overcrowded, and *gasp* the church is going emergent. There is no standard, no regulation, no guidance. Simply everyone doing what is right in his own eyes. It is into this situation that Samuel is born. While every is going his own way, Samuel listens and obeys God. What are you doing?

Intelligent Design

Astonomers have found a nebula 80 light-years long, and about 300 light-years from the center of the Milky Way. Interestingly, it is different from any other discovered nebula: it is in the shape of a DNA strand because of magnetic forces in that area of the universe.

"Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm," said the study's lead author Mark Morris of UCLA. "Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas—space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order."

A high degree of order? Let's see...there is a giant explosion of nothing that somehow establishes the universe into a "high degree of order"? I doubt it; sounds like God to me.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

Referral

Check out this great post at Pyromaniacs.

Brian McLaren was invited to speak at a gathering of the Kentucky Baptists. After reading McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy, the invitation was rescinded. Dan Garland, the group's Church Development and Evangelism Team leader commented,

"In the book, McLaren says that while there is no assurance that there is salvation to be found outside of Jesus, Christians should not jump to the conclusion that Jesus is the only way to salvation."I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts, "McLaren says in the book."

"Christians should not jump to the conclusion that Jesus is the only way to salvation"? What about "no one comes unto the Father except through Me?" While McLaren is not the spokesman for all those involved in the emergent movement, it would be wisest to stay as far away from this kind of theology as possible. I would argue that it is also incredibly unwise to "help people" follow Jesus and remain idolators. My Bible says that has already been tried. Israel did it in the OT, and God didn't take too kindly to it.

Problems with Jello

Okay, okay, you've had enough of the jello.... Well, just a little more! By the way, I am in no way claiming to be an expert on the emerging "conversation" (that is what many like to call it). I am merely commenting on what I have read and heard. If you want a thorough, well-balanced evaluation try Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson. It can be a bit difficult to follow sometimes, but it is a good book.

Today I would like to point out what bothers me about the movement.

1. The emerging movement is to be commended for their desire to make Christianity effective. However, in doing so they move to an extreme. Instead of following objective doctrinal truth they tend to follow shallow, relative methods. This leads to such things as a refusal to accept the biblical statements on homosexuality as sin, and the doctrine of hell because they are "weapons of mass distraction" (Brian McLaren). Ever heard of, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything?"

2. The movement generally fails to see the exclusivity of the gospel. In other words, there is a failure to see faith in Christ for salvation as the only means of gaining entrance into God's heaven. The movement is lax on this issue, even to the point of arguing that for the sake of dialogue with other "faiths" we must downplay faith in Christ as the only way. Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes,

When it comes to issues such as the exclusivity of the gospel, the identity of Jesus Christ as both fully human and fully divine, the authoritative character of the Scripture as written revelation, and the clear teaching of Scripture concerning issues such as homosexuality, this movement simply refuses to answer the questions.

If there is a refusal to answer questions, we must wonder why.

3. A rejection of the propositional truths (statements that affirm something as being true or false -- absolutely) of Scripture to be culturally relevant (see Titus 2:1 for the command to teach these truths). This borders on, if not crosses over the line of, rejecting the belief in absolute truth. In other words, this movement is characterized by a compromise of biblical truths for the sake of culture. D.A. Carson writes,

Is there at least some danger that what is being advocated is not so much a new kind of Christian in a new Emergent Church, but a church that is so submerging itself in the culture that it risks hopeless compromise?

That is my fear.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:
preach the word;
be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort,
with complete patience and teaching.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching,
but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from the listening to the truth
and wander off into myths....
2 Timothy 4:1-4

More Jello

"Be forewarned. The Emergent Church is the most theologically corrosive view/movement/trend in a long time. The Seeker movement and the "Laughing Revival" of the last decade pale in comparison. And it’s consuming millions, especially young people." Greg Koukl - Stand to Reason

Squeezing Jello, part two

From my perspective, the desire feeding the emergent thinking is relevancy -- making the church relevant to a modern world. Obviously, the question is, "How do we do that?" While that is a good question, it is not the one that should begin the evaluation process. Let's go back a little further and ask, "Why isn't the church relevant?" James Spurgeon has an answer (note: he is not Charles Spurgeon! He is a present day writer and pastor):

One of the reasons the church is so cold and dead and lifeless is because she has lost her love for God. Instead of replacing that with something fleshly to appeal to fleshly men, we need to get back to our first love—God—and knowing him. For those out there looking for ways to make church more relevant, how about this idea? How about giving it depth and authenticity by focusing on something beyond mere human experience, by helping human beings to lift their eyes upward and see something greater than anything there is to offer here below? How about making church relevant by making it separate from the ordinary, a holy place, where, get this, God himself is exalted and expounded upon and worshiped. How about offering to the public, not just relevancy, but depth and authenticity through theology and application to the life of faith and worship?

Don't you think that would eliminate much of the "jello-problem"?

Squeezing Jello

How do you squeeze jello? More importantly, how do you squeeze jello without it becoming distorted, misshapen, and/or shooting out of your hand?

Some time ago I blogged about the church needing to change. I included the quote, "When your memories are more exciting than your dreams, you've begun to die." I still believe that to be true, especially in the church. We must continually adapt to reach each successive generation; we must also be excited about what our great God can and will do through us.

There is a problem, though. That kind of talk is becoming increasingly dangerous these days--not because it is false, but because some believe and follow it to an alarming extreme. In fact, it has become a "movement" with an unassuming name: the Emergent (or Emerging) Church.

On the surface, this sounds attractive. The church needs to keep up with the times--adapting, changing, modernizing--to keep the gospel relevant, or so they claim. Thus, the need to be emergent.

There are several problems with those who are "emerging." One is the lack of unity amongst followers, and so there are many different thoughts, definitions, and beliefs among the group. This makes it difficult to understand what core doctrines, philosophy, and structure are followed. Two, the closest thing to a spokesman is Brian McLaren, who is a lightning rod figure with whom some refuse to be associated. As far as lacking a definitive structure:

...this is a movement that hates formal structure, so it has been resistant to any kind of definition or careful boundaries that would make its shape easy to discern or describe. It's a movement that is purposely foggy and amorphous, fluid and diverse--and most in the movement want to keep it that way.

You were wondering when the jello would fit into this post, weren't you? The emerging group is like jello -- there are hard to pin down, difficult to define, and when you squeeze, they shift and move. In some ways, it is the next generation of the seeker-sensitive movement although it is much more than that. Basically, the group seeks to modernize the church (that is a very basic statement, by the way -- it is very difficult, if not impossible to point out one over-arching goal).

All that to say this: what are we to do with this? I think most would agree that the church needs to keep moving forward; we need to keep dreaming. But does that mean we should throw out the "way we do church" and begin all over? What aspects of church (theologically called ecclesiology - the study of the Church) must remain the same?

Stay tuned for more jello squeezing...

Those narrow-minded people...

The following is a quote from Charles Spurgeon's sermon titled, "The Bond of the Covenant."

This generation has made a god of its own. The effeminate deity of the modern school is no more the true God than Dagon or Baal. I know him not, neither do I reverence him. But Jehovah is the true God: he is the God of love, but he is also robed in justice; he is the God of forgiveness, but he is also the God of atonement; he is the God of heaven, but he is also the God who sends the wicked down to hell.

We, of course, are thought to be harsh, and narrow-minded, and bigoted: nevertheless, this God is our God for ever and ever. There has been no change in Jehovah. He has revealed himself more clearly in Christ Jesus; but he is the same God as in the Old Testament, and as such we worship him.

Sounds like it could have been written today, does it not? He preached this message in 1885!

Deck Chairs

Those who know me understand my frustration with what I call "symptom sins." These are the deeds done by those who hate the light of Christ that the church "loves" (there is some sarcasm there, but not much) to speak out against. For example, perhaps the two most common symptom sins attacked by the church are abortion and homosexuality. I routinely receive information seeking church support for some agenda against these or other sins.

My frustration stems from how I believe God sees these sins. Please understand, these are sins -- transgressions against a holy God. However, these sins are not the issue! They are merely symptoms of a greater problem (unbelief - a rejection of God). Addressing these symptoms is like trying to wipe your runny nose with a Kleenex. It addresses the symptoms, but not the core issue.

The reason for this is that the church has forgotten how God works. Addressing the symptom sins is like trying to change the world by changing the way people live. God seeks to change the world by changing people from the inside-out. Thus, the church's responsibility is not to affect the moral standards of society, but turn people's unbelief into belief.

A quote I heard last week at the conference was this: "The church is spending time trying to change the deeds of darkness. That is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." Perhaps we should focus on our real duty.

There and back again

Good morning, everyone! I thought I better post something since it has been some time since I last did so. For those of you who don't know, or have forgotten, I have been out of town for a pastor's conference. It was a great conference. While it was very tiring physically (about 14-16 hour days), it was an energizing time spiritually. God is good to have worked things out for me to go. Now if He can only start working on that for next year....

One of the great benefits of this conference is free stuff -- ministry related, of course! I came home with around 22 free books, a couple of free CD's, a new leather portfolio for sermon organization, and other things. I was also able to purchase approximately 10 more books at a greatly reduced price, many as low as $5 or $6. Now if I can only find the time to read them! This conference does everything possible to make this conference a resource for pastors. Not just during the conference, but afterwards as well. I will continue to receive a discount on books through the ministry's bookstore, and I also receive a complimentary one-year subscription to an online pastor's resource center (normally $200). Yes, God is good! As Christians we are not to look for our reward from the Lord in this world, but this conference was a very nice prelude!