Set Apart -- Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life

Greetings All,

     Our culture has now begun the countdown to Christmas.  It's a mere 26 days away!  And the message we hear from almost every sector is: Get busy buying!!
     This 'thought' does not specifically address Christmas, but it does deal with an issue (because of our culture) that's been forced upon Christmas  -- the holiday as a way to spur the economy and generate wealth.  Christmas, whether we like it or not, is now one of the primary economic indicators in the American year.  A "good" Christmas is often said to be one where people are willing to spend and buy or part with their wealth. Jesus may be taken out of the celebration, and the carols that proclaim the true reason for the holiday are more and more suppressed, but I can pretty much guarantee you that as long as money can be made from observing that day, Christmas will never be done away with!  In fact, it seems that every year our culture tries to start the celebration earlier and earlier!
That said, I wanted to share an excerpt from the book, "Set Apart -- Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life," by R. Kent Hughes.  He was pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the classes I took with him when studying for my doctorate.  This thought will probably not be one of the most popular I have posted. Why?  Because it addresses (I believe very accurately) the Bible's view on wealth. If you disagree (and surely some will) please look at the references he quotes and check to see if he was true to them in their context. The topic of "wealth," of course, had to be addressed in his book, because it really does contribute to the worldliness and spiritual apathy of the Church. Read the Old Testament and you will see that some of the times the people of God strayed the most from their God were the times they prospered most.  And if nothing else, consider what our Lord Jesus says about this topic as we approach the day set aside to honor His incarnation. Enjoy.

Materialism
     "Tellingly, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, spoke more  about money than about heaven or hell, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Gospel of Luke... From beginning to end...Jesus views wealth as a spiritual handicap. His "woe" to the rich, his parable of the rich fool, his epigram "you cannot serve both God and money," his parable of Lazarus and the rich man, his declaration that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven, and finally, the salvation of Zacchaeus who responded by divesting himself of his riches -- all testify that material wealth is a spiritual hindrance.  The evidence is that every time Jesus offers an opinion about riches, it is negative. Each time he teaches on wealth, he advises giving it away. For those of us who take the Bible seriously, this raises great tensions -- sanctifying tensions.

The Benefits of Wealth

     The fact that wealth is a spiritual danger in no way suggests that money is evil. Many of the Old Testament greats were well-heeled, including Abraham, Job, David, and Solomon.  And the same was true of some of Jesus followers, such as Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Zacchaeus.  Jesus' ministry was supported by wealthy women (Luke 8:2-3). Paul set the record straight in his explanation to Timothy: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." (I Timothy 6:10). Randy Alcorn summarizes, "Money makes a good servant to those who have the right master, but it makes a terrible master itself... Money may be temporarily under my control, but I must always regard it as a wild beast, with power to turn on me and others if I drop my guard"... Alan Emery, one of the founding partners of ServiceMaster, said that possessions become either idols or tools. And he has used his immense wealth as a tool to serve God, underwriting hundreds of ministries and repeatedly refreshing the saints.  A. W. Tozer, in a remarkable essay entitled, "The Transmutation of Wealth," put it this way: "Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality."

The Dangers of Wealth

     Yet the downside of wealth is well-documented. It can be delusive, idolatrous and damning... Riches can delude us into imagining that moral superiority is a matter pf homes and cars and yachts and designer labels. Timex and Rolex both end in 'ex', but the wearer of one can imagine a universe of superiority above the other.... Though money is neutral in itself, if your heart is not devoted to God, it can take on what Phillip Yancey describes as, "an irrational, almost magical power... It is a force with a personality. It is in truth, a god, and Jesus called it that."  And, of course, the delusive and idolatrous powers of wealth intensify its capability to damn the soul. The deceitfulness of riches choke out the Word (Mark 4:19). The god of riches instills pride and independence and anesthetizes the victim so that he or she feels no need.  As Jesus charged the lukewarm church of Laodicea, "For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17).  Such inflated spirits never get into the kingdom, and really do not care.

Handling Wealth

     Since wealth is so spiritually radioactive, a crucial question is how to handle it. And the answer begins by understanding that money doesn't belong to you. Kenneth Kantzer once said: "We must give up all our wealth. We must own nothing. We are only stewards of what God owns. The point is not that we must be merely WILLING to give it up, and then live like anyone else. Rather, we must actually give it up. We are to abandon completely any claims to the wealth of this world. It is not our own, and we do not have ultimate control over it."

      Along with this understanding that our money is not our own, we must give it away joyfully. Theologian Jacques Ellul says that the only way to defeat the godlike power that money seeks to impose on our lives is to give it away, which he calls profaning it: "To profane money, like all other powers, is to take away its sacred character." This destroys its power over us. "Giving to God is the act of profanation par excellence," says Ellul. Every time I give, I declare that money does not control me.  Perpetual generosity is a perpetual de-deification of money.  When you give generously and regularly, it frees you from the bondage of money and declares that it is not a god in your life.

     You can, of course, talk until the moon stands still about what is the proper lifestyle for a member of your church, and the result would be an orgy of judgmentalism. And if we came up with a written description, it would entrench a grace-nullifying legalism.  Yet Paul minced no words with Timothy: "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."   This is the way to live -- give, give, give! "  

     Money is one of those Bible topics people like to be taught on least -- especially by Jesus!  For Hughes is right, "The evidence is that every time Jesus offers an opinion about riches, it is negative. Each time he teaches on wealth, he advises giving it away. For those of us who take the Bible seriously, this raises great tensions -- sanctifying tensions."  In my church growing up, you could pretty much guarantee that "Stewardship Sunday" (when the pastor spoke on giving and the needs of the church) would be one of the least-well-attended Sundays of the year!  Part of their mistake was announcing it was going to be Stewardship Sunday!  It's a sensitive topic in our materialistic culture, and those who like wealth will not like hearing Jesus speak so negatively about it. 
     The sad thing is that even people who worry themselves sick over the dangers of carcinogenics in their food, and are careful to avoid even the slightest possibility that any such contaminated product will ever touch their lips, don't give a second thought to the dangers of the spiritual carcinogens which wealth infects their soul with on a day in and day out basis.

     So how can you know if money is a "god" for you? You can get a good idea if while you read this thought you got defensive, were thinking of excuses not to do what he said, wanted to prove him wrong, enjoy getting far more than giving, or have a hard time bringing yourself to give joyfully, generously, and regularly.

Just a little food for thought!  In His Service, Pastor Jeff

The Disappearing Bible

Greetings All,

Today's "thought" comes to you from a section of Shane Hipps book "Flickering Pixels," entitled, "The Disappearing Bible." 
     It's a critique of the dangers of the digital age and the growing aversion to right-brain learning (seeking by linear deductive reasoning to solve complex ideas by in-depth study, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of a topic), in favor of left-brain learning (seeking through art, photos, intuition, emotional stimulation, subliminal impressions, and a short not-so-comprehensive, "throw out a personal opinion and see how people respond" approach to topics). 
     The second, as Hipps points out, is an approach to learning that has made in-depth study of the Bible (to know it well) a thing that is avoided, or even seen as obsolete, in many areas of present-day church culture.  He is not opposed to visual or intuitive learning, but simply advocates what he calls "brain balance" -- seeing the need to retain our ability to reason through complex ideas, while taking advantage of digital technology and all that it has to offer.
     To use a common phrase, the growing popularity of the short, non-comprehensive, opinion-based blog, should not cause us to "throw the baby out with the bathwater."  Believers need both, lest they lose their grip on the truth and fall prey to whatever tweaks their emotions or happens to sit well with their current (but soon passing) preferences.  To help you as you read: right brain = intuitive/artistic/emotive, and left brain = reasoning/logic/science.  Enjoy.

The Disappearing Bible

     "Most books present an extensive, in-depth monologue, a thorough argument carefully crafted in linear, successive paragraphs and pages. This is true of both novels and non-fiction. The left brain is heavily engaged by such activity.  But Internet text presents a nonlinear web of interconnected pages and a vast mosaic of hyperlinks with no fundamental beginning, middle or end.  We are immersed in a boundless, endless, data space. These are conditions specially suited to the right-brain...  The power of intuition, emotion, holistic perception, and pattern recognition are all gifts of the right-brain. The right-brain is the hemisphere that allows us entry into spiritual practices like contemplation, centering prayer and silence. The left-brain is allergic to such practices; it is the dogmatic theologian rather than the intuitive mystic...

     The Internet is stunningly effective at enticing us to open a Pandora's Box of perpetual links, sights, sound, people, places, feelings, and ideas. Our intellects are spread a mile wide and an inch deep. Consider blogs. Their great wonder is their dynamic speed.  We are exposed to many more ideas than previously possible and given a chance to dialogue in near real time. Yet because of their brevity and the constant evolution of content, blogs are forced to stay on the surface. Blogs are ill-suited for deep-level analysis and thoughtful reasoning. The Internet makes a flat stone of the mind and skips it across the surface of the world's information ocean. A book, by contrast, is a sturdy submarine, diving the mind deep into the sea..

     The emerging right-brain culture presents other challenges as well. Protestant Christianity is a by-product of a single medium -- the printed Bible. Without printing, no one could have challenged the authority of the pope. How disconcerting to have a faith yoked so closely to a medium that is now in the dusk of its life, at least as we currently know it. Our culture has a shrinking preference for reading books, especially complex ones, and if the Bible is anything, it is complex. So it should not surprise us to see a growing biblical illiteracy in the electronic age.

     The Bible is an extraordinarily demanding library of books. The stories, letters, and laws are shrouded by the fog of time. The thick dusty languages of ancient Greek and Hebrew convey the message through cumbersome translations. The books were born in civilizations and cultures alien to us, and the assumptions and attitudes of the original authors often escape us entirely.  In many cases, excavating the meaning [of texts] requires the fortitude, patience, and discipline of an archaeological dig.

     In other words, bulging left-brain muscles are an essential tool for understanding the Bible. Unfortunately, our digital diet sedates the left-brain, leaving it in a state of hypnotic stupor.  The left-brain begins acting like our great Uncle Jerry, nodding off in his recliner after Thanksgiving dinner. Large portions of the Bible are growing faint and becoming inaccessible to the lethargic left-brain." 

     Hipps goes on to say these two forms of learning must find a way to co-exist.

     We must never allow the tensions and disagreements (and at times contrary purposes of the one as opposed to the other) prevent us from availing ourselves of the benefits of both. Each has its place, and it is always a danger to, "tear asunder what God has joined together."  If we are to "Love the Lord our God with all our... mind," we must seek to avoid anything that would disparage either the right-brain or left brain approach to truth.

     The Church suffers when the faith is made into something only the scholar and grasp, but it also suffers when people embrace ideas foreign to Scripture, or contrary to Scripture, simply because it came to them in a moment of earnest contemplation or artistic creativity. The two forms of learning balance each other off. After all, God could have created us without dividing the brain into left and right lobes. He could have created the lobes so they functioned identically. But He didn't.  And therefore, to disregard one, simply because we have a preference for the other, is to insult the Creator, and call His all-knowing wisdom into question.

To the end that we may love the Lord our God as we should -- with ALL our mind -- Pastor Jeff

A Time To Die

Greetings All,

     This past Sunday I mentioned one of my favorite saints in my message -- Charles Spurgeon.  Thus, I thought I would send out a 'thought' from him for this week's selection.
     It's a thought spoken in relation to the well known phrase from Ecclesiastes 3:2: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die..."
     Spurgeon uses that verse to give us some encouragements in regard to often fearful thought of dying. I believe his statements are not only true, but liberating, comforting and fear-subduing.  Enjoy.

A Time To Die

     "God has fixed the time of our death (Job 7:1). It is useless to dream of living here forever. A time of departure must come unless the Lord returns... (I Thess. 4:17).

     Here, diseases wait in ambush, eager to slay. But, "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, not of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you" (Ps. 91:4-7).  We are immortal until our work is done. The we shall receive our summons home.

     Therefore, if duty calls into danger, if you have to nurse the contagious sick, do not hold back. You will not die by a stray arrow from death's quiver. Only God can take your breath. Your death is not left to chance. It is determined by a heavenly Father's gracious will. Thus we must not be afraid.

     Of course, we must not be reckless and rush into danger without reason, for that is madness. Yet never fear to face death when God's voice calls you into danger.

     Here is comfort: If the Father of our Lord Jesus arranges all, then our friends do not die untimely deaths. Believers are not cut off before their time. God has appointed a time to harvest His fruit. Some are sweet, even in the early spring, and He gathers them. Others, like baskets of summer fruit, are taken while the year is young. Yet some remain until autumn mellows them. But be sure of this, each will be gathered in its appointed season.

     God has appointed the commencement, the continuation, and the conclusion of your life. "Every day appointed for me was written in His book before any one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16)."

     As one who lost my good friend and cousin Gregg Mackey (a few months younger than me) quite unexpectedly this June, these truths came as a great comfort. People may be taken young, and they may leave this world before we would want, but they never die before their time, for their "time" or "the hour of their departure" was written in God's book long before the day they ever took their first breath.

     There is, if we read Psalm 139:16 correctly, a plan laid out for our lives. One that includes who our parents will be, the day we are born, the events that transpire in our lives, the day when we will be raised from our death in trespasses and sins by the grace of the Holy Spirit, what our life calling will be, who we will influence for Christ, and on and on right up to, and including, the very day, hour, and minute we will depart to be transported into our eternal reward.

     What often comes as shock or surprise to us, and others, fulfills a plan God inscribed in the book of God's providential plan long before we were ever born.

     That, and not meaningless mere chance, brings great comfort to the believers heart at the sudden loss of a loved one. And it not only comforts, it diminishes fear, gives us great courage, and helps us to see (as Spurgeon points out), "We are immortal until our work is done... Therefore if duty calls into danger... do not hold back. (We) will not die by a stray arrow from death's quiver." 

     May our Sovereign God give you the peace that comes from knowing He's not only in charge, He's in control. He does, as the children's song tries to convince us, have, "the whole world in His hands."  Let us live as if we believe it!

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

By Grace

Greetings All,

This weeks 'thought' comes from Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968). To say he was very influential during the early to mid-1900's is an understatement. Barth sought to remove from the Christian faith all the trappings of culture and politics and the many other things which had become entangled in it, insisting on a wholehearted return to the basics of the Christian faith.

Though known for his brilliance and the prophetic tone of his scholarship, he was once asked to sum up all he had written in the field of theology. He did so with the concise and famous remark:"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Today's thought comes from a sermon he preached to prisoners at the Basle Prison in Switzerland, from Ephesians 2:5. It was entitled: "By Grace You Have Been Saved." It is found in the published collection of his addresses: "Deliverance to the Captives." Enjoy.

"You probably all know the legend of the rider who crossed the frozen Lake of Constance at night without knowing it. When he reached the opposite shore and was told whence he came, he broke down, horrified.

This is the human situation when the sky opens and the earth is bright, and we hear: By grace you have been saved! In such a moment we are like that terrified rider. When we hear this word we involuntarily look back, do we not, asking ourselves:

Where have I been? Over an abyss, in mortal danger!
What did I do? The most foolish thing I ever attempted!
What happened? I was doomed and miraculously escaped and now I am safe!

You ask: 'Do we really live in such danger?' Yes, we live on the brink of death.

But we have been saved. Look at our Savior and at our Salvation! Look at Jesus Christ on the cross, accused, sentenced, and punished instead of us!

Do you know for whose sake he is hanging there? For our sake -- because of our sin -- sharing our captivity -- burdened with our suffering! He nails our life to the cross. This is how God had to deal with us. From this darkness he has saved us.

He who is not shattered after hearing this news may not yet have grasped the word of God: 'By grace you have been saved.' "

To think that we were "dead in our trespasses and sins," and needed the grace of regeneration before we could even respond to God or the Gospel; that we needed first to be raised to life, and that God by sheer grace did just that, making us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions and thus unable to respond to Him... it boggles the mind - does it not? In fact, on occasion, it has reduced me to tears. Tears of heart-felt gratitude.

God gave life to my spiritually dead soul that I might live and believe, and the result of my belief was a justification (or right standing with God) that only brought a greater degree of life! It wasn't faith that made me alive, it was being made alive that enabled me to have faith! The dead don't exercise faith until after they've been given life by the sheer unfathomable grace of God, which means that even the faith by which I'm saved is in itself a gift of His grace. He doesn't believe for me, but I couldn't have believed unless He'd made me alive. After all, as Paul goes on to remind us in verses 8-9 of this same chapter, we are not saved by faith, we are saved by GRACE, through faith... Is there any greater blessing, or any greater message, than the Gospel declaration:

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live, when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air... But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:1, 5

Rejoicing with you in the unspeakable love and grace of God,

Pastor Jeff