I remember as a boy in school trying to figure out what a vision was. There was a church in our community that taught that until you saw a vision, you weren’t really saved. I wondered if I’d ever seen one.
That’s just one example of the ways we like to qualify ourselves or others in the church. We have requirements for church life, markers of success. These can be good. In my church, when you come to a believing faith you make a public Profession of Faith - it’s a big deal, and a significant step in faith formation. But there was a time when a lot of kids did it just because they were graduating from high school and it was time.
Paul puts these rituals in their proper place in 1 Corinthians 7:19: “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”
Circumcision, of course, was the marker of a proper, God-following Jew, and a lot of Jews still thought newly-believing Gentiles ought to be circumcised. Paul is reminding them that in the new covenant that’s a ritual that has lost its meaning. In fact, as a general rule, rituals are suspect in the New Testament church.
What matters is lives lived out for Jesus. What matters is a dedication to knowing and following the commands of God. A life of faithful obedience is the new marker of a faithful person.
It’s worth thinking about as I want to judge others by their clothes or participation in worship.”Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”
Friday, March 9, 2018
Thursday, March 8, 2018
not mine
Sometimes Paul reminds me of just how radical my faith should be. Here’s an example, from two bookend verses in a passage talking about sexual and other sins (1 Corinthians 6:12 and 20): “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial.’I have the right to do anything’—but I will not be mastered by anything. . . . You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
Isn’t it amazing that a couple thousand years ago Paul responded to one of the most prevalent ideas in our culture today? “I have the right to do anything.” I can view porn, blast my music, espouse hateful viewpoints online. I can take my message to the streets or riot to deny someone else a voice. I can party, gamble, sleep around, cohabitate. I can define my own gender, and redefine it every day if I want. You have to tolerate it all, because I have the right to do anything.
Christians don’t have the right to do anything. Non-Christians shouldn’t either, but they don’t acknowledge the same Lord that we do. Our Lord expects us to do what is beneficial and not to be mastered by anything other than our love for him. He reminds us of what he paid to save us. He demands that our choices honor him.
Believing this truth and living it out looks really weird to the world - just look at the vilification of Mike Pence. But it’s what Jesus calls us to. It’s the kind of radical, revolutionary behavior that could really change the nation.
Isn’t it amazing that a couple thousand years ago Paul responded to one of the most prevalent ideas in our culture today? “I have the right to do anything.” I can view porn, blast my music, espouse hateful viewpoints online. I can take my message to the streets or riot to deny someone else a voice. I can party, gamble, sleep around, cohabitate. I can define my own gender, and redefine it every day if I want. You have to tolerate it all, because I have the right to do anything.
Christians don’t have the right to do anything. Non-Christians shouldn’t either, but they don’t acknowledge the same Lord that we do. Our Lord expects us to do what is beneficial and not to be mastered by anything other than our love for him. He reminds us of what he paid to save us. He demands that our choices honor him.
Believing this truth and living it out looks really weird to the world - just look at the vilification of Mike Pence. But it’s what Jesus calls us to. It’s the kind of radical, revolutionary behavior that could really change the nation.
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
judging
There’s something we Christians get wrong too often: we judge those outside the church but often give ourselves a pass.
Paul describes the way it’s supposed to go in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.”
Instead of lectures on sin or warnings about hell or social punishments like avoidance, Paul says my interaction with sinning unbelievers can be pretty normal. I shouldn’t try to avoid them, he says, or I wouldn’t even be able to go about my daily life. My first desire for those people should be to make my faith look good, to attract them to Jesus. I won’t do that by sermonizing.
On the other hand, when my Christian brothers and sisters sin, Paul says to confront them and if necessary ostracize them. So often my fellow church members continue to flirt with drunkenness and shady business dealings. We can gossip to the point of character assassination. We don’t observe the Sabbath, we sometimes have affairs, we occasionally break the law. And the rest of us often don’t say a thing.
I’m not comfortable yet with the idea of challenging my Christian friends with their sin - it seems very close to being judgmental and could be disruptive. I have to think about that more. But what I can do today is stop judging the pagans. I can instead try to be really likeable to them, to attract them to me and hopefully then to Jesus.
Paul describes the way it’s supposed to go in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.”
Instead of lectures on sin or warnings about hell or social punishments like avoidance, Paul says my interaction with sinning unbelievers can be pretty normal. I shouldn’t try to avoid them, he says, or I wouldn’t even be able to go about my daily life. My first desire for those people should be to make my faith look good, to attract them to Jesus. I won’t do that by sermonizing.
On the other hand, when my Christian brothers and sisters sin, Paul says to confront them and if necessary ostracize them. So often my fellow church members continue to flirt with drunkenness and shady business dealings. We can gossip to the point of character assassination. We don’t observe the Sabbath, we sometimes have affairs, we occasionally break the law. And the rest of us often don’t say a thing.
I’m not comfortable yet with the idea of challenging my Christian friends with their sin - it seems very close to being judgmental and could be disruptive. I have to think about that more. But what I can do today is stop judging the pagans. I can instead try to be really likeable to them, to attract them to me and hopefully then to Jesus.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Reverend
We’re a long way from the days when the Domini (as pastors used to be called by my Dutch-American forebears) was one of the most honored men in the community. He was treated with respect, sought out for advice, and listened to carefully.
Now we’re as likely to view preachers with some skepticism. After all, they’ve never had to live in the real world. They’ve never had to hit performance metrics or compete for customers. They don’t know what it’s like to go to work every morning with a bunch of unbelievers.
I think we’re often too hard on our pastors. I think Paul was onto something when he said this to the Corinthians about himself and Apollos, two bringers of the Gospel message that the Corinthians saw as competitors (1 Corinthians 4:1): “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.”
No matter what judgments we might want to make about those called to pastorship, these two things are true. If truly called, then they are God’s servants, doing their best with their gifts and circumstances to obey him and serve his people.
Also, they are entrusted with God’s mysteries as revealed in scripture.They spent years learning from other gifted, Spirit-filled men. They themselves have spent countless hours reading, studying, and in prayer. God uses them to communicate his truths to us; he gifts them with the understanding that their flocks need.
It doesn’t really matter if they’re smart about money or fashion. Leadership and administrative skills are a plus, but not required. Their primary role is to help us see and understand God.
That’s why I like the old term, “Reverend.” It seems to me to convey the proper respect for these men, and now women, who have given so much time to understanding God, and helping us to as well.
Now we’re as likely to view preachers with some skepticism. After all, they’ve never had to live in the real world. They’ve never had to hit performance metrics or compete for customers. They don’t know what it’s like to go to work every morning with a bunch of unbelievers.
I think we’re often too hard on our pastors. I think Paul was onto something when he said this to the Corinthians about himself and Apollos, two bringers of the Gospel message that the Corinthians saw as competitors (1 Corinthians 4:1): “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.”
No matter what judgments we might want to make about those called to pastorship, these two things are true. If truly called, then they are God’s servants, doing their best with their gifts and circumstances to obey him and serve his people.
Also, they are entrusted with God’s mysteries as revealed in scripture.They spent years learning from other gifted, Spirit-filled men. They themselves have spent countless hours reading, studying, and in prayer. God uses them to communicate his truths to us; he gifts them with the understanding that their flocks need.
It doesn’t really matter if they’re smart about money or fashion. Leadership and administrative skills are a plus, but not required. Their primary role is to help us see and understand God.
That’s why I like the old term, “Reverend.” It seems to me to convey the proper respect for these men, and now women, who have given so much time to understanding God, and helping us to as well.
Monday, March 5, 2018
foundations
“You can’t build your life on a lie.” I heard a line employee tell his sidekick that a few weeks ago. I’m not sure, because that’s all I heard, but based on other things I know I think the second guy had a wife in another state and a new girlfriend here. If that’s the case, he got some good advice; things were bound to fall apart eventually when the truth came out.
That got me thinking about all the things we trust enough to build our lives on. Really, it’s the things we have faith in. I know a man who is building on the foundation of his dad’s money - that’s what will solve his problems one day. Others build around their own pleasure, using lustful and riotous living to ease their pain.
Paul recognized all these as lies. He built his life and faith, and every church he planted, on the true foundation of Jesus. And he admonished any church leader who didn’t do the same thing.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-12: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.”
Every life is a demonstration of faith in something, but the true foundation of life as it’s meant to be was laid by Jesus. Building on him is building something rock solid. Nothing else will last.
That got me thinking about all the things we trust enough to build our lives on. Really, it’s the things we have faith in. I know a man who is building on the foundation of his dad’s money - that’s what will solve his problems one day. Others build around their own pleasure, using lustful and riotous living to ease their pain.
Paul recognized all these as lies. He built his life and faith, and every church he planted, on the true foundation of Jesus. And he admonished any church leader who didn’t do the same thing.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-12: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.”
Every life is a demonstration of faith in something, but the true foundation of life as it’s meant to be was laid by Jesus. Building on him is building something rock solid. Nothing else will last.
Friday, March 2, 2018
fools
Here’s an observation from our last 18 months of politics: there are a lot of very earnest people who want to do good and get things right, but have widely different ideas. It seems like we as a people can fight about anything. Yet one thing that seems to cross every political and ideological boundary is the fact that non-Christians collectively don’t understand Christians.
The more benign response is simple head-shaking, but a lot of folks think we’re out-and-out nuts. A notable recent example is a relatively mainstream broadcaster declaring that anyone who claims they can hear Jesus is mentally ill. Too many in public life jumped on that bandwagon.
It kind of surprised me, but it wouldn’t have surprised Paul. Paul told us the truth about this centuries ago in his first letter to the Corinthians, specifically in chapter 2:12-14: “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
This basic truth - that non-Christians will never get it when it come to spiritual stuff - reminds me of a couple of things. The first is, I won’t ever convince them on social media or any other public forum no matter how witty or mocking or snarky my brilliant posts might seem to the rest of my tribe. Without the Spirit, those people aren’t equipped at the most basic level to even understand what I’m saying, assuming I’m speaking spiritual truth. (And if I really am, it shouldn’t ever be snarky or mocking.)
The second is that the most responsible civic activism I can engage in on any issue, be it gender fluidity, marriage, immigration, taxes, health care, gun control or governmental ethics, is to live out my calling to spread the Gospel. Good policy calls for people who understand Godly wisdom, and that only comes with the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible to help this country with my logic and passion and energy until the ones I’m trying to persuade are able to understand. The person without the Spirit, as Paul says, will consider any Godly answer to be foolishness.
Another example of Jesus’ wisdom is that the last thing he told us to do - go and make disciples - is also the very thing that most directly address the world’s problems.
The more benign response is simple head-shaking, but a lot of folks think we’re out-and-out nuts. A notable recent example is a relatively mainstream broadcaster declaring that anyone who claims they can hear Jesus is mentally ill. Too many in public life jumped on that bandwagon.
It kind of surprised me, but it wouldn’t have surprised Paul. Paul told us the truth about this centuries ago in his first letter to the Corinthians, specifically in chapter 2:12-14: “What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
This basic truth - that non-Christians will never get it when it come to spiritual stuff - reminds me of a couple of things. The first is, I won’t ever convince them on social media or any other public forum no matter how witty or mocking or snarky my brilliant posts might seem to the rest of my tribe. Without the Spirit, those people aren’t equipped at the most basic level to even understand what I’m saying, assuming I’m speaking spiritual truth. (And if I really am, it shouldn’t ever be snarky or mocking.)
The second is that the most responsible civic activism I can engage in on any issue, be it gender fluidity, marriage, immigration, taxes, health care, gun control or governmental ethics, is to live out my calling to spread the Gospel. Good policy calls for people who understand Godly wisdom, and that only comes with the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible to help this country with my logic and passion and energy until the ones I’m trying to persuade are able to understand. The person without the Spirit, as Paul says, will consider any Godly answer to be foolishness.
Another example of Jesus’ wisdom is that the last thing he told us to do - go and make disciples - is also the very thing that most directly address the world’s problems.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
following
It can be really hard to separate our religion from our religious leaders. I think that may be in part because it’s so hard to see Jesus, so we look to men and women who claim to represent him.
Today,though, I read the cautionary story in 1 Corinthians 1, captured succinctly in verses 11-13: “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
You’ve heard it as often as I have: instead of saying, “the Bible says this,” or “Jesus said,” people talk of what their favorite earthly preacher or teacher puts out. “John Piper says women shouldn’t preach.” “Franklin Graham says Trump is a faithful Christian.” “Rick Bell says everyone will go to heaven.”
I have a family member, a cousin, who quotes “Pastor Dave” as the authority on all matters. Others I know use Beth Moore or Ravi Zacharias or lean on certain podcasts.
But there’s a thing I just don’t see much anymore. I don’t encounter men or women who support their positions from their own Bible reading. I don’t run into people who can base a conversation on the issues on what scripture reveals about God’s heart. I hear a lot of things like, “Well, Jerry Falwell Jr. says we should have more guns on campus.” I’ve never heard anyone discuss the implications of both the shooter and victim being image-bearers of God, and what path one might have taken to get to a place where they bought Satan’s lies. It seems to me the second question is a critically important one to solving this particular problem.
Qualified, well-trained men and women are a gift from God to help us understand, but God also gives each one of us the Spirit so we can read scripture and know his will on our own. Too often, it seems to me, we instead find the preacher who’s saying what our itching ears want to hear, and jump on that bandwagon.
But, as Paul points out, none of those people were willing to go to the cross for us, or capable of accomplishing our salvation if they did. Their words are helpful only if they help us understand and follow Jesus.
Today,though, I read the cautionary story in 1 Corinthians 1, captured succinctly in verses 11-13: “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
You’ve heard it as often as I have: instead of saying, “the Bible says this,” or “Jesus said,” people talk of what their favorite earthly preacher or teacher puts out. “John Piper says women shouldn’t preach.” “Franklin Graham says Trump is a faithful Christian.” “Rick Bell says everyone will go to heaven.”
I have a family member, a cousin, who quotes “Pastor Dave” as the authority on all matters. Others I know use Beth Moore or Ravi Zacharias or lean on certain podcasts.
But there’s a thing I just don’t see much anymore. I don’t encounter men or women who support their positions from their own Bible reading. I don’t run into people who can base a conversation on the issues on what scripture reveals about God’s heart. I hear a lot of things like, “Well, Jerry Falwell Jr. says we should have more guns on campus.” I’ve never heard anyone discuss the implications of both the shooter and victim being image-bearers of God, and what path one might have taken to get to a place where they bought Satan’s lies. It seems to me the second question is a critically important one to solving this particular problem.
Qualified, well-trained men and women are a gift from God to help us understand, but God also gives each one of us the Spirit so we can read scripture and know his will on our own. Too often, it seems to me, we instead find the preacher who’s saying what our itching ears want to hear, and jump on that bandwagon.
But, as Paul points out, none of those people were willing to go to the cross for us, or capable of accomplishing our salvation if they did. Their words are helpful only if they help us understand and follow Jesus.
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