During the first week of April two very significant events spoke to this issue. First was the cover story of Newsweek magazine, “The Decline of Christian America,” a well-written and thought-provoking piece. The second was a statement that President Obama made while speaking in Turkey, “America is not a Christian nation.” What an interesting place the President chose to make this statement. Turkey is a predominately Muslim nation.
Frankly, I don’t have an argument with either the Newsweek article or the President’s statement because I think they are simply confirming the obvious. We live in a post-Christian nation and the quicker we wake up to this fact and embrace it, the better off we will be.
More than once in the last couple of years I have written that we are in a critical time in the Church and stormy weather is ahead. The dark clouds gathering in our future are more significant than any we have experienced up to now.
You may think I’m crazy and I very well may be, but the days ahead can be the best time ever for the Church. I’m hinting to the fact that the best thing that could happen to the American/Canadian Church is some good old-fashioned persecution. Some hard attacks on the Church that threaten its existence will have a cleansing and refocusing effect. The rats will clear out and head for safer places, everything that is not tied down will get blown away, and many will find that their witness will either be strong and visible or it will disappear and be nothing at all.
Persecution is not bad for the Church. When the early Church had difficulty fulfilling the Great Commission and simply wanted to hang out in Jerusalem, God put an end to their unwillingness and let the hammer of persecution fall. God took a missionary in pre-training and used him to scatter the Church. Before his conversion, Paul was used of God to savage the Church and cause them to spread throughout the Roman Empire. They didn’t go willingly—they ran in fear of their lives. We need some of that now.
In China today, the Church is spreading more rapidly than just about anywhere else on earth. The more the Communists try to stamp out Christianity, the more it spreads. The more persecution falls on the Church, the greater the purity of the believers; the greater the purity of the believers, the more they are available to the Holy Spirit; the more they are Spirit-led, the more the Church spreads, resulting in more evangelism.
I hope what I just wrote causes some of you to be uncomfortable, maybe even angry. We call ourselves a Spirit-filled community and yet the Chinese Church is much more powerfully alive and well than we are even though they have almost nothing in comparison to our freedom and affluence. Our Church in the West is shrinking and losing what little influence we had. The Church of the East, living under tyranny, is thriving, growing, and no matter what the oppressors do, they cannot shut it down. When the heavy boot of persecution stomps on the Church, the remnants squirt out the sides and start all over. What began as one body of believers and was persecuted suddenly becomes four or five and all of them have the life of Jesus flowing in and through them.
I think the best thing that could happen to the Church in America right now would be a good slap of persecution. Maybe a hard head slap would knock some of the silliness out of the Pentecostal/charismatic Church. Maybe throwing a few evangelical pastors in jail would cause contemporary thinking to get reoriented to what is really important instead of what is cool and culturally relevant. Maybe the blows of the persecutor would cause some of the pastors of historic denominations to get up off their padded chairs and walk the streets ministering the life of Jesus to the lost and lonely. Maybe a good punch in the nose would cause the sleepy Church of 2009 to wake up and act like the Church was destined to be. Maybe taking away the tax incentives for charitable giving and taking away the tax-free status of churches would get us back to the basics of why we worship through giving!
“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you” (John 15:19-20 New Living Translation).
A little less love of this world and a little more persecution, please!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN!
For most of my life the statement “Clothes make the man” carried a certain ring of authority. Men in the public eye dressed the part. Pastors, by and large, wore suits and ties in the pulpit on Sunday because clothes made a statement about the man, who he was, and what he did.
It all began to change in the 80’s, both in and out of the church. I remember the first time I saw John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, preach at a large pastors’ conference dressed in chinos and a polo shirt…it was shocking and irreverent (or so it seemed at the time)! At about the same time, the movie “Wall Street” came out and the evil corporate raider Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) made famous the statement, “Greed is good!” Gekko was the best-dressed bad guy I had ever seen in his $1500 Armani suits. They were immaculate and I was envious. So much for the statement “clothes make the man."
Twenty years later, the whole clothing thing has turned upside down. Rap artists now wear the Armani suits and pastors tend to look like they shop at the local thrift store. Half the pastors in America no longer wear a suit and tie in the pulpit. “We relate better to our people,” is the common statement given in defense of a tee shirt and jeans Sunday-go-to-meetin’ attire. Hmmm…I have to think more about this and the place of the Holy Spirit in making messages relevant to people’s hearts and lives. I’ll get back to you on that one.
In ancient days clothing was considered an extension of the person, who he was and what he stood for. When the writer of Psalm 93 penned the words, “The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength,” he was not trying to describe top-of-the-line designer clothing sold in the finest men’s shops of the cosmos. The writer was describing the character and nature of the Lord our God. He is majestic, He is strength. It would be a tragic mistake for us to diminish the import of the Psalmist’s words with the same casual regard we have culturally adopted for current clothing standards.
Psalm 93 is a powerful Word for the unsettled days we live in.
First the Psalmist describes God as majestic and strong.
” The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The LORD is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.” (Psalm 93:1 NKJV)
Then the writer describes the eternal qualities of God and His reign. “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting” (93:2). This comes across a little awkward in the English translation. What the translators were trying to say is that God is eternal, that His kingdom is without beginning and without end; God’s kingdom is established in eternity where there is no time.
In verses 3 and 4 the writer describes the order that God established out of the chaos that existed on the earth. The Lord’s reign on earth was begun at creation, when out of the chaos he established order.
"The LORD on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea." (93:4)
This is an awesome truth for us to lay hold of. Often our fears find their genesis in our concern that things are getting out of control and could possibly bring us to an undesired (read that painful) conclusion. The fact is we may arrive at a conclusion that is different from what we wanted and didn’t anticipate, but the Lord still reigns! He is the God that establishes order out of chaos!
Our God, clothed in majesty and girded with strength, is still bringing order out of chaos—just when it seems that hell is gaining the upper hand in the earth. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). To heal is to remove the disorder, the disease, and establish God’s order, which is to make whole and wholesome! God brings order to disorderly lives; God brings order to chaotic situations; God brings order to His people when the chaos of hell is in full array. Our God is clothed in majesty and armed with strength!
Clothes do not make a man, but God is not a man and He is clothed with majesty and girded with strength! The Lord reigns!
It all began to change in the 80’s, both in and out of the church. I remember the first time I saw John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, preach at a large pastors’ conference dressed in chinos and a polo shirt…it was shocking and irreverent (or so it seemed at the time)! At about the same time, the movie “Wall Street” came out and the evil corporate raider Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) made famous the statement, “Greed is good!” Gekko was the best-dressed bad guy I had ever seen in his $1500 Armani suits. They were immaculate and I was envious. So much for the statement “clothes make the man."
Twenty years later, the whole clothing thing has turned upside down. Rap artists now wear the Armani suits and pastors tend to look like they shop at the local thrift store. Half the pastors in America no longer wear a suit and tie in the pulpit. “We relate better to our people,” is the common statement given in defense of a tee shirt and jeans Sunday-go-to-meetin’ attire. Hmmm…I have to think more about this and the place of the Holy Spirit in making messages relevant to people’s hearts and lives. I’ll get back to you on that one.
In ancient days clothing was considered an extension of the person, who he was and what he stood for. When the writer of Psalm 93 penned the words, “The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength,” he was not trying to describe top-of-the-line designer clothing sold in the finest men’s shops of the cosmos. The writer was describing the character and nature of the Lord our God. He is majestic, He is strength. It would be a tragic mistake for us to diminish the import of the Psalmist’s words with the same casual regard we have culturally adopted for current clothing standards.
Psalm 93 is a powerful Word for the unsettled days we live in.
First the Psalmist describes God as majestic and strong.
” The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The LORD is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.” (Psalm 93:1 NKJV)
Then the writer describes the eternal qualities of God and His reign. “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting” (93:2). This comes across a little awkward in the English translation. What the translators were trying to say is that God is eternal, that His kingdom is without beginning and without end; God’s kingdom is established in eternity where there is no time.
In verses 3 and 4 the writer describes the order that God established out of the chaos that existed on the earth. The Lord’s reign on earth was begun at creation, when out of the chaos he established order.
"The LORD on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea." (93:4)
This is an awesome truth for us to lay hold of. Often our fears find their genesis in our concern that things are getting out of control and could possibly bring us to an undesired (read that painful) conclusion. The fact is we may arrive at a conclusion that is different from what we wanted and didn’t anticipate, but the Lord still reigns! He is the God that establishes order out of chaos!
Our God, clothed in majesty and girded with strength, is still bringing order out of chaos—just when it seems that hell is gaining the upper hand in the earth. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). To heal is to remove the disorder, the disease, and establish God’s order, which is to make whole and wholesome! God brings order to disorderly lives; God brings order to chaotic situations; God brings order to His people when the chaos of hell is in full array. Our God is clothed in majesty and armed with strength!
Clothes do not make a man, but God is not a man and He is clothed with majesty and girded with strength! The Lord reigns!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
DOES JESUS DISLIKE BUSINESS PEOPLE?
There appear to be two different times when Jesus kicked business people out of the temple. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the incident is placed at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In John 2:13-16, a similar story, although with different details, is placed at the beginning of Jesus ministry.
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (John 2:13-16, NKJV).
The fact that all four of the Gospel writers discuss this issue, and two different incidents are described, makes plain to us that it is worthy of our attention.
So, does Jesus dislike business people so much that He was throwing them out of the temple as a sign that they were not welcome in the Kingdom of God? Is there something inherently wrong with being in business? You all know I’m teasing here, right, or am I about to get some nasty comments? (I will send a special explanatory paragraph later for the Canadians, eh!)
The merchants had set up their booths and tables in the “Court of the Gentiles” portion of the temple. The merchants were carrying on the business of selling animals for sacrifice and exchanging foreign money that would not be accepted as payment for the temple tax. These were legitimate businesses that had to be available for the travelers coming from great distances.
I don’t believe the Lord is saying that it is wrong for the church to have a bookstore or for a travelling ministry to make its music and books available in the lobby of the church. In John 2:16, Jesus was saying, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” The word market is where our word emporium comes from. I believe that Jesus was soundly rebuking those who try to exploit the church and use it as a cover and a staging point for their business ventures. There are those who use the church as a vehicle for personal gain. These “merchants” push out of the way the intended use of the place of worship so that they can implant their money-making schemes. If this is their goal, they are bringing the unhealthy spirit of covetousness into the church.
Any time the act of worship is supplanted by business of any kind, I believe we will sense the rebuke of the Lord on that act. Does this mean that church leaders should not engage in secular business? No, Paul was a tentmaker and a travelling apostle. The question that has to be asked is why that leader is involved in business. If the answer revolves around personal gain, it is not right. Paul worked at a secular job to support himself so that he could continue his ministry, and that is not a covetous spirit.
The area of the temple that Jesus cleansed was the Court of the Gentiles, the only part of the temple where Gentiles were permitted to come. It was intended to be a place of worship, a place where Jews could meet with Gentiles and discuss the things of God and where Gentiles could be taught how to engage in worship. When, over time, the Court of the Gentiles became a place of merchandising, it left the Gentile world without an entry point into the kingdom of God. In cleansing the temple, Jesus not only restored that part of the temple to its appropriate use but also signaled what was about to happen after His death, that God’s love would be made freely available to both Jews and Gentiles.
As the incident of cleansing is recorded in John, the reaction of the disciples to what Jesus did is very revealing. “Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’” They are quoting Psalm 69:9 and explaining that Jesus is consumed with keeping the place where God’s people gather reserved solely as a place for those wanting to pray and seek the Lord. The Lord is not cleansing the temple because of what the merchants are doing but because of where they are doing it. The fact that Jesus had to cleanse the temple a second time is a stark picture of how often human nature will return to error even after Jesus issues a rebuke.
Whenever an inordinate desire for wealth or possessions becomes a driving force in the life of a believer or in the church, I believe we can expect the rebuke of the Lord.
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (John 2:13-16, NKJV).
The fact that all four of the Gospel writers discuss this issue, and two different incidents are described, makes plain to us that it is worthy of our attention.
So, does Jesus dislike business people so much that He was throwing them out of the temple as a sign that they were not welcome in the Kingdom of God? Is there something inherently wrong with being in business? You all know I’m teasing here, right, or am I about to get some nasty comments? (I will send a special explanatory paragraph later for the Canadians, eh!)
The merchants had set up their booths and tables in the “Court of the Gentiles” portion of the temple. The merchants were carrying on the business of selling animals for sacrifice and exchanging foreign money that would not be accepted as payment for the temple tax. These were legitimate businesses that had to be available for the travelers coming from great distances.
I don’t believe the Lord is saying that it is wrong for the church to have a bookstore or for a travelling ministry to make its music and books available in the lobby of the church. In John 2:16, Jesus was saying, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” The word market is where our word emporium comes from. I believe that Jesus was soundly rebuking those who try to exploit the church and use it as a cover and a staging point for their business ventures. There are those who use the church as a vehicle for personal gain. These “merchants” push out of the way the intended use of the place of worship so that they can implant their money-making schemes. If this is their goal, they are bringing the unhealthy spirit of covetousness into the church.
Any time the act of worship is supplanted by business of any kind, I believe we will sense the rebuke of the Lord on that act. Does this mean that church leaders should not engage in secular business? No, Paul was a tentmaker and a travelling apostle. The question that has to be asked is why that leader is involved in business. If the answer revolves around personal gain, it is not right. Paul worked at a secular job to support himself so that he could continue his ministry, and that is not a covetous spirit.
The area of the temple that Jesus cleansed was the Court of the Gentiles, the only part of the temple where Gentiles were permitted to come. It was intended to be a place of worship, a place where Jews could meet with Gentiles and discuss the things of God and where Gentiles could be taught how to engage in worship. When, over time, the Court of the Gentiles became a place of merchandising, it left the Gentile world without an entry point into the kingdom of God. In cleansing the temple, Jesus not only restored that part of the temple to its appropriate use but also signaled what was about to happen after His death, that God’s love would be made freely available to both Jews and Gentiles.
As the incident of cleansing is recorded in John, the reaction of the disciples to what Jesus did is very revealing. “Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’” They are quoting Psalm 69:9 and explaining that Jesus is consumed with keeping the place where God’s people gather reserved solely as a place for those wanting to pray and seek the Lord. The Lord is not cleansing the temple because of what the merchants are doing but because of where they are doing it. The fact that Jesus had to cleanse the temple a second time is a stark picture of how often human nature will return to error even after Jesus issues a rebuke.
Whenever an inordinate desire for wealth or possessions becomes a driving force in the life of a believer or in the church, I believe we can expect the rebuke of the Lord.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
GRACE - IT REALLY IS AMAZING!
“There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.” Phillip Yancey
So does this mean that once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and understand that God loves us unconditionally, we can go out and live like hell without consequence to our behavior? Is it okay for believers to live in sin—to lie, steal, cheat, be immoral—because they have “fire insurance”? If there is nothing I can do to make God love me less, then I guess anything goes and I’ll see you in heaven.
I was reared in the very conservative church world of western Canada in an ultra-conservative British home. My Scottish mother was from a family of fervent Christians. My dad was born in England into a very strong Christian family of the tribe known as Methodists. My paternal granddad was a serious follower of Jesus and several books that he used for study and reference are now in my library.
My conservative family upbringing got confused in my mind by some of the teachings of the church we attended. My home church stressed God’s unconditional love (today we call this the “grace message”) and they taught that what you did after you got saved was really not that important; you were going to be okay, no matter what. When I was an adolescent, the founding pastor taught on grace and I heard him say, “The only reason I don’t smoke and drink is because you don’t pay me enough.” Believe me, such remarks leave an impression on a young mind. This man’s irresponsible statements and the conduct of some leaders in our church had a powerful impact on me and I was terribly confused about what grace really meant. On the one hand, there were rules we were expected to follow and things we were not allowed to do. On the other, we were taught that nothing can detract from your life in Christ and we were going to get to heaven no matter what.
To be raised in this kind of schizophrenia was confusing. It’s amazing that any of my friends and I ended up serving the Lord (well, I am actually concerned about one guy from Toronto, another from Edmonton, and a couple of the guys from B.C.).
So, who was right and who was wrong? Frankly, I think they are both right—and wrong! On the one side, you have the overly strict world of legalism that just loves to set rules and judge people. On the other, you have the carefree world of extreme Calvinism that doesn’t want to hold anybody responsible for anything, especially themselves. One side is busy measuring the length of ladies’ skirts and the other side has lost much of its sense of moral and ethical behavior. One side is loaded with nitpickers and the other with loophole exploiters. I believe the high ground is the middle ground and that’s where I try to live.
I believe that as followers of Jesus we have great security in Him. He does not judge and condemn us because of our mistakes but works with us to help us learn from our mistakes, to grow in Him, and finally to mature. 1 John 1:9 was written for believers who screw up. I also believe He has given us a free will and has chosen to limit His sovereignty in respect of the freedom of choice He has given us. We are free to choose both to follow or not to follow. If we choose not follow Him, He doesn’t lose anything; we have exercised our free will and chosen to lose everything.
Paul asked, “Is grace a license to sin?” and then he cried out emphatically, “Absolutely not!” (Romans 6:1-2) Paul went on to teach us that we are dead to sin. It is my experience that occasionally the old man tries to sit up in the casket and sometimes, to my own embarrassment, I let him rise up and then a struggle ensues. Most of the time when there’s a stirring in the casket, I remind the “old man” to “lie down and act like you’re supposed to—dead!” When I linger too long before telling him to lie down, that’s a mistake on my part and then, thank God for 1 John 1:9. The moment we confess our mistake, the old man is forced to lie down; when we confess our mistake, the authority of the throne of grace is brought to bear on the situation and the old man has no alternative but to lie down and be dead!
The older I get the more I realize how passionate God’s love is for His children. Grace really is amazing!
So does this mean that once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and understand that God loves us unconditionally, we can go out and live like hell without consequence to our behavior? Is it okay for believers to live in sin—to lie, steal, cheat, be immoral—because they have “fire insurance”? If there is nothing I can do to make God love me less, then I guess anything goes and I’ll see you in heaven.
I was reared in the very conservative church world of western Canada in an ultra-conservative British home. My Scottish mother was from a family of fervent Christians. My dad was born in England into a very strong Christian family of the tribe known as Methodists. My paternal granddad was a serious follower of Jesus and several books that he used for study and reference are now in my library.
My conservative family upbringing got confused in my mind by some of the teachings of the church we attended. My home church stressed God’s unconditional love (today we call this the “grace message”) and they taught that what you did after you got saved was really not that important; you were going to be okay, no matter what. When I was an adolescent, the founding pastor taught on grace and I heard him say, “The only reason I don’t smoke and drink is because you don’t pay me enough.” Believe me, such remarks leave an impression on a young mind. This man’s irresponsible statements and the conduct of some leaders in our church had a powerful impact on me and I was terribly confused about what grace really meant. On the one hand, there were rules we were expected to follow and things we were not allowed to do. On the other, we were taught that nothing can detract from your life in Christ and we were going to get to heaven no matter what.
To be raised in this kind of schizophrenia was confusing. It’s amazing that any of my friends and I ended up serving the Lord (well, I am actually concerned about one guy from Toronto, another from Edmonton, and a couple of the guys from B.C.).
So, who was right and who was wrong? Frankly, I think they are both right—and wrong! On the one side, you have the overly strict world of legalism that just loves to set rules and judge people. On the other, you have the carefree world of extreme Calvinism that doesn’t want to hold anybody responsible for anything, especially themselves. One side is busy measuring the length of ladies’ skirts and the other side has lost much of its sense of moral and ethical behavior. One side is loaded with nitpickers and the other with loophole exploiters. I believe the high ground is the middle ground and that’s where I try to live.
I believe that as followers of Jesus we have great security in Him. He does not judge and condemn us because of our mistakes but works with us to help us learn from our mistakes, to grow in Him, and finally to mature. 1 John 1:9 was written for believers who screw up. I also believe He has given us a free will and has chosen to limit His sovereignty in respect of the freedom of choice He has given us. We are free to choose both to follow or not to follow. If we choose not follow Him, He doesn’t lose anything; we have exercised our free will and chosen to lose everything.
Paul asked, “Is grace a license to sin?” and then he cried out emphatically, “Absolutely not!” (Romans 6:1-2) Paul went on to teach us that we are dead to sin. It is my experience that occasionally the old man tries to sit up in the casket and sometimes, to my own embarrassment, I let him rise up and then a struggle ensues. Most of the time when there’s a stirring in the casket, I remind the “old man” to “lie down and act like you’re supposed to—dead!” When I linger too long before telling him to lie down, that’s a mistake on my part and then, thank God for 1 John 1:9. The moment we confess our mistake, the old man is forced to lie down; when we confess our mistake, the authority of the throne of grace is brought to bear on the situation and the old man has no alternative but to lie down and be dead!
The older I get the more I realize how passionate God’s love is for His children. Grace really is amazing!
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