Worldview: Pat Robertson and Alzheimer's

I rarely get red-faced with anger. But when a staff member reported that Pat Robertson (TBN founder and 700 Club host) effectively affirmed a guy cheating on his wife with Alzheimer's disease, I could feel the heat building in my cheeks. I watched the whole interview myself. It is simply unbelievable. I was still seething Sunday when I mentioned it, but feel the need to blog about it since it’s been a week and there’s been no retraction, and because of the errors his words propagate. Perhaps now Robertson, who is well known for making imprudent statements, will finally be sidelined as "unreasonable" and discredited. What an embarrassment to Christ and his followers!

You can read a blog that puts Robertson's words (original video included) in perspective by Randy Alcorn here. It is a must-read. In it are quotes from McQuilkin and Joni Eareckson Tada that show the TRUE Christian response to those afflicted with Alzheimer’s.

Pat Robertson is a Charismatic, borderline health/wealth/prosperity doctrine leader, who is often quoted by the mainstream media as a spokesman for Christians and evangelicals. Among charismatics, he has a cult following. Quite frankly, I'm ready for him to retire into obscurity. I first became familiar with Robertson during his presidential campaign in 1988. It was the first election in which I was old enough to vote and Robertson was vying for support as the “Christian” candidate. Even at age 18, I sensed that although he was attractive in some ways on the surface, there were some things about him that caused uneasiness. That’s the deceptive thing about these guys; they deliver a mixture of truth and lies. I remember watching the 700 Club where he frequently made weird claims that God was speaking directly to him. He would claim to know of viewers “out there” who were suffering from different specific diseases and conditions, and he would proclaim healing for them in very specific ways. Since then he has made several specific predictions publically (that he claimed were from God) that have not come to pass. Have you ever read what the Old Testament says about “prophets” like Robertson?

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Deut. 18:20-22).

While I do not recommend capital punishment(!), I do encourage great caution to anyone who hears him. In the New Testament, Peter writes:

...There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies...And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep (2 Peter 2:1, 3).

Peter says their motivation is greed. Robertson has apparently fared well in peddling his mixture of truth and falsehood. He is reportedly worth between $200 million and $1 billion and has set his son up as the heir of his media empire (which smacks of nepotism).

While gleefully impugned by liberals in the media with regularity, Robertson’s comments on leaving a spouse with Alzheimer’s have found him some new defenders among them. William Saletan wrote that Robertson is thinking “how a liberal thinks. He faces the reality of human experience in all its contours and contradictions. And he's willing to let that experience complicate his principles.” Hmmm. Problem is, they’re not Pat’s principles. They’re Christ’s. And they’re not complicated. Jesus:

“A man...fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. [Two religious leaders] passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan...saw him, he had compassion. He...bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise" (Luke 10:30-37).

Plenty of Christian leaders have denounced Robertson’s words. But I've not read any discussion about the doctrinal implications of his view of marriage. What does it indicate about his worldview? I’ll try to be brief...

It is hedonistic: Robertson’s advice indicates that his most important guiding principle of life is that self is happy. This is essentially a form of hedonism. Whenever self is not happy, lesser things are expendable and are subject to change—or even discarded—in order to serve the greater. Things like the person with whom you once fell in love, with whom you shared life and bore children. Things like a vow before God that promised “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” With hedonism, love of self is the supreme ethical factor, not love of God or love of others. Think of a world where this belief is practiced wholesale. There would be no soldiers or firefighters to put their lives in danger for the sake of others—to do so would be considered foolish rather than heroic. And think of how much the crime rate would skyrocket. After all, if the ultimate judge of good is what is pleasurable for me, anything anyone else has is fair game. It is better for me to have it, by any means. Conversely, it would be sinful to do anything to take from me that which brings me pleasure. It would be a violation of my rights! It sounds very much like the opposite of the great commandment of Christ: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

It is idolatrous: A person’s situation (or the interpretation of one’s situation) trumps God’s commandments. Fear of God is subservient to love of self. God has been effectively usurped and replaced by a new, false god: self. This, of course is THE original sin—which resulted in the fall of Lucifer as well as the fall of humankind and gave us the curse. Pride—love of self—is the singular target of the Ten Commandments: No gods before God. No idols. No misuse of God’s name. Remember Sabbath. Honor parents. Don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet. Bottom line: when we dethrone God and replace him with self, we commit idolatry. Pat Robertson’s advice is especially treacherous because he proclaims the spouse as “gone” and having died “a kind of death” before God has taken her life, because she could not recognize her husband. Think of the implications for abortion, euthanasia, treatment of the handicapped and elderly, and a host of other ethical issues! We subvert God’s order and supplant God’s decree with our own selfish agenda.

It disregards God’s purpose: The man whose wife has Alzheimer’s was said to have “gotten bitter at God for allowing his wife to be in that condition.” Instead of understanding suffering as an existential reminder of our fallen world causing him to desire God and heaven, this man evidently understands suffering as evidence of God’s injustice causing him to commit further injustice (cheating on his infirmed wife). That’s tragic enough. But more tragic is Robertson’s confirmation of this distorted view. Robertson’s replies, “I hate Alzheimer’s,” and “I can’t fault him for wanting some kind of companionship, and if he says ‘she is gone’ he’s right” seem natural enough and perhaps even compassionate. But is that the best reply for a Christian leader? Is God unjust? Or is there something (some things) he wants to reveal in trial and suffering?

I am thankful that God didn’t say “they’re gone, they’re gone, they are gone!” regarding our hopelessly diseased, rebellious, and sinful state. I’m glad he didn’t simply “divorce” us in order to find companionship elsewhere. He would have been completely justified to do just that, for unlike the Alzheimer’s victim, we are responsible for our spiritual handicap. No, instead “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And...he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death...on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). This supreme act of selflessness resulted in our salvation. Think of the difficulty! The Transcendent God did not cling to this glorified state. Instead, Holy Christ lowered himself, put on fragile flesh, and moved into our sinful world. God stooped to share in our helpless, pitiful, diseased existence—simply in order to save us.

Is it possible that “sharing in Christ’s suffering” may include lowering ourselves to serve the helpless ones we love? I think it does. We can learn much. We can teach much to others about God. We can understand and long for our salvation and ultimate freedom from our “body of sin.” And we will be rewarded by God. On the other hand, if we do not show compassion to those who need us in the time of their greatest destitution, what does it say of us? What does it say of our own experience of God’s grace? Is it possible that we have not understood our helplessness and his great mercy? Because if we have, we would gladly give mercy to others—particularly those with whom we have covenanted our lives to become one flesh.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:1-11)

Contrast that with Matthew 7:15-23

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Your fruit is not good, Pat. I pray that you will change or that you would please retire and get out of the spotlight.

The persecuted early Christians were impugned by the Romans because we cared about the “least of these” to the extent of giving proper burial to the dead among the pagans because all individuals were made in the image of God, and raising little Roman girls who, not wanted by their fathers, were left in the streets. Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate lamented:

[Christianity] has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.

God, grant that we regain this reputation today!

An Amazing Time.

From my high school days I dreamed of going to the Rockies on an outdoor adventure. When Drew was seven years old, I shared this dream with him after reading a book about the western wilderness. He said, "Maybe we can go together sometime, Daddy." We decided that night that we would when he was old enough (if he still wanted to). Drew LOVES hiking, backpacking, and experiencing the wilderness. It has always been his thing. And it is something we both love.

I am profoundly grateful that our church has from the start determined to give full-time staff a sabbatical after every seven years. Pastors in particular tend to get buried in their work and sometimes burn out; or perhaps worse, burn out their families. I could give numerous examples. This policy helps us keeps family first and rekindle the burning passion for Christ--both necessary if we are to lead people spiritually. It is because of this intentional policy that I was able to fulfill my and Drew's dream, and spend some invaluable time together before Drew goes to college in a couple of years (I dread the thought!).

Many months ago, I blocked out July for the trip. I didn't know where the money would come from, but I knew God would provide. He answered my prayers. I was able to save a few hundred dollars over the last year, and without ever mentioning the need to anyone, a couple of wonderful people from our church gave me gifts that made it possible to go. I am so grateful.

We flew out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming on July 4th for 23 days. There is no way to tell every detail. We backpacked and camped in the Tetons, the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Yellowstone, the Winds (a desolate high mountain range south east of the Tetons), the canyon land of Utah, the Colorado Rockies, and other places. We saw 7 states (not from Rock City): Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and (barely) New Mexico and Arizona. It seems most spots had their particular plague: cold & snow, mosquitoes (often), gnats, no-see-ums, horseflies, heat, bears, or something else! But believe me, the beauty and exhilaration of each place far outweighed these tolerable negatives. I'm sure you Providence folks will hear stories in the future from the wild and wonderful adventure Drew and I had together.

The one thing I will say at this point is this: I would not trade anything for the time spent with Drew. I love my son. Yes, we had some good deep conversations--sometimes about very spiritual things. Yes, we had to depend on each other. But perhaps best of all we were TOGETHER; laughing, hurting, stinking, and experiencing amazement. I (intentionally) did very little reproving. We are completely different in many regards, but we are also very much alike--a fact that I focused on. We both like to eat well. We both like to read. We both like to observe the plant and animal life around us. We both like tech stuff (computer and cell phone related in particular), we both like the same styles of music, we both like to talk about politics. We both like our sweet tea.

One of my daughters was going through a rough-spot a while back. A Christian friend Darla and I respect gave some advice. "Enjoy her. Let her know you delight in her." I took the advice and it made all the difference. As parents we can easily become negative. In this I am guilty. Drew is our oldest, and the fact that he's a son makes him even more the victim of my high expectations. Of course, I have his best interests at heart and only want him to experience the benefits of wisdom. When he resists wisdom, I can become negative. Sometimes negative communication can be inferred as, "You're a failure." ESPECIALLY if a kid does not have the confidence of knowing his parent delights in him or her. My brother-in-law wisely said it this way: "Reproof without relationship equals rejection and rebellion."

Relationship is the key. There is no substitute for time spent doing what your child loves to do--encouraging them and delighting in them and with them. I challenge you parents to MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Consider this a great task you must accomplish. It is not complicated. It is invaluable.

Here are a few pics of our trip.

Hidden Falls in the Tetons:










Cascade Canyon:


Fixing lunch after a cloudburst next to Cascade Creek.










Hiking on snow in July:










A hill of flowers with quite a view:













































The beginning of our hike around this lake (Green Lake) to the top of one of the mountains in the back.







This is Slide Lake which is a several-mile hike into the Winds range. Incredible!













(Above) Climbing the talus (rock slide) above slide lake on our way to 12,000+ ft. Flat Top Mountain. There's no trail here! We call this "the Epic Hike."


(Below) We are probably 80% of the way to the top where we rested and ate.







Canyon country near Moab, UT.





Gemini Arches. Look closely to see that we are hundreds of feet from the floor! There was a monument there of a guy who died here driving his Jeep. I can see how.


This is a great campsite Drew picked on a mountain across the "hole" from the Tetons. Perfect (except for the horseflies and mosquitoes)!













Red Mountain in Colorado, above the famous "Yankee Girl" silver mine. We camped on the mine site.


Different from Red Mountain is "Red Hills" in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Our last night was spent near here.













Buffalo. Umm...I mean, "Bison."




Evidently I've reached the max of photos I can publish on this post. There are literally hundreds more!

Is it Compassionate?

My daughter and I ran into one of her friends in a public place. Her zipper was unzipped. My daughter was in a quandary. “Should I tell her?” There were lots of other people around and activity going on. Her dilemma was kind of funny, really. I laughed and asked her, “Would you want her to tell you if your fly was open?” “Well, yeah, but it would be kinda embarrassing,” she said. She tried to get near her and pull her aside but couldn’t (or didn’t). No harm was done. The friend had a long shirt that covered the delinquent zipper. It bothered my daughter that she didn’t tell her friend. She cared about her. But it sparked a good conversation. What’s more compassionate? It is certainly cruel to purposely embarrass, impugn, avoid, or discriminate against someone because of a blind spot they have—this is a point no one would dispute. But is it cruel to NOT tell them of the blind spot? Is it compassionate NOT to tell your obese friend that their lifestyle is hurtful to them and offer to help? Is it compassionate NOT to warn your fiscally-challenged friend about a foolish purchase they’re considering or the consequences of poor financial decisions? In some cases we can even share liability. If it is our responsibility to help someone and we choose not to, we could even be legally liable. Examples: the doctor who does not suggest an available life-saving treatment...the engineer who misses a safety-related design flaw...the school that knowingly employs a child-molester...the auditor who ignores embezzlement. You get the point.

But what about the Christian—the follower of Christ who has covenanted with other Christians in accomplishing the Great Commission through a local church? What if he knows that one of his brothers is living in sin—buying the lie of the enemy and the world to his own hurt—perhaps even hurting others? He is either temporarily blinded or he NEVER COULD SEE. Jesus said that we are responsible to find out which kind of blindness they have by being honest (Matthew 18:15-18), so that they can see. We are to do this gently (Galatians 6:1-2). Of course this is not easy! We’re not talking about a zipper. It is much easier to just not deal with it. But what if we don’t perform this service to our brother? He is “led away by his own desires and enticed.” If he is a Christian, he is robbed of joy. He puts distance between himself and God. He experiences God’s chastisement. If he persists, God may even end his life. If he is not a Christian the stakes are even higher. Am I my brother’s keeper? Answer: I am. We are to help the fallen brother. We are to know where our brother is spiritually. We are to CARE.

The point is, I'm afraid we really just don’t care. And that’s a mark of our culture.
The public school teacher who started Reach Them To Teach Them told me recently, “The problem today is not that kids feel bullied, the problem is that they feel invisible.” She told me of a poem that one of her “more difficult” students wrote that said just that. It changed her. So many feel that no one cares. That’s fascinating to me, because I think it is (in part) an unintended consequence of radical tolerance, which is now our culture’s highest moral value.

Politicians have sometimes quoted Cain in Genesis 4 who asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Of course, what they usually intend by use of the quote is that we should want the government to provide services and take tax money from the “haves” and redistribute it to people they consider the “have nots.” I don’t think that’s what being "my brother’s keeper" means. I think it means (among other things) that I am to care about him. I am to care for him. I am to care where he is...that he is unharmed. Cain didn’t of course—he had just killed his brother when he said this, and his answer showed no remorse. He had no compassion. He did not care.

We aren’t just to care enough to hold individuals in our Christian family accountable—at least to remind them of what Christ expects of fellow Christians for their own sake, we are to hold Christian institutions accountable. A case could be made that this is even more important since institutions have more influence on people than mere individuals.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) just became the 4th Protestant denomination to allow openly gay clergy. Unbelievable. As a former PCUSA member of our church told me, “The fact that they were even talking about the possibility is indication enough that they are gone.” They’ve been talking about for a long time. The battle to do this has been waged by proponents for 30 years! Virtually every year saw another campaign and call for a vote by a few activist leaders. Every time, the people’s representatives voted it down. Appeals from conservatives from both inside and outside the PCUSA were made. But the proponents of tolerance never quit. During that time period, the denomination lost almost half of their membership. A once great denomination that claimed many notable Christian and American leaders among their ranks will now, I predict, decline more rapidly and effectively die (if not in number soon, certainly in their usefulness to God in disciples-making), becoming an historical footnote. I can’t help but think that John Calvin, John Knox, Peter Marshall, Francis Schaeffer, and nine U.S. Presidents (and even more vice-presidents) are rolling over in their proverbial graves! They’re not literally, of course; I actually think they're in heaven. All of these men were a part of a Presbyterian Church that believed God’s word and proclaimed the Gospel. The PCUSA is not the only Presbyterian denomination. There are others, including several that splintered off for obvious reasons. If not due to acceptance of homosexuality, good Christians left for a more fundamental reason: They believed the PCUSA no longer viewed the Bible as God’s word, inerrant and authoritative. We should all grieve this once great denomination’s decay and decline.

The Gay Issue
“But why,” you may ask, “is homosexuality such a watershed issue? What about that particular sin is so grievous by comparison to others?” Great question. After all, you don’t read headlines about denominations arguing about whether or not gluttons should be members of the clergy. What gives?

It is true that all sin is sin to God. He is infinitely holy. Any unholiness is infinitely sinful to him. Infinitely. Deserving of eternal hell. But God has decreed that some sins carry greater consequences in this life than others. Gluttony is infinitely unholy to God. So is murder. But while gluttony primarily hurts the glutton, murder hurts others. While gluttony may bring some shame to one who becomes overweight and unhealthy as a consequence, murder violates another person’s most basic right—the right of one created by God in his image—to life itself. Those who loved the one who was murdered were robbed of the relationship with that person. And God made us for each other. Therefore, murder carries a much more serious punishment, both in the Bible and in human law. Throughout the Bible, homosexuality is considered a gross sin, carrying a most severe punishment—perhaps the most severe. Every time it comes up in the Bible it is presented as a sin against human dignity violating God’s very created order. Nothing is more vital to human society than the male-female relationship. It is how our species is propagated (gee thanks, Captain Obvious!). God made us this way. It is in this context that secure, healthy kids are best raised. Heterosexual marriage is the basic building block of the family and all other human institutions. Our nation is experiencing dangerous moral decline, and even secular sociologists cite the decline of the nuclear family as a (if not “the”) primary factor. The plight of the African-American family is a well-documented example of this principle. In the past half century, welfare and social programs made it attractive for more black women to have children outside of marriage. More black men were not encouraged by society to be faithful husbands and fathers. Many poor blacks were given money, government housing, and food stamps. Work and education were not valued as highly. This social experiment, intended for good, resulted in a large group of people who were harmed by the decline of the family. Drug abuse, crime, violence, high incarceration rates, high abortion rates, all followed. It is now happening to every demographic. The traditional family is something to fight for. Redefining marriage and encouraging homosexuality is killing our culture. But our highest value, radical tolerance, causes many to not say what needs to be said. "We love you. This is not good for you. You are hurting yourself and others." That's true compassion. Tolerance lets us off the hook. It encourages us to not care. It is not compassionate.

Let me be clear: homosexuality is aberrant, sinful behavior that is categorically condemned in the Bible. It is not God’s will for men to lust after and have anal sexual intercourse with other men, or for women to burn with sensuality for other women and stimulate them to sexual orgasm. Some of you are shocked that I wrote that, but that’s exactly what it is. It is base—shallow, carnal, eroticism for its own sake and the fleeting, short-lived pleasure it promises (I could say the same thing about other forms of sexual sin, but homosexuality is the subject here). Paul uses homosexuality as his primary example of ultimate rebellion against God and his order (Romans 1:26-32), and says that both those who practice this lifestyle AND those who approve of it deserve the punishment it demands. Homosexuality is not “gay.” It is treachery. It is misery. It leaves a person ridden with unavoidable guilt, regret, and emptiness. I have known many homosexual men and women. Without exception, every one of them I have asked readily admitted that they were miserable, and admitted that everyone they knew in the lifestyle was miserable. That’s not “gay” at all. What a misnomer. When our culture tolerates, equivocates, or worse, congratulates this sinful lifestyle, people are profoundly hurt. Society as a whole is profoundly hurt.

It’s the spirit of our age to not judge people’s sexual orientation. It’s the politically correct and safe thing to do. It sounds so tolerant. So...caring. But is that right? I think for most of us, we just don’t care. Radical tolerance teaches us to not care. They are just invisible to us. Let them do what they want. It’s much easier. The Christ-like response to homosexuality is not rocket science. We are all sinners. We are to love all sinners because God loves all sinners, sending Christ to die on their behalf. God offers GRACE not tolerance, which is better by far. Therefore we do not impugn or mistreat or ignore sinners—including practicing homosexuals. We love them. And we love them enough to be honest. Paul said to the church in Corinth (a city known for homosexuality):

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators...nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites (NIV: “men who have sex with men”)...will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Cor. 6:9-11 italics added)

Some of them WERE homosexual, and are no longer engaged in that lifestyle of sin. They may still struggle and fight the unholy urges, but they fight. By God’s power they are sanctified (are being made holy). Are they born that way? We are all born with a sinful nature. But that doesn’t make sin ok (or, "tolerable"). If I’m born with a proclivity toward violence, that doesn’t make it ok for me to beat my wife! I must control my anger. That’s what people—made in God’s image—do. We are not animals, enslaved to our instincts. We are human beings with a will. Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide, convict, and empower. I don’t know a heterosexual married man who hasn’t found other women attractive—but a Spirit-filled man will neither give sway to, nor act upon his carnal desires. He yields to God’s control. Certainly this kind of discipline is not too much to ask of a leader in Christ’s body!

The compassionate thing for Christian individuals and institutions to do is to stand for truth—God’s truth. Instead of accommodating sin and misery, instead of convincing ourselves that open, unrepentant, practicing sinners are not only going to heaven but are worthy to lead our churches, we must lovingly show people their blind spots. When a denomination (or any Christian organization) drifts so far away from the authority of Scripture that it effectively proclaims sin no longer sinful, it has mortally wounded itself. And that’s why the PCUSA is finished: they have chosen compromise and tolerance rather than compassion and grace. May God have mercy. Presbyterian brothers and sisters, flee. Encourage the elders of your church to join with the PCA, the EPC, or another Presbyterian denomination that upholds the Bible as God's very word.

The Death, BURIAL, & Resurrection

Today is Good Friday. It is when Jesus died on the cross. The next big thing we celebrate is his resurrection on Easter, right?

I'm sorry to say that I've missed–or at least glossed-over–something really important.

Stan Giles is a friend who is a Chaplain for the Air Force. He and his wife attend Providence. He has been the pastor of several churches. I've found him to be witty, wise, and humble. As we approached Easter, he let us know that he had some thoughts on Christ's BURIAL. After hearing some of his thoughts, I wanted to have him share with us all on a Sunday morning but the schedule wouldn't allow. So I asked him to write a blog post. Graciously, he did. You will be glad if you read on...

Eternities’ Dirtiest Job
John 19:38-42

Many Americans enjoy the television show “World’s Dirtiest Jobs” by Mike Roe. He has made a career out of engaging with the many Americans who perform dirty, nasty albeit necessary jobs every day. I confess to enjoying it perhaps because it makes heroes out of ordinary people. This passage could be entitled “Eternities’ Dirtiest Job”.

First Corinthians 15:3 says that the gospel is the fact that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. In the context of this passage we see that the prior passage, 28-37, summarizes the death of our Lord. The following passage concerns resurrection, and so it is fitting that this one in the middle relates to the burial. We certainly teach and preach the crucifixion and resurrection, but what about the burial? It seems to get shorted in our preaching calendar and I confess I have done the same.

I suppose the story eludes our attention because it seems like an afterthought, an unnecessary encore as it were. However, this incident is mentioned by all four gospel writers!

It likely eludes us because of our squeamish relationship to death - it details the disposing of our Lord’s body. A distasteful duty. Yet our avoidance of this scene might be rather recent. I’ve noticed how many Renaissance paintings are devoted to this very scene.

We’re all intimately familiar with the context. The scene of death unfolds in a context of confusion and chaos. Understandably fearful of their lives, the disciples have fled; their world has unraveled and they have left the scene of the crime. The text leaves not question but that a crime has occurred – a crime against Divinity. Yet a very practical, pressing problem arises – there is this dead body. But there is no yellow tape, no CSI Jerusalem, no modern day bureaucracy that would delay the disposal of the corpse. If someone doesn’t take it, it doesn’t end up in a hospital morgue or the local funeral home; rather it ends up in the garbage dump to be burned.

Thinking quickly, and likely not completely sure of their course of action- two people step forward to take care of this dirty and distasteful job. One of them is Joseph of Arimathea. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, a position of power and it is safe to assume that he was a person of wealth. Luke 23:50 states that in his position of power he disagreed with the decision to execute Jesus but alas, we know how the story ends.

However, because of his influential position he had access to power and so doing what most others couldn’t do, he approached Pilate with a request – can I take the body? I’ve wondered just how this conversation took place. My guess is that with all the confusion and chaos it was likely one of those quick sidebar conversations as they were walking out of the room. “Hey Mr. Pilate, you know I voted against this conviction and I’m not happy with the decision, but can I at least recover the body? Do you mind?” Pilate, giving it no thought likely just grunted and shrugged his shoulders and likely said, “Sure” with a degree of incredulousness as to why anyone would want it.

Joseph, who is obviously thinking on his feet, begins working through the logistical matters at play. According to the gospels he was the one who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial and thus solved one serious logistical problem. Somewhere in the process he connected with his partner in this benevolent effort, Nicodemus. Verse 39 says that he provided the necessary embalming supplies.

I think it is fair to assume his next step was to get to the scene, and make sure that the soldiers didn’t inadvertently haul Jesus off along with the other two corpses to the dump. I’m sure the soldiers, upon hearing the news, were glad as that meant there was less work for them.

This is a plausible scenario of just what took place but to say the least, it was a dirty job! Our church history has presented us with antiseptic pictures of Jesus hanging on the cross, privately parts discreetly covered, looking like he needs little more than a large Band-Aid. But the body of our Lord was a literal, bloody mess. And what I find impressive is who steps forward to do the dirty work, God’s work I might add – Joseph. Joseph became the go-to guy when God needed a volunteer for a dirty job.

As a chaplain the Air Force I deployed twice and found myself traveling all over Iraq and engaging in some fruitful and, I might add, rather exciting ministry. It was the height of the insurgency and IEDs were going off routinely. Part of what I did was to serve in one of the two main hospitals. Now when I say ‘hospital’ imagine a series of tents, set up on concrete slabs and connected to one another by smaller tents. Primitive by most standards but serving in them were some incredibly devoted and skilled medical personnel.

Patients would show up by helicopter and be rolled into the emergency tent where a team of 7 or 8 specialists of some sort would descend upon them. No one had to tell you they were coming, you could hear it. Many of the patients were those critically injured soldiers, mostly by the now infamous IEDs which cause catastrophic damage to the body. As you can well imagine, it is a chaotic environment that is emotionally charged. And what doesn’t get into the news is how literally bloody the whole situation is. These explosions cause bleeding from all orifices and the blood cakes on the body and pools on the floor.

Late one night a badly injured soldier arrived and after a period of time, the lead physician paused and spoke the words no one wanted to hear. “This isn’t going to have a positive outcome.” That’s code for this “patient is going to die.” He was from a small town in Texas. I know people from his town.

At that I knelt down and held his hand, and whispered his name into his ear. I talked of our love, of God’s love, of his family’s love. Slowly they started to detach him from all the connectors and finally, moments later the physician pronounced him dead. At that point, as is customary, you gather the grieving and often upset medical personnel, hold hands, affirm them in what they did and offer a prayer for the soldier and his family.

By the time I was ready to leave it was the wee hours of the morning and I walked by a tent where two medical technicians had the body of this deceased soldier on a gurney and they were cleaning the body of this brave soldier - just like Joseph and Nicodemus did. With somber faces and a serious mood they were gently washing the body. They were using, not some large, rough wet washcloth, like we’d use on a 6-year-old after a church picnic. Rather they were using small, 4x inch pads of gauze soaked in alcohol. I remember their faces vividly. They worked as though they were artists cleaning a masterpiece. They handled this body with such care, and tenderness. I was touched and, as I paused for those few seconds I was, as I rarely am, speechless. I took a few more steps toward the exit and then it came to me in epiphany - like fashion and this passage creased my brain. I backed up and said to them, “You know of course, that you are doing the work of God!”

I don’t think I am stretching it too much when I use Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are some of the heroes of the church. He did the job that people naturally shied away from – he cleaned up the body of Jesus. Not with latex gloves and gauze and alcohol, but with strips of linen and spices. It was still a dirty, messy, distasteful job. I might be stretching it a bit, but he sort of reminds me of the many people I have know in the church who have been willing to do whatever was necessary. In my mind Joseph is a model of service to our Lord. In some traditions, Joseph is venerated as a saint.

There are a lot of people in our churches doing the Joseph-like jobs -- jobs that demand sacrifice, the giving up of evenings and weekends. Jobs that get little or no appreciation. Furthermore I’ve discovered that ministering to Christ’s Body, the church, can sometimes itself be bloody and messy. Yet we do it because our Lord calls us to faithfulness.

Yet, at the risk of bursting Joseph’s balloon, I should point our verse 38. Apparently, Saint Joseph had feet of clay because he feared the Jews and kept his confession under wraps, as it were. Thus in some sense Joseph was a failure; he messed up. That denial was perhaps his skeleton in his closet, that moment of regret. Yet he is listed here as serving the literal body of Christ.

That should come as some comfort to you and me because it reminds us that we don’t have to be saints to serve in God’s kingdom. We don’t have to be perfect to do the will of God. God uses people, ordinary people, flawed people to minister to His body, to further his kingdom.

Pastors wish our churches were full of the near perfect servants but in practice we get a real mixture. Some people come into our midst with high skill levels but low commitment levels. Sometimes it is the other way around. Yet they, we all have a place in the kingdom. And when we do those, so to speak, ‘dirty’ jobs in the church; those jobs that folks just won’t volunteer for; the jobs that go begging because they involve children, sometimes diapers even, and commitment, those Joseph-like jobs, we are doing the Lord’s work!

Like Joseph you likely are a flawed person perhaps with some not so invisible skeletons in your closet. But don’t let that keep you from your service to our Lord. Dorothy Day made this observation. She said, “If we forbid hypocrites from serving in our churches, we won’t have anyone to serve!” Then she wirily added, “and we won’t have anyone to do the forbidding!”

In some sense none of us are qualified to do the work of the Lord, but like Joseph, we can still minister to the broken, bleeding, busted and bruised body of Christ – the church.

For all the talk about the church being the body of Christ and how we’re all important, many pastors don’t really believe that – they believe, we believe that we are more important. Part of that stems from our CEO approach to leadership that has dominated our churches for many decades. But with some seasoning I’ve come to believe the opposite because I’ve been blessed to be around many Josephs and I am convinced that some of the most important saints of God are doing the dirty work, the sometimes distasteful work, the work that few people notice, work like those two fine medical people were doing.

All of us have flaws. You have flaws, but don’t let that keep you from doing God’s work at wherever you were called.

Looking back over my years of ministry I can cringe with embarrassment over some things I did, and certainly some things I said. But as I’ve often said in my later years, if you can’t look back on your life and identify some sinful and/or stupid things you’ve said or done – then you likely haven’t grown much. By that definition, I have grown a lot.

When I want inspiration for my life I revisit imagines of Jerry Deuy, a faithful servant of God who loved and worked with high school kids even though his were long gone. I think of my friend Beth Lousse in an Awana uniform on Wednesday nights working with children. I remember Ruth McGinty visiting some shut-ins.

The burial of Jesus, so easily overlooked, should remind us that our bodies are very important and deserve to be cherished. At the social level it should remind us that someone has to do the dirty work! Perhaps it should be us? Perhaps we ought not to assume that “someone else will do it!” Finally, at the spiritual level, this story should remind us that one doesn’t have to be perfect to be used in God’s kingdom. Joseph and Nicodemus were not perfect saints, but they were faithful.

May God use us to be of service in His kingdom.

I told you that you would be glad you read on! Please comment below, or if you want, you can reach Stan at stanley.giles@ang.af.mil.

It's a start.

Significant things usually start small. This has always been the case when God sends awakenings to our nation. It starts with a few people who pray. Then it spreads. Like a mighty forest fire which begins with one match igniting dead leaves, the fire of revival sparked with prayer quenches dry hearts with God's grace, forever changing the culture for good.

Yesterday a story appeared in the Knoxville Shopper-News by Natalie Lester about the Pray For Awakening (PFA) events. It's a start.

Natalie's going to write an article each month highlighting the progress of the movement of prayer. Do you know any folks at the News Sentinel or local news channels? That could be helpful to get the word out.

Calling all bloggers...

Julie Sanders is a well-known blogger and author in Knoxville who has volunteered to help promote the PFA events. Do you blog? You can help. Here's what Julie wrote:

You are receiving this email because:

* you are a follower of Jesus
* you are a Knoxvillian
* you are a blogger

Last month a group of churches in Knoxville set aside the last Monday of each month to gather over the lunch hour (noon to 1 pm) and pray for our city and community. The first was hosted by Providence, and the next will be hosted by Northstar.

You can read about the first Prayer for Awakening in Knoxville here at Pastor Chad Sparks' blog.

Social media has so much influence among people today, but we know prayer is the most influential form of communication! We know prayer can change the lives of people in our city.We want to touch as many circles of influence as we can, so believers of Knoxville will come together to pray. Would you be willing to use your blog to get the word out with us?

Here's what we're asking:

On Friday, Feb. 25th write a blog post with this basic info:

* Prayer for Awakening in Knoxville, Monday, Feb. 28th, noon to 1 pm at Northstar Church.
* Optional: You could link to Chad's blog about the first PFA or link to Northstar here with directions
* You might want to share about a personal burden you have for Knoxville or how God has moved in your life here.
* Encourage your local friends to either come and pray at Northstar for a portion of the time OR to stop and pray where they are during that time (At the office, home, on the road?)
* Optional: You are also welcome to link up on Friday the 25th to this blog and a list of participating blogs. This helps remind us to pray, gets the word out, generates excitement, and encourages the Church. Others will be glad to find your blog too!


Whether you have a ministry blog, work blog, family blog, or other, we invite you to use your social media "voice" to share the news about Prayer for Awakening in Knoxville. We hope you'll join us via blog post on Friday, Feb. 25th!

Feel free to pass this email on to anyone else who blogs in Knoxville. If you have questions about Prayer for Awakening or linking your post (just copy the URL of your specific post title and paste it in the Linky) feel free to email, call (643-4042), Facebook, or Twitter for info.

Excited to see how God will move in our city as we gather to pray,
Julie

Feel free to have people go to PrayForAwakening.com for more information.

Yes, the biggest thing we can do is pray. But God doesn't just want us to stop there. He invites us to work with him. Together, we can make a difference.

Could this be the beginning?

I didn’t know how many came to the first “Pray for Awakening” opportunity today. Honestly, I didn’t look...I was praying. I could not help but hear the shuffle of people coming in and out and the occasional cough, so I knew many were gathered. Some of our staff told me afterward that there were over a hundred. I’ve already gotten several notes and emails from people who said they prayed. A lot of them say the same thing that I feel: God may have begun something significant.

I remember hearing Tom Nelson say, “Prayer doesn’t just bring revival. Prayer IS revival. When God stirs Christians’ hearts to pray, you’ve got revival, because Christians generally don’t pray.”

The more I think about that quote, the more I believe it is true. I’ve had my own battle with making time to pray consistently and fervently. But as I continue to study and teach God’s word in a culture that is running as hard as possible toward depravity, as I grow older and watch the church grow less effective, as I see so many people deceived and miserable when they buy the enemy’s lies, I realize my inability. I realize that God is our only hope. I realize the only alternative to awakening is judgment. That scares me. It drives me to pray. Desperately.

Dr. J. Edwin Orr was the professor of the history of awakenings at Fuller Theological Seminary. Billy Graham said that he was one of the greatest authorities on religious revivals. At the end of his life he said, “After studying prayer and spiritual awakenings for 60 years I’ve reached this conclusion…whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them praying.”

Maybe this means God is about to do something new. Oh how I long for this. So I find myself praying not only for awakening, but for God to incite his people to pray for awakening. Renowned commentator, Matthew Henry, said the following:

When God is about to give His people the expected good, He pours out a Spirit of prayer, and it is a good sign that He is coming toward them in mercy. Then when you see the expected end approaching, ‘then you shall call upon Me’ (Jer. 29:11-12). Note: Promises are given not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer; and when deliverance is coming we must by prayer go forth to meet it. When Daniel understood the 70 years were near expiring, then he set his face with more fervency than ever to seek the Lord (Dan. 9:2-3).

Therefore, my most important job as a pastor could be to beckon people to pray that God will send sweeping revival. Even more important than preaching. R.A. Torrey said, “There have been revivals without much preaching, but there has never been a mighty revival without mighty prayer.”

So I will pray. And I will plead with others to pray.

PrayForAwakening.com

How Does Awakening Come?

Oh how my heart longs for God to do something big. There have been a few times that I have seen him move unusually. I know that there are places in the world where he is at work mightily even now. But here...while there are small victories that can be found—victories for which I am extremely thankful—for the most part it seems our nation is, in the words of Robert Bork, “slouching toward Gomorrah.”

So many scriptural references could be seen as speaking to our time. Are we experiencing a great “falling away” and our love growing cold (2Thes. 2:3, Matt. 24:10-12, 1Tim. 4:1)? Are we being “given over” by God “in the lusts of [our] hearts to impurity,” “dishonorable passions,” and “debased mind[s]” only to “receive the due penalty for [our] errors” (Rom 1:18-28)? Truly we resemble the last verses of Romans 1, as we are “filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (vv.29-32). We also look a lot like what’s described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Wow. It’s easy to be doom and gloom, isn’t it? I know some preachers who seem to enjoy it. But I refuse. We should look at the world like Christ did: aware of the evil (and angry about it), yet determined to bring light.

First, we don’t know when Jesus is coming back. He could come tomorrow. But he could wait. And until he comes, the four horsemen in Revelation 6 (the expanding church, war, famine, and death) continue to ride through human history. Don’t forget, Christ has given us a commission: Go make disciples of all nations...I am with you always, even to the end. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.

The book of Acts shows us how God’s Spirit can use unexpected people and sweep through cities and regions...even to rulers of nations. History shows how God’s truth can change empires. Our own nation’s history is marked by awakenings which made us who we are. In our case, we are great because of these spiritual revivals. They gave us our form of government, our morality, and our work ethic. That means God did. Because we can’t engineer awakening. God gives awakening.

Now we’re in a downward drift. We’re long overdue for another awakening. If we can’t engineer it, what are we to do? There’s only one thing. Pray.

I’ve been praying for awakening for over 20 years. For the last year-and-a-half, I’ve been praying harder and more desperately. And more regularly. I think even the desire to pray comes from God. “God give me more desire to pray. God give others a desire to pray.” That became my prayer. It still is.

The pastors of 12 evangelical churches in Knoxville have decided to offer a simple way for people to pray. On the last Monday of each month this year at noon, a different church will open the doors for silent prayer for awakening.

So Monday is an opportunity. We’re first. I’m praying for God to give people a desire to pray. That’s how awakening comes.

PrayForAwakening.com

Pat Davis' Chili Recipe

As I wrote in a previous post, I didn't have the best chili in the MANday Night Chili Cook-off (in my opinion). I tasted several guys' chili entries which were REALLY good. Of those I tasted, the one to me that was the best hands-down, was Pat Davis' chili. I happened to taste it along with mine and just knew I had not won. But (lucky for me) Pat made it with venison and Italian sausage, which caused it to fall into the "non-traditional" category. And it took first prize.

I asked Pat for his recipe and he graciously gave it to me, along with permission to share it on my blog. Listen: Y'ALL HAVE GOT TO TRY THIS! It is the best chili I've ever put in my mouth (he told me that he didn't really measure stuff when he cooked it, so I'm sure the measurements are approximate)! Thanks Pat! And congrats!!


Pat Davis’ "Camp Chili"
MANday Night Winner (Non-traditional category)

Use an extra large pot.
Brown 1 lb. of Italian sausage (use a slotted spoon to put into extra large pot). Brown 1 lb. ground venison or beef in pan drippings from sausage. Salt to taste. Drain and put in pot.

In a plastic boil mix herbs.
Garlic powder 2 tbls
Black pepper 1 tbls
Chili powder 4 tbls
Basil 1 tbls
Oregano 1 tbls
Onion powder 2 tbls
Paprika 3 tbls
Coriander2 tbls
Cinnamon ½ tsp
Nutmeg ½ tsp
Ginger ½ tsp
Salt to taste

Dice up:
3 or 4 Jalapeno peppers
3 or 4 Serrano peppers
2 Poblano peppers
4 Banana peppers
2 Anaheim peppers
4 sticks of celery
2 large onions
3 cloves garlic

Put all chopped veggies and herbs into pot with 2 large cans tomato sauce, 1 large can tomato paste, 6 cans red kidney beans, ½ cup dark brown sugar, 3 bottles O’Doul’s amber non-alcoholic beer. Simmer for 4 hours, stirring frequently.

Try Number Six...WINS!!

Ok, so I ham it up every year with the other guys in order to stir up the competitive spirit in the MANday Night guys for the Chili cook-off. The way to do this is to be purposely and jocularly braggadocious! It’s fun, and everyone loves giving me a hard time when I fail to win. The very first cook-off (of sorts) that we had was between three of our elders, and ended in a three-way tie. I know. That’s what I thought too. What a lame result. A tie for first was the same as a tie for last! A few years later we resurrected the chili contest idea for MANday Night. I boasted shamelessly to work up some competition and it worked! A huge crowd of guys showed up, and the meal was good and cheap. We were on to something. I got 5th place out of 10 entries.

But deep down inside, I determined to really try to win the next year. When it came, I got 5th place again! Now I was mad. The next year I went all out and spent way too much money and half a day cooking. I went with grilled and diced sirloin steak instead of mere hamburger, dried (not canned) beans, several kinds of fresh peppers, other fresh vegetables, and some Italian sausage. I got 3rd out of 15 contestants. That’s better, yet not good enough. But I had gotten way too serious. So the next year (last year) I “simplified” and went with what I liked. It resulted in a second place finish (which is another way of saying first loser!). So this year I stuck with it and just made a couple of small changes. I cooked it on Sunday night, and ate it for lunch Monday to test it. Bingo. I emailed all the guys bragging that I thought I had a winner.

The competition came. What’s funny? When they called out my number, I first thought it was a joke and they were pulling my leg. Then I saw Larry’s face and knew I really won. Awesome! I don’t know what could be better: Super Bowl, Olympic Gold, World Series, Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, the Heisman, what could compare?!

All joking aside, while the judges were doing their thing in the office area, like everyone else I was trying out all the chili. For my first helping, I got a little of mine and some of Pat Davis’. His was so good, mine tasted dull by comparison. “I’ve lost,” I thought. But while complementing Pat, he told me his was in the “non-traditional” category. I had a chance, but I was convinced that my entry didn’t have what it took. I tried some of John White’s, Phil Breedlove’s, Adzima’s, Ben Sparks’, and some others. Dadgum...they were all great.

Truth is, we have some really good cooks among the men in our church! Past winners of the contest will forever be remembered in the hall of chili fame! Some of these are “Two Time” Andy Adzima (who has been a great sport and participant with me in the playful boasting), Chris Owens (who’s wife, Katie gave birth to their first child on the very day of the Chili cook-off! Coincidence?...I don’t think so! They should have named her “Pepper” or something more appropriate), and Todd Branson (who I talked in to entering the contest last year...who then showed up LATE...and then BEAT me!). And now I get the privilege of joining their exalted ranks!!!

So I now make this announcement: I am retiring as MANday Night Traditional Chili Cook-off Champion. I will go out like John Elway at the top of my game, not Brett Favre. And (for those of you who have asked) here’s my recipe—what I had called “6th Try Chili” has just been renamed, “Chad’s Championship Chili.” :)

Chad’s Championship Chili

3 lbs ground beef
1/2 tsp tiger seasoning
1 jar Tobasco chili starter (original medium)
1 can Bush’s chili hot beans
1 can Bush’s chili medium beans
1 can Bush’s black beans
1 can Bush’s dark red kidney beans
1 can Rotel (regular original)
1 heaping teaspoon jarred garlic
1 heaping tsp dried minced onions
1 tsp cocoa powder
3 tbls cooking sherry
2 heaping tbls brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbls Texas Pete hot sauce
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
a healthy dash cumin
2 tbls chili powder
1 bayleaf
3 green Serrano peppers, de-seeded and diced

Brown ground beef in Tiger seasoning and drain the fat. Add all other ingredients (except the peppers). Then de-seed and dice 3 green Serrano peppers. Sauté them in extra virgin olive oil until slightly blackened. Add to the rest of the chili.
Add water as needed, bring to a boil, then turn low and simmer for 12 hours (it’s good after just two hours, but if you can simmer longer, it’s worth the time!).

Christmas is OVER...

There is often a big letdown after Christmas. Family members go home, messes must be cleaned, tree disposed of, and decorations taken down and packed up. Even worse, gifts of the wrong size must be returned, weight gained during feasting must be lost, spoiled kids coming down from sugar-highs must be reprogrammed, and credit cards bills must be paid. Days get dreary. Many people begin to struggle emotionally. Mental health experts tell us depression rises in the months following Christmas. An ABC News story last year said that depression cases have increased recently due to the sluggish economy.

How can we keep the after-Christmas-doldrums from happening? Answer: HAVE A PURPOSE.

So many preparing for Christmas surrender their own desires, give gifts, and love people (even some who are hard to love). Then...it’s all over.

You see, before Christmas, we had some purpose. For those experiencing the blues, now there’s none. Even through the hustle-bustle last week, there was joy. Music. Satisfaction of seeing people open a gift you gave. Reconnection with family and talk about Christmases past. Cards from friends. After Christmas, the joy can be extinguished like the holiday candles.

It’s pretty normal to experience the after-Christmas-downer. But it's NOT good to let meaninglessness rule our whole lives. yet so many people live like this all the time. They need to have purpose.

But instead, what do they do to cope?
Some HIDE in alcohol (or some other substance), in their work, or behind a mask.
Some QUIT. They give up on their marriage, or their dreams, or give way to bitterness.
Still others REBEL. “Forget God,” they say in their hearts. And they follow the world or their flesh.

May I offer a suggestion? GET PURPOSE. Know your part in THE Story God's telling (read previous blog).

Question: What is MY part in God's Story? How do I begin to find it?

The answer is found in Romans 12.

In the first 11 chapters of Romans, God reveals (through Paul) his story of humanity’s lost-ness and God’s plan to redeem us. It has been called the greatest theological work ever written. Then comes chapter 12. That’s where we are shown how to live in RESPONSE to God’s Story. So here lies the key to understanding our part:

In short, we are called to surrender ourselves, give gifts, and love people radically. Just like we did, in a lesser way, before Christmas.

Don’t believe me? Look for yourself...

1. Surrender yourself (vv. 1-2),
Romans 12:

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In case you didn’t catch it, we are called to surrender. See ourselves as sacrifices, and worship God by pursuing holiness. Not letting the world mold us, but letting God change us. THEN we will be able to know his will- SPECIFICALLY.

It all starts with surrender.

2. Give your gifts (vv. 3-8)

3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment (this is good for us in the ME generation. We tend to excel in self-esteem). 4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ...6Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Here’s the point: Take an honest look at what you have to offer. And starting with the body (the church—we are NOT Lone Rangers), give from what God has given us. Give your gifts!

3. Love people radically. (vv.9-21)

9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

All of these are in the context of Christian community. We are to radically love our brothers & sisters. How? Start by being with them. Small groups are important! Then we can show love in the ways listed.

But Christian friends aren’t the only ones we are to love radically. Listen to how we are to treat our enemies...

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." 20To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals (of conviction) on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Did you get that? Genuinely love other Christians like family, and love your enemies...even when they hurt you! Love everyone. Overcome evil with good. That’s radical!

Before Christmas, I bet you were doing all this in a limited way...
1. surrendering yourself, 2. giving your gifts, 3. loving people radically. And it gave you purpose. And you were happy. You hummed carols. You longed for when they would see what you bought for them. You had times of joy thinking of warm memories. You made memories.

DO THAT WITH YOUR LIFE. Be a "Romans 12" Christian. Be a Christian.

THEN you’ll be on your way to knowing YOUR place in God’s Story. That’s what I’ll be talking about Sunday Jan. 2.

The Traditions of Christmas

I read an a great article this morning and I've been thinking about it since. It is about how all the traditional elements of Christmas that we celebrate today came about in history. Things like December 25th as the day we celebrate, candles, Christmas trees, caroling, and the like.

Here's the article: http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11629658/

One thing I've been thinking about is this: rather than rejecting outright all things "extra-biblical" (as the Puritans once did, not allowing the celebration on the 25th), Christians have REDEEMED many different traditions, feasts, and festivals of different cultures (both Jewish, Roman, and Barbarian), making them a part of our Christmas festivities today. I love this! Isn't this what we are supposed to do as Christians? Overcome evil with Good? Several years ago I read a book called, Christ and Culture by Richard Niebuhr. In it he shows the different ways Christians interact (and have historically interacted) with the world's culture around them. He categorizes them in the following five ways;
Christ against culture
Christ of culture
Christ above culture
Christ and culture in paradox
Christ transforming culture.

Niebuhr gives specific examples of different groups within Christianity and how they interact with our world.
It seems regarding Christmas, the "Christ transforming Culture" has prevailed. I'm glad. Christ came to transform humanity, once created good and made in his image, now corrupted by sin, back to himself. We who have been redeemed, are on mission with Christ to redeem others.

Today and tomorrow, work to redeem the culture and traditions in which you find yourself interacting. When people are engaging in celebrations that may not bring glory to God, think of how you can redeem it. Overcome evil with good!

THE Story

The Christmas story (not the movie, but the real account of Jesus’ birth) is quite a tale. Think about hearing it for the first time, as did the Herdman kids in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Who could come up with such a story? But the nativity alone is incomplete. It is only a part (albeit an important part) of the greater narrative that starts before time itself.



History is going somewhere. Evidence for this abounds. Other stories lend evidence of this in the way they resemble “the grand original story” of God. Through the centuries many have recognized that human myths, literature, movies, and other expressions of narrative, both secular and religious, are mere reflections of God’s story. “Even Pagan stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien (famed writer of Lord of the Rings) said, “are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through...real things" He believed that history truly is “His-story,” the literal Meta-narrative that God is telling. According to Tolkien, “We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God.”

If you want some resources to explore this idea further, let me offer a few:

Epic by John Eldridge. This little book is awesome. You can read it in an hour or two and you will not be sorry. In it you will see that you have a key role in this story God is writing.

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones Don’t miss this opportunity to walk through the Bible with your kids in a way that shows God's master plan for all creation. The artwork is excellent, and the way God’s story is told is incredible. I wish this book would have been around when my kids were small!

Tolkien: Man or Myth by Joseph Pearce. This is for you who love all things Tolkien. Pearce unveils Tolkien’s core convictions and the world in which he lived in order to help us understand what ideas might really be behind his great stories.

Pick a good movie. So many...Robin Hood (2010 with Russell Crowe), Avatar, King Arthur, The Matrix, Gladiator, Harry Potter, Braveheart, The Lion King, Star Wars...et. al. This Christmas break, take a night or two, make some popcorn and watch a good movie (age appropriate) and then TALK to your kids about how it reflects THE Story. So many of these movies are our day’s “myths” that reflect ideas from THE Meta-narrative, THE Story God has written, and is still revealing around us as history unfolds.

And the whole thing hinges on a baby.

Truth Matters

Os Guinness has long been one of my favorite Christian thinkers. He recently spoke at the Lausanne Conference in South Africa, a monumental gathering of Christians. I listened to his speech with great interest. I think he gives such clarity to an issue that is increasingly crippling the church in the USA: the postmodern deconstruction of truth.

I know, some of you are like, "what in the heck is that?" Suffice it to say that our culture is becoming less and less responsive to claims of absolute or objective truth. From science to theology, people are becoming more skeptical. This has been coming for a long time, and is why our culture is marked by tolerating and equivocating all ideas as relative. No longer are most people impressed with a sentence beginning with the words, "Science tells us..." or "The Bible says...", because postmodern people generally doubt the authority of such truth claims.

The problem is how this has affected the church. Just as some "adjusted" the message of Christianity for Modernity (which assumed that Science is the ultimate test of what is true) in the form of Liberalism, some today have attempted to adjust the message for postmodern culture, by denying the absolute truth of the Bible and doctrinal essentials for the "emerging" culture, a term that has garnered much attention. Problem: The methods can change, but the message must not. It is the essence of Christianity and is originated by God himself. As with Liberalism, "Emergent" leaders are compromising the message.

In this clip, Guinness takes this problem head on. If you've got a few minutes, it is worth the watch. It is both refreshing and powerful. Here's the link.

If you want to read while listening (which I like to do), here's the manuscript (not exact, he must have shortened his actual speech a little).

Jesus and Politics

Now that the election is over, we can feel a little less tension when talking about politics, right? The message Sunday was about Jesus’ clear invitation to follow him in a revolution not of this world and not of man’s making, but of God, who has ordered all things. The people patriotically waving palm branches to Jesus screaming, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" were placing their hopes in a political savior and solution. But this was not why Jesus came. The idea of political salvation was as much a fantasy then as it is today (and it truly still exists)! The same passionate people turned on Jesus as soon as he began to tell them his true plans for change, and God’s will for this earth. They didn’t want to hear it—and they killed him.

But just like Chief Priest Caiaphas, who unwittingly prophesied that Jesus would die for all the people (John 11:50), and Mary who beautifully prefigured his burial (John 12:1-7), the crowds of Jerusalem unknowingly (and ironically) spoke volumes when they quoted from the Old Testament as Jesus rode on the donkey’s colt.

John 12:

13So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,
"Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
even the King of Israel!"
14And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15"Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!"
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

Among that which his disciples didn’t understand at the time and later remembered is that the actual quote was from Psalm 118:25-26:

25Save us, we pray, O Lord! (Hebrew: Hoshi‘ah na’ Greek: "Hosanna")
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

This quotation is just a part of a whole psalm that has an amazing connection with Jesus’ Triumphal Entry if we care to see it. There was already some real significance in the people’s choice of this psalm. It was sung frequently in Israel’s history during celebrations and significant events. In later times it was sung at feasts as a longing for the coming Messiah—especially around Jesus’ day when Israel was under Roman rule.

Let’s observe the rest of Psalm 118, at least in part. It begins:

1Oh give thanks to the LORD,
for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!

This last line "his steadfast love endures forever!" is a phrase the psalmist repeats four times in the first four verses. It is obvious that God’s “steadfast love” is the main theme. He continues with why:

..5Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
6The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?

The psalmist’s acknowledgement of God personally delivering him and favoring him causes him to not be afraid of people any more. Then a major conclusion occurs to him, a concept that is carried throughout the rest of the psalm, and even to the event we call the “Triumphal Entry.”

...8It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

This whole psalm is about how GOD is the answer. Placing our trust in him is infinitely better than placing our hope in a political or military or human solution. The psalm continues:

14The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous:
"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
16the right hand of the LORD exalts,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"

There is gladness and joy in the lives of those who trust in him. He even “exalts” those who are “righteous”! But this is a problem, is it not? None of us are righteous. We are all sinners. Even David himself said that we are conceived in sin (Psalm 51). This is what makes the Lord’s salvation different. More than just a political leader (offering earthly salvation), our Lord makes us righteous, making heaven/eternity available to us. Read this:

19Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
20This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

There is too much to comment on here! The way of salvation, the “gate” of the righteous is the LORD himself who “has become my salvation”—He IS “THE STONE THE BUILDERS REJECTED” (see this verse quoted in Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, and 1 Peter 2:7), rejection that ultimately happened right after the Triumphal Entry culminating in Christ’s death. He IS NOW THE CORNERSTONE of our faith!! All of this is “the LORD’s doing” not ours! And I don’t think I ever caught that “THIS...the day the LORD has made,” was referring to the day our salvation was accomplished—when Jesus died making us righteous—was the day in which we should “rejoice and be glad!”

Now the verses the crowds quoted:

25Save us, we pray, O Lord! (Hosanna)
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

The irony is stunning here as the people were asking for Jesus to “save” them politically from Roman rule. They did not know that the “Lord” was the on the donkey, and that he had come to save the entire world—including them—if they would believe. They added to the psalm and called him “king,” not realizing he was the King of kings, who made Caesar...and was the one before whom Caesar would one day bow.

The Psalm continues (It’s amazing to me):

We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.

How many references have we seen in John of Jesus as the light, he even claimed this for himself in a stunning “I am” statement:“I am the light of the world” during the feast of tabernacles, a festival that included a ceremony of lights, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. But there’s more:

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!

Interesting: The Jews chose the Passover lamb which would be sacrificed on either the day of or the day after (scholars debate which) Jesus made his Triumphal Entry, being “chosen” in effect, by the people as their “king.” These same people would cry, “crucify him” 5 days later, and kill him at the very moment the Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the Temple for the sins of the people.

Psalm 118 ends...

28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

The psalm both begins and ends with “his steadfast love endures forever.” This “steadfast love” found throughout the OT (e.g. Hosea who pictured God’s love for prostitute Israel) is what drove Christ to come as a man and die on our behalf, redeeming us to himself as his bride.

How is it that some Christians invest so much passion and place so much hope on politics? Why would we, recipients of God’s grace made available through Christ, trust in mere politicians offering merely human solutions to bring us happiness in this world?

Do not infer that I’m encouraging you not to be involved in politics. In fact, I think all Christians should vote and some should even run for office if God calls them to do so. We need more Christian statesmen and Christ-followers involved in the political process. Truth is, there are fewer evangelicals in high offices than in our history. We need more. I am pointing out what the Bible is teaching: that we dare not place our primary hope in man. We are citizens of this country. As such, we are to make it better. But much more, we are citizens of heaven—born again children of the King of kings. Our first allegiance is to him. And out of this first allegiance, all others flow.

Because Christians of the first two centuries after Christ’s ascension understood this divine order, millions received Christ, culminating in the Roman empire’s fall to the influence of Christianity. Rome becoming Christian was not all good (in fact it was quite negative in many ways on Christianity—but that’s for another blog), but Christianity now has become the greatest movement in human history. With God’s help, let’s do our part to make it greater. Our nation is governed by the people who elect our leaders. When the people walk away from God, so does our nation. When they surrender to Christ, our nation becomes more just, more moral, more ethical, kinder, more compassionate, better.

In summary, as a Christian, my first and greatest passion is for my King and his kingdom. He will take care of the rest—using me and others like me to do it—as I view the world through his will and am obedient to him. When we get that right, the rest takes care of itself.

Ronald Reagan, in a famous speech said,
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness."

If I may dare to offer an edit to those great words, imagining them spoken to Christians:
"You and I have a rendezvous with PROVIDENCE. We will PRESENT for ALL children this, the ONLY hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into AN ETERNITY of darkness."

This is what is at stake. Don't give your greatest passion and effort to a lesser cause (no matter how noble). Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God...and all these things will be added to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).