If it can happen to Solomon...

I’ve been reflecting on worship yesterday (I’m writing this on Monday). It was powerful. Jason, Bryan (McKaig), and Rachel led us with concert-quality music and songs that spanned centuries—from 1700s hymns to original pieces written by Jason this year—with the simplest of instruments and soaring vocal harmonies. Wow, I hate it for those who had to be away! Then Bryan Parris (affectionately called BP around here) did an excellent job making sense of a hard week’s reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. All week last week I was kind of thankful that I was not bringing the message, in part due to the difficulty of the book! Solomon is easy to talk about when we are considering the early part of his reign as king. He’s the wise son of David who was so successful. It was during this first part of his reign is when he apparently wrote Proverbs, those incredibly practical truisms that still make wise those who apply them. But then something happened. I don’t think it happened overnight. I think it happened over many years. Solomon strayed. Something I love about the Bible is its brutal honesty (as contrasted to human-authored books which tend to edit out conflicting or unpleasant character-flaws of our heroes). BP showed us this from 1 Kings 11. I’ll include a few more verses:

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ²from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God,as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

There’s so much there that deserves comment...but I’m gonna stick to my point. What happened to Solomon?! How did he go from godly, wise king to one who had “turned away his heart,” “not wholly true to the Lord” and doing “evil in the sight of the Lord”? All the work of David to remove the high places, idolatry, and vanquish the pagan nations seems to have been reversed! All of this certainly didn’t happen overnight. Our small group met last night (Sunday) and had some great discussion about what happened to Solomon. Here are some of their thoughts:

Sensuality overcame morality. It is true that when we pursue the flesh we do not walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17). It is obvious that he gained an appetite for “many foreign women.” Although polygamy was practiced then (although it was not God's desire), sexually desiring others besides our spouse is no strange concept to us—people love (i.e. lust after) others all the time, as Jesus said, committing adultery in their hearts. When sensuality becomes your motivation, morality is cast aside. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Material wealth choked out spiritual health. This is a huge danger. We can get our desires set on the wrong things. BP made this point well. Stuff can become a god. Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and mammon. Like the seed that fell among the thorns, “they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (Matt. 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). Maybe that’s why he said it’s harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

The will to please God gave way to the will to please people. I don’t know how, but “Solomon clung to [his wives] in love.” I would not have been able to even remember their names! He had about as many wives as we have in average attendance at Providence! Dude! All joking aside, these women had a profound influence on him. He started making compromises. He made allowances for them to be able to worship false gods—even built places for worship near Jerusalem “for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.” He didn’t lead. He followed the crowd. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Low accountability allowed high vulnerability. As kids we all dream of what it would be like to be a king. Nobody could tell us what to do. Now that I’m old, I realize how dangerous that situation really is. Even David had Nathan who would point out sin in his life. Solomon seems to have no one. We need accountability! It is healthy to have people in a place of spiritual authority in our lives who can lovingly tell us when we blindly begin to compromise. None of us like it our sin is pointed out. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Pride replaced humility. A curse of great intellectual ability, accomplishment, power, or wealth is pride. Humans can hardly help to think of themselves as smarter or better than others. Although it’s not as obvious, we can see in Ecclesiastes that Solomon thought himself smarter and better than any in his own time and before him. Oh, if he would have only obeyed his own Proverb (16:18): “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

There are other possible factors that contributed to Solomon’s fall. Our small group thought of many more. But I like how BP pointed out Solomon’s own self-assessment—given at the end of Ecclesiastes—the regretful, realization of a repentant old king:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

BP said to “fear God” is to “desire God’s authority” and to “keep his commandments” is essentially to “desire Christ’s character.” Well said. By keeping this focus we can avoid repeating Solomon’s folly. God, help me do this.

Get Wise!

We're in a great place in the Journey right now. We're reading about Solomon and wisdom literature attributed to him (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). I introduced it Sunday. It is really practical stuff.

Wisdom doesn’t come naturally. Foolishness does. It’s easier to be lazy than to work hard. It’s easier to lie and cheat than to be truthful. It’s easier to lust than to maintain purity. It’s easier to be passive than to take initiative. It’s easier to over eat and drink than to practice moderation. It’s easier to spend money than to save it. Sometimes wisdom seems counterintuitive!

“There is a way that seems right to a man,

but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza, feeling like a total failure, determined he was a loser because of where he was in life (mid-thirties, broke, single, no job, living with parents)? It occurred to him that he was in this miserable place due to following his natural instincts. So he decided to do the opposite of his instincts from then on. Hilarious! By the end of the show his life had completely turned around: he had a job with the New York Yankees, he dated a gorgeous woman, and he had an upscale apartment in Manhattan. So funny!

It’s true that our natural tendency is not toward wisdom, it is towards foolishness. If you follow your natural instincts through life, you'll find that many of things that seem like a good idea at the time, prove to be miserable choices. But wisdom brings great rewards.

Blessed is the one who listens to me [wisdom]...

For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the Lord (Proverbs 8:34-35).

Solomon found out that if you have wisdom, you can have anything. With wisdom, you'll not only be able to make money, you'll know how to keep it. You'll be able to find and develop lasting friendships. You'll know what to say and when to say it. If you have wisdom, you'll be able to sleep at night because you won't be dreading the consequences of your actions. You’ll avoid a lot of the misery people bring on themselves, and know how to maximize your personal happiness. With wisdom, you'll be able to raise your kids the right way so that they too will find happiness. When you have wisdom, you really have everything!

That’s why you should desire wisdom, and Proverbs is a great place to discover it. That’s what we’re reading this week. Be wise! Read Proverbs with us! Even if you’ve fallen off the reading wagon, this is a great place to get back on!

Share your favorite verses on our Facebook page or on Twitter (hashtag: #provjourney. That will make your tweet show up on Journey2012.com) and encourage the rest of us! Come Sunday and we'll talk about it.

It’s All About Surrender

(From the blog of journey2012.com)

by Chad Sparks on June 3, 2012 in Bible, Community, Giving, Missions, Prayer

“It’s all about surrender.”

I was raised in a home where those four words were spoken often. As an adult I find them to be true almost every day. When I have surrendered to God—truly surrendered—my perspective about everything else is different. Priorities are clearer; I live with more purpose; I find more joy in what I do; and problems are handled much better. My life is not as difficult because petty worries are seen by me as, well, petty. It really is about surrender.

I’m not specifically talking about receiving Christ and being saved. I’m assuming this has already happened to you. If not, of course that must happen first. Becoming a Christian is to be born again. If you have not yet done so, you can respond to God’s call and believe and trust Christ, asking him to forgive you of your sins. When you sincerely ask God to save you and be your Lord, it is an act of surrender. And he will answer and save! You become his child. This is a one-time and forever thing. Although no fireworks happen, you are regenerated by God. Now justified and made righteous by his grace, his work of sanctification—the process of becoming holy—begins.

Which brings me back to surrender. I have found that I need to mentally surrender to Christ each day. When my alarm sounds and I’m dragging my groggy body to the bathroom, I frequently breathe, “God, I surrender.” As I start the day, I’m relying on his grace and I say to him, “I surrender.” Sometimes when I’m really not feeling it I pray, “God, help me to surrender.” It works (and I’m not a morning person)! God’s grace and work on us doesn’t cease after we believe. This daily exercise is not original to me. Paul said, “I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Cor. 15:31). Dying to self is surrendering.

When I surrender this way, it changes much more than my attitude and mood. Like Paul might say, “When I’ve already died, even death isn’t so big a deal. I’m able to face persecution with courage.” Or as he actually wrote, “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). When I have surrendered to Christ, obedience and trust in other matters come much easier. I’ve already fought and won the main battle—who’s in control. The rest are just minor skirmishes that amount to little more than academic exercises. Now temptation to lust or covet has been rendered much less powerful. Making decisions is easier because I respond according to what brings God glory. I’m not trying to please people or myself. Now I don’t get angry as easy over trivial things.

Like generosity. If I’ve already given God my self, giving away money and time for his glory is not a chore. It’s a joy.

All of the different aspects of The Journey reflect biblical Christianity. To “unsurrendered” people, they can sound overwhelming! But all of them flow naturally and joyfully from a surrendered heart. These aspects—reading and knowing God’s Word, belonging and serving in community, praying, going away on mission, and giving to kingdom causes—they are not the main point. The battle is not whether or not to do any of those things. The battle is whether to surrender.

If you haven’t, you should try it. Really.

Powerful Prayer

 by Chad Sparks on May 4, 2012 in Community, Prayer

From the Journey Blog (http://blog.journey2012.com/)

When asked, Christ gave his disciples an outline for praying powerfully. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. I learned it at an early age, surprisingly enough, while playing sports. Several different coaches I had would end practice or pre-game speeches by calling everyone in close to recite the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew, Jesus warned us not to “heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do” in the verses just preceding the prayer, showing us that it is to serve as an outline, not a vain repetition, as if there is some mystic power in the very word combinations themselves.

There are a lot of good devices to help us pray. One that is very well known is the A.C.T.S. method (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). But the one that has served me very well for the last 15 to 20 years is Christ’s model prayer. Here it is in five steps:

Father,

1. Acknowledge your privileged position. He is your Father! He loves you and wants to hear from you. You are never interrupting him! You have his ear.

hallowed be your name,

2. Affirm his “Awesomeness.” Tell him of your love and awe for him. This is a great time to both praise him for who he is and thank him for what he has done.

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

3. Align your priorities with his: his Kingdom is first. The heart of Christ’s outline is that we pray that God’s rule and reign be realized and that his will and way be accomplished. Don’t miss this. This is where we pray for God to revive his church and awaken people to be born again. This is where we pray that God will pour out his Spirit and transform our culture! Imagine in your mind what God’s “will be[ing] done on earth as it is in heaven” might look like! Long for this in your heart! Ask him to do it!

Everything else we pray should be “according to his will” with the advancement of his Kingdom in mind. Jesus said, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (John 5:14-15). That’s the kind of prayer God WILL answer!

Give us each day our daily bread.

4. Ask him to provide for needs. This is where you pray for God to provide for our physical needs: food, shelter, clothing, health, etc. Christ came to this physical earth and knows that we have these needs. He cares for us and will provide! Also pray for others you know who have needs.

5. Address sin. Even though Jesus lived without sin, he told us to spend a good portion of our prayer dealing with our daily struggles with it.

Forgive us our sins, Confess your sins to God.

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Forgive others’ sins.

And lead us not into temptation. Ask God to guide you away from sin.

We’re going to make some cards available for you to pick up at church with this outline. But if you know the Lord’s Prayer, you already have it in your heart! Take your time and walk through these five steps with your Father. I can hardly do it in 30 minutes—in fact, it usually takes me a full hour! Try it and see for yourself. God moves when his people pray.

Chad Sparks

Passionate Prayer

 by Chad Sparks on May 3, 2012 in Community, Prayer

From the Journey Blog (http://blog.journey2012.com/)

Today is the National Day of Prayer. I started the day (as I do each Thursday) by going to the church to pray. I’m convinced that we will not see a great movement of God in our time until Christians pray for God to pour out his Spirit.

As I write this morning, there is a group of women gathering in the church to pray. I thank God for them. Last night at our elders meeting we began (as we always do) by praying for our church and people in our church who have needs. Each week dozens of small groups pray together. A group of people have met for the past five weeks to learn about prayer in a workshop put together by our Journey Prayer Team. Are we a praying church? Yes. Do we need to pray more? Yes. More specifically, passionately, and persistently.

Start today. Just take some time and get alone or get with another Christian to pray. Pray for God to pour out his Spirit to revive his people, awaken unbelievers to faith in him, and change the culture of our region and nation and world.

God wants you to do this. He waits to answer.

It occurred to me several years ago that I tend to pray too little, too small, and too weak.

We pray too little: 

We simply don’t pray enough. William P. Wilson, M.D., 
Professor Emeritus at Duke Medical Center and Director of the Institute of Christian Growth found that “the average churchgoer in the US prays one minute a day. The average pastor prays three minutes a day.” That’s really sad and really telling. Perhaps that’s why sermons are so weak and so few people respond. Perhaps that’s why so many pastors succumb to temptation and become a public scandal, shaming the name of Christ. Perhaps that’s a reason our churches are so empty and powerless. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell the difference between Christians and their unbelieving neighbors.

When we don’t pray intentionally and consistently we are, in effect, displaying one or more of the following attitudes: I don’t need God, God doesn’t listen, or God can’t change things. All of these are lies! When I take time to pray, I spend time with the One who loves me and happens to run the entire universe. He has asked me to pray. I need him. By praying, if nothing else, I acknowledge my dependence on him and prove my belief that he hears me. If that were all my prayers accomplished, it would be enough. But of course, that is not all. My prayers move God to action.

We pray too small:

We tend to pray for less significant things. “Let me have a good day.” “Keep my kids safe.” “Let me get a raise.” “Let me have a new car.” “Help me to feel better.” “Let the food we are about to eat go to the nourishment of our bodies.” “Give me a good night’s sleep.” Come on folks! It’s not that these things are not important, but can’t we do better than that?

I have been around many Christians, some of them were people I would call exceptionally godly (of course, these are people who would never call themselves that!). These people tend to pray for BIG things. They ask for God to awaken thousands to the truth of the Gospel and for God to change our culture. They pray for God to use their time, bodies, resources, intellect, etc. for the sake of his glory in this world. They ask for God to raise up godly men and women with passion for his church and his Word. They pray for God to change the hearts of people in government. They pray that their kids will love Christ with all their hearts, souls, minds and strength; bring their friends to Christ; and impact their schools for Christ’s sake. They pray for God to bless them financially so that they can give generously to their church and people in need. They pray for God to stop the advancement of Islam and other false religions through the power of Christ and set ablaze the church against whom “the gates of hell cannot prevail.” They pray that God will let them suffer any negative thing (sickness, sorrow, persecution, poverty) as one joyfully sharing in the sufferings of Christ for their own growth and the sake of his glory. That’s praying BIG. God is big. He likes for us to pray for big things.

We pray too weak:

Our prayers sometimes lack assurance and passion. We can come across like this: “Lord, thank you for this day. If it is according to your will, please be with John Doe while he is feeling bad, and please help our church do what you’ve called us to do. And I pray that I will not face difficulties today.” When we pray weakly, not with conviction expecting results, we waste our time and a great opportunity! We are told to “boldly approach the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16) and to pray expectantly. Jesus made this crystal clear in Luke 11:5-8:

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

It is the urgency of the friend wanting the loaves that moves the groggy sleeper to action. Christ (who is not a groggy sleeper, by the way) is telling the story so that we will show urgency in our prayers! He follows his parable with this (Luke 11:9-13):

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We have a Father who wants us to have…not just good gifts…but the Holy Spirit when we ask! An outpouring of God’s Spirit is what we need more than anything. That’s when we will see revival.

Therefore, a strong prayer will be bold and will “remind” God (or, more accurately, remind the one praying) of the promises he has made in his Word to revive his people, that his will will be done and his kingdom will come! It will be desperate. It will be expectant.

I want to pray often. I want to pray big. I want to pray strong.

Chad Sparks

Praying for Revival

 by Chad Sparks on May 2, 2012 in Community, Prayer

From the Journey Blog (http://blog.journey2012.com/)

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? For the most part it can seem 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 is our love growing cold (2 Thes. 2:3, Matt. 24:10-12, 1 Tim. 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” (Romans 1:18-28)?

Truly our culture resembles the last verses of Romans 1, as people 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 doomy and gloomy, isn’t it? I know some Christians who seem to relish the decline or at least see it as an excuse for attempting little to change the downward drift. “After all,” they opine, “We’re in the last days.” But I refuse to acquiesce. See, 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.” He promises, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.” We should look at the world like Christ did: aware of the evil (and incensed about it), yet determined to bring light. Our job is to advance God’s kingdom.

Sure, we’re in a downward drift. But I choose to believe, as did Jonathan Edwards, that revival was just around the corner. He wrote:

That infidelity, heresy, and vice do so prevail, and that corruption and wickedness are risen to such an extreme height, is exceeding deplorable: but yet, I think, considering God’s promises to his church, and the ordinary method of his dispensations, hope may justly be gathered from it, that the present state of things will not last long, but that a happy change is nigh. We know that God never will desert the cause of truth and holiness, nor suffer the gates of hell to prevail against the church; and that usually, from the beginning of the world, the state of the church has appeared most dark, just before some remarkable deliverance and advancement.[1]

So either way, our decline should drive us to our knees. That alone would be huge! I remember hearing Pastor 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 it, the more I think he’s right. 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. Boldly, desperately, and expectantly.

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.”

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. 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 again I plead with you to pray, too. Will you? You can anytime and anywhere. Every Thursday morning I open the church auditorium to pray from 6 to 8 am. I spend most of that time praying for revival. You’re invited to come.

Chad Sparks

---

[1] The Works of Jonathan Edwards, p. 294.

Longing for Revival

 by Chad Sparks on May 1, 2012 in Bible, Community, Prayer, Uncategorized

(From the Journey Blog http://blog.journey2012.com)

When I hear people talk about “revival,” I sometimes wonder if we are talking about the same thing.

It’s a word that conjures up a lot of different ideas. Some people imagine emotional tent crusades with boisterous evangelists; others think of a TBN special with blue-haired women and gospel quartets; and many recall a week of evening church services with verse-after-verse of “Just As I Am” sung during the long invitation.

But that’s not revival.

The word “revive” means to resuscitate, to make alive again something that has died or is comatose. It is to invigorate, to rekindle something that has dwindled, to remember something almost forgotten, to restore what had fallen, to awaken that which has fallen asleep.

Spiritually, the word refers to an unusual outpouring of God’s Spirit bringing a renewed passion on the part of God’s people for him and his work in this world. Revival is an awakening where many are converted, resulting in a sweeping, positive, cultural change to a whole region.

Or as Jesus put it in the model prayer, “Your kingdom com[ing], your will be[ing] done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

It’s happened before.

In our journey reading through the Bible, we’re about to see it in Israel as God brings David to the throne. With him, God brings spiritual awakening and transformation. It happens in Acts after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven when the Holy Spirit baptizes the church. Disciples are empowered and thousands respond to the Good News. Despite severe persecution the revival continued for some 300 years until the Roman Emperor himself is born again and Christianity becomes the religion of the empire! I could mention several more examples throughout history, including the fifth century revival in Ireland led by Patrick and the Reformation in Europe in the 1500s-1600s.

America has experienced revival on both national and regional levels.

Before our nation’s founding, our forefathers’ generation was profoundly influenced by an event called “The Great Awakening.” God used men with names now a part of our cultural heritage, like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitefield. Again in the first half of the nineteenth century, a movement swept across our relatively new and quickly expanding nation, resulting in an explosion of new churches and schools. The nation’s morality changed. It was called “The Second Great Awakening.”

After a stock market crash and recession during the politically toxic climate just before the civil war, hundreds of thousands in many large cities met during the lunch hour to simply pray. It was called the Layman’s Revival of 1857-1858. There were no preachers or leaders, yet more than 100,000 were saved.

Sometimes God has used great speakers like Billy Graham, D.L. Moody, or Billy Sunday. Sometimes God has moved among students in a high school or college. Sometimes he has moved in a church or a small town.

The point is…God sometimes moves people’s hearts. Significantly. God’s people are revived and whole segments of the population are “awakened” to him and changed by him. GOD is always the one who is responsible, and all of these movements are preceded by extraordinary prayer and longing for revival.

We’re long overdue for another awakening. However, if we can’t engineer it, what are we to do? There’s only one thing. Pray. I’ve been praying for awakening for 25 years. For the last three years, I’ve been praying more boldly, desperately, and expectantly. Oh, 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.”

Is revival something you desire? I’m praying that you do. I am praying that you will join me as we pray together for God to pour out his Spirit on us and our whole region.

Chad Sparks

Osteen Strikes Again: Mormons are Christians?

Joel Osteen, the really nice guy who is the pastor of the largest church in the USA, has done it again. Now he says that Mormons are Christians. See it yourself here. Given a national media opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and clarify orthodox Christian beliefs, he has muddied the waters and revealed either some colossal ignorance or an unwillingness to stand for truth when it might be a little uncomfortable. Either way, he has shown himself to be dangerous. Again. He’s already compromised Christian beliefs on homosexuality (before a retraction) and said that there are ways to be saved outside Christ (before another retraction). He is an adamant proponent for health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine (no retraction for that, of course).

 Some might be thinking: “But he’s so nice. Who cares if he calls Mormons Christians. They say they’re Christians and believe in Jesus, right?”

 Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. I feel mean for even suggesting otherwise.

What Mormons (the "Church of Latter-Day Saints" or LDS) Believe

 Let’s not forget that Joseph Smith (founder of the LDS church) repeatedly said that all Christian denominations were wrong and only Mormons were going to heaven. From his own writings: According to Smith, when he asked an angel from God which denomination was right, he told Smith “that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and...that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those [professing Christians] were all corrupt” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 5-6). And again, Smith taught, “What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 270).
 And check out these questions to Joseph Smith and his answers (from Teachings, p. 119):
 Q: “Do you believe the Bible?” Smith’s answer: “If we do, we are the only people under heaven that do, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do.”
 Q: “Will everybody be damned, but Mormons?” Smith’s answer: “Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness.”

 Hmmm. Mormonism’s founder was quite clear. All Christians are wrong, corrupt, are deceiving and being deceived by the devil, and are damned. I don’t feel so mean anymore. Maybe Osteen doesn’t know about Joseph Smith.

 Also, let’s not forget that it has only been the last few decades that leaders in the LDS church have moderated their religion’s views on blacks (once viewed as a cursed race), women, polygamy, and other things like the prohibition of drinking soft drinks, all in hopes of becoming more mainstream. Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. Their holy books have been revised dozens of times—all without any extant manuscripts to reference (there was only one set of gold plates with the text in the language of “Reformed Egyptian,” according to Joseph Smith, who, after translating them returned them to the angel Moroni). In fact, there are so many problems with the Book of Mormon itself; I don’t have the time and space to address them here. There is NO archeological or historical evidence of the people, nations, cities, rivers, mountains or ANYTHING mentioned therein; and the claim that the American Indians were descendants of a “lost tribe” of Israel has been proven by geneticists and DNA evidence to be impossible. One should compare this lack of evidence for the Book of Mormon with the overwhelming evidence for the Bible. Maybe Osteen’s never heard of this either.

 Perhaps most importantly, Mormons are merely the latest manifestation of a very early heresy called Arianism: the belief that Jesus Christ is merely a created being who became a god, not the One true and eternal "very God of very God" who is not created but is the Creator. Mormons deny this essential fact about Jesus Christ.

The Arian Heresy

 A few years after Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire in 313, the emperor Constantine recognized that there were some opposing views about the person and nature of Christ. Some, led by Arius, a pastor from Alexandria, Egypt (strangely enough—I wonder if he knew “reformed Egyptian”?), believed that Christ did not always exist, but was created by—and was therefore distinct from—God the Father. As you might imagine, it caused quite a stir. So much so that Constantine determined that a council of church leaders should be convened in the town of Nicaea in 325. After weeks of debate, all but three of about 300 bishops voted against Arius’ views and established a creed—a binding confession of beliefs that defined true Christianity—making anyone else a heretic—not a true Christian. Mormons? Believe Jesus was made. That fact alone puts them outside Christianity. As the Nicene Creed from the year 325 states it:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; 

By whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; 

Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; 

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 

And in the Holy Ghost.

The creed ends with this condemnation of those who didn’t teach the true Jesus:

But those who say: “There was a time when he was not;” and “He was not before he was made;” and “He was made out of nothing,” or “He is of another substance” or “essence,” or “The Son of God is created,” or “changeable,” or “alterable”—they are condemned by the holy catholic [which means, “universal”] and apostolic Church.

The conclusion is not difficult. Mormons believe in a different Jesus. One who was once not God. Whose death does not fully save those who believe (thus they require works). One who was (among other things) a polygamist. Simply put, believing in a person other than the Jesus Christ of the Bible does not save. Only HE is THE way. All must surrender to HIM to be born again. For Osteen to proclaim Mormons Christians is to do them and us a great harm. How do I illustrate it? It worse than telling the passengers of the sinking Titanic that all is well. Lifeboats are not needed. No danger exists. It is worse than telling the rescue ships the same. What a tragedy!

While these beliefs must be condemned strongly, the people who have been deceived by them must be loved by us enough that we would clarify true saving faith in the true Jesus. An especially important thing for us to do when one of the candidates for President is a Mormon!

Don't be like Osteen who seems so nice, but is either so ignorant or so cruel for the sake of being considered nice by men. Surely it is more important what God thinks!

What's so good about Good Friday?

The Friday before Easter is what we call Good Friday. Twice today someone has asked me why it is called "Good" when it is the day we remember something as brutal as Christ's crucifixion. It just seems so, well, bad. I think all of my kids asked me the question at some point when they were younger, and I remember asking my mom the same thing when I was a kid. The answer she gave is about as good as it gets. It's what I told my kids and all who have asked me since:

Good Friday is the day Jesus--the only person who was truly good--died on the cross in our place, cleansing all our sin with his blood. Now when God looks at believers, he doesn't see sinners...he sees us as good!

That never left me. In fact, I think her simple explanation of the GOOD in Good Friday, helped me understand the Gospel as a child as much as just about anything else I can think of.

The historical/etymological answer isn't as easy. Here is a great article about that if you're interested. But my mom's answer reveals, at least to me, yet another evidence of God's providence--even in the "accidental" way we came to call it "Good Friday."

Blessings to all this Easter season! If you have not received Christ, you can be seen as good by God, too. Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Romans 10:9-10.


Rembrandt's Jesus on the Cross, painted 1631.

Women in Ministry?

Ok, I've jumped in with both feet! Oh well, since we've been reading the Bible chronologically as a church questions have arisen about God's opinion of women in the Old Testament. I'm dealing with it in a sermon, but don't have the time to address the myriad opinions regarding women in the church. I know this is a question that so many people ask, in fact, I probably send this article to someone once a month on average and have done so since writing it in 1999! Here it is for those who are interested:

Women in Ministry
“Do you believe that women should be in ministry?” This is a question that we have been asked many times in the past few years. The answer I give is an enthusiastic “Yes!” The Bible is clear on many issues pertaining to this question.

Men and women are equal in the sight of God
The first and most important truth for us to understand is that men and women have equal standing and importance in God’s sight. In Galatians 3:28, Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Just as God is no respecter of persons with regard to one’s race or social status, he shows no favoritism with regard to one’s sex. Think of how revolutionary this statement must have been to the often chauvinistic and exclusivist culture (both Jews and Greeks had a low view of women and slaves) of the first century who were the original readers of Paul’s letter! Spiritually speaking, we are completely equal before God. All he sees are highly valuable souls—not men or women—who have been washed by the atoning blood of Jesus and, therefore, are his adopted children.

What is ministry?
A lot of what follows in answering the question of women in ministry lies in how one defines ministry. We believe that ministry is the job of all God’s children. We are told that Christ “himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). Since the word “saint” is used over 40 times in the New Testament as a synonym for believers, it is clear that the reason God gave some the role of pastor, teacher, evangelist, et. al., is to equip the believers so that they could do ministry. This is why we (and many others in the Evangelical community) say often, “every member is a minister,” regardless of one’s sex. There are a lot of women doing ministry in the New Testament. Evidently, women can teach men individually, as Priscilla seemingly did with her husband Aquila (Acts 18:26). And women apparently prophesied in a respectful way (1 Corinthians 11:5-6, Luke 2:36 speaks of Anna the prophetess). Women can evidently address both male and female believers (1 Corinthians 14:3). They are encouraged to teach women (Titus 2:3-4), children (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14), and take part in all other ministries! So what is ministry? It is “anything done for the cause of Christ” (Providence 101 notes, page 11). By this we should conclude that ministry, in the purest sense of the word, is for all Christians.

Women preachers?!
For some people, however, the word “ministry” has taken on a different meaning. “You know what I mean.” They might say, “Should a woman preach?” Again, I hate to split hairs over semantics, but the word “preach” in the New Testament simply means “to proclaim truth” and again, this is the job of all Christians as we see throughout the New Testament. Women preachers? You bet. In fact, if a believing woman is not proclaiming the truth of the gospel to others around her, she is not living the way Christ commanded; and the same applies to men.

God loves strong women
A common stereotype is that the Bible teaches that women must be puny, weak-willed, passive people that get run over all the time. Contrary to popular belief, God’s Word shows that throughout the ages God has chosen several women for epic tasks. Some notable examples include Deborah (Judges 4), who performed the duties of Judge over the nation of Israel; the women who were among the main followers of Jesus (they were the last present at the cross and the first to witness his resurrection); and the woman of excellence described in Proverbs 31 as an exceptionally disciplined, industrious, creative, strong, and godly person who deserved much praise.

Embracing God-given roles
“Okay Chad, you’re killing me. What I am trying to ask is, can a woman be a pastor?” Most of the time this is the real issue on the minds of those who are asking. Once again, it is what God’s Word has to say about this (and every) issue that really matters, and we would be wise to agree. In the Bible, we read a lot about roles. Anyone who has been through pre-marital counseling here at Providence knows how we stress the importance of husbands and wives embracing one another as equals, while also embracing God’s specific roles for them as husbands and wives. A married couple that does not embrace both equality and each other’s given roles will struggle to find fulfillment. The wife, who has been made by God to be female, and to possess certain traits specific to her femaleness, brings these essential elements to the union as “the two become one flesh” in marriage. She is different than the man in many respects, and this is a good thing. It is rather humorous that some in our day are just figuring this out and at great expense (e.g. a multi-million dollar government study in the 1990s cited by CNN concluded that “men and women really are different”)! I am glad God made us different, and gave us different roles. A mother’s compassion usually balances a man’s sternness in parenting. A wife’s gentleness and grace usually balances a husband’s lack of the same. Examples abound.

As key as it is to understand the God-given biblical roles with a man and his bride, the same is true with the church—the Bride of Christ. Just as a man’s selfless headship in the home is ordained in the Bible, so it is in the church. This in no way means that women must resign themselves to a lesser spiritual place—not at all—only a different functional role. This role can have myriad facets, but it does not include serving as a pastor/elder. Titus 1:5-9 reads, “…An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe…. Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless…. Rather he must be hospitable…. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (emphasis added, see also 1 Timothy 3:1-7). There are simply no Scriptures that allude to women filling the office of pastor/elder/overseer, either prescriptively or descriptively. More than this, we are told in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 that men are the ones to occupy the office of teaching pastor because of the authority that is bequeathed to that position. To do otherwise, Paul illustrates, would violate the roles given to us from the time of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.

What about the “s” word (submission)?
I sense the need at this point to deal generally with several other passages in the Bible that get a lot of bad press on the one hand; and can be abused when misapplied on the other. These are the passages that mention voluntary submission as a part of a woman’s role. This idea of submission is not some slap in the face, as some would have us believe. Even the Trinity is an illustration of equality of persons and differing roles. Jesus is fully equal to the Father in terms of his being, but he has voluntarily submitted to the Father’s leadership. This is not a contradiction, nor is it demeaning. In fact, as a result of Christ’s voluntary submission, “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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…” (Philippians 2:9-11). There are many passages in the Bible that affirm the fact that only men are to serve as elders, that women are not to have ecclesiastical authority over men, and that men are to embrace the role of headship in the home (e.g. 1 Timothy 2:11-15; 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; Genesis 2:18; 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, 14:33b-36; Ephesians 5:22-24; 1 Peter 3:1-7). These and other passages make it clear that roles are important to God; not for the purpose of keeping a segment of people down—not at all. Rather, male and female roles play at least two very important parts in human institutions, from families to churches: 1) They give order; and 2) they paint a rich picture of some greater truths.

Order
Every human group (yes, even every grouping in the animal kingdom) will follow a certain practical semblance of order. Because our make-up and giftedness is so different, there are clear ways God has created males and females to operate with regard to one another. To reject this obvious natural truth would in itself bring about disorder. Countless studies and experts have observed devastating effects in our generation of rejecting God’s roles for men and women in the family, in society, and in the Body of Christ. Clearly, when we embrace the unique aspects of our given roles, the church functions in an orderly, efficient, and effective way.

Picturing some great truths
Paul says that the husband/wife relationship points to a great profundity: How Christ relates to his bride, the Church (see Ephesians 5:32). In some of the previously cited passages that deal with roles in the church, embracing given male or female roles as individuals illustrates this same loving, giving, trusting kind of relationship. Just being a part of a marriage where God-given roles are upheld gives a person great practical insight with regard to the way a Christian is to relate and respond to his or her God. If I resist God’s role for me in marriage, I will have trouble relating properly to God himself and his headship over me directly, as well as the authority of his Word regarding the way he intends for his church—the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth—to be operated. This “profound mystery” is worth pondering.

Be liberated!
God knew exactly what he was doing when he created us either male or female. We each have a unique part to play in his kingdom. This is to be celebrated! Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, "true liberation...comes with humble submission to God's original design."* Real freedom comes when we realize God’s plan for us and find our ultimate fulfillment in pleasing him. Celebrate how God has made and gifted you! Thank him that there is a purpose that only you can fulfill (read Psalm 139 for more)!

Well, I hope this gave you some food for thought. As a dad of two girls, I teach them about the grandness of God's plan and the great purpose he had in making them females. I really believe that. As a dad of one son, I teach him about the great value of women and our great role of protector, provider, and sacrificial leader. God changes the world through people who are obedient and passionate for his glory. Regardless of their sex! His plan for us includes us embracing the unique opportunities we all possess. That's called "providence!"

*John Piper, What's the Difference? (Wheaton, IL: The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 1989), p.3.

Is God Cruel and Sexist, or a Liberator?

If you're like me you sometimes scratch your head while reading parts of the Old Testament. In the last part of Numbers alone, we're confronted with Balaam, a pagan prophet-for-hire who apparently hears from God, seems to do what God said, and is saved by a talking donkey from God's angel who is poised to kill him with a sword! Then there are God's instructions for Israel to wipe out whole nations (like the Midianites in ch. 31). Curiously, when Israel's army only killed every adult male(!), Moses was angered that they didn't finish the job. So he ordered them to kill the non-virgin women and boys, allowing Israel to keep the "young girls" alive for themselves! Whoa! What's more? This is a harbinger of things to come as the Israelites cross the Jordan and conquer the Promised Land!

One interesting subject that keeps popping up is the way women are treated in the Old Testament. I've gotten a couple of emails about this. Why does it seem that God favors men over women? In Leviticus a woman was considered ceremonially "unclean" for 40 days after giving birth to a boy, but 80 days after a girl. What’s that all about? Now in Numbers women are not counted in the censuses and sometimes seem to be considered mere property! Those who seek to discredit the Bible and Christianity like to remind us of passages like these. Famed atheist Richard Dawkins often calls God "misogynistic," and feminists have accused him of sexism and patriarchy. Perhaps today--which is "International Women's Day"--I should address this criticism.

Actually, when understood in context, God is the equalizer and ultimate liberator of women--as seen most clearly in creation and in Christ. And when we’re reading that part of God’s dealing with Israel in the wilderness, OUR present-day context taints our reading. Don’t forget, women have had the right to vote for less than 100 years in the USA! We tend to see all things throughout history through the lens of our own culture. God was dealing with Israel according to their own social and cultural mores. Truth is, the Law was a vast improvement for the women of that day compared to what was the universal norm before. Women were truly considered slaves or perhaps sexual pets at times—in many non-Christian cultures, this is still the case today. It's sad but true. This chauvinism is the result of the fall and curse. Sin resulted in much evil and inequality. Sin unrestrained brings dog-eat-dog tyranny. Of course this is not what God intended.

Gen. 1:27 reads, "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them."

God created both in his image, and has a purpose for both. Then came the fall, then the curse, then humankind gave way to sin. That’s where injustice finds its origin. The Old Testament is, in many ways, an exposé of human failure and corruption. The Law (Exodus-Deuteronomy) is a vast improvement over what preceded it, and tempered sin’s effects.

Christ, of course, brought light and truth. He conquered sin. But first, he showed by example how women were to be treated. He, God Incarnate, came to us through a woman and placed women in prominent roles in his ministry; in fact, women were last at the cross and first at the tomb! We frequently recite a verse (Gal. 3:28) that we must remember as we read the Old Testament:

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

When Christ comes again, he will set all things right. I think that means absolute justice and the ultimate equality of all things! In fact, my hunch is that many will be surprised as Christ "exalts the humbled and humbles the exalted" (Matt. 23:12, Luke 14:11, 18:14) and find that many women will occupy the most exalted positions in heaven.

The whole issue of “women’s rights” is a hot political topic—including right now. It’s borderline insanity, I know, but I’m going to address this whole question on Sunday, including the issue of a woman’s role in society, family, and church. It’s going to be fun!!!

I’m reading a great book that Tony Walls (Providence Jefferson City Campus Pastor) turned me on to entitled, Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan. It is an extremely good read. I only wish I would have read a book like this 25 years ago! I highly recommend it.

Numbers...Who Knew?

Well, I’m a little surprised. Numbers, a part of my Bible that rarely sees the light of the sun, is proving to be very interesting! It starts out a little slow, but then it gets exciting fast. We learn a lot about Moses: the difficulties of leading a wandering nation in its infancy; his marriage to an Ethiopian woman and the murmuring and judgment that ensued; and perhaps most of all Moses’ character. God calls him the most humble man on earth. That’s good stuff. As a leader, I’m learning a lot from Moses.

What’s more? I’m seeing that the book of Numbers is pivotal in God’s Story. There’s the crucial moment when the spies go to explore the Promised Land. They come back impressed. The land is indeed “flowing with milk and honey.” But 10 of the 12 spies don’t believe they can conquer the bigger, more numerous Canaanites. Correction: they don’t believe God can. Remember? No less than six times in Exodus, God promised to “drive out” the people and give Israel the land. And what’s the result of their disbelief? Forty hard years of wandering for a generation whose dead bodies get buried in the wilderness. Imagine if they had simply believed. God would have given them that great land and they would have lived happily ever after eating food from crops they didn’t plant and living in houses and cities they didn’t have to build! What a shame.

After the fateful faithlessness, there’s a lot of rebellion and people dying. “When will they learn?” I ask myself. Then I remember my own rebellion and how I seem to never learn. I turn 45 next month. By comparison, if all the rebellious behavior in my life since I was five years old was compressed in a book as short as Numbers, I’d seem more deserving of death than most of them. But God has shown me grace and mercy that I don’t deserve.

Speaking of grace, perhaps my favorite story in Numbers is a clear picture of God’s grace for those who believe. The scene begins in a familiar way: everyone is complaining. So God lets them experience consequences—in this case, a venomous snake infestation. Snakes are everywhere, biting people and causing much suffering and death. The people cry out, and Moses prays for them. God’s answer is really weird. Make a bronze snake—an unclean animal that symbolizes original sin and the curse—and put it on a pole. Everyone who looks at it will live!

Wait, in John...didn’t we hear something like that? Jesus said:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:14-18)

Hmmm. We rebels are bitten by original sin and the curse. As a result we suffer pain and die. But “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21) and lifted him up on the cross that we might believe and live.

There’s much more to Numbers than numbers. There’s sin, consequences, and some really cool ways that God shows his grace—ways that point forward to his ultimate act of grace: the cross. Who knew?


Above is the bronze serpent incident as it appears on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. I think it captures the feeling of panic that must have been a very real part of the scene. Click on it for a closer view.