Recently, Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow has received some attention from national media types not only for his great athleticism, but also for his bold faith. It seems that these columnists, while respecting Tebow's athletic ability and his charitible nature, can't stand the the quarterback is so "intolerant" to believe that people who don't turn from their sins and trust in Christ are going to find themselves to be found guilty on judgment day.
Albert Mohler has a nice article discussing the interesting contradiction that the authors find themselves in as they claim to represent a tolerant attitude while being intolerant of unashamed Christians. While I found this to be both frustrating and somewhat humorous, what struck me is the fantastic, faithful witness of Tim Tebow is a great example to all believers.
We often find ourselves in a struggle to be a good witness at work. We want to be peaceable and respectful in the places God has put us, but we also want to be courageous to share some hard truths with those around us. We want to be known for our kindness and our strong performances at work, but we are failing as Christians if we don't take it another step and proclaim Christ to be Lord and Savior. Some people may be on the opposite end of the spectrum, only being known for their constant disruption as they always talk about Jesus and fail to accomplish anything significant for their employer.
Tim Tebow has given us a great example that we can follow. We should be throwing those around us into a great contradiction as they wonder, "He is such a nice guy and a great worker, but I can't stand how unashamed he is in his faith."
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Overcoming Bad habits
Life is battle. There is an enemy, some soldiers, and a commander in chief. The enemy is the devil and his legions who fight to destroy all that God our captain values. The soldiers are the Christians, who fight to trust God and be Holy before him. The good soldiers follow and trust the captain to give them what they need, to set the rules of combat, and to encourage and sustain them through to the promised victory. Sometimes, while fighting for holiness and obedience to God, the enemy gets a foothold, and we find ourselves regularly defeated in certain areas of the skirmish. These sins continue to defeat us and they become habits-- bad habits. Habits are hard to break. How can we fight the good fight? How can we defeat the enemy, not just in the end, but now, day to day, in the battle? How can we overcome bad habits? Consider and combine the following 12 helpful strategies.
1) Remember who wins
Begin a war you expect to win. Every true Christian is an ultimate overcomer. At the end of life, when God calls everyone to account for their life, the Christian claims the forgiveness offered by Christ who paid the price for our sin. We win the war against sin, God claims his own who have received him, and Satan is defeated forever and no longer will have any influence. Hebrews 10:14 says that God has perfected forever those who are sanctified. The battle is over forever. Praise God the battle term of life is short compared to the eternal length of celebrated victory. I am much strengthened in difficult situations when I know the outcome, and the outcome of the Christian is certain victory. Remember who wins.
2) Clean the slate
Repent of past failures. There is one kind of forgiveness offered by God through Christ and that is forgiveness of sin, by God, through Christ. Forgiveness is cleansing. Forgiveness is healing. Forgiveness is comforting. The forgiveness that God offers restores health to the soul and joy to the heart. That is why 1 John 1:9 says that when we confess, he “cleanses us from all impurities.” We fail in the battle, and we feel the sting. God, who is the final judge of our lives, forgives the repentant sinner of mistakes made in battle. He offers us cleanness instead. Sometimes, the guilt that follows sinful behavior actually pushes someone toward more sinful behavior or habits or addictions. Confession removes the guilt, cleans the slate. Confess your sin to God, keep the slate clean.
3) Stay connected to the captain
No soldier lasts long in the battle if there is not some ongoing communication from the general or captain or commander. A soldier would not know what to do, where to go, who is with him, and how the battle is going. Another has said well that prayer is not a peacetime walkie-talkie, but a vital life saving connection to the one who is in the process of securing victory for each true soldier. Talk often with the Lord. Seek him with your friends in battle. Listen for his voice in the quite moments. Know that if the communication with God fails, we will fail. The conclusion of the section in Ephesians telling Christian soldiers to put on the full armor of God says to “..pray at all times and stay alert…(Eph 6:18). Be sure to get your armor, don’t miss that, but get your instructions personally be staying connected to the captain.
4) Fight on the front line
Remove the pictures and memories from your mind. The real battle over habitual sin happens in the mind. The mind considers options. The intellect weighs out the options. The heart makes a choice, and the body acts on it. James 1:14 says we are tempted by
evil desires, then dragged away.” Desire is the battle field of the mind. We all have wrong desires. We are born with them. Most sins are contemplated and considered and desired in the mind before they are committed. That is why 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we have to “demolish” the arguments the mind uses to defend sin, and “take every thought captive.” We can change our thoughts. We can think about and direct out thoughts to something else. We can dismantle the false arguments the mind sets up to justify sin. Remember, “all a man's ways seem right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives. (Prov 16:2) Don’t always trust your thoughts, but always trust the truth. Take control of your thoughts and fight the battle on the front line.
5) Hold the right weapon
The scripture is the Holy Spirit’s most aggressive weapon in the battle against sin. Hebrew 4:12 says “The word is powerful (KJV) effective (HCSB) active (NIV). Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible uses the metaphor of being washed by the water of the word (Eph 5). So, what truths are contained in God’s armory?
Sin happens Rom 3:23
Sin is very dangerous Rom 6:23
Sin can be forgiven 1 John 1:9
We must fight against sin 1 Timothy 6:10
We fight the same sins as others 1 Cor 10:13
We can say no to sin Rom 6:6
We get help from the Holy Spirit Rom 8:26-27
We can walk in the Spirit Gal 5:16 ff
We can deliberately place our affections Col 3:1-2
God prepares good works for us Eph 2:10
God is the place to find true pleasure Psalm 16:11
God is seen by those who are pure Matt 5:8
God can deliver from temptation if we ask Matt 6:13
Nothing separates us from the love of God Romans 8:39
We must know the truth of scripture to combat the lies of the enemy in our lives as we fight the battle for holiness. To win the battle for holiness, know the scripture to be your weapon, and hold the right weapon.
6) Remove obstacles to progress
Get rid of present physical causes of defeat. In battle, many obstacles make the victory more difficult. In the Christian life, the same is true. Some situations provide heightened temptation. This could be person, a group of persons, a lack of persons, a relationship, a store, a restaurant, a car, a magazine subscription, a collection, a hobby, a website, or a combination of these. If any person or object causes your downfall, remove or avoid the obstacle as possible. That is why Jesus said if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off (Matt 5:30). In other words, it is better to lose a good thing than to have it cause you to sin. To win the battle over sin, remove obstacles to progress.
7) Limit the availability of distractions
There are physical deterrents to victory in battle as described in point number 6. There are also distractions that come more in the thoughts than in the physical. If I have the goal of holiness, I must plan and think of a pathway that accomplishes that goal. Church attendance is good. Fishing is good. If my fishing consistently keeps me out of church, then my fishing is distracting me from my higher goal. Sometimes, we have competing goals, and one is a distraction to the other. Always choose to follow the goal that best honors God, even if the distraction is not a bad thing. This is why Rom 16:19 tells us to be wise about what is good. And that wisdom will teach us to limit the availability of distractions
8) Fight with a friend
Life can be a lonely place and even when you are with others. Loneliness is not overcome by being with other people, but in knowing others and being known. Get the accountability of a friend to fight well on the front lines. The problem with secret sin is that it is secret sin. Find someone you can share with in the progress of sanctification, and battle together. Ask them to help you do better. Ask them to tell you what you cannot see in yourself. A very wise person said that the wounds of a friend can be trusted (Prov 27:6) Make sure you have someone like that in your life, make sure you fight with a friend.
9) Prepare for a long battle
Sometimes I wish we came to know the Lord, and then he just took us to heaven, but he doesn’t. The battle is long and hard. The way is narrow, and few find it. Know this up front. There is no magic age where sin and temptation go away. They never go away, they just change their approach. Don’t lose heart. Progress in the area of lust may lead to a downfall in the area of pride. Progress in the area of distraction may lead to unloving attitudes. You get the idea. There are no quick fixes in the battle for holiness. The final battle for the soul is over, praise God! But the skirmishes last a life time. “So, we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. (Gal 6:9-10) Friends, get your gear on, look to the captain, and let’s prepare for a long battle.
10) Know the heart of the Captain
It is critical to remember that God hates sin. Imagine if you will, you are out in a harsh battle. People are giving their lives for the cause and maimed and bloodied friends are the model of courage and faithfulness. Why all the dedication? Because, the enemy is very bad, and the captain is very serious. Jesus fought “the good fight.” Sin was so terrible and serious to God that Jesus gave his life to spare our lives. The same God who traded the life of his son for your forgiveness, does not now suddenly wink at sin. God hates sin. God punishes sin, and he has not changed his mind. To come to God for salvation is to begin a quest to know and love God. To love God, will be to share his heart—which is love for people, and hatred for sin. That is why the Bible says that one turns from evil by the fear of the Lord (Prov 16:6). We must never relax and think sin is not big deal. Sin was and is a very big deal for God. You will be helped to overcome in the battle as you know the heart of the Captain.
11) Bounce well
In the battle for lust, author Steve Arterburn coined the phrase “bouncing the eyes.” Every soldier in the battle against bad habits may be helped by learning to bounce. Not just the eyes, but the thoughts, and even the body. The same way a person prone to lustful looks makes a covenant with his eyes to bounce away from images wrong to gaze on, another could bounce away from a line of thought, or a piece of pie, or binge and purging, or a website prone to waste time. We are able to “bounce” from anything. A habitual over spender can bounce away from stores or the shopping channel. When the impulse hits, bounce!! Turn your impulse to feed a bad habit into an impulse to break it, an impulse to form a good habit.
12) Find a greater pleasure
We do what we do because we think it will make us happy. Pascal said “every man constantly chooses what he perceives to be in the interest of his own happiness; even the man who hangs himself.” We sin because we think it will bring us pleasure, and for a moment it may. But, the result of sin is not pleasure. Sin brings sadness, guilt, shame, and defeat. So the issue is not whether I am able to choose pleasure or not, but I do I tell my self the truth about pleasure? The truth is, life is found in God, his presence is joy, and in his hand are pleasures forever, not just a moment (Psalm 16:11). When I take more pleasure in obeying God and saying no to a bad habit, I am well on my way to victory over a bad habit. Pleasure is a slippery goal. Do I seek pleasure for the moment followed by guilt? Or, do I choose pleasure for later followed by …. pleasure? To overcome bad habits, tell your self the truth and find a greater pleasure.
So, now what? Maybe you don’t have any bad habits. If so, you need to find a friend to tell you the truth—right away! Seriously! So, maybe take a day to reflect on each one of these points. Maybe find an area to work on that will help the most. Maybe look for the lie you are believing and embrace the truth of scripture. Maybe find someone to battle with. Maybe, just go before the Lord and say, I want to fight the good fight, Lord, tell me what to do next and I will do it. And then, do exactly what he says. Now, there’s a good habit to get into!
PK
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
What's in the Shack?"
William P. Young wrote a controversial book about his brokenness and how God reached into that pain and pulled him out. Since no publisher would take it, Young formed Windblown Media Company with a $300.00 budget and self published The Shack in 2007.
The book was not an overnight success, but after a slow start, advertised largely by word of mouth, The Shack made it to the New York Times bestseller list for paperback trade fiction, and has stayed there for nearly a year. Christian publishers apparently thought it was too controversial. Secular publishers passed because the content put it clearly in the ‘Christian’ marketplace.
Christian, secular, or otherwise, Shack reader’s opinions are usually passionate, and rarely consistent. The books polarizing effect is not uncommon in Christian or religious writing. One reader said, “I read and wept and slept and read again. Your work is a masterpiece! There are tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.” Another wrote, “I got to the point where God is a woman, and I quit reading.”
William P. Young, who goes by Paul, said he wrote The Shack as a gift for his six children. A 12 year old girl said “This is my most favorite book that I have ever read,” others say “If you haven’t read the book, don’t.” One national commentator says “Stay out of the Shack.”
I admit I read the book mostly because of the controversy. I think Young is a good writer, and a not so good theologian. But, in his defense, I am not sure that he was trying to be a good theologian. If the book is a metaphor, as Young calls it, then it is a metaphor of his personal Christian experience. The book may be an accurate recounting of his experience, even if his experience contains theological inaccuracies. Some of Young’s analogies are helpful in understanding a relationship with God, others I think are not, because they do not echo the words and heart of God from the Bible.
My purpose here is not to discuss the doctrinal discussions common to reviews of the book, although I think I could make some defendable arguments. I wrote because I am fascinated by the controversy! The bloggers, the polarization, the debate over the book (even by some who haven’t read it) intrigues me. Windblown Media’s website even has their response to “Is the book heresy?” I want to suggest four truths we can learn, not from the book, but from the controversy about it.
First, faith matters. There is a general sense among many that faith is an important issue, and what I decide about faith does indeed matter. A book written as a metaphor of the best fast food french fries available would gather little debate, even if you hate the fries the author likes, because french fries are not significant enough to argue about. But faith is. The truth claims of most religions are considered to determine the eternal destiny of a soul, or a person. The passionate polarizing debate over a book like The Shack reminds us of the seriousness of faith related issues, and that faith does indeed matter.
Second, discernment matters. A book cannot be the best book about God and the worst book about God at the same time. The claims are simply contradictory. But to say the book contains some helpful truths about God, and the book contains some potentially harmful errors about God at the same time is not a contradiction. The way to know the difference between the two is discernment—that is, the ability to sort out and recognize the difference between truth and error. Truth is not what you decide is true, truth is what actually is true. The reading of any book requires discernment, and especially regarding issues as important as God.
Third, the Bible matters. The Bible is the best book ever written about God and the Bible is the best book I’ve ever read about God. The Shack is not. While some will certainly argue, the general consensus among Christians is that the Bible is the truth about God for man. The Bible reveals what God has done, what he is doing, what he plans to do and often why he does it. Those who argue against the Bible’s incredible claims have a hard time producing a more credible option. The primary source of information about God comes from the Bible, and Young certainly gathered some of his knowledge of God from the Bible. The Christian Bible is the best book ever written about God. The closer another book about God comes to echoing the truth in the Bible, the better that book becomes.
Fourth and last, popularity does not matter. The popularity of a book or a truth claim does not make it true. Simple history alone is enough to prove that entire populations have proposed and embraced serious error. The popularity of a book may have little to do with the accuracy or benefit of it. Christianity has historically understood that truth is usually unpopular. Jesus, the savior and model in the Christian faith, was unpopular enough to be hated by evil men who plotted and effected his death. The religion that is popular with all men is more likely to be false than true. One preacher said, “You cannot be faithful [true] and popular at the same time, you have to choose.” Whether or not The Shack is popular, does not determine its credibility.
So, what about the polarizing effect of The Shack? Jesus certainly polarized his audience. Many loved him. Many hated him. Polarization in religious circles can result from truth or error. Jesus’ audience was polarized by the eternal seriousness of his message, and he was the real deal. He was truth. Is The Shack polarizing its readers because it is true? Or because it is contains error? Discerning readers will have to decide. And remember, because faith matters, your conclusion matters, but the popularity of that conclusion does not.
Monday, March 30, 2009
My Crack at "The Shack"
The Shack is the story of a man struggling to understand a great complexity in life. He has just lost his young daughter to a serial kidnapper/murderer and cannot see how a good God could allow such a thing to happen. He believes that a loving God would have stopped it from happening and feels that a truly loving God must therefore not exist.
The book describes this man’s journey as he returns to the place of his daughters murder only to meet with “God” who walks him into a new, broader understanding of the love of God; helping him to find peace from the terrible sadness that has overcome his life.
Throughout the book I found many things that were very helpful and biblical, convicting me in my own selfish desires. It was a good reminder that the world we live in has been destroyed by sin and that God finds joy in his plan to redeem it. Other things were more troubling as they seemed to contradict very clear teachings in the Bible. Some parts were just plain odd as I couldn’t really understand what the author was saying. Some of these positives, concerns, and confusions are listed at the end as I don’t have time to cover them and others have written extensively on them. The thing that stood out most clearly as I read the book, and what I cover here, was a misunderstanding of the gospel.
The Shack attempts to explain the wonderful beauty of the relational aspect of the Trinity. From eternity past God was supremely happy within the relationship of the Trinity. The sufficiency of His own relationship provided no need for the creation. However, because He had so much love to share, He decided it would benefit His own glory even more to create humans which would be able to participate in the love shared within the Trinity. We were created as relational beings primarily to be in a relationship with Him.
The beautiful relational nature of the god in The Shack and the picture of forgiveness described are very inspiring to those people who have had bad experiences with stodgy old religion, shallow empty churches, or hypocritical self-righteous “Christians.” It is a breath of fresh air to those who saw God as a boring, begrudging rule-maker who wants to make us into mindless drones on our knees throughout eternity chanting his “goodness.” The Shack offers us a picture of a future with God that is full of every beauty God intended in the original creation. Heaven will be a perfect relationship with Him, partaking in everything He created humans to enjoy (including much of which we can enjoy here in this world). This is causing many people to say that their lives were changed from reading this book. Their understanding of God was radically altered as a bright, colorful world created by God was opened up to them.
This is where I begin to be concerned. When a book gets praise for changing lives, it is much more than a work of fiction. The Shack is actually theological fiction, as it was written by the author in a fictional story to teach his children about God. The Word of God is the only thing truly capable of changing lives to be pleasing to Him. With as little as The Shack contains actual Scripture references, I wonder how then it can change lives. The few times Scripture is introduced into the book, it is for the god of the shack to move us away from looking to the Bible for godly wisdom.
We in America tend to do what makes us happiest instead of doing what is right. So many people claim this book has helped them despite the fact that so much of the book is wrong. It is so easy for us to define God in a way that is more comfortable for us than to listen to God’s own description of Himself in the Bible. We like to make ourselves happy by creating a god in our own image instead of asking God to reveal His true self to us. Readers of The Shack claim to have grown closer in their relationships to God. This sounds very spiritual, but unless it reveals the true God of the Bible, they are only growing closer to an image.
Suppose you want to have a relationship with me. You desire to grow closer to me. Someone has given you a book that says it will draw you closer to me. You read it, study it, and find that it has changed your life. It has made you more peaceful, forgiving, kind, and generous and you say you feel much closer to me. It tells you I love poetry (which I don’t), and that my favorite color is green (it is not). The book describes my love for astrology (not true) and gives you my phone number and address (which are not accurate). It says my hair is dark brown, that I am 5’10” tall and I weigh 225 lbs. (not even close). There is a problem here. While you may feel like you’ve drawn closer to me, you have only grown closer to a false image of me. When you tell people that you know me and that I know you, you are actually deceived because you don’t really have any idea who I am. This is much more serious with God, because if it means the difference between heaven and hell, not just being my friend or a stranger, then you will want to be sure you truly know the real God. Careful discernment must be exercised to find out if the god of The Shack is the same as the God of the Bible.
The story of The Shack is a dramatic telling of one man’s road to forgiveness and joy, but claiming to be a Christian story, it misses out on the ultimate story of redemption as covered throughout the pages of the Bible. The gospel is the central theme of Scriptures; the redemption of people throughout history from the consequences of sin by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the praise and glory of God. While The Shack does touch on a few of these themes, it also undermines (perhaps unintentionally) some of the basic, foundational aspects of the glorious gospel.
It is definitely true that we were created to enjoy the glory of God in a relationship with Him forever. However, we squandered that possibility as we decided we were more capable than God of determining what was best for ourselves. Our pride determined that we would seek our own way instead of trusting God to be the leader of our lives as He purposed in the creation. This is the essence of sin; that we rebel against what God expects from us as His image bearers.
The 10 Commandments are not simply a list of rules that God created for us to follow, but a perfect picture of the character of His holiness. [1] There is one God who has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures. [2] Any picture or imagining of Him that is not revealed in the Bible is creating a false god. [3] His name is due honor and respect as it expresses His character. [4] The Sabbath rest commanded of us pictures the rest from striving to obtain his favor that we can find in Christ’s sacrifice. [5] Honoring our parents is a way that we honor God’s authority through the submission to the authorities God placed in our lives. [6] Murder (even anger and hatred) of an image-bearer of God are seen as a direct attack on His character. [7] Marriage was instituted to be a picture of the Trinitarian relationship and the relationship of Christ to His church; to seek for pleasure outside of this institution is metaphorical to seeking after false gods. [8] God gives some things to some and not to others. To take something that doesn’t belong to you is to question His providence. [9] To bear false witness (tell a lie) is to proclaim that there is deceit in the character of God. [10] God commands us to be content with what He has provided in life.
The god in The Shack claims that it has no expectations of people and therefore cannot be disappointed by us. Contrary to this feel-good expression, in the Bible God commands us to “be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As we look at ourselves in God’s perfect mirror of the 10 commandments we see that we are so far from perfect holiness that we are completely helpless to obtain His favor. We begin to recognize the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and that we aren’t good people at all (Romans 3:12). When people in the Bible were standing before God, they were fearful for their lives as they realized that as sinners they could not possibly continue to live in the presence of God. Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3) and God hid him in a rock to prevent Moses from seeing Him and being killed (Exodus 33). Isaiah cried out to God not to kill him because he was a “man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6). When Peter recognized that Jesus was God, he pleaded with Jesus to leave his presence so he wouldn’t perish (Luke 5). Guilt arises in us as we realize that we do not deserve blessing, but we actually deserve just punishment in hell (1 Corinthians 6:9,10; Matthew 25:46). The guilt isn’t all bad, however, as it drives us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) and leads us to the good news of the cross (Galatians 3:24).
The good news of the cross is that Jesus, who lived the perfect life we are commanded to live, died on the cross taking the punishment we deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s justice and wrath against our sin was satisfied as He was pleased to pour out His punishment on His son Jesus (Isaiah 53:4,5,10). Those who repent and believe in Christ will be counted as sinless (John 3:16), but those who refuse to repent will not find their sins paid for but will pay for them on their own in eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). The Shack leaves the door open for those who deny Christ to still be reconciled with God.
Often times the love of God is misunderstood; pictured as God giving us a hug when we are sad or giving us nice things to enjoy. But the Bible always explains the love of God in connection with the death of Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). Love isn’t a warm feeling of pleasure magically given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is God allowing our sin to be transferred to Christ and Christ’s perfection to be transferred to us; so that His enemies (Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:3; John 8:44) become His children and friends. How truly amazing that God gives blessings to those who curse Him and offers eternal life in His kingdom to those who drag His name through the mud!
Because God loved us by giving us new life (1 John 4:9), we are “born again” (John 3:3) with a clean heart that desires to obey God. His commands aren’t a dead list of rules to us, but a delight (1 John 5:3) as we are being transformed into that image of His perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18). We delight to read of His works through the Bible (Job 23:12) as they are the words of life (John 6:68). We enjoy the fellowship of other believers at church gatherings because they have also been redeemed from their fallen condition (1 John 3; Hebrews 10:25). We are now able to forgive others because we realize how much God has forgiven us (Luke 7:47; Matthew 18:21-35).
No matter what a believer encounters in this world, we know that God is working through the corruption brought on by our sin to eventually bring goodness into our lives (Romans 8:28). We can handle the temporary trials because we know that one day we will be welcomed into heaven where there will be no more pain and death (Revelation 21:4) and we will get to enjoy the pure loving fellowship with God without our sin destroying every relationship.
While The Shack does a beautiful job of portraying loving relationships and the need for forgiveness, it lacks (and often contradicts) the holy, righteous demands of the Creator, making Him out to be at times a helpless bystander waiting for people to recognize He loves them. It tends to bring the glorious God of all creation down to a picture of a really good human. The God of the universe, revealed in the Bible, is much, much bigger and more powerful than this. He is in control of all things, working all things together for His glory and the good of His children. He will punish all sin wherever it is seen. He punished the sin of those who trust him on the cross of Jesus Christ and He will punish the sin of those who refuse to believe in eternal hell. It would have been perfectly just and right for Him to send us all to hell, but He has chosen to lavish His goodness on many and to redeem them to partake in His eternal glory in the beauty of heaven, far greater than anything we can imagine. This is what makes His love so great, that we nearly insignificant people would be cared for by the infinite Creator even though we didn’t deserve it. Praise be to God for giving mercy and grace to some to enjoy Him forever!
The book describes this man’s journey as he returns to the place of his daughters murder only to meet with “God” who walks him into a new, broader understanding of the love of God; helping him to find peace from the terrible sadness that has overcome his life.
Throughout the book I found many things that were very helpful and biblical, convicting me in my own selfish desires. It was a good reminder that the world we live in has been destroyed by sin and that God finds joy in his plan to redeem it. Other things were more troubling as they seemed to contradict very clear teachings in the Bible. Some parts were just plain odd as I couldn’t really understand what the author was saying. Some of these positives, concerns, and confusions are listed at the end as I don’t have time to cover them and others have written extensively on them. The thing that stood out most clearly as I read the book, and what I cover here, was a misunderstanding of the gospel.
The Shack attempts to explain the wonderful beauty of the relational aspect of the Trinity. From eternity past God was supremely happy within the relationship of the Trinity. The sufficiency of His own relationship provided no need for the creation. However, because He had so much love to share, He decided it would benefit His own glory even more to create humans which would be able to participate in the love shared within the Trinity. We were created as relational beings primarily to be in a relationship with Him.
The beautiful relational nature of the god in The Shack and the picture of forgiveness described are very inspiring to those people who have had bad experiences with stodgy old religion, shallow empty churches, or hypocritical self-righteous “Christians.” It is a breath of fresh air to those who saw God as a boring, begrudging rule-maker who wants to make us into mindless drones on our knees throughout eternity chanting his “goodness.” The Shack offers us a picture of a future with God that is full of every beauty God intended in the original creation. Heaven will be a perfect relationship with Him, partaking in everything He created humans to enjoy (including much of which we can enjoy here in this world). This is causing many people to say that their lives were changed from reading this book. Their understanding of God was radically altered as a bright, colorful world created by God was opened up to them.
This is where I begin to be concerned. When a book gets praise for changing lives, it is much more than a work of fiction. The Shack is actually theological fiction, as it was written by the author in a fictional story to teach his children about God. The Word of God is the only thing truly capable of changing lives to be pleasing to Him. With as little as The Shack contains actual Scripture references, I wonder how then it can change lives. The few times Scripture is introduced into the book, it is for the god of the shack to move us away from looking to the Bible for godly wisdom.
We in America tend to do what makes us happiest instead of doing what is right. So many people claim this book has helped them despite the fact that so much of the book is wrong. It is so easy for us to define God in a way that is more comfortable for us than to listen to God’s own description of Himself in the Bible. We like to make ourselves happy by creating a god in our own image instead of asking God to reveal His true self to us. Readers of The Shack claim to have grown closer in their relationships to God. This sounds very spiritual, but unless it reveals the true God of the Bible, they are only growing closer to an image.
Suppose you want to have a relationship with me. You desire to grow closer to me. Someone has given you a book that says it will draw you closer to me. You read it, study it, and find that it has changed your life. It has made you more peaceful, forgiving, kind, and generous and you say you feel much closer to me. It tells you I love poetry (which I don’t), and that my favorite color is green (it is not). The book describes my love for astrology (not true) and gives you my phone number and address (which are not accurate). It says my hair is dark brown, that I am 5’10” tall and I weigh 225 lbs. (not even close). There is a problem here. While you may feel like you’ve drawn closer to me, you have only grown closer to a false image of me. When you tell people that you know me and that I know you, you are actually deceived because you don’t really have any idea who I am. This is much more serious with God, because if it means the difference between heaven and hell, not just being my friend or a stranger, then you will want to be sure you truly know the real God. Careful discernment must be exercised to find out if the god of The Shack is the same as the God of the Bible.
The story of The Shack is a dramatic telling of one man’s road to forgiveness and joy, but claiming to be a Christian story, it misses out on the ultimate story of redemption as covered throughout the pages of the Bible. The gospel is the central theme of Scriptures; the redemption of people throughout history from the consequences of sin by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the praise and glory of God. While The Shack does touch on a few of these themes, it also undermines (perhaps unintentionally) some of the basic, foundational aspects of the glorious gospel.
It is definitely true that we were created to enjoy the glory of God in a relationship with Him forever. However, we squandered that possibility as we decided we were more capable than God of determining what was best for ourselves. Our pride determined that we would seek our own way instead of trusting God to be the leader of our lives as He purposed in the creation. This is the essence of sin; that we rebel against what God expects from us as His image bearers.
The 10 Commandments are not simply a list of rules that God created for us to follow, but a perfect picture of the character of His holiness. [1] There is one God who has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures. [2] Any picture or imagining of Him that is not revealed in the Bible is creating a false god. [3] His name is due honor and respect as it expresses His character. [4] The Sabbath rest commanded of us pictures the rest from striving to obtain his favor that we can find in Christ’s sacrifice. [5] Honoring our parents is a way that we honor God’s authority through the submission to the authorities God placed in our lives. [6] Murder (even anger and hatred) of an image-bearer of God are seen as a direct attack on His character. [7] Marriage was instituted to be a picture of the Trinitarian relationship and the relationship of Christ to His church; to seek for pleasure outside of this institution is metaphorical to seeking after false gods. [8] God gives some things to some and not to others. To take something that doesn’t belong to you is to question His providence. [9] To bear false witness (tell a lie) is to proclaim that there is deceit in the character of God. [10] God commands us to be content with what He has provided in life.
The god in The Shack claims that it has no expectations of people and therefore cannot be disappointed by us. Contrary to this feel-good expression, in the Bible God commands us to “be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As we look at ourselves in God’s perfect mirror of the 10 commandments we see that we are so far from perfect holiness that we are completely helpless to obtain His favor. We begin to recognize the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and that we aren’t good people at all (Romans 3:12). When people in the Bible were standing before God, they were fearful for their lives as they realized that as sinners they could not possibly continue to live in the presence of God. Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3) and God hid him in a rock to prevent Moses from seeing Him and being killed (Exodus 33). Isaiah cried out to God not to kill him because he was a “man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6). When Peter recognized that Jesus was God, he pleaded with Jesus to leave his presence so he wouldn’t perish (Luke 5). Guilt arises in us as we realize that we do not deserve blessing, but we actually deserve just punishment in hell (1 Corinthians 6:9,10; Matthew 25:46). The guilt isn’t all bad, however, as it drives us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) and leads us to the good news of the cross (Galatians 3:24).
The good news of the cross is that Jesus, who lived the perfect life we are commanded to live, died on the cross taking the punishment we deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s justice and wrath against our sin was satisfied as He was pleased to pour out His punishment on His son Jesus (Isaiah 53:4,5,10). Those who repent and believe in Christ will be counted as sinless (John 3:16), but those who refuse to repent will not find their sins paid for but will pay for them on their own in eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). The Shack leaves the door open for those who deny Christ to still be reconciled with God.
Often times the love of God is misunderstood; pictured as God giving us a hug when we are sad or giving us nice things to enjoy. But the Bible always explains the love of God in connection with the death of Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). Love isn’t a warm feeling of pleasure magically given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is God allowing our sin to be transferred to Christ and Christ’s perfection to be transferred to us; so that His enemies (Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:3; John 8:44) become His children and friends. How truly amazing that God gives blessings to those who curse Him and offers eternal life in His kingdom to those who drag His name through the mud!
Because God loved us by giving us new life (1 John 4:9), we are “born again” (John 3:3) with a clean heart that desires to obey God. His commands aren’t a dead list of rules to us, but a delight (1 John 5:3) as we are being transformed into that image of His perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18). We delight to read of His works through the Bible (Job 23:12) as they are the words of life (John 6:68). We enjoy the fellowship of other believers at church gatherings because they have also been redeemed from their fallen condition (1 John 3; Hebrews 10:25). We are now able to forgive others because we realize how much God has forgiven us (Luke 7:47; Matthew 18:21-35).
No matter what a believer encounters in this world, we know that God is working through the corruption brought on by our sin to eventually bring goodness into our lives (Romans 8:28). We can handle the temporary trials because we know that one day we will be welcomed into heaven where there will be no more pain and death (Revelation 21:4) and we will get to enjoy the pure loving fellowship with God without our sin destroying every relationship.
While The Shack does a beautiful job of portraying loving relationships and the need for forgiveness, it lacks (and often contradicts) the holy, righteous demands of the Creator, making Him out to be at times a helpless bystander waiting for people to recognize He loves them. It tends to bring the glorious God of all creation down to a picture of a really good human. The God of the universe, revealed in the Bible, is much, much bigger and more powerful than this. He is in control of all things, working all things together for His glory and the good of His children. He will punish all sin wherever it is seen. He punished the sin of those who trust him on the cross of Jesus Christ and He will punish the sin of those who refuse to believe in eternal hell. It would have been perfectly just and right for Him to send us all to hell, but He has chosen to lavish His goodness on many and to redeem them to partake in His eternal glory in the beauty of heaven, far greater than anything we can imagine. This is what makes His love so great, that we nearly insignificant people would be cared for by the infinite Creator even though we didn’t deserve it. Praise be to God for giving mercy and grace to some to enjoy Him forever!
Quick Thoughts Running Through My Mind as I Read the Book
Strong Points
· When we question God’s goodness, we act as ignorant judges, believing ourselves to be more righteous than God Himself (pg. 159)
· Forgiveness requires leaving God to work out His plan and not allowing bitterness to control us.
· God is completely satisfied and self-sufficient within the Trinity.
· The main character, while often disrespectful of God, is at times brutally honest with God sounding like some of the Psalms crying out to God for understanding.
· Papa sensitive to Mack’s lack of a good father, as God is called in Psalm 68:5 “A father of the fatherless.”
· Mack realizes that God is a lot more complex than he could possibly understand and needs to trust in His goodness more. All good things come from God.
· God is not to blame for suffering and pain in the world, but we are for our selfish God-dishonoring decisions.
· God tells Mack that people like to determine good or evil based on their own feelings instead of looking to God for answers (pg. 134-136).
· We are created in God’s image to be in a relationship with Him. Our sense of justice, love, and creative imagination (pg. 141) show how we were different from the animals, specially made to be in fellowship with God.
· We fear so much because we don’t trust God (pg. 142).
· The church that the world sees does not always represent Christ the way it should (pg. 177,178). Jesus told us there would be true and false believers mixed in with the visible church, with the false believers giving the church a bad name.
· God is not the stereotypical grandfather-in-the-sky. He is magnificent, beautiful, powerful, gracious, loving and merciful. Much more than we could ever imagine (which is exactly why the 2nd Commandment forbids imagining or picturing Him as anything).
· Heaven isn’t a place where we are all wearing white robes, playing harps and chanting like monks for eternity. It includes everything we understand as loving and beautiful in this world multiplied by infinity. It contains relationships without sin, joy without pain, life without death, happiness with no interruption for sadness, complete use of our senses far better than we have ever used them on earth, expressions of art, music, dance, food, architecture, and science that we haven’t even begun to experience.
· The 10 Commandments aren’t a list of rules we are to keep to please God, but are a mirror to look at to see how far short we come up to His standard.
Weak Points
· There is a huge lack of Scripture throughout the book. The only times verses are brought up is for “God” to subvert the obvious understanding of the text. A good Christian book will be laced with Bible verses, especially in the parts where God is talking (read Pilgrim’s Progress). It is always dangerous to put words in God’s mouth as you may end up teaching something that is false and attributing it to the holy One of all creation (which is blasphemy). The Bible is discounted in this novel. The author represents it as a book of guilt and subjection rather than hope, encouragement, knowledge, and light. Scripture is downplayed as our source of God’s knowledge as personal experience is elevated to a source of truth.
· Anti-authoritarian – seminary, church, rules, structure, roles are all bad, not just abused by people, but essentially bad. The book says all hierarchy is a result of sin. Hierarchy is ordained by God in many things including government (Romans 13), Marriage (1 Corinthians 11; Ephesians 5; 1 Peter 3), and even in God Himself (1 Corinthians 11:3). Consistent with this anti-authoritarian theme, the author refuses to participate in any regularly attending church organization, directly opposed to a command in Scripture (Hebrews 10:25).
· Holiness/Transcendence is missing. God’s closeness/imminence is focused on to the detriment of his greatness. God is big, perfect, righteous, and holy. People in the Bible feared for their lives when they saw His glory. The Shack is missing the fear of God element (Proverbs 1:7).
· Mack does not act as though he is in the presence of One far greater than he is, but acts as if he is hanging out with peers. He uses foul language and snaps in anger at God. Not near the reaction of people in the Bible standing in the presence of God (Exodus 3; 33; Isaiah 6; Luke 5:8)
· God the Father and the Holy Spirit depicted as humans. Only Jesus became a man. God in the Bible never portrayed Himself as a human other than in Christ. He is spoken of as a consuming fire, a whirlwind, unapproachable light, etc., but we must be careful to describe Him as anything other than what He has revealed. Throughout the Bible the Father reveals Himself in masculine terms, not once as a woman. While God does not have a gender, it is dangerous to start messing around with how He has chosen to reveal Himself. The 2nd Commandment forbids us from portraying God as any image; making the Creator part of the creation.
· God’s power and control over creation is limited. God is seen as helpless to overcome the sinful choices of man and is anxiously awaiting the day that people recognize how good they can have it with Him. God in the Bible is in control of all events, able to work good out of every situation and working to redeem those He has chosen from before the foundation of the world. It was His plan from before time to create people who would fall into sin so that He could redeem some from it by sending His Son to be a sacrifice. God’s purposes cannot be thwarted.
· God’s love and His justice are presented as contradictory attributes, where His love apparently limits His justice. The God of the Bible is just because He is loving. He will punish sin. He does not simply forgive sinners and ignore justice. He displays just punishment of sin on Christ at the cross; both loving and just.
· Papa suggests the word “responsibility” is nowhere in the Bible (pg. 206). While the English word may not be found in a couple of translations, the meaning of the word is littered throughout scripture; obligation and duty. Also misleading in this is that Papa says He won’t be disappointed in us because He doesn’t have expectations. He is more than disappointed in us; He is angry with our sin.
· The Shack claims that the Father was on the cross with Jesus, suffering with Him (Papa also bears the marks of the cross like Jesus). However, the Bible says that the Father forsook the Son (Matthew 27:46) as Jesus bore the guilt of our sin and it pleased the Father to pour out His wrath on the Son for our sake (Isaiah 53).
· Sin is downplayed and judgment is denied. Judgment is spoken of throughout the Bible and sin is an eternal offense to a holy God. God will punish sin (contrary to The Shack pg. 120) because He is offended by it. Sin is much more than its own punishment, it is wickedness in the sight of God.
· Very man-centered. It is not about revealing how wonderful God is in all of His glory, but about making man more comfortable with God. God is revealed in with human limitations. He is not portrayed as being very different than weak, limited humans.
· Papa says that all three persons of the Trinity became a man in Jesus. This is not an accurate portrayal of the Trinity. The Trinity did not become human, the Son did.
· The Shack claims that Jesus set aside his deity and was only a man completely dependent upon the Father. Orthodox Christianity says that in some awesome mystery, Jesus is 100% God and 100% man, not denying His godly nature when He became a man.
· Jesus says He is the “best way” to relate to the Father instead of the only way (John 14:6). Later Papa says He has followers in many different religions.
· The Shack teaches that all people are God’s children and He is “especially fond of” them all. The Bible teaches that we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), children of the devil (John 8:44), and we become His children when we repent and trust in Christ (1 John 3:10; 1 John 5:2).
· Relationship with God is emphasized so much that it ignores that believers are also “slaves” to Christ (Romans 6:16-19) and that God does have expectations of obedience from us (John 14-17; 1 John).
Confusing Points
· Racial stereotyping (Jews with big noses, jolly African American woman serving in the home, Strange Asian woman difficult to grasp)
· Instead of saying that all roads lead to the Father, Jesus says that He will travel any road to find people. Compare this all roads discussion to the roads Jesus talked about in Matthew 7 where He says the road most people are on leads to destruction but the road few are on that follows Him is the one that leads to glory.
· In American culture, kissing is a very intimate (often sexual) expression. It is odd then that the Trinity is often found to be kissing (once on the lips). As much as love and sex is misunderstood in our culture it is a bit confusing to see it casually displayed like this by God in the book.
· Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) is a weird, hard to follow, mind-in-the-clouds person with not much of a purpose. I just had difficulty understanding the reason for the eccentricities described.
Helpful Reviews I Have Read
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7831
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7830
http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/the-shack-by-william-p-young.php
http://mattandryan.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/the-shack-christianitys-next-big-thing/
http://theresurgence.com/the_shack_book_review
http://www.leadingtheway.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sto_TheShack_Uncovered
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-04-11
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-05-26
http://www.theshackreview.com/
Friday, March 27, 2009
PowerPoint Frustrations
I attended a workshop yesterday on effective presentations and saw this video. I immediately thought of Jake and his love for PowerPoint animation.
A Witness of the God of Pink
As one who has a passion to reach lost souls, I am often pretty hard on myself when I let an opportunity to share the gospel go by (it happens much more often that it should). I like to carry the books I am reading around with me, hoping to spark a conversation on the topic. Yesterday, just such an opportunity arose.
I have been digging through J.C. Ryle’s Holiness and two people asked me what I was reading. I was excited for the chance to explain the gospel and then quickly frustrated when I stumbled over my own words to the point where the askers were no longer interested. The exchanges lasted no more than 30 seconds and I felt like a failure. All I was able to do was state how awesome and holy God is, but not a thing beyond that. Then a new thought began to creep into my mind.
In my zeal to be faithful in evangelism I realized how many opportunities I had passed up because of my simple failure to be a Witness. Being a witness to me became the goal of explaining the entire gospel to every person I could. If I couldn’t get through sin, righteousness, judgment, heaven, hell, the cross and the resurrection, then it seemed to be a wasted opportunity. I then realized that perhaps I hadn’t failed so miserably; I did manage to voice my love for the powerful and holy Creator of the universe. So I began to formulate some definitions in my mind:
Witness: testifying to the work of God in your life in actions and words, crediting God for that work and being prepared to give an explanation for the hope that lies within (1 Peter 3:15). Webster says a witness is an “attestation of a fact or event” or “one who has personal knowledge of something.” So basically, to be a witness is to simply to serve in your life as an attestation of the fact of Christ’s work.
Evangelism: the term comes from the Greek word Evangelion; meaning “good news.” Therefore evangelism is intentionally explaining the command for all people to repent (Acts 17:30) and faith in Christ who died on the cross as payment for the sins of all who believe (John 3:16).
The distinction is where my frustration tends to occur. I treat every single mention of God as if it had to be a call to repentance. Situations worthy of God’s praise become challenging as I determine to turn it into a proclamation of the gospel. Quickly, a person like me with this outlook becomes perceived in a negative light.
Many people in my life know that I am crazy about my church and they just don’t get it. Whenever the topic comes up they quickly try to change the subject because they are uncomfortable with it. It is true that the gospel is a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:23 ) and the aroma of death (2 Corinthians 2:15,16) to those who don’t believe. The message is judgmental (John 3:18) and intolerant (Matthew 7:14), but I should be seen as a satisfied customer, no longer condemned and placed on the narrow way.
During a Q&A session at the 2009 Desiring God Pastors Conference, Matt Chandler discussed how we make Christ look appealing. We don’t water down or ignore the difficult demands of the gospel (sin, judgment, hell), but we also don’t forget to always proclaim the fantastic goodness of God. Chandler shared how his daughter loves the color pink, so he always tell her that God is the God of pink and they thank Him for that. How good, beautiful, and great is God that He gave us pink? He is the God of candy; the God of beautiful weather; the God who gives friends; the God of marital intimacy; the God who gives a giggling infant; the God of chocolate cake and whatever other simple pleasure we receive in life. Those we are trying to reach need to see our joy, the joy of our salvation (Psalm 20:5), and know what a pleasure it is for us to obey God’s commands (1 John 5:3). The more we display our joy in Christ as a witness to the world the more comfortable we will feel when we get the opportunity to explain that hope within by expounding on the details of the gospel. If you are afraid to be faithful in evangelism, simply start by proclaiming your joy in Christ more often.
I do not intend in differentiating the terms witness and evangelism to split any theological hairs, condemn those who don’t differentiate the terms, or start any programs based on the difference between the two. My goal is to encourage believers to live as a more bold witness, clearly living Christ-like lives while telling of His goodness in all things, which will lead to more evangelism opportunities, conversations with a clear unfolding of the gospel message. Too often we are afraid to obey the command to tell the gospel to every creature because we feel we aren’t articulate enough to explain the entire gospel. Instead of opening our mouths and simply testifying to the good work of Christ in our lives, we clam up and say nothing at all.
So here is a start; just try to be more deliberate to mention God and thank Him in front of others throughout the day. This may not be evangelism (by strict definition), but it lets the world know who you are and what you are about and may lead to an opportunity to explain yourself more. By then you will be more prepared for it; the gospel will be proclaimed more naturally as you have already established credibility and your joy in His power of transformation. You may be surprised that though you have been trying to reach a specific person for months, you may suddenly find yourself in a gospel conversation with a stranger on the bus simply because you expressed joy in God on a cloudy day.
I have been digging through J.C. Ryle’s Holiness and two people asked me what I was reading. I was excited for the chance to explain the gospel and then quickly frustrated when I stumbled over my own words to the point where the askers were no longer interested. The exchanges lasted no more than 30 seconds and I felt like a failure. All I was able to do was state how awesome and holy God is, but not a thing beyond that. Then a new thought began to creep into my mind.In my zeal to be faithful in evangelism I realized how many opportunities I had passed up because of my simple failure to be a Witness. Being a witness to me became the goal of explaining the entire gospel to every person I could. If I couldn’t get through sin, righteousness, judgment, heaven, hell, the cross and the resurrection, then it seemed to be a wasted opportunity. I then realized that perhaps I hadn’t failed so miserably; I did manage to voice my love for the powerful and holy Creator of the universe. So I began to formulate some definitions in my mind:
Witness: testifying to the work of God in your life in actions and words, crediting God for that work and being prepared to give an explanation for the hope that lies within (1 Peter 3:15). Webster says a witness is an “attestation of a fact or event” or “one who has personal knowledge of something.” So basically, to be a witness is to simply to serve in your life as an attestation of the fact of Christ’s work.
Evangelism: the term comes from the Greek word Evangelion; meaning “good news.” Therefore evangelism is intentionally explaining the command for all people to repent (Acts 17:30) and faith in Christ who died on the cross as payment for the sins of all who believe (John 3:16).
The distinction is where my frustration tends to occur. I treat every single mention of God as if it had to be a call to repentance. Situations worthy of God’s praise become challenging as I determine to turn it into a proclamation of the gospel. Quickly, a person like me with this outlook becomes perceived in a negative light.
Many people in my life know that I am crazy about my church and they just don’t get it. Whenever the topic comes up they quickly try to change the subject because they are uncomfortable with it. It is true that the gospel is a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:23 ) and the aroma of death (2 Corinthians 2:15,16) to those who don’t believe. The message is judgmental (John 3:18) and intolerant (Matthew 7:14), but I should be seen as a satisfied customer, no longer condemned and placed on the narrow way.
During a Q&A session at the 2009 Desiring God Pastors Conference, Matt Chandler discussed how we make Christ look appealing. We don’t water down or ignore the difficult demands of the gospel (sin, judgment, hell), but we also don’t forget to always proclaim the fantastic goodness of God. Chandler shared how his daughter loves the color pink, so he always tell her that God is the God of pink and they thank Him for that. How good, beautiful, and great is God that He gave us pink? He is the God of candy; the God of beautiful weather; the God who gives friends; the God of marital intimacy; the God who gives a giggling infant; the God of chocolate cake and whatever other simple pleasure we receive in life. Those we are trying to reach need to see our joy, the joy of our salvation (Psalm 20:5), and know what a pleasure it is for us to obey God’s commands (1 John 5:3). The more we display our joy in Christ as a witness to the world the more comfortable we will feel when we get the opportunity to explain that hope within by expounding on the details of the gospel. If you are afraid to be faithful in evangelism, simply start by proclaiming your joy in Christ more often.
I do not intend in differentiating the terms witness and evangelism to split any theological hairs, condemn those who don’t differentiate the terms, or start any programs based on the difference between the two. My goal is to encourage believers to live as a more bold witness, clearly living Christ-like lives while telling of His goodness in all things, which will lead to more evangelism opportunities, conversations with a clear unfolding of the gospel message. Too often we are afraid to obey the command to tell the gospel to every creature because we feel we aren’t articulate enough to explain the entire gospel. Instead of opening our mouths and simply testifying to the good work of Christ in our lives, we clam up and say nothing at all.
So here is a start; just try to be more deliberate to mention God and thank Him in front of others throughout the day. This may not be evangelism (by strict definition), but it lets the world know who you are and what you are about and may lead to an opportunity to explain yourself more. By then you will be more prepared for it; the gospel will be proclaimed more naturally as you have already established credibility and your joy in His power of transformation. You may be surprised that though you have been trying to reach a specific person for months, you may suddenly find yourself in a gospel conversation with a stranger on the bus simply because you expressed joy in God on a cloudy day.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Lesson Learned
As I drove along my 90 minute drive to the Twin Cities yesterday morning a couple of hours before the sun would peak its light over the horizon a few thoughts rushed into my head. It was much earlier than I was accustomed to rising in the morning. After a few days in a row of above freezing temperatures, the mercury dropped and the wind pushed the wind chill down to 25-below zero. The rest of the people on the road seemed to be more affected by the early morning and cold temperatures as they couldn’t seem to remember basic highway maneuvering. Then God took this wonderful opportunity of my self-righteous pride to remind me of his spectacular majesty.
As I glanced over my shoulder for any oncoming traffic I looked to the dark western sky and covered in a slight fog, a full moon beamed its light through the haze to reveal a breathtaking sight.
The sight was brilliant. Dark rainbows appeared near the outer edges of the moon’s glow. The shadowy silhouette of the landscape on the horizon provided a beautiful frame for the painting in the sky. Then I quickly realized that had the weather patterns not been just right – cold weather, full moon, thin haze – and had I not been forced to be on the road in that direction on the morning of a full moon I would never have gotten to witness this marvelous spectacle. The things I had been complaining about were the very things that God orchestrated to paint such a beautiful image in the night sky.
Conviction hit pretty hard (though the guilt was softened by the thankfulness for the grace in the moment) as I pondered how often we complain about our circumstances. Living in Minnesota, it is a common pastime to grumble about the cold. It doesn’t take too much time on the road to identify someone who has violated our sense of righteous driving. We often joke about marriage being difficult or our spouse being stubborn while beneath the surface of the joke we are actually venting our personal frustrations. We use early mornings and late nights as an excuse for terse behavior. It always seems to be somebody else’s fault; sometimes we even blame God (see Adam and Eve in Genesis 3).
It is quite amazing that living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, blessed far beyond what any of us deserve (anything but hell is blessing more than we deserve), yet we find every reason to be discontent with the way our lives are. I pray for more thankfulness and patience as I wait for God to weave difficult circumstances together for my good and for the praise of His holy Name.
Next time you find yourself set to gripe about your situation, stop and pray for a more thankful heart and look for God to use it for your good. When the weather is cold, thank Him for a warm house. When your spouse upsets you, pray for wisdom to respond respectfully. When a driver cuts you off, pray for strength to overlook the sin. When your boss gets on your nerves, look for ways to be a blessing to him.
We find it far too easy to complain when we feel our comfort has been upset when we should be praising God for these opportunities to show His work in our hearts to make us more content, thankful, and compassionate. Sometimes it takes a bit of a shaking from God to get us out of our comfort zone, to cast out our idols, to be more thankful and obedient to his commands.
I thank God that He used the beautiful morning sky to get my attention instead of getting swallowed by a large fish.
As I glanced over my shoulder for any oncoming traffic I looked to the dark western sky and covered in a slight fog, a full moon beamed its light through the haze to reveal a breathtaking sight.
The sight was brilliant. Dark rainbows appeared near the outer edges of the moon’s glow. The shadowy silhouette of the landscape on the horizon provided a beautiful frame for the painting in the sky. Then I quickly realized that had the weather patterns not been just right – cold weather, full moon, thin haze – and had I not been forced to be on the road in that direction on the morning of a full moon I would never have gotten to witness this marvelous spectacle. The things I had been complaining about were the very things that God orchestrated to paint such a beautiful image in the night sky.
Conviction hit pretty hard (though the guilt was softened by the thankfulness for the grace in the moment) as I pondered how often we complain about our circumstances. Living in Minnesota, it is a common pastime to grumble about the cold. It doesn’t take too much time on the road to identify someone who has violated our sense of righteous driving. We often joke about marriage being difficult or our spouse being stubborn while beneath the surface of the joke we are actually venting our personal frustrations. We use early mornings and late nights as an excuse for terse behavior. It always seems to be somebody else’s fault; sometimes we even blame God (see Adam and Eve in Genesis 3).
It is quite amazing that living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, blessed far beyond what any of us deserve (anything but hell is blessing more than we deserve), yet we find every reason to be discontent with the way our lives are. I pray for more thankfulness and patience as I wait for God to weave difficult circumstances together for my good and for the praise of His holy Name.
Next time you find yourself set to gripe about your situation, stop and pray for a more thankful heart and look for God to use it for your good. When the weather is cold, thank Him for a warm house. When your spouse upsets you, pray for wisdom to respond respectfully. When a driver cuts you off, pray for strength to overlook the sin. When your boss gets on your nerves, look for ways to be a blessing to him.
We find it far too easy to complain when we feel our comfort has been upset when we should be praising God for these opportunities to show His work in our hearts to make us more content, thankful, and compassionate. Sometimes it takes a bit of a shaking from God to get us out of our comfort zone, to cast out our idols, to be more thankful and obedient to his commands.
I thank God that He used the beautiful morning sky to get my attention instead of getting swallowed by a large fish.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Totally Unqualified
Having a newborn in the house has been very exciting and challenging; both at the same time. It is something I have dreamed of for years and now I am so thankful to God for such a wonderful gift. I have been planning for a while now what I want to accomplish as a parent while understanding my primary responsibility is to point my beautiful daughter to Christ to find righteousness.
Knowing that I certainly do not understand all there is to parenting I have undertaken much study on the subject. I have been reading books, magazines, and web articles and also comparing the methods of parents I see throughout the day. I have learned many principles to keep in mind and am reminded to keep Christ as the focus. There have also been many practical ideas discovered that will be very helpful in accomplishing our goals.
I must read to my children and teach them the importance of discerning truth while learning. I must bring alive the Scriptures to help them better understand its message. I must be a good example of godliness in their lives and not fall back on the attitude of “do what I say, not what I do.” I must admit my limitations and apologize when I fail. I must teach them how to respect others, how to be polite, how to properly handle money, how to be a good husband or wife, to be a diligent worker, to eat their vegetables, to respect the creation, to exercise enough, to be a safe driver, to study hard in school, to properly clean themselves and a thousand other things. On top of all that, they are born like us with a sinful heart that will rebel against authority and resist obedience, so it will take patient, loving consistency over a lifetime to teach only a few of these things.
I think of all that goes on in my life, what I have prioritized, what I believe to be important, what makes me happy, and I wonder where I am to find the time and resources to tackle this monumental task; especially in our culture where time is money and having a family, instead of being a blessing, is more of a burden on our career and entertainment goals. At one time moms were respected as the primary influence on the family and now they are chided for choosing to accept this God-given challenge as keeper of the home (Titus 2:3-5) instead of pursuing a career. I have much sympathy for the single parent who desires much more time to raise their children but cannot afford to. Even as one who’s wife is home caring for our baby, I am afraid we will come far short of addressing all that our child needs.
With this massive list of responsibilities laid in front of me the thing that weighs heavy on my mind is that despite all of this preparation and study, I am totally unqualified to be a godly father. I am not even capable of properly taking care of myself, let alone an entire family. Most of us have some history of personal sin (actions or thoughts) that, if widely publicized, would cast serious doubt on our ability to be a parent or likely even a functioning member of a civilized society.
But here I am with a daughter. Granted the authority by Almighty God to guide a human soul in the ways our Creator. Given the responsibility of caring for another sinful person.
As I learn more and more about my responsibilities, more and more about my own sin, more and more about the holiness of our God, I come to the realization that we are created to be wholly dependent upon Him. We can do nothing of ourselves, but we have been commanded to be perfect. That by no means implies that we have the ability to be so, but calls us to trust in Christ with our entire lives. Only He can accomplish in us that which we are called to do. Only He can uphold us, sustain us, preserve us to the end. I pray that He does exactly that in our home.
Praise God that He can do it all by the power of his voice!
Knowing that I certainly do not understand all there is to parenting I have undertaken much study on the subject. I have been reading books, magazines, and web articles and also comparing the methods of parents I see throughout the day. I have learned many principles to keep in mind and am reminded to keep Christ as the focus. There have also been many practical ideas discovered that will be very helpful in accomplishing our goals.
I must read to my children and teach them the importance of discerning truth while learning. I must bring alive the Scriptures to help them better understand its message. I must be a good example of godliness in their lives and not fall back on the attitude of “do what I say, not what I do.” I must admit my limitations and apologize when I fail. I must teach them how to respect others, how to be polite, how to properly handle money, how to be a good husband or wife, to be a diligent worker, to eat their vegetables, to respect the creation, to exercise enough, to be a safe driver, to study hard in school, to properly clean themselves and a thousand other things. On top of all that, they are born like us with a sinful heart that will rebel against authority and resist obedience, so it will take patient, loving consistency over a lifetime to teach only a few of these things.
I think of all that goes on in my life, what I have prioritized, what I believe to be important, what makes me happy, and I wonder where I am to find the time and resources to tackle this monumental task; especially in our culture where time is money and having a family, instead of being a blessing, is more of a burden on our career and entertainment goals. At one time moms were respected as the primary influence on the family and now they are chided for choosing to accept this God-given challenge as keeper of the home (Titus 2:3-5) instead of pursuing a career. I have much sympathy for the single parent who desires much more time to raise their children but cannot afford to. Even as one who’s wife is home caring for our baby, I am afraid we will come far short of addressing all that our child needs.
With this massive list of responsibilities laid in front of me the thing that weighs heavy on my mind is that despite all of this preparation and study, I am totally unqualified to be a godly father. I am not even capable of properly taking care of myself, let alone an entire family. Most of us have some history of personal sin (actions or thoughts) that, if widely publicized, would cast serious doubt on our ability to be a parent or likely even a functioning member of a civilized society.
But here I am with a daughter. Granted the authority by Almighty God to guide a human soul in the ways our Creator. Given the responsibility of caring for another sinful person.
As I learn more and more about my responsibilities, more and more about my own sin, more and more about the holiness of our God, I come to the realization that we are created to be wholly dependent upon Him. We can do nothing of ourselves, but we have been commanded to be perfect. That by no means implies that we have the ability to be so, but calls us to trust in Christ with our entire lives. Only He can accomplish in us that which we are called to do. Only He can uphold us, sustain us, preserve us to the end. I pray that He does exactly that in our home.
Praise God that He can do it all by the power of his voice!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Those Who Are Not Yet Saved
While this is highly speculative, I wondered this morning if, when we speak of unbelievers as being "not yet saved," as Christians, we may implicitly concede that it is a decision that can be put off somehow. That is certainly not the case, and, of course, we know that ("Choose THIS day who you will serve;" "TODAY is the day of salvation"). I don't even know if it comes into our conversations with those nonbelievers with whom we are trying to share the Gospel. Certainly there is room for it in our prayers, and with other believers, since we know that God is drawing unto Himself a people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And, we would trust in our prayers (as I did this morning) that He IS working, and will continue to work in people's lives, unto salvation. Nevertheless, I wondered, out loud, if this bears any resonance for you, my fellow "strivers in Christ." Just curious.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Praying for Our Nation and It's New Leader
Today is the inauguration day for our newly elected president. We are commanded in Scripture to pray for our leaders and to submit to their authority, although we remember that we are citizens of heaven, foreigners in this world. President Obama has asked Rick Warren to pray at the inauguration. Since Obama's stated goal of choosing Warren was to be inclusive to all people (he also chose Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson to participate), there is fear from many that Warren will not pray for godly repentance for this nation and for the president to lead us by the truth of God's Word. While it would be extraordinarily challenging to speak bold truth in front of millions, I pray that Pastor Warren will offer a faithful, repentant prayer for our president and our nation, even if it costs him his popularity.
As I was searching the internet, I found a few people who offered prayers for our nation and it's new president on his inauguration day:
John Frame
Chris Brauns
Dan Phillips
Albert Mohler
Mark Altrogge
J.D. Hatfield
Nicholas Jackson
What will you pray for this nation. Pray that Rick Warren will be bold as he approaches the throne of God for our nation and remember to pray often for our new president; first that his name is written in the Lamb's book of life and that he leads this country into godliness.
As I was searching the internet, I found a few people who offered prayers for our nation and it's new president on his inauguration day:
John Frame
Chris Brauns
Dan Phillips
Albert Mohler
Mark Altrogge
J.D. Hatfield
Nicholas Jackson
What will you pray for this nation. Pray that Rick Warren will be bold as he approaches the throne of God for our nation and remember to pray often for our new president; first that his name is written in the Lamb's book of life and that he leads this country into godliness.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Ever think that someone in the church is needlessly antagonistic? The presence of antagonists is never healthy, but is invariably harmful to the church and its leadership. Kenneth Haugk in “Antagonists in the Church” describes an antagonist this way. Antagonists are individuals who, on the basis of no substantive evidence, go out of their way to make insatiable demands, usually attacking the person or performance of others. These attacks are selfish in nature, tearing down rather than building up, and are frequently directed against those in a leadership capacity. Recent literature in the area of conflict resolution has begun to recognize that there are individuals who initiate and thrive on unhealthy conflict, persons who have no desire whatsoever to see conflict resolved.
Regarding the unique congregational structures and how they contribute to antagonism, Mr. Haugk writes this. For too long, congregations how been places where antagonists can operate with success. Their behavior is not as successful in many other areas of life because in those areas it is simply not tolerated. ….Why has there been antagonism in churches? Because too often people have felt that antagonists had to be placated…. when someone with antagonistic tendencies takes hold of issues, the result is often destructive and divisive. The antagonist is usually not interested in the issues themselves; they are only a means to his or her own peculiar end. (pg 39)
In regard to the passive silence and apathy of a congregation, he says that when a congregation is attacked, it needs a very vocal group of people who are willing to confront the antagonists directly in order to give them the firm message that their behavior will not be tolerated. As long as the majority of people silently sit by, thinking the pastor will take care of it and it’s not their fight, the more encouraged the antagonists are, and the more they accelerate their attack. He speaks too of the extreme loneliness a pastor under attack experiences when individuals tell him privately they support him, yet will not take a stand and support him publicly or rebuke the attackers. He writes, “Silent supporters are no supporters”. The essential point that he makes, which is not intuitive to most people, is that an attack against a pastor is virtually never a problem with the pastor, but with the congregation that allows it to happen, by their silence.
When one individual assumes the whole burden of dealing with an antagonist, the result is rarely healthy. The obligation to deal with the situation properly resides in the corporate leadership of the congregation and, to a lesser extent, in the congregation as a whole. (pg 23)
What happens during an attack? The most immediate and obvious effects are that attendance in a previously growing congregation drops off precipitously, and interest in evangelism becomes almost non-existent. People on the fringes of congregational life do not want to be involved in the conflict, and almost everyone loses interest in bringing others into the congregation because of the tense atmosphere and shame people feel because of the attackers and their ungodly behavior. However, the antagonists then jump on the fact that attendance is down, and try to lay the blame for this on the pastor, when it is in actual fact the inevitable result of their own actions.
He discusses many distinguishing characteristics and “red flags” that can let a congregation know when they are faced with an antagonist. There are too many to list here, but a few worth mentioning include
a) a previous track record of antagonism toward church leaders and pastors,
b) bringing “concerns” to church leadership on behalf of “unnamed others” who have somehow chosen to confide in them, and
c) flaunting their financial donations and making a point of letting others know that they are not giving as much to the church because of “the situation”.
He then points out early and late warning signs of an imminent attack by an antagonist, as follows:
Early warning signs:
• A chill in the relationship
• Honeyed “concerns”
• Nettlesome questions
• Mobilizing forces and pot-stirring
• Meddling
• Resistance
Later warning signs:
• Sloganeering – (“There is not enough love in the congregation”)
• Accusing
• Spying
• Distorting
• Misquoting scripture
• “Judas kissing”
• Smirking
• Pestering
• Letter writing
• Pretense
• Lobbying (pg 63-66)
The author warns that, when these warnings signs begin to be seen, especially in antagonists who have a long track record of being antagonistic to every pastor and leader the church has had, an attack is imminent. Something must be done to stop the attack before it happens, for antagonists are never satisfied with their small victories. On the contrary, every perceived success only reinforces and emboldens them, so that each subsequent attack become more vicious and more harmful to the leader who is attacked and to the congregation.
Effects of antagonism on the church
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
When arguing and antagonism wrack a congregation, its witness to the God of love is destroyed. Antagonists choose not to live out the love of Christ. Strife is introduced in love’s place, and with strife goes jealousy and anger. The primary effect of antagonism on God’s people is destruction. Visible expressions of the unconditional love of Christ are among the first casualties of active antagonism. Antagonism destroys the unique, loving witness of Christians and the vitality of the congregation, calling forth God’s anger.
Treatment for antagonism
“I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them” (Romans 16:17).
This is always the first step toward dealing with antagonism: watch out for it, be aware of it. The apostle Paul did not leave to his readers’ imaginations whom they were to watch. They were to watch for those who created dissension and caused divisions.
The Bible speaks definitively about the final treatment for those who persist in causing division and heartache in the church: “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10,11).
Dismissing someone should not be done lightly. But the words “have nothing to do with him” are a clear-cut response to an individual who persists in divisiveness after the first and second warnings. Paul told Titus not to engage in extensive attempts to smooth things over with the troublemaker; he was simply to avoid having anything to do with that person.
The apostolic guideline is clear: When confronted with an antagonist, face the probability that change simply will not occur. He is “self-condemned.” Stay away from that person.
This is the kind of book every congregation hopes it will never have to read. But all are reminded by the author of the importance of recognizing and dealing with harmful behavior.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
What's My Motive?
As I have worked through the first few joyous weeks of my baby girl’s life, I have been doing a lot of self-examination and reflection on life. I have often struggled to find out what I wanted to become in life. I have been a graphic artist, obtained an education and employment in civil engineering, and even begun taking seminary courses. Each month I spend some time looking through job postings looking for something that might be a more fulfilling career. I have been blessed with multiple talents and could choose from quite a variety of interests, but nothing gives me the desire to work at and be the best at it. Except for one thing; my family.For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a husband and a dad. When I was little and helped take care of my brothers and sister, my parents often told me how great I was doing and what a good dad I would become. All through school I saw people dating each other for no apparent reason. I couldn’t understand why people were dating without serious consideration about whether that person was to be the one they would pledge their life to. I was determined to find that special girl and love her like no one has loved his wife before and become the best dad the world has ever seen.
All of this history brings me to today. I have been married to Molly for a couple weeks over three years; after dating for 5 ½ years. We were just blessed seven weeks ago with a beautiful baby girl who is now starting to smile at her daddy. I find myself, without much thought at all, sacrificing the things I once enjoyed to make sure my little girl taken care of. My pile of books to be read has been temporarily set aside for reading on biblical parenting.
Which has led me to great conviction. I suddenly realize more than before that as the head of this family, I bear the responsibility to lead my wife and children in godliness; to model Christ and teach His word to my family regularly. To me, it’s not as overwhelming as it is for some people because this is something I always wanted and prepared for. However, I am now asking myself why I wanted these things.
When I was a child, I wanted children to be a good dad and get praise from my parents. When I was a teenager, I wanted a girlfriend to fulfill my own personal longings and to make all the other girls jealous that they weren’t with me (trust me, nobody in high school was ever jealous of me). I wanted a wife who would be proud to boast of her great husband and children who thought the world of their dad. I wanted people to ask me for advice on marriage and parenting asking me, “How do you do it?”
When I now ask myself “why,” I see that on the surface I may have looked polished, respectable, kind, and loving. On the inside, it was all for selfish motives. While many others benefited, I looked for personal gratification and praise. It was all
me-centered. The One who created marriage, who gives the blessing of children, who established the family, did it for His glory and His honor and His praise.God created marriage to be a reflection of the love between Him and His church. God created families to share the love He has for His creation and to make more people to worship Him. He gives us roles in the family to understand love through submission to each other. He teaches through the family to respect authority even when we sometimes disagree so that we learn to respect and surrender to His ultimate authority. It is all designed for us to see Him through it all.
Today, as I learn (some by studying, some by trial and error) to be a husband and daddy, I must continue to ask myself, “Why am I doing this?” Why do I want children? Why do I send my children to school? Why do I teach them to say “Please” and “Thank You”? Why do I want them to eat their vegetables, brush their teeth, and go to bed at night?
While I do benefit from godliness, the ultimate purpose of my family is to glorify Christ in our love for each other and our obedience to Him; and to guide our children to become worshippers of the Most High God.
What motives do you have for pursuing the things that consume your time? Is it for your own fulfillment or for God’s glory?
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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