Being Renewed

During the early part of this week, I was at a convocation for church workers.  While these kinds of things are basically required, I always enjoy the time I spend at them.  I always manage to take some things away from them, even if they are on topics or subjects that I am already well-versed in.  So this convocation, with the title "Renewal from the Inside Out", held a great deal of promise. 

Of course, as Christians, we find that God begins are renewal within us when we are washed with the water and word of Baptism.  That's when God first takes a sinful person and extends His promise to them.  He forgives them of the inherent sin that is within all humankind, and puts His Spirit within that person.  New life is given to that person, eternal life with God because of what Jesus has done.  That truly is renewal that starts on the inside.

As Christians, we are thankful for such renewal in our lives.  We can rest secure in that gift of grace.  The problem is, too often we simply rest in that gift of grace.  What we fail to realize is that, as God gives us those gifts of grace, He also makes us into a new creation.  That new creation is one that sees God's will and design, that which we would call His law or His commands, and wants to live according to them.  That new creation wants to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength, and wants to love neighbor as self.

The problem we face is that we far too frequently also don't want to do such things.  In some respects, that old nature, that sinful nature, seems far more appealing.  We are thankful for God's renewal in the spiritual sense, but in our outward, physical sense, we fail to demonstrate that renewal.  We fail to honor God and love Him above all things.  We fail to love neighbor as self.  We don't want to live the new life that God is giving us.

That's when the call for renewal begins.  We are made right with God, and that is our reality inside of us.  We respond to that gift of grace by seeking to live a renewed life.  Sure, we won't ever get it perfect, but that's not the point.  The point is that, far too often, we simply fail to really try.  So renewal fails to take hold, at least in an outward sense.  And that is when we need the reminder that a part of the Christian life and faith is the actual living out of that renewal.  But more on that tomorrow!

What's Your Biggest Secret?

Several years back, I was participating in a leadership set of courses.  The leader for one of these courses had a great deal of wisdom to impart to all of us who were attending.  Among the many things he said, though, one thing has stuck in my mind over the years, a very important principle which I strive to remember and work with in my life and ministry.

His saying was something along these lines.  What's your biggest secret?  You need to discover what it is and figure out a way to deal with it, because Satan is simply waiting to use it to destroy your ministry and to bring shame to the name of Jesus.  The big thing that this presenter was going for was transparency, especially upon the part of the minister and ministry leader.

Now, admittedly, that can be a challenging thing to do.  We all have things about ourselves that we hope and pray to God that no one else in the world unearths.  And truly, it's going to prove impossible to deal with every sinful thought and expression that we have in life.  However, generally speaking, transparency with our sin, and openness with the things we struggle with, far often proves to be of greater value than hiding them away.

I think this can be especially challenging for one in a position of some authority in ministry.  How open is too open, and how open is not open enough?  Admittedly, that is a tough balance to discover.  The minister who is to open about his sinful tendencies can lead people to question his ability to lead and minister.  The minister who is too closed off about his sinful tendencies can seem to convey the sense that he has no struggles, or appears to be too squeaky clean, and therefore unapproachable by someone who truly does struggle.

I would suggest, however, that there is a great position to be open about one's sinful struggles, and to ask for forgiveness for them, especially before they put you into a position where it can damage ministry.  That's the wisdom that I believe the instructor was passing on to us as pastoral leaders, and I think it's a great bit of wisdom that also happens to be competely biblical and applicable.  May God guide all of us to that openness, to admitting our sinful struggles, and being willing to asking for forgiveness and seeing it granted for the sake of Jesus.

Living in a #Hashtag World

Okay, full confession here.  I have a twitter account.  I'm also highly considering a Pinterest and an Instagram account.  I realize that some of you who read this blog may be wondering what those are, and perhaps in the future I'll explain or link to them.  But I have a twitter account.  I aim to put a thought or two out there each day on it, as well as a link to my (daily) blog entries. 

Lots of people, though, frequent twitter a lot more than I do.  Just in the last 3 minutes, I've had over 20 new twitter statements come through on my "feed".  I follow quite a few different people or interests on there.  Some are sports, some are running, some are food, and some are church, ministry, or theology related.  Regardless, I get a new alert every time a few more pop up.  (Just got 5 more while I typed that sentence.)

One of the remarkable things on twitter is that you can add a hashtag (#) in front of something, and it will sometimes get picked up by others.  You do that for a one word summary of something that expresses your thoughts at the moment.  It could be a person of interest, an item of interest, or something along those lines.  When enough people add it to their feed, twitter updates you to let you know what people are hashtagging, so you know what is trending out there in the world.

We live in a hashtag world, regardless of your awareness of how twitter uses them or not.  Every time you see a banner on TV that says "Breaking News", you have a form of the hashtag.  Every time something like that crosses your internet provider, you have a form of the hashtag.  It's a reminder of what's happening now, of what's popular now, of what people are looking into now.

We live in a hashtag world because we want things right now.  And in some respects, that also speaks to our Christian lives.  We want to know God is with us right now.  We want to know that God forgives us, not at some point in the future, but right now.  We want to know that God has an interest in our lives right now.  And the amazing thing is, God actually is and does all those things, and right now!

You have forgiveness right now, because of what Jesus has done for you.  You have forgiveness right now when you have the washing waters of baptism as part of your history.  You have the gift of a relationship with God right now, through that baptism, and through your ongoing faith in what God has done for you in Jesus.  You have the gift of eternal life right now, by virtue of your connection to God in Christ Jesus, who lives an eternal life that will never die.

The great thing is, we don't need hashtags to make those things our reality.  They are our reality because of what God has done for us, and because those gifts have been given to us.  And yet, we need that hashtag frequency of reminder because not a day goes by that we need to be reminded of it.  We need that reminder because every day, other hashtags attempt to distract us from God's gifts in Christ Jesus.

Maybe you didn't know it, but you live in a hashtag world, in that you live in a world of right now.  God works right now for you, and won't stop.  Even if you don't know what a hashtag is, you have the assurance of God's gifts in your life right now!  Thanks be to God for that in Jesus!

The Lord of Your Life

In my role, I tend to do a decent amount of reading.  Yesterday afternoon, I was reading through a few different books and publications, and for some strange reason, it seemed as though I detected a theme coming out.  It wasn't that I had chosen the different reading materials because they all related to each other.  Far from it, they had vastly different topics.  However, a single thought somehow seemed to be coming through to me pretty loudly.

That thought could perhaps best be summed up in a single question.  Is Jesus the Lord of all your life?  At first glance, most Christians would say that He really is.  We recognize the value that Jesus places on our lives, and so we realize that He is Lord of our life.  However, the thought that kept coming back to me focused on the question, so how do we demonstrate that in our life?

Think of it this way.  Is Jesus the Lord of your finances?  Sure, it's easy to overstate this one, but how we make use of the financial gifts God provides for us will certainly demonstrate the centrality of Jesus in our lives.  Do we use our finances for the good of others, and to support God's work and ministry, or do we use them to focus on ourselves and our own wants?

Is Jesus the Lord of your free time?  Or, I could ask it another way.  How does Jesus play a role in your planned trips and vacations?  Again, it would be very easy to overstate this, but is the focus of your vacation only upon your fun and adventure and rest, or does Jesus somehow have a part in what you plan with your vacation time?

Is Jesus the Lord of your family time?  As with all others, this one could also be overstated.  For some of us, we need the reminder that Jesus does indeed have some thoughts on our family time, and we would be wise to heed them.  Spending time with family is something that God greatly desires.  At the same time, does family time centralize in some form or fashion around Jesus, or is it just play time or fun time? 

I write all these things knowing that far too many have overstated them and therefore burned us out on them.  At the same time, I write these things knowing that many of us need the reminder that Jesus is indeed the Lord of all of our lives, and not just the "churchy" parts.  Jesus is part of everything that we do in life, whether we invite Him in or not.  As Christians, it's always a good to remember that Jesus is Lord of our lives, and we benefit greatly when we remember that and live it out.

Expectations: What did you expect?

Last night, I watched my favorite basketball team go down in defeat as they battled for a championship.  I have loved my team since I was a really little boy, even before they started to get good.  And so, watching the last few minutes of their last game of the season, I was somewhat disappointed.  But I say somewhat because I recognize that I hadn't really expected them to make it as far as they did.  Sure, I knew they were a good team, but to be battling for a championship into the last seconds of the last game of the season was more than I had expected at the beginning of the season.  For that reason, I can also say that I have a great deal of pride for my team and what they accomplished, which somewhat offsets the disappointment.

The thoughts and feelings I experienced in the above paragraph arose in me because of my expectations.  Expectations have a funny way of getting into our lives.  We're often wrecked when our expectations are not met.  Or, if our expectations were much lower than what happened, we're overjoyed that things turned out much better.  If our expectations happened to be pretty much on par with what happened, we tend to think that we had a pretty good read on the situation.

In life, it is inevitable that others will fail to live up to our expectations.  In fact, I would even go so far as to say that most of us don't actually always know what we expect in given situations.  Far too infrequently do we take the time to think about what we expect from a person, or a situation, or a context in our lives.  And even more infrequently do we express those expectations to others.  That is, until they fail to meet our expectations.

Have you ever been on the receiving end when you didn't fulfill someone else's expectations?  Maybe it was the outburst of anger, or the words of bitter disappointment in you that came to light.  Or perhaps it even led to the ending of a relationship.  Their expectation was such that your failure to live up to it meant that they would move on to another.  (By the way, I honestly believe this is the biggest reason people leave particular churches, because the church doesn't live up to their expectation, often without the people of the congregation even knowing what was expected of them.)  Rather than dealing with you and their unmet expectations, they turn to another in hopes that the other will live up to their expectations.

Sadly, this sense of expectation often gets turned toward God, as well.  How many people have left God because He didn't live up to their expectations?  I would also argue that many of them didn't even know what they were expecting of God, much less if their expectation was realistic or not.  We can expect things of God that we may not even be aware of, but we realize them when God fails to live up to the standards that we create for Him.

The thing that we take great joy in as Christians is that God has completely realistic expectations when it comes to us humans.  He expects that we will be sinful, fallen, faulty human beings.  He knows us.  He also expects that we will have difficult hearing the word of forgiveness and restoration, since it's completely out of our hands.  And yet, by His Spirit, God continues to whisper these into our lives and ears and hearts.  God's expectation is that He will give what we need, and that His Spirit will continue to work on our sometimes deaf ears.

Our hope, as Christians, is that our expectations fall more and more into line with what God would have us expect.  Yes, we'll fight with the sinful nature that wants more or other things than what might be realistic.  But we also have the new creation in us, given through the water of baptism.  That new creation wants to live by God's expectations, and to have God's eyes when we look at what we expect of others.  So may God's Spirit continue to create and open those eyes within us!

Who is my neighbor, part 2

Yesterday's post talked a bit about the background and context of the famous "Good Samaritan" parable of Jesus.  A lawyer, who would have been well-versed in the law from Moses, asked Jesus about what to do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus responded by asking him what the Law said.  The lawyer responded, love God and love your neighbor.  Jesus told him to do this and he would live.  And then, in an effort to justify what we can only assume to be a lack of love toward his neighbor, the lawyer asked Jesus, "who is my neighbor?"

Jesus responded with the parable that so many people know as the Good Samaritan.  Truth be told, there are a lot of elements in this story that we could cover.  But for today, I want to take some time to focus on the first two characters who pass the man who had been beaten and robbed and left for dead.  They bear some consideration as we ponder the question, "Who is my neighbor?"

Jesus mentions a priest and a Levite passing the beaten man.  Each of them walks to the other side of the road.  But I want to point out an interesting detail about these two.  Both of them would have been involved with the religious life of the people of Israel.  In fact, they likely would have held positions of respect.  They had significant duties to attend to on behalf of God and for His people. 

But you notice something interesting.  Jesus doesn't really give us a reason for their lack of compassion.  I'm sure many have assumed their motivations, both good and bad.  But for Jesus, the very plain and simple fact is, they didn't stop.  They left the man there.  They surely failed to love their neighbor as themselves. 

That's what I'm going to call a negative example.  These two men in Jesus' parable are examples of what NOT to do.  Love for one's neighbor does NOT involve simply leaving them there on the side of the road in their broken condition.  The example that Jesus is painting for this lawyer is that we can say for sure that failure to demonstrate compassion to others is a failure to love our neighbor. 

Tomorrow, we'll jump in and take a look at the Samaritan.

Who is my neighbor?

One of the more well-known stories that Jesus told from the Bible is that of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).  It's a story that has been preached upon many times, usually with some kind of an emphasis on our care for our neighbor.  We often have found ourselves compared to either the priest or the Levite, people who had an opportunity to help a poor, beaten man on the side of the road, and yet, who refused to help.  We're then encouraged to be more like the man who actually stops and helps the man, who sees to his needs, and brings him to a place of healing.

In future posts, I intend to get into the meaning of this story (parable) a little more.  There's a great deal of depth to this that often goes unseen or unnoticed, and I'd like to highlight some of it for you.  But before we get into that, I actually want to take a bit to introduce the whole reason Jesus told this story.  He didn't just come up with this story on a whim, but told it to convey a very particular point.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus often had people come to Him with hard questions, looking for Him to have an answer for them.  Some people came with honest intentions, wanting to know what God really did think.  Others came looking for a way to trap Jesus in His words, to find something to use against Him when an appropriate time arose.  As we look at the context surrounding the different stories or parables that Jesus told, we get a bit of a better picture on why He would tell that particular story.

This is also the case with the Good Samaritan.  A few verses prior to the beginning of this parable, we have a lawyer approaching Jesus.  Remember, this isn't a lawyer like the ones you and I are familiar with.  A lawyer in that day was more along the lines of an expert in God's law.  This man would have known the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) extremely well.  He would have been highly educated in everything God had spoken to Moses, and so would have been someone that others looked to when they had questions.

This lawyer asked the very pertinent question about what it took to obtain eternal life.  After all, this was the promise that God had made.  So how does one go about getting hold of it?  And Jesus responded by asking him what he knew from the law of God.  The lawyer fell back on the summary of the commandments.  Love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus very bluntly told him that if he did this, he would live.

It seems that this wasn't the answer the lawyer was looking for.  He knew that already.  Maybe he thought that Jesus had some further insight into it, or maybe Jesus would take a different approach than what had been taken before.  He just couldn't take that easy of an answer.  There had to be more.  And so, almost in desperation, he asked the question that led to Jesus telling the parable.  "And who is my neighbor?"

That got to the heart of the issue for the lawyer.  Who do we consider to be our neighbor?  If part of the fulfilling of God's command is to love our neighbor as ourselves, then it helps to know who our neighbors are.  So as we continue our journey through this story, we'll look at how Jesus answers this question, and what the parable says about our neighbors.

Of Ashes and Repentance

Many Christians today observe a holy day on the Christian calendar, a day called Ash Wednesday.  You may even see some wandering around with a big cross of ashes on their forehead.  Sure, it's likely to get a few strange looks, but it also presents the opportunity to teach a little bit about our faith.

To help explain Ash Wednesday, it's necessary to explain a little bit about the overall season of Lent.  Lent is a time where we reflect on the sin that separates us from God, and which presents our need for God to send a Savior.  As Christians, we believe that God has taken care of the sin that separates us from Him through Jesus, who bore our sin on the cross and then rose victorious to give us a new, sinless life.

In a sense, God has taken our sin and burned it up in the fire of His wrath and justice.  That's what Jesus endured as He gave up His life on the cross.  Our sin has been reduced to ashes.  And so, we wear crosses of ash upon our foreheads to remember what God has done in taking our sin away, as well as how God accomplished that, which is the cross of our Lord Jesus.

So God has done that for us.  As His people who have had their sin removed, and who have been given new life in Jesus, we then strive to live according to that new life.  That puts us in a position where we face a battle.  We have our new life in Jesus right now.  The problem is, we also still inhabit this life and body, where sin exists.  Our sin that we battle against will seem to come out on top from time to time, and at other times, it may seem like the new life in Jesus wins the victory.  Regardless, what we discover is the constant need to return to God as we battle against that sin.

That's why Ash Wednesday, and in fact, all of Lent, is about repentance.  We recognize and believe in what God has done for us in Jesus.  We live in that hope and reality.  And yet, while we still inhabit this world and body of sin, we face a struggle.  We will need to turn our back on that sin and look again to God for our help, our hope, and our forgiveness.  And what we find there is what the prophet Joel spoke about so many years ago.

"Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster."  (Joel 2:13)  The God that we return to is one that has already poured out abundant grace to us.  We are His.  He has reduced our sin to ashes.  He has given us new life.  He calls for us to come back to Him, the one who knows what our true life looks like.  And He does that because He is a gracious God to us.

Changing Culture and Society, Post 7

Working with young people has been one of the biggest joys of my life.  I have had the privilege and opportunity to be a part of many special moments in the lives of quite a few young people over the years, and many of those will be some of my best memories as I grow older.

One of the challenges of working with young people is how rapidly their thoughts and moods change.  One moment you might have a happy, energetic youth, and then you suddenly have a moody, sullen young person who makes you want to pull your hair out.  There has been more than one moment where I've looked at the young person that I have been interacting with thinking, "Who exactly are you at this particular moment?"

But one of the great joys of working with young people is seeing them grow, becoming more mature, and taking more ownership of their lives.  And that's where I want to go with today's post.  Just like change does not often happen easily or quickly, working to enact change by raising up young people in the way that they should go is also going to be a longer process than what we might wish or hope for.  And yet, in the end, it's very likely that we will find very few other pursuits in life more rewarding.

Perhaps the best starting point is with those who have the God-given joy, privilege, and responsibility to bear the title "Parent."  I know dealing with your kids is a challenge.  In my life, I'm just entering into that challenge with my 9 month old.  Many of you have much more experience and history than I do.  And yet, there is a reason that God created the man and woman to come together in the union of marriage, and from that foundation to create the foundation of society, that of the family.

As parents, you have the greatest impact on any change that you may want to see in culture and society.  If you don't like the fairly rampant promiscuity that you see, you can work to change things by interacting with your children.  How you approach the topics and changes that you would like to see is also important, but perhaps the most important thing is simply to be there with your children, and to keep the lines of communication open with them.  Also, don't let them be the ones to initiate the conversations, either.  There are some things that they will be more comfortable bringing to you, and others that they will want to avoid as much as possible.  Even if the conversation is awkward, it's better to have an awkward conversation than to let them learn about certain things from their friends, or TV, or the internet.

Change always begins in the home.  A Christian man of about 500 years ago realized this, and developed an instrument to assist parents in teaching their children about the Christian faith.  His name was Martin Luther, and the instrument he developed is called the Small Catechism.  I honestly believe that many parents could help shape the future culture by reading that small instruction book together, and then talking about the topics that they read.

Young people have their finger on the pulse of the culture.  You can expect clashes as they struggle with the development of their identities and the content of their faith.  But more on that tomorrow!

Changing Culture and Society, Post 5

I've noticed over the years that we humans have a tendency to think that there are certain changes that we can make which will make things better.  In a somewhat general way, we recognize that changes need to be made.  The problem that I have often seen is that, even though we may recognize that changes need to be made, we hesitate or rebel when it actually comes to us, as individuals, having to change to fit in line with what is needed.

Maybe an example is in order.  I work in a church.  I have yet to come across a church that doesn't want to be reaching out to young families and children.  Everyone seems to recognize that there are a lot of benefits to it.  So we'll create strategies and programs to do that very thing.  Everyone is on board with it.  It sounds great, and surely God will open the doors and the people will come flooding in, right?

But that's when we start to come across the struggle.  Okay, so we want to reach new families, but what if they don't know how to follow an order of worship out of hymnbook?  Are we going to discard the hymnbooks?  Well, we don't like that because we grew up with a hymnbook, and let's face it, hymnbooks are the way that God intended for us to worship.  (I hope you can get a sense of my somewhat sarcastic tone at work in that previous sentence.)  We'd really like for young families to come and worship here, but shouldn't they learn how to use our hymnbook rather than us changing for them?  Oh, and it would be great if the pastor could be really active with the youth.  Only, don't take him away from our Bible study to allow him to interact with the kids.  Maybe he can find time outside of what we expect and want of him.

I say most of that previous paragraph somewhat tongue in cheek.  I recognize that there are those who will read that paragraph and will not like what I am intimating there.  The point I want to make, however, is that we may all agree on what needs to be changed, but when it comes to the point of impacting what we like or expect, we often become the very ones who resist the change, and who therefore get in the way of the change actually happening.

Changing culture and society means that we not only identify the things that need to be changed, but that we also take a good look at ourselves and the role we play in maintaining the status quo.  Sometimes we may discover that we are actually the ones getting in the way of the change that we really want to see happen.  We may not like the impact that it has on us, and end up getting in our own way.

So what does this mean for us?  It means that we need to take a good look at ourselves to see if we are willing to sacrifice something that may be desirable for ourselves for the good of the greater culture.  In a congregational sense, maybe we sacrifice having the pastor lead the Bible study so that the families and kids know that they are valued by us and by God.  Maybe we sacrifice the familiar feel of the hymnbook in our hands because we want to make it easier for those who are unfamiliar with our order of worship to follow along.

As we think about that, isn't that something along the lines of Jesus telling us that we should count the cost that we might incur before we jump on board with something?  I believe that this is one thing that we often don't do, and then are surprised by it when the change we are working toward begins to affect us.  If we were to sit down and think about the repercussions that will probably affect us, we can either be more ready for them, or discover if we think they are worth what we are trying to achieve.  And then, if we decide that it is worth the price, we take up the sacrifice gladly out of love for our neighbor.

Changing Culture and Society, Part 3

Okay, so yesterday I stressed that, while laws and rules have their place, they alone will not bring about change to culture or society.  I hope that, as you read through these blog entries, you realize that culture can be practically anything.  At your work or school, there is a particular culture that is unique to that place.  The community you live in is a unique culture.  If you are part of a church, that church has a particular culture that is unique to it, and may be fairly different from that at another church of the same denomination or faith.  My intent is that the word "culture" fits into all of these venues, and even those I didn't mention.

Another thing that likely will not bring about changes to culture or society is having some powerful person come in and force a culture on others.  Same thing if it's not one single individual, but a group of people.  To use an example from my life, I have recently changed churches.  Just because I carry an important title in the new church, I cannot come in and insist on changing everything to be the way that I want it to be.  I can't even get a group of people together who may feel the same way, and then act by force to bring about those changes. 

Why not, you may ask?  Think about how we as humans typically respond when we are told that we have to do something in a particular way.  Even if it's an improvement over what was already being done, there's a part of us that hates being told how we should do it.  True, we might think about it and come to the same conclusion, but when someone else forces us to do it in their own way, we have a tendency to see them as overbearing, and we feel that it's our role to put them in their place.  In fact, we'll often work contrary to what that person who is "in charge" wants, simply to prove that they can't make us do it their way.

Yes, we can see that at work in our nation somewhat.  The thing is, the problem isn't confined to our national leaders.  I have a number of books on my shelves that talk about different ways to bring about changes in particular cultures.  Practically every single one of them speaks against the leader simply walking in and demanding that everyone does it his or her way.  While the authors may give a wide variety of alternative approaches, there must be a reason that they warn against that kind of culture change.  Maybe it's because it has been tried way too often, and hardly ever proven to be effective.

True, such an approach may work in the short term.  A forceful personality can cow other people into submission for a time, out of fear.  The thing is, that tends to build up resentment.  People tend to rebel against authoritarian leaders.  Even if such a change is made, and seems to be taking place, at some point some kind of rebellion and reversal is likely to take place, and may even make things worse than they were.

So merely passing laws and rules isn't the answer.  Having a powerful leader enforce change isn't the answer.  So maybe the question we should be asking is, 'Is this even possible to do?"  I believe it is.  My hope is that we now start turning toward some of the positive ways that can truly bring about changes in culture and society.

Changing Culture and Society, Post 2

From the very beginning, I should make something clear.  I'm fairly pessimistic about the role of laws and rules as they pertain to our lives in the world.  Not that I think we should do without them, but my experience in life has been that, if someone wants to break a rule or law, they probably will, and the likelihood is that they will also get away with it.  I've seen far too many people not truly stop at stop signs, or run through red lights, to think that people will respond only because there happens to be a law or rule in place.  On a far more tragic scale, the recent shootings that have taken place in our nation show us that people will disregard the rules and laws, even when it comes down to life and death situations.

Passing more laws or rules will not serve to change culture and society.  True, from an outward viewpoint, it may help curb some expressions of disobedience, but for the person who is truly set on doing something, a law will simply not stop them.  Plus, I think we would all have to admit that we keep the rules or laws that are in place for different reasons.  Take a speed limit, for example.  There are some who will stick to the limit simply because that's what the law says.  They won't know why the law says that the limit is what it is, but that's just what you are supposed to do.  Others will try to discover the reason for the law.  A school zone speed limit is in place to show our care and concern for the children who may be walking there.  That desire to care for our neighbor (love our neighbor) then becomes the reason for keeping the law.  Another person might keep the law simply because they are afraid of being pulled over by the police and having to pay a fine.  And yet another person may try to see just how much they can stretch the law before they get caught, seeing just how much they can get away with.

Rules and laws may help to make society good, but they do not get to the heart of the person.  They simply describe what is acceptable behavior.  They do not get to the intentions of the heart and soul within the person.  And it is for this reason that we cannot judge a person's goodness or lack of goodness upon the mere keeping of the law.

Some people will keep the law, not out of care for others, but just to prove that they are a good person.  They don't do it for the benefit of others, but for the benefit of their own personal reputation.  While we see their "good works", we also realize that their good works are done with an eye toward themselves. 

Other people will look at the law, see that it tells them something that they don't want to hear, and then that law will drive them even further in the opposite direction.  If the law says to drive 65, they will drive 80 just because they like the thrill of "getting away with it".  Sure, they may tap on the brakes when they see the police car sitting on the side of the road, but overall, they throw the law in the face of others, and don't care if it is an inconvenience to others. 

I could keep on going on, but by now, I hope you get the point.  Simply passing more rules and laws, or even placing a greater emphasis on the ones already in place, just will not serve to bring about the change that we see that needs to be brought about.  So what will bring about that kind of change?  We'll investigate that coming up.

Demons, Exorcisms, and the Like

You don't have to read very far in any of the four Gospel accounts of Jesus' life to come across demons and exorcisms.  In fact, in the life of Jesus, it can almost seem like He was encountering a demon possessed person practically every other day.  (Okay, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but you do come across quite a few of them.)

I remember a time growing up where I heard many "theories" being presented as to these demon possessions.  One that has stuck in my mind deals with the psychological.  It's the idea that the people that Jesus encountered were dealing with some kind of psychological illness rather than demon possession, and that Jesus really did nothing more than set them free from that illness, through some kind of psychological assistance.  The idea behind this whole theory seems to be that there really aren't demons, just psychological disorders that need to be dealt with, and the people of Jesus' time didn't know the difference, so they just assumed that the people had demons.

In recent years, I've thought a lot about this particular theory regarding demons and exorcism.  One thing that stands out to me in this is the denial of unexplainable spiritual beings.  This theory seems to indicate that there is no such things as demons.  Demons are only psychological disorders.  We don't need exorcisms, we need a cure to the illness.

To me, that's way too easy of an answer.  It also seems to fit with the modern mindset that we can get to the root cause of illness and then get rid of it.  But for some reason, the more we seem to dig into illnesses, the more we seem to discover that we don't really know all that much about them, much less how to eliminate them.  Plus, it seems that there are many who are starting to lean back in the direction of unknown spiritual forces at work in the world that simply cannot be explained.

In one way, this is a good direction for us to go.  It means that our minds are opened up to things that we can't necessarily explain or prove, and most things of a "spiritual" nature fall along those lines.  That would seem to open the door toward the belief in God a bit more than what modern science had done.

Yet, there are also dangers to this.  You may have noticed the recent number of movies and books that highlight werewolves, vampires, and the like.  An acceptance of the spiritual world is not without its dangers, as we humans seem to have a tendency to be drawn toward the darker side of things.  And these things don't draw us closer to God, but rather away from Him.

Dangers, and opportunities.  How will we, as Christians, respond?  Silence doesn't seem to be an answer.  It seems that the fallback is what it has always been for Christians.  We fall back on God working in this world, and especially in Jesus, God in human flesh, who overcame those unexplainable things through His life, death, and resurrection for us.

Spiritualizing Faith

During the time of the Reformation, there was a group of people that Martin Luther regularly made as his targets.  Granted, you could say that there were quite a few groups that he targeted, but for today, I want to focus on the monastic orders of his day.  There seems to have been a prevailing thought that, if you offered your life to God and then went away to a convent or abbey, you were serving God in a far "higher", holier way than anyone else. 

The problem with this, as Luther saw it, was that the individual who did this basically left the rest of society in order to focus on God.  While the focus on God part wasn't bad in and of itself, Luther did take exception to a couple of things that this gave birth to.  First, such an action started to be seen as far higher and holier than any other act of faith.  Second, it took people away from their relationships with their neighbors.  Their faith, in essence, started to become a thing between them and God, without any interaction with those that the Bible rightfully would call their neighbors.

Faith was becoming spiritualized.  Your "rightness" with God came to be seen as how much you could focus on Him rather than in living out your faith in the relationships that God has given in life.  So Luther went to battle against this idea.  He would point out that, for example, a husband who loved and cared for his wife and family was fulfilling God's will and commands far greater than the man who left society behind to focus only on God.  The milkmaid who milked her cow to provide for her family and neighbors was doing far more in fulfillment of God's law than those in the convents and monestaries.

What was Luther's basis for this?  It basically boiled down to one major point.  God tells us in the Bible that we are to care for our neighbor and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  One can hardly do that by separating oneself from the neighbor.  God's Word doesn't command us to go off and live life separated from everyone, but does speak much about our relationships with one another.  From that basis, Luther asserted that it's far better to do the things that God's Word does say rather than to invent things that may seem more holy, but aren't actually spoken by God.

We can still find ourselves in this same dilemma, though.  It's far easier to tell someone that we will pray for them than to actually find a way to help them in their need.  And this is part of the reason why I think Luther explained the commandments in his Small Catechism the way he did.  For almost all of them, he doesn't just explain what God wants us to avoid, but he then adds a part of what it actually means that we do in fulfillment of the commandment.  Not murdering doesn't simply mean that we don't kill our neighbor, but that we lift up our hands to help him in every physical need.  Not bearing false witness doesn't mean simply that we don't lie about our neighbor, but that we seek to build him up with our words and how we talk about him. 

In many respects, our faith is between us and God.  However, the realm in which that faith is lived out is always in the context of our neighbor.  So I encourage you today to think about how God gives you the opportunity to put flesh and blood to your faith in your relationships with your neighbors.

Using Big Words

As part of my doctoral studies, I have been required to read a lot of books.  During this time, I have come to notice something that I think is pretty vital about someone who wants to teach others.  Using really big words that are tough to understand really doesn't come across as teaching.  It comes across more as though you are trying to show off your education, or to prove how smart you are.  It's almost as though some authors like to prove to you that they are smarter than you, simply by the way they write.

Don't get me wrong.  There is a time and place for big words.  A lot of occupations and fields of study have specialized vocabulary, and that's completely appropriate.  There are even times when you need to use those big words when you are talking to people who may be unfamiliar with your field.  The key seems to be, don't talk to them as though you are trying to prove how smart you are.  Instead, talk to them with a genuine interest in teaching them why such vocabulary is important, and make sure to take the time to teach them what your big words mean.

When it comes to the Christian faith, we also have a lot of big, specialized words.  Words like justification, sanctification, and so forth are very descriptive of elements of the faith.  And yet, there have been many times when I have cringed when I heard those words being used in a conversation.  It's not because I think the words are wrong, but because they seem to be a way of the Christian sounding intelligent.  But what really seemed to happen is that the person who was listening went away from the conversation as though the Christian was simply trying to prove that he or she was more intelligent than them, and actually ended up leaving a bad taste in the mouth of that person.

Again, big words have their place.  I would argue that their place is NOT to make the Christian seem intelligent, nor are they to be used in a way that boosts up our egos while putting down those who may not know what the words mean. 

This brings to mind something that a very wise man once told me.  He said that he had a teacher who once gave them the assignment to take the various concepts and big words of the the faith, and to come up with 100 other ways of saying the same thing.  That exercise helped him to see that there are many ways to describe our big words without coming across as a know-it-all.  It also helped him to see that many parts of the Christian faith may have technical terminology, but can also be described in fairly simple ways.

So, please, be aware of your vocabulary.  Yes, it's okay to use the big words, but make sure you are using them to explain them to the person you are talking to, and not to boost up your own ego. 

"But I really like what God calls a sin!"

In one of the standard corporate confessions of sin that many Lutherans say, we have the phrase, "I, a poor, miserable sinner..."  Over the years, I've had people make a number of different comments on this.  Some have said that they aren't miserable in their sin at all; in fact, they actually like what they're doing, even if God calls it a sin.  Others have said that it isn't exactly the most welcoming of wordings for those who may be new to the Christian faith.

I'm not here to debate wording today, but I would like to spend a few moments talking about what we do when God says something is a sin, but we would rather it not be.  Now, from the get-go, I should mention that I happen to believe that the Bible is God's Word to us, and that it says what He means.  So, when it says something is wrong, I understand that to mean that God says it is wrong, and there really isn't any wiggle room around it.  That may not be a popular view nowadays, but I'm comfortable with people saying that I'm a stick in the mud about matters like this.

Here's the thing.  We will find that God has a lot to say about what we do with our lives, and how we go about living them.  And because the Bible says that we start off life as a sinful person (by our nature, not merely by the things we do or fail to do), we all are going to be inclined to things that God says are wrong.  Admittedly, some will seem more minor than others, or some are more noticeable than others, but we all have that inclination to sin because we have sin ingrained as part of our nature.

That's why we can say that we are a poor, miserable sinner.  Just flipping through the pages of the Bible will reveal that we really shouldn't be all that pleasing to God, since we not only do many things that He says not to do, but we take some joy in them.  That shows that we aren't right in God's eyes, and that should cause us a bit of misery.  Anytime we realize that the Big Man who calls the shots shouldn't be happy with us should be an occasion to engage in a little misery.

And that's when we start to realize that our sin truly is something that we should be miserable about.  In this regard, it shouldn't matter if it's a "big" matter or a "small" matter.  Anything out of line with what God says should bring misery to the forefront.  We aren't living like God says, and He's the one who makes the rules and who gets to determine the winners and losers at the end.  That really should introduce at least a little misery into us as we reflect on our lives.

Now, here's the thing.  Yes, God lays down the laws for our lives, and He gets ultimate say.  And yes, we will find that we are sinners.  The thing is, God's desire isn't that He have to stand in condemning judgment of everyone.  That's the whole reason for Jesus, and the cross, and the resurrection.  God killed sin, and even as He brings the gift of forgiveness, He still maintains that He gets to call the shots.  No, you and I will not escape that inherited inclination to sin until God kills our physical bodies and raises them, as Jesus has promised, but we have the hope that God will introduce that new life to us because of what Jesus has done for us.  That truly is a reason that we Christians are not miserable!

Are you born morally/ethically neutral?

Yesterday I presented a few challenges to the prevailing thought that people are good by nature.  Today, I change slightly and take a look at the idea that we are born neutral, that we enter this world without either positive or negative influences prior to our birth and growth in this world.  As you can imagine, some of the challenges are still the same, though there are a few other thoughts that can be added.

Once again, the primary question becomes, where do the bad things in life come from?  If we are born morally or ethically neutral, that would mean that we have to learn "bad" from others.  But that's where it breaks down.  If we need those influences to "become" bad, then where did those people who are bad get their influence?  Eventually, we're left at a loss.  Somewhere bad had to enter the world, but we're at a loss to explain where it came from and why it started to have an effect on us.

There are some things that we can work with in this scenario, however.  Typically, someone who thinks that people are born morally neutral don't have the issues of dealing with "bad" or evil, either from others or from themselves.  After all, the possibility that we can become bad exists.  True, that leaning all depends on the influences we have in our lives, but, unlike the thought that we are born good, the possibility of bad exists.

And yet, there is a different problem that this scenario also presents.  Where did we learn "good" in this scenario?  If we have good influences in our lives that shape who we are, where did they come from?  After all, if we're neutral by birth, that means we don't take any shape until we encounter something either bad or good.  It's the other side of the coin from bad.  Where did the initial good influences come from that determine our goodness?

As a Christian, I can find myself understanding those who want to believe this particular tenet.  I think most of us are realistic enough to realize that the "born good" idea just doesn't carry a lot of weight.  It leaves no room for the suffering and pain that we see so much of in this world.  This idea of neutrality at least leaves the possibility of good and bad on the table.  It means that the possibility of either exists, and that gives an opening for conversations that we, as Christians, can work with as a starting place.

Those Cute Little Angels

You see them in kid's programs.  Kids dressed up with cardboard wings, white robes, and some kind of golden halo sitting on top of their head.  You see them in some movies, perhaps acting strange and quirky, but overall pretty friendly and nice.  We hear talk of guardian angels, who stand by night and day to protect us from harm and danger, and maybe even to guide us at certain times in life.

Overall, our picture of angels are of these cute angels who may or may not appear, and who rarely show themselves, but direct us when needed and turn harm and danger away from us.  But is this really the picture of angels that the Bible paints for us?

Almost without fail, when we have a record of an angel appearing to deliver his message, the initial reaction of the person to whom he is appearing is that of fear.  That is why the first response of an angel typically is "Do not be afraid."  Now, I have to admit that the Bible doesn't tell us that this is because of their appearance, or if they just suddenly appear out of nowhere, or anything like that.  However, from the many times when we see angels appearing and having to tell people not to be afraid, it seems that there is just something frightening and awesome about their appearance.

On top of that, we're also told that angels can have different appearances.  If you read through Isaiah 6, you come across these angels called seraphim.  These are literally angels of fire.  They have six wings and fly around the throne of God.  I don't know about you, but if an angel appeared to me and looked like it was burning and had six wings, I'd be pretty frightened.

The one thing that we know about angels is that they are spiritual creatures, which means that, when they show themselves, they are doing something that doesn't completely fit with what God created them to be.  So it would make sense that they would appear somewhat strange to us.  And then, that they are sent by God, and are His holy messengers, brings us another level of fear.  These are, after all, beings who are perfect, and who live in God's presence.  They know God face to face, unlike us.

So enjoy the shows with these pictures of cute angels.  But just remember that the reality is probably a lot more frightening that we could ever imagine.

The necessity of Temptation

I was intrigued by one of the Bible readings that we had this past Sunday during worship.  We were reading from Matthew chapter 18, and one of Jesus' points in there stuck with me as I read it, and has continued to present itself in my mind. The sentence in particular is from verse 7.  In that verse, Jesus says "For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom temptation comes!" 

That little phrase, "it is necessary", has just stuck in my mind.  I have to admit that I have wondered about the necessity for temptation.  It seems to me that this goes all the way back to the creation of the world and the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden.  One thing that I have been asked a number of times is something along the lines of, "Why did God allow the serpent to tempt them?"  And Jesus' statement above seems to provide the answer.

"It is necessary that temptations come."  I've thought quite a bit about the need for temptations, and what purpose they could possibly serve.  So far, here is what I have come up with.

Temptations are necessary in that they reveal who/what our true love is, and to what we are truly dedicated.  Think of it like this, using Adam and Eve as an example.  If they did not have the temptation of the tree which God had said not to eat from, they would not have had a means of demonstrating their love and dedication to God.  There would not have been any alternative.  Or think of it when it comes to a loved one in your life.  If they were the only person in the world, would you have any choice but to love them and be with them?  But, having the temptation of others in the world gives an opportunity to demonstrate true love to that one.

This is why Jesus' next statement there is so powerful.  "But woe to the one by whom the temptation comes."  Temptation seems to be necessary to reveal true love and dedication, but the one who tempts another away from that love and dedication is working contrary to God's will and command.  In other words, that person is bringing God's judgment upon him/herself. 

When we remember that temptation also serves to reveal our true love and dedication, either toward God or toward those we love in life, it gives us a powerful reason to battle against the temptation.  Doing so reveals our love and dedication, and serves to strengthen that love and dedication.  So the next time you find yourself facing a temptation of some kind, remember that you also have the opportunity to reveal your love for God and/or another in the face of the battle.

"I'm a very spiritual person."

When my wife was working on her masters' degree, she had a friend who starting dating a guy.  She told my wife that she really liked how spiritual he was.  I admit that, at the time, I didn't really know what she meant by that statement.  She talked about how he liked to get out into the wilderness, go hiking, spend time in nature, and do all these kind of outdoor things.  To her, that seemed to be what this word "spiritual" meant.

While I haven't personally heard someone say it to me, I know that there are those in our country who claim to be spiritual, and they often contrast that against being religious.  "I'm spiritual, but not religious."  The way I understand this phrase, someone saying this would seem to mean that they don't go through mindless ritual and routine, but instead, get out and do things where they feel alive and unbounded by rules, laws, and regulations.

As a Christian, if I were ever to hear something like this, my first instinct would be to ask them what they mean by their words.  How someone defines "spiritual" or "religious" will go a long way to figuring out their intent behind the statement.  Perhaps they have had experience in a Christian worship service where the ritual or rites rarely ever changed, and they saw that as a mindless following of some ritual with no life in it (a charge which, sadly, may actually be present in many Christian worship services).  When they think of something of a spiritual nature, they think of something living, dynamic, free-flowing, not a structured setting.

One of my hobbies is to read, and I have actually read a number of books on the subject of spirituality, from various sides of the equation.  There is definitely a mindset and way of thinking that links nature and spirituality.  I have known a few people who seem to go in that direction.  To them, spirituality is being in touch with the world, knowing the world, caring for the world, and not doing things to hurt or harm the world.*

Others seem to think that spirituality is about being in touch with the spirit world.  I see a great danger in this, since God reveals that there are spirits at work in this world who work contrary to His will and desire.  I have had a few occasions to warn people about this, though it does seem like those warnings often go unheeded.

Okay, so this has kind of rambled on.  Part of the reason for that is that the term "spirituality" can mean so many things.  That's why I find it helpful to try to figure out what someone means when they say it.  Usually, that gives a good starting point for sharing my faith in God and in Jesus with them.  I try never to assume that I know what they mean, but instead, ask questions.  It seems to open up the greater opportunity for dialogue with them, and has given me many opportunities to share Christ with them that I would not have had if I had simply told them that their "spirituality" was wrong.  I hope that you will also give thought to how to approach people with these different kind of understandings of spirituality, especially since it seems to be all the rage now.

*When it comes to the care of the world, I have often wondered why Christians are not at the forefront of this battle.  God placed the man in a position of dominion over the world, which means that man was not to use the world as he saw fit, but rather, to be responsible in his care for God's precious creation.  It seems to make too much sense that Christians would care about the things which God has made and would be in the lead to care for the things that God has made.  While we cannot change history, perhaps it would be worthwhile to show that Christians do care greatly about things like recycling, litter, deforestation, and the like.