Corrosive Grudges

Have you ever held onto a grudge?  That offense that slowly rots away at your soul. Those thoughts that seep like sewage to the surface every time you think about a person or that person’s name is mentioned. Given enough time you find it harder and harder to find any redeemable characteristic and attack any attempt to do so like a cornered viper.  Your joy drips away like water in a rusted-out bucket.

Sitting in a coffee shop yesterday I was exposed to a couple of sorority girls spewing forth their hatred for one of their sisters.  There wasn’t a sentence that did not have the “f-bomb” or other expletives interwoven two or three times into it when talking about this particular housemate.  The venting filled the room for over an hour before I made my way to the exit to rest my ears from the indirect verbal abuse.  Driving away I wondered how such corrosive attitudes could emerge among a group of girls who were supposed to be a close network, a sisterhood.  It wasn’t too long before I discovered the answer firsthand.

A few hours later I was staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror fighting the desire to explode in rage and wrestling with Jesus over a perceived injustice.  In the midst of a high tension environment I adjusted my life and ongoing plans to enable others to accomplish their plans.  The solution irked my soul. Every time I thought of the situation and those involved over the next couple of hours was like dripping battery acid on my heart. Burning. Corroding. Devouring.

Wrestling with Jesus in front of the mirror and then while sitting on my bed until late in the night slowly neutralized the acidic anger until I could relax and rest.  Even while typing this blog I am conscious of some acid reflux. If I were only to indulge a little bit in this desire I would certainly set myself on track to become just like those sorority girls.  Instead, I have chosen to take some more heavenly Tums in the form of prayer and Bible reading in order to allow the Lord to bring peace to my system and enable a restoration in my relationship with the other party.

Robbing God

The Bible gives a serious criminal charge against God’s people – robbing God (Malachi 3).  Even worse for God’s people was that it was God Himself making the accusation, and He is a very reliable witness.  He says that we are robbing Him of tithes and offerings.

Immediately there are a lot of objections that pop up in our mind as we try to sidestep the issue. Have you heard or thought any of these? “It’s my money. I earned it.” “I have too much debt to give right now.” “I already give with my time and energy.” “Tithing is Old Testament and we live in the New Testament era now.” “I am too poor to give.” And one of my favorite excuses because it sounds so funny, “God loves a cheerful giver and I am not a cheerful giver so I shouldn’t give.”

Coming up with objections and getting upset about the subject of tithing is a great indication that God has us nailed for robbing Him of what He is really after – our hearts.  Listen in on the sermon Robbing God (of our heart) and check out the Oasis Christian Community audio page for a Power Point presentation with more resources on the topic.

Heart Surgery

Some people have called it the Blizzard of 2010.  Over night we had about six inches of wet heavy snow dumped onto central Ohio.  This morning I was shoveling the heaps of snow off of the church sidewalk while speaking tomorrow’s sermon, Robbing God (of our heart), into the wind.  During one of my rest breaks the thought came to me, “I wonder how much gunk has accumulated on my heart? This snow is burdensome, but how much more must be all the stuff the Lord is in the process of removing inside of me.”

Resuming my shoveling, I began to converse with the Lord. Confessing my sins and thanking Him that His blood washes me as white as snow. Asking Him if i was robbing Him. Praying for my friends, family, and those who I serve.  I never finished running through the next day’s sermon while shoveling snow, but the snow didn’t seem quite as heavy and I left feeling that some of the hardness of my heart had melted and fallen away.

Tebow’s Courageous Stand

It seems that Tim Tebow may be in a bit of hot water because of a possible Super Bowl ad where his mom says that she is happy she gave birth to him.  In an ESPN commentary, Laud the Courage in Tim Tebow’s Stand, writer Jemele Hill makes this astute statement:

The specific contents of the ad have yet to be confirmed, but in the minds of some special-interest groups and media critics, it immediately takes Tebow from college football hero to a misogynist worthy of the presidency of Spanky’s He-Man Woman Haters Club in the old TV show “The Little Rascals.”

I don’t care if you’re pro-choice or pro-life, conservative or liberal, God-fearing or atheist, you’ve got to admire Tebow for standing with conviction, even as he’s opening himself and his family up to criticism. We often commend athletes for taking a stand — as long as it’s a stand with which most of us agree. The minute they start pushing a social agenda that conflicts with our own, we tell them to shut up…

I understand the concerns that the Tebows might be crossing a culture line by intersecting politics, sports and religion on the biggest day of the year for Americans to come together to celebrate a treasured event in sports. But I’d rather see an athlete behave with conviction than degrade himself to make money. I’d rather hear Tebow talk about what God has done for him than read another story about an athlete who beats up his wife or girlfriend.

Personally, I believe that this potential commercial would have raised a firestorm whether it is aired during the Super Bowl or if it is aired at another time.  It is a touchy subject and to have a high profile athlete talk about supporting an issue that it is not politically correct to support is going to get people upset.  The article pointed out that it is easy to take a stand for something that is popular, but it takes real courage to take a stand on your moral convictions.  What gives Tebow’s stand even greater strength is not that he is a college super star, but that he truly attempts to live out his beliefs.

Jemele Hill closes with this appropriate commentary:

I’m a big fan of people who live the way they talk. You may not believe Tebow will become an NFL quarterback. You may think the media fawns over him way too much. And you may think he’s overrated. But the one thing you can never say about Tim Tebow is that he’s a fake.

Modern Day Jonah

In one verse it mentions twice that Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord and three times that Jonah fled to Tarshish – the farthest known part of the world at the time (Jonah 1:3). The Lord was faithful to raise up a storm and a giant fish to help the wayward prophet come to his senses.  Jonah’s story is far from an isolated incident.  The world is full of modern day Jonah’s – men and women running from the presence of the Lord.

The college campus and the young adults in transition between undergraduate studies and the next phase of life are heavily populated with Jonahs.  Not everyone who starts the journey towards Tarshish intends to go all the way. Many want to enjoy the ride and then turn around and return to living in the presence of the Lord after they have “had some fun” or “done their own thing” or “discovered themselves”.  Sadly, many who start this journey find excuse after excuse to never get off the boat and never return.  The Lord may raise up or allow storms to wake up the Jonahs. He may send friends, family, and strangers to try to help.

Having a slim lifeline to people in a local church is  a big reason this modern day Jonah didn’t disappear. When the Lord faithfully raised up some storms early in my college experience I was able to “jump ship” and get helped back to dry land by the people in the church that I maintained slim connections with at the time.  Now I am on a different college campus trying to help other Jonahs.  There have been some wonderful “saves” over the years, but unfortunately I have seen many people voluntarily cut away the lifelines and sail away to Tarshish. A handful show up again after discovering the pain of living three to five years in Tarshish, but they are the rare cases.  I trust that the Lord is faithful even when we are not (2 Timothy 2:13) and I pray that the coming storms of life will help those Jonahs make the return trip to actively living in the presence of the Lord.

No Blind Leaps

Take a leap of faith. It can sound spiritual but more often than not it gives the impression that faith in God is a blind leap without any basis in reality.  I imagine Mark Twain’s “faith is believing what you know ain’t so” is in response to this kind of “blind faith” talk.  Thankfully the belief in the God of the Bible is no blind leap of faith. It is based in reality and on solid ground. Yes, there is still faith required, but it is a reasonable faith based upon facts.

A great resource for talking with your friends, or even to help answer you own questions, listen in on UA Christian Assembly’s No Blind Leaps: A Faith That’s Reasonable sermon series and their pastor’s blog Bare-Knuckle Bible. Already posted on the blog (with more posts likely to come) are the following topics:

1) No Blind Leaps – Is There Any Such Thing as Absolute Certainty?
2) It’s Actually Difficult to Prove Anything
3) Faith, Not Math
4) Riding a Wobbly Bicycle and Other Adventures in Believing
5) When Proof is Overrated
6) The Mechanics of Belief in God
7) Living in the Infomercial

A Church of One

“Our personal relationship with Jesus is not an individual relationship with Jesus.”  These words by church planter Brian Howard capture the thought of the Bible, a thought that is at odds with the trend to have “a church of one”.  The trend that expresses the thought, “I have my personal relationship with Jesus. Meeting with a church is one way to enhance that relationship, but it is not a necessary part of the Christian life.”

A church of one. It’s an oxymoron.  The Greek word translated “church” in many Bible literally means “called out assembly”. You can not have an assembly of one.  Nor can you fulfill over fifty commands (not suggestions) in the New Testament in regards to our relationships with “one another” if we are not rooted with God’s people in the church.  Nor can you actively participate in Jesus’ purpose to “build My church” (Matthew 16:18) by living a body life in the church where “each part is working properly, mak[ing] the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Is living and laboring together as the church easy and without conflict? No. A casual scan through the epistles makes that very clear.  Churches are a bunch of redeemed sinners in various stages of sanctification interacting with one another.  Rather than simply looking for a “perfect church” (they don’t exist) and a “church that always makes me happy” (they don’t exist because you are a sinner), why not plant yourself with a group of believers so that you can grow and can help others grow?

A great sermon on debunking the thought of “a church of one” and exploring the positive side of Christian growth within the church was given at an Oasis Christian Community winter retreat by church planter Peter McNaughton.  In his message Christian Growth: Church, McNaughton helps eliminate excuses to not get involved and demonstrates the power of Christian growth within the context of being fully engaged with your local church.

The “Me Translation” Bible

There is a new Bible translation being sold called the “Me Translation”.  While the text of the Bible may be the same as what you find in the Bible on your bookshelf, the ink has an incredible morphing ability.  The ink has been technologically modified to have the ability to change to say whatever you want it to say.  It is being marketed as the perfect translation for those who consider themselves “spiritual” but don’t want to be constrained by what the original Bible manuscripts actually say and mean.  One of the rave reviews for this translation exclaims, “There are many ways in which the Bible is meant to be interpreted. My life is much different than yours or anyone elses, so God speaks differently to each of us. I think that’s why certain verses mean different things to different people.”

The “Me Translation” of the Bible does not actually physically exist but the concept is prevalent in the world today.  The “rave review” is an actual quote from a long letter I received from an irate college student who was thoroughly offended when I had talked about part of Christian discipleship is learning to read the Bible for what it says and not what we want it to say. To this thought the young student also penned, “I COMPLETELY disagree with this statement. I was so flabbergasted I didn’t even know what to say.”

Do I believe that different people can be inspired in different ways from the same Bible verse? Yes. Do I believe that the Spirit will use a verse to speak to me about something in my life and use the same verse to speak to another person in a different way about their life? Certainly. Does this mean that the facts of the verse change or that what the verse means in context changes based upon whoever is reading the verse? Absolutely not! It is one thing to be inspired by the Bible, it is quite another to say that the truth and facts of Scripture are relative to the reader.  Once we go down that road the Bible is no longer God’s spoken Word and no longer has the authority to teach, reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Upon deciding that truth is relative and the Bible means whatever we want it to mean we change the Word from a  living two-edged sword that pierces to expose the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4:12) into an ice cream scoop only good for packing our mind with unhealthy and heart-clogging “spiritually advanced” convictions that whatever we believe is right.

How we read the Bible matters.  Reading the Bible as the Bible enables us to see God for who He is, allows us to see ourselves for who we are, and enables the Spirit to progressively change us to be like our Savior.  Taking it as the authoritative Word of God enables us to know and be set free by the truth (John 8:31-32). Robbing the Bible of its authority with the attitude of  “there are many ways in which the Bible is meant to be interpreted” based upon the false belief that truth is relative based upon each person’s life is a “theology” of creating God after our image and likeness. The “Me Translation” of the Bible will ultimately keep us enslaved to our sin and stunt our growth as Christians because not even God can tell us that we are wrong.

Worldliness Book Review

Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World edited by C.J. Mahaney is a book that demands attention.  The content is a necessary read for any lover of Jesus. It forces the reader to think, discern, and struggle in prayer with each turn of the page.  The book gets a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars.

After the reader finishes a five-chapter wrestling match over defining worldliness, media, music, possessions, and clothes the final chapter can come as a shock.  How to Love the World. The author of this chapter, Jeff Purswell, addresses the possible feeling that the Christian life is one of negation.

Discernment is…crucial. However, to read the message of this book as a call to avoidance is to misunderstand it. It would be tragic indeed if we ignored, diluted, or otherwise marginalized the command this book began with: “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). It would be equally tragic if we defined our relationship with the world simply in terms of negation. For John’s Gospel affirms both God’s love for the world (John 3:16) and his intention that we be in the world (John 17:18). (p 140)

Purswell does a great job of laying out how to love the world from a biblical worldview.  He gives an short “biography” of the history and future of the world. In that context he lays out three tasks for Christians: (1) Enjoy the World, (2) Engage the World, (3) Evangelize the World. In a masterful stroke, the author brings us to “The World and the Cross”:

In navigating these polarities [having "strictly spiritual preoccupations" and "relishing life in this world"], a different moment in salvation history dominated the apostle Paul’s horizon: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). For Paul, the cross was the singular, decisive, existence-altering reality of his life. No category of Paul’s existence remained untouched by Christ’s atoning death on his behalf. (p 169)

When we see our lives in light of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, everything will be different. We won’t be enamored of a fallen world that opposes God; for it is such a world that our Savior died. Nor will we ignore the world, untouched by its God-glorifying potential or unmoved by its needs. Rather, we’ll take our place in this world, enjoying God’s gifts, fulfilling God’s purposes, and giving our lives to see the gospel proclaimed, sinners saved, and God glorified. (p 171)

Deaths Abroad & At Home

There has been a recent onslaught of news about death and despair in the news. Abroad in Haiti and at home with the suicide of an Ohio State teacher/grad student.  With a macabre interest I have been drawn to look at how people not directly impacted by these tragedies have responded. What I have found is a mix of compassion and ugliness.

An article in USA Today displayed both sides in the article Youth in Lawless Haiti At Risk for Sex Trade, Slavery, Murder. There is help and compassionate care from churches to the people of Haiti in the wake of now two big earthquakes and a death toll over 200,000.  There are others who are using the tragedy for disgusting ends of murder and child sex sales.

The student newspaper of the Ohio State University, the Lantern, reported a grad student/instructor’s suicide.  In their online article Instructor’s Suicide Shocks Students the story of a 24 year old young lady leaves the reader wondering “why this tragedy?” Some of the blogged comments blame the “system” for not being supportive enough to grad students, some blamed the girl for killing herself, others suggested that she didn’t listen to enough “lyrics” and take enough “grams” to get through the hard stuff, and some offered condolences and examples of how they have constructively dealt with the rigors and loneliness of grad school. The constructive comments largely dealt with getting involved with a local church with a good grad student population (one mentioned was UA Christian Assembly).

It is great to see Christ’s body reach out in these times of need. I hope that many will find these good shoulders to cry upon and find the ultimate Comforter, Jesus Christ, in the midst of these situations.