"STRESSED OUT? GENESIS CAN HELP!" (Genesis 1:1A)

Recently, I read an article on how to survive stress.  And the very first survival tip was . . . Don’t Panic followed by, don’t isolate yourself, keep a normal routine, and get out of the house.  So much for trying to survive stress in our new COVID 19 normal huh?!  And when you add this coronavirus pandemic to all the normal stressors of life—like losing loved ones, poor health, chronic illnesses, marital struggles, family issues, financial problems, work place struggles, getting old, and any number of other things . . . you have all the makings for what is called “stress overload”.

Interestingly enough, more people have become news junkies in the last few months than ever before—watching the headlines everyday and wondering, “What is going to happen next?”  And that’s the real stressor about the situation we’re in—isn’t it—the uncertainty of what’s going to happen tomorrow.  That’s the hardest thing for most people to deal with.  They’re facing an unknown future which they can’t predict—and certainly cannot control. 

So, today and really for the next several months I thought it might be a good idea for us to look at a Book in the Bible that was designed by God to  help us deal with stress and especially stress overload caused by the fear of an unknown future.  And it may surprise you to know that this Book is the Book of Genesis.

The reason this surprises us is because when most of us think of Genesis all we think of is a long book filled with ancient history, endless genealogies, names we can’t pronounce, stories we’ve heard over and over again in Sunday school, and all the sometimes confusing and technical details about Creation versus Evolution.  And quite honestly, that’s why Genesis is one of the least preached Books in the Bible.  That’s really too bad because as I said before—Genesis should be a go-to book for God’s people when they’re dealing with stress . . . especially the stress that comes from facing an unknown future.

Now, why do I say that Genesis was written for people who are stressed out?  Because, the original audience God gave Genesis to—were the Hebrew people Moses had just led out of Egypt into the middle of the barren, uninhabitable, dark and dangerous, “no-mans” land of the Sinai Wilderness.  These were people who had been in Egypt for 430 years—most of that time as slaves—who had all but given up on God ever hearing their cries.

Then God, whom they had for the most part forgotten—raised up Moses, an adopted former member of Egypt’s royal family turned fugitive whom the Hebrews did not know—to lead them out of Egypt on a journey through the Red Sea—and then across a dry, desolate, and dangerous wilderness they were totally unfamiliar with on their way to a homeland—a “promised land” which they had never seen and wondered if it really even existed. Talk about stress!

Can you imagine all the “what-if’s” these people were thinking about when it came to this “new normal” they were thrust into?!  So, if you were there would it be of interest to you to meet this God and find out a little bit more about Him?  Might you want to know something about His ability to take care of you, provide for your family’s needs, keep you safe, and successfully lead you all to the Promised Land?

Well, I sure would!!  I mean, if I am going to entrust my life, my family, my future, and in fact, my very soul to this God—I’d like to get the scoop on Him.  In fact, if I don’t get the scoop on Him—if I really don’t have any understanding of this God—how can I really trust Him—let alone love Him.

So, the way in which God began to alleviate their stress and their fear was by formally introducing Himself to them through the very first Book in the Bible—the Book we call Genesis—which God called Moses to record while leading the Hebrews through their wilderness experience.  But, not only did God introduce Himself and make Himself known to His people—He also introduced them to themselves and by extension—us to ourselves by sharing through Genesis the stories of our roots and our ancestors.  You see, in Genesis, we find out who we are, why we’re here, Who made us, and believe it or not—why we’re having to deal with this Coronavirus.

But, that’s not the only reason God gave them and us—Genesis.  You see, Genesis tells us why there is evil in the world and how it got into us and why life just doesn’t seem to make sense so much of the time. . . .and why our hearts experience so much emptiness.  Genesis tells us why we can’t seem to be content or get along or stop striving for more and what God has done, is doing, and will do about all this evil in and outside of us.  And in Genesis, we also get a glimpse of our future and how God restores our relationship with Him as well as our hopes, dreams, and original destiny through the “seed of the woman” Who would come to earth to defeat evil and death by giving up His life.  Genesis also gives us the preview and outline for the rest of the Bible.  Its the first chapter of God’s story about His intention to live life with His people on earth so as to fill the earth with His glory.  And the story ends in Revelation 21-22 with God doing exactly that!  So, God gives His stressed out and fearful people Genesis to give us faith, hope and courage by revealing Himself, His Attributes, His Faithfulness, His Promises, His Love, and His Son to us.

But, to really get a handle on Genesis we need to understand that the Hebrews were not so much concerned with how old the earth was or precisely how God created the universe as much as they were with knowing if this God Who was leading them into the unknown—could and would take care of them so as to give them a future in the promised land.

Now, don’t misunderstand me—I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be concerned with the age of the earth or how God created the universe.  What I am saying is that if all you see Genesis and especially the first two chapters in Genesis as is a textbook refuting evolution—you will have missed the whole point of the Book.

You see, God gave the Hebrews and us Genesis so that we might know Him better than we do—so that we will trust Him much more than we are—so that we will love and enjoy Him far more than we ever thought—as He leads us safely home to the promised land—that their promised land was merely a picture of.   But . . . on top of all this and in fact, most important of all . . . God gave His people Genesis to introduce us to Christ and the gospel. 

Yes, you heard me right. You see, its really important to know that Genesis, correctly understood, is primarily about Jesus Christ and the Gospel.  I mean, Jesus, Himself makes this point in several passages like Luke 24:25-32, 44-47; John 1:45; 5:39, 45-47.  The apostle Paul makes this same point in Acts 26:22-23 and 28:23.

You see, Jesus is the ultimate reality that everything in the Old Testament including Genesis is talking abut and pointing to.  Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 5:17-18 when He said He came to complete and fulfill the Old Testament. You see, Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross are what of the Old Testament Scriptures, the feasts, the sacrificial system, the Temple, the priesthood, and all the stories pointed to. 

Thus, every bit of Scripture including Genesis is part of the same great story of God rescuing us from our sin and its condemnation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ so that we might be reconciled to God and restored to our original destiny in Creation, which we had all but forgotten.  As Tim Keller writes:

There are two ways to read the Bible.  The one way is to read it as though its all about you—what you have to do in order to be right with God and stay right with God.  This way of reading the Bible will never give you sure hope and security because you will never measure up.  The other way to read it is to see it as all about Jesus.  Its about Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done to make you absolutely right with God.  If you do not read the Bible this way you will never be secure in your Faith.  But, once you understand that the Bible is all about Jesus Christ and what He has done for you and in your place—then you can be secure and experience hope and peace.

And this is precisely why Genesis is so important to us—It introduces us to the God of all hope, to God the Son—Jesus—and to God the Holy Spirit who all show up in the very first verses of chapter one.  In fact, in Genesis we have the foundation for all the major fundamental teachings of the Bible.  But again, most important, in Genesis we have the first mentioning, explanation, and pictures of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is why I am calling this series—“The Gospel According To Genesis”. 

Now, the title “Genesis”, which means “origins”, comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures which is called the Septuagint.  The original Hebrew title of the Book is simply “Beginning”.  Both are appropriate titles because Genesis is about the origin or the beginning of our universe, the beginning of marriage, family, sin, redemption, the Hebrew people, and a bunch of other things.

But, Genesis is also especially concerned with informing us about Him, Who has no beginning . . . Him, Who has always been and always will be.  Him, Whom we call God.  Him, whom we, who are believers, call our Father. And we need to keep in mind that before God became the Creator, He was a Father.  We see this in Jesus’ words in John 17:24 where Jesus says:  “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the very glory you have given me, because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

You see, in eternity past, eons before God initiated the creation of the heavens, the earth, and us—God the Creator was God the Father.  In fact, His role and position within the Trinity has always been for all of eternity as God the Father just as God the Son has always been the eternal Son of God—completely equal to the Father as God.  So, God didn’t create to become a father.  He created because He was a Father.  As Michael Reeves writes in his book entitled, Delighting In The Trinity, 

The fact that Jesus is “the Son” really says it all. Being a Son means he has a Father. . . . That is who God has revealed himself to be: not first and foremost Creator or Ruler, but Father. . . . He is Father. All the way down. Thus all that he does, he does as Father. That is who he is. He creates as a Father and he rules as a Father.

And He created so that He might share the love He has for His Son and the joy He has in His Son with people who will believe in and love His Son.  And if you believe in Jesus and you love Jesus—it is because God, the Father has set His love on you.  This means that if you love Jesus for Who He really is—Whom the Bible presents Him to be—then you are loved, cherished, treasured, fully accepted, and highly valued by God the Creator of Heaven and Earth Who is Your Father.

Jesus put it this way in John 16:27,  “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God”.

And if you have God the Creator as your personal Heavenly Father, through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, then you have a truly good, powerful, patient, wise, attentive, and forgiving Father whose love for you is greater than you can ever imagine.   The problem with all this however is that, as Reeves goes on to say: 

Many of us simply have no idea how to have a Father in heaven.  We know to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven. . . .” but we still pray (and feel) as if he’s galaxies away.  We know God is sovereign, righteous, all-wise, just, and even merciful, but we struggle to believe he could be that personal — like a father would be to his own child.  Some of us are uncomfortable in prayer not because we haven’t learned enough about prayer, but because we’ve never learned what it means to truly be a child of God.

And this is why we need to study Genesis—so that we can learn what it means to truly be a child of our Heavenly Father—Who loved us so much that He sent Jesus to the cross to die in our place to pay for our sins that we might be reconciled to our Father in Heaven.

Genesis is the beginning of our Heavenly Father’s story in which He shares with us Who He is, Who we are, Why He created us, What broke our relationship with Him, and What He has done and is doing to bring us back home to Him.  Thus, Genesis is a Book about the future as much as it is the past and it presents a great future for people who will come home to their Father.  And that is the only real antidote and cure for stress there is!

[From the sermon series The Gospel According To Genesis, Sermon 1, Pastor Mark Waite]  

 

 

Christianity Is War

Make no mistake about it, Christianity is war, plain and simple! 

If you don't know this and you are a Christian you are in trouble.  It is a war far more real than you think. The fighting is intense, long-lasting and real victories are hard won and more rare than you think, casualties abound, retreat is commonplace, and taking and holding ground far more costly than ever imagined. Our war is the ultimate reality all earthly wars point to. They are but the picture, as real and terrible as they are. Our spiritual war is the reality they point to.

Our weapons are not made of metal and plastic but are divinely powerful designed to destroy all that is in us that is opposed to Christ. Our enemy is a brutal, savvy, treacherous, highly skilled, and unbelievably enduring foe whose greatest strength is its close proximity to us....for our enemy is always with us 24/7. It is none other than our sinful flesh, our old man, if you will, whose nature it is to oppose, fight, and if it could, destroy the spiritual life within us that is becoming more and more glorious everyday as it is being conformed moment-by-moment into the image of Christ 24/7, whether you realize it or not.  Our enemy will never quit, be reformed, tamed, surrender, tire of fighting, or concede. It's a fight to the death and only in our death will its head never rise again.

But while our flesh presents itself as such a formidable foe it can be defeated. It can be resisted and it can even be used to encourage our battle hardened and weary souls when seen aright for what it is and why it is. You see, the mere realization that we have a sinful flesh that opposes us in our desire to pursue Christ assures us that our pursuit of Christ is real and something the enemy of our soul finds worthy of opposing.

The truth, Christians must learn and can only truly learn through spiritual hand-to-hand combat with an enemy who seems to prevail against us at every point is that the mere fact that we are being opposed by and opposing our sinful flesh provides us with an assurance of salvation we could find nowhere else. For you see before salvation, we were at peace with our sin but at war with God. After salvation, we are at peace with God but at war with our sin.

 Listen, I know firsthand how ugly this battle can get. I also understand how demoralizing and discouraging it often becomes to lose battle after battle. But don’t diminish the value of the battle whether won or lost. Only believers are at war with their sinful flesh and thus, the greatest value may not lie so much in your successes as much as in the fact that you’re in the fight.

Don't Muzzle The Only Perfect Words Your Church Will Hear This Sunday

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that nothing we human beings produce or can produce is perfect.  This is true in every realm of human existence including the church’s worship of God.  As inspiring as the music can be—it is not perfect because the songs being sung were written and put to music by flawed human beings.  As powerful as the preaching may be—it too is not perfect for the simple reason that the preacher isn’t perfect.  This is true of every aspect of every worship service every church has ever experienced or will experience.

But there is one aspect of the worship service which, is perfect.  And that worship activity is none other than the reading of Scripture.  The reason I say that the reading of the Scriptures is the one perfect aspect of any worship service is because God’s Word is perfect and if read, as given, word for word, it is the only perfect thing done in any service of any church.  

Now, I understand that many churches, including many evangelical churches, do not include the reading of Scripture in their worship services which, is hard to understand since God tells pastors to be devoted to including it in the worship service of the church (1 Timothy 4:13).  And if this is your church you might want to think about the fact that you’ve jettisoned the only perfect part of the service in which God Himself is speaking directly to His people through His divinely inspired and preserved Word.

That’s right!  You heard me correctly.  The public reading of the Scriptures, in the church’s worship service, is the one and really the only time in the service when God’s people get the opportunity to hear God speak directly to them through His perfect, powerful, fully authoritative, inspired, and preserved Word as it is read to them outloud. 

Now, don’t get me wrong here.  The sermon is important.  In fact, it’s as essential as the public reading of Scripture, but the sermon was written by a man not God.  Thus, it, while certainly authoritative, blessed, and used by God--as long as it’s true to the Word—is not perfect.  Corporate worship is necessary too in any worship service but, it will never be perfect. Corporate prayer, while passionate, sincere, and faith-filled, will never be perfect for the simple reason that none of our thoughts, perceptions, emotions, attitudes, and words are perfect.

But, God’s words as recorded in Scripture are perfect and thus to read them publicly in the worship service is to be reading the very inspired, revealed, and perfect words of God to God’s people.  Is this important?  The apostle Paul sure thought so because, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, he wrote to a young pastor named Timothy and told him to: “. . . devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching . . . be diligent about these matters.  Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress.” (1 Tim. 4:13-15)  It would seem that Paul considered the pastor’s job on any given Sunday to be incomplete and lacking if all he did was preach and teach the Word of God without ever reading or having the Scriptures read publicly.

I kind of wonder if we couldn’t even go so far as to say that it is arrogant of pastors and their churches to neglect the public reading of God’s perfect Words as recorded in the Bible so as to make more time for our imperfect words uttered in announcements, songs, preaching, and prayers.  Certainly, we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water and drop these important and essential aspects of our corporate worship services, but neither should we muzzle God and neglect the only perfect words that will be heard by God’s people on any given Sunday.  Pastors and their churches must make room for God’s Word to be publicly read and heard by God’s people during our time of corporate worship.  So, let God’s Word be read loud, clear, and publicly in the church! 

God’s Mysterious and Unseen Paths

Figuring out God's will for our lives is never an easy task for the simple reason that we are not God and thus are not privy to all the thoughts of God regarding the twists and turns of our lives.  Whereas, we have access to and should avail ourselves of God's revealed will for our lives as provided to us in Scripture, it goes without saying that God's unrevealed will or His secret will is sometimes a mystery to us as He works out His revealed will in and into our lives.

Such was the case with the Israelites as they followed God's revealed and commanded will to leave Egypt.  They knew they were to leave, had somewhat of a faint idea of where they were headed but had no real idea of how they were to get there.  They were in the dark as to the twists, turns, and the trials that awaited them along the way.

This is pretty obvious when on day three of the journey, they reach the Red Sea and notice a huge dust cloud behind them signifying Pharaoh's army, approaching fast and about to trap them against this seemingly insurmountable barrier.  With no where to go and fearing the worst, the people cry out to the Lord, blame Moses for their predicament, and believe the worst.  But, then God does the unthinkable.  He divides the Red Sea and uses the problem, if you will, to provide the solution to their predicament.  We know the rest of the story.  The Hebrews cross through the Red Sea on dry land and make it safely to the other side whereas, Pharaoh's army is drowned and destroyed in their pursuit.

In commenting on this event, Psalm 77:19-20 says:

Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the mighty waters, and your footprints (path) may not be known.  You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

In other words, God's unrevealed will, up until the time they needed to know it, was hidden in the very problem they were facing.  God's path for them was through the very thing they saw as a great barrier to them.  With power and might, God, like a shepherd, led His people on a pathway no one knew was there.

So, be encouraged confused, doubting, wondering, and fearful believer.  God is still His people's shepherd leading us according to His will, both revealed and unrevealed, through life's difficult decisions and seemingly insurmountable struggles on pathways we could not possibly have imagined and never even knew were there.  And don't be surprised when the answer to the "bigger than life" problem you see in pursuing the will of God is in the problem.

Let's Get Out of The Church In 2020

In his Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, Jesus makes the point that those who follow Him as disciples are both salt and light (Mt. 5:13-14). He does not say that we are to become the salt of the earth or the light of the world but rather that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  But Jesus also makes the point that it is not enough to simply be the light. Nor is it enough to simply let our light shine. Rather, what Jesus says is that we are to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works” (Mt. 5:16). Therefore, that which manifests us as those who profess to follow Christ, Who is the light of the world, is our good works.  These good works, which we are to do manifest us as Christ's followers or His reflecting lights in the world.  And note, that these good works are to be worked out before men so as to be plainly seen.  

Apparently, Jesus wants our good works to be seen by men who do not know Him so that God the Father will be glorified (Mt. 5:16).  Now, Jesus does not discriminate between believers and nonbelievers in this verse.  He is saying that there is a sense in which even nonbelievers glorify God as they see and respond to the good works believers do as Christ's reflecting lights in the world. I take that to mean that as the result of seeing our good works done in Christ's Name, that they either end up repenting, trusting in Christ, and being saved or continue to reject Christ so as to finally get what we all deserve which is hell.  Either way, God is glorified as He will save those who see our Christ-honoring works and believe and condemn those who see them and do not.  The point is--that they see Christ reflected in us and in our good works which benefit  others.

Therefore, if our God-ordained, Christ-like, Holy Spirit empowered, Gospel-fueled, and beneficial “good works” are to be worked in such a way that people existing outside of Christ and are thus, of this world, may see them, we must do them outside the hidden, comfy, and safe walls of our churches.  We must be in the world to be seen by the world.  This demands that we be rubbing shoulders with all kinds of people....even people who are not the same as us as well as people we do not naturally gravitate to.  This might include the down and out, the rich and famous, the grocer and the butcher, democrats, republicans, pro-life, pro-choice, Trumpers, Never-Trumpers, gay, straight, climate change activists, progressives, tree-huggers, tree-slayers, conservatives, soccer moms, and every other label we humans can conceive—so that they glorify God--because our Christ-reflecting works are visibly and inclusively beneficial regardless of how they act out their rebellion to God.    

It goes without saying that it’s a whole lot easier dealing with people, especially the ones we disagree with and really don’t like, from a distance and as spectators--complaining about them from the safety and security of our pulpits and pews. But this doesn’t cut it when it comes to obeying and following Jesus. He told us to get up out of the pew, go out the doors of the church, and start doing some good things in this bad world so that people who don’t know, love and cherish Jesus can see what Jesus is actually all about and be brought into a saving relationship with Him which really glorifies God in the best possible way.   

So, can the world see us? Can people see our good works? Not if the only place we are known is at church. In the same way that lights are not meant to be covered up by baskets, Christians are not meant to hide out in their homes and churches.  So, let’s do something really drastic in 2020—let’s get out of our churches and our homes and go hang out with some unbelievers and let our light shine so they can see it and be impacted by it. They will glorify God one way or another and so will we!  

The Mystery of Christmas

On Christmas, we celebrate something quite wonderful: God entering our time and space. The eternal becomes temporal; the eternally infinite becomes temporarily finite; the Word that created all flesh becomes flesh.

It truly is a mystery!  The One who knows all things (John 16:30, 21:17) must “grow in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). The all-sufficient One (Acts 17:25) must hunger and thirst (Matt. 4:2, John 19:28). The creator of the world is homeless (Matt. 8:20), the Lord of life must die. (Phil. 2:8)

As Jesus, God the Son, Who knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), must watch His eternal plan unfold, bit by bit, moment by moment. He grows from infancy, to childhood, to adulthood, responding to events as they happen. One time He rejoices; another time He weeps. From day to day, from hour to hour, the changeless God endures change. But God the Son incarnate is still God, still transcendent. As He responds to events in time, He also looks down on the world from above time and space, ruling and governing all the events of nature and history in complete sovereignty—truly a mystery!

Why did God enter time in Christ?  First and foremost, for His Father’s glory so that God the Father could remain just in forgiving and justifying sinners who deserved His wrath (Rom. 3:25-26).  The Son of God took on the limitations of time, space even death, so that He would pay the penalty for the sins of anyone and everyone who would believe in Him.  In this way and only through this way is God the Father able to forgive believing sinners and remain true to His own righteousness.  Jesus entered time to glorify God in providing the means by which believers would be forgiven and find their joy in God.  

Whereas, at the incarnation, when God the Son became the God-Man, He entered time to live and die for those of us who believe—He also entered time to “be with us”.  That is what His Christmas Name “Emmanuel” means:  God with us.

He is still with us, now. Jesus said that He would be with us always (Matt. 28:20) in the Spirit (John 14:15-18). That means that God is an actor in history (His-story), as well as transcends history. He is with me as I write, watching one moment pass into the next, initiating yet responding to each event, bringing his sovereign Lordship to bear on every situation as it comes, hearing and responding to my prayers. But He is also looking down on the world from his transcendent, timelessly eternal viewpoint. He is both transcendent and immanent. As transcendent, He brings all things to pass according to His eternal plan. As immanent, He works in and with all things, moment by moment, to accomplish His sovereign will.  

Thus, in the incarnation, God the Son invades the time and space of history to become the “leading man” in His own drama of redemption which He planned in eternity past.  But as He plays His part in His own divine drama from below—He also and at the same time acts above History as its divine sovereign director holding every atomic particle of every being, thing, and action in place (Col. 1:17).

There are those, called Open Theists, who believe that if we are to do justice to this apparent “give-and-take” relationship that we see unfolding in the pages of the Bible between God and his creatures in history, we must reject God’s sovereign control over history, even his exhaustive knowledge of the future. Those conclusions do not follow logically, and they certainly are not biblical.  Rather, these biblical pictures of God’s seemingly “give and take” relationship with His creatures actions in time should lead us to a heightened view of God’s sovereignty. 

Our God is one who can and does accomplish his sovereign will, not only “from above,” by his eternal decrees, but also “from below,” by making all things work together for his good purpose (Rom. 8:28). Even those events which the biblically non-informed see as an apparent defeat for God such as the rejection and crucifixion of His Son, Jesus, are but, the out workings of his eternal plan.  In the very death of Jesus for our sins, God was acting in time to bring his sovereign purpose to pass (Acts 2:23).  Likewise, even in our our lives, when sin has gotten the best of us, God is not defeated.  Sin's work does not trump God's work in His people.  He is always at work in believers' lives (Phil. 2:13) even when we're sinning, taking what we mean for evil and using it ultimately for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).  

So Christmas reveals in a wonderful way that God acts in time as well as above it. Christmas shows us how wonderfully God relates to us, not only as a mysterious being from another realm, but as a person in our own realm: interacting with us, hearing our prayers, guiding us step by step, chastising us with fatherly discipline, comforting us with the wonderful promises of the blessings of Christ. Truly He is Emmanuel, the God who is really with us and Who is nonetheless eternally the Sovereign Lord above and beyond us.

GRACE-DRIVEN CHURCHES GLORIFY GOD BEST

Churches are often known for what drives them.  In other words, what they see themselves as existing to be and do.  And churches can be driven by all kinds of things.  Many are driven by tradition and their tradition in particular.  Others are driven by their resistance to change of any kind, having as their motto: "We’ve never done it this way before.”  Some churches are finance-driven and the only thing the membership wants to know before making a decision is "How much will it cost and can we afford it?"  Many churches  are numbers-driven, having as their bottom line--a bigger budget, a bigger building, and a growing membership roll.  Others still, are known for and driven by a certain theological perspective such as being reformed or non-reformed, charismatic or non-charismatic, seeker-driven or non seeker driven, liberal or conservative, contemporary/blended worship or traditional, etc.  And finally, there are churches which are driven by their programs, activities, ministries, personality, social causes, political progressiveness,  and a plethora of other possibilities.  

Personally, I think that churches should strive to be grace-driven and here are some reasons why.  First, grace-driven churches are driven by God’s saving grace to preach and live the gospel.  Second, they are driven by God’s sanctifying grace to speak words of grace to one another as well as to deal with each other in grace, correcting one another in grace, accepting one another as Jesus accepted them freely, unconditionally, and over and over again in and because of grace.  Third, they are driven by God's extravagant grace, in saving sinners, to take serious risks, expend great energy, significant resources, and exhaustive creativity in communicating and demonstrating the Gospel of grace to unbelievers both nearby and far away.  

God is grace-driven.  His plan of salvation, His desire to redeem, and His move to crush His own Son (Is. 53:10) so as to save us were all grace-driven acts.  But, while grace-driven, these acts were not simply carried out to make much of us and our need.  No, God’s grace-driveness is not about making much of us, which is often what many   of our churchs' "pet" projects, distinctions, preferences, and disagreements are driven by.  God's grace-drivenness is not an end in and of itself just as we are not an end in and of ourselves.  To think that would be to terribly misunderstand and pervert God's grace, which is a means to a much greater end.  That end is God’s glory. God is grace-driven because God is passionate about His own glory.  He justifies for His glory.  He forgives for His glory.  He redeems for His glory.  He saves for His glory and He keeps us saved for His glory.  God’s grace-driveness is first, foremost, and fundamentally about and for His glory.  

And this ultimately is for our good.  You see, wheres, God's grace saves and sanctifies us--God's glory satisfies us.  God's grace is the means by which we are able to see, enjoy, revel in, and forever be amazed by the glory of God.  This is what Jesus wants for us.  That's why He asked His Father that we who have been given to Him by the Father be with Him so that we may see His glory and be forever satisfied (John 17:24).  

Grace is the means to glory.  Therefore, if our churches really desire to glorify God by enjoying and being amazed by God, we absolutely must be, first and foremost, grace-driven!

My Trip To The Dentist--Maroua, Cameroon 2013 (A Repost By Request)

It was a late Thursday afternoon in Cameroon's Far North Region capital city of Maroua. I was getting hungry waiting for dinner so I grabbed a handful of peanuts, shoved them into my mouth, and started crunching vigorously. About three seconds into my munching, I chomped down on something a whole lot harder than any peanut I have ever encountered before. It was so hard, in fact, that it broke one of my molars. Turns out that one of those peanuts was not a peanut at all but actually a small brown stone that looked, to a 53 year old guy not wearing his glasses, like a peanut.

Well what do you do in Africa when you have shattered the back end of one of your meat-chomping molars? You go to the dentist of course. So the next day Fidele and I made the mile walk along a dusty makeshift road to whom I was told was the best dentist in our neck of the woods. As a plus, he had also attended dental school……somewhere.

Once there we walked into a small waiting room and waited about half an hour. Then it was show time. Fidele explained to the dentist why I was there as the dentist speaks a blend of Fulfulde and French while I barely get by with English. The dentist motioned for me to get in a chair and then he went to work. Tilting my head back as far as I thought it could go, he motioned for me to open my mouth and then he proceeded to take a small silver hand tool with a point and stuck it into the gaping hole in my broken tooth. Not being tied down or otherwise restrained Fidele must have thought the rapture was occurring and he was being left behind as I must have risen a good three feet out of that chair. Of course the dentist being a non-dispensational Muslim and not having read the “Left Behind” series thought no such thing and after stuffing me back in the chair uttered something that sounded a lot like “Allah have mercy”.

Then, all of a sudden realizing that Americans don’t quite have the same pain threshold as Africans the dentist yelled something in Fulfulde to his assistant who resembled, to me without my glasses, the African version of Osama Bin Laden. Hoping he was instructing him to load up a shot with Novocain before heading back into my mouth I was surprised and really concerned when the assistant took a strategic position next to me so as to better restrain me as the dentist made his next approach. With one arm holding my head in a sort of headlock and the other manipulating the silver tool, he once again stuck it smack dab in the middle of my broken tooth causing me more pain than I have felt since passing a kidney stone 14 months, 28 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes ago (But hey who’s counting?).

Finally, the dentist decided a shot of pain killer might leave less bruising, cause less trauma, and be less exhausting than having to keep me in a headlock. Whew, I was happy for that until I saw him loading up the shot. You see, every dentist I have ever been to in the States used these really tiny short needles when administering Novocain but this baby had to have been two to three inches or more. Anyway, with his assistant getting ready to grab a hold of my legs and the dentist putting me into another headlock he proceeded to threaten me with the hypo making motions for me to open my mouth. Wondering if the reason the needle was so long was because he might just run it through my cheek I submitted and the rest is history. I didn’t feel a thing after that. In fact, that one shot worked so well I couldn’t feel my nose or see out of my left eye for the rest of the day.

So what’s the moral to my story? Well, if you’re thinking it’s to avoid getting your dental work taken care of in Cameroon—it’s not. In fact, it’s been four days since my visit to the dentist and my tooth feels just fine. No, the moral is to watch out for counterfeits—whether they are rocks masquerading as peanuts, false teachers pretending to be preachers, or the fleeting, temporary, and fruitless pleasures of sin. The damage they will cause will be far greater than you ever thought possible and the pain experienced in dealing with and hopefully fixing the damage far greater, deeper, and possibly even more traumatic than you ever imagined.

To Be Saved Is To be Forgiven ~ Luke 1:76-77

Almost 78 years ago, the Japanese attacked the American Pacific Naval Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor. For nearly two hours, waves of Japanese planes rained down bombs, torpedoes, and machine gun fire on American ships and planes causing the loss of more U.S. ships than had been lost during WW1. In all, the U.S. lost 18 ships including 8 battleships, 170 airplanes, and over 3500 servicemen. Later that day as the news of what happened at Pearl Harbor was broadcast on the radio—Americans were in shock at what had happened—But not for long—because they were rallied by President Franklin Roosevelt who delivered a message which in his mind all Americans needed to hear, believe, and then share with those who hadn’t heard.

The message was simple, short, concise, and powerful—“We are now in this war.  We are all in it. All the way.  Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.”  Americans did hear the message and what’s more they believed it—so much so that they gave themselves to the cause of fighting and winning WW2 and America was saved. 

And today, I was reminded of another simple, short, concise, and powerful message that all of us, especially me, need to keep hearing, keep believing, and keep sharing with those who haven’t heard and its found in Luke 1:76-77 which reads:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,

These 2 verses make up part of Zachariah's prophecy about the coming Savior and the part that his son, John the Baptist, would have in this Savior’s work of redemption. In these two verses Zachariah speaks to his newborn son John, giving him God’s commission for his life which was to proclaim the Savior's coming and the Lord’s salvation for all who would come to Him.  Zachariah states in verse 76—“And you child will be called the prophet of the Most High for you will go before the lord to prepare His way.” And in then in verse 77, Zachariah tells his baby boy exactly what it is he will be doing as the prophet of the Most High. “And you child, will give knowledge of salvation to His people. . .”

That was to be John the Baptist’s job—to give people the knowledge of how to be saved and specifically how to be saved from the wrath of God for their sins.  So, his life work—his life mission—his great commission, if you will was to tell people how to find salvation from the wrath of God for their sins. And then in the second part of verse 77, Zachariah tells his little baby boy what he would need to explain—what he needed to tell people.“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation—in the forgiveness of their sins.” Or “by the forgiveness of their sins”. Taken literally, the verse is better understood as saying—

“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation which consists in the forgiveness of their sins.”

In other words, John the Baptist’s calling was to proclaim the message-the good news—that the salvation God was offering them was bound up in the forgiveness of their sins.  Thus, if you are saved—that is—if you are trusting in Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross alone for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sins—you are right now and forever forgiven of those very sins. That’s the Gospel--that's God's Good News!  And that’s what God wanted John the Baptist to tell people.

So the Gospel is about Forgiveness.  It’s a proclamation of forgiveness—that God has made a way to forgive people for all their sins no matter how bad, how many, or how unforgiveable they seem. Its a message that God will completely pardon and remove from the divine record all the sins of any person who will come to Him on His terms through Christ the Lord.

 Which is why King David, a man who carried the burden of great and overwhelming sin was able to say—“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are removed out of sight.  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”

You see, the Gospel is the wonderful declaration that as believers—our sins have been so removed and so separated from us that they no longer have anything to do with us or say about us. They no longer have any bearing upon us, our relationship with God, or our eternal destiny.  For believers, the Gospel is the decree of the King that our personal sin is no longer an issue between us. It’s the message that our sin is no longer our identity—His righteousness is! It’s so simple and yet it’s so profound for believer and non-believer alike.

Salvation is the result of having your sins forgiven.

Thus, to be saved from our sins and the just penalty of our sin is to be forgiven for our sins. To be saved completely from sin is to be forgiven completely. To be saved forever is to be forgiven forever.  So, if you have come to Christ for salvation by trusting in Him to save you from the eternal punishment you deserve for your sins—you are saved—and your sins are forgiven and they will never be used against you in God’s court.  Furthermore, your sins have been forgiven comprehensively in that every single one of them—whether a sinful thought, word, or deed—no matter when committed or still is yet to be committed—has been forgiven. You could not be saved if this were not true!  This means—that our sin is not the end of our story—forgiveness is! It also means that our sin is not our story—God’s forgiveness is! And because we are forgiven—we are reconciled to God, declared righteous by God, blameless before God, at peace with God, and destined to be with and enjoy God for all of eternity. And this is the message we need to hear and be preaching to ourselves everyday as believers.

We stand forgiven by a divine, eternal, comprehensive, and all guilt and condemnation destroying forgiveness which has saved us and made us right with God. This is the message we also need to believe everyday if we are ever to grow in our security in Christ and thus our love for Christ and thus our personal holiness—which only grows as we respond to what God has done for us in forgiving us. This is also the message, the Good News, we, like John the Baptist, have been commissioned to proclaim, that the Savior Jesus Christ has come and has provided salvation for everyone who will come to Him in faith believing.

What's A Pastor To Do?

Used to be that one of the most popular synonyms for the title "pastor" was another title, "preacher".  That's because, back in the day, that's what pastors were--preachers--because that's what they did.  Now, that's not all they did.  In fact, if that's all they did they really wouldn't be able to be pastors because pastors do more than preach.  Besides preaching, pastors also pray and shepherd the souls of those God has entrusted to them.  Of course, they also provide leadership and counsel to their congregations as they shepherd them.  So, there you have it.  Pastors primarily shepherd God's people by preaching and praying.

In preaching pastors are essentially talking to the congregation about God.  In their praying pastors talk to God about their congregation.  And in their shepherding, pastors, besides preaching and praying, live life with their people offering spiritual direction, counsel, encouragement, friendship, a listening ear, an imperfect example of what it looks like to follow Christ, and sometimes even firm loving discipline.  These three tasks of preaching, praying, and shepherding are the essential acts of pastoral ministry.  

This is not to say pastors don't do other things like moderating business meetings, presenting budgets, training church workers, attending meetings, overseeing building projects, analyzing community demographics, launching attendance growing programs, scheduling, and any number of other tasks that have somehow over the decades become part and parcel of what a pastor does.  It's almost as though a conspiracy was hatched to keep the pastor so busy with the peripheral that he has very little time and energy for the essential--the tasks of simply preaching, praying, and shepherding.

And how has the church fared with hordes of pastors neglecting the essential tasks of their calling to heed louder voices screaming "expediency", "pragmatism", "church growth", and "cultural relevancy"?  Not well.  You see, pastors who are too busy to study Scripture so as to preach, who are too busy to pray, and who are too busy to interact spiritually with their people have become themselves inattentive to God.  This results in their churches becoming inattentive to God too.  

Pastors do not need to be attentive to God to grow a big, experience-focused, program-heavy, entertaining,  "what's in it for me", Word deficient kind of church.  The word of faith prosperity false gospel preachers have proved that.  But, pastors do need to be attentive to God if they want to see themselves and their churches become and remain attentive to God so as to see healthy and authentic spiritual formation and growth take place that honors Christ-The Church's Chief Shepherd.

Boiling the pastor's job down to just one all-encompassing task is challenging.  At the risk of oversimplification I'd have to agree with one old pastor who said it's the task of keeping God's people attentive to God.  But, this can only be accomplished if and when well-meaning pastors get back to the basics of their pastoral calling--preaching, praying, and shepherding.