What is postmodernism? by Elliot Villareal

What is postmodernism?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

Who is Jesus?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

What is the gospel?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

Is this how reformed theologians think?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

Can I know anything about God?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

Can I know anything about Jesus?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group.

Can I know anything about anything?

Any answer you give is a cultural construct supported by a group.  If you don't like the answer, then go find another group. 

Note: A good friend of mine wrote this skit in reference to a conversation he had been involved in where  a group of theologians were discussing the question, "What is the Church?"  Based upon the answers he was hearing and the appeal to postmodern philosophy that was taking place, he thought it might be wise to understand the full impacts that such a philosophy has on the nature and meaning of salvation.  This would be a great skit.

Jesus, a model of thanks - Matthew 14:13-21

Today, Thanksgiving 2009, we are going to explore the familiar story of the feeding of the 5000, which is recorded in all 4 gospel narratives.  It is one of the only passages which all four writers include in their accounts, so it must be pretty important but instead of really digging into the story, I would like to focus on one part – Jesus’ blessing of the loaves and fish.

The setting of the pericope is a deserted place where lots of people are present and John 6:4 tells us that this occurs near the Passover celebration. We know that there are 5000 men present and we can assume that at least some of these men brought there wives and children.  Lets say, 2000 of the men are traveling with their spouse and average 3 kids in tow.  That means there are approximately 13000 people in this deserted region, far from the cities and villages, without food. 

The disciples want Jesus to divorce himself from this mass of wanderers.  That is the force of their words, send the crowds away, separate yourself from them, divorce them, and get away.  It is a pretty strong word the disciples use, but Jesus has different thoughts.  He says, They need not go away.  Essentially, I don’t need to divorce them, in fact, he even uses a softer word than divorce, they don’t need to leave he says, you feed them.  You give them something to eat.  It is a command.

There response is telling, in the Greek, the emphasis is upon the word nothing.  Nothing we have is how is literally would be translated Nothing except 5 loaves and 2 fish. Figuratively, it would be like saying …

And what’s more, is the detail we are given about the 5 loaves and 2 fish in the gospel of John 6:9.  John tells us they were 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish.  Barley loaves were considered the worst bread around, and the 2 small fish are really 2 small fish, akin to 2 anchovies or sardines that we would get out of a can and eat with bread.  When the disciples comment that they have nothing, they literally mean, that compared to the 13000 folks present, all having been traveling to reach Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, all tired and worn down, at the end of the day from having been in the late spring sun.  Compared to the crowd, 5 pieces of hard tack and 2 stinky fish is Nothing. 

Isn’t that so like us. Don’t we frequently look at the situation and then size up our resources in comparison.  Sometimes we are happy with the situation, we have more than enough.  Sometimes we are relieved with the circumstance, we have just enough.  But frequently, I think we are concerned with our affairs for there isn’t enough to make it all around.  It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about money to make it through the month, time to complete all the tasks that need to be done, intelligence or wisdom to solve our problems or emotional energy to relate with another person, or anything else.  Don’t we often run into situations, more often than we would like, when the resources available are insufficient for the problems at hand?

I remember one such time when I was working in construction.  It was a bid day, the days I hated and loved more than any others.  Bid days meant the possibility of new work, but they also meant a lot of stress and emotional capital.  Bid days normally exhausted me and at the end of the bid, I went home, regardless of whether it was 10 a.m. or 5 p.m.  But this bid day there were 2 major bids due within 1 hour of each other followed up by a number of little bids due at the end of the day.  Intellectually and emotionally I didn’t have the resources to make it.  I dreaded that day for a week, I kept trying to get ahead so the day would be easier, so I could manage it better with my skills, but it just wouldn’t come together and my subcontractors just wouldn’t cooperate.  At 9 a.m., 1 hour before the first bid was due on a $1 million dollar job, I had Nothing.  No mechanical, no electrical, no plumbers, no painters, no drywallers, no flooring.  Nothing.  Of 40+ lines in my bid, I had 3 items.  At 9:30 I had 7 items, at 9:45 I had 13 items, 9:50 I had 20 items, and in the last 8 minutes I received 100 bids which I had to sort, evaluate and decide upon for the remaining 20 lines, enter them into my spreadsheet, fill out a form and get it faxed with a timestamp no later than 9:59:59 a.m.[1]

Then I got to repeat the whole thing in the next hour with another job, only this time the project was a couple million dollars.  You can probably relate.  We all have times when we are overwhelmed and the needs are monstrous compared to the situation.  Frankly, I think this is how the disciples felt looking at the situation in the desert: 13,000 people, 12 disciples, 1 Jesus, 5 measly loaves and 2 fish. 

But Jesus has a completely different way of looking at the situation.  Where the disciples want to solve the problem by removing the items causing the problem, in this case the people, Jesus wants to solve the problem by looking to heaven and blessing God.  Where the disciples see what is lacking and how little they have, Jesus sees the Father, the giver of all good things.  Where the disciples are unsure of the situation, Jesus trusts that the situation is exactly as God would have it. 

Jesus takes the resources that have been provided, he doesn’t ask for more, he doesn’t cajole the crowd into being more generous.  He accepts what is present, even though it appears to be insufficient and of substandard quality.  He accepts it from the hands of the disciples.  Then he looks up to heaven.  He looks to the hand of the one who gives everything, every bit of life, every bit of good, every bit of sadness, every bit of joy, every bit of sorrow, every bit of life.  Jesus looks to heaven, to the throne of the Father Almighty and blesses or praises the Lord.

It is the same thing he taught his disciples to do in the Lord’s prayer, to pray “Our Father, who ar’t in heaven…”  Jesus recognizes from where even these apparently insufficient morsels came from and he praises God for them.  In fact, he probably prayed the prayer that was common in that day and still common today among Jews sitting down to eat: “Blessed are thou, Jehovah our God, King of the Universe, who causes bread to come forth from the earth.”

Jesus praises God for what he has.  He thanks God for the provision and trusts God for the result.  Paul Stevens in his book Down to earth Spirituality captures this truth with the following words, “[The practice of thanksgiving allows us] to see that God has given us what we need and that God (not a perfect situation) is our portion (Ps. 73:26).” 

Jesus is our illustration of this truth, thanksgiving and blessing for what we have, even for the little things in life, allows the Father to do amazingly beyond what we ask or imagine.  The story concludes by informing us that everyone ate and was filled.  Everyone was satiated and the resources God had provided were more than enough to accomplish the work God had in mind. 

Isn’t this a wonderful picture of the gospel?  A simple man, born in a manger, the son of a carpenter, and a Carpenter himself was pitted against the needs of the world: sin abundant, arrogance supreme, apathy unmatched, violence and anger, hypocrisy and selfishness.  All of this was the situation that faced the God man named Jesus Christ.  And add to that list, the wrath of God.  The situation surely seemed daunting and the resources at hand surely seemed lacking, but Jesus didn’t call for angels to bear him up, though he had been tempted to do so, he didn’t rely on his own authority as the 2^nd person of the God-head to take control of the world, though he had every right to.  He didn’t even demand that more people step forward to ensure that adequate quantities of offending blood were offered.  On the contrary, he went to the garden and this time “fell with his face to the ground and prayed.”  Whether looking to heaven or bowing one’s head, the truth is the same, Jesus went to God and sought his glory.  And the resources of God flowed through that simple man and in his death; the sins of the world were atoned for.  The guilt of humanity was erased and the wrath of God was appeased, all because the focus was on what God could and would do in inestimable circumstances.

So on this thanksgiving day, look to heaven and bless the Lord for everything he has given you, including the ability to commune with The Almighty God, and the next time you are tempted to think that the resources at your disposal aren’t enough, remember the feeding of the 13013 with 5 measly loaves and 2 small fish and bless the Lord for what He has in mind.  You may find yourself against ghastly odds, but like Jesus you too can be the conduit of God’s grace to the world.

---

[1] I don’t remember the exact numbers but it was something like this.

Christianity-New Age dialogue #3

On Nov 17, 2009, Joshua wrote:

Hello Scott,

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to you, I will try to be more timely in the future.

Here is my theory on how the universe began. This is not based in scripture but rather various sources and personal feeling/experience. Sometimes I will look to scripture for wisdom and understanding, but my interpretation comes from a perspective of God being everything in existence. In the beginning there was the void, out of which came God. God was a kind of energy with no physical form.

Christian Parenting - Spiritual Formation in the Family

Since the goal of Christian parenting is to raise obedient disciples of Jesus Christ, then every family needs to be a place of spiritual formation.  This isn't the job of the Church, or youth pastor, it is the job of parents.  Children need to be taught and have modeled to them the lifestyle habits that make for obedient discipleship. And they need it to come from their parents. These lifestyles and patterns of life include prayer, Scripture study, Scripture memorization and meditation, worship, submission, forgiveness, repentance, Sabbath rest, generosity, Stewardship and a host of other disciplines.

The Word calls us to train up our children in the way they should go  (Prov. 22:6).  We are the parents and our children are our heritage, and if rightly trained, a blessing not only to ourselves but to all whom they will come into contact.  So how does one begin the process of making the home a place of spiritual formation?

The Manhattan Declaration

There is a great declaration related to the sanctity of Life, Marriage and religious liberty which has recently been published.  it is called the Manhattan Declaration and you can read it here.  I signed on tonight and encourage you to read this well thought out piece.

Here is an excerpt:

"While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions." 

Nothing less than perfect obedience - 1 Samuel 15

Let me tell you a story of a man who knew God’s will and yet struggled to implement it into his life.

This man had a house in which he took in stray animals.  He knew that God had called him to care for every stray animal he found along the way. Whether it was a lion, or a puppy, a bird or guinea pig didn’t matter.  His purpose was to take in the stray animals of the world that God brought across his path.  He continued in God’s will for some time, making arrangements, building the pens, setting up the land in order to fulfill his call.  Then the day came when he found his first stray: a dirty, diseased little fox.  A wily little animal, able to sneak out of the pens and intent on harassing the other pets that had already been a part of the family since before the call had gone forth.  This fox, became such a difficult little animal that our animal rescuer started listening to his friends and family who told him to turn this one out.  Let it go.  Send it back to nature and let the wild world determine its fate.  Maybe someone else will be brought by God to save it. And so he did, he released the fox back to the world.

Do you identify?  Do you have a story like that in your life?  Maybe you aren’t called to be an animal rescuer but you are called to do something! Are the various pressures of life stopping you?.  Are you wondering what next, or if obedience makes sense?  Maybe you are guilty, or repentant, or maybe you are just self-justifying in your disobedience.  Let me read you a story from 1 Sam 15 which is just like our ficticious story:

READ 1 Sam 15:1-21

The story is remarkable, if you really think about it.  There are so many points of correlation to our animal rescuer, there are so many blatant details given about “God’s direction for Saul’s life” that we, modern people long for such direct revelation about what God wants from us.  Let’s walk through the text, allowing me to comment as we go.

Samuel, God’s prophet, comes to Saul, the King saying, (1Sam. 15:1) “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord.”  Right up front we see that God is the authority behind all authority.  God is the one who sets up the rulers of the earth, and so God is presumably also the one who has the authority to direct their steps.  He has the right to tell them what to do and how to do it.  And that concurs with Rom. 13:1 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Wouldn’t you love to be in Saul’s place right now, to have the very mouthpiece of God, his prophet come and tell you what to do?  I would love for God to tell me exactly how much money to give to retirement, how much money to give to the church, what decision to make in regard to this project of that, wouldn’t you?  This is what God does for Saul, saying, (1Sam. 15:2-3) “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

Clearly, concisely, and to the point; God tells Saul exactly what he is suppose to do, he even tells him why he is suppose to do it.  These Amalekites had waylaid the Jews at Rephidim.  If you want the story you can read about it in Exodus 17:8-16.  But let me read the commentary on this from Deut. 25:17-19 “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

These folks had terrorized the promised nation of God on their Exodus, acting as foxes picking off the weakest members of the community, terrorizing any who lagged behind the group.  And because of this God commanded early on that they were to be removed from the earth, blotted out of memory, totally destroyed.  Those words totally destroy everything, they mean exactly that totally destroy everything.  Leave nothing, don’t spare a single person, article or animal.  All of them are to be removed from the earth, no vestige of their existence is to be left for posterity, no fragment for a museum collection.  Nothing.  Gone, Gone, Gone. 

You may be asking, what do the cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys have to do with it. And couldn’t the infants at least be saved and raised to know God, are they really under the curse?  To the first, I don’t know why the animals are to be destroyed, seems like a senseless waste of property and to the second, Yes, they are really under the curse.  In short, I don’t understand God’s plan or directions; I am just delivering the message as God delivered it to Saul.

So what does Saul do?  He gathers the army, and sets about preparing for war just like our animal rescuer did in preparing the property and building the pens.  The necessary steps are followed and along the way, the Kenites are asked to move.  They weren’t commanded to be killed and they had been allies of Israel.  (They were the descendants of Moses father in Law; we learn from Judg. 1:16 “The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.”  But they were also of the line that Jael, the young women who killed Sisera, came from in Judges 4:11-12.  And one final note of prophetic truth about why the Kenites aren’t destroyed now, Balaam had prophesied so in Numbers 24:20-21 “Amalek was first among the nations, but he will come to ruin at last. Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle: “Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock;”  These are friends and allies of Israel, and God wasn’t intent on destroying them.)

Saul takes the necessary steps, attacks and routes the Amalekites and then he spares Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle.  He destroys the bad and weak, but keeps the good and strong and heads off to set up a monument in his own honor (v.12).  Verse 9 says Saul was “unwilling to destroy.” Unwilling, that word is a powerful word.  In the positive sense, or in the sense of being willing to do something, it means that a person consents to an action even if the action is pleasing or not to them personally.  In our context that would mean, Saul is unwilling to consent to the direction of God.  This is the same word used of Pharoah in Exodus 10:27 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.”  Saul is taking on the personality of the quintescential man who was unwilling to obey God – Pharoah.

When Samuel approaches the King, Saul immediately states that he has carried out the Lord’s instructions and when his sin is brought forward he blames the soldiers, just like Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  Just like our animal rescuer would blame society for putting too much pressure on him from being able to obey God’s command.  But Saul goes even a step further than just blaming folks.  He lies about their intentions, he says it is to sacrifice to God, but Samuel calls out the truth in verse 19 saying, “Why did you pounce on the plunder…” 

Saul wants the world to believe, and probably in his mind has justified it himself and believes he is serving God and improving on the commandment of the Lord.  Not only will these animals be ultimately destroyed, I can use them in an act of worship and get in on some of the plunder myself.  I can have a number of very fine dinners in the presence of the priests with these good animals.  But Samuel sees right thru it.  He choose the word pounce, a term specifically reserved for predatory animals, particularly birds of prey when they swoop in and take their prey for their own consumption.  Samuel sees that this isn’t pious worship; it is a selfish claim to the good things of life, which is going on in the heart of Saul and the people.

Before I go much further, let me expose my own sin, my own Saul likeness, particularly in the area of adoption. Many of you are aware of our intentions to adopt a child or children. What may surprise you is that I have struggled with feeling like Saul. I know the Lord's intentions and his heart for his people, the Church.  It is summed up very succinctly in Mic. 6:6 “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  For our family and for many others, that tangibly means adopting the orphan and widow, at least that is how James saw it (1:27) “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I know how much God desires for his people to be a safe harbor for those in need. I know the call to spend myself on behalf of the poor (Isa 58:10) and yet, there have been times that I don't want to do it. It isn’t always this way, there have been times where I earnestly desired to adopt but there have also been times recently where I haven’t.  The costs associated with an adoption have become large in my mind, large enough to cause me to be wary. (By cost, I mean much more than simply the financial costs, but rather mean the familial and social costs.)  I am the animal rescuer who has listened to the voice of society saying “God will bring someone else to do it.  You already have enough things to worry about, enough responsibility. You needn’t obey here.”

I have contemplated disobedience many times. I have tried to justify it by saying that "Scott you are called to motivate people to adopt, not do it yourself." I have tried to justify my disobedience by saying "another Compassion child would be a sacrifice in keeping with the spirit of God's instruction." And there are countless others thoughts that have run through my mind. Many times the thought has crossed my mind, "Christ died for me, if I disobey, that too will be covered and I will be fine." That thought has been and is a very real thought in my mind, yet my blatant sin, my defiance of God's word and plan for our family, while covered by Christ, is evidence of a heart not in submission to the Lord.

Then there are the thoughts about leadership, "How can I lead, if I myself am not willing to be led into this area? Would I be a hypocrite if I knew God's plan and failed to live into it?" Maybe refused would be a better word, more in line with keeping with Samuel’s rebuke of Saul.  And the truth hurts; yes, I would be a hypocrite refusing to obey my God. So I continue to go through the motions with a heart sometimes inside and sometimes outside of God's revealed word. I continue on in obedience to my Lord, but praying all the while for a heart that is changed and returned to a gracious acceptance of God's plans for His people. This, I believe, is the meaning of discipleship.

That brings me to our passage in 1 Samuel this morning. It was this passage that hit me both positively and negatively a few months ago when my rebellion was as its zenith. Specifically it was Samuel’s words, 1Sam. 15:22-23 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

God desires obedience, complete obedience from His people. He isn't concerned with the heart, and whether or not we think His ways are a good idea, or whether or not we have "better" ways of implementing His purposes. No, God wants, nay, God demands that we obey His will as revealed in His Word. Positively I was comforted, obedience is a just form of submission to God as compared to outright rebellion which assumes that I am in an superior position to God; I am conscious of his will and make the conscious choice to defy it, which is totally unexpected given my God’s amazingly merciful treatment of me in the past.  God had been gracious to Saul, elevating him to the kingship, and now Saul defies the very God who set him in authority.  No wonder rebellion is like the sin of divination and urging one to sin like the evil of idolatry.  Both are a direct affront to the reign of God, Saul rebelled, the soldiers urged so Saul gave in to them.  (The term arrogance is really “urging one to do something”.)

Returning to my story, God desires obedience and so I began to feel a little smug about being an obedient disciple, until my heart was pricked by the fact that Christ's obedience is the only obedience that matters in relation to God. He alone is the only one who has always been obedient to every command of God.  He alone is the only one who has ever been fully led by God’s Spirit in every action and thought of his earthly life.  Christ alone has never broken a commandment, or judged another unjustly.  Christ alone has served the oppressed and set the captives free and proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor.  Christ alone has done all of this, and so Christ alone is the sacrifice that was once and for all, for all times, including every time that my obedience was incomplete or lacking in any way.  And that certainly includes the sin of a heart not joyful to do God's will.

And so we are all cast back upon the cross as our sin is exposed once again.  For who us has always reveled and rejoiced in God’s will for his or her life?  Who of us has known God’s desire for our life and chosen to disobey or improve upon the plan?  Who of us have urged others to not follow the leading of the Spirit in order to justify our own disobedience?  We are all like Saul, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

But unlike Saul who was rejected because of his disobedience, I will not be rejected because of my disobedience, and neither will you. Saul's rejection doesn't apply to us as long as we are in Christ.  Praise the Lord.  For the Scriptures go on to proclaim after saying, (Rom. 3:23) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Christ’s sacrifice of atonement keeps us from the rejection which Saul experienced.  Christ’s obedience, his sinless perfect life culminating in the one act of righteousness the Father asked of him, to die a death engulfed in sin in order to conquer sin, saves us.  Listen to these passages, Rom. 5:18-19 “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Or Phil. 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Heb. 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered."

Christ’s obedience saves us and allows us to be led by a man who was obedient in both heart and action.[1]

Now, a question remains, Are we free from obeying God because Christ obeyed the Lord perfectly? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, in gratitude we are called to obey our Lord even if we don't feel like. But we can always call upon God to change our heart and make it joyful in his will.

As I close, I refer you to contemplate a series of 6 questions included in the bulletin in order to personalize this sermon to your life.

1. Where do you know what God expects but your heart isn't in it?

2. How have you tried to justify your disobedience?

3. Do you desire to obey joyfully?

4. Are you willing to obey even if your heart isn't in it?

5. What steps must you take now to follow God into this new area?

6. Pray for God to change your heart into one that is joyful and exuberant in his will!

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[1] Philip Wendell Crannell, “OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST” [ISBE] “But just as Jesus' growth in knowledge  (Luke 2:52[1]) was not from error to truth, but from partial knowledge to completer, so His "learning obedience" led Him not from disobedience or debate to submission, but from obedience at the present stage to an obedience at ever deeper and deeper cost. The process was necessary for His complete humanity, in which sense He was "made perfect," complete, by suffering. It was also necessary for His perfection as example and sympathetic High Priest. He must fight the human battles under the human conditions. Having translated obedient aspiration and disposition into obedient action in the face of, and in suffering unto, death, even the death of the cross, He is able to lead the procession of obedient sons of God through every possible trial and surrender.”

Parenting - Obedience in Children

"Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your Father and mother..." 

 - Ephesians 6:1-2

As I continue to work out a set of biblical thoughts on parenting, the next issue I would like to address is that of Obedience.  Obedience is the act of complying with another person's wishes or orders.  Normally the person is in a position of superiority, however not always.  In the Christian life, obedience is really about service to others and service to God.  This is our greatest calling as believers - love God and neighbor, and love according to James is always a tangible act of service.  Obedience to God is about loving him and serving him.

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Who is worship all about? - Romans 12:1-2

Who is worship all about?  Let me start off by telling you a parable.  I wish I could claim it as my own, but it comes from pastor bc comings, of Mountain View CRC in Lynden.[1]

There was a prince whose massive estates were given to the care of certain stewards during an extended time of frequent absence. He was not always absent. From time to time he would return to visit his estates and the people who worked them. Both the master and his subjects seemed agreed that the visits were all too short.

As time progressed, one of the stewards became concerned with the manner in which the common people presented themselves to their sovereign. He took it upon himself to instruct the people as to when and how and in what demeanor they should address the Prince upon his returns. Instruction in protocol was regularly given and became the focus of his administration. He drew up entire books filled with stately etiquette and greetings of carefully worded grandeur. So effective was his training program that the common folk came to believe that they need only repeat the words written in their books of protocol to maintain good relations with the Prince.

On the given days and at the appointed times, the Prince would return to find the workers of this estate well schooled in their etiquette. With pomp and pageantry they greeted his every visitation. The people came in their finest attire and they read blessings, eulogies, and litanies of great eloquence. The occasion always left the people and their prince with the impression that something lofty, gracious, and beautiful had happened—though perhaps they could not say what it was.

On other of the Prince’s estates, the steward was rather more personal and pragmatic. “I am not so much concerned with show as with reality,” he was heard to say. “Our great Prince deserves rich fruits, not fancy words.”

When the Prince visited this estate, he was greeted warmly and directly by people dressed in working garments. There was no pageantry, no ornate words. In fact, little by way of celebration at all. The work paused only long enough to allow for direct and simple words to be exchanged between the Lord and his people. Once the converse was over, it was back to the work and fruitfulness.

Finally the day arrived on which the Prince came into his kingdom. At his coronation the stewards arrived at the palace, each convinced that his administration of the estate was superior. Each anticipated that the people of his estate would receive the better commendation because of the administration under which they had served. Each secretly looked down a rather self-satisfied nose at the other.

The steward of the regal estates was confident his people were more pleasing to the new King because of the stability, propriety and respect of the words he had composed for them to say. At the same time, he was quite sure that the King would be displeased with the low-brow words and tattered apparel of the workers from the other estate. Certainly, the King of such a rich and influential domain was pleased only by the best of words, ceremonies and apparel.

The steward of the more folksome estates was also confident his people would fare better before the King than those of the other estate. Their words were not lofty, but they were genuine. They had not squandered precious time celebrating the King when he had been a Prince. They had remained at their posts—working the ground and bringing forth fruits for the coronation banquet. None of his people had presumed to read someone else’s greeting to their King. Their words were their own.

But when the King turned to the people of his estates, he gave preference to neither the regal estates nor the common estates. Instead he judged each person concerning matters of the heart.

To one he declared, “Your words were not your own in composition, but you strove diligently to make them your own in significance. They became to you an occasion for raising the level of our discourse to loftier, more noble things. Well done.”

To another he frowned, “You spoke to me with high and lofty phrases but your heart and mind never rose above the pig sty. Thus your words were false to you and odious to me, filled with disdainful complacency. Was it not worth it to you to breathe life and meaning into your wonderful words and pretty turns of speech? You are unfaithful and fit only for my contempt.”

When the servants from the common estates approached the throne, they too found the King interested in deeper things than the manner of address and decorum they practiced.

To one he smiled, and bid him approach the throne, “My dear old friend, how I treasure the memory of our long discussions over the feed trough. You have no idea the good you did me by your forthright respect and ready service. I look forward to feeding and grooming the livestock with you again and again in the royal stables.”

Yet at the sign of another his face fell, “Oh, you,” He muttered. “You took my visits for granted and presumed to speak with me as if we were equals. Your so-called service to me was a wispy veil for your self-serving attitude. You were careless in your thoughts and actions toward me, I shall take very little care over what becomes of you in my kingdom.”

By the time the stewards approached the throne, their confidence had melted away. The steward of the royal estates had acted in good conscience for his attempts to dignify the communion of his people with their Master by lending them order and nobility. But he was suddenly aware that in the doing, he had traded away the honest and reverent intimacy his people might have known with their ruler. The steward of the common estates was glad for his emphasis upon service and fruitful labors, but suddenly felt denuded and inappropriate in the presence of such a magnificent King.

The King read the heart of each in their eyes. He said nothing, but under his gaze the stewards turned one to the other and tearfully grasped hands. “We have much to learn from one another,” they agreed.

As they turned to the King, and bowed low before him, no words were exchanged—only the smile of their Master and the prospect of many happy days setting the balance in the kingdom.

Let’s return to the message of Romans in order to bolster up our concept of what worship is all about.  Romans uses the word therefore 20 times. 19 of them are in reference to some past information that Paul is distilling into a consequence or resulting belief.  Our passage in Romans 12 is the 14^th such occurrence. In order for us to answer the question at hand: What is worship all about?  It is imperative that we follow Paul’s preceding conclusions. Let’s walk through the book of Romans summarily from therefore to therefore, answering the question, What is this therefore, there for?

After opening the letter and discussion humanities stubborn refusal to admit that God is both Lord Almighty and Creator of the Universe (Romans 1:20) and humanity’s refusal to worship God, Paul tells us the result:

Rom. 1:24 ¶ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

The sin of humanity has brought more sin upon themselves.  These in turn results in more idolatry, sexual perversions, and every form of wicked behavior, even approving of sin in others.  To which Paul says, we are all guilty.  Rom. 2:1 ¶ You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. We are all guilty.  Every human being approves of some sin tacitly by considering his or her life acceptable while another’s is unacceptable.  We are condemned, each and every one of us.

And it is because of this reality, that Paul writes, Rom. 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.   This is because none of us can observe the law fully; we all stumble at it in some area, or excuse others and ourselves like us in certain points of adherence.  The law, our actions and obedience to it, cannot save a single sinful human being but because of the atoning life of Christ and the shedding of his blood, salvation is possible but it comes and always has come by faith.  Righteousness was given to Abraham, not for obedience, but for faith in God’s promises.  And so Paul writes, Rom. 4:16  Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

And since this righteousness through faith is available to everyone, since everyone is under the same condemnation in regards to fulfilling the law completely, Paul tells us Rom. 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faith has brought righteousness, which has brought peace and reconciliation with God.  And because of this peace and reconciliation there is the hope of ultimate salvation – redemption from our bodies of sin.  Because of this truth, and its importance, Paul recites the first five chapters in 13 verses beginning at Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…(Rom 5:21b) so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In light of this truth, the hope of salvation, Rom. 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If this is indeed true, Paul urges us on in the Christian life saying, Rom. 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  The Christian is called to change the way he lives, no longer in sinfulness and depravity, estranged from God and denying his very power and authority, no those are the things which got humanity into our present predicament.  Instead, we are to acknowledge God’s power and authority and will undoubtedly lead to a new way of living.  A way of living that doesn’t bring judgment upon others, or ourselves for if you recall, the judging of earlier was a means of self-justification. It was a means whereby one condemned another in order to “uphold the law” in themselves.

But now in Christ and in hope, in submission to the authority of God we no longer need to compare ourselves or sustain ourselves, in fact on the contrary, we recognize our complete vulnerability before God in the face of absolute righteousness and so our only concern is this:  Am I obedient to the promptings of God’s authority in my life?  And it is because of this truth that Paul writes, Rom. 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  There is nothing else, no one else who can condemn us, for all are condemned under the law and by the law, but in Christ we have been raised above the search for righteousness in obedience to the law.  And if this is the case, again Paul draws the conclusion Rom. 8:12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it…but [to be led] by the Spirit…and put to death the misdeeds of the body. 

Our life is now God’s life.  It belongs to him. By recognizing Christ as our righteousness, all believers have essentially allowed God to reverse the original sin, which brought condemnation upon humanity.  We have recognized God’s authority and power and if this is so, we have also recognized the truth of Scripture, which the Heidelberg Catechism succinctly summarizes in its first question and answer.  That truth is “That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

Rom. 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. If it is true that I am God’s creation and he is my redeemed, then human effort or desire are irrelevant, but everything rests upon the mercy of our Lord.  Rom. 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. And that reality is a hard one for many of us to accept, but it is the natural outworking of every thing that Paul has said until this point.  He goes on to flesh that out in the story of Israel and their rejection of the Messiah while the gentiles accepted him and were grafted into the spiritual Israel.

So Paul says to these grafted in Gentile converts and Jewish believers, Rom. 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. Contemplate God’s mercy to you and his wrath to those who persist in a state of denying God’s power and authority.  Consider it; consider the outcome of those who refuse to acknowledge God as Lord and Creator.  Reflect on the future of those whose lives are lived as their own gods, devoid of any serious acknowledgement of their sin, God’s righteousness and God’s judgment upon those who sin.  Think about it, dwell on it and then reflect on his mercy, his grace, his kindness that allows others and yourself who do acknowledge God’s demands, and God’s provision.  And when your reflection is complete and your acceptance of his Son’s life for you is settled in your mind and heart, then Paul says, here is the natural response, Worship:

Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So let us worship God, remembering that our needs, wants and desires mean nothing, for we have been bought with a price and our master is calling us to be transformed!  Let’s worship God.

Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Worship flows out of proper reflection on God, man, sin and judgment.  It flows out of the heart, not the external as the parable expounds.  Our gathering on Sunday morning is but one aspect of the life of worship, but it all flows from recognizing that God alone is master and Lord.  He alone is sovereign and the creator.  And that means that we are creatures.  If he is creator, then we are creatures.  And if this is true then worship isn’t about anything that we like or prefer, whether it is music style or liturgy, whether it is comfortable or uncomfortable for us.  Whether it challenges us or doesn’t challenge us.  Whether we like the pastor or don’t like the pastor.  None of these things matter.  For each and every one of them is a reflection back upon the root sin, which brought God’s condemnation down upon humanity in the first place – the idea that my wants, desires and preferences are what is most important.  Poohey!

If we are coming on Sunday mornings with any of those thoughts or ideas, we must take time to return to the first 11 chapters of Romans and settle the message in our mind and contemplate that message seriously in our life and if we believe that our savior has truly redeemed us, and we are not our own but have been bought with a price, then the question we must come to worship with is – What is worship all about?  Or better yet “Who is worship all about?” 

It is about God, it is all about God.  It is about offering ourselves to him in service and obedience to the Holy Spirit he has placed within our very soul.  It is about living a life out of the reflection that God has chosen men, women and children to be saved, and I am one of them.  Therefore, I, we, come not with our own agenda, our own desires, our own preferences, but we come with thankfulness and gratefulness to our Lord each and every day, including Sunday morning.

The world says gather with like minded people, get your needs met, plug into a church where your preferences are the preferences of the majority.  But the gospel says, Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.   The world says, worship is about an emotional response carried out at the end of the service.  The world tells us that worship is for Sunday morning but come Monday, faith and life don’t mix.  The world tells us that my faith need not affect my work ethic, or my politics and definitely not my economics. But the gospel says, Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  This is your spiritual act of worship…

The world says we need to fill the dying churches with more up to date music, better instruments, nicer, more comfortable décor and this will in turn fill the church with greater numbers of people. But the gospel says, Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The task is not to populate public meetings with greater numbers of people, but with greater numbers of worshipers[2] who recognize that it isn’t about their preferences, desires, or even their heart felt plans and ideas about evangelism and making the Gospel message comfortable.  The challenge for every Christian in all of life, including Sunday morning worship, to abandon himself or herself as a slave to the hand of God.

The world says bring a comfortable message to the people so that they will accept it and join the church.  In fact many church-goers believe that worship is to be comfortable for them.  We have enough stress in regular life, they say.  We have enough demands, enough uncertainty, enough surprises, enough people telling us what to do, that we just want to come on Sunday morning and relax, enjoy the service and not have anyone bring more surprises, demands or tension to our lives.  We like the words, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” But it never quite occurs to us that when Jesus speaks of rest it is in terms of His yoke of service—for Jesus continued, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Worship is challenging, it is submission to the leading of the Master and Creator. For the gospel says, Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Quit thinking that we have any part of directing even our Sunday morning gatherings; they are God’s time for training his people, for receiving their praise and for enjoying His family.  It is not about us, it is all about him.  The promise was never for a comfortable message, it was for a message of Comfort – you aren’t in charge of your life any longer, That is what got you in trouble, but I, God, am in charge of your life, the Father says, and so your ills are no longer, follow me while I lead you out of them.  This is the transforming of the mind.[3]

That is a hard reality to come to grips with.  I have struggled with it and continue to struggle with it. Picture yourself, sitting in a small hut with 50 smelling bodies, 100-degree heat and no windows.  The music is going to be sung to beats you are unfamiliar with and the people are going to dance and jump and bounce so that the 50 smelly bodies are going to become 50 smelly, sweaty bodies and you will be squashed 8 people onto a bench made for 4.  The speaker is going to talk in a language you don’t understand, the message is going to be translated and the doctrine will be bordering on heresy and the next 4 hours are going to be spent in this gathering, only then to be followed by a eating a meal you don’t like while the men of the gathering ask you questions about every conceivable topic from money to sex to politics.  Would you go each week?  Would you consider that worship?  What if you could go another village over and be part of a body that had fans blowing and plenty of space, and the teaching was sounder?  Which gathering would you choose?  That is the life of most missionaries.  It was our life.

When we returned to the states we attended a church that was for most practical purposes the same for us, the veneers were different but the foreignness was the same.  I had never sung hymns, until coming to the CRC, instead of 50 smelling bodies with a lot of movement and cramped quarters, there were 150 scented bodies with plenty of space but absolute stoic resolve not to move one square inch.  The message was doctrinally strong at times but there was little to no fellowship, no gathering for a meal afterward, and no discussion of money, sex, and politics.  Would you go each week?  Would you consider one worship and the other not?   How about if a new gathering started up and they were playing your favorite music?  Would you leave?  Or better yet, if the church you had been a part of was exactly what you wanted and then it started to change?  Would the new worship be better than the old, or worse?  Would it be more worshipful? 

Do you see, everything we are discussing is surface level?  It is a matter of opinion, it is focused on ourselves.  But the gospel says, Rom. 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Don’t view your wants, wishes and desires – come to see worship as occurring anytime, anywhere your mind is set upon God and his rule, his kingdom and his pushing forth into the world. 

Sunday worship, or all worship for that matter, is not about you or me or even the unbeliever we want to know Christ.  It is about the God who saves us and so has a right to direct our lives.  It is about the God who paid the price for our redemption, and so it is about the God who creates freedom and therefore can tell his people how to live.  It is about the God who is gracious and merciful and so it is about the people who recognize His grace and mercy, and understand his right to condemn all men but see his surpassing kindness in their election.  It is about God Almighty who alone dictates truth.  And so worship is the all-encompassing recognition of God’s power and authority, his creative skill and generosity as it is displayed in every act of living in a redeemed person’s life. 

So let us worship God, following where he is leading.  Amen!

---

[1] Cumings, Waterways of Worship, pg. 226.

[2] BC Cumings, pg. 203.

[3] Cumings, pg. 207.

The Parental Pursuit of Christ as it relates to Raising Children

If our goal as parents is to raise obedient disciples of Jesus Christ, then where does that process begin.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "A student is not above his teacher..." (10:24).  If this is the case, then the logical starting place for instruction on parenting is with our own walk of discipleship with Christ.  Our children will become who we are and what we model.

How can we as parents raise obedient disciples if we, ourselves are not obedient?  How can we teach our children to pray about everything, if we struggle with a daily prayer life?  How will we teach our children to pray for kingdom causes when all we ever pray for are worldly issues like our daily bread?  How will our children learn to serve others, if we never serve?  How will our children know that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God on matters of faith and life, if we never discuss it as a family or read it with our children or refuse to submit to its directions?  I think you are starting to get the picture.

The first step in raising godly children is in allowing God to put our own life in order.  Here are my suggestions:

1. Begin reading the Bible as a family each and every day.  Pick a time: a meal, as part of bedtime routine or some other time when the whole family is always, or almost always present.  Read a section of Scripture, one of the great stories and talk about it.  Ask you children where they see Jesus or God or salvation in the story and then relate that back to the redemption story of Christ.  There are numerous great children's bibles which pick these great stories, or you could just begin reading your own Bible in Genesis and the first 20 chapters of Exodus.  There are a wealth of stories in these 70 chapters to stir up a family's imagination.
2. Start praying as a family.  Spend more time than just the cursory pre-meal "Thank you God for this meal. Amen."  Take some time each day and ask you children to both thank God for something and to pray for someone else.  We do it at bedtime, but the time is irrelevant, what counts is that we as parents start to develop these habits, and our children, after a few short days will think this is the way it is always suppose to be.  I am amazed that my kids never fail to remind me, when I forget to pray.  They help me stay regular in my walk with God.
3. Take time alone to read and pray and reflect on your own life.  Allow it to be conformed to Christ.  Ask yourself tough questions about what you are modeling in the way of service, generosity, stewardship, forgiveness, thankfulness... Then if there is room to grow, read the Scriptures and find out where they are calling forth change.  But most importantly, after you know what the Bible ways, do it.  Be obedient and tell your kids about what you are learning, and how you are changing so that they see and hear obedience being practiced.

These are 3 simple steps that every parent can engage that will change their parenting eternally, and will set a strong foundation for training up children who are to become disciples of Jesus, too.  It begins in setting our priorities correctly, if we want our children to grow up with godly priorities.  May God bless you on your walk.

What is the purpose of Christian parenting?

According to an Amazon.com there are 119, 188 books on parenting.  With such a wealth of experts on the subject, one can only guess that there are an equally numerous number of opinions about how to parent, the purpose of parenting and the goals to which parents should strive.  In fact, the predominant view of most parenting resources is to shepherd our children into productive members of society by the time they reach emancipation.  But is such a view, really the purpose of Christian parenting?  Is that all we are called to as believers, or is there a greater goal than merely productivity?


I believe there is a greater goal!

God's Love and Worldly erotica

Voddie Baucham has a great chapter entitled "Learn to Love" in Family Driven Faith.  In it he explores the differences between sexual love, aka the Cupid syndrome, and true Christian love which can span any and all relationships.

One of the most helpful thoughts he communicates is related to being a father:

"Like most men, I went through a difficult season when my daughter began to walk into womanhood.  how do I express love to this young woman if I believe that love is a sensual force?  Is it best for me to stop hugging my daughter?...I had to learn how to be appropriate with my daughter without ceasing to be affectionate.  The first step was to get over the Greco-Roman myth of romantic love.  I had to view love biblically if I was going to be able to translate it from one relationship to another." (pg. 55-56)

Praying God’s Will

If you are looking for a summary of many of the things we have learned over the past months concerning Paul's prayer life.  Here is a handout that may serve you well.  I have been praying for 1 item a day for our church community and for my family.  May God's peace be with you.

Mohler on The Economist's Falling Birthrate Article

Here is a quote from Albert Mohler's editorial on the recent article in The Economist:

The bad news is that the girls who will give birth to the coming, larger generations have already been born. The good news is that they will want far fewer children than their mothers or grandmothers did.

Do they really mean what they say here? The fact that these girls have already been born is "bad news." The good news is that they are likely to want fewer children, offers the essay.

...In the end, the economic calculations and forecasts are less important than the moral concerns raised by this cover story. The assumption of the article seems to be that human beings are primarily economic agents, who should be moved into the workplace as soon as possible. This is a sadly deficient understanding of human nature and what it means to be human. The depreciation of family life (and specifically of motherhood) found in this essay reveal a great deal.

A society that celebrates a falling fertility rate is a society that is trading maternity wards for nursing homes. There is something very troubling and very sad about that exchange. Not least among the troubling questions is this: Just who will come visit and care for the aged when the aged outnumber all the rest?

Read the full article here.

Doug Stringer and relational equity

"The seed is always sown for the a future harvest...and the degree of return you get is based on the level of investment you make..."  This sounds like an economics lecture, but in truth I just returned from a wonderful gospel presentation by Doug Stringer, President of Turning Point Ministries, at Western Washington University's Faculty Forum.  

Sermon from 11/8/09

There will not be a text posted for the sermon this week, since the delivery differed substantially from what was on my manuscript.  And thank God for that, for on Saturday night I was still struggling with what I had written, but God graciously showed up and edited my words on the fly.  You can pick up an audio copy of the sermon at www.hopeinchristchurch.org