tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68643860446144280922024-03-08T05:03:58.770-05:00Noticingan online journalAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-84736888933281733062018-11-01T15:34:00.000-04:002018-11-02T10:52:17.117-04:00My Open Life<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I have been thinking about a curiosity: where does Jesus’s Great Commission (“make disciples of all nations”) appear in the epistles? After all, wasn’t that Jesus’s final command? Isn’t this the primary mandate for the church? Why then isn’t that command echoed in the letters to the early churches?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I can recall only three places where the epistles tell us how to interact with outsiders:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:5-6, ESV<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:12, ESV<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” 1 Peter 3:14-15, ESV<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b>Notice what’s missing?</b> There is no command to “share your faith,” not even an admonition to steer the conversation toward spiritual matters. What the apostles seem to assume is that Christ-followers will live close enough to non-Christians that their lives will provoke questions and that spiritual conversations will emerge naturally. It seems that when the New Testament speaks of personal evangelism, it speaks of a kind of opportunistic, reflexive evangelism that is never forced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">That comes as a relief to many of us who have had our share of awkward experiences with door-to-door campaigns or “cold turkey” efforts on the street. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But don’t imagine that this takes us off the hook. Christ-followers must be close enough to their non-Christian friends for their lives to be accessible and observable. For an introvert like me, that is the great challenge: to open up my life to my non-Christian acquaintances so that God can reveal Jesus to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b>So what are we to do with this? </b>As always, start where you are, not where you should be. Begin to pray that God will give you a greater burden for those non-Christian acquaintances on the edges of your life, people whom God loves dearly, ferociously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Begin to pray and to think and to plan how you can create space in your life – in your schedule, in your home – for those people to get close enough for God to reveal Jesus in you. This is a long-term commitment. Friendships take time to mature, especially to the level where serious personal conversations can take place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And I must add, in the interest of full disclosure, that you must be prepared for the possibility that God may want to reveal His glory and His grace in the way you handle suffering, so that your non-Christian friends become curious about the ”reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Then, as over time you do life with your new friends, pray that God “let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6) so that your new friends can see Jesus.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-81356022548413692522018-10-03T14:13:00.000-04:002018-10-05T14:18:32.249-04:00Three Key Ideas about Making Disciples<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 12pt;">It was Jesus’s last command to his own disciples: Go make disciples of all the </span><span class="" style="background-color: black; color: white;">people-group</span><span class="" style="background-color: black; color: white;">s</span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 12pt;">of the world (Matthew 28:19). If we are going to take Jesus seriously, we can see that </span><b style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 12pt;">making disciples is the central mandate of the church, and everything else is details.</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Let’s not rush past this. Think about what Jesus <i>didn’t</i> say to his disciples as his last command. Jesus lived in times that were more brutal and miserable than ours, yet he didn’t tell his disciples to “change the world” or “alleviate poverty” or “combat social injustice.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">These are all right and good and worthy goals, and Christians should be at the forefront in these endeavors, but they are not the primary concern of the church. As soon as the church makes any other project an end in itself instead of a means to the end of making disciples, we are neglecting – that is, we are <i>disobeying</i> – Christ’s command. We are, in the words of Dallas Willard, committing the Great Omission. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">In his excellent book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-Omission-Reclaiming-Essential-Discipleship-ebook/dp/B000JMKT00">The Great Omission</a>, Rediscovering Jesus' Essential Teaching on Discipleship,</i> Willard says it so well: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Jesus told us explicitly what to do…. He told us, as disciples, to make disciples. Not converts to Christianity, nor to some particular “faith and practice.” He did not tell us to arrange for people to “get in” or “make the cut” after they die, nor to eliminate the various brutal forms of injustice, nor to produce and maintain “successful” churches. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">These are all good things, and he had something to say about all of them. They will certainly happen if—but only if—we are (his constant apprentices) and do (make constant apprentices) what he told us to be and do. If we just do this, it will little </span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">matter </span></span></i><i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">what else we do or do not do.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">So if our aim is to “make disciples,” how do we go about helping another person toward the goal of mature discipleship? With a nod toward <a href="http://www.markhowelllive.com/start-here/">Mark Howell</a>, pastor and discipleship and small groups coach whose blog inspired this post, here are three key insights on making disciples:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Disciples are rarely made in rows”</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">I get this line from Howell. And he’s right. We cannot institutionalize this task; making disciples requires loving personal attention, the kind of attention that we cannot give in large groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">As an educator in Christian schools for four decades, my primary task was helping my students see and understand the Bible and the biblical worldview. As a teacher, cognitive achievement was really all I could assess, especially given the sheer numbers of students in my classroom (more than 100 every day, all in rows). I could ask good test questions to discern what my students knew and understood, but I couldn’t spend enough time with each student to discern what was going on in their hearts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Education is not </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 16px;">in and of itself</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the same thing as </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 12pt;">disciple-making. As vital as </span>transformation<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 12pt;"> of the mind is, there is more to making disciples than providing sound and effective teaching. Disciple-making is not just about making good theologians and Bible students, it’s about shaping the heart as well as the mind. This requires consistent, persistent personal attention, the kind of loving personal attention that can happen only in one-on-one or micro groups (2-4 people).</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Don’t get confused about the role of curriculum in disciple-making<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A. You don't have to use curriculum to make disciples. </span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus and his first-century followers didn’t have access to the vast array of disciple-making resources we have today. They didn’t even have the completed New Testament! Yet they made disciples, relying on the same resources we have now: God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">B. Completing a course or curriculum doesn't make you either a disciple or a disciple maker.</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mark Howell says it well: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">You don't become a disciple by completing a course or curriculum. While some studies might be better at generating the kinds of conversations that open eyes and soften hearts, completing a study or a course isn't like completing a degree program that qualifies you to use a title or certain letters after your name (like Reverend or PhD). Completing a course or curriculum also doesn't make you disciple-maker. You might earn a credential, but what makes you a disciple maker is that you're actually making disciples.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">So what role does curriculum play in making disciples? At first, a disciple-maker may feel the need of the structure and direction that a good curriculum can provide. But as a disciple-maker grows in experience and confidence in making disciples, he or she will develop a set of skills and methods that will work in the process, and curriculum will become auxiliary, even unnecessary.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Disciple-making is a slow, patient, pains-taking, long-range process</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Education is, by its very nature, a time-bound endeavor. A course lasts a semester. A degree will take a few years to complete. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">But disciple-making isn’t education; disciple-making is more like child-rearing. Raising a child takes a long-range and enormous and loving investment of personal time and energy. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span> <span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">It takes a while to make a disciple. Just as parents must acknowledge that children grow and mature at different rates, so also we must give God's Spirit time and space to bring about the growth and maturity that will enable our disciples to stand and make disciples on their own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">As Howell puts it, “You can’t microwave a disciple.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The educator in me</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> would love to be able simply to choose a good disciple-making curriculum, recruit and train a few good leaders, and roll it all out in a great multi-media launch. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That may be a good way to launch a program, but it’s not a good way to make disciples. If we want to make disciples who make disciples, we will have to gear down our expectations about numbers and time, and we will have to pour our time and energy into a few at a time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">In other words, we’re going to have to make disciples the way Jesus made disciples. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-64915484757731450512018-08-23T14:55:00.000-04:002018-08-23T14:55:53.548-04:00How to Hear the Voice of God<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<i style="text-align: left;">There is an old joke about a man who asked his pastor how he could “hear the voice of God.”</i></div>
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<i>The pastor wisely advised him to read his Bible out loud.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>There is great truth in that. What exactly do we mean when we say we want to “hear from God” or “discern the will of God”? </i></div>
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<i>Is it true, as I have heard it put more than once, that 90% of the will of God is revealed in the Bible? Are we sometimes looking outside Scripture to find what God has already said in His Word?</i></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">How God has spoken truth to us</span></b></div>
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Theologians like to divide God’s revelation of truth to man into broad categories: general and special.<o:p></o:p></div>
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God has spoken generally in <b>nature</b>, where, as the psalmist put it, “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). <o:p></o:p></div>
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The glorious images we have been able to capture by the Hubble telescope were not accessible until the last few decades, yet those glories have existed as long as the universe has existed. What purpose did all that beauty serve for all those millennia before man could appreciate it? The beauty of the heavens has, from the beginning, declared the glory of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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God has also spoken generally through our <b>conscience</b>, that inner sense of right and wrong that warns us when we are about to do wrong and sounds the alarm when we have actually done wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, yes, God has spoken generally, to all people, through means outside Scripture. But if all we knew from God is what He has communicated in general revelation, we would be utterly lost: we would know from nature that there is a Creator and from our conscience that we have no business being around Him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Which is why we need <b>special</b> revelation, the Scripture, the written Word of God. We need details about, for instance, why the world is so broken and how it will someday be made right and how we ourselves can be made right. These are details we cannot access through general revelation; words must be used to inform us, so God has given us His Word.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">So how do we “hear” from God in the Bible?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Everyone who can read knows what it is to “read” a page while the mind has wandered elsewhere, so that at the end of the page, the reader comes out of the trance and realizes that he hasn’t the faintest idea what he just read. The mind wasn’t involved.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And everyone who has tried to read the Bible consistently knows that sometimes nothing is really happening except accomplishing a task: I have known, intimately, what it is to engage in fruitless “checklist spirituality,” where my heart isn’t involved. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, yes, we must acknowledge that we can “read” the Bible without hearing from God, without engaging either mind or heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How can I read Scripture intentionally, not just with my eyes but with my mind, and not just with my mind but with my heart?</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Six suggestions</span></b></div>
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<b>There are many methods</b> to engage the mind and heart in reading Scripture, and there is no formula that will work for everyone everywhere. But here are some methods I’ve used and some others I’ve heard of:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1 1. <b><i>Reading expectantly and prayerfully</i></b> by taking a few moments to prepare my heart and mind before I begin reading. “Open my eyes, Lord,” I echo the psalmist, “that I may see wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2 2. <b><i>Choosing a short text, </i></b>a verse or two, to write down and keep with me throughout the day. I am a compulsive list-maker. I keep a list of tasks on an index card with me to keep track of tasks. I sometimes will use the reverse side of my index card to write down a verse from the morning’s reading, to keep that text in front of me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3 3. <b><i>Lectio divina</i></b><i> </i>is an ancient method of reading the Scripture in which the reader reads the text aloud, slowly and prayerfully, to give space (in time, in the mind) for God to speak through His Word to the reader. This method engages several physical actions simultaneously: the eyes, the ears, and the voice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4 4. <b><i>Reading the same text</i></b><i> </i>every day for a week. Lately, I’ve been feasting on the psalms, going back to the same psalm day after day to re-read the text, looking for something I haven’t yet seen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->5 5. <b><i>Memorizing a text, </i></b>maybe that short text I wrote on the index card, so that I have God’s Word with me, in my mind, where God’s Spirit can use His Word to speak to my heart. It's hard to hide God's Word in my heart without first giving it a place in my memory.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->6 6. <b><i>Journaling. </i></b>CS Lewis said, “How can I know what I think unless I write?” By writing down my what I’m seeing in Scripture, I force myself to reflect carefully on what God has said and what it means to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The point is not </b>that you do all of these; I offer suggestions only to prime the pump. Each of us must find our own methods of engaging with the Scripture. </div>
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Find what works for you, with your learning style and temperament. Use it, make it a habit not only to read Scripture every day but also to engage with it, reflect on it, and ask God to speak to you through His Word.</div>
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This is one prayer God will always answer, “Yes! I thought you’d never ask!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-44889647851151766322018-07-06T15:37:00.000-04:002018-07-06T15:37:36.204-04:00Getting a Grip on Scripture<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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I used to joke with my students that “you don’t have to be mean to be a teacher, but it helps.” I would use that line whenever I had to insist they do something they didn’t want to do (which was, of course, often). I called on that mean streak once when I used a volunteer to help me with an object lesson on how to “get a grip” on Scripture.</div>
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Justin Gravitt is a name that will be familiar to regular readers of the <i>Discipleship Weekly</i>, as I’ve often featured his blog posts. Justin is serving as a discipleship coach for some PPC leaders. In one of my recent meetings with him, he said something that has been quietly unfolding in my mind ever since. He said that the key component for our engagement with the Bible is not necessarily Scripture memorization… or Bible study… or any other particular method for engaging the Bible. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The key is not <i>how</i> we engage Scripture but that we <i>regularly</i> engage Scripture. For some people, like Justin, the best way to engage Scripture is by memorizing it. Justin commits key verses to memory and often recalls and uses them in our conversations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But for other people, it’s Bible study. Justin told me he knows some people who study the Bible almost as a hobby. They spend hours in the Scripture because they love God’s Word, and they love to study it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>How</i> we engage God’s Word might vary from one person to another, depending on life circumstances and personal gifting and passions, but it is vital that our engagement with Scripture be <i>regular</i> and not happenstance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And yet we know it’s not quite so simple. It is possible for us to hear solid preaching and teaching and read our Bibles every day and even commit it to memory without engaging it in our hearts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We might be tempted to think that <i>knowing</i> God’s Word is all that is necessary for spiritual growth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But then there are the Pharisees… <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Pharisees had committed vast portions of Scripture to memory and spent countless hours discussing and parsing out the intricacies and nuances of the text. Yet when they met God’s final Word to man – the man Jesus, God in human form – they failed to recognize him and opposed him throughout his time on earth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So there must be something more to engaging Scripture than simply knowing it. As well as the Pharisees knew the Bible, somehow they failed to get a grip on Scripture. Or, to put it more precisely, the Scriptures never got a grip on them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Which brings us to my object lesson for my students on getting a grip on Scripture. Your own hand, with its four fingers and one thumb, serves as a vivid illustration. One time when I explained this “hand illustration” to my class, I had a boy – a strong boy with a strong personality, chosen specially for this illustration – stand in front of the class holding a heavy a large Bible with one hand, without using his thumb. The more machismo, the better.</div>
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Then I went on to explain how to “get a grip” on the Scriptures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Your pinky,” I told my students, “is <b><i>hearing</i></b> God’s Word, as we do in church in hearing good preaching and teaching.” I know that many of our people love sound biblical preaching and feast on the many excellent opportunities available on Christian radio or in podcasts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I went on: “The ring finger is <b><i>reading</i></b> God’s Word. We not only hear other people talk about the Bible, we read it for ourselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“The next finger is <b><i>studying</i></b> God’s Word, which takes us past a superficial reading into deep reading for lasting understanding. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“The index finger is very important. It is <b><i>meditating</i></b> on God’s Word, thinking deeply about what it means and how it might apply to your life.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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I took some time to elaborate on the significance of each of the fingers. Every now and then I would check with my brave volunteer, to see how he was doing holding a large Bible with one hand without using his thumb. <o:p></o:p></div>
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By now the muscles in his forearm were beginning to burn. Of course his macho pride wouldn’t permit him to show any emotion on his face, but everyone was beginning to understand, especially the boy holding the Bible, that the thumb would be crucial in getting a grip on Scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The thumb,” I said, “is the most important digit in this illustration. The thumb represents <b><i>applying</i></b> what I learn, putting God’s Word into practice in my daily life. Without the thumb, it’s impossible to get a good grip on Scripture, and it’s impossible for the Scripture to get a grip on my life.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here I would tell my suffering volunteer that he could now use his thumb to grasp the book. He would sigh with relief at the difference it made to use his thumb. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Just so, we cannot get a good grip on God’s Word – and it can’t get a grip on our lives – until we ask ourselves that all-important question whenever we engage Scripture: <b><i>So what?</i></b> Until we’ve contemplated what difference the truth of God’s Word might make in our lives and <i>until we’ve taken actual steps of obedience</i>, our grip on Scripture is tenuous and uncertain… and merely theoretical.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Regardless of <i>how</i> and <i>how often </i>I interact with Scripture, I haven’t fully engaged it until I get a grip on it by <i>obeying</i> it. Until I put into practice what I learn from God’s Word, I am merely storing up insights the way a man might collect comic books or baseball cards. If I am collecting biblical insights without applying them to my life, I am deceiving myself, and my spiritual growth is stunted. <o:p></o:p></div>
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James warns us about this self-defeating way of engaging Scripture: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22, ESV). <o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t want to be that guy, the man who thinks his vast and growing collection of biblical knowledge means he’s growing spiritually, when he is really only deceiving himself. I want to get a firm grip on God’s Word by letting His Word get a grip on my life: I want to be doer of the Word and not a hearer only.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-58205675764357855492016-09-07T13:56:00.000-04:002016-09-07T14:03:01.471-04:00Kingdom Come<div class="chapter-1CxSpFirst" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt;">
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<span class="text"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "cambria" , serif;"><span style="color: white;"><i>I preached this sermon on August 21, 2016, at Patterson Park Church in Beavercreek, Ohio. This was the last sermon in our year-long series on the Book of Acts.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "cambria" , serif;">How many of you can tell me the date </span><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Into_the_Jaws_of_Death_23-0455M_edit.jpg" style="background-color: black; font-family: cambria, serif;">this picture</a><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "cambria" , serif;"> was taken?</span></div>
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<img height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Into_the_Jaws_of_Death_23-0455M_edit.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "cambria" , serif;">The photograph, taken </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "cambria" , serif;">by Robert F. Sargent, </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "cambria" , serif;">on
June 6, 1944, is entitled “Into the Jaws of Death.” It
shows an assault craft landing in one of the first waves at Omaha Beach.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This was not just another amphibious assault</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">. This
was the largest seaborne assault in history. It involved eight different navies
and almost 7000 vessels, and nearly 160,000 troops. More than 4000 of those men
died on that first day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Although no one could be sure of it at the time,</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> that
massive military operation turned out to be a defining moment in the war. Once
the Allies had established a foothold in Normandy, the war in the European
theater had turned the corner. There would be many more battles, but the
eventual outcome of the war – the Allied victory over Nazi Germany – began to
come into focus in the months that followed that awful June morning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">There was, in other words, </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">a “now but not yet” sense
about the landing at Normandy. In one sense, the war ended that day as the
Allies now began their long drive toward Germany. In another sense, the end of
the war was “not yet” as there were many more battles to fight before the end
of the conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This week</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> we’re concluding our series on the Book of
Acts, Luke’s account of the earliest days of the church. We’ll see that Luke both
opens and closes his narrative by highlighting an essential New Testament theme:
that the Kingdom of God had invaded human history in the person and work of
Jesus. And we’ll see that with the coming of Jesus the Kingdom of God became
both “now” and “not yet.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The word “kingdom”</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> appears more than 150
times in the New Testament. It is a theme that resonates from the opening
pages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">From the very beginning of his ministry </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Jesus
preached about the Kingdom of God. But almost everyone misunderstood what he
meant. They envisioned a popular uprising that would expel the hated Romans
from the Holy Land.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">But Jesus had an altogether different kind of Kingdom in mind.</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> And
this is what brought him into such sharp disagreement with his enemies. What especially
infuriated them was that Jesus insisted that all of God’s promises had come
true in him, that it was in him that the Kingdom of God had finally invaded
human history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The conflict between Jesus and his enemies</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> grew
so intense that they eventually persuaded the Roman governor to execute Jesus as
a rebel. But then, to everyone’s surprise, Jesus <i><u>was</u></i> crowned king –
not in an elaborate ceremony but, even better, by rising from the dead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Book of Acts tells the story of the first thirty years of the church</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">. How
could a band of a few dozen followers of Jesus plant churches throughout the
Mediterranean basin and see their numbers grow from ten dozen to untold
thousands in just three decades? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">As we read Luke’s account</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">, we see a people compelled
by an unshakeable knowledge that God had changed the trajectory of history in
the coming of Jesus. The early church seemed to possess a “now but not yet” understanding
of the Kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">They
knew that the Kingdom had come in Christ </span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 14pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">His rule had been inaugurated in his
Resurrection from the dead.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 14pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">They knew that Jesus had ushered in a new
age, and things would never the same again.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">But
they also knew that the day when all things would be made right was still in
the future.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The NT writers understood </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">that the coming of Jesus
had ushered in a new age, the Messianic Age. They knew that the Kingdom of God
had finally come on earth. Yet they also understood that the consummation of
all things, the day when all things would be made right, was still in the future.
The old order is still in place, but the Kingdom of God has broken into human
history in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This understanding of the “now but not yet” </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">nature
of the Kingdom lies behind Luke’s account of the early days of the church. Luke
tells us that in the days following his resurrection, Jesus and his disciples spent
forty days together. Guess what Jesus and his disciples talked about during
those six weeks!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Let’s look back at Acts 1, verse 3. </span></span><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">[Jesus] presented himself alive to them after his
suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking
about the kingdom of God. (</span></span></i><i style="background-color: black; color: white; text-align: right;">Acts 1:3, ESV)</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Given what we know about</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> the kingdom ideas floating
around in those days, it should come as no surprise that his disciples get the
wrong idea. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Look at their very reasonable question</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> in verse six:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord,
will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (</span>Acts 1:6, ESV)</i><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Who could blame them</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> for misunderstanding
Jesus’ kingdom-talk? Jesus has demonstrated his supreme power by not just
healing sick people, not just by exercising his power over the demonic realm,
and not even by raising people from the dead: Jesus has risen from the dead
himself. Now, they think, Jesus is ready to claim his rightful place as king of
Israel and restore Jewish independence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Watch Jesus’ answer. </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">First he gently rebukes
them, then he answers their question, but not in the way they expect:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Read with me</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> beginning in verse 7: <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><i><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It
is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own
authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth.” (</span></span></i></span><span class="text" style="background-color: black; color: white; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Acts 1:7-8, ESV)</span></i></span><span class="text" style="background-color: black; color: white; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">And in those few words</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> Jesus outlines the story
of the first three decades of the early church as the Kingdom of God broke into
the first century Mediterranean world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Luke tells us </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">that ten days later the Spirit is poured out on ten dozen Jesus-followers, and the
rest of the Luke’s narrative shows us what happens when a handful of people are
motivated by a Spirit-infused Kingdom mindset.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">The first half of the book</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> focuses on the church in
Jerusalem, with Peter leading the church. Largely due to a violent outbreak of
persecution in Jerusalem, Christ-followers are scattered throughout the region.
Wherever they go they are proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom, and churches
are planted throughout Judea, Samaria, and the rest of Palestine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Beginning with chapter 13,</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> the focus shifts to a
Gentile congregation in Antioch. God’s Spirit leads that congregation to send
their two most mature leaders – Barnabas, who had come from Jerusalem, and the
brilliant and gifted evangelist Saul of Tarsus – on a church-planting mission. Saul
changes his Hebrew name to the Greek “Paul,” and goes on to proclaim the
Kingdom throughout the province of Asia Minor and crossing over to Greece. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">And wherever the Good News about King Jesus would go, </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">we
would find a familiar pattern:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">People responded in faith, and the church
grew.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">There were often spectacular miracles
accompanying the proclamation of the Kingdom, foreshadowing the “not yet” day when
all things will finally be made right.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">There was always conflict with the kingdoms
of this world</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">a.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes with civil and religious
authorities</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">b.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes economic interests</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">c.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes demonic forces</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Which brings us to the last two chapters in Luke’s account,</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> where
Paul finally realizes his life-long ambition of proclaiming the Kingdom in what
was then the capital of the world, Rome itself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">No one knows</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> who planted the first church in Rome. It
wasn’t Paul. He wrote a famous letter to the believers there, telling them that
he wanted to visit them and that he wanted them to send him on to what was then
the edge of the known world: Spain. And at a particularly low moment after his
arrest in Jerusalem, God had come to him and promised that he would reach the
imperial city.</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And now, </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">in the final chapter of Luke’s account, after
his arrest in Jerusalem, after years of confinement in Roman custody, after a
spectacular shipwreck, Paul finally realizes his life-long dream, and he is
thrilled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And it’s not just Paul who is thrilled</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> that he is finally making
it to Rome. Remember that he had written a letter to the believers there. Now
they literally give Paul a royal welcome. (And, yes, I do know what “literally”
means.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Read
with me beginning at the end of the fourteenth verse of Acts 28.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">And so we came to Rome. And
the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of
Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took
courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with
the soldier who guarded him. (</span></span></span><i style="background-color: black; color: white; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Acts 28:14b-16, ESV)</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">When an emperor returned to the city,</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> it was customary for the
citizens to go out <i>en masse</i> to meet
him and escort him in a hero’s welcome home. After all Paul has been through in
city after city, after his arrest in Jerusalem and the many hearings before
Jewish and Roman authorities, after his near-death experience in the shipwreck,
imagine how Paul felt when, while he and his Roman escort were still thirty
miles from Rome, Paul looks up and sees a large group of his brothers and
sisters in Christ coming out to meet him. Luke tells us that Paul thanked God
and took courage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It was always Paul’s custom, </span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">whenever he arrived in a
new city, to first visit the Jewish synagogue. Paul had a great fondness for
his Jewish brothers and always wished that they would recognize Jesus as their
King. Now, under house arrest in Rome, Paul cannot go to the synagogue, so he
asks that the leaders of the Jewish community come to him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Luke has recorded for us</span></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> many of Paul’s
presentations to many different kinds of audiences. Now he tells us of one
more, Paul’s appeal to the Jews of Rome. Notice the two main points of Paul’s
presentation. Read with me beginning in verse 23:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When they had appointed a day for him,
they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till
evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God
and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses
and from the Prophets. (<i>Acts 28:23, ESV)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Luke is summarizing
here</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">,
because Paul talked to them all day, “from morning till evening.” Did you
notice what he talked about for all those hours? He was “testifying to the
kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the
Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here in the heart of
the imperial city itself,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Paul is declaring that the Kingdom of God has come in
Jesus. And he is using the Scriptures to help his Jewish brothers understand,
by laying out the prophecies about the long-awaited Messiah-King and showing
how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">As Paul has seen in
city after city,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> now he gets a mixed response from the Jewish leaders in
Rome. Luke tells us that Paul’s hearers disagreed among themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Their reaction
prompts Paul</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> to reach back to the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Paul tells his
hearers that they are responding the same way Isaiah’s contemporaries did. Read
with me beginning in verse 25:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">“The Holy Spirit was right in saying
to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">“‘Go to this people, and say,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">“You will indeed hear but never
understand,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">For this people's heart has grown
dull,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">
and with their ears they can barely hear,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">
and their eyes they have closed;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">lest they should see with their eyes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">
and hear with their ears<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">and understand with their heart<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">
and turn, and I would heal them.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Therefore let it be known to you that
this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” ( <i>Acts
28:25-28, ESV)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I heard a story once </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">about a man who was
speaking about Jesus to a group of skeptical college students. When he got to
the end of his presentations, they went to a question and answer session. The
skeptical students shot question after question to the Christian, not giving
him a chance to answer one question before they would pelt him with another. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Finally, the
Christian stopped</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> and asked them, “If I were to prove to you conclusively
that Jesus was who he said he was, would you believe in him then?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">His audience scoffed</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> and told him no,
they wouldn’t believe in Jesus. The Christian responded, “Then we are finished
here. There is no point in going on.” Their inability to understand the Good
News about Jesus wasn’t rooted in ignorance or misunderstanding; their hearts
were hard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">That’s what Paul is
sensing here in some of his audience. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Scriptures Paul utters here are from the
sixth chapter of Isaiah, where we read of the vision in which Isaiah received
his commission to speak for God to His people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">God was telling
Isaiah</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
before he even began his ministry that His people would not listen to him. They
would hear but never perceive; they were unable to see because they were
willfully blind. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Now Paul tells the
unbelieving Jews of Rome</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> that they were responding to a new word from God the
same way their ancestors had responded to Isaiah: their hard hearts kept them
from hearing. They had rejected their King.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">From time to time in
Luke’s account,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> he will give a summary statement before moving on to the next section.
Here Luke gives us his final summary statement, but it is odd. It provides
the conclusion for this last episode, but there is no conclusion to the book as
a whole. Read with me in verse 30, where he tells us that Paul<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">…lived there two whole years at his
own expense, and welcomed all who came to
him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus
Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (<i>Acts
28:30-31, ESV)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Scholars don’t really
know</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
what to make of this abrupt ending. If Luke knew that Paul’s imprisonment ended
after two years, he must have known how it ended. But he doesn’t tell us. Was
Paul tried, found guilty by the imperial court, and executed? Or was he
released at the end of those two years? No one knows for sure. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">By suspending the
narrative this way,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> it is almost as if Luke wanted to tell us that his story
is not complete. This proclamation of the arrival of the Kingdom that began in
Jerusalem and Judea continued in Antioch and Asia Minor, and now it has reached
the very heart of the empire. It’s as if Luke laid down his pen, intending to
come back to continue the story, but never got around to it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We know how the story
goes on from there</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">. The news of the Kingdom would spread throughout the
empire, throughout northern Africa, all the way to Britain in the west, and
beyond the empire to India in the east. The news of the Kingdom has, in fact,
spread all over the world, all the way to Beavercreek, Ohio, where there is an
outpost of the Kingdom known as Patterson Park Church. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Which brings us to
our familiar question:</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> So what? We’ve seen how a Spirit-infused Kingdom mindset
prompted those early believers to turn their world upside down. What does a
Spirit-infused Kingdom mindset look like in 21<sup>st</sup> century North
America, in Beavercreek, Ohio? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I’d like to use three quotations to answer that question. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">First: </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">“The next
Billy Graham might be drunk right now.”</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> This is from Russell Moore,
president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">He’s
right, you know. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">“The next Billy Graham <i>might</i> be drunk right now.” We should
never let stereotyping or profiling limit our understanding of what God might
be doing in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Just think
how shocked and amazed</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> those early Jerusalem Christians must
have been when they saw how things turned out. They were thrilled to understand
that the long-awaited Kingdom of God had arrived in Jesus, and at the beginning
they expected the Jews in the Holy City to respond in faith and obedience and
join them, as many thousands of them did. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">But then things just didn’t turn out the way they expected.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">They
experienced brutal persecution at the hands of a fiery young Pharisee named
Saul.</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 42.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Then they
heard that Saul had himself become a Christ-follower.</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 42.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Then they
heard that no less than the Apostle Peter himself had gone into the home of an
unconverted Gentile, a Roman officer, and now that officer and his family were
part of their fellowship.</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 42.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Next thing
they know, Saul is teaching that Gentiles who join the church don’t have to
submit to the laws of Moses. Will the outrages never end?</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">None of
that was in the script</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> for those early Jerusalem Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">A Kingdom
mindset</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> means that we don’t dictate to God how He is to rule in His
Kingdom. The early church learned the hard way that God was going to build His
church in ways that could never have expected. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Second: "The weapons of
our warfare are not of the flesh."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Think of
Paul</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> sitting in that rented house in Rome. From one point of
view, he was helpless. The empire had all the power and advantages. He was
chained at the wrist to a Roman soldier 24/7. The imperial court that will hear
his case has the power to condemn him to death or to set him free. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">And to
make matters worse,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> Paul is talking about a Kingdom, here
in the heart of the empire. What power did that Kingdom possess? What
authority? From one point of view, none.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">And yet,
Paul knew</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> that the power that directed his life, the power that animated
the church, wasn’t military or economic or political or even cultural. Paul
knew that the weapons of God’s Kingdom are of a different sort, and far more
powerful. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Brothers
and sisters,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> as we observe our own culture
descending into madness, let’s not panic. Let’s not imagine that our loss of
cultural and political influence has somehow set back the agenda of God’s
Kingdom. Let us not fear that our bizarre political situation or our prospects
for Supreme Court nominations or the identity of the man or woman who is the
next occupant of the White House – or even that all of these developments
together – can set thwart the purposes of God and His Kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">The
weapons of our warfare are not physical;</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> they are spiritual, and
they are potent. And God’s Kingdom will prevail, regardless of who sits in the
White House or who sits on the Supreme Court or which party controls Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Don’t
misunderstand.</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> Yes, we should vote. But not out of
fear or in desperation. We should vote out of love for our neighbor and a
desire for a just and compassionate social order. But we should not cast our
vote in fear; the King is on His throne.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Third, the word that the angels almost always had to say
first: "Fear not."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Let me show you what I mean. I’m going to show you a
statement would have been obvious and self-evident to Paul and Luke and anyone
else living in the first century.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The Roman
empire is the greatest nation the world has ever known.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">That was blindingly
obvious</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> to anyone living in the Mediterranean basin in the first
century. And yet that statement is no longer true. That empire, like all
earthly kingdoms, eventually fell. But the Kingdom of God has marched on,
throughout the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">There would
have been a </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">time when this next statement would have
been terrifyingly and depressingly true, and surely this thought crossed the
minds of those tens of thousands of Allied troops as they stormed the beaches
of Normandy: The Nazi military is the greatest
army the world has ever known. And yet that statement also is no longer
true. But the army of God’s church continues to march through history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">And as much as we love our country, we must admit to
ourselves that this statement, as obvious and self-evident as it is now, will
not always be true: The United States of
America is the richest and most powerful nation on earth. And yet, when all of the history and
accomplishments of our great nation are in the rear-view mirror, of interest
only to historians, the Kingdom of God will just be getting started.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Don’t be
afraid.</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> Someone said once that Christians don’t need to be afraid
because theirs is the only God who has ever fought his way out of the grave.
The King has come, and he has conquered, so we can look forward with confidence
to the day when He will finally make all things right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">As we
close our study of the Book of Acts,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> let’s recall our question:
What is the mission of the church? Our task is to proclaim that the Kingdom of
God has come, in Christ the King.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 20pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Story of the <a href="https://youtu.be/wp_RHnQ-jgU" target="_blank">HallelujahChorus Flash-mob</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Big mall
in Philadelphia</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Christmas
season</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Organist
at a pipe organ performing a mini-concert while shoppers mill about</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Then he
plays the opening measures of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">People
stop, some stand, almost everyone begins to sing</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 14pt;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Unknown to
them, 300 vocalists of the Opera Company of Philadelphia have infiltrated the
throng </span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">Tears came
to my eyes as I watched this video again yesterday.</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> Yes, it was a beautiful moment. The
music was stunning, and the look of ecstasy on the faces of those shoppers was delightful.
But I also thought of the many people who were there that day who loved the experience
of the musical moment but never gave the words a second thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">I thought
especially of the lyrics,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> taken from the last book of the Bible.
They all sang, “The Kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ.” Were those just musical syllables? Could it possibly be
that someone could hear and even sing those lines and still be blind and deaf
to the proclamation of Christ’s Kingdom?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;">I close
with a sober warning,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 14pt;"> from the pen of CS Lewis:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">If you have not chosen the Kingdom
of God, it will make in the end no<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">difference what you have
chosen instead. Will it really make a difference whether it was women or
patriotism, cocaine or art… money or science? Well, surely no difference that
matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the
only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which
choice of route he missed the only well? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">After I pray and we sing our closing song, I’ll be here at the front if
you want to talk or pray or ask any questions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Let’s pray.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-4650874517269805702016-02-10T20:10:00.000-05:002016-02-10T20:10:29.457-05:00When Is a Movie "Bad"?<br />
I recently taught a class at my high school on worldviews and film. We were, I told them, exploring the intersection of worldview and pop culture. We viewed and discussed films like <i>The Truman Show, Signs, Doubt, Chariots of Fire, </i>and <i>Walter Mitty. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
What we all had in common -- me and my students -- was a love of movies. They loved the discussions of the aesthetics of film-making: character development, cinematography, pacing, storyline. And I tried to push them to think deeply about what each film "teaches" about life, about God, human nature, the purpose and meaning of life, ethics.<br />
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After a few days of viewing and discussing films, we stopped one day to discuss the selection of films from a moral perspective. When is it "wrong" for a Christian to watch a particular film?<br />
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Here's what I told them that day.<br />
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<b>1. We don't get much specific guidance either from Scripture or from the ratings system. </b><br />
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The ratings system, of course, is a notoriously blunt instrument. It would be easy -- and simplistic -- to declare that no Christian should ever view an R-rated film, but that would eliminate some truly great stories such as <i>The Passion of the Christ, The Matrix, The Book of Eli, Saving Private Ryan, </i>and <i>Last of the Mohicans. </i>Films like these are rated R for good reason, but the factors that earn that rating are never gratuitous (think <i>Saw</i>); some stories could never be properly told in a PG world.<br />
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Besides, there are many PG-rated films that are so crude and obvious that the best that could be said for them is that they are a waste of time and money. Ratings can provide a valuable guide, one I use myself, but it is only one guide, and not a very precise one.<br />
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As for Scripture, there are general guidelines. We know we should guard our heart, "for out of it are the issues of life," says the proverb. We should never take pleasure in cruelty, and lustful thoughts are tantamount to adultery. This much we know, and these broad principles are useful in guiding our choices in what we consume in pop culture. <br />
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But God's Word doesn't provide specific guidance on every moral issue for every cultural situation for all times. It simply couldn't. Think how long and how detailed the Bible would have to be to provide that kind of specific guidance. And think how much of the Bible would be irrelevant to most of us: most of us would never face most of the cultural situations such a Bible would address.<br />
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This is one of the reasons God has given us His Spirit, to "guide us into all truth," including moral truth. God's Spirit, His Holy Spirit, resides within us to guide and focus our conscience in matters that lie beyond the plain teaching of Scripture.<br />
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<b>2. Since neither ratings nor Scripture provide specific guidance, each believer must work out these questions on his or her own. </b><br />
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I reminded my students that in this area, while they are living at home, their parents' guidance must predominate. Even if they disagree with their parents' views, they are obligated by Scripture (which <i>is</i> precise on this point) to obey their parents now and honor them for the rest of their lives. With our own children, as they grew older we gave them more and more leeway in making choices about the movies they would watch when they were with their friends. We knew that they needed to develop the ability to make those discerning choices, and they needed to be able to handle the dynamic of dealing with friends who sometimes make bad choices.<br />
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However, everyone in my classroom knew that the day would soon come when they would be making these -- and many other -- moral decisions on their own. And since this ultimately boils down to the individual conscience and leading of Spirit in each believer, I cannot provide final and specific guidance on this question. But I can tell them how I make moral judgments about film.<br />
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I told them I try remember two things in my selection of films:<br />
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<i>A. I must remember what my triggers are. </i><br />
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We know the three main components of movie story-telling that can be objectionable: language, sex, and violence. Not all three trouble me at the same level.<br />
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It's not as if cursing and violence don't bother me, they do. But sometimes strong language and violence are essential components of the storyline. Just imagine a PG-rated <i>Saving Private Ryan</i>. It wouldn't be the same story. War stories often involve uncomfortable levels of swearing and violence. If I want to watch a movie that seriously considers the matters involved in war, I've got to be prepared to tolerate a certain uncomfortable level of language and violence.<br />
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But language and violence don't bother me the way steamy love scenes do. I just can't let my imagination go there. I still recall some of the troubling images from the last battle scene in <i>Private Ryan, </i>but those don't trouble me the way a steamy love scene would.<br />
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Years ago a friend asked me about a film he and his wife were considering. He heard that my wife and I had seen <i>Room with a View, </i>a 1985 film based on the EM Forster novel. My friend asked if there was anything objectionable in the film.<br />
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Knowing my friend and his wife, I tried to recall what my wife and I had seen. The only thing I could recall was the scene in which the young English woman had witnessed a street fight that appears to have resulted in the death of one of the combatants. I told him about that scene.<br />
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What I had forgotten about and what offended him and his wife so deeply that they left the theater in the middle of the film was the skinny-dipping scene. Two young men are taking a hike through the woods with the village priest. They persuade him to take a dip in the pond, <i>sans</i> clothing. There are brief glimpses of male nudity, but that didn't leave a strong impression on my mind.<br />
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My friend, of course, was furious with me for not warning him about that scene. I thought later about why I hadn't remembered it when he asked me about the film. I realized that if it had been a female skinny-dipping scene, I would not have forgotten it. In fact, I would have had difficulty forgetting a female skinny-dipping scene.<br />
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I must remember what my triggers are. Paul told the Romans that it is wrong for a believer to violate his or her own conscience: "If anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean" (Romans 14:14). This means that in a room full of Christians, the same movie scene might be permissible for some to watch and impermissible for others. Some would have to abstain for the sake of their own conscience or abstain out of kindness to their brothers and sisters in Christ, while others could enjoy the same scene without troubling their conscience.<br />
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Which brings us to the second thing I must remember...<br />
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<i>B. I must remember that I can so easily lie to myself, especially about matters of right and wrong. </i><br />
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It would be easy to tell myself, as I see a scene moving toward a steamy encounter, all kinds of lies.<br />
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<i>This is no big deal, Paul. You're over-reacting. </i><br />
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<i>Other Christians aren't troubled by this sort of thing. Why does it bother you so much?</i><br />
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<i>It will be over in just a moment. Just don't watch. </i>(Right.)<br />
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This is the great risk we all face in acknowledging that on some moral questions -- like the choices we make in what we consume in pop culture -- we can convince ourselves that it is permissible to violate our conscience. Since all the action is interior, since there is literally no public accountability for the inner workings of our minds, we can easily find ourselves in a morally compromising situation, we can injure our conscience, and -- most disturbing -- offend God's Spirit, who has taken up residence in our bodies and minds.<br />
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One more thing about lying to ourselves. I haven't yet mentioned the role that community can play in this process, and I didn't think of it that day when I talked to my students. One of the great things about marriage in particular and Christian community in general is the ability of our spouses and our friends to point out when we are lying to ourselves. I value my wife's input on these matters; she can tell when I'm talking myself into a compromising situation. And I'm glad to say that she's not afraid to call me out when she sees me lying to myself.<br />
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This is one of the reasons we need Christian community. We need Christian brothers and sisters who are close enough to us to know when we are violating our own standards and honest and courageous enough to say so.<br />
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<b>This is what I told my students that day.</b> I do use the ratings as a guide. But ratings can provide only rough and general guidance.<br />
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And I try always to keep before my mind two important thoughts: I know my triggers, and I know I can lie to myself.<br />
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In the selection of movies -- and music, and books, and all sorts of input into our mind and imagination -- we must, as Paul told the believers in Thessalonica, "test all things, hold fast to that which is good."<br />
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There are a lot of good movies out there among the truly bad ones. In our conscience, in Christian community, in the general moral principles of Scripture, and specially in the Presence of His Spirit, God has given us the resources to make sound moral judgments about even private matters.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-61735630100685849342014-12-08T12:13:00.000-05:002014-12-15T12:19:05.351-05:00Three Teen Boys, Francis Schaeffer, and Why I Teach<br />
I've taught high school for almost forty years. Most days I relish the opportunity to be involved with young men and women at this crucial stage in their lives, when they are working through the most important questions they'll ever have to answer. There are days when I think maybe this is a young man's game, and I should get out. But not most days. Most days this is good work, a good reason to get up in the morning and come to work.<br />
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Then there are days like the ones I had last week, when I realize how incredibly lucky I am to be a teacher. One of my most flighty, distracted students (let's call him Fred) came blowing into class the other day asking if I'd ever heard of Francis Schaeffer. (Have I heard of Francis Schaeffer? Reading his complete works is on my bucket list. I'm about half done.) But Fred asking about Schaeffer? This was completely new.<br />
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Another teacher had said something about space and time and Francis Schaeffer, and Fred wanted to know more about him. I took him straight to the my bookshelf, where I found the book I thought would answer his questions (<i>Genesis in Space and Time</i>). He checked it out from my library and ignored me for the rest of the period. And I didn't mind. Fred was reading Francis Schaeffer.<br />
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Before the end of the period, Noah, a friend of his, brought the book up to my desk to show me a passage and ask me a question. Bonus! Fred was not just interacting with Schaeffer, he was evangelizing, spreading the good news about what the old man had to say. Noah showed me the passage and asked me whether I thought Adam went to hell.<br />
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Don't know about Adam and hell, but I do know that I thought it was beyond wonderful that two of my boys were wrestling with Francis Schaeffer.<br />
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A couple of days later, Brendon, another student, was standing at his locker down the hall from my classroom. He wanted to show me a cool quote from a book. (Ironically, it was the same book by Schaeffer.) He too had checked out a copy from my classroom library. He showed me the paragraph, and he was right: it was cool. It was even cooler that he thought so and wanted to share his discovery with me.<br />
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I've had Schaeffer on my classroom shelves for years, mostly ignored by my students (who have to select a book to read every quarter). I know, Schaeffer's syntax can be a little Yoda-like, and his sentences can be very long. Still, if anyone was willing to struggle with it, there's so much good thought there.<br />
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And now three of my high school seniors. Three teenage boys reading Schaeffer and actually enjoying it! That may be one of the best things I've ever done for those boys, introducing them to Francis Schaeffer.<br />
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And I actually get paid to do this! Amazing!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-60506756038484771732014-11-06T01:11:00.003-05:002014-11-13T17:51:53.328-05:00How Neck Pain Taught Me to PrayNo, it's not what you think. It's not just that the pain got so bad I had to learn to pray earnestly and fervently. That would be a good story, but this story is stranger than that. And far more wonderful.<br />
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Years ago I learned an ancient prayer used by Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Jesus Prayer is the essence of simplicity. The version I learned, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me," is a prayer that can be recited or sung repetitively, a way of "praying without ceasing." I learned a tune to sing the prayer from an old film on the life of John Hus. As he was burned at the stake for his Reformation views, he died singing, perhaps (at least in the movie version) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrSn4bz0TCo">singing</a> this ancient prayer. So the movie version of John Hus taught me to sing the Jesus Prayer.<br />
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A couple of years ago my neck started hurting. I went to physical therapy. My therapist not only manipulated my back and neck but also taught me exercises that would help stretch the muscles which were causing my neck pain. Ten seconds in the position, thirty in that. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.<br />
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I recently discussed my neck/back pain with a doctor friend who was on a mission trip with me. He told me that I would probably have to live with the discomfort, that I needed to think of this disorder in terms of pain management. He suggested that the best remedies short of surgery are the stretches and analgesics I am already using.<br />
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Lately, I've begun incorporating the Jesus Prayer into my stretches. Instead of counting seconds, I sing the Jesus Prayer; three times for one stretching exercise, more for some of the others. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.<br />
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Miracle cure? No. Neck and back still hurt from time to time. But this discomfort now has a different meaning in my life. The pain prompts me to pray, and that's good in a way that I never expected.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-8361595198216310582013-12-06T13:31:00.000-05:002013-12-06T13:31:30.287-05:00Our First Christmas Since It Happened<br />
My father-in-law passed away in June. He was the first of our four parents to die. My wife and I have now entered a dark place we've never known before, joined a Great Sad Tribe of friends whose parents are gone.<div>
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I usually start playing Christmas music as soon as the World Series is over. Early, I know, for some, but it's such rich, beautiful music I always want to enjoy it sooner rather than later. </div>
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But this year I wondered if I would enjoy Christmas music. I knew that this first Christmas since Nanette's dad passed away would be bittersweet. We miss him terribly. The pain never really goes away. Would the music just be too sad?</div>
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I was surprised. I actually am enjoying the music more this year. Somehow the lyrics -- which I've always loved, not just the familiar tunes -- the lyrics are richer and more wonderful than ever:</div>
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<i>"No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground..."</i></div>
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<i>"Repeat the sounding joy..."</i></div>
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And the lyric that resounds more beautifully than ever: <i>"tidings of comfort and joy"</i></div>
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I've always believed that the long, sad history of the world turned a corner in the birth of Jesus. I still believe it, but now it's more personal. And I'm so very glad.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-77640598455563848082013-12-06T13:16:00.000-05:002013-12-06T13:16:47.144-05:00Thoughtful Conservatism<div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
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<i style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This post was originally published at <a href="http://ohioconservativereview.com/">OhioConservativeReview.com</a>. </span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I teach a high school course on current social problems. I like to joke that my students begin the course thinking that dandruff and halitosis are social problems, and I try to expand their understanding to include the familiar list of controversies: immigration, gun control, abortion, the death penalty… issues well-known to most culturally-aware adults but only vaguely familiar to most high school kids.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">They don’t know what “conservative” and “liberal” mean unless they listen to talk radio, in which case they know that “liberal” is bad and “conservative” is good, but they’re not exactly sure why.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The two words are intriguing in their own right. Their elasticity must be confusing to anyone learning English. Liberal arts colleges have no counterpart in “conservative arts” colleges. You can spread jam liberally but not conservatively. We conserve resources, but we don’t liberate them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Still, the term “conservative” reveals a great deal about the ideology it portrays. After all, we conservatives strive to conserve something we deem valuable. We believe there are traditions and values that are precious and can be neglected only at great peril. We look to the great Western cultural tradition and the rich Judeo-Christian tradition as templates for a just and prosperous society. We are rightly suspicious of cultural innovations that jeopardize those values and traditions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">But here’s where ideology must be tempered with careful thought. A mere ideologue supports the cause without question. A thoughtful conservative must always ask, What we are trying to preserve and do we really want to preserve it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Case in point: Southern conservatives were clearly, obviously on the wrong side of history during the days of the civil rights movement. The traditions they sought to preserve — racial segregation, Jim Crow laws, white privilege — were wrong, and white conservatives were wrong to support it, even if that was what they had grown up with. We can see that now. Blinded by a deeply entrenched tradition, they could not. Their position was untenable and indefensible, not just from a moral point of view but from the view of the common good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On a whole host of contemporary issues — gun control, immigration, health care, and capital punishment, for instance — liberals and conservatives have staked out their positions. Fire-breathing ideologues on both sides will support the cause just because it is their cause.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">But thoughtful conservatives owe it to themselves and, more importantly, to their nation, always to evaluate their motives and their message. If our motive is to recapture or consolidate power, we’ll never create a message that resonates with the moral sense of the public, and we’ll never be able to convince anyone — not even ourselves — that we are arguing for the common good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Do we really think the solution to mass shootings is more guns in the hands of more people?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Do we really oppose the pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants, even the ones who were brought here as children and know no other home?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Do we really think health care is a commodity subject to the vicissitudes of the marketplace and not a right that should be accessible to all citizens?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Do we really think executing violent criminals is always just and right?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Our problem is that we’re all too predictable. We’re always against something, always anti-something. What are we for? How do we envision a more just and prosperous society? Is it enough to oppose Obama and the liberal agenda simply because cooperation is political suicide? Are the words “the president is right about this” impossible for a good conservative to think, let alone utter aloud?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Older conservatives can remember a time when leaders from the two sides of the aisle could afford to mix socially without fear of being labeled a traitor, when “compromise” was the grand art of politics, not a toxic label that kills careers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The air in Washington and Columbus might be too thick with suspicion to allow that kind of collaboration. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Conservatives don’t have to march to the beat of the most aggressive drummer, even if he does have an audience in the tens of millions. We are, you know, capable of thinking for ourselves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It may be that young conservatives, instead of leading the charge hard-right, can regroup and present a more thoughtful, nuanced message for a public exhausted by cynicism. It may be that conservatives can find common ground with liberals on issues that will benefit everyone. It may be that conservatives can take the lead in breaking up the gridlock that has paralyzed our government and alienated the voting public.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Or it may be that we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-34318025518289936112013-06-22T09:12:00.000-04:002013-06-22T09:12:03.103-04:00Theodore Clinton Smart<br />
I think there are certain experiences that are so life-changing, you feel as if you were the first one ever to experience such a thing. I think falling in love is one of those experiences, or maybe having your first child. I have just had one of those experiences: my wife's father died last week. I feel as if I've joined a Great Sad Tribe whose sufferings I never fully understood until now.<br />
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A few years ago I gave the eulogy at another funeral, and he (my father-in-law) was there. He thought I did a good job and said he wanted me to do his funeral. At the time I was merely flattered, but when the time came (two days ago), I could barely hold it together.<br />
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Here is the eulogy I delivered at his funeral two days ago:<br />
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I heard it said once that success is when those closest to you admire you the most. I think this is true, and I can tell you from personal experience and observation that Ted Smart was a wildly successful man. We are met this morning to celebrate his long and fruitful life.<br />
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<span class="s1">Ted made it clear that he didn’t want a lot of malarky said about him at his funeral. I’m not sure what he meant by that, but I do know that it’s hard to speak of this man without speaking with the deepest affection and genuine respect. If that’s what he meant by malarky, I hope he’ll forgive me for what I’m about to say.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ted Smart was a remarkable man. No one ever met him and walked away without his having made a strong impression. And for those of us who knew him so well and loved and admired him so deeply, the impression he made on us was life-shaping.</span></div>
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<b>Ted was a remarkable man in the way he loved his family: Clarice, Diana, Kathleen, Nanette, Anita, and Ted.</b> He loved having his family around him, and we were around him a lot. He actually put an addition on his house to make room for a longer dinner table, to accommodate the family that would come there to eat.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was a regular habit for folks to drop by on Friday nights for dinner. Ted and Clarice never knew how many places to set or how much food to prepare. There might be a few of us or an entire table full of kinfolk on any given Friday night. After supper, after the dishes were cleared, Ted would sit down to a game of Scrabble with two or three of us at one end of that long table, while others would stay at the table with magazines, iPads, newspapers, and laptops, always accompanied on his stereo by some of the great music Ted loved: Beethoven, Dvorak, and Handel (especially the <i>Messiah</i>). In the living room, a few others would be watching the Reds. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Most Sundays we were all back again, usually in larger numbers, for a late Sunday dinner. And the same scene afterward: Scrabble at one end of the table and others sitting around with the Sunday paper and coffee and the rest. I think those were among Ted’s favorite moments, with his house full of his family. What he loved most about special occasions -- the birthdays and Christmas and Thanksgiving and the annual cook-outs -- what he loved most was never the gifts or the food. It was the fact that the family had gathered. Those were his golden moments. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">But there was no clearer picture of Ted’s love of his family than what we all observed in his love for Clarice. It was mutual with the two of them, the way they took care of each other. When she was hospitalized in December after a fall, he was at her bedside constantly. And over the past weeks, as he spent time in the hospital, she was there at his side at virtually every possible moment. The love and loyalty and compassion and tenderness the two of them have shown for one another has been remarkable.</span></div>
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<b>Ted led a remarkably simple life.</b> For him, there were only a few things that really mattered -- his faith, his family, and the Ohio State Buckeyes -- and he simply refused to let life get complicated. He didn’t see the need to go anywhere except for work or church, or a special family occasion. I remember in the 1970s when I was a young adult and everyone was in a panic because of a shortage of natural gas, Ted wasn’t worried. He said over dinner one night that as long as he had the wherewithal to put gas in his car and drive to work, to put food on the table and to heat his house, he had all he needed. Ted lived his life by a set of remarkably simple, straight-forward priorities.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<b>Ted was a remarkable man in his love for the Scriptures.</b> He made it a habit to read through the Bible once a year. He told me once he usually finished Revelation sometime in September, then he would go back and re-read his favorite books -- the Psalms, the Gospel of John -- until year’s end. Then he would start again with Genesis in January. <span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I suppose he read through the entire Bible dozens of times during his lifetime. As a result, he possessed a truly encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible. I can remember many times when we would be talking -- over dinner or maybe a game of Scrabble -- about some biblical account and he would say to me something like, “You remember what King Hezekiah said to Isaiah, don’t you? Surely you remember!” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Of course I didn’t remember. I was the one with the seminary degree, and I didn’t know, but he knew. He seemed genuinely surprised that other people didn’t know the details of biblical stories as intimately as he did. But he knew it not just because he had read it so much, he knew it because he loved it so deeply. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And Ted took the Scriptures literally. He believed the Scriptures were not just to be read, they are to be obeyed. He said that Jesus taught that if someone asked you for help, you should help. He gave generously to many ministries and Christian organizations and to people in need... not because he had money to spare but because he believed that was what he should do. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ted’s love for the Bible was indeed remarkable.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<b>Ted would surely deny that he was a remarkable man, but the truth is that what made him such a man was his remarkable love for his Savior.</b> He was truly amazed at the grace of God. He had put his faith in Christ while he was a young child, and he knew that God had changed the entire trajectory of his life in that moment. Not just this life, but the next as well. I remember when we would gather on Easter Sunday, we would always sing one of his favorite hymns, “Up From the Grave He Arose.” He didn’t need to see the lyrics, they were inscribed not just on his mind but on his heart. And he always raised his left hand and closed his eyes to sing that last refrain. Anyone who knew Ted knew he loved Jesus. <span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">That’s why Ted was ready -- when the time finally came -- to go home. Ted made his peace with God not because he lived his life so well but because he had placed his entire confidence in Christ and His sacrifice. And now for Ted, the struggle is finally over, and he is with the Savior he so adored. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">There are people who will tell you that death is not to be feared, that death is as natural as birth, just a part of the natural order of things. But all of us sitting in this room right now know at some deep level that this is not true. We know that the death of a human being -- at any age -- is not at all natural; it is absurd. Death is a vicious intruder, an outrage, an obscenity. We somehow know that we were made for more than this, that this cannot be all there is.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ted knew that this short life is just the beginning of life. The Scriptures that he loved so much teach that Christ destroyed the power of death by rising from the dead Himself. As a result, those who have put their faith in Christ can think about death differently. We do grieve, </span><span class="s2"><i>“but not as others, who have no hope.”</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">For us, the grief is profound. But for Ted, the words of the Apostle Paul have finally come true, and he is overjoyed. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death... </i></span></div>
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<i>The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: </i></div>
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<i>It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: </i></div>
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<i>it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power... </i></div>
<i>So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, </i><br />
<i>and this mortal shall have put on immortality,</i><br />
<i>then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, </i><br />
<i>Death is swallowed up in victory. </i><br />
<i>O death, where is thy sting? </i><br />
<i>O grave, where is thy victory?”</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-89414148524562352082013-03-18T19:24:00.001-04:002013-03-27T15:10:54.830-04:00Apology Interrupted<br />
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<span class="s1">Jesus' story of the prodigal son has to be my favorite parable. It is the gospel writ small. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Jesus tells that story and two others to answer questions about Jesus' habit of spending time with sinners (Luke 15). The other two stories -- of the shepherd who left the 99 in safety to search relentlessly for the one animal in danger and of the woman who searched the house relentlessly for her precious lost coin -- end with great celebrations of lost things found.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The story of the lost son also ends in great celebration. But it is different in that the father did not search relentlessly for his son. He loved him relentlessly, but he knew he had to wait for the prodigal to return. He knew that the rebel could not be compelled to come back until he wanted to. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The rebel son didn't want to come home for awhile. But when he finally came to his senses, he prepared his apology speech: "“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-19, ESV).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A good speech. And it just might turn the old man's heart. Then again it might not, because the son had so deeply humiliated his father, no small thing in an honor-based culture. But this humble apology was his only hope.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1">What I love about this story is that the son never got to say his apology. He didn't even get to finish coming home before Dad interrupted him. Jesus tells us that "while [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him" (v. 20). </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The son started into the desperate apology he had prepared, but he never got to complete it. </span>Before he could finish, Dad interrupted him and turned to the servants with instructions: "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found (v. 22-23).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1">In this story </span>Jesus paints a beautiful picture of God's love for us. It wasn't the son's apology that won his father's heart. He didn't have to do anything to win his father's heart. His father had never stopped loving him, despite the pain and humiliation he had caused.</div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">So it is with us. God loves us whether we're sorry for our sins or not. But we cannot know His love until we're sorry for our sins. We can't come back to Him until we turn away from our sins and come Home. To use the language of Scripture, we can't know God's love until we're ready to repent.</span><br />
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<span class="s1">Repentance doesn't qualify us for God's love. Nothing we could do -- no good deeds or repentance of bad deeds -- can qualify us for God's love. But repentance puts us in the place to know His love. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">This is the Gospel. Not that we are sorry enough for God to forgive us, but that our sorrowful repentance puts us in a position to be forgiven. Our repentance doesn't change God's mind about us. It only brings us to the place where God can welcome us home, as He is longing and ready to do.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-83819038159790620132013-03-11T21:46:00.002-04:002013-03-19T21:17:37.985-04:00Why did Jesus have to die?<br />
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<i>I fill pulpit for a local Chinese congregation once a month. The normal pattern is for the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking congregants to worship together. We sing and recite the Lord's Prayer and do responsive readings in English and Chinese simultaneously. It is always a delightful experience, and the people are always warm and welcoming to me.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Before the sermon, the English congregation leaves the sanctuary to go to a small chapel, where I speak to the English congregation while the pastor speaks to the Chinese congregation. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>This time was different, however. The pastor was away on a mission trip, and the man who was to speak to the Chinese congregation had to bow out for some reason. So I got an email Tuesday afternoon saying that I would be speaking to the combined English and Chinese congregations. Since I would be speaking through a translator, I would need to provide a manuscript, and I should plan for the sermon/translation combination to take about an hour.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>I chose a Lenten theme and text. I've always been fascinated by the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. I have been teaching the gospel of Matthew in my Bible study at my church, so I used Matthew's account (chapter 26). I addressed the question "Why did Jesus have to die?"</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>What follows is the text of my sermon at the Dayton Chinese Christian Church on March 10, 2013. </i></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">When I watched the <i>Passion of the Christ,</i> I realized the plot was oddly familiar. I’d seen it before: the good guy is captured by the bad guys and they’re going to condemn him to death. As I watched Jesus being tormented and interrogated by the authorities, I found myself hoping for a moment that he would be somehow rescued. That’s what always happens in these stories. Someone stands to speak up for the innocent man and the blood-thirsty mob is quieted. Or, better yet, the good guy’s friends (here, the disciples, led by bold Peter) mount an impressive and daring rescue. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">But then I realized that this story was different. Not only that it </span><span class="s2">did</span><span class="s1"> end differently, it </span><span class="s2">had</span><span class="s1"> to end differently. I realized that Jesus really couldn’t be rescued because </span><span class="s2">he had to die</span><span class="s1">.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Why did Jesus have to die? He was a great leader, a true prophet, a wise scholar. And he was an innocent man, the only innocent man who lived on the earth.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Our text today is in the 26</span><span class="s3"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> chapter of Matthew’s gospel. The story takes place in <b>Gethsemane,</b> an olive grove outside the walls of Jerusalem. Like most big cities, Jerusalem was a crowded and noisy place. Jesus and his disciples liked to go to Gethsemane to escape the noise and confusion. They treasured the quiet and privacy of that little grove of olive trees.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Judas knew that Jesus would go to Gethsemane that night, so that’s where he led the arresting party. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jesus knew </span>that Judas knew about Gethsemane and would soon be there with an armed band.</div>
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Jesus knew that the other disciples would run away in terror.</div>
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Jesus knew that Peter would loudly deny that he even knew Jesus.</div>
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Jesus knew that the Jewish leaders would falsely accuse him of terrible crimes and arrange to have him killed.</div>
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Jesus knew that he had to die an agonizing and humiliating death at the hands of the Romans.</div>
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Jesus knew all that all these things must happen. And as he contemplated it all, he was overwhelmed by grief. That grief drove him to prayer.</div>
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Read with me beginning at Matthew 26:36. “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’”</div>
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Jesus knew he had to die a horrible death, abandoned by his friends and countrymen. There was no other way.</div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Which brings us back to our question: <b>why</b> did he have to die?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">There are some popular explanations. These answers are partly true, but they are ultimately <b>false</b> because they are <b>incomplete</b>:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Some believe that Jesus died to provide an <b>example</b> for us.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Others believe that Jesus died as <b>martyr</b> for a great cause.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">These are popular answers, and many people believe them. These answers are true, but they aren’t true enough: It’s true that the way Jesus faced his death provides an excellent example, and it’s true that he died as a martyr for a great cause. But these explanations don’t give a true answer to the question because they don’t go far enough. There was far more involved in the death of Jesus.</span></div>
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<br />
<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">So if Jesus didn’t die merely as an example or as a martyr, <b>why did Jesus have to die? </b>Here are three reasons:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>1. Jesus had to die because</b> <b>it was his Father’s will</b>:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Many times in the gospels Jesus speaks of doing his Father’s will. Jesus was <b>relentlessly focused</b> on doing his Father’s will. Jesus had known from the beginning that it was his Father’s will that he die. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">God’s plan was actually born long before the time of Christ. Isaiah spoke of this fact hundreds of years before the time of Christ, when he wrote, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” (Isa 53:10). As a father, I cringe at this thought, that any father would choose to see his son crushed and suffering. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">But God had begun to prepare His people for the death of their Messiah long before the days of Isaiah. For more than a thousand years the people of God had been giving up their own animals in their ceremonial sacrifices. Their priests had slaughtered tens of thousands of the choicest livestock as atonement for the sins of the people, according to God’s instructions, given through Moses.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time, he was met by an adoring throng in an event we remember as the Triumphal Entry. The people thought they were escorting their Messiah-King into the Holy City, where he would eject the hated Romans and restore their kingdom. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">But Jesus knew that Passover was a few days away. The people thought they were escorting the conquering king, but Jesus knew they were escorting the last Passover Lamb. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jesus knew that all those centuries of sacrifices, all those thousands of slaughtered animals, were really just one long rehearsal for this great Final Sacrifice of himself, the Lamb of God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jesus asked repeatedly if there might be another way to accomplish his Father’s purposes, but each time he concluded his prayer with, “Not as I will but as you will.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Read with me beginning at verse 39: Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but <b>as you will</b>.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>“</b>Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, <b>may your will be done</b>.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God did not grant Jesus his request in Gethsemane. Why? Jesus had to die because it was his Father’s will that he die. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>2. But there was another reason Jesus had to die. Jesus had to die because a terrible debt had to be paid. </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I was at Wright State University a few weeks ago. I was in a hurry, I didn’t pay attention to the signs, and I parked in a lot reserved for students.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When I came out to my car to leave, I was surprised to find this little slip of paper fluttering under my windshield wiper. This little piece of paper says I parked in a spot I’m not allowed to park in, and as a result I have incurred a $50 parking fine.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This was upsetting to me, of course. Fifty dollars isn’t a fortune, but it’s not pocket change, either. This paper says that there is an appeal process, and it gives instructions on how to appeal the fine.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I went online and filled out the appeal form. About a week later I got an email from Wright State telling me that my fine had been reduced to a warning.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For a big university with a multi-million dollar budget, what was a $50 fine? What did it cost Wright State to withhold the penalty for my parking offense? Nothing. </span></div>
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<b>A lot of people wonder why Jesus had to die</b>. If God wanted to forgive our sins, why couldn’t He just forgive our sins? Why all this drama and suffering? <span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The problem is that our sin isn’t like a $50 parking ticket. Our sin is an overwhelming debt that we can never pay. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In his book <i>Reason for God</i> Tim Keller explains this concept. "Imagine that someone borrows your car, and as he backs it out of the driveway he strikes a gate, knocking it down along with part of a wall. Your property insurance doesn’t cover the gate and garden wall. What can you do? There are essentially two options. The first is to demand that he pay for the damages. The second is to refuse to let him pay anything… Notice that in either option the cost of the damage must be borne by someone. Either you or your friend must bear the cost for the damage, but the damage does not somehow vanish into thin air.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Forgiveness is costly, not cheap, even for God. Our sin is a gigantic debt that we could never pay, so we are completely unable to make things right. If we are to be made right with God, </span><span class="s2">He</span><span class="s1"> has to bear the cost. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Think of a time when you were overwhelmed by guilt. You had rationalized your actions, you had talked yourself into doing something you knew was wrong. And suddenly, an awareness of all your sin and guilt descended upon you and crushed you. There was no way out for you. All you could do is suffer your well-earned humiliation and shame.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now imagine that you had to suffer that humiliation and shame for someone else’s wrongdoing. You were innocent, but everyone believed you were guilty of a great evil. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now imagine that you had to suffer the humiliation and shame and guilt for the sins of all people of all time. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now you see that God couldn’t simply nod and wink and tell us all is good. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jesus knew all this as he suffered and prayed in Gethsemane. He knew he was facing not only the physical and emotional suffering of the beatings, the mocking, the crucifixion. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">There was more, much more. This man who had never known a moment of guilt his entire life was about to take on all the guilt for all the sins of all the people in the history of the world. He would take on the guilt for all the murderers, the child-molesters, the rapists, the men who abused their wives and children, all those people who committed those horrific crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Europe, in Rwanda, in Yugoslavia.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">He was about to suffer for my sins. He would stand in my place and absorb the punishing blows that should have fallen on me.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Jesus knew he had to die because that was the only way to pay the terrible price for all our sins, for my sins.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"><b></b></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>3. There’s another reason Jesus had to die: Jesus had to die because there was no other way. </b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">This doctrine, this teaching that Jesus is the only way to God, is not a popular idea these days. Many people are offended at this idea. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Yet Scripture leaves no room for doubt:</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
As the apostles were standing before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, they had to decide what to do with the Court’s order to stop preaching about Jesus. The apostles said they couldn’t stop preaching about Jesus because “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men<b> </b>by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)<br />
<br />
Jesus himself said that he was the only way for a man to know God: “No one comes to Father except by me.” (John 14:6)<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<div class="p2">
In other words, there is no Plan B. Jesus repeatedly asked his Father about a Plan B when he prayed in Gethsemane. But his prayers were met with silence because there never was a Plan B.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">This means that putting my faith in the death of Jesus to pay for my sins isn’t just one possible option among many. It’s not even the best of several options: it’s the only way.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Read with me beginning at verse 43, as Jesus submits himself to his enemies and begins to suffer to pay for our sins: “When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">47 “While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.’ Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
The death of Jesus was always, from the beginning, God’s only plan to restore us. Despite Jesus’ repeated pleas with his Father, there never was any Plan B. Jesus had to die because there was no other way for God to bring us home again.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>So what does this mean? </b>For one thing, I am thankful for this Gethsemane account in the life of Christ. I have had moments when I wasn’t sure I wanted to do what God wanted me to do. I have faced anxiety and uncertainty about doing God’s will. It comforts me to know that even Jesus experienced these things as he contemplated carrying out his Father’s plan. I’m glad to know that uncertainty and anxiety do not have to mean the end of my obedience; Jesus went on to do his Father’s will even though he was anxious and uncertain. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">But more to the point, what does it mean for us that Jesus </span><span class="s2">had</span><span class="s1"> to die? How is that significant? </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The death of Jesus is unique in world religions:</span></div>
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li3"><span class="s5"></span><span class="s1">Muslims don’t look to the death of Mohammed as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s will for his life. </span></li>
<li class="li3"><span class="s5"></span><span class="s1">Buddhists don’t look to the death of the Enlightened One as payment for a crushing debt of sin.</span></li>
<li class="li3"><span class="s5"></span><span class="s1">Jews don’t look to the death of Moses the only way to God.</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="p2">
It is only Christians who think of the death of their founder in this way. Scripture teaches that Jesus had to die so that we could make things right with God. <span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">I think there is both comfort and warning in this truth:</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>1. There’s great comfort in knowing that Jesus had to die</b>. It may be the most familiar verse in the Bible, but there’s a good reason that John 3:16 is so well-known. It’s such good news. “God so loved the world [that is, so loved me] that He gave His only son...”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The death of Jesus means that God must really </span><span class="s2">reall</span><span class="s1">y love me, and that changes everything:</span></div>
<ul>
<li class="li3"><span class="s4"></span><span class="s1">money problems? That’s okay. God loves me.</span></li>
<li class="li3"><span class="s4"></span><span class="s1">people let me down/betray me? That’s all right. God loves me.</span></li>
<li class="li3"><span class="s4"></span><span class="s1">uncertain future? No problem. God loves me. He’s in charge.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The fact that God gave up His son for me means that He has deeply committed Himself to taking care of me: Paul wrote in Romans 8:31-32, “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><b>2. But there’s a serious warning here, too.</b> The fact that Jesus had to die means that I can’t afford to be indifferent about Jesus. If Jesus is my only hope, I must cling desperately to him. The writer to the Hebrews put it this way: “How can we escape if we neglect this great salvation?” </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">If the death of Jesus is the only way for me to make things right with God, it is a kind of blasphemy for me to tell God, “I’ve got this one. I’m a high achiever. Some people might need to let Jesus pay for their sins, but my sins aren’t so serious.” That’s a lie that leads to damnation. No one can pay for his own sins. Only the death of Jesus pays for sin and makes things right with God. This is as true for the law-abiding church-goer as it is for the serial killer. No matter how well-behaved or badly behaved I’ve been, I need Jesus.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">There are, in this room, only two kinds of people. Some have made peace with God through Christ. Some have not. Those two categories account for everyone here. There is no third category.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">If you have never put your faith in Christ for his death to pay your debt, you can do that today. You must do that today. There is no better day than today to make things right with God, and you have no guarantee of tomorrow. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">Do it now. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">The Dayton Chinese Christian Church is a place where you can find good people who love Jesus, people who can help you find peace with God through Christ.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1">If you find yourself strangely moved by what I’ve said today, that may be God’s Spirit inviting you to take that first step by talking to someone who can help you.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>There was one vistor there that day, a young man who is attending the University of Dayton. For the entire 45 minute sermon, he leaned forward, listening, obviously attending seriously to the words. I wondered what his spiritual state was and what prompted his keen interest.</i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>After I finished and sat down, a lay leader came to the microphone and spoke quietly in Chinese for a few minutes. While he was speaking, a young woman I recognized from the English congregation came down the aisle and stood next to him. </i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>After the service concluded, I saw the visitor come to the front to speak to another one of the members of the congregation. They were talking quietly in the pews when I left.</i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>Glory to God! What a privilege to speak God's kind words of grace into the lives of people!</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-26784455186198707792013-01-22T20:50:00.000-05:002013-01-22T20:50:01.688-05:00Reading Lewis: The Great DivorceOne of Lewis' most popular titles seems mis-named. <i>The Great Divorce</i> is not about marriage or divorce or about the family at all. It is a parable about heaven and hell and the great division ("divorce") between the two.<br />
<br />
In this story, Lewis portrays heaven as the Reality toward which every desire has always been leaning. Even evil desires have in them some kernel of the joy that heaven -- and only heaven -- could ultimately fulfill.<br />
<br />
Hell, in this view, is a place of torment not because of the exquisite physical terrors but because of its failure to be much of anything at all. Hell isn't the opposite of heaven in <i>The Great Divorce;</i> it is "not a bang but a whimper," to borrow a phrase. The tiniest molecule of heaven could hold the entirety of hell.<br />
<br />
And this life here on earth? From that vantage-point, after death, our earthly life will seem in retrospect either a region of hell (because it really all began there) or the first taste of glory.<br />
<br />
I have long thought that every man has tasted hell many times in his life. Not when he burns his finger but when he feels that aching pang of being Left Out, especially when he realizes that he alone is the cause of his isolation and rejection.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-17363488611180658052013-01-21T23:22:00.001-05:002013-01-21T23:22:22.332-05:00Reading CS Lewis: "Why I Am Not a Pacifist"I have a new item on my bucket list: I want to read the works of CS Lewis. I've always enjoyed reading Lewis. His gift for the perfect analogy is, I suppose, one of the reasons he is so clear and compelling and why he still has such appeal so many decades after his death in 1963.<br />
<br />
Some of his works I know well from frequent exposure. I teach a class on Lewis in my high school, so I read <i>Mere Christianity</i> and <i>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</i> with my students every year. But I've never really read all the way through his essays, stories, and sermons, collected in works such as <i>The World's Last Night, God in the Dock</i>, and <i>Of Other Worlds</i>.<br />
<br />
And his letters! Lewis made it a point to respond personally to every letter he ever received from a reader, either in a hand-written note or dictated to his brother Warnie, who typed. It is estimated that he wrote some 10,000 letters. There are three collections that I am aware of, and with that many letters sent to that many fans, I suppose Lewis letters will continue to surface from time to time.<br />
<br />
So this is the first of my posts on my readings in the book A Year with CS Lewis, from his essay "Why I am Not a Pacifist."<br />
<br />
Lewis argues against pacifism on two grounds:<br />
<br />
<u>1. Jesus' admonition to "turn the other cheek" is not to be taken absolutely</u>, to apply in all circumstances (e.g., a student striking a teacher, a criminal attacking an officer) but is rather concerned with inter-personal relationships. This is a distinction I have heard before and which seems reasonable.<br />
<br />
Except that the actual pacifism demonstrated by Jesus (and commended later by Peter in his first epistle) did not have anything to do with personal relationships. He was abused by strangers, by representatives of the religious authority and the State. Nothing personal about those attacks, yet Jesus, who had every reason to retaliate, to protect Himself, submitted meekly to those torments.<br />
<br />
<u>2. Pacifism is politically impractical</u>. In the end, the strictly observant pacifist is dominated by the bully, whether in the schoolyard or in international relations. In a fallen world, pacifism works well only as a theory, not in real life.<br />
<br />
Except that "in the end" the unspeakable suffering of Jesus did prevail -- as did the suffering of the protesters in India and the civil rights activists in the American South. Given enough time, it would appear that it is pacifism, not militarism, that is ultimately triumphant.<br />
<br />
<br />
This isn't, of course, mere theory. All of us have to make daily decisions about how we will respond to abuse and threats. "Turn the other cheek" and "love your enemy" are what Christ taught and what He exemplified.<br />
<br />
And it's not just a personal matter. The Newtown shootings have thrust the gun debate back into the national spotlight. I have yet to hear a Christian argue for the right to bear arms along the lines of WWJD. It seems that whenever a Christian argues for the right to protect and defend with deadly force, the teachings of Jesus must be set aside.<br />
<br />
I am no pacifist, but I cannot argue against the biblical soundness of the position.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-15859076800801295122013-01-09T15:48:00.000-05:002013-01-09T15:48:41.166-05:00Why I Still Teach<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoys his work. I don’t drag myself to work, even on Mondays. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Why? I get to work with kids in their late teens, at that crucial point in their intellectual and spiritual formation when they’re working out their own answers to the most important questions they’ll ever consider.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“What should I do with my life?” </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“I know what I’ve been taught, but what do I actually believe?” </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“What really matters and should claim my attention, and what is inconsequential and can safely be ignored?”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I can’t answer all those questions for my students. I can’t find God’s call for their lives or tell them what they believe, but in our time together in my Bible classes I try to help them understand what kind of God has called them and how He’s spoken through His Word. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Sometimes I like to take my seniors on an on-campus “field trip.” We walk down to the hallway where the class composites line the walls, and they can see my “trophy case,” the images of those hundreds of students who have sat where they sit now, in my classroom. They’re not only looking at their future, they’re looking at what I’ve done with the last 35 years of my life.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I know that most men my age who began in the classroom have moved on to other things by now: administration, industry, the corporate world. But 35 years after I started out with sophomore English and eighth grade Bible classes at the old Homewood campus, I’m still herding the kittens every weekday. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And (most days) loving it.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I'm beginning to think more and more that teaching is a young man's game. So why have I stayed in it for such a long time? There are several reasons. Here are some:</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">3. There’s a buzz in a room full of teenagers. Sure, there are days when teens are annoying (I try not to show it), but most days I love the sheer energy of teen life. It both keeps me young and ages me prematurely, I’m sure.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2. As a Christian parent, my wife and I have appreciated all the help we have received in raising our three sons and one daughter. As a teacher, I am grateful for the opportunity to help Christian parents in that vital task that God has assigned to them, passing on their faith. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1. And the Number One Reason: I’m pretty sure I have the best job in the world. I get to invest my professional energies in the two things that will survive the planet: people and God’s Word. A zillion years from now, when the universe has burned up and vanished, the results of what we did in that building on Washington Church Road will endure. The people who sat in those chairs will be thriving in God’s New Heaven and Earth. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And I get to play a role in their intellectual and spiritual formation? </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Astonishing!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-12695208036736084112012-12-31T12:31:00.000-05:002012-12-31T12:31:09.472-05:00The Awakening of Hope: Why We Practice a Common Faith<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Published by Zondervan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hadn’t heard of Wilson-Hartgrove before, but the Zondervan
imprint, the forward by Shane Claiborne and endorsements by Eugene Peterson,
Phyllis Tickle and Tony Campolo made it clear that the book would be intriguing.
I wasn’t disappointed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Awakening of Hope</i>,
says Claiborne, “reminds us of the holy habits that have marked Christians for
centuries.” It is a sort of primer on “the new monasticism” that is attracting a
growing number of young Christians. Broken into digestible chapters that
explain the rationale for Christian communal living, the book outlines a
compelling vision of Christian community:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why We Eat Together”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why We Fast”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why We Make Promises”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why It Matters Where We Live”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why We Would Rather Die Than Kill”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why We Share Good News”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The aim of these monastic communities is to live out Jesus’
teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. The book introduces the reader not only
to the disciplines themselves but also to biblical and church history
background behind them, as well as contemporary examples of the disciplines as
they are lived out in Christian monastic communities all across the country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The accompanying DVD provides interviews and face-time with
not only Wilson-Hartgrove but also with others who are living in these
Christian communities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The title is significant: Wilson-Hartgrove and Claiborne and
their ilk see these communities as a harbinger of a new thing God is doing in
His church. There is a kind of revival feel to the language, as if these people
believe monastic communities could breathe new life into a stagnant American
Christianity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They may be right. The book reminded me a little of Gabe
Lyon’s <i>Next Christians, </i>which outlines
the profile of the new, young, socially-conscious believers who will carry the
mantle of leadership as the post-war generation of leaders and visionaries
passes off the scene. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do have one misgiving about the message of <i>Awakening</i>. If the new monasticism is
understood as the new normal for serious Christians – which Wilson-Hartgrove
suggests but does not explicitly state – then they may have missed the point.
While it’s true that the earliest days of the church practiced communal living,
by the time Paul wrote his letter to Timothy, pastor of the church in Ephesus,
responsibility for helping needy Christians had fallen primarily
to families, with the church providing a secondary, supportive role (see 1
Timothy 5). The nuclear family, after all, is God’s original design for
community. Communes and monasteries are innovation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t think Wilson-Hartgrove is trying to suggest that all
Christians who live in nuclear families, scattered throughout the
neighborhoods, should all abandon their houses and move into Christian
compounds. That kind of isolationism has its own obvious drawbacks. But he does
a good job of explaining, as he says, why some Christians have – at least for
awhile – stepped out of the typical American lifestyle to embrace something
wholly different and radical. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Awakening of Hope: Why
We Practice a Common Faith</i> is a fascinating read. The thinking the book explores could make a positive impact on the American church. Eating together,
making and keeping covenants, being conscious of the environmental impact of
our lifestyle, choosing non-violence when we can – all of these are valuable insights and
practices for believers, whether we live in nuclear families, with roommates,
or in Christian communes. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-22459228887295163232012-12-21T17:59:00.000-05:002012-12-21T17:59:50.608-05:00While the Prodigal Is AwayProdigals. We all know one. A family member wandering far away. A spouse who wants out of the marriage you want to save. A rebellious son breaking his mother's heart.<br />
<br />
We all wonder what we can do to bring them home.<br />
<br />
How we can reach out.<br />
<br />
If we should reach out.<br />
<br />
Jesus' three stories of lost things found, recounted as single "parable" in Luke 15, feature three lost things found -- a sheep, a valuable coin and a much-loved son.<br />
<br />
In the first two stories, Jesus tells of the enormous effort of the shepherd and the woman as they persevered until they found what they were looking for and called for friends and neighbors to celebrate with them. "In the same way," said Jesus, "the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents."<br />
<br />
But the third story is different. It too involves a lost thing, but not an animal or an inanimate object: it is a son. And unlike the shepherd or the woman, the father doesn't go searching for his lost son. He waits for him to return and welcomes him enthusiastically.<br />
<br />
<br />
It may be that the prodigal's father provides us the clearest example of how what to do about the prodigal.<br />
<br />
<b>1. What the father <i>didn't</i> do is counterintuitive. </b>After two stories of strenuous effort to find and rescue what was lost, Jesus features what may look like a passive father: he didn't go after his lost son. Not knowing how the story would end, the father declined to pursue his wayward son and instead waited patiently for his return.<br />
<br />
We can only speculate what might have happened if the father had put together a posse to go fetch the boy. But we've seen enough interventions on reality TV to know how angry and self-deceiving the prodigal can be when confronted with the truth about himself.<br />
<br />
No, Dad never went after his errant son. He wasn't there when the son came to the humiliating end of himself, when he composed the apology speech he would give to his father. This was a realization he had to come to on his own. And his father could do nothing to bring about that awful moment.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2. But just because Dad didn't chase the boy</b> doesn't mean that Dad was idle. Jesus tells us that he saw his son "while he was still a long way off." I know, it could have been a coincidence. The father might have just been glancing up at that moment and just happened to catch sight of his son. But I've always thought that this father was anything but passive. I think he had been looking for his son to return since the day he left. I've imagined that Dad never just glanced at the horizon, he studied it long, he studied it longingly.<br />
<br />
And as soon as he saw his son, he ran. Dignity and retribution never crossed his mind. At that moment, the fact that his son had disgraced him in the community, the fact that a third of his estate had been wasted on prostitutes and liquor... none of that mattered. All that mattered at that moment, when he saw his son, was that his son was home again.<br />
<br />
What did it take for Dad to maintain that kind of emotional equilibrium the whole time his son was gone? The waiting soul is fertile ground for bad seed. Cynicism and bitterness had sprung up to contaminate the brother's soul, but Dad's heart was still open to forgive and restore. There were no "I told you so" speeches, no demand for restitution; he didn't even let his son finish his apology. There were no mixed feelings here, only grace and rejoicing love.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>So what do we do for our prodigals?</b> Do we reach out to them? In our hyper-connected world we have that capability: the Facebook message, the text message, the email. Perhaps we do reach out, but we never coerce or pester. We never try to do the work that God's Spirit alone can do -- change a heart. <br />
<br />
So what do we do?<br />
<br />
1. <b>We pray</b> that they can come to the end of themselves soon and without life-destroying consequences.<br />
<br />
2. <b>We trust God</b> to do His work in His time in the hearts of people He loves even more than we do.<br />
<br />
3. <b>We guard our hearts</b> against bitterness. We stifle the impulse to compose angry "I told you so" speeches.<br />
<br />
And we keep the party supplies on hand. No one knows when we might get the chance to use them.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-32030264838326102682012-12-03T21:50:00.000-05:002012-12-03T21:50:58.834-05:00Review: Water from an Ancient Well
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have always been interested in Celtic Christianity. Perhaps it's my family’s Irish roots, my fondness for Irish and Celtic folk music, my fascination with the lush Irish countryside. So when I saw this new book <i>Water from an Ancient Well: Celtic Spirituality for Modern Life </i>(Kenneth McIntosh, Anamchara Books) and realized it explores early Celtic Christianity, I wanted to take a closer look.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">In many ways I wasn't disappointed. I learned a great deal about those early days of the Christian faith on the British Isles. I learned, for instance, that the "Gal" in "Galatians" is really a reference to the Gallic (Celtic) peoples who had migrated to the region Paul addressed in his letter to the churches there. I learned more about the amazing ministry of Patrick, who managed to convert the entire island from paganism to Christianity. I learned that Celtic Christianity, while it held fast to basic Christian doctrine -- the Trinity and the Apostles Creed, for instance -- developed its own unique and diverse Christian art forms. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But I was disappointed in the volume in other respects. This looked like a book that needed an editor's sure hand. For one thing (and this is a small thing) I didn't like the font used in the quotations at the end and beginning of each chapter, italicized Papyrus, not the kind of thing that a professional typesetter would have done, I think.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The writing was uneven, sometimes light and even a little juvenile in the stories that opened the chapters, as if it were aimed at a young adult audience, sometimes in a scholarly, almost pedantic tone when it discussed historical and theological details. It was as if McIntosh couldn’t decide what kind of audience he wanted to reach. The lack of focus extended to its content: sometimes focused on ancient Celtic spirituality, sometimes jumping forward to modern church outreach. I think McIntosh tried to do too much with too little focus. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">There is a good index, always useful in a book crammed as this one is with information. But there are no footnotes or endnotes or bibliography. And for a book that contains as much fascinating historical information as it does, source information would have been helpful.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I think the book was a good idea, but it wasn’t rendered well. I give <i>Water from an Ancient Well</i> two stars (out of four). </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-67508084463232314762012-10-31T22:00:00.001-04:002012-11-02T13:42:45.305-04:00Review: A New Evangelical Manifesto<br />
This collection of essays by notables such as Brian McLaren, Richard Cizik, and David Gushee hopes to lay out a new vision for the evangelical movement. At first glance, the title made me wonder the essays would simply rehearse familiar <span class="s2">emergent</span> church themes. And when I saw that Brian McLaren, patriarch and chief spokesman for emergent, had written the opening essay, my first thought was that I was right.<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But as I read, I realized I was only half right. Whereas emergent is primarily concerned with theology and ecclesiology, A New Evangelical Manifesto expands on emergent’s concern for social justice. In that sense, its contents are predictable: against the death penalty, against nuclear energy, concerned about global warming, human trafficking, healthcare, race, abortion, nuclear weapons, war and global poverty – themes that will certainly resonate with younger evangelicals.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There is no question that we are witnessing a seismic shift in the American church, a shift we haven’t seen since the 1960s. Young Christians -- hyper-connected, socially concerned and cynical about polarizing ideological squabbles -- are either leaving the church (ala Gabe Lyon’s </span><span class="s2"><a href="http://unchristian.com/">unChristian</a></span><span class="s1">) or leaving the faith altogether (“spiritual but not religious”). What we are seeing in response to this exodus of the young is a whole slate of bold new initiatives, including not only the emergent church movement but also the backlash of the “young, Reformed and restless.” </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
McLaren’s introductory essay, “The Church in America Today,” outlines the cultural shift we are witnessing, and he correctly identifies the problem. The old intramural debates that used to occupy the church -- sequence of end-times events, role of sign gifts in the contemporary church -- those debates are simply irrelevant to the young evangelicals. Those old doctrinal questions have been supplanted by more basic questions of apologetics, soteriology and evangelism. They want to know how it is possible to insist on the uniqueness of Jesus in a multicultural environment and how Christians can insist on salvation through Christ when Muslims and Buddhists are not just exotic characters in movies but devout and kind-hearted next door neighbors. “The question isn’t, ‘Are we saved by faith alone or by faith plus works?,’ says McLaren. “The question is, ‘What is salvation in the first place? What are we being saved from and for?’” </div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have seen the same transformation in the students in my Christian high school classroom over the past three decades. Time was when students would get into heated arguments at lunch over sign gifts or eternal security and come steaming into my classroom needing mediation. Now they scarcely even know what their churches teach about such doctrinal niceties and care even less.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">McLaren labels the old evangelicalism “nostalgic,” “nativist” and “negative.” Although his summary applies only to the worst of evangelicalism, it is true that this is largely the perception of the many young Christians fading from our churches. And the cliche is true: perception is reality. </span>The new evangelicalism, says McLaren, is characterized by “hope,” “diversity” and “creative collaboration.” He paints a rosy picture of the alternative to the straw man, and it is an attractive vision for many young Christians looking for something to believe in.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Richard Cizik, formerly Vice President for the National Association of Evangelicals, offers a fascinating story of his forced resignation from the organization in his essay "My Journey toward the 'New Evangelicalism.'" His understanding is that he lost his post because of pressure from the Religious Right. In essence, he says, the NAE told him that they will do whatever it takes to avoid criticism from politically connected conservative groups.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">Some readers will be provoked and disturbed by Scott Claybrook's essay, "The Dying," which explores euthanasia and medically assisted suicide. In language that might be channeling the Hemlock's Society's Derek Humphry, Claybrook suggests that "uncritical rejections of assisted suicide and euthanasia for the terminally ill fail to accurately comprehend the multilayered experience of pain and suffering as one with a terminal illness begins the walk toward death."</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">Other essays, “Where the Church Went Wrong” by Steve Martin and “A Disenchanted Text: Where Evangelicals Went Wrong with the Bible” by Cheryl Bridge Johns, take aim at weaknesses in the evangelical subculture. </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1">While I understand their critique, I do wonder: If they are talking about the old models of the Moral Majority and Religious Right, they are right. Those movements have seen their better days, and there were problems in their perspective and methods. (I never did understand, for example, what support for the B1 Bomber had to do with a Christian/moral political stance.)</span><br />
<br />
But I don't believe these same criticisms could be made of the resurgent new voices leading evangelicalism today: <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/authors/john-piper">John Piper</a>, <a href="http://timothykeller.com/">Tim Keller</a> and <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/">Albert Mohler</a>, for instance. An evangelicalism that follows their lead would look very different from McLaren's vision for our future. And therein lies our choice.</div>
<div class="p2">
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The deeply entrenched ideological debate we see today is nothing new. Protestantism has been divided for decades, ever since the Great Divide of the 1920s, when the modernists and fundamentalists went their separate ways, and the social justice v. doctrinal purity wars were born. Those wars have scarcely let up over the past nine decades. </span>A New Evangelical Manifesto proposes to point the way out of these paralyzing debates, but it looks to many as if the new evangelicalism is not, as it claims to be, more faithful to the entire biblical witness. It seems instead to merely compromise biblical truth in order to pursue a more robust social justice.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So what does the future of evangelicalism look like? Does this manifesto describe the third way forward, or does it merely rehash old liberal diatribes against the right? Or perhaps Mohler, Keller, et al provide the new way forward for evangelicalism? Both movements are robust, both are more thoughtful and more socially engaged than the old evangelicalism, but both cannot lead us forward. They are not going in the same direction. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It's clear enough that we are witnessing in American evangelicalism the death of something old and the birth of something new. What that new thing looks like remains to be seen. A New Evangelical Manifesto does provide a clear articulation of one possible future for the American church. This reviewer would love to see a comprehensive response from the other version of the new evangelicalism.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-29401199349337212362012-07-18T20:36:00.001-04:002012-07-23T11:04:32.710-04:00Viral Jesus by Ross Rohde<div class="p1"><br />
</div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">I serve as an elder at my church, so I occasionally read books on church and church leadership. The title of <i>Viral Jesus </i>caught my eye. It’s hip and catchy. And it raised questions for me right away.</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1">The title made me think of an emergent church approach to evangelism and doing church, low on hierarchy (I was right there) big on cultural relevance (not so much). But as I read, I realized Rohde’s approach was far more familiar to me than I could have guessed.</div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Rohde’s thesis is that the church has borrowed too heavily from Roman Catholic and early Reformer ecclesiology. As a result, we are hide-bound and traditionalistic, and we hinder rather than cooperate with the movement of God’s Spirit in the world. We’re too cautious, we’re too hesitant to embrace the supernatural, we’re too dependent on organization and technique and not sensitive enough to the leading of God’s Spirit to see the kind of wild-fire (“viral”) growth that the early church saw. Rohde even finds fault with the way the church is growing in Latin America and Korea. (China, he says, is a different story. They’re following the first-century model more closely.)</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />
</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">This is all familiar to me because I grew up in the Assemblies of God, one of the old Pentecostal denominations that traces its roots back to the Azuza Street revivals of the early twentieth century. The AG long resisted any self-identification as a “denomination,” with all those overtones of hierarchy and structure, but the charismatic and Jesus People movements of the 1970s recast the AG in the role of counterbalance. With its decades of organizational experience and its growing scholarly reputation, the AG and other classic Pentecostal denominations provided a stabilizing influence in those heady days.</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><br />
</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">So Rohde’s themes were familiar to me. <i>Viral Jesus </i>read like a defense of AG doctrine, almost like a YWAM handbook: be open to the supernatural, listen for the leading of God’s Spirit, expect the unexpected. </span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">And he’s right. We evangelicals are too fond of organizational models (which may be, as our emergent critics say, more due to our affinity for corporate hierarchy than traditional ecclesiology), we are far too cautious (almost certainly the business background there) and we get spooked by the mystical and the supernatural, both of which clearly have their place in God’s work. </span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">But this AG boy got his seminary training at Dallas Theological Seminary, so I am familiar also with the opposing view. At Dallas I was exposed to the heavy emphasis on the study of Scripture and theology, a cautious if not prohibitive stance on the supernatural in Christian ministry and opposition to women serving in official church leadership over men. </span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">So there was another part of me that said Rohde had gone too far: he didn’t say much about the study of Scripture, except to cite examples of the model he recommends. (He says Luke 10, where Jesus sends the disciples out, is the paradigm for ministry.) As he would have it, study of Scripture, theology and church history are really not essential for a Christian leader. Really?</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">Rohde argues that church hierarchy was far simpler in the early church and that over the centuries it became the “old wineskin” that we see today. Again, I think he goes too far. Paul wrote three pastoral letters, and in two of them he discussed at length the kind of organization and structure he wanted to see in the churches. Peter certainly had a hierarchy in mind when he wrote about elders, and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews urged readers to submit to those in authority in the church. No, authority and submission were part of the church from the beginning.</span></div><div class="p2"><span class="s1"></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1"><br />
</span></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">I remember a fellow Dallas grad telling me once that he wished the church had the mind of Dallas Seminary and the fire of the charismatic movement. Rohde recommends the fire part. His book is not intended to be a balanced treatment of church-planting ministry philosophy, but it provides a needed voice in the discussion of what evangelism, discipleship and church planting should look like.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-78839398550379828912012-06-05T08:41:00.000-04:002012-12-03T21:54:40.088-05:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>Every other year I get to have the last word with the graduating seniors at Dayton Christian High School, my alma mater and the school where I have taught since 1977. Below are the words I gave to the Class of 2012 right after they moved their tassels.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Congratulations! This is a most significant achievement in
your life. In fact, graduating from high school is a lifetime achievement
award. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Do you remember how old you were when you first recognized
the importance of the year 2012? You’ve been working toward this night for more
than a decade, and tonight you can finally breathe a sigh of relief: you’ve
done it. Most of you will go on to further studies, but you will never </span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">again</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">work for
this many years to get a diploma. The next time you finish something that
takes you eighteen years to complete will probably be when your own child
graduates from high school. And you will feel a great sense of accomplishment
that night as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I'm going to speak frankly now. If you go on from here
to get a good education, get a good job, find a good person to marry, settle
into a nice neighborhood, find a good church, be a good mom or dad, a good neighbor
and a good employee… and if you’re satisfied with behaving yourself well and
living comfortably… we will have failed you miserably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I haven’t given the past 35 years of my life to help
teenagers learn to behave themselves. Your parents haven’t sacrificed so much
for so long just so that you would turn out to be a well-adjusted and
productive member of society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It was my mother who first coined the phrase “Educating for
Eternity.” And that’s not just a slogan. It’s what we’re all about at Dayton
Christian School. I love my work. I love the fact that I get to spend all my professional
energy creating in people’s lives a change that will matter not just for
decades but forever. I may not see some of you again in this life, but I’m
looking forward to seeing you in the next life and hearing how God used you to
build His Kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Between now and then some of you <u>will</u> live
comfortably, some of you will suffer terribly, some of you will be called to
professions and ministries that will be difficult and discouraging, as teaching
sometimes can be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">But none of that matters. It doesn’t matter whether you make
a lot of money or a little; it </span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">doesn't</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> matter whether or not you live in
comfort and security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All that matters is that you follow Rabbi Jesus, that you
discover your role in God’s Story, and that you play it well. Everything else
is details. Don’t get distracted, don’t get discouraged, by the details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You often heard me thank God for letting me have a part in
what He has been doing in your life. I meant those prayers. I really am
grateful for that opportunity to make some small contribution to His work in
you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thank you, parents, for your sacrifice and your commitment,
for entrusting your children to us, to my classroom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And now, my blessing, from the Epistle to the Hebrews:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">Now may the God of peace,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">who through the blood of the
eternal covenant</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">brought back from the dead</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">our Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">equip you with everything good for doing his
will,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">and may he work in us</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">what is pleasing to him,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%;">through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen.</span></i></span></span><i><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-31064447716483479162012-03-05T15:44:00.011-05:002012-03-19T13:07:07.290-04:00The Family Is In Trouble<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The family is in trouble.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Family life is changing, and the changes are troubling. There’s no question that the nuclear family – the social unit of dad, mom and the kids – is showing signs of decline. No matter which metric we use – out-of-wedlock births, abortions, divorce, single-parent families —the numbers are depressing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Or not.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are two ways of looking at the dramatic changes we’ve seen in family life over the past several decades. Many people think of the family as an evolving social institution. In this view of the family, different isn’t worse, just different. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Take, for instance, divorce. Once rare, divorce is now commonplace. Since we all know someone who has been divorced or who has grown up in a family that has experienced divorce, the break-up of a family just isn’t the grand tragedy that it once was. The adults move on. Kids cope. Enough with the lamentations already.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The other way of looking at these changes in family life is that they constitute a kind of deterioration, a slipping away from the ideal. While only the most naïve would argue that there ever was a golden age of family life (nostalgia has a way of painting everything in a rosy hue), there is no question that family life now is far more fractured than it used to be. And this is not good. Family, says this view, is the one place where stability and support ought to be the norm, and when families fail, everyone loses – the kids, the exes, the in-laws, even society in general.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what kind of social institution is the family? How much does it matter that family life is changing in these ways?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">The origin of the family, as the story is told in the first chapters of ancient book of Genesis, begins with God creating all things and declaring His work to be “very good.” What God had created was wonderful and marvelous, “very good“ indeed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That is, until He looked more closely at the man. Then God said something new, “It is <u>not</u> good that man should be alone.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So God resolved to make a companion for the man. Oddly, God’s next act was not the creation of that companion but the creation of a felt need. The man, Adam, was alone, but he didn’t yet realize that he was alone. He became aware of that need only after God brought the animals to him, “to see what he would name them.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So Adam became the world’s first scientist, classifying and naming the animals. As he named the animals, though, he slowly became aware of two things: first, they all came to him in pairs, they all had mates. And second, none of them was like him. There was a vast gap of quality between the man and all of the animals, even the most intelligent among them. And the man at last understood that he was, indeed, alone. There was no creature anywhere that he could call a companion.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s when he fell asleep. Weary and discouraged and lonely, he fell into a profound sleep.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When he woke up, he beheld a creature he had not yet named. She was clearly his equal, like him in so many ways. Yet – and he didn’t need long to perceive this – she was clearly <u>not</u> like him at all. (And that was before they had exchanged a word; after they lived together for a while, they both came to understand what every husband and wife discover. The internal, psychological differences between a man and a woman are even greater than the external, physical ones.) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In other words, God’s design included diversity from the outset. God didn’t make another creature exactly like the man; He made someone intriguingly different. </div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So which version of the family -- the social evolution model or the biblical model -- which model corresponds most closely to our experience? Which version of family life works best in the real world?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Conventional wisdom used to hold that the children of broken homes are resilient. They’ll adjust, find some way to cope. But long-term studies of children from broken homes are telling a different, darker story. The titles of books based on those studies are uniformly bleak: <i>The Love They Lost: Living with the Legacy of our Parents’ Divorce</i> (Stephanie Staal), <i>The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce</i> (Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee), and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead’s <i>The Divorce Culture</i>. The statistics are grim: as a group, children whose parents split up are more likely to have problems later on – problems with substance abuse, academics, emotional issues and, most distressing, long-term relationships. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you ask the children, if they get a vote, they’ll tell us that the changes in the family are not just benign social evolution. Children know from personal experience that the more dysfunctional the family, the harder life is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What is true on a personal level is even more true on a sociological level: family life matters not just to individuals but to society. It’s not politically correct to make this observation, but it is obviously true nonetheless: Life in a community in which families are highly functional is better than life in a community in which families are dysfunctional. Statistics like divorce rate, out-of-wedlock births, abortions and teen pregnancies have social as well as personal impact. Everyone suffers when families suffer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s true that people survive the loss of family; some even thrive despite a difficult and painful family background. But the exception only proves the rule: people have a basic, undeniable need for the kind of life that only a family can provide. This basic need for community and diversity isn't just incidental; it's how God made us.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So does it matter that the family is in distress? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, we need family. We need family desperately because that’s how were designed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Just ask the kids.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-39946798887464242442012-02-02T15:11:00.007-05:002012-02-13T15:56:53.435-05:00The Believer's Job DescriptionWhat does God want from me? He and I both know it’s inevitable that I will fail. So here’s the question: if my ultimate destiny depends not on me but on Christ’s finished work on the Cross (and thank God that’s so), what does He want from me here and now? If I want to do His will (and I do), what is it?<br />
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That was the question answered by Micah, one of Israel’s ancient prophets, and his answer is famously succinct:<br />
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<em>He has told you, O man, what is good;</em><br />
<em>and what does the LORD require of you</em><br />
<em>but to do justice, and to love kindness,</em><br />
<em>and to walk humbly with your God?</em><br />
(Micah 6:6-8, ESV)<br />
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“He has told you” (in other words, this isn’t news; we already know this) “what is good” and what God requires of His people. Micah lists three verbal phrases, three items in the believer’s simplified job description:<br />
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<strong><u>1. “to do justice</u>”</strong> James warns us repeatedly that so-called “faith” that doesn’t manifest itself in an ethical life is a dead and useless thing, really no faith at all (James 2:14-17). Sound doctrine is empty and hypocritical if I don’t “do justice.”<br />
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<strong><u>2. “to love kindness</u>”</strong> If sound ethics must characterize my private life, compassion should characterize my dealings with others. There’s no extra credit in compassion, even with the most annoying person in my life. Compassion is no more than “paying it forward” for God’s extraordinary kindness to me. I express my gratitude for God’s compassion by “loving kindness” in my dealings with others.<br />
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<strong><u>3. “to walk humbly with your God</u>”</strong> After addressing our ethical life and our social life, Micah turns to our spiritual life, our relationship with God. And his job description is again succinct: “walk humbly” with God. <br />
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<em>• It is a “walk,” not an episode. My relationship with God is a part of who I am, not an accessory to put on or take off according to the occasion. </em><em><br />
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<em>• And it is humble, a consistent recognition of who He is (God) and who I am (not God) in the relationship. I am dependent on Him for wisdom, provision and protection. Because He’s God and I’m not, I don’t negotiate with Him, I adore and obey Him. </em><br />
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It’s only a three-item job description. It takes a moment to say, but a lifetime to fulfill.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6864386044614428092.post-67569682986144103072011-11-29T20:10:00.001-05:002011-11-29T21:03:24.710-05:00The Death of Dreams<em>I know this isn't a Christmas meditation. Actually, I wrote it in my </em><a href="http://www.christianbook.com/niv-noteworthy-bible-bonded-leather-black/9780310939726/pd/939726?product_redirect=1&Ntt=939726&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP">NIV Noteworthy Bible</a> <em>last spring, on Easter Sunday, and I ran across it this past Sunday, when our pastor was preaching from John 19. But this isn't an Easter meditation; it's about trusting God, now.</em><br />
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The death of Jesus was the final destruction of a dream, of many dreams: of Messianic deliverance from the brutal rule of Rome, of the presence and charisma of a mighty prophet. It was, as we can see now, two millenia hence, the birth of a new Dream, a dream that was inconceivable to those hopeless mourners in those first few bitter hours, those first two days.<br />
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Without the death of Jesus those old dreams, which had to die, couldn't be laid to rest. So he gave himself up to the brutality and treachery of his enemies. He was "obedient [to his Father's will] to the point of death." <em>All</em> hopes had to die -- hopes of rescue, of justice, of divine intervention -- in order for God's Plan to be set in motion.<br />
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Once Jesus was well and truly dead, once all those old dreams and hopes were abandoned, God's people were ready consider God's Better and Bigger Plan -- Jesus not just alive but resurrected to a new kind of bodily life. Jesus at work not just in first-century Palestine but God's Spirit at work throughout history all over the world. A people of God made up of not just of Jews but a people "from every tribe and every language" -- all of this inconceivable so long as the Rabbi Jesus was kept from the hands of his enemies, so long as he was treated justly and humanely.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401562486695069040noreply@blogger.com0