Worship Star
This is funny. This is not funny.
HT: Todd Rhoades
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The Tragic Scandal of Greasy Grace
I have read Lee Grady for a number of years. Grady is the editor of Charisma, the Christian magazine devoted to all things charismatic. I have enjoyed his monthly editorials and his blog, Fire in my Bones. He is both thoughtful and Spirited as a Christian committed to the charismatic tradition within the Christian Church. His editorials are often punchy and honest. He has publicly questioned some of the more extreme and fanatical expressions of charismatic Christianity (what I call “charismania”). And I found his most recent comments regarding Todd Bentley and the so-called “Lakeland Outpouring” to be right on target. It would be helpful for Christians both inside and outside the charismatic movement to read his editorial entitled “The Tragic Scandal of Greasy Grace.”
I am reposting the entire editorial here and then I have some comments below:
This week’s announcement about evangelist Todd Bentley’s hasty remarriage and restoration is sending a confusing message to the church.
I groaned when I learned early this week that Canadian preacher Todd Bentley, leader of the controversial Lakeland Revival, had decided to divorce his wife, Shonnah, and marry his former ministry intern, Jessa Hasbrook. The news surfaced after almost nine months of silence and speculation, during which time the board of Bentley’s Fresh Fire Ministries in British Columbia publicly scolded him for committing adultery.
In a statement released March 10 by Rick Joyner, the popular author and minister who is overseeing Bentley’s restoration process, we were told that (1) Bentley married his new wife several weeks ago and moved to Joyner’s base in Fort Mill, S.C.; (2) Todd and Jessa agree that their relationship was “wrong and premature” and that it “should not have happened the way it did”; (3) Bentley will remain out of public ministry while he seeks healing; and (4) Joyner will oversee the healing process with input from Dallas pastor Jack Deere and California pastor Bill Johnson. (Read Rick Joyner’s response to this column.)
It was also announced that Bentley plans to relaunch his ministry, called Fresh Fire USA, in Fort Mill, and that Joyner is now collecting donations from supporters to help rebuild it. (The Canadian ministry Bentley started has now been renamed Transform International, and it has severed ties with the evangelist.)
In a few places in his statement Joyner expressed tough love, especially when he said: “We know that trust has to be earned and that Todd will have to earn the trust of the body of Christ for future ministry, which will not be easy, nor should it be.” He also made it clear that true repentance and restoration “can only come if we refuse to compromise the clear biblical standards for morality and integrity.”
But there were some glaring omissions in the statements released this week that indicate a fundamental weakness in our freestyle approach to “restoring” fallen leaders.
First of all, it is outrageous that Shonnah Bentley, Todd’s first wife, does not seem to be an issue in the current discussion. Her name is never mentioned in Joyner’s statement—while Todd is mentioned 18 times. We are never told how Shonnah is handling the divorce. How will she manage to care for the three children she and Todd share? She and the kids seem invisible in this process. Yet if anyone needs healing and restoration, is it not the other half of this broken family?
Second, we charismatics still seem to have a habit of elevating gifting above character. It’s almost as if the end justifies the means. (So what if a preacher ruins one marriage and makes a hasty decision to marry a younger woman—the important thing is that we get him back in the pulpit to heal the sick!) That is a perversion of biblical integrity. God can anoint any man or woman with the Holy Spirit’s power; what He is looking for are vessels of honor that can carry that anointing with dignity, humility and purity.
What is most deplorable about this latest installment in the Bentley scandal is the lack of true remorse. In his own statement, Bentley apologizes for his actions and says he “takes full responsibility for my part for the ending of the marriage.” But how can he be taking “full responsibility” if he willingly chose to have a girlfriend on the side—and then married her immediately after his divorce was final? Why did he hide for several months when he should have been listening to counsel and seeking reconciliation with his first wife?
Many Christians today have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct. Our grace is greasy. No matter what an offending brother does, we stroke him and pet him and nurse his wounds while we ignore the people he wounded. No matter how heinous his sin, we offer comforting platitudes because, after all, who are we to judge?
When the apostle Paul learned that a member of the Corinthian church was in an immoral relationship with his father’s wife, he did not rush to comfort the man. He told the Corinthians: “You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (I Cor. 5:2). Sometimes we must draw a ruthless sword in order to bring genuine healing. The “wounds of a friend” are faithful to bring conviction and true repentance (see Prov. 27:6).
Paul actually delivered the unrepentant Corinthian man to Satan “for the destruction of his flesh” (5:5) so that he could be saved. That does not sound very nice. Many today would call Paul’s tactic harsh and legalistic. But that is because we have lost any true sense of the fear of the Lord—and we don’t realize that our laxness about God’s standards is a perversion of His mercy. When the sin is severe, the public rebuke must be severe.
In all the discussion of Bentley and the demise of the Lakeland Revival, I am waiting to hear the sound of sackcloth ripping into shreds. We should be weeping. We should be rending our hearts—as God commanded Israel when they fell into sin (see Joel 2: 13-14). To give guidance to a confused church, our leaders should have publicly decried the Lakeland disaster while at the same time helping both Todd and Shonnah to heal.
We have not mourned this travesty. We have not been shocked and appalled that such sin has been named among us. We act as if flippant divorce and remarriage are minor infractions—when in actuality they are such serious moral failures that they can bring disqualification.
If we truly love Todd Bentley, we will not clamor for his quick return to the pulpit. While we certainly want him to be fully restored to fellowship with God, we cannot rush the process of restoring a man to ministry. Leaders must live up to a higher standard. We must demand that those involved in Bentley’s restoration not only love him but also love the church by protecting us from the kind of scandal we endured last year.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. To read Rick Joyner’s and Todd Bentley’s public statement click here.
You should read Rick Joyner’s reaction to Grady. Joyner has been posting weekly vignettes, documenting Todd Bentley’s “restoration.” In one vignette he explains his disagreement with, and concern for, Lee Grady (click here).
I really think Grady is right on this one. I do not think he is “self-righteous” in his critique of Joyner and Bentley. I share with Grady the concern that charismatics value giftedness above character. This is one of the values of an unhealthy charismatic subculture—a pragmatic spirituality. As long as people receive a positive benefit from a Christian leader then that leader’s character is not much of an issue. I assume most charismatics are disappointed that Bentley had to step out of the ministry due to some kind of moral failure, but I think many are hopeful that he will make a full “recovery” and make a full return to the preaching/teaching/healing ministry.
And here is the problem.
I am not going to stand in judgment of Bentley, Strader, Joyner, Johnson or any of the guys involved in the Lakeland “whatever-you-want-to-call-it.” There are a number of things I disagreed with, many things that have angered me, but before their own master they will stand or fall. I especially feel this for Todd Bentley. I do not know the guy, although I have corresponded with friends who have worked with him and his former ministry in Canada. I want the best for the guy. He seems to be sincere in his love for God and desire to follow Jesus. I have nothing but grace for the guy.
My problem is with the restoration process.
I think leaders who have experienced a moral failure need the body of Christ to rally around them, support them, and help restore them to the faith. My problem with Bentley’s restoration process is that they are trying to restore him to ministry. What?!? It seems that those closest to Bentley want to get him back to preaching and teaching and carrying on his former “ministry.” A part of this “restoration” is raising money on behalf of Bentley. Are you serious?!?
Grady’s issue is greasy grace. And I understand where he is coming from, but I have no problem in extending the grace and love of God for Bentley, his first wife, his kids, and his second wife. I do have a problem extending support to putting Bentley back into public ministry. It reminds me a little of the Apostle Paul. When Paul, who was called Saul, came to Christ he tried to preach in Jerusalem, but the Christians were afraid of him (Acts 9:26-31). He had previously been a Christian-killer after all. They sent him to his hometown and for three years he grew in his faith and in his knowledge of God. Then he went back to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles. It was then another eight to ten years before Paul was sent out from the local church in Antioch to begin his first of four missionary journeys. Paul spent somewhere between 11-13 years building credibility and character before launching out into ministry. Is Rick Joyner, Bill Johnson, & Jack Deere going to recommend something similar?
I think any high profile Christian leader should spend at least ten years living as a normal guy before ever considering public, full-time ministry. The best path of restoration would be to live like a normal guy, love Jesus, love your wife, love your kids, serve in a local church, work a full-time job, and just restore your faith outside of the public eye. It does not seem that Bentley’s restoration team is following such a path. Maybe they will, but I doubt it. Only God knows.
Credibility and character are the key issues.
This is the purpose for the power of the Spirit.
The power of the Holy Spirit is transformation, the power to become, the power to be.
The power to do ministry is an overflow of character and credibility, that is, who you are.
The power to be precedes the power to do.
If you are interested in experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit, then look for him to do a powerful work of transformation within you, to change and renovate your heart.
Out of the heart flow all the issues of life.
God in his grace and sovereignty can (and indeed has) used broken men to accomplish his purposes, but only for a limited amount of time. We cannot and must not put our attention on the people God chooses to use. We should put our attention on their faith and their character and if their faith is in Christ and their character reflects the image of Christ, then follow them.
God help us.
Help.
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Talking About the Trinity
Last weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri in a pretty unique format. WOLC’s pastor, Brian Zahnd, set up a “kitchen table” interview with me, where he asked me questions about the Trinity. This was a part of his “Engaging Orthodoxy” series, a teaching series geared towards equipping people to engage in culture by being rooted and grounded in Christian orthodoxy, i.e. right believing regarding the Christian faith.
So we literally sat at a table on the stage and talked about the Trinity with coffee and Bibles in hand. We talked about theology, church history, baptism, creeds, heresy, orthodoxy, Jerry Seinfeld, and Bob Dylan…all in a 35 minute time slot. You can listen to the audio here. [You can also listen to the audio on the WOLC website. Click here to go to their archive audio and scroll down to “Engaging Orthodoxy – Part 4: The Trinity.”]
Brian gave me the list of questions and like some middle school over-achiever, I diligently wrote out answers to each question so that I would be prepared. As it worked out, I didn’t get to all this material. I spent some time working on some of these answers in order to make the very complicated doctrine of the Trinity easy to understand. So here are the notes in their entirety:
What is the Trinity?
“Trinity” is the word that Christians use to describe who God is.
In the Old Testament, God has revealed himself as one God.
In the New Testament, God has revealed himself as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
This is a bit of a mystery.“Trinity” is the Church’s way of preserving this mystery, that there is one God, one divine substance, revealed in three persons—the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. This was the language of the early church when speaking about God, “one substance” (Latin: substatia) and “three persons” (Latin: persona).
The doctrine of the Trinity is a gift from the historic Church to the modern Church.
How was the doctrine of the Trinity developed?
The doctrine of the Trinity grew out of worship and a devotion to Scripture.
Historically, it began with BAPTISM as you read in Matthew 28:19…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy SpiritIn the early church, baptism was by immersion, often dipping the head three times while the person being baptized stood naked in the water. (I hope that was some murky water.) If there was not enough water for immersion, pouring water over the head was permissible. The water would be poured over the head three times. (Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol 2, pg. 248-249)
It was baptism, not just in God’s name, but into the name. There is a footnote in the ESV regarding this difference in translating Matthew 28:19. From a Jewish perspective, a name relates to a person character. And so we are not just baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but into that name, into this mysterious community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
From there, the Church began to use CREEDS in order to teach Christians basics…like the Apostle’s Creed.
Candidates for baptism would recite (or repeat) the Apostle’s Creed. The Creed was “the baptismal symbol.”
(Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol 2, pg. 248)The ancient creeds used a Trinitarian structure for the Christian faith.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord…
I believe in the Holy Ghost… (Apostle’s Creed)
Then the doctrine of the Trinity really began to take form in response to HERESIES. It has been said that, “heresy is the mother of all orthodoxy.” This was particularly true in relation to the formation of the doctrine of the Trinity. There were hundreds of years of debates asking, “How is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Christian pastors wrote books and the church held Church-wide counsels and they ended up with this language: One substance, three persons, one divine essence revealed in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.How important was the doctrine of the Trinity to the early church?
It was absolutely critical.
The early Jesus movement was but one of dozens of new religions and it was important for the Church to clearly communicate who their God is. They were spread out through the Roman Empire who had a pantheon of gods. At first, they were considered a radical Jewish and so they had to separate themselves from Judaism. And they had a number of schisms among those who called themselves “Christians,” but disagreed on who God was.
So it was critical that they establish the uniqueness of the Christian God, who they believed (and we believe) is the one true living God. And God as a Trinity is unique. The media will talk about the three great monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as if they are essential the same. God as Trinity is totally unique and unlike any other religious system.
Why do you think modern Christians aren’t so interested in the Trinity?
I think it is because many Christians in the United States are more interested in seeking God’s hand than seeking his face. They want to know, “What can God do for me?” Instead of “Who is this God?”
Michael Horton in Christless Christianity calls this “moralistic, therapeutic deism.”
Moralistic: people want to be better people, better husbands, fathers, employees.
Therapeutic: We want to feel better; we want God to give us goose bumps on Sunday morning
Deism: God is the maker of heaven and earth, but he has no contact or interaction with his creationMany who claim to be followers of Christ don’t want to take the time to seek God’s face in a serious way.
And for churches like yours and mine…we are hip, young, cool, and contemporary…we want to know what God is doing now…we don’t have much interest in knowing what God has done in the first couple hundred years of the church.
Are there dangers in our unwillingness to think seriously about doctrine?
Yeah I think so. Look at the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the late middle ages.
The Reformation of the 16th century was necessary, because the church had gotten so far away from biblical Christianity; it was a mess.
It is easy for Christians living at anytime to absorb the values of the dominate culture.
Thinking seriously about doctrine helps you discern biblical truth from cultural error. It is so easy to replace biblical values with cultural values.
We are living in a consumer culture. It is easy to baptize American consumerism and make it sound Christian.
I am not selfish and greed; I just want God to do whatever I say when I say.What are some of the wrong ways people think about the Trinity?
There are essential two wrong ways of thinking about the Trinity and it is to err on one side or the other…to either see God and a monad….one in his person or to see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three Gods.
Historically, these heresies are called modalism and tri-theism.
Modalism sees to God as taking on three modes…wearing three masks.
You see this presently in the United Pentecostal Church–“Oneness Pentecostals” or “Jesus Only Pentecostals”.Tri-theism is a polytheistic view of God. That there are three Gods.
A polytheistic view of God is found among Jehovah Witnesses and in Mormonism.Both of these are heresies that have been condemned by the Church.
Why do we call wrong thinking about the Trinity heresy?
Ultimately we call it heresy because it is inconsistent with the teaching of the apostles, which we know as the New Testament.
Building any kind of theological framework like the doctrine of the Trinity requires that we build it big enough to hold all of what the Scripture says about God. There is no doubt that the Scripture reveals God to be one. There is only one God. But was we look at the teachings of Jesus, he himself claims to be God. And they way Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit indicates he is God too.
Either heresy requires us to ignore certain Scriptures are simply force them to say something that the biblical author’s did not intend.
What are some analogies of the Trinity?
The early church used analogies to try to describe the Trinity. Tertullian of Carthage actually coined the term “Trinity” used two in particular.
Tree as trunk, branches, leaves
Moving water as a river, stream, and creek.
Some modern analogies include: Water in three forms: solid, liquid, vapor.
Football team: offensive, defense, and special teams
A person as husband, father, & pastor
A hot, cherry pie cut into three large pieces
My favorite may be an analogy from music. In a 2007 Rolling Stone interview, Bono was describing his appreciation for the Beatles. He described their music as “an intoxicating mix of melody, harmony and rhythm.” (As quoted by Roderick T. Leupp, The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology, 2008, pg. 9)
Do analogies accurately explain the Trinity?
No. All human metaphors fail at some point.
Consider the music analogy. This is a good one. Melody, harmony, and rhythm are a distinct, but together they make up a song. They are three distinct faces to the one song.
As good as this analogy is, it does have its problems when relating back to the Trinity. The orthodox position is that the Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, and the Spirit is fully God. The melody is not fully the song and harmony and rhythm alone, are not “the song.”
There is really nothing in creation that is like the Trinity, which is consistent with what the Bible says about God. He is holy, i.e. separate, different, other.
There is nothing in creation like the Trinity, because if there was then it would be the Trinity.
Is the doctrine of the Trinity easy to understand?
No, but it isn’t supposed to be. The early church began to speak of God as a Trinity not to explain the mystery, but to preserve the mystery.
The Church confidently believes this is who God has revealed himself to be…this mysterious community of persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It is a mystery that we embrace.
It is a mystery that we explore.I grew up in Myrna Manor North, just a few miles from this building. In the back of our neighborhood there is a creek and large wooded area. The woods were mysterious…beckoned us to go exploring.
One early church father expressed his worshipful exploration of the mystery like this:
“No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illuminated by the splendor of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of any one of the three I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.”
—Gregory of Nazianzus, (330-390 AD)
Orations (40.41)Should we be suspicious of doctrines which are difficult to comprehend?
Not when it comes to God.
A God who is easy to understand is a popular god, because it is a god we can control, a God we can master.
But if God is the holy, infinite, eternal God as declared in the Scripture than shouldn’t he be difficult to comprehend? A God who is easy to understand isn’t a God who demands my worship. The kind of God is a god who demands my boredom. I seriously believe this is why some Christians become shipwrecked in their faith. Their god is too small.
A difficult and demanding doctrine like the Trinity humbles us and demands our worship.
“In the presence of this mystery, we are no longer in a position of control where we can manage or master the subject. Before this Subject, worship is more appropriate than problem solving, awe is preferable to answers. So the mystery of the Trinity ought to evoke in us humility and worship—the very attitudes necessary for entering the circle of triune fellowship.”
—Steve Seamands, Ministry in the Image of God, pg. 103What does the Trinity say to us about community?
“At the center of the universe there is a relationship.” (Darrell Johnson, Experiencing the Trinity, pg. 37)
We know that God is love.
(1 John 4:8)
There is no biblical understanding of love without other people.You can love your car, your cat, your dog and even your goldfish, but that is not the biblical definition of love.
It is not love without other people.
God is love, because for eternity there has been love between the Father, Son and Spirit. These three persons have been loving each other since before there was time.
“It is common when speaking of the Divine happiness to say that God is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of Himself, in perfectly beholding and infinitely loving, and rejoicing in, His own essence and perfection…”
–Jonathan Edwards, Unpublished Essay on the TrinityAnd this love draws me in. The Father sent his Son to build a community.
The Father, through the Son sends the Spirit in invite us into this community, where we will never be alone.What about the Shack?
The best thing that happened to The Shack, outside of an endorsement from Eugene Peterson, was all of the criticism and negative backslash it received. I am still waiting for some friends to create an Anti-Shape Shifters website to help promote my book!
I think The Shack is a wonderful introduction to Trinitarian life. Some say The Shack has an anti-authority vibe and a very low view of the church…and I can see that. But remember The Shack is a work of fiction and not systematic theology. It has its flaws, but it is a good way to see the love between the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Why does it matter? What does the Trinity have to do with our everyday lives?
In Shape Shifters, I give seven reasons why I am a Trinitarian Christian. But here is one: For me, it goes back to relationships.
I have had to confess a sin to my church. I have had a habit of running away from church members when I see them at Wal-Mart. When I go shopping at Wal-Mart, I am a man on a mission. I want to go in. Get my carefully selected items and then get out. And so I developed a habit of running from church members when I would see them at Wal-Mart. When I saw them coming one way, I would dart down an isle in order to avoid them.
This is a sin, because I was running from the very thing I was created for…relationships, right relationships with other people.
Why did Jesus say that the greatest command is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves?
Because this is a reflection of who God is. When we love one another, we are living out our “created-in-the-image-of-Godness.”
Paul’s Trinitarian Prayer:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
For more information about the Trinity, I recommend the following books:
Shape Shifters by Derek Vreeland
Experiencing God by Darrell Johnson
Ministry in the Image of Godby Steve Seamands
Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace by James Torrance
The Renewal of Trinitarian Theology by Roderick Leupp
I also found Dr. Michael Williams’ lectures on the Trinity to be helpful. Williams is a professor at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. I listened to four lectures on the Trinity from his “God and His Word” series. I listened to lessons 17-20 in preparation for this talk on the Trinity.
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Biblical Worldview
The Barna Group has recently review their survey data regarding contemporary Americans and whether or not they have a biblical worldview. They conducted surveys in 1995, 2000, & 2005 and their conclusion is that 9% of Americans have (what they define as) a biblical worldview.
So what is a worldview, you may ask.
A worldview is simply how you view the world. More specifically, a worldview is that set of core beliefs and values by which to interpret reality. We all do not perceive things the same way because we interpret what we see and experience through a certain worldview. By way of analogy, it may be helpful to see your worldview like a pair of glasses. I wear glasses. I wear the trendy, rectangular, black kind…how original, I know. My glasses help to shape what I see, because without them, most things far away would look blurry. Eyeglasses help make things clear and understandable. By the time we are adults, we have been formed by a certain set of values, a certain set of beliefs that functions as interpreters of life, as the criteria by which we distinguish right from wrong, and those core convictions we use to make decisions.
So what is a “biblical” worldview. The Barna Group defines a biblical worldview by these six convictions:
- absolute moral truth exists
- the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches
- Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic
- a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works
- Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth
- God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today
And only 9% of Americans have such a worldview.
And here is the kicker: of those who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ (i.e. they claim to be a born again Christian, or evangelical Christian), only 19% have a biblical worldview.
I wonder which of these six beliefs causes them trouble. For me I think the belief in Satan is maybe of least importance. There other five are non-negotiable essentials for me. I would add something about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to the fifth statement. I may also add something about the Triune nature of God. Nevertheless, I concur that these six are a fairly good test to see if a person’s worldview has been formed by the Scripture.
Here are more stats from Barna:
- One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.
- Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur.
- Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective.
- Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds.
- A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless.
- Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction.
So what is the deal here? What is the breakdown?
Certainly there is a growing epidemic of bible illiteracy in the US. We are at an all-time high of media’s production of Scripture (both print and through digital media) and yet people know less and less about what the Bible teaches.
More than that, I think we approach the Scripture too often for information and not transformation.
The Scripture has been given as bread to eat and not a trivia book to be memorized. There is a place for Scripture memorization, but not when we are trying to memorize Scripture in order to kick butt at Bible trivia. What we need is to incorporate the Scripture into our lives and allow the text to wash over us and form us mind and soul. There is a place for in-depth, theological study of the Scripture, certainly. But our main participation with Scripture needs to be one where we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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The Cross of Christ
April 12th is Easter, Resurrection Sunday, the ultimate day of Christian celebration when we celebrate Jesus’ triumph over death and hell. In order to prepare for Resurrection Sunday, we are spending five weeks on Sunday mornings talking about “The Cross of Christ.”
For a number of years I did not prepare for Resurrection Sunday. Ok, so maybe I went shopping for a new tie, but for the most part Resurrection Sunday was just another Sunday. This is not our heritage as followers of Christ. The church has always celebrated the resurrection on Sunday. This is why we normally conduct worship services on the Sunday; it honors the day Jesus rose from the dead. Every Sunday is a mini-celebration of the resurrection. Nevertheless, for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years the Church has dedicated on day to be the ultimate celebration of the resurrection, the Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring…Resurrection (or Easter) Sunday.
Resurrection Sunday has historically been a day of celebration…renewing ourselves in the joy of the resurrection. And to experience the joy of the resurrection you need to reflect on the sorrow of the cross.
Lent is the historic way to prepare for Resurrection Sunday.
Lent is a way to identify with Jesus’ 40 day fast in the wilderness before his public ministry began.
Lent is a way to reflect on the cross.
At the cross we see Jesus not as:
• Our life coach
• Our love guru
• Our therapist
• Our motivational speaker
• Or our mystic guideRather we see a humiliated, failed revolutionary being executed by the reigning empire… a failed revolutionary who billions of people for nearly 2,000 years have worshipped as the Son of God and Savior.
So why would he do it?
The 19th Century Danish philosopher Soren Kiekegaard said about Jesus:
“That one should push through the crowd in order to get to the spot where money is dealt out, and honor, and glory – that one can understand. But to push oneself forward in order to be flogged – how sublime, how Christian, how stupid!” — Training in Christianity
The cross is a paradox, a contradiction.
At the cross we see the glory and the shame; the beauty and pain in Jesus death.
For many people the cross is simply offensive. It is offensive to people who (like the ancient Greeks) are looking for wisdom, or self-help principles, or trite, pithy, common-sensical statements about life. Those who are looking into Christianity in order to find something to improve their lives are often offended when they are offered a bloody, tortured man on a cross.
It is a shocking, horrific scene, pitiful and offensive, but the cross of Christ is the pinnacle of history. Time is split by this one six hour event into BC (before Christ) and AD (not “After Death,” but the Latin phrase: Anno Domini, “after death). The cross of Christ split time and it is central to what we believe as followers of Christ.
Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. This is of primary importance.
The Apostle Paul, who was a religious hit man turned early church leader told a church in the ancient world: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Here’s the deal:
God who is maker of heaven and earth created us in his image. Sin perverted and corrupted us like a PC with corrupt files that will never boot up Windows no matter how much we cuss, scream, and bang on the keyboard.
Sin has made us less than human and utterly/eternally disconnected from God our Creator and Father. Because of our sin, we deserve death, hell, judgment, and punishment. But GOOD NEWS—Jesus came to be our substitute. On the cross, Jesus died in our place for our sins, bearing the guilt and shame of our sins and bearing the wrath of God, that our sins incurred.
From the cross, Jesus becomes our Savior and our Healer in order to make us into the new humanity body and soul. As the Savior he forgives us of our sins (past, present, and future). As the Healer he heals us physically and emotionally.
But forgiveness and healing come only as a result of the unthinkable, the ultimate gasp—the death of God. The cover of Time magazine on April 8, 1966 proclaimed “the death of God” and at the cross of Christ we see that very thing, the unimaginable death of God.
We will explore theses theme on Sunday mornings at Cornerstone Church in the weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday, April 12. Here are the five messages:
March 1 :: The Offensiveness of the Cross
March 8 :: Jesus our Substitute
March 15 :: Jesus our Savior
March 29 :: Jesus our Healer
April 5 :: The Death of God -
Repenting on Ash Wednesday
Today is Ash Wednesday, the traditional first day of Lent, a day of fasting, prayer, and repentance.
Learn more about Lent here: http://churchyear.net/lent.html
Today is the “day of ashes” in the Jewish tradition of dumping ashing on your head as a sign of repentance. Many Christians will have ashes (mixed with oil) rubbed on their foreheads today. I actually burned a stick on one end and stuck it in my sock, an ancient tradition similar to rubbing ashes on your forehead, as a sign that I need to repent.
Repentance is not optional; it is essential.
While the Greek word “repent” in the New Testament means to change your mind or to rethink, repentance is a deeper concept than rationally rethinking one’s life. I could do that over a plate of lemon peper wings and drinks. Repentance in the Christian tradtion implies a certain necessity.
I repent because I need to repent.
I need to turn away from self (and every word that has been hyphenated with the word “self” like self-conceit, self-obsession, self-ish desires). I need to turn God in order to receive his grace. I needed this nineteen years ago when I became a Christian and I need it all the more today.
I repent as a matter of lifestyle. In order to live in God’s grace, I must repent. For when I sin, I am the most disconnected from God, from his grace, his Spirit, and his presence. When I sin, I am also the most unChristian, the most unChrist-like.
I need to rpepent, because if my thought dreams could be seen, they’d probably put my head in a guillotine.
I repent to live.
I repent therefore I am.
Here is a prayer of repentance for this Ash Wednesday:
Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life,
give me not the spirit of laziness,
despair, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of sobriety,
humility, patience and love to Thy servant.Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own transgressions
and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.Amen
–St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 305-373)
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Lent 2009
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. So gather all that ash from the fireplace and grab your burnt sticks; it’s time for forty days of repentance all you sinners!
I knew tomorrow was coming and I am ready…sort of.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning Lent, a 40-day season of fasting and prayer that leads up to Resurrection Sunday, April 12, 2009. It is a way for followers of Jesus to identify with his 40-day fast in the wildernenss, by choosing certain ways and certain times of prayer and fasting. (I wrote a 5 page guide here: www.cornerstoneamericus.com/lent.) It is a way to reflect on the sorrow of the cross in order to rightly celebrate the ultimate Christian celebration — Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Every Sunday morning is a mini-celebration of the resurrection, which is why most of us attend worship services on Sunday, but if you do not practice Lent, it is possible to treat Rez Sunday like an ordinary day. Not for me. Last year was the first year I practiced Lent and it made Rez Sunday 2008 much more than a regular Sunday.
So I am ready for Lent, but I am looking at the next 40 days with a bit of apprehension. For one, I hate fasting. There is nothing fun about hunger pains and caffeine withdrawal headaches. (I am going to do something about the headaches this year as I am adding coffee to the list of acceptable drinks during my fast.) I am going to fast one to two days a week during the six weeks of Lent. I hate fasting, but I love it, because it is such a powerful spiritual pathway. It does not change us, but it puts us in a position where God can go about the process of changing us.
Also I am reading N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God during Lent. That’s 738 pages in 40 days. Some guys want to climb Everest, some want to run marathons; I want to read a 700 page book.
For me it will be a 40-day period of sermon preporation so that I can stand up on Rez Sunday and have something meaningful to say.
So join us for the fast, join us for Lent, join us in identiying with Jesus so we can celebration his resurrection.
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Millard Fuller (1935-2009)
Millard Fuller died early this morning.
He is a hero in the true biblical sense. He took the words of Jesus seriously. He gave up a small fortune, giving it all away in order to follow Jesus.Millard and his wife Linda founded both Habitat for Humanity and The Fuller Center for Housing, both based here in Americus where I live. There has been a common misunderstanding that former President Jimmy Carter “started” Habitat for Humanity, which is not true. Jimmy Carter, who lives ten miles from Americus in Plains, became a Habitat volunteer in 1984 and has done much to champion Millard’s vision to eliminate poverty housing around the world. Carter called Millard “one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known.”
I had the opportunity of meeting with Millard exactly one month ago. I accepted an invitation to lead morning devotions for the staff on Wednesday, December 3, 2008. I shared some thoughts from Isaiah 9:6-7, prayed for the Fuller Center, and then spent about 10-15 minutes with Millard.
I had met him on a few occasions in various community functions, but I had never talked to him for any amount of time and certainly not in his offices, on his turf. I listened to him share stories describing what God was doing through the ministry. He told me my truck was “in sin” and could only be redeemed by a Fuller Center bumper stick. (I hate to admit that my truck has yet to repent.) More than anything, I had the wonderful privilege of drinking in his passion and charisma. Little did I know that this brief encounter would be the last time I would see Millard Fuller.
Millard’s passion reverberated with two themes: “the economics of Jesus” and the “theology of the hammer.” These two beliefs lived large in Millard’s heart and permeated the two organizations he founded. These two foundational beliefs are his legacy.
“The economics of Jesus”
At the core of Millard’s fundraising vision was a desire to put the teachings of Jesus into practice.
Things like:- Give Jesus what you have, even if it is not enough, and expect God to come through with the rest
- Care for the poor, the least of these, and do profit from them
- Share resources (financial & material) with those in need
In his 2007 biography The House that Love Built, Bettie Youngs captures Millard’s thoughts on the economics of Jesus. “(Our) philosophy has always embodied the principle that each and every human being is priceless. We are to share what we have with ‘our neighbor,’ especially those in need. We are not to look down upon the poor. Scriptures are full of examples in which Jesus places enormous value on people whom society considers lowly. God’s grace extends equally to all humanity, whether they are considered ‘useful’ to us or not” (98).
“The theology of the hammer”
Millard’s often quoted “theology of the hammer” is the challenge to any form of Christianity made up of creeds without deeds. Millard and Linda were compelled to fulfill the promise of Deuteronomy 15:4, “There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.” The fulfillment of this promise for Millard was not found in merely talking about it, but doing something about it, namely picking up a hammer and nails and going to work building houses.Millard had his ups and downs. He had his critics and his supporters. While living in Americus for nearly a decade I have heard from both camps. For me, I saw Millard as a passionate follower of Christ who had a passion to do the work of the kingdom of God. He will be missed, but he will not be forgotten.
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Rick Warren’s Prayer
Rick Warren was asked to deliver the innvocation at President Obama’s inauguration today. I joined Rick in praying for our president today. Here is the prayer:
Let us pray:
Almighty God — our Father. Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King, and a great cloud of witnesses, are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice-President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom, and justice for all.
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes — even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation, and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president, and his wife Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life — Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus — who taught us to pray:
Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
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Why I Signed the Evangelical Manifesto
On Wednesday, November 5, the day after the most recent election, I was at THE meeting, a weekly meeting with some pastor friends. As I sat down at the table with one of my friends, I broke the ice with what we were both thinking. I said, “So what do you think?” Barak Obama had just been elected president, a historical election no doubt. He said, “Well for some people they think the sky is falling and for others they think the Savior has come.” And I responded, “Yeah and I think they both are wrong.”
Religion, politics, and sex. Three subjects on everyone’s mind, but three subjects we are not supposed to talk about publically, although that old adage has fallen out of popularity. Politics are difficult to talk about publically, because people can become so impassioned by their party’s platform, their candidate, their ideology, and on it goes….
This most recently presidential election has been particularly stirring for Christians, and so it has been a great time for us to think and to rethink what it means to be a Christian, particularly an evangelical Christian.
The evangelical manifesto (www.anevangelcialmanifesto.com) was written in May of this year by a steering committee of evangelical thinkers and scholars who wanted to help reclaim the term “evangelical” from a political context and re-establishing it upon a theological foundation. In other words, to be an evangelical means we believe in the exclusivity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the necessity of experiential conversion and not that we simply vote Republican.
I signed the manifesto online, because I agree that we as evangelicals need to reform our identity and behavior, especially related to partisan politics.
We do not need to privatize our faith, because our God is personal, but never private.
We do not need to politicize our faith, because Jesus is not an elephant or a donkey (he is a lamb!).
We particularly need to repent and reform of politicizing our faith, that is baptizing one party as the “Christian” party and demonizing the other party. We have to admit that participation in any political party is a part of Christian liberty. There are Christians who will vote Republican, some will vote Democrat, some will vote independent, and some will chose not to vote.
In the evangelical manifesto, the authors write:
Neither privatized nor politicized
Today, however, we Evangelicals wish to stand clear from certain positions in public life that are widely confused with Evangelicalism. First, we Evangelicals repudiate two equal and opposite errors into which many Christians have fallen recently. One error has been to privatize faith, interpreting and applying it to the personal and spiritual realm only. Such dualism falsely divorces (that can be rectified with the help of Southfield lawyers for divorce) the spiritual from the secular, and causes faith to lose its integrity and become “privately engaging and publicly irrelevant,” and another form of “hot tub spirituality.”The other error, made by both the religious left and the religious right in recent decades, is to politicize faith, using faith to express essentially political points that have lost touch with biblical truth. That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes “the regime at prayer,” Christians become “useful idiots” for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest form. Christian beliefs are used as weapons for political interests.
Christians from both sides of the political spectrum, left as well as right, have made the mistake of politicizing faith; and it would be no improvement to respond to a weakening of the religious right with a rejuvenation of the religious left. Whichever side it comes from, a politicized faith is faithless, foolish, and disastrous for the church — and disastrous first and foremost for Christian reasons rather than constitutional reasons.
The Evangelical soul is not for sale. It has already been bought at an infinite price.
As followers of Christ, we must remain prophetic and speak on God’s behalf to both side of the political spectrum and avoid the mistakes of hiding our faith from public life and aligning our faith too closely to the ideology of one political party. To hear more on this subject, listen to my message, “ReChristian: Prophetic” online here: http://cornerstoneamericus.com/sermons/rechristian-prophetic/