Answering The Tough Questions Videos

Hello all,
Just a short post here to let you know that the Answering The Tough Questions series I taught this past fall is all available on-line.  Below you will find all the YouTube videos as we looked into topics like pain and suffering, the reliability of the Bible, homosexuality, trangenderism, and more.  If these are a helpful resource feel free to view and share them.

Best,
- tC

Class 1: Answering Skeptics Questions and Introduction



Class 2: Is The Bible Reliable?  Can I Trust The Bible?



Class 3: God's View on Sex - Sex and Sexuality, Part 1



Class 4: God's View on Sex - Sex and Sexuality, Part 2



Class 5: Are People Born Gay?



Class 6: Christianity and Politics: How Should I Vote?



Class 7: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?



Class 8: Transgenderism



Class 9: Is Jesus The Only Way To Heaven?



Class 10: The Crusades, Dinosaurs, Back-Sliding

After The Election: 2 Questions To Ask Ourselves

The election has come and gone.
How are you doing?

For some, this is a time of great hope and expectation.  As a man said to me the other day, "This is a great time for America."  It was one of those 'I'm sure you agree with me so I'm just walking by, smiling, and saying it' kind-of comments, but needless to say, he was excited to see Trump win.

For others, this is a time of great trepidation.  What will become of the America they knew, or at least that they thought they knew?  Will there be radical impacts on either their lives or the lives of people they know and love.

Let me skip out on digging into those questions for now and take the discussion to a different place.  Let me ask us all 2 questions that dig into the heart and soul of the presidential election for us as individuals.  I think these questions take us to a place where Jesus might go (see Luke 6:45 for one of many glimpses from Jesus into how central the heart is).

Question 1: How happy or upset were you about the election results?

When I ask this question, I am not asking it in the 'what is the right answer' kind-of way.  I am asking us to consider what our response was when we heard the Donald J. Trump was going to become the 45th President of the United States of America.  Was it joy? Was it deep joy?  Was it fear?  Deep grief?  Our visceral response to this question tells us something about where we place our trust.

Proverbs 21:1 tells us that, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it where ever He will."  This verses speaks to the sovereignty of God.  You don't have to be a hardcore Calvinist to believe and trust in the power of God, and this verse tells us that God is not going to be overpowered by the next president, or the next dictator from the other side of the globe for that matter.  This verse doesn't give a picture of a battle between the heart of the person in power and God.  It instead gives a picture of God moving history where He pleases.  For a biblical image of God's reign over the world, just consider that famous verse Jeremiah 29:11.  God doesn't say, "I have good plans and we will see if I can work it out."  He tells His covenant people He has plans, and we see that God's efficacious plans are always successful.

Now I've got to press pause here for the churchy-folk (I'm a pastor so I can be one of those as well), and point out that in my first question here I am not asking if we have a knowledge of the facts about the power of God in all things.  That is good to know, but the Bible says that the demons believe that God is one (James 2:19).  Knowing the facts isn't the question.  The question is about our gut-level response.  This should give us pause to ask if any of us are trusting in leaders to be our savior.  Again, most people would say no, but I lovingly again press us to look deep inside ourselves and see if - while we know that we should say no - there is part of us that is trusting in the power of man instead of the grace and power of God.

At this point, one can be dismissive of the real fears some people have about the president elect.  It is worth noting that there were some of these same fears on the political right after Obama won both his first and second elections.  All that to say that we should listen, care, and engage with those who are feeling scared now.  At the same time we have to examine our place of deepest trust.  Psalm 9:10 reads, "And those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, Oh LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You."

Question 2: Are you loving people?

My second question is about both words and actions.  Are you loving people - in what you say and what you do - now that the election is done?  Were you loving people before the election was over?  Were you and are you loving people who don't see the world in the same way that you do politically?  Will you love them now?  I've said this so many times but I often wonder if people would LIKE, SHARE, and POST some of the things they do if Jesus was one of their friends on various social media outlets.

It has been a hard campaign, and while I am happy that many politicians on both sides of the aisle are asking people to 'come together', that should not be something new for the follower of Christ.  In a world that is so often built on identity politics and loving my group while demonizing the other group, the follower of Christ is called to love all people - people who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).  We love because the call of Christ is to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:36-40).

Now that the election is over, some things are truly different.
But some things are not different and should never be different regardless of who is in the White House.

- tC

Achan's Sin, All Are Killed: Why Did God Do This?

On a recent Sunday morning, Bethany Church heard a passage preached that was - to be candid - shocking.  In Joshua 7, we read about the sin of Achan.  The background is that the nation of Israel was freed from 400 years of slavery in Egypt.  After their miraculous delivery, disobedience leads them to wander for a generation (~40 years) in the wilderness.  Finally, they are ready to enter The Promised Land and after crossing the Jordan River, they conquer Jericho in a very strange way (see Joshua 6).  After this victory over the most fortified city they have ever seen, they are told to do 1 of 2 things with the spoils: they are either to destroy them or they are to take certain items (as directed by God) and to save them for Him.  These saved spoils would fund the future construction of the Temple, built under the reign of King Solomon, the son of King David).

In this process, a man named Achan - an Israelite and a member of the tribe of Judah - decided to take a robe, some gold, and some silver - and to hide it under his tent.  The result: God was angered and the nation of Israel was routed at the battle of Ai.  After being directed from God as to the cause of their loss, Achan was discovered, and he and his family were brought to the Valley of Achor. Achan, the robe, the silver, the gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his sheep were then stoned and burned.

I suppose it might be the response of some to say, "Well, God is holy, and He demands holiness", and this is very true.  But my sense is that if we leave it here, we also leave many people with many questions.  Here are some additional thoughts as to the 'why would God..." of this situation.

1. How do you feel about any divine judgment?  I ask this question as a starting ground for us.  It is challenging to think about Achan and all his family and animals being killed, but let's step back and ask ourselves "What if just Achan was killed?"  How does that strike you?  I read one writer who immediately jumped to the notion that Achan was not a literal person, but that this passage was all symbolic.  This is serious mishandling of the text and the genre of the book.  This modern-day writer was clearly uncomfortable with any image of God as one who would demand punishment.  So how about you and how about me?  Is our issue with the stoning of the family, or with any punishment of sin and disobedience at all?  If we are not comfortable with sin being treated seriously and punishment for sin, we will have a hard time reconciling our thinking with the core of the Christian faith - that Christ was crucified as an atonement for sin.

2. Sin is never individualized.  When preaching from this passage, Pastor Bruce Boria mentioned that in our western, individualized society people tend to think they as individual persons get the blessings and the punishment they deserve in life.  He then noted how untrue this is.  The sins of one person impact the people around them - just ask any family of an addict and they will confirm this reality.

I will take this even further by saying that there is no such thing as a victimless crime or the sin of the individual.  The reknowned sociologist Emile Durkeim's book Suicide addressed this powerfully from a sociological perspective. When studying suicide - an action considered to be supremely individualistic - he found that there were a myraid of social dynamics that lead to and influenced a person's decision to take his or her life.  Along those lines, let's consider a man, alone in his house, with his wife and children asleep, looking at pornography.  Is this just 'his sin'?  Of course not.  He is impacting his view of sex which will impact his physical, emotional, and spiritual relationship with his wife.  This shaping of his mind and heart by pornography will also impact how he acts toward his son and daughter, and even how he acts toward people in public as he is being influenced to see women as a commodity and not as a person made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).  Additionally, he is harming the men and women of the pornography industry as it feels on the most base instincts of humanity.  There truly no sin that is committed on a proverbial island.

3. What we don't know from the passage.  There are a few things we don't know from the passage.  These would be considered Arguments from Silence which - logically speaking - is a weak form of argumentation.  None the less, we should note what we don't know and we should be careful and thoughtful when we make any assumptions about what isn't said.
- We don't know the age of the children.  They may have been old enough to actively support and/or be involved in the sin of Achan
- We don't know about his wife.  In the list of people put to death, his wife is left out.  I think it is likely to assume she was also executed with the others (the passage says "all he (Achan) had" was brought to Achor.  While his wife was not a possession, that phrase likely means all that was connected to his household and thus his wife would be there as well.
- We also don't know what happened between when Joshua told the people about being consecrated and the following morning when Achan admitted to the sin.  The passage shows that the people were told (v. 14) that in the morning they would present themselves.  We don't know what Achan said to his wife or family between when the community was told about presenting themselves (the next day) and when it actually occurred.  Did his wife conspire with him?  Again, we don't know.
- Lastly, we don't know how God would have responded if Achan came and admitted to his sin before the next morning.  Could he have been forgiven?  It's unclear, but with the story of Ahab's repentance (1 Kings 21), we see that sometimes a slight move toward God might be met with mercy.

But what do we know - about the passage, about people, and about God?

1. We know that God is just.  Many well-respected theologians believe that children who die before they reach the age where they can understand sin and God - these children are received into Heaven.  This is often concluded from some teachings on sin and responsibility from Romans 1, but for the sake of argument, let's say this idea is correct.  If it is, Achan's young children were - that day - received in to Heaven and into the presence of God.  Yes, the death was terrible, but the eternal life so quickly overshadowed the death that it was certainly seen as light and momentary (as Paul say sin 2 Corinthians 4:17).  We also know because of God's justice that He will never, ever eternally punish an innocent person, be it a wife, a child, or anyone.

2. We know that God was very serious about the sin of Achan, and that the people had fair warning because they had seen Jericho.  The people were warned about the devoted things and how they were to handle them.  They had seen the total devastation of Jericho, and so one has to wonder - did they think He was serious about Jericho but not serious about the fate of those who would reject His commands about the devoted things?

3. We know that we are Achan.  Can any of us - after an honest assessment - really ever say that we have always known the right thing to do...and then we always did it?  Of course not.  We have all actively rejected righteousness at some point and gone our own way.  As I thought of Achan and the sin he committed, and then the impact it had on his family and community, I was taken aback to think about how my sin can do the same thing.  Perhaps not to the same degree, but I know that my sin has impacted others that I love.  That is the nature of sin.

We are free to wrestle with God about the 'how could You' questions that this passage brings up.
But let's not miss the 'how could I' reality as well.
We are Achan.
We have rejected God's direction, truth, and love over and over and yet in His sovereign grace and patience, He has not destroyed us.
In fact, He has done the opposite in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

God, help us to praise You for our surpassing justice, and help us to rejoice that in Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

- tC

Living In A Sound Bite Culture

                   

(Photo by cooldesign - FreeDigitialPhotos.net)

We live in a sound bite culture.

By this I mean that we live in a culture that wants answers given in usually under two minutes.  Think about how this plays out even when you are using your smart phone to watch or download something.  It doesn't really matter that the download could be coming from the other side of the planet - if it takes more than 15 seconds, we are usually feeling like it's taking (as we often say) "forever".

We can discuss and philosophize about why our culture is this way (changes from the Age of Industrialization and growing specialization, massive shifts and advances in technology), but I'd rather focus on the impacts.  Here are 3 ways our sound bite culture influences us, particularly around issues of faith.

1. People don't have time to discuss the tough questions about God, faith, the Bible, and more.  People want answers now and oftentimes the assumption is that if you can't give a short and convincing reply in a minute or two, then it's probably not true, or at least probably not worth taking the time to listen.

This is dangerous because if we are honest not, much in life comes quickly.  Completing a degree, gaining physical strength, improving one's health or marriage - these don't happen overnight.  These kinds of life-altering changes take time, and so to assume that answering questions about the Creator and Sustainer of all things will happen quickly - it's just not reasonable.

2.  Reading has often become skimming.  While Barnes and Noble isn't going out of business, it is clear that the kind of reading most people do is in short snippets, reading from social media, light-weight papers, and the like.  Again, in wrestling through deeper issues of life, most authors take time to build an argument after laying a solid foundation.  But with deep and pensive reading becoming more and more rare, deep thinking is also becoming rare.

3. Christians are settling for merely a 'devotional time' and are not studying the Bible.  Reading any Scripture is helpful and life-giving (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17), but the fact that many Christians don't have time or interest in the study of Scripture has massive implications.  Training for battle by doing 10 push-ups and then speed-walking for 20 minutes a day will not cut it, and nor will a brief reading of 2-3 verses and then moving on with your next 23 hours and 56 minutes.  We need to steep in the Scriptures but the culture tells us that if it means sitting and thinking and praying, you're wasting too much time.

Pressing back against a sound bite culture is hard work, but it is vital - especially for the Christ-follower.  God has ordained the world to work in such a way that significant changes rarely come quickly, but instead through extended time and effort.  God could have written the Redemption Story in a few years but instead we are a part of the story thousands of years later.  I'm glad God didn't rush it, aren't you?

- tC

Be Careful What You Like On Facebook

Photo Credit - blog.storyful.com

Facebook can be great...sometimes.

For me, Facebook serves 3 main purposes.  First, it's a platform to talk about Jesus.
Secondly, it's a place where I can share photos with friends and family who aren't local enough to see my kids that often.
Thirdly, I use it to add a bit of levity to life from time-to-time.

But here's a serious caution for Facebook users: be careful what you 'LIKE'.

When you LIKE something on Facebook, most people read that as an affirmation of the photo, the article, the source (i.e. website) of the photo or article, or whatever you are liking.  Most people don't take time to think about the nuances of what you like - they assume you are 'good' with everything that you've LIKED.

And so if you are a Christian, remember this: when poor choices are made by others on Facebook and you - in a desire to be nice - LIKE a photo, most people see that as an 'atta-boy'. 

When you LIKE photos of friends or family that are showing them engaged in some questionable behavior, most people assume you are ok with that behavior.

When you LIKE provocative photos - even if they are of friends or family - most people start to make conclusions on what you think it acceptable and what's not acceptable.

And here's the truth: you don't need to LIKE anything.  If you aren't sure if your LIKE will be perceived in the wrong way...then simply don't click anything at all...just walk away.

I REALLY want to encourage every Christian to REALLY think about what you are LIKING on Facebook.  Please, realize that if you identify as a follower of Christ you are not just saying you like something, but - whether you want to or not - you're probably saying "Jesus LIKES this" too.

- tC

Risk Is Right: Better To Lose Your Life Than Waste It

Every once in a while I like to let people know what I'm reading.  If you are ever around when I am teaching, you'll probably have already heard about this book as I (like most pastors and preachers) often infuse what God is teaching me into my preaching and teaching.

Risk Is Right (click the title to purchase this on Amazon or you can get it free at www.desiringgod.org) is a short book - only 51 pages - that challenges the reader to live a risk-filled life for God.  Notice here that I didn't say a foolish life for the sake of risk or for an adrenaline rush.  Risking for God is very different than risking to impress self, others, or risking for a "high".

Piper challenges the reader to look at a variety of biblical models of risk like Esther, Paul, and Joab.
These characters saw that safety was not always the best option and that trusting in God for good things, for God-honoring things is right.

One of my favorite points of the books is that life is inherently risk-filled.  I love this notion because it presses us to think differently about risk.  The question is less about IF we risk and more so FOR WHOM will we risk.  Life is going to have risk, so let's at least make our risk worth something.

A deeper thought that arises out of this book and some of my own reflecting afterward is this: for the Christian all risk for God is worthy because in the end, we are guaranteed Heaven.  If we risk and fail, so we fail.  If we risk and are embarrassed, so be it.  But in the worst of all options we risk and lose our lives for Christ.  And the result?  We are eternity with Christ forever.  And so those doing things like planting churches in places like Turkey and Afghanistan - are they fools for Christ?  Perhaps, but then they are in the company of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 4:10).

Risk is right if the goal is to honor and find joy in Christ.
This is a short and challenging read.  I recommend it.

- tC

Why I Love/Hate To Nap

I have 2 kids - Hudson is 2 and Stella is 6.  Stella sleeps like a champ, and she has always slept like a champ.  We can walk into her room at night when she's asleep, put away clothes, and have a conversation at about 50% volume and she won't wake up.  Hudson is becoming a better sleeper but in the last six months or so, he's been waking up at around 5:00 a.m.  This, as you can imagine, after being up late catching up on things around the house or even just talking with my wife Jenny, can make for a tough morning when this little guy's first words to me are "Good sleep, daddy!" Yeah, good sleep for you at least...

 
(Photo by fotographic1980 - FreeDigitalphotos.net) 

And thus a nap is a valued commodity.

And I love to nap...but also hate to nap.

I love to nap because I am often tired when haven't gotten enough sleep the night before and I had to get up with Hudson at 5:00 a.m.  I love to nap because it means that I have no responsibilities but to nap - Jenny is in charge of the kids for that time so I just have one job: get some sleep.  And to be candid I've always loved a good nap.

But more and more I am choosing to be very selective with napping, and here is why.
I hate the idea of losing time napping when there is work to be done for the Kingdom of God.
Now I know - I KNOW - that some people are going to read that and say, "But you need to take care of yourself."  I agree, and there are times when I choose to nap because, as New Testament scholar D.A. Carson says, "Sometimes the best thing you can do is sleep."  I agree - I know there are times when the best thing for me, for my family, and for the name of Christ is for me to be more well-rested for the next challenge.  Fair enough.

(Photo by artur84 - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

But the question of why a nap is helpful/vital/a good choice - this is a question  that must be asked.

Here's how I see it - let's do the numbers:
I am 40 now.
Let's say that I live until I am 80.
40 years left x 365 days in a year x 24 hours in a day x 60 minutes in an hour  =
___________________________________________________

21,024,000 minutes left in my life.

So what is a little nap?
Maybe it's nothing.

But let's continue with the math

Let's say I don't sleep a full 8 hour a night but instead I sleep 6 hours a night:
40 years left x 365 days in a year x 6 hours of sleep a night x 60 minutes in an hour =
___________________________________________________

5,256,000 hours of sleep in my life.

I just lost about 25% of my life left in sleeping.

Sleep is necessary - I agree and I know how I function at a higher level when I sleep well.

But can  you see why napping to me - though I enjoy it and even at times feel I need it - feels like giving up valuable time that could be used to share the Gospel, to minister to others in need, to pray, to read God's Word, and the like?

Maybe you aren't a person who often naps, or maybe you don't even like to nap.
For me, napping is often a temptation to choose the easy over the eternally important.
And as I look back in history, few of the people who made a significant impact for Christ were known to be big nappers.

And so I close this post about napping by telling you I chose to write this instead of taking a nap.
If you're reading it, I hope it proves at least one thing - using our time to bless, challenge, and encourage others might just be worth giving up a nap.

- tC

The Gospel Isn't Good News...

Photo by Janaka Dharmasena - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When you ask someone what 'the Gospel' is, some will tell you that it's a book in the Bible - maybe Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  But while these are 'the Gospels', the Gospel is the good news (literally it means that - "good news") that Jesus Christ has died for sinner to offer us a way to restore our relationship with God in Heaven.

But here's the catch.
The Gospel isn't good news...unless there is bad news first.

If you came to me and gave me a handful of malaria pills and said, "You can thank me later", I probably wouldn't take them nor would I thank you.  I don't have any need for malaria pills.  I am not headed to a place in the world where malaria is a danger, and I don't live in a state in the U.S. where malaria is dangerous.

But if I was headed to a country in South America where malaria was a real danger, suddenly your gift takes on new meaning.

And so it it with the Gospel.

The Gospel - the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins - is not good news to a person who has no sin or who doesn't believe in sin in the first place.  So giving the Gospel to a person who sees no need for it will yield little response - maybe a "Thanks...I guess...".

Sin is necessary for the Gospel to be helpful, beautiful, and rescuing.  But the notion of sin is often alien to us today.  The idea that there is a holy and perfect God who has been offended by not just 'some people' but who has been offended BY ME AND BY YOU - that is something many people just don't believe.

This presses back to many questions but one falls on the desk and pulpit of the preacher.  Do people see a need for the Gospel in your preaching?  If they think they are doing quite well and just need a tweak here-and-there, that is exactly what they will look for in your preaching.  But if the full-counsel of God is communicated this will not be the case.  The full counsel of God will communicate not just stories of the Good Shepherd, but of the one who will return looking like this:

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Revelation 19:11-16

   

The Gospel isn't good news if there is no such thing as sin or no such thing as a righteous and holy judge.

But the Gospel is good news for the world, because sin is real and if we are willing to be semi-objective we know that to be true.

The Gospel is good news indeed because sin is indeed real.

- tC

How Do I Know If I Am A Christian?

(Photo from Stuart Miles - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Over the last few blog posts, I've been offering ideas that challenge the notion of what being a Christian looks like.  Again, my point is not to say that these things (such as going to church, serving the poor, reading your Bible) are anti-Christian, so much as to note that a person can do these things and still not truly be a Christian.  See my last post (20 Things That Don't Make You A Christian) by clicking HERE.

Today, we're going to give some thoughts on how to assess if a person truly is a Christian.  It's worth noting a few things as I start.

1. These ideas are best used when applied to our own lives first and foremost.  In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus challenges His hearers to consider their own issues and lives before they start looking outward.
The following ideas should first be applied to ourselves.

2. Some might then argue, "Who am I to judge if someone else is a Christian?  Isn't that something only God can truly know?" Yes, in the end of it all, the spiritual state of a person can really only be known by that individual and by God, and so we proceed with caution and humility.  I would be very hesitant to speak too boldly to a person and say, "I know for a fact you are not a Christian."  I would much more likely say, "I love you enough to say I have some questions about where you are with God" or something along those lines.

However, Paul makes a bold and necessary statement in his writing to the church at Corinth when in 1 Corinthians 5:12 he says that is their job to judge those inside the church (click HERE to see the chapter).  Judging the behavior of those inside the church assumes that Paul has a sense of who is truly a part of the Body of Christ and who is not.  Paul goes on to say that God will judge those outside of the Body, but that believers are called to judge, correct, and help fellow believers in a different way than they do non-believers.

3.  In Galatians 5, Paul tells us that in the end the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.  In 1 Corinthians 13, we read that without love, our actions amount to nothing.  So in all of this assessment of who might or might not be a Christian, the core has to be love.  And if it is done well, asking these kinds of questions is THE most loving thing a person can ever do.  What more loving action can a person take toward another but to help challenge, clarify, and give assurance that yes - in fact - a person does have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?  In the end that is all that will truly matter.

Here are a few ways to help determine if you are or if another is truly a Christian.

1. A heart of repentance

(Photo by Hyena Reality - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

So what does that mean?  Well, when Jesus started His ministry, it began with this word, "Repent...".
(See Matthew 4:17).  John the Baptist - the fore-runner to Jesus - preached this same word and in much the same way (See Matthew 3:1-2).  The word repent is often interpreted as 'feeling bad about the bad things you've done'.  But this is not repentance.  Repentance is a turning-away-from.  Repentance is often described as turning the other way or turning 180-degrees in the opposite direction.

Fundamental to the Christian life is repentance.  It is not just feeling bad about having done some bad things, but instead is a heart's desire that is followed by action - however broken and frail - to change.  This kind of change is empowered by God (see Philippians 2:12-13) but don't miss that a person who is truly converted to Christ, truly born-again will show a heart of repentance.  Ezekiel 36 says that part of this new life in God is a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that desires to follow God's law.  And thus we logically conclude if a person has this new heart and falls short in following God's direction, he or she will be broken-hearted about it.  A heart of repentance is shown in a desire to do right and a soul-level distress when we fall short in this.

This doesn't mean a constant beating-up-of-one's-self, but in a world that too often wants to say, "Don't worry - it's ok", repentance says, "It is not ok, and so accepting God's grace and working with it, I move foward."  A heart of repentance - as it grows - hates sin more and more, and it despises what sin is and does to humans.

2. Affection for Jesus

When you get the Gospel, the Gospel gets you.

When I grasp my need for Christ as Savior, Lord, and as the One who will empower me daily through the Holy Spirit, my heart swells with gratitude and love for Him.  If I have no sense of affection for Jesus, it's hard to imagine that I am a Christian.   On a human level we understand this, don't we?  If a person gave his life for me in an act of heroism, but then my response was a luke-warm, "Oh, that's nice", wouldn't we say, "Man, I don't think that person really gets what was done for him!"  And so how much more on a cosmic level should this be true?

This is why you may hear preachers say that if a person just 'prayed the prayer' to get out of going to Hell and to get into Heaven, that person may not be truly converted.  Consider Hebrews 12 - that Jesus endured the Cross because of the joy set before Him, and that joy was rooted in a redeeming love that would save us.  When we get this, our affection for Jesus naturally grows.

I use the term affections purposefully because the word love today is so often misused.  Love can tend to be seen as an emotional response, and while affections do involve the emotions, I use this term to mean so much more.  The affections are deep, soul-felt realities, truths that we know deep inside (what Paul would say we [in Greek] 'epi-gnosco', we know it at a guttural-level).  This is why Paul prays this prayer for the church in Ephesus (click HERE for the chapter):

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family
in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches
of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit
in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may
be filled with all the fullness of God.         

      
His prayer here is about knowing God more deeply, even knowing (in a soul-level way) the love of Christ that is humanly beyond knowing fully.   If this doesn't resonate with us at all, we might find it worthwhile to examine our understanding of what the Gospel is and what it means to us.

3. The testimony of the Holy Spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:16 states is simply this way: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."  I used to work with woman years ago serving together with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in New England.  Her mother once told a group of us that when her daughter was young she would sometimes say that she knew something deep inside by saying, "Mom, I know it with my know-er."  Cute, but also perhaps theologically accurate.  For those who are born again (John 3) and who have the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), we have One who bears testimony within us that indeed we are children of God, adopted through the work of Christ on the Cross.

So how does one 'test' this?  Well, in accordance with the 2 other ideas shared above, the testimony of the Spirit should be a confirmation.  Is it possible to think that the Spirit is confirming your 'child of God' status when in fact you are not yet born again?  Certainly.  But if we combine all three of these tests, we are more likely to come to an accurate assessment of our spiritual state.  But don't miss that there is a mysterious kind of 'knowing with your know'er', or perhaps more accurately 'knowing with The Knower' that speaks to our spirit a confirmation of our status.  I encourage people to use this as a question for ourselves and for others - "Do I sense God's affirmation that I am redeemed and born again?" and "Do you sense God's affirmation that you are redeemed and born again?").

I close with this.
There will be wolves among the sheep.
There will be those who are misled into thinking they are born again when they are not.
But using these three tests can move us toward much greater assurance that we are indeed adopted children of God.

- tC

20 Things That Don't Make You A Christian

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The last 2 posts were about things that don't make you a Christian.

But to be honest, as I've been thinking about it, that list could go on and on.
I mean - being a baker doesn't make you a Christian.
Going to France doesn't make you a Christian.
Being a Yankees fan doesn't make you a Christian (but you are getting closer at least).

Anyhow, let me - instead of putting together 10,000 more posts - summarize the idea with a list of some of the common things people think make them Christians.

It's important to note here that there is a difference between causality and correlation.  There are many things that are correlated to being a Christian i.e. there are many things that Christians do, say, or live out...but those things don't MAKE a person a Christian, they are just associated with being a Christian.

When it comes to causality, it is by grace through faith, period.  Paul makes that clear in Ephesians 2:8-9 (click the reference to read that passage).

But here's a list 20 things that many people think equals being a Christian:

1. Going to church
2. Giving to church
3. Reading your Bible
4. Praying
5. Being involved in youth group
6. Serving or caring for the poor
7. Liking Christian movies, preachers, t.v, or other media sources
8. Pointing your finger at the sky after a touchdown
9. Saying you are a Christian
10. Raising your hand at a conference, retreat, rally, or event
11. Praying the "Sinner's Prayer"
12. Being involved in church leadership
13. Going on a mission trip
14. Not swearing and/or drinking and/or/ sleeping around
15. Singing on a musical worship team
16. Serving in church
17. Saving grace before meals
18. Living in the south
19. Working for a church
20. Being a pastor

What's the point?  Being a Christian isn't caused by anything on this list.  Being a Christian isn't the same as doing any or all of the things on this list.

In our next post we will look at what makes a person a Christian and the fruit we can measure to test if someone is a Christian.

- tC

Going To Church - Even Every Week - Doesn't Make You A Christian

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"Ok, now this is getting crazy.  Tim - come on.  I would get it if you said, 'Just going to church once in a while doesn't make you a Christian.  But if someone goes every week to church - really - you really think that person might not be a Christian?"

Yup.

Simple analogy.  People say, "Standing in the garage doesn't make you a car."  Have you heard that one?  Well, think about carrying out the analogy a bit more.  Does standing in the garage for a long time make you car?  Does duration really impact your assessment?  To be honest, if a person stood for a year in the garage saying he was a car, you would likely think even less that he was a car, and you'd probably be more convinced than ever that he was not well.

Church attendance does not make you a Christian.
It might show you are a Christian, but it doesn't have a 1:1 correlation.

Here's some proof from the Bible to back this up.

1. Again - Matthew 7 (see the last post).  Many will say to Jesus, "Lord, look at all we did in Your name" and Jesus will reply "I never knew you."  It fair to say that if miracles (Matthew 7:21-23) were not proof of being a true believer, then certainly going to a gathering at the local church building doesn't make a person a Christian.

2. 1 John 2:19 say this - "They went out from us, but they did not belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."  The Apostle John shows here that there are people who are actively 'with' true Christians but these people who hang around Christians are not actually Christians.   At least with these people (those who John says left the fold), they showed their true colors and probably knew they were not believers since they eventually left.  How horrendous to stay around believers, think you are a believer, and yet not be.

3. True Christians are people indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and this changes one's behavior so that this person will bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5;22-24).  The reality is that a person can attend a church service every week and yet still not be known by anyone.  Come on - let's be honest.  Who has been in the car on the way to church and then all of a sudden a fight breaks out.  It's not pretty but oh yes - when we pull up to the church building and get out..."Praise the Lord it's a great day.  How you doing Deacon Bob?"  

Why bother talking about this?

You know, I asked myself the same thing.  But here's what I see.
I see people who are actively involved in the church and yet they have no desire for righteousness or, even more so, no desire for Christ.

Now I'm not talking about people in process - we are all in process, I know.

But I'm talking about people who have checked off a little box in their brain that says, "Hey, I'm in church - what more does God want from me?"  This kind of attitude shows a fundamental theological fallacy which is the notion that going to church is 'doing something' for God.  Acts 17:24-25 tells us that we cannot place God into our debt.  As Paul says in that passage, "As though He needed anything."  It also betrays a works-based salvation concept i.e. if I do the right things, God will be pleased with me and let me into Heaven when I die.  This is not from the Bible or from Jesus - this is a man-made concept.  John  3:16 (and many other passages as well) makes it clear that our salvation is a gift given by God's grace alone.

And so I land here.  Going to a church service on Sunday or Wednesday, or Sunday and Wednesday, or Sunday and Wednesday and a special revival on Saturday - none of these make you a Christian.  You can be as pagan as they come and still sit in a pew.

There must be more to truly being a Christian. And there is.

- tC         

Believing In Jesus Doesn't Make You A Christian

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Over the next few blog posts, we are going to talk about things that don't make a person a Christian.

To some people these will be painfully obvious.  To others - I'm sad to say - there will be a sense of, "Yeah, that's true...glad I'm not one of 'those people' who think that" when in reality that person is exactly who I am speaking about.  But there will also be - I hope - people who read the posts and think deeply.  I have faith that the Holy Spirit can work even through the blogosphere and lovingly challenge people to think about if they are truly in a relationship with Jesus.

So why make these kinds of posts?
Because the Bible tells us to examine ourselves.

Here are two quick examples. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says it in a pretty straight-forward way: "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves."  Paul wanted people to think and know if they were truly Christian.  Here's another one and perhaps the scariest passage in all the Bible.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus tells us that there will be people who thought, on the basis of the religious things they did (like prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles) that they were in.  But to some of these people Jesus will say, "Depart from Me.  I never knew you."  It goes without saying - no one wants to be on that side of the conversation with Jesus.

Testing ourselves.  Examining ourselves to see if we are truly followers of Christ is a good and vital thing to do.  Now let's get to the title of this blog.

Believing in Jesus does not make you a Christian.  It might be ONE of the signs that you are a Christian, but belief in Jesus alone doesn't make a person - to use the biblical language - "born again" (John 3).  And how do I know this?  James 2:19  tells it to us clearly when he says this:

You believe that there is one God?  Good.

Even the demons believe that - and shudder.  

So believing in God doesn't mean you are a Christian.
And I love the way James describes the response of the demons - they shudder.  It's as if he is saying, "At least they respond and act out in SOME WAY.  At least they SHOW that their belief in God makes some difference in how they live - even if it's shuddering at their future destruction." 

And we know this to be true just by looking at the stats from Barna (click HERE for some of their research).  Even though atheism has risen significantly in the past few decades, still the vast majority of people in America say they believe in God.

But self-identification doesn't equal 'therefore it is true.'

As much as people might want to press at the notion of truth to mold it into whatever seems right to the individual, me simply stating something about how I view myself doesn't make it true.  I can tell you until I am blue in the face that I am an astronaut, but I am not, no matter how much I say it.
So saying I believe in God doesn't make me a Christian just like saying I'm an astronaut means my life story is the basis for the movie Interstellar.  

Photo by siraphat - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"But Tim" some might protest "It's one thing to say, 'I believe in God' and it's totally different when I a person says he believes in Jesus."  I agree that it MAY be different, but it doesn't mean that person is a Christian.  Consider what Jesus says in Luke 9:59-62.  Jesus gives two examples of people who don't just SAY they believe but they are even willing to GO with Him, to truly follow Him...just after they take care of a few things.  I mean come on, Jesus - they just have to tie up a few loose ends - they MUST be a great picture of what it means to believe in You and follow You.

Jesus response is plain:  You must be all in.  Our belief in Him must change how we live.  If I say I believe in Him but it doesn't change me, then I believe in the concept of Him, but I don't trust Him to lead me as my Great Shepherd.  I can believe that a bridge can hold my car, but if I am unwilling to drive across it my belief is not impacting my actions, and so one can fairly ask me, "Do you really even believe that the bridge will work?"

What does saving faith look like?
That's coming down the line.
If you believe in Jesus you MAY be a Christian.  But maybe not.
For now let's be clear - believing in Jesus doesn't make you a Christian.  

-tC

My Sabbath Day Experince: No Smart Phone and How It Felt

( Photo by Stuart Miles - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Today was my sabbath...sort of.  When I say sabbath, I mean it was my day of rest, of stopping, of ceasing.  Sabbath actually doesn't mean 'rest' but instead it was the final day of the week in the Hebrew world.  But rather than get into that discussion, I wanted to tell you about my day of rest in hopes that it might encourage you to think about rest and ceasing and restoration.

Why take a sabbath?
Paul tells us that we are no longer under law but instead are under grace (Romans 6:14).  So that means we are not saved and loved by God because we follow all the commands perfectly (over 600 in the Old Testament alone).  We are loved by God because of the work of Christ on the Cross.  And so if that's the case, why bother thinking about or having a day of rest?  Well here are 3 reasons that strike me.

1. The rhythm of creation  described in Genesis 1-2 ends with God resting. He is God so it's not as if He was tired (see John 5:17), but He rested as a picture to humans of a work-rest rhythm.  God saw it fit to work and to rest, and He even made the natural world have that same rhythm - growing, producing, and then resting.  Since God saw it fit in His creation of the universe to show us and talk about rest, it seems worth considering.

2. Jesus said very clearly in Mark 2:23-27 that man wasn't made for the sabbath but that sabbath was made for man.  By saying this He was telling His hearers that man is not subordinate to the notion of sabbath, but that God gave sabbath to bless.

3. I need sabbath.  It remind me of many thing that I need to recall.
- It reminds me to rest when my tendency is to want to produce
- It reminds me that God is in control of all things
- It reminds me that I have a tendency to make myself too much the center of things
- It reminds me that the world continues to function just fine even when I am not active

My sabbath experience
Because I am a pastor and Sunday is a work day for me, and because we have 2 young children, 'rest' and sabbath look a bit different in this stage of life.  Today Jenny and I split the day and each had about 4 hours to sabbath.  We ended the day together by buying a pizza, eating with the kids, watching a short kids devotional on YouTube, and then getting them ready for bed.  It was good for me to not 'do' so much today.  I drove, I prayed, I had a meal, I went to the gym, I journaled - I did things that would help restore me for work in the week to come.

(Located on Facebook - artist unknown)

I also didn't use my cell phone other than to be in touch with people with whom I wanted to speak.  That meant no e-mail (work or personal), no Facebook, no YouTube - nothing.  And while I wasn't itching to tweet something or scroll through Facebook updates, I did notice one thing I had not noticed before: I enjoy e-mail because I get things done on e-mail.  I reply, I update, I get meetings planned, and more. It was interesting to experience that desire to 'do', and so I had to battle and say with the Psalmist that God is my reward and He is the one that truly satisfies - "LORD, You alone are my portion and my cup" (Psalm 16:5).  

This post isn't to give you all the info you need to Sabbath well.  It's to share part of my experience with you and to ask you a few questions:
- Do you take a day of rest during the week?
- Do you say you 'can't afford to'?  
- What does rest look like for you?  What does ceasing mean for you?
- What is God calling you to as you reflect on this idea of rest?
- Do you need faith to trust Him enough to rest?

Be blessed.  Rest.
- tC