deep thoughts

God is Good?

Frank

It is hard to reconcile God’s love with what happened on Friday. The easy question to ask is how can a good God allow such bad to happen?

I like how a friend of mine puts it: “people wonder how there can be a good God when there is so much bad in the world, but I ask how can there be any good in a bad world if there is not a good God because I know how evil my heart is without God.”

It’s a good point and worth repeating. If there was not a good God, how could a organism that exists by random chance, that is advanced because of millenia of survival of the fittest (ie looking out for number one), feel any empathy or concern enough for others to hide innocent children while she herself is killed? Just like the despicable act cannot be explained, neither can that act of heroism.

My friend posted yesterday on Facebook,

I know many of us were tempted to doubt yesterday that God really cares, especially in light of the shootings in Connecticut.

But then today, I hear about a teacher who gave her life saving her students in one of the Connecticut classrooms.

I see photos of local adults, students, as well as our elected officials taking a Saturday morning to place wreaths on the grave sites of our American heroes: the Veterans.

We spent the morning with a group of people at a downtown Los Angeles hospital that dedicated the better part of their day to lighten up the lives of some children who will have to spend their Christmas in the hospital because of a variety of illnesses. These folks brought lunch, a magic show, a dance recital, the Laker girls, and of course, the man of the season, Santa Claus who handed out LOADS of presents.

How do I know God cares? Because He made so many people who care as well.

God’s love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on you.

Worshipping At the Altar of My Gun

Frank

My wife is at school today. In my kindergartner daughter’s class. Kindergarten. She turned five just a couple of months ago. I cannot for the life of me think about anything else right now.

26 dead. Most between 5 and 10 years old.

My son is soon to be 8.

Why, why, why?

After Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs killed his girlfriend and then himself, Jason Whitlock questioned just what in this world we worship. To satisfy the thousands depending on fantasy football stats from a single game, the NFL chose to to tell the Carolina Panthers go ahead and play in Kansas City the next day. Do we worship the athlete? The stats? Pro football as a whole? In Whitlock’s piece, he included a single line about gun control. During halftime of Sunday Night Football one of the best sports broadcasters alive, Bob Costas, leveraged that single line to pontificate about gun control and was roundly villified in social media for “self righteousness”, being a “glory hound”, for being “out of touch”. One friend on Facebook mocked Costas by suggesting that we regulate keyboards as they are the number one cause of typos.

One day earlier was a “shooting” in Casper, Wyoming. Ironically, the killer did not use a gun but rather a crossbow. Many pointed to this incident to make the classic argument “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”

But, just a little more than a week later a gunman opened fire in a Portland mall, killing two before killing himself.

And now 26 are dead in Connecticut.

The truth is that sick people will do sick things. A pastor was killed in Texas a couple of months ago, beaten to death with a guitar. Gun or not, if I store up anger and hatred in my heart, the only logical conclusion is to hurt- even kill- another.

But why do we (some, not all) come to such an emotional defense of our “right to bear arms” when tragedies like this strike? Are guns that important? Do we need them to protect our eternal security? (And seriously, I could go on and on about many I know who call themselves Christians yet their membership to the NRA is just as important, if not more so, as membership to their church. This became evident leading up to the last presidential election.)

I’m not a pacifist. I don’t hold a doctrinal position on Just War. I grew up in gun country, where students would bring their guns to school just so they would be ready to leave as soon as the bell rang to go hunting. But to own those guns they were required to take hunter’s safety courses. In fact, it was practically part of my curriculum, taking it in 6th grade.

I understand the arguments. I have coworkers who collect guns. I have friends who frequent shooting ranges.

But at some point we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask what, exactlly, are we worshipping? Why are guns so important?

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus told said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52)

What if?

Frank

In the busyness of the Christmas season, I’ll be reposting some of my favorite posts and scaling back my original content. Reading Multiply by Francis Chan and gearing up for a Multiply Movement study in the New Year, I’m going to select posts on evangelism this week and Christmas next. This particular post was first published in August 2011.

***

Much of what passes for doctrine in American Christianity (TM) is based off of a what-if theology. You get these kinds of responses when reaching out to others to spread the Gospel. In an over-correction to be “seeker-sensitive” churches have gone out of their way to try and answer every what-if. But you don’t need to. The Bible answers sufficiently and our faith should take care of the rest.

What if there’s some tribe in the middle of the desert that never hears of Jesus? Then maybe God is calling you to pack your bags to go there and change that.

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27)

But what if in the middle of the desert there’s no water to be baptized? Well, first of all, people can’t live where there isn’t water. And we can’t get too far from it and still live. Did you know that there’s a military spec for building a baptistry out of boxes of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and tarp?

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road’… As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?‘” (Acts 8:26,36)

What if someone is a prisoner of war with no hope of release? Do you think God is that small?

“After [Paul and Silas] had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
 
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’

They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.” (Acts 16:23-34)

What if God creates a rock he cannot lift? Ah, the classic canard. So what if he does?

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.” (Isaiah 59:1)

What if my grandma was the sweetest person I ever knew? Eventually, the what-ifs become personal. But at some point we have to let go of our vested emotional interest and just trust God.

“[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

What if Ghandi (or pick your strawman) was a really good person!

“No one is good- except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)

What are the what-ifs you struggle with?

Flashback Friday: Converter (again)

Frank

***I’ve reposted this before, but I’m on an evangelism kick, so here it is again. Interestingly, since this was first posted in 2010 the couple I mention below have left the church. My wife and I have been in several Bible studies with others since- but that has been a lot of seed planting and not much harvesting. The lack of seeing tangible “fruit” has caused me to become cynical and faithless (which I talk about here) something I’m working on leading into the New Year.***

My wife and I have been fortunate in the last couple of weeks to baptize a couple of our friends into Christ. Leading up to the first baptism, I was telling someone I was with that I needed to leave for a Bible study. When asked what about, I stumbled for an answer and said, “conversion.” (wrongly thinking that the arbitrary titles given to our studies are meaningless unless you’re in them) Naturally, that answer raised an eyebrow. The word conversion has negative connotations bringing images of the Crusades, cliches like converting the heathens, and highlights one of the most common negative images of Christianity in our culture- that we’re right and everyone else is wrong.

The book unChristian uses several surveys, many by Barna Research, to identify preconceptions and misconceptions of “outsiders” and Christians, respectively. (I share the author’s hesitancy in using the term “outsiders” because it is a loaded term, but is most illustrative of the purpose behind the study) A chapter titled, Get Saved!, brings the attitudes towards conversion to light. A telling number, emblematic of the disconnect between Christianity and our culture, is that “only one-third of young outsiders believe that Christians genuinely care about them.” While, “64 percent of Christians… believe that outsiders would perceive their efforts as genuine.”

Love-bombing visitors then dropping them like bad habits once they become full-fledged members of the church is all too common and only adds to this stereotype. The attitude of “I’m right and you’re wrong, so therefore you’re going to Hell” that is portrayed when we try and share our faith doesn’t help this image any either. Add to that the infighting and competition for numbers within and between churches and you begin to see why outsiders would have a polar opposite opinion of our intentions.

While the word conversion may sound holier-than-thou, it shouldn’t. Think of the word. Conversion means change. You need a power converter when traveling overseas so that you can use your hair-dryer (120 V) in foreign wall sockets (220 V). You need to convert electricity from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) to use most electronics. In both of these cases, the electricity is changed into something useful. It is still electricity, but is put in a form that we can use.

Religious conversion is really the same thing. It’s not about “I’m right, you’re wrong.” It is about being changed into something useful to God. Jesus told Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) Being born again implies a new creation, i.e. change. Ironically, Barna defines a “born-again Christian” as one who has only “accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.” The term “Evangelical” narrows down this definition by adding the conditions of “1) saying their faith is very important in their life today; 2)believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; 3) believing that Satan exists; 4) believing their eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; 5) believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; 6)asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; 7) describing God as the all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.” Neither of these definitions say anything about change, even though Jesus said, “unless…”

Paul instructs us to “be transformed” (Romans 12:2) and reminds us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is conversion. That’s why I so appreciate the ministry of Paul Washer. His emphasis is that simply praying the Sinner’s Prayer doesn’t convert you. Without evidence of change brought about by the Holy Spirit, can you really argue that you’ve been converted? [Ed: and since this was first written, David Platt has taken up the same argument within the SBC] I always joke that praying Jesus into your heart works. It’s just that once Jesus is there, he’s hanging out asking “now what?”

So when I share my faith, of course I want to convert them. But that doesn’t mean I want them to conform to my way of thinking, or my personal theology/doctrine/denominationalism. It means I want to see the Holy Spirit come into their lives and change them. Maybe that is still judgemental, thinking that they even need change. But I see addiction, abuse, selfishness, and pride on a daily basis. Our media drowns us with greed and lust. I see no evidence in the world-at-large to make me believe that others don’t need change. I can’t do it. I can only offer it. I’m nothing special. But Jesus Christ is.

Three Prongs of Evangelism

Frank

The Great Commission can be divided into two parts: “make disciples” and “teaching everything [Jesus] commanded.” In other words, sharing your faith and discipling– the two pillars on which my fellowship of churches are built. Most definitions of evangelism can be summed up by these two acts of faith. However, focusing only on these two parts of the Great Commission leave out what I believe to be a third “prong” of evangelism.

In John 13 Jesus instructs his disciples, “A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (v 34-35) If our “great” commission is to make disciples, shouldn’t we be living consistent with the primary calling card of discipleship? You could extend this thought to argue that sharing your faith and discipling another are acting out in love. Of course, concern for the eternal destiny of another should be rooted in love. And discipling without love is at best legalism, at worst abuse. But love goes beyond this as John (same author, mind you) argues later: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18) Later in the same letter John continues, “This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (v 5:3a)

Which takes us right back to the second half of the Great Commission, to teach everything Jesus commanded. But I fear when we do so, we often restrict ourselves to Jesus’ words, unintentionally neglecting his actions. In Matthew 4, setting up the famous Sermon on the Mount, Matthew introduces Jesus’ ministry writing, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” (Matthew 4:23) We are familiar with the call to evangelism that comes later in Matthew 9: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.’” (v 36-37) Yet we easily overlook the “bridge” verse that precedes it. “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” (v 35) Between these identical verses in chapters 4 and 9 is a sampling of “the day in the life…” showing Jesus doing just that- teaching, preaching, healing; the “three prongs” of evangelism.

Preaching and teaching are explicit in the Great Commission, but healing is not. Yet it is clear in the ministry of Jesus and in the example of the earliest accounts of the Church in Acts. Extending the definition of healing to include meeting material needs, we see the Peter preaching the first sermon, the fellowship of believers being “devoted… to the apostles’ teaching” and “[giving] to anyone as he had need.” The result? “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (vs 14-36, 42, 45, 47) implying that these actions were, in fact, forms of evangelism even if it doesn’t follow our traditional view.

Preaching, teaching, healing- three prongs of evangelism. If we focus solely on preaching, we may grow in number but not in spiritual maturity. If we over emphasize teaching then we create a culture of academic and religious snobbery that does not grow. If all we concern ourselves with is the poor, then we are nothing more than a charity devoid of the Gospel. All three ingredients are crucial to the spiritual health and growth of the Church.

How has your approach to evangelism reflected either of these three prongs?

You Want Me to Do What Now?

Frank

I was raised Catholic so evangelism was never a priority. I believed in “lifestyle evangelism” where I was taught to live life in such a way that reflected Jesus to others. When I started to really get serious about living out what the Bible taught, I was challenged by Jesus’ last command to his followers: go and make disciples. That was an active command, not passive where I could just live my life as I pleased and leave it to others to choose to follow Jesus. It meant I actually had to reach out to strangers and share the Gospel.

In my mind that was no different than the crazy street preacher predicting the end of the world, or the annoying door knockers interrupting my Saturday morning. And I wanted no part of that.

I remember walking across campus with my friend Jim talking about this challenge and my opposition to it. We stopped at a table set up to the side of one of the major thoroughfares between classroom buildings. There, his campus ministry was handing out hot chocolate (it was the middle of winter) and offering a friendly invitation to come to church on Sunday.

That’s it? That’s all it meant to evangelize? (Well at the time, yes, that was all it meant.) So I eagerly  went- most of the time- around the dorms knocking on doors and stopping people coming to and from class to strike up conversations. I wasn’t very good at it. I seldom met anyone who said, “why yes, I have been looking for a church!” Yet every so often someone would sheepishly sneak in to the back of our Sunday morning service and when asked who they knew they’d answer “some guy named Frank invited me.” I didn’t bear much “fruit” (our codeword for our legalistic approach to filling seats on Sunday) however and I slowly became cynical about this idea of making disciples.

As I continued to soak in the Bible like a sponge, some convictions began to gnaw at me. I grew to the conviction that evangelism was not the same as inviting someone to church, and that “sharing my faith” was literally sharing my faith. (“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.” 1 Peter 3:15) I also became convicted that the Great Commission said more than just to go and make disciples. Matthew 28:20 continues the command with Jesus saying, “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” I looked around and I didn’t see that. Then I read Sticky Church by Larry Osborne in which he talked about the danger of focusing on bringing people in through the front door while ignoring the many who were leaving out the back. So I made teaching a crusade, so to speak.

Yet instead of these growing convictions producing a godly sorrow (earnestness, eagerness, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, readiness- 2 Corinthians 7:10-11) it produced cynicism and a hard heart. I would have flashes of eagerness, sharing my faith with a coworker here or there or talking to another parent at the park, but nothing in my heart that would ever last. But then my wife and I started our Crazy Love group, opening up our home to anyone who wanted to come and grow together in Christ. It didn’t matter what church you went to- I prayed God would sort that out (and over time he did!).

I was struck by something one of the brothers at church shared one midweek right around the same time. He was out “sharing his faith”and he ran into a theology student studying Hebrew in the food court at the mall. He said to him, “I’m not looking for someone to come to church with me Sunday morning. I’m looking for someone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus.”

That approach, simple and straightforward, tore down the walls of division that pitted my church against yours and brought us together for the same cause- to be disciples of Jesus. I was inspired, encouraged, and my faith was renewed. I was studying the Bible with others like never before (and it wasn’t that much, which says a lot). I was joyful. My wife and I were inviting people into our home, we were serving the poor, I want to believe we were actually making an impact.

Then life happened. Long story made real short- kids, family, work- every facet of our lives took a hit. And everything came to a screeching halt. You could say that Satan was actively opposing our new found faith and conviction. I’d argue instead that we were due to reap what our lives have been sowing.

After a year of taking blow after blow, I have grown restless; knowing what God has asked me to do but feeling unable to do it. Then I read that Francis Chan and David Platt were collaborating on a book. I couldn’t imagine a better pairing and waited eagerly for the book to come out. I soon found out it wasn’t just a book, but “movement“, hmmm, that caught my attention, and the book wouldn’t be a convicting challenge to my heart like Crazy Love or Radical, but would instead be an almost catechism with an emphasis on evangelism and discipling.

Well, sign me up. Book after book have been written on evangelism- how to, where to, what to- but really all we need is a renewed commitment to what Jesus commanded. Yeah, I’m going to study this to death, that’s my nature. But I’m not going to wait until I finish a book or have the perfect study written up. I am pledging to go and make disciples in 2013. Who’s with me?

Attitude of Gratitude

Frank
(picture from Radio Free Babylon)

It was completely coincidental that this strip was up this morning from Radio Free Babylon. But it hits on exactly what I wanted to write about.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just over a week away. I don’t know where the time has gone. If you find it, please let me know. Anyway, the popular thing to do on Facebook during the month of November is to share something you’re grateful for every day. The first few days are obvious: family, friends, and so on. But as you get closer to Thanksgiving the exercise becomes harder as you really have to put thought into what you’re thankful for.

I admit, I haven’t done this. I’m not going to try and catch up with a list of dozen things with this post. Instead, I want to offer up a different approach.

I really appreciate my friend Dave. If there’s anything the least bit wise that shows up in my posts, you can thank him. His insight into the human condition, faith, and the word is always encouraging and challenging me. But he also has a heart of gold.

He doesn’t wait for November to roll around to give thanks. If he goes to a restaurant and gets great service, he posts about it on Facebook. If he sees someone go above and beyond expectations, he credits them for it. The cynic might look at such posts as trying to curry favor for his business. But he acts the same in private as well. A couple of weeks ago he took his daughter through a fast food drive-through and his daughter thought the cashier at the window was extra nice. So he had her write a letter to the manager to express how grateful she was for the friendly service.

As we were talking the other day, he challenged me to do the same thing. He did so because I have trouble expressing myself. The switch on my emotions read “angry” and “off”. And just like Carl in the comic strip above, much of my anger stems from my own ingratitude and discontentment. He encouraged me to go out of my way and personally, not via a post on Facebook, reach out to others and express my gratitude for the things they do. So far this has been hard, but I’ve discovered several opportunities: the custodial staff at my job (really, how often do they get sincerely thanked?), the driver of my vanpool, the coordinator for my Sunday School curriculum, and several others.

I haven’t done it each day like the posts of Facebook, but at least it’s a start. And I am beginning to see my attitude change- slowly but surely.

Are you stressed out by the coming holidays? Are you worried about the economy or the future of your job? Are you struggling in a relationship? Share an attitude of gratitude and “wipe the snarl off of Carl.”

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
(Philippians 4:6)
 
“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”
(Ephesians 1:16)
 
“always [give] thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Ephesians 5:20)

I Can Do All Things

Frank

Everybody recognizes John 3:16 at sporting events. It is so over-used it has become cliche. Another popular scripture to athletes is “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) But where does that strength come from, really? EPO, as is allegedly the case for Lance Armstrong? Amphetamines in baseball? (Not only have offensive production numbers dropped since MLB started to get serious about steroids, but the ban on “uppers” has also had an effect. Look at the stats of several players and you can see measurable declines in production as the 162-game season wears on.) Or what about another baseball cliche, smokeless tobacco?

Nolan Ryan recently criticized Josh Hamilton’s decision to quit using smokeless tobacco in the middle of the season. His statistics show an obvious difference between before and after. His decline was so great that the Texas Rangers are allowing Hamilton to file for free agency, indicating they’d be happier if he wasn’t around to deal with. (Don’t know josh Hamilton? Check out this post from a coupe of years ago, and this one more recently that foreshadowed this latest headline.)

Hamilton, a notorious addict, has been feeding his monster with nicotine. It even sounds better for you: “smokeless” tobacco; you know, because smoking is so bad for you smokeless is obviously better. Never mind that nicotine is more addictive than heroin, and smokeless tobacco- let’s just be honest and call it chew- is a more direct ingestion of nicotine; it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the gums and doesn’t bother messing around with filters on cigarettes.

The stats on the baseball field indicate that Hamilton wasn’t getting his strength from God alone. And while it may be easy to cast a stone because he is a public figure, we are not immune. How many cups of coffee did you have this morning? (I had two) Aren’t you convinced that you can’t face the day without it? (True story: I was recently at a meeting where someone brought in a cup of coffee, a Red Bull and a Five Hour Energy. She returned from lunch with a cup of hot tea and another Red Bull. It was a long day, but not that long)

What about cigarettes? I can’t count the number of times someone has justified smoking noting that it isn’t explicitly prohibited in the Bible. And if I try and play the “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” card, I better also ask what your favorite comfort food is. I have two: donuts and hot wings. Neither are any good for me. And on my last business trip I explicitly stayed at a Holiday Inn Express just so I could have their cinnamon rolls.

We all have a crutch that we lean on for strength when we are weak. It may be a narcotic, it may be food, it may be shopping, it may be escaping into sports. What would happen if Jesus walked up to you today and kicked that crutch out from under you? I’d probably fall down, just like Josh Hamilton.

God in Three Dimensions

Frank

Chapter 5 of A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God is titled ‘The Universal Presence’. A difficult concept to grasp so I warmed us up last week by talking about his subjective presence- those times when you just know God is present working in your life, but there is no way to prove it. At times, even believers doubt what we see that God is doing in our lives. This week I am going to try and describe God’s objective omnipresence, a trait that we take as true even if we struggle to understand it and cannot physically perceive it. Warning, there is math involved.

In geometry I learned about conic sections- shapes that are formed by intersecting a cone with a plane. (I lost you already didn’t I?) Think of a flashlight. If you shine your light (pun intended) straight-on a flat wall, it forms the shape of a circle. If you shine it at a slight angle, the light forms an oval. And if you hold the light against the wall shining up it will form a parabola (think of the shape at the bottom inside of a cup). “God is light, in him is no darkness.” (1 John 1:5) If we think of Almighty God as a light that shines over all creation then the manifestations of the Trinity are that very same light shining in our lives at different angles.

Another way of thinking about it was put forward by athiest-turned-believer-slash-science-teacher, John Clayton, referring back to the late-nineteenth century allegory called Flatland. The original story described a world that existed in only two dimensions and how their world defined how they perceived things. Clayton takes the allegory one step further and asks what would happen if Flatland were to encounter a sphere. If that sphere were to visit Flatland, it would not appear as a sphere but first as a dot (a line tangent to-straight against- a circle forms a point, just as when a flat plane is tangent to a sphere). As the sphere moves across the plane of flatland the dot would become a circle that would grow until the sphere was halfway across and then the circle would shrink until it eventually became a dot and then it would disappear again. (Picture a bubble on the surface of your bathwater. The bubble, a sphere, forms a circle where it meets the water.) If you lived in Flatland this experience would look like a miracle. If you asked the dot or circle what it was and it answered “I’m a sphere” you would not be able to comprehend what that meant. No matter how it was described, a sphere has no meaning in a world of only two dimensions. (for a more thorough narrative, check out Clayton’s own description.)

To describe God’s omnipresence, think of the sphere as surrounding all creation just like the light in the first example. The fact is, we live in Flatland and have a limited understanding just due to our limited experience. We can consider God a like a light or like a sphere (or a mother hen, or a fortress, and on and on), but those descriptions are used only because they are easy for us to understand. You and I, this side of heaven, cannot fully understand all of God’s qualities. He is omnipresent- ever present- present everywhere. Describe it however you want, but the truth that God is right here, everywhere, is all that’s important.

(FYI, I won’t be able to respond to comments as I’m on vacation. That’s also why this post is a day late)
This blog is part of a book club reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Please join the discussion here and at our hosts, Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter. Need a copy of the book? You can get it for free on Kindle.

Agree to Disagree

Frank

To the secularist, Christians and hypocrisy go hand-in-hand. The easy dodge is to admit that “all have sinned,” so in God’s eyes we are no different other than the Christian being saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. The risk then, is when Christians become sanctimonious and holier-than-thou on a particular moral issue. Ted Haggard wouldn’t have drawn nearly the media attention for his drug-fueled homosexual dalliance had he not been a conservative evangelical pastor who was outspoken against homosexuality. And it doesn’t even have to be apples-to-apples, is it fair for a minister to preach against homosexuality while having an affair on his wife (sadly so common it’s become cliche)? Or let’s not even go fruit-to-fruit, is it right to pontificate against one particular sin while willfully ignoring another? Homosexuality, promiscuity and drug addiction are all well-recognized and easily condemned while gossip, laziness and gluttony are seldom addressed from the pulpit. So the issue isn’t so much hypocrisy as it is a double-standard.

Jesus spoke plainly when he said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) If we all humble ourselves before the cross of Christ then we recognize others not by their unique personal sin, but by our collective sin and need of redemption. The stranger next to you on the train needs Jesus just as much as you do. And so we must extend mercy.

That’s looking down at sin. What about looking up at discipleship? Books such as Crazy Love, Radical, Not A Fan and others all hit the same note of calling the reader to a higher bar, a higher standard of Christianity. They are not the first to do so, nor will they be the last. One might argue for “totally committed” or “completely sold-out” or “on-fire with the Holy Spirit” but what do any of those things really mean in a practical relatable sense? Is it fair to expect a single mom scraping by just to feed her kids to go above and beyond in the name of “commitment” by giving more than she can afford to an annual missions contribution? Is it realistic to be “fired up for God” every day, even through all the ups and downs of life? Not to mention one person’s cause-of-the-moment may not be the same as another’s. So can we look down on someone who isn’t fighting to stop sex trafficking but is sacrificing their time to open their home to after-school care? Or what about the person who may not be able to make a church function because they have to work overtime in order to pay the bills, yet happily serves in children’s ministry every Sunday morning? Bottom line, what is important to me in defining my discipleship may not be what is most important to you. I need to beware my plank before I judge.

But what about those who are raising the bar through their books, their podcasts and their conference-headlining performances? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to accuse them of looking down upon those who do not prescribe to their definition of discipleship. But are we guilty of holding them to a higher standard? After all, are they not also responsible to practice what they preach? Or are we to take their words with a grain of salt to do as they say, not as they do?

Recently someone commented on my blog about one such author who writes about making dramatic financial sacrifices in order to advance the Kingdom (one of many points he makes in his book- if it were the entire theme of the book I might feel differently). Meanwhile, he allegedly lives in a half-million dollar home. Is that fair to judge? How do you or I know how much he is personally sacrificing? And just because visibly it appears as if he could definitely sacrifice more, is it up to me to judge him by a standard that I make up on my own?

This is a difficult subject for me. It seems natural to expect the author, the preacher or the leader to exist on some special spiritual level higher than the average layperson. I’ve certainly been guilty of feeling that way. Several years ago I was part of a committee to reexamine ministry salaries. During one of several open forums where we met with ministry staff, the wife of one minister asked, “you can’t expect me to live on that side of town! I have to think about my family and schools and…” You get the picture. I was appalled. For the longest time I could not look at this person the same way. Another time I was in a meeting with a variety of ministry staff discussing how to address a specific issue and it became clear that no one else shared the same conviction I had. Yet at the same time, I realized that I wasn’t as zealous about the point they were trying to make. This experience forced me to step back and realize that it was not fair for me to expect others to think about things in the exact same way as me. I have since been able to avoid many arguments during our board meetings recognizing not everyone has the same convictions about money that I have.

We don’t all have the same convictions. I share mine here on this blog. You are free to disagree. So I appreciate the comment this person left on the subject, but as I think more about it, it is not my fight to fight. If someone preaches the Gospel in public but is enslaved to sin in private, that does not invalidate the Gospel. Paul didn’t say to follow him, but to follow his example as he followed the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) In other words, even if Paul slipped up somewhere along the way it didn’t change who we are really called to follow. Elsewhere Paul went on to point out that many preach out of sinful motives (is wanting to make money by writing a Christian book selfish or worldly?) but it didn’t matter because the Gospel was still being preached.

I appreciate you stopping by this small corner of the Christian blogosphere. We’re not likely to agree on everything. Chances are, I’ll probably say something that is completely wrong. Feel free to call me out on it. I only ask that you recognize that our convictions may not be the same. And I’ll recognize the same with you.