American Evangelicalism and the Role of the Messiah

"Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ."

Matthew 16:20 (ESV)

During my Bible reading this evening I came across Matthew 16:13-20 where Jesus asks his disciples who they believe he is.  After Peter's confession that Jesus is the Messiah the disciples are given strict orders to not tell anyone "that he was the Christ."  This command was given because the expectations of the people of Israel for the Messiah was one of military conquest instead of spiritual/soul conquest.  This, of course, makes sense.  If the disciples began to openly declare his Messiahship before the appointed time it would "have instigated a political movement that would have hampered his real mission" (ESV Reformation Bible Study Note).

After reading this passage my mind began to take a weird journey.  Trying to bring this passage into our current context of the 21st Century I began to think about the role of American Evangelicalism in our churches.  One area that I frequently have conversations with those I would a part of this ideology is the view of America as a country blessed and protected by God.  American flags are found in the front right next to the cross and books are presented that talk about the Christian history of America.  At times it seems that I have more conversations about how the country is going away from its Christian roots than about how my neighbor will be spending eternity in unimaginable suffering away from the presence of God. 

Which brings me back to the passage in Matthew.  I know how dangerous it can be to take a passage that was for a specific time and place and people and transfer it to a situation nearly two thousand years later.  But I couldn't stop myself in the comparison.  I believe that the main message of this passage was to reveal to the disciples that the call of the Messiah was not what everyone assumed.  His call was not to rule a nation but to rule the heart and soul of the elect.  His call was not to bring Israel back to political and military prominence in the world but suffer and die and be raised to life and ascend to the right hand of the Father.  His call was to reveal to the whole world his love, mercy, grace, justice, and glory.

What would happen if the Church rose up not for political gain or influence, but rose up to be used by God for the work of souls?  How would the Church look different if preached the Gospel with our lives and mouths instead of picketing at political rallies?  How would the world look different if we focused on Christ as the Savior of Souls instead of the Savior of Nations?  This is a dangerous topic, but I want your input.  Am I off base?  Am I misinterpreting the call of the Messiah? 

Don't hear me wrong.  I believe we should stand up for what is right politically, especially those things blatantly against scripture.  I hold very strong conservative political views and continue to pray for our President and leaders.  But where should our real focus be as believers: the saving of America or the glory of God through his work of salvation?

I report . . . you decide.  (Sorry!)  Let me know what you think.

Orignal Sin or Not?

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

Psalm 51:5 (ESV)

Today I read an article by Kelly M. Kapic called Simul Iustus et Peccator. Don't ask me what it means. I'm a little rusty on my Latin. In this article, though, he discusses the debate of original sin between Pelagius and Augustine. 

Here are the basics of the debate.  Pelagius was "apparently frustrated by the lackadaisical ethical attitudes he saw around him" and began to write about the importance of unbending moral behavior.  While arguing this point he went as far as to say there was no original sin found in us.  We are not born with sin.  Instead, "we sin when we show inadequate willpower and give in to the seductive situations." 

Augustine saw a major problem with this stance because scripture is saturated with passages similar to Psalm  51:5 above.  One major issue Augustine had with Pelagius' teachings was "that he had no satisfying explanation for the real continuing struggle that believers have with sin in their lives."  In other words, we sin because we are just not trying hard enough not to sin and Augustine could not stand for that.

So, I bring in a famous question by a well-known doctor: How's that been working for you?  Not well, I'm assuming.  Our sin problem is very deep and very personal.  In fact, who in their right mind wants to admit their deep sinfulness.  No one wants to be known as a "bad person" because we think we are overall "good people."  We don't just sin every once in a while, though.  We sin all the time.  Or as Kapic puts it, "our problem is that we are soaked in sin, are born into it, and are never completely free from its presence this side of glory."

We cannot forget the cross.  The cross holds more significance than our salvation.  It's significance goes far beyond a one-time usage.  The cross is a daily guide for His children.  I'll close with Kapic's final sentence.  "[W]hile we continue to struggle with sin, we also find hope and comfort as we lift our eyes to the cross and keep walking."

Spiritual Renewal Time

Once again, it has been a very long time since I've posted anything.  But tonight is the beginning of my annual Spiritual Renewal time where I get away for a significant amount of time and focus on reading the Bible, other books that I haven't gotten to, and prayer.  I will hopefully be posting every evening.  (We'll see.  You know me.)  Pray that the Spirit truly speaks to my heart and renews my energy to follow his way.

God is good.  All the time.

The Relativistic Church

John 15:19 (ESV)
"If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

"Be in the world, but not of the world."  This is a statement that we have heard and may have said many times throughout our life and ministry.  But the difficulty of this statement is not so obvious as we like to admit.

Churches can truly struggle between the balance of being in the world without being of the world, but all too often they miss the mark and become more of the world than they would like.  What I'm talking about is a general relativism [whatever is true for you works for you] that pervades many churches and even more, many people in the church.  The desire of so many churches to be needed and relevant in their communities becomes their focus.  This then breeds shallow faith, shallow ministry, and shallow churches.

Now, don't hear me saying that all churches who try to be relevant to their communities come relativists.  That would be too much of a general statement.  But how do we minister in a culture and be relevant to that culture without becoming that culture?  Ah, the million dollar question which actually has a very real answer.  R.C. Sproul put it very plainly: 

"We need churches filled with Christians who are not enslaved by the culture, churches that seek more than anything to please God and His only begotten Son, rather than to attract the applause of dying men and women.  Where is that church?  That is the church Christ established.  That is the church whose mission is to minister redemption to a dying world, and that is the church we are called to be."

If we want our churches to be relevant and make a real difference in our communities then we much preach the gospel with our lives.  God is to be our focus.  Not numbers or applause from mere mortal men.  We must be the church Christ established and to do that we must make Him the center, not us.  Amen and amen.

Life-changing Experience

I just recently returned from an amazing experience at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors.  And all that I have learned would not fit in this tiny blog.  But I do want to lay out one specific truth that was revealed to me.  I haven't been enjoying the presence of God in my life.

What is joy, anyway?  Here is a great definition.  Joy is a deep, durable delight in the splendor of God which ruins my joy for anything else.  My relationship with God has been focused on beating my body into submission because I wasn't doing what I was suppose to do in order to be close to God.  There was no joy in it.  I wasn't basking in the greatness and glory of God.  I was forcing myself to do the right thing.  Or at least trying to do the right thing at which I usually failed.  "You can't work for joy when you don't work from joy."

This experience has been a life changing, ministry molding, faith increasing experience that I would recommend to anyone I meet.  So, here is my final question for you.  Are you enjoying your relationship with God?  Or are you focused on everything else but the presence of God?  Answer that question and you will find where your heart stands.

Our Amazing God

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)
"In the beginning, God . . ."

It is simply amazing how great our God is.  God is not limited by time.  He was here from before the creation of the world and history.  God created history.  Think about this: all that is around us, including the things made from made, were put here by God.  Man-made things are only a bunch of God-made thing put together.  We would have nothing if God was not there first.  Isn't He simply amazing.  Bask in our holy, awesome, glorious, omnipotent, omniscience, omnipresent, and overwhelmingly wonderful God.  Amen.

Our Limitless God

2 Peter 3:8-9 (ESV)
"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

Isn't it amazing how limitless God is?  Even time does not limit God as it does us.  His patience with us is great.  And when we get impatient with His timing He just sits back and continues to be patient.  We work around limitations (seconds, minutes, hours, days, years) but God is limitless. 

I will let Calvin finish this blog off.  Read his words of encouragement.

"He now turns to speak to the godly; and he reminds them that when the coming of Christ is the subject, they were to raise upwards their eyes, for by so doing, they would not limit, by their unreasonable wishes, the time appointed by the Lord. For waiting seems very long on this account, because we have our eyes fixed on the shortness of the present life, and we also increase weariness by computing days, hours, and minutes. But when the eternity of God's kingdom comes to our minds, many ages vanish away like so many moments.

"This then is what the Apostle calls our attention to, so that we may know that the day of resurrection does not depend on the present flow of time, but on the hidden purpose of God, as though he had said, 'Men wish to anticipate God for this reason, because they measure time according to the judgment of their own flesh; and they are by nature inclined to impatience, so that celerity is even delay to them: do ye then ascend in your minds to heaven, and thus time will be to you neither long nor short.'"