VillagePastor

LIVING ON A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

Tomorrow I will lecture on the glorious and inglorious sides of ministry. There’s great glory in watching over souls, of tending to the deepest aspects of a person’s life; glory in ministry’s hiddenness (e.g. the unseen work of prayer); glory in the challenge (what else tests your will, emotions, intellect, tact, patience, imagination, etc. like ministry?). But part of the inglorious side of ministry is seeing behind closed doors, past the façade, to sinful dimensions of life others do not see so clearly. We are invited into the mess of broken, hobbled, crippled, and abused lives—people living with deep addictions and unseemly behaviors.

There’s too much of this inglorious side today. The church is losing its influence in culture, in part, because there seem to be fewer and fewer truly transformed lives.  In a recent conference I attended in Beirut, a pastor walked out because it was clear he would not get enough glory—enough presence on stage. What is this about? No wonder we are losing our voice! We have become almost as dysfunctional as this present culture. Too many of our present choices are compromising our call as the church to be a contrast society.  We seem to be forgetting who we truly are in Christ.

In his new book, Meditation and Communion with God, John Jefferson Davis, challenges the church to rediscover its identity—to realize the profound intimacy available to us in Christ, and the power that emerges from experiencing it. This will, however, require a commitment on our part to meditate on Scripture, engaging with the triune God who is living, active, and present.

Davis underscores what Eugene Peterson wrote in Practice Resurrection, that life can (and should!) be lived at a whole different level. We can participate in life out of death—life that trumps death, life that is the last word. There are three reasons: First, with the announcement that the kingdom of God is at hand (Matt 4:17), a new age has dawned. The light is arising to take the place of the darkness. Something of the ‘already’ of the new creation is here. We are beginning to experience the realities and powers of the age to come (Heb 6:5). We can live eternity in time.

Second, with the acts of Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, we exist in a radical new order. In our union with Him, we have died and risen (Rom 6:3; Eph 2:6); we have been given victory over sin and death. We have been transferred to another authority (Col 1:13). God has made space for saints to live robustly under the conditions of the resurrection. With His ascension, we live in the power of His intercessory work and His present reign (Rom 8:34). We can experience a personal encounter with God, “mysticism on the highest plain”.

Third, with the coming of the Spirit, we live in the age of the Spirit. Life is profoundly influenced by divine power. We are indwelt by the Spirit. We have been incorporated into a community, the body of Christ (I Cor 12:13). We are a whole new creation (2 Cor 5:17). We are God’s present prophetic voice (Acts 2:17). The very quality of life has changed.

As a result of these, it’s little wonder Jesus declared that we have the power and authority to do even greater things than He did (John 14:12-14).

-we can confront the powers of darkness knowing they have been disarmed. Jesus has armed us with sufficient strength to overcome the perpetual enemies of the soul. We can pray prayers that lay hold of and the release God’s willingness and ability to act in accordance with God’s will. We can ask for something of God’s kingdom, God’s rule in the future to enter into our present.

-we can experience the presence of Christ in a new way (Matt 28:20), one that is transformative and interior.

-we can enter into a new depth of intimacy with God—far beyond the OT priest who entered the holy of holies. We are in union with Christ, with a connection like a branch has with a vine.

We can make a significant impact in the world. Life is not only imparted to our souls when we read Scripture. A word saturated, prayer driven life can resist and push back the secularizing forces of modernity and postmodernity.

We seem to have lost sight of much of this, settling for life at a far more inglorious level.  We seem to accept the lie that sin has far more authority than it does.  We seem to come to the word with low expectations; into worship with little imagination. I need the occasional read like Davis’, that gives some theological clarity and calls me back to living with great expectation. We have overcome the world (I John  4:4).

 

 

REFLECTIONS FROM A TRIP TO BEIRUT

Tonight nearly thirty young people gathered in a home up here in the Lebanese mountains to remember a tragedy that took place ten years ago today. Bonnie Wittherall was showing grace and care,in the name of Jesus, at a health clinic in Sidon, when a gunman entered and shot her in the face.

A few years after this tragic death, I stood at the closed gates of the church, where the clinic was once housed. Tertullian once said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. But Philip Jenkins has also made the case that there are times the blood of the martyrs is the end of the church. As far as I know, the church is still closed.

This helps to explain why Beirut is not a tourist mecca for most people I know. When I first flew over the city in 1996, it looked like one gaping wound. Years of civil war had left a lot of the city broken. Over the last sixteen years, I have seen the city change. There are some beautiful parts. But underneath the daily commerce is always the threat of chaos breaking out, as evidenced by the recent bombing.

The traffic is maddening, but people cope. The electricity occasionally shuts off, but people adjust. If you have a hard time flexing, this is a place to avoid. I watch with admiration as ministry leaders are thrown curves almost every day. I liken the context of their work to an emergency ward. You never know what will happen next.

Still, for some reason that I can only attribute to the Spirit, I am drawn to this place. The people are special--the food is amazing. But it is far deeper. I come here because of Acts 1:8. In the circles in which I am to witness, Beirut represents my "outermost parts of the earth." I come because I believe the Middle East is one of the most strategic places on earth. I come because there has been a cycle of conflict and suffering, and the only hope in this place, as in every place, is the reconciling work of the gospel. I come because there is a measure of dysfunction in the Christian community, and maybe, in some small way, I can help. I come because I genuninely love these people.

I also come because I need to be with the suffering church. On Friday nite, I joined some 200 believers from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, US, Korea, and Hong Kong. Some came from Baghdad or Aleppo or Amman at a certain risk. We come and worship and feel an incredible bond. We come to feel the grief and pain of displaced people.

When you are on the ground here in Lebanon, you get a much better feel of things. Here are some random impressions--
-there is a certain nervousness, with civil war next door in Syria and Gaza imploding to the south. Life goes on here, but there are fears Hezbollah might draw Lebanon in some conflict, conflict that could invite Israel to respond.
-Christians in Syria are in a no win situation. Aligning with any side comes with a real price. I was extremely impressed with the Syrians I met this weekend. Some have experienced great loss, but none asked for anything except our prayers.
-it is clear that for the body of Christ to matter in Lebanon, we will have to come together as a united community. This is the work of NEI, which I am so grateful to be a part of.
-businessmen, pastors, parachurch leaders, educators are coming from all over the world to be part of something God is doing in Lebanon. Every year this gathering grows. You can sense people are looking for a cause bigger than themselves and bigger than their comfortable suburban setting where indifference too often defines the world they have left behind.

I come because I get to work with people like Grant and Elie, men with gravitas who are passionate to see this region claimed for Christ. I come because there are a lot of young people with great hopes for the future. I want them to know churches like Village really care.  I am grateful for a church that has a global vision and sees the need to share my training and gifts with others.

It's November: Time for Those Irrelevant Awards!

I am in the great town of Milwaukee tonight, home of century old breweries and Polish steeples and site of this year’s Evangelical Theological Society Meetings. I am here to present a paper, as well as listen to a number of scintillating, brilliant, and fascinating papers by colleagues in fields from philosophy to theology to bibliology. As with every year I have attended, I am again prepared to give my prestigious “Most Irrelevant Awards”. Again, there are so many to choose from—so here the top seven (in no particular order):

1-The Relational Ontology of Third Article Theology

2-Kierkegaardian Forgiveness and the Condonation Objection

3-The Problem with the Proposal of a Peripatetic Provenance for the Lexical Conceptual Source of Paul’s Ethical Catalogues in Col 3:5, 8, 12-14 and a Proposal of Two Ways Forward

4-Wagering an Interest Relative Invariantism

5-Consciousness, Maximality, and Mereologically Simple Selves

6-On the Road to Vaticanus: Another Look at P4

7-The Evolution of Atonement; Hebrew Sirach 3:30 and a Semantic-Historical Argument Against the Sense ‘Propitiation’ for Hilaskesthai in Hebrews 2:17

I fantasize the thought of having all of the above presenters over for dinner one night and see where the conversation goes. It could be really wild and adventuresome. I might even invite some of my parishioners, those dealing with hard issues in life like an unfulfilled marriage, dealing with rebellious teenagers, living with the election results, or struggling with an unfulfilling career. I would guess it could all be very helpful.  

It would be unfair, however, to stop here.  For there were also some relevant papers (and the conference had a very relevant theme—“Caring for Creation”. It was great to hear some very good evangelical thinkers address the environment). Now for those more relevant papers:

Tree Hugging the Tree of Life

The Global Warming Hoax Makes You Pay for Everything and Threatens Your Freedom: A Biblical Response to Global Warming Claims

I Would Crawl Over Broken Glass to Hear Him: John Stott’s Popularity in North America

Boredom is a Heresy: Creation Mandates, the Ontology of Boredom, and Creation Care

Eternity is a Temporal Category

It’s All Going to Burn Anyway: Rethinking Dispensational Creation Care

Be Anxious for Nothing: Biblical and Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches for Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Sleep, Sloth, and Sanctification

Okay, maybe you are still wondering why I am here. I come each year to get answers. And there were a number of papers seeking to answer life’s more significant questions:

Can Autonomous Military Robots Be Programmed to Behave Ethically?

Can’t We All Get Along? Friendly Atheism and the Epistemology of Religious Disagreement

Is There Really Such a Thing as Male and Female? The Challenge of Intersex to a Complementarian Understanding of Gender

Is Thoughtless Prayer Really Christian? A Biblical/Evangelical Response to Evagrius of Ponticus

Who’s Afraid of Univocity?

What’s So Bad About Making People Better?

Yahweh the Sadist? An Examination of God’s Delight in Destroying Israel in Deuteronomy 28:63

So many papers—and so little time!

Tomorrow I leave for Beirut, entering a part of the world where—finally—everything will make sense.

Reflecting on the Election

I just had breakfast with one of my leaders at Village, whose sour mood probably reflects a number of people in my congregation today. The morning after the election, the results are somewhat disturbing. The immediate take-away for me is how much our nation is moving further and further away from the biblical values we once were more inclined to accept. We have re-elected a President who is pro-abortion in his policies, as well as endorses same sex marriage. Even though he has articulated a clear conversion to Christ, it seems he has made little effort to reach out and find common ground with leaders of the church. At least two, and likely a third state, have endorsed same sex marriage. And a growing number of voters have declared no religious preference.

Reflecting on so much of the political discourse in recent days, at least on the moral issues, it does amaze me how seemingly inept we are at articulating our stance on such issues as abortion, marriage, gambling, etc. Some of the post deliberations talk about how turned off some were by politicians who took an “extreme stance on reproduction issues”. I take this to be code for standing up for the rights of the unborn. I find myself asking why taking a moral stance is “extreme”. Why is it so hard for some in the public square to give a reasoned defense without sounding apologetic or weak. Isn’t it to the government we must turn to to protect the rights of the innocent, the vulnerable? Is it crossing a line to say that if a parent will not protect the wellbeing of the child he/she is called to steward, someone must protect life? To say this is a women’s rights issue makes no more sense to me than saying a father who is sexually abusing his two year old son should be able to do so without governmental interference. If we will not protect the survival or the health of a human being, is it not the role of government, which Scripture defines as “a servant for good” (Rom 13:4)? Isn’t this also an issue of social justice? Shouldn’t this matter even more to those on the left?

With respect to same sex marriage, why is it that those politicians who believe in the heterosexual definition of marriage cannot boldly respond? Why doesn’t someone ask—if you redraw the lines and redefine the institution of marriage, aren’t you creating the potential that anyone with enough lobbying power might redraw them again to fit their orientation? Does anyone stop to ask what God’s will is?  Does anyone care?

The issues before us as a nation, of course, are far bigger than marriage and abortion.  There are issues of debt and immigration, and again, it is almost impossible to hear anyone take a position that reflects God’s moral will. We desperately need leaders who will not pander to the polls, who will promote justice while calling everyone to take responsibility to do their part. There are too many people who are not cared for, and too many others who are, for lack of a better term, squatters, freeloaders, who only want handouts.  It would be so refreshing to see someone address both. It’s great to hear someone call for the protection of a state like Israel, but it would be really great if one spoke with the same fervor for the rights of Palestinians. Too much of our leadership seems one-dimensional.

Okay, enough ranting. There is good news in all of this. Our present course as a nation places more responsibility on the church to be the church. Our best hope is not in Washington—never has been. Our hope, whether the nation realizes it or not, is on vibrant communities of faith that will—

-faithfully preach the Word of God. Instead of giving lip service to verses, picking and choosing favorite texts, and ignoring the ones that do not conform to our self-centered convictions, we need modern day prophets that will not shy away from preaching a word that centers the heart.

-reach out to every culture and generation and repent of the tendency to be a monocultural environment of “like attracting like”. Only then can we more intelligently address the needs of a city, a nation that is more and more multiethnic, and demonstrate the mystery of the gospel, that in Christ there is no dominant culture.

-get out of their cocoon and witness to the power of the gospel and live out its implications in the community. The reality is that most in the church are too afraid or indifferent to share their faith.

-show grace to the hurting, forgiveness to those who have injured us, and Christlike love to everyone.

-demonstrate the exuberant joy that comes from knowing God intimately.

-pray for those in authority over us, starting today. As I Peter so powerfully puts it, “Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor those who lead.” It is in our interest that those in the political realm succeed and lead with the wisdom and skill of Solomon.  

So this is where we must start—“Lord, thank you for our nation and for the freedom to choose. Show us your mercy, your justice, and your grace, and draw all of us ever closer to your heart”