Archives For What I’m Teaching

Why Would a Good God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People?

April 19, 2013 — 1 Comment

Runners continue to run towards the finish line as an explosion erupts at the finish line of the Boston MarathonAt the time of this writing, one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing is dead, with the other one on the run. Another stark reminder of the tragedy that happened so recently.

The bigger question many ask is this, “If God was such a good God, why would he allow bad things to happen to good people?” It’s easy to see the brokenness of the world around us and be overwhelmed. That inner sense of right and wrong given to us by our Creator screams for justice. It’s natural for us to wonder why God doesn’t put a stop to it. Is he cruel? Does he care? Is he powerless? Does he care?

Jesus gives us a clue to answer in a story about weeds. It’s a long passage, but well worth the read:

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus goes on to explain the illustration to his disciples, and in the explanation we discover why God allows evil to fester in the world:

37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. Matthew 13:37-41

Here’s the truth: the weeds represent everything that causes sin and all who do evil (verse 41). So, why would a good God allow evil to flourish? Look back at verse 29. Because the weeds (sin) and the wheat (humanity) are so intermixed, that to destroy one, he’d have to destroy the other.

The mistake we make is to think that evil is something separate from us, something easily wiped away if God would only do it. The reality is something darker. When sin entered the world, it infected all of creation, including humanity. We’re now fused together. So, here’s why evil exists: God allows evil to exist because to destroy evil He would have to destroy humanity.

Does God hate sin? Yes. Does God love humanity? Yes. So, he allows humanity to exist a little while longer, even with the scourge of sin, out of love, to give us a chance to repent. There will be a day when sin is destroyed, when God comes to judge the world. Until then, evil will exist.

QUESTION: Does this interpretation help your understanding of the problem of evil?

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12 Thoughts on Our Response to the Coming Reality of Gay Marriage (Part 2)

April 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

4.10.13In my last post, I began to share twelve thoughts on our response to the coming reality of gay marriage. By the sheer number of clicks on that post, it’s obvious that this is a topic that many are working through. So, for what it’s worth, here are six more thoughts on the subject. Would love your comments below.

7. Jesus showed grace to notorious “sinners.” If you look at Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4), Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 6), or Jesus calling Matthew (Matthew 9), you’ll quickly discover that even when “religious” people avoided notorious “sinners,” Jesus didn’t. He embraced them. What example does that set for us? As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9

8. James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. This should knock out any angry Facebook rants on the subject. Here’s the reality: you can’t argue someone into the Kingdom. Even if you technically win on points, you’ll still only drive them further away. Was an argument was persuaded you to follow Christ? My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20

9. Paul tells us to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love requires a relationship. If you’re going to share something as foundational as biblical truth on sexuality, you need to build a relational bridge strong enough to support the gravity of that truth. So, before you flippantly condemn the entire homosexual community to Hell, how many homosexuals are you friends with? Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15

10. One of the greatest evangelistic tools you’ll have is a strong God-honoring marriage. A strong, long-lasting biblical marriage of one man and one woman for life is getting rarer and rarer these days. It seems like most don’t make it. If you make your marriage work, you’re providing an incredible witness to the world. God’s design for marriage was to be a picture of his love for the world. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Ephesians 5:25

11. Don’t allow hatemongers to represent us or shame us. There will always be extremists on either side, pressuring us to come out unequivocally in support of gay marriage or to come out and violently condemn the entire homosexual community. Jesus didn’t allow hatemongers to put words in his mouth. Neither should we. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” John 8:3-5

12. This whole issue reminds us that this world is not our home. We look forward to a better place. There will be a day when we don’t have to deal with this issue, or any other dividing controversy. Remember, for believers, this world is not our home. We look forward to a better place. Put your hope in that. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

QUESTION: What thoughts would you add to this discussion?

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12 Thoughts on Our Response to the Coming Reality of Gay Marriage (Part 1)

April 10, 2013 — 5 Comments

4.10.13I believe that gay marriage is coming, whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. Rather than another conservative evangelical diatribe on the rights and wrongs of the issue, these next two posts will be suggestions on how we should respond once gay marriage becomes legal nationwide. (Although I doubt it will happen with these Supreme Court cases currently pending, I do think the time is coming, as the current is running swiftly in that direction).

 

1. Jesus tells us to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. The world will always force us to take one of two options: either support gay marriage (and compromise our biblical beliefs) or violently condemn gay marriage (and lose our influence in the culture). When the world gives you only two options, choose option three. There’s a way to navigate the minefield. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:6

2. Why have we singled out gay marriage as the greatest evil in America today? Is it because we don’t struggle with it? The merits or evils of gay marriage aside, here’s my question: where’s the same moral outrage against pornography? Against materialistic excess, the love of pleasure and recreation, against the fact that many of us love our sports teams more than God? Where’s the moral outrage against that? Do we single out gay marriage as the greatest evil simply because we tend not to struggle with it as much? “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

3. Our moral argument against homosexual marriage is destroyed because of the utter decay of heterosexual marriages. Many claim to want to protect the ‘sanctity of marriage.’ When one in two marriages end in divorce, when immorality is rampant, there’s not much ‘sanctity’ left to protect. To claim the moral high ground is hypocritical. He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Mark 7:6

4. Is our goal to preserve conservative values in America or to reach the world for Christ? Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. What’s our ultimate goal? To protect conservative values, or to win the world for Christ? Satan would love nothing more than to distract us on issues that are ultimately secondary. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:2

5. Paul tells us that it’s not our job to judge the world. That’s God’s job. This one hurts. It’s not our job to be the morality police. It shouldn’t surprise us when non-believers actually act like non-believers. Paul makes it very clear: judging the world is God’s job, not ours. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13

6. Jesus died for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. Whether we like to admit it or not, God did not discriminate based on sexuality when he died on the cross. If someone embraces the homosexual lifestyle, then they stand in the same position as a person who’s embraced the heterosexual lifestyle: a sinner desperately in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

I’ll share six more thoughts on Friday.

QUESTION: Your thoughts? How should Christians respond to gay marriage?

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The Hardest Thing You’ll Ever Do

April 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

4.8.13I’m not talking about weight loss. I’m not talking about getting out of debt. Those things are easy compared to this. I think the hardest thing you’ll ever do is forgive someone. Why? Because forgiveness is so emotionally charged, it can seem too difficult for us to forgive.

Maybe it’s an ex-spouse who hurt you so bad that you can’t seem to see straight sometimes. Maybe it’s a friend that stabbed you in the back. Maybe it’s our parents. They weren’t there enough; they split up; they didn’t give you the childhood you feel like you deserved. Whatever it looks like, lack of forgiveness turns into bitterness.

Bitterness acts like a poisonous sedative. It comforts us to a degree, all the while slowly poisoning us and stealing our ability to enjoy life. Here’s what I know about forgiveness:

  • If you wait for them to come and admit all their faults and beg for your forgiveness, you’ll never forgive.
  • If you wait for them to work hard enough to “earn” your forgiveness, you’ll never forgive.
  • If you wait until it becomes easy to forgive, you’ll never forgive.
  • If you wait and never forgive, your life will be consumed by bitterness and regret.

The only antidote to the poison of bitterness is forgiveness. It’s not easy. It’s not simple. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. But it’s absolutely necessary for you to have the life that God wants for you.

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

QUESTION: Who do you need to forgive?

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The Biggest Lie Women Tell Themselves

March 27, 2013 — 2 Comments

3.27.13Earlier this week I ran into this lie again, one that too many women have fallen for. I had a conversation with a young lady who had gone through a difficult marriage and a terrible divorce. As she was recounting her actions and discussing where she went wrong, I heard the lie come out.

Here’s the biggest lie that women tell themselves when it comes to relationships: “I’ll fix him.” She said she knew that he wasn’t that good of a guy when she married him, but she figured she could fix him once they got married. My response (in a gentle yet mocking manner) was, “So, how’d that work out for you?” She laughed as she saw the fallacy of the lie that propelled her into a doomed marriage.

Marriage does change you, and spouses can and should have a strong influence on their mates, but this idea that a mature woman can quickly and single handedly ‘fix’ a immature man is ludicrous. Like it or not, men are who they are. Some are so stubborn, so set in their ways, that only God can change their hearts.

Ladies, a word of warning: If you’re dating someone that you’re thinking about marrying, and if he’s got more flaws than not, don’t delude yourself into thinking that you’ll be able to ‘fix him’ once he walks down the aisle. You’re stuck with what you’ve got. Better to know that on the front end.

Be careful who you marry. If they still act like they’re in high school, throw them back and let them grow up a little bit. God-fearing, wife-honoring men are hard to come by, but they’re worth the wait.

QUESTION: Is there a bigger lie that women tell themselves when it comes to relationships?

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When You Realize You Have No Non-Christian Friends

March 25, 2013 — 1 Comment

3.25.13Have you ever been there? I have. It’s the moment after you listen to an inspiring message from a pastor, and you’re all fired up to go and win your non-Christian friends to Christ. And then you realize you don’t have any non-Christian friends. You’ve lived in the church bubble for too long.

I like church people. They’re my kind of people. In fact, if it was up to me, I’d probably hang around them all the time. They share my values, my interests. But when Jesus told us to the be the light of the world, I don’t think he meant for all the lights to gather together in one place, leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves in darkness.

As a Christian, and especially as a pastor, I have to be intentional about building meaningful relationships with those outside the faith. As uncomfortable as it might be at times, I need to be investing in the lives of those around me, so that I’ll have a platform to share the hope of Christ.

Did Jesus ever do this?

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:9-13

QUESTION: What “sinners” are you hanging around with?

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When Your Church Experience is Like the Restaurant You’ll Never Go Back To

March 18, 2013 — 1 Comment

3.18.13You have a list. It’s a mental list of all the restaurants (many of them fast food) that you’ll never return to. Maybe the facilities were subpar, maybe the fries were cold. Usually, it’s the service. I know I’m not the only person who’s stood in front of the counter for five solid minutes waiting for one of the four lethargic employees behind the counter to acknowledge my existence. There are restaurants I’ll never go back to. Restaurants that I was predisposed to give my business to. Restaurants where I genuinely wanted to eat their food. And yet they seemed to go out of their way to make sure I had a horrible experience, by their indifference, by their unprofessionalism, or by their demeaning manner. I know you’ve been there too.

How ridiculous would it be for the manager to call his employees together and say, “We’re losing business, we’re not making a profit. Do you know why?”, and for the employees to answer, “It must be the economy. We’re in a recession, and people aren’t eating anymore.” “It’s our location, no one drives on this road anymore.” Or, “No one eats hamburgers anymore, they’re all vegetarians.” In reality, the truth is much simpler. They simply don’t value their customers enough to give them a quality experience.

Here’s the twist: how many of you have walked out of a church having had the same experience, vowing never to return? Perhaps the facilities were old and outdated. Maybe no one gave you directions to where you needed to go. No one said hello. The only eye contact you got was from an angry member letting you know that you were in their seat. Maybe the songs didn’t connect and the preacher made no sense. You walked into that church wanting to connect with God and hoping to find a spiritual family. Yet you walked out, vowing never to return.

How ridiculous would it be for the pastor to gather his members together and say, “We’re losing people, our attendance is down. Do you know why?”, and for the members to answer, “People just don’t love God anymore. They’re not faithful to the Bible. This world is going to hell in a hand basket, and no one is committed to church anymore.” In reality, the truth is much simpler. Sometimes churches treat newcomers as pests, not guests, and unintentionally communicate the fact that newcomers aren’t really wanted at their church.

What a shame. As a church, let’s be better than that.

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Six Traditions That Are Killing the Church (Part 3)

March 15, 2013 — 2 Comments

3.11.13You may want to put on steel-tipped shoes before you continue reading. In part 1 and part 2, we talked about the word ‘church’ itself, parenting, and money. These last two traditions have to do with our attitude and our interaction with church itself.

5. Thinking ministers are there to do all the work. I once had a heated conversation with a Sunday School teacher who told me it wasn’t his job to actually get to know the kids he was teaching. He was just there to show up and teach the Bible. My job was to build relationships. That’s what I was paid for. It’s easy to think that ministers are there to do all the work. Besides, what do they get paid for if not to do the work of the church?

Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” The job of ministers isn’t to do all the work of the church, but to equip the body to do the work of the church. Think of it like the NCAA. No one would expect coach Nick Saban of the Alabama football team to go out and play all the positions on the football field because he was the only one getting paid. No, he’s just the coach. He equips the players; they’re the stars. Same thing at the church. The staff are the coaches, the members are the players on the field, the stars.

6. Thinking the church exists to serve you rather than being your opportunity to serve others. I once worked at a church where I described my job this way: I was the activities director on a cruise ship. Many of the parents came in expecting to be catered to. They’d drop their kids off with me and expect me to entertain them for an hour until they got back. That tendency runs rampant throughout the American church. We think the church exists to meet our needs. Isn’t that why the number one excuse given for people leaving the church is, “I wasn’t being fed?”

In Mark 10:45, Jesus clearly states, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus didn’t make life about him. Neither should we. If we can change this fundamental attitude in us (that the church exists to serve us), then the rest of these traditions become so much easier to tackle.

QUESTION: What traditions would you add to this list?

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Six Traditions That Are Killing the Church (Part 2)

March 13, 2013 — 1 Comment

3.11.13Last post I started a three part series on Six (Modern-Day) Traditions That Are Killing the Church. These traditions have nothing to do with style of music, whether the pastor uses a pulpit or round table, or whether the people come dressed in suits or blue jeans. There are great churches on both sides of those divides. These traditions are a little more insidious, a little more difficult to unearth. Here are traditions three and four:

3. Expecting the church to disciple your kids. This used to frustrate me to no end as a youth pastor. A parent would come up, concerned about the lack of spirituality in their child. They didn’t feel confident talking to their kid about the Bible. So they were going to use their 167 hours per week and let their child fill their head with as much worldly influence as possible, then give that child to me for an hour a week and hope that I could completely disciple them. Not gonna happen. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says this, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” The role of discipling your children ultimately belongs to the parents, not the church. Interestingly enough, the epidemic of college students leaving the home and leaving the faith began to track at the same time that parents abdicated their role in the spiritual formation of their children. Coincidence? I think not.

4. Robbing God by not trusting God with God’s money. It took me years to get this right. I’ve been a Christian a majority of my life, yet it took years and years and years to finally trust God enough to begin to tithe faithfully. In Malachi 3:8, God tells Israel, “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.” Let’s be honest. Most Christians don’t tithe. That may very well include you.

Here’s what I learned after I began to tithe: I don’t tithe because God needs it. God’s not broke. It’s actually all his money anyways. I tithe because I need it. I need to break the power of money in my life. I need to experience the blessings of trusting God with that which is closest to my heart: my pocketbook. This tradition, of Christians thinking it’s okay to rob God, is killing the church today.

QUESTION: What traditions would you add to this list?

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Six Traditions That Are Killing the Church (Part 1)

March 11, 2013 — 4 Comments

3.11.13In Matthew 15, Jesus collides head on with the traditions of the elders. Jesus was never afraid to confront traditions that broke the commands of Scripture. 2000 years later, we still hold to traditions that run counter to the commands of Scripture. Here are two (and I’ll share the rest throughout the week).

1. Thinking the church is a building, not a movement. You remember how the rhyme goes? “Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open it up, and here are the people.” That rhyme feeds into a mistranslation of Scripture of the word “church”. Discussed eloquently in chapter 3 of Andy Stanley’s Deep & Wide, when Christ declared in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it,” he used the Greek word ekklesia, which literally translates into “gathering” or “movement.” The reason it’s not translated like that is because several centuries later the Catholic church substituted the ancient German word kurche, which literally means “house or building of the Lord.” That’s where the English word “church” comes from. Ekklesia and kurche are two completely different words. The first refers to people, the second refers to a building. By substituting that word, the Catholic church changed the way we viewed church. All of a sudden, the church was a building, and whoever owned the buildings controlled the religion.

We still buy into that tradition today, that the church is a building. That’s why some churches refuse to move locations, because they’re attached to an address, a physical location. That’s why some churches can’t tear down older and irrelevant buildings, because people think the church is the building itself. It’s not. The church is the movement of God’s people taking the gospel to every corner of the planet.

2. Refusing to honor and engage other generations. In today’s church, generations are segmented and isolated from each other. When’s the last time the youth group and senior adults did something together? It doesn’t seem natural today. It’s a tradition that runs counter to the command of Scripture. If you look throughout the pastoral letters of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, Paul continually encourages the leaders to get the different generations in their churches to engage. He encourages older ladies to mentor the younger women. He admonishes the younger men to treat the older men with the honor and respect they deserve.

The senior adults desperately need the energy, excitement, and passion of the younger generation. The younger generation desperately needs the wisdom, maturity and discernment of the older generation. We need each other.

QUESTION: What traditions would you add to this list?

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