Archives For Bible

Making Sense of the Senseless Boston Marathon Bombings

April 16, 2013 — 2 Comments

Runners continue to run towards the finish line as an explosion erupts at the finish line of the Boston MarathonWhy? That’s the question. Why do something so senseless? The Boston Marathon for years has been a ray of hope, a non-political gathering of people from throughout the world to celebrate human achievement. Why would someone introduce such harm and mayhem into something so profoundly peaceful?

While the US government will work tirelessly to discover and pursue the individuals behind this heinous act, we’re left to wonder the bigger question: why? Why did something like this even happen? In short, the reason the bombings happened is because we live in a broken world. When sin entered the world in Genesis 3, it corrupted everything in creation. It corrupted nature itself (hurricanes, earthquakes), human systems (families, governments), and even the human heart (those responsible for the bombing). While this answer may not fully satisfy your need for answers, it reminds us of some important truths:

  • Our sense of moral outrage speaks to our sense of absolute right and wrong, something our Heavenly Creator gave us. If you’re angry about this bombing (as you should be), you’re angry because you have this inner sense that the bombing was wrong (which it was). That inner sense of right and wrong is God’s imprint on you. He gave you that inner moral compass that screams outrage when senseless acts of terror like this take place.
  • The effects of sin are like shrapnel from a bomb: destructive and unpredictable. When a bomb goes off, the effects within the blast radius will be unpredictable; collateral damage. Sin is like a bomb that went off in the world, and we’re all within the blast radius. The effects of sin are unpredictable. That’s why some get cancer, some get in car accidents, and some live long, healthy lives. Did those three who died in the bombings do anything to deserve that kind of death? No. But sin is like that. Unfortunately, they got caught in the blast radius of a broken world.
  • America lives in a bubble. Our sense of outrage against this type of event is magnified because it is thankfully so rare here. Just a brief reading of the world news section will reveal that the majority of the human population has to live with this threat of terror every day. While this type of terror may be new to us, it’s not new to vacationers in Bali or Christian churches worshipping in Nigeria. Be thankful that this is so rare in America.
  • When tragedy strikes, our response should be prayers and active compassion to those in need. Whether it’s a marathon bombing or a horrific car accident, when tragedy strikes, our response as believers should be compassionate action. It’s the whole “love your neighbor” thing. While you may not know anyone personally in the Marathon bombings, you do know someone who’s been the victim of senseless tragedy in this world. What can you do to help them?
  • God will one day judge the world. The Bible is clear that one day Jesus will come back and restore righteousness by judging the world and all of its sin. For those who belong to Jesus, we look forward with anticipation to his coming. Senseless acts like this makes us yearn for that Coming even more.

Perhaps the biggest question this bombing raised was, “Where was God in all of this?” Or, put another way, “If God was a good God, why would He allow bad things to happen to good people?” That question is what we’ll tackle in my next post.

QUESTION: What helps you make sense of this senseless bombing?

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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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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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The Quickest Way to Grow Spiritually

March 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

3.22.12It’s not more Bible study. It’s not praying more. Recently I was listening to an interview with the great Dallas Willard, a man of the faith with great insight on spiritual growth. A long term professor at USC, he has inspired generations of believers with his teachings. He was asked this question, “If someone came up to you and asked how they could grow in their faith, what would you tell them?” Here was his answer:

“Do the next right thing you know you ought to do.” That was it. He didn’t answer “enroll in a Bible study class” or “pray more.” His formula for spiritual growth is simple: obey what you know God has already told you to do. How different than the classical models of spiritual formation, where maturity is measured by how many Bible studies you’re in! For Willard, spiritual growth comes not with information, but with application.

In John 15, Jesus links obeying his commands with bearing much fruit, all of which lead to God’s glory and our greatest joy. So, grow in your faith today. Obey God in some area of your life that you know you need to.

QUESTION: What’s the next right thing you know you ought to do?

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Why I Preach the Way I Do

February 13, 2013 — 2 Comments

2.13.13I literally just got back from speaking at a high school chapel at a Christian school in town. Pulling from my years of student ministry, I shared the contents of the blog post I wrote earlier, “7 Things I Wish I Could Tell Every High Schooler.” The response from the students, even at 8 in the morning, was extremely positive. The students were leaning in, staying with me, and giving me positive non-verbal feedback throughout the talk.

Why? Because I talked about something that they wanted to hear about. Alcohol, sex, and adulthood, all pretty safe topics for interest when it comes to high schoolers. But it reminded me of why I preach the way I do. There are many different schools of thought about how to preach and differing opinions on what preachers should talk about. Lots of highly polished men, with lots of highly polished diplomas, speak eloquently for their points of view, many of them conflicting with each other.

Some think that the only way to preach is to walk through the Bible, verse-by-verse. “Just preach the Word,” they would say. For them, nothing excites them more than a two-year sermon series walking through the book of Romans. That may be fine, it’s just not my style. My style gets the verse-by-verse folks up in arms. They see it as a degradation of Scripture. I see it as biblical preaching.

Here’s the example I base my preaching style off of: Jesus. Look in the gospels. How many times do we see Jesus taking his disciples through a verse-by-verse study of the book of Leviticus? Never. How did Jesus preach? He used every day examples to talk about deeper truths pertinent to his hearers. He talked about farmers and lost sheep. He used contemporary culture as a bridge to deeper spiritual truths.

That’s why I talk to high schoolers about alcohol and sex and adulthood, issues they care about, and use them as a bridge to the deeper truths found in Scripture. One nice by-product of preaching about issues people actually care about: people listen. And they bring their friends to listen too. That’s why I preach the way I do.

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8 Reasons Why Your Prayers Go Unanswered

February 7, 2013 — 1 Comment

2.7.13There’s nothing more challenging to your prayer life than unanswered prayer. Why do our prayers go unanswered? Does God not care? Is he too weak to answer all of our prayers? Or is it something else?

Here are eight biblical reasons why our prayers may go unanswered:

1.    We don’t ask. I know this seems simplistic, but many of our prayers simply go unasked. “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:2

2.    Praying for selfish reasons. This knocks out a lot of our prayers. You can pray for $1 million all you want. Probably not going to happen. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:3

3.    Sin in your life. Habitual sin can create a barrier between us and God, hindering our prayers. Keep a short confession list with God. “If I had cherished sin in my heart,
 the Lord would not have listened.” Psalm 66:18 “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law,
 even his prayers are detestable.” Proverbs 28:9

4.    Broken relationships in your life. Our relationship with God and our relationship with others are intrinsically linked. One always affects the others. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” 1 Peter 3:7

5.    Lack of ­­persistence. This may be the number one killer. Many of us simply give up too easily. “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1

6.    Spiritual warfare. Whether we want to admit it or not, spiritual warfare is a reality. “Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.” Daniel 10:12-13

7.    God’s timing. We may be willing to settle for ‘good enough’ right now, while God is waiting for ‘best’ around the corner. Trust in his timing. “There is a time for everything,
 and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

8.    Love. Sometimes, we ask for things that will hurt us in the long run, and the most gracious thing God could do is leave our prayers unanswered. Garth Brooks got it right when he sang his song, “Unanswered Prayers.” “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

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My God is For Me

February 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

1.25.13When God looks down from heaven at you, does he shake his head in disappointment? It’s easy to think that sometimes. If you grew up in a religion of rules and regulations, its easy to feel defeated when you don’t live up. Like a cop pulling out behind us when we’re driving, many of us have a natural fear when we get too close to God, because we’re sure we’re going to get in trouble for something.

Yesterday in our Catfish series, we talked about the myth that God is fed up with me. If you’re honest with yourself, you probably don’t live up to your own standards, so how could you ever imagine living up to God’s standards?

The truth we find from Scripture is the powerful truth that God is for me. If you read the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, you see God’s heart for us, “But while he was still a long way off, his father [God] saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20)

Romans 8:31-32 says the same thing: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

When we realize that God is for us, our relationship with Him completely changes:

  1. We don’t hid from God but run to God. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
  2. We don’t live for God’s approval but live from his approval. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
  3. We don’t fear what happens to us because we know that God is working in us. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.”

To watch the entire message, please click here.

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Why Jerry Springer Would Love the Old Testament

January 28, 2013 — Leave a comment

1.28.13Growing up, the Jerry Springer Show set the standard for low-brow talk shows. Every week, it seemed like he would set up shop in a trailer park and just have at it. Do that many people not know who their ‘baby daddy’s’ are or that their boyfriends are having an affair with their sister? The few times I watched the show, I shook my head and wondered, “Where do these people come from?”

Here’s what I love about the Old Testament: it’s the story of God using a broken and flawed people to do His work, many of whom would have been great candidates for the Jerry Springer Show. Consider some of the ‘heroes’ of the Old Testament:

  • A guy who threw his wife under the bus and pretended to only be her brother every time they moved somewhere new (Abraham).
  • A guy who got completely drunk and passed out naked in front of his kids (Noah).
  • A guy who’s wife turned into a pillar of salt and whose daughters got him drunk so that he would impregnate them (Lot).
  • A guy who thought the best way to take care of a problem was by killing someone (Moses).
  • A guy who mistook his daughter-in-law for a prostitute and slept with her, getting her pregnant (Judah).
  • A guy with serious anger issues who would let foxes run loose in grain fields and rip the gates off of city walls (Samson).
  • A guy who lusted after another man’s wife, slept with her, then killed the husband (David).

These are the heroes of the Old Testament, and they’re all deeply flawed characters. If God can use them, God can use you. Never count yourself out.

 

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