Thoughts on Galatians from a Task-oriented person

In my quest to read more, I have taken Tim Challies’s challenge to use his guide on books to read. One of the books listed was a commentary. A new commentary series that is being written is the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. I have read a couple of them and found them very easy to read and very devotional. I just finished Galatians by David Platt and Tony Merida and was challenged by it.

I am a task-oriented person and I think because of that, I found Galatians hard to wrestle with. I know what it is saying but how does that apply to my life? Paul starts off talking about how once the Galatians accepted the teachings of Paul and he left, they quickly abandoned what he taught and followed these Judaisers. They were saying that you need Christ + other works. Christ plus you need to live this way to be saved. I dismissed this because I knew that we were saved through faith in Christ alone. Then I would look at the lists in Gal 5 and use them more as a checklist: yup doing good there, yup, there too, oops, need to work on that. Even when I would look at the spiritual disciplines or when asked about what I should do to grow, I would see them as tasks to do. I have a couple of books on the disciplines and I would go through them and think, yup, there. Yup, there, Need to do that one… Even my quiet time has gotten to be more of a task to accomplish and remember to do rather than the focus of my day.

Gal 5:1, 16-18, 22-23

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Walk by, Desires of, Led by, and Fruits of the Spirit … this is the goal: living in God’s presence. Too often, we break things down into tasks, and then forget the goal because of all the tasks. Can’t see the forest for the trees. “And the Christian life is not so much about you and I living for Christ as it is trusting Christ to live for us and through us and in us.” (Galatians p 50) It is not a checklist to prove our spirituality. Pray: Muslims pray many times a day. Go to Worship: Hindu’s worship and they worship all day long. Study the Bible: JW’s do too and can quote the Bible better than most Christians. Missions Trip: So do Mormons many of which give up years of their lives to do so.

“If your Christianity consists of slavery to religion in order to make yourself right before God, then it’s just as if you’re giving yourself to the pagan religions of the world. But Christianity is radically different from those worldly religions. Rather than slaves of religion, we are sons in a relationship with God." (Galatians p 88)

Gal 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”

 In my relationships with Wanda and the boys, I may write down tasks to do with or for them. But, my relationship is on my mind when I do those things. The why is more important than the what. The book of Galatians has reminded me that the same thing is true with my relationship with God.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis is not a Simple Matter

For months, the Syrian refugee crisis has been in the news. Now after the Paris attacks, it has become a political hot-button issue. Unfortunately, it appears to be a partisan issue dividing the country mostly on party lines. Some of the language being used on both sides is very disappointing. While there are strong passions on both sides, we need to learn to have a civil discussion/debate about the issue and not resort to personal attacks or insults.

That being said, this is a complicated issue. Much of the rhetoric is simplifying the situation to absurd levels. One side says that it is the Christian thing to do to accept them into our country and anything short of that is sin. I have even heard that it is not only against international law but also against the Constitution to keep them out. The other side says that it is strictly a safety issue and they need to stay out or maybe allow only the Christians in. In light of this, here are a few things that we should be able to agree upon in looking at this complex dilemma.

1. ISIS is a Muslim-based organization. It is clear that ISIS uses Islamic language in its communication and takes its cues from a literal reading of the Quran. (See article)

2. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Some have pointed out that the KKK is not representative of Christians just like ISIS is not representative of Muslims. Even if you want to argue that KKK was not following true Christianity and ISIS is following true Islam (which is not an air-tight argument), there are people in both religions that are not as fanatical as these fringe elements. In fact, there are Muslims that are coming out against the attacks. (See article)

3. God calls us to care for those in need. There are many Bible verses telling us to take care of strangers, widows, orphans, etc. Phil 2:4, James 1:27, Matt 25:40, and Deut 10:19 are just a few.

4. There is a safety concern that needs to be considered. In general, allowing 10,000 people into the country has some level of danger involved. Considering that one of the attackers posed as a refugee to enter France, this level of danger has increased. At the risk of over-spiritualizing this, there are biblical references to protection from harm as being a good thing. As an example, after the Israelites came back to Jerusalem, they rebuilt the temple but they also rebuilt the walls. When they were building the walls, they had to fight to protect against those who wanted to harm them and stop the building of the walls (Nehemiah 4). Is there a danger with the refugees? Yes. How big of a danger is it and should it affect our response? Those are harder to answer.

5. There are ways to help the refugees that do not include moving them to the US. Humanitarian aid is needed right now wherever they are located. Also, we should find places for them to live. Finding a country that is more similar to their culture may reduce some problems they might have moving to the US.

6. They are our neighbors and we are to love them like ourselves. Mark 12:31 and Lev 19:18.

In looking at all of these points, it is clear that we have a “moral obligation” to help these refugees (see some ideas here) but allowing them into the country is not our only option. As you can tell, I am not an expert on Middle East affairs and I will not be giving my opinion over whether we should accept the refugees or not. What I am saying it that this is not a simple issue and we should stop the “Sound-bite offensive”. The issue and the refugees deserve more than that.

Why is Biblical Manhod so hard to define?

This fall we launched a Small Group to go through The Family Project, a DVD curriculum produced by Focus on the Family. We have had a wonderful time walking though the design for the family and how we relate to God through our families. We have discussed topics including God’s creation of man, man being in God’s image, marriage, and even sexuality. We had covered mothers as being “image-bearers” and so this week we talked about fathers doing the same. In the video, the sobering statistics about children raised without a father were discussed and it was shocking. For example, in the 1970’s, the African-American community had a 70%+ birthrate of kids within an intact two parent home. Now, that percentage is down to 28%. While this stat tells the extant of the issue, others show that growing up without a father increases the likelihood of incarceration, drug use, pregnancy, among other dangerous behavior. It should be common sense but these stats show that fathers make a significant contribution to family life.

So then this leads to the next question: Why? What does a father bring into a family that flips these statistics around? Unfortunately, I am still trying to answer that question in my head. Hopefully, I will be able to post my thoughts on that matter when they solidify more in my own head. There are many books and blogs talking about this but many show characteristics of being a Godly parent and not specifically a Godly father. Yes, a Godly father needs to be a Godly parent so these all do apply. However, trying to draw a line (however fuzzy it may be) between the roles of a Godly mother and a Godly father is difficult at best and insulting at worst. As I pondered this question, a few thoughts came to mind and I turn to those now.

The first things that comes to mind when discussing roles is that from the very beginning, the first attack on humanity was to the structure of the family. We all know that Genesis 3 says that Satan was talking to Eve and that she was the first one to eat of the tree. If we look back to Genesis 2, who did God give the instructions to? He gave them to Adam and he passed them down to Eve. Notice that Satan did not do a frontal assault on the commands of God to Adam. He ambushed the family from the side by going after Eve. Why do I belabor this point? Because in the curses that are handed out, one of them to Eve speaks directly to the relationship between a wife and a husband. There will be tension in a marriage until the Fall is fixed in heaven.

The second thought is that our culture has given fathers a pass on responsibility. If a pregnancy occurs, it is primarily the mother who is draped in the responsibility of raising that child. There are men who do step up and take to supporting their child but the fact that they are celebrated for their self-sacrifice is the exception that proves the rule. That should be expected instead of the exception. That being said, when we think of father, we have to overcome the culture of absentee fathers before we even begin to talk about how to be a Godly father. We have to teach men what it means to be a parent before we raise the bar to being a father, then a Godly father. With this huge cultural hole, before we start talking about these other things, we need to level-set our audience. Thus, backfilling this hole becomes the vast majority of the discussion.

Finally, putting these two things together, we get the “Murphy Brown” syndrome. Back in 1988 – 1998, Murphy Brown was a sit-com whose main character was a single woman. While being a successful journalist, she decided to have and raise a child on her own. Vice President Dan Quayle took issue with this on the campaign trail and criticized this as “mocks the importance of fathers” by bearing a child alone(Carter, Bill. “Back Talk from ‘Murphy Brown’ to Dan Quayle” New York Times. July 20, 1992). (As an aside, while Quayle was raked over the coals for this comment, the stats prove that he was correct: fathers matter) This idea that fathers are not necessary to raising a child has grown in American culture. Fathers are portrayed as buffoons and only incidental in the shaping of their children in the media. Thus, when we discuss roles for men, there are many examples in society where women have needed to raise and take on that role for their families. Thus, it is hard to differentiate between the roles for the father and for the mother.

To start talking about Biblical Manhood, we have many cultural issues to overcome. We need to teach men to be responsible. We need to teach them how to be a parent. We need to teach them that they matter to the family. When we try to look at setting expectations on the fathers in our ministries to be Godly fathers, we need to make sure that we are aware of these issues. While we want to set the bar a teh example of Jesus, we also want to set realistic milestones for our fathers to use in order to see their progress and so they do not get discouraged. Bottom line with any discipleship ministry, we need to know our audience and be willing to walk them from where they are at to the place God is calling them to be. 

How do you choose your food?

In the past month or so, we have found ourselves eating out quite a bit. Whether it is busy schedules or special days, our meals at home have been fewer than they probably should be. One day when I was ordering, it struck me that I change how I choose my food based on where I am eating. For example, last night, Wanda and I went to Culvers. When I went in, I was looking for something that “looked good”. I choose the Pot Roast dinner. I have had good pot roast and not so good pot roast. While I know what it was supposed to taste like, this one exceeded my expectations of a pot roast from a “Fast Food” place. Still, I went in looking for something that I wanted.

There are some restaurants that are more creative. I am talking about eateries like Panera or those that use unique combinations of ingredients. When I go into those establishments, I am looking to challenge myself, to see how far the chef is willing to push me. Sometimes, you get something that you do not care for too much. Sometimes, it blows your mind with how good it is. I remember going to someone’s house for dinner and they served a vegetable dish with corn, summer squash and zucchini. I normally do not care for summer squash and zucchini but this dish was delicious. If I was at a restaurant, I would not have ordered that because it would not have appealed to me. But, I was glad that they served it so I could appreciate the dish and the flavors that can come out of those often-times bland and strangely-textured veggies.

When I am at home and I am watching TV, there is a better than 50/50 chance that I am either watching sports or a show about food. In both of those environments, they talk about pushing yourself, expanding your horizons, seeing how far you can go. I fully agree with expanding your world for a purpose (pushing the envelope just to push the envelope is for another post). When we talk about sports, it is pushing yourself so in the heat of the moment or a game, you can perform better. When we talk about food, we push ourselves to appreciate the wide varieties of food that God has provided us.

Pushing our limits is not just for food and sports. Too often, we approach God the way we approach a fast food joint or a familiar restaurant: what looks good. We come to church wanting something familiar to satisfy our wants. We expect to know what it should be like and critique it on how it did or did not live up to our expectations. We spend time in our quiet times reading safe or familiar passages, books, genres. I am not saying that this is entirely wrong. Sometimes we need to be refreshed and reminded of good familiar truths from God just like a good bowl of ice cream. Sometimes we are beat up and need something refreshing like a fresh, crisp BLT sandwich or good old comfort food like pot roast with potatoes.

But there are times that we should challenge ourselves spiritually. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 is encouraging the church in Corinth to push their limits. He wanted to expand their horizons about God but they were not ready. For me, this came when I finished my reading and study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians. For my personal studies, I have spent 90% of my time in the New Testament and probably 75% of that time in the epistles. Again, not that it was not fruitful but I was doing the familiar. So, I then went to Ezra and Nehemiah. While they were in the Old Testament, they were still safe for me because they were historical books. To me, the prophecy books were like summer squash and zucchini. I had it growing up and it never tasted good to me. So I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Thankfully, God prompted me to see where I needed to expand my horizon and also see the connection between the last three books in the Old Testament (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) and Ezra and Nehemiah. I am through Haggai and working through Zechariah now. I would not say that I have fully appreciated this new “food” but I am starting to.

While my tastes are not at adventurous as Andrew Zimmer (Bizarre Foods), as a Christian, I affirm the whole council of the Word and the inspiration of all of the Bible. Thus, I should be willing and able to taste and appreciate all parts of the Bible for what God intended. Of course, this means I need to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself. What new areas of Himself is God wanting to show you today?

Why I am Thankful for My Dad

It has been almost two and a half years since Dad went home to be with his Lord. I always struggled to tell him how I felt. So this year as Father’s Day is approaching, I thought I would write down some things I appreciated about him.

1.      He showed me how to care about others at all times. Even when he was going through his own physical problems, he was still concerned and asked about Wanda with her physical issues.

2.      He showed me how to be a man of extreme integrity and principals. He wanted to do what was right even WHEN it cost him in his career and reputation.

3.      He showed me what it looked like to be a student of the Bible. If he was home come 8:00 or 9:00 at night, we knew where he would be: on the corner f the couch in the Living room with his Bible.

4.      He showed me how to care for a spouse. Even when Mom was in her last hours and sedated, he was still concerned that her ear was not being bent by one of the tubes she had.

5.      He showed a passion for God and faithfulness to His Word. He was instrumental in leading our home church away from the ELCA before the big exodus occurred because he saw that what our church believed was not the beliefs to which the ELCA church was committed.

6.      He showed me to try new things but be prudent. At the age of 50, we went to Colorado and he learned how to ski. The first half of the day, he spent on the bunny hill just learning how to fall and get up again. He knew he was going to fall so he wanted to do it right. By the way, the next day, he went with Mom and let Craig and I ski by ourselves.

7.      Although I did not inherit this trait, he showed me how to be creative. If the TV channel knob was stripped, he attached a long rod out the back of the TV with a crank on it that allowed us to turn the channels. When our VW’s would not start, he figured out how to bypass the starter by putting either a button or light switch inside the car to start it.

8.      He showed me the benefits of having a project. He always had something that was occupying his mind. Sometimes that was a theological truth; sometimes it was a recipe from a restaurant that he wanted to copy; sometimes it was a wood project he was working on. Whatever it was, he was ruminating on something most of the time.

9.      He showed me how to disagree civilly. There were times when his passion got the best of him and he came across too strong. But there were other times where he was comfortable with someone else not believing the same as him on secondary issues (I believe Merle Johnson and him did not agree about the End Times but they were good friends).

10.   Finally, he showed me what it meant to be a Christian in all aspects of your life. Thank you for introducing me to God and being an example of how to live out your life in service to Him.

Reactions to the Duggars

On Wednesday, I had a meeting that went longer than I had anticipated. When I got home, my wife was watching the interview with Jim and Michelle Duggar so I watched the rest of it with her. They did a good job of explaining their actions but my take was that people who supported them would agree with them and people that did not support them would still be upset and angry with how the situation was handled. As it turns out, that is what the reaction was on Thursday. Many people still called them “hypocrites” and “creepy” after hearing their side of the story. They see their actions as reprehensible and inconsistent with their actions to stop same-sex marriages.

Whiel there are many angles through which one can look at this story, I want tofocus on one small area dealing with our view of sin. As I am reflecting on their words and the reaction that others are giving, it is obvious that there is a HUGE gap between the two sides. After hearing the same words, why is there this gap? Why are their two such opposite camps here?

This seems odd since both camps can see the horror that occurred. Josh Duggar did some awful things. He sinned; he committed a crime; he broke the trust his family had with him. There is no excuse for those actions. This is plain to see from either camp. While some do not see homosexual acts as sinful, the Duggars do. Thus, they even put what Josh did in the same category as homosexual activity.

But this brings up the question of why are they so anti-gay, homophobic if you will, but then seemed to sweep Josh’s activity under the rug? In my Bible readings lately, I have been reading in Romans and I think this “inconsistency” can be seen by looking at a couple of verses: Romans 1:32 and Romans 7:18-20.

Romans 1:32

“Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (ESV)

Paul had just listed a bunch of sins and he notes that the problem is not only that they are doing these actions but their attitude towards those actions. They do not see the actions as being wrong. They just keep doing them and “give approval to those who practice them.” These people are not sorry for their actions and are not working to stop the behavior. This is the category that many Christians, including the Duggar’s, place the idea of same-sex marriage. If people have same-sex desires and decide to get married, they are no longer fighting against those feelings. They have accepted those feelings as okay and not a problem. Thus, acting on them is not sinning. In other words, they are not repentant sinners.

On the other hand, if we look to Romans 7, we see a totally different picture.

Romans 7:18-20

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (ESV)

This paints a picture of someone that is fighting sin. They may give in to temptation (reluctantly or in defiance) but once confronted, they break down and confess. No matter how often they do this sin, they are penitent. They see their actions as sin, they know they did wrong, and they are working to stop that behavior. Like the verses say, desire to do the right thing is not the only thing that is needed to prevent sin. This is the category that they place Josh’s actions. He sinned. He confessed. There was regret and sorrow for his actions. (How things were handled after this point is beyone the focus on this post.)

Unfortunately, there are people that can play the game. They know the words to say to appear remorseful and repentant. This is especially true for sex offenders. They are confronted and they can act sorry for what they did. They play it off only to go out and do it again to someone else. These fall in to the first category: unrepentant sinners.

So how can we tell if someone is telling the truth or just playing a game? We can look at the rest of their life to see if they are trustworthy. Do they get mad or defensive when confronted with other behavior issues? Are they truthful about the other areas of their life? These are some indicators but there is no guarantee that we can be accurate. That is when, as Christians, we pray and as the Holy Spirit to work in their lives.

So in the end, do I think that Josh Duggar is a repentant sinner or an unrepentant sinner? Even though what is being said by the Duggars appears to point to repentance, I do not know him well enough to make a guess. I hope and pray he is the former.

What is your attitude towards sin? Are we defiant and dismissive or broken and repentant? God cares about how you answer that question.

#3 – Is having fun in church so bad?

#3 – Is having fun in church so bad?

In continuing my series about things we know to be true but we forget about when we teach kids, we come to a topic that is controversial. I have heard it said many times that the church is not a social club. Most of the time, this is referring to the adults and the fact that the churches need to push their congregations harder and challenge them in their walk with the Lord. It has also been used to question the activities of Youth or Children’s Ministries. These particular ministries tend to have activities for the sake of having activities. They like to have fun and people think they are forgetting the purpose of the church: make disciples. While this may be true of some ministries, there is a reason for this type of programming.

I think it would be helpful if we used a different word instead of “fun”. When people use the word “fun” in relation to the church, they normally use it with a negative tone. The Gospel is serious and the issues of Heaven and Hell are as well. We need to focus on these items and “fun” is not appropriate. “Fun” also can become an end in itself. Thus, people say there is no redeeming value in these “fun” activities.

That is why I like to use the word “engaging” instead of “fun”. The word “engaging” is more of an umbrella word that includes fun but also includes teaching and conversations. This word also indicates that the fun is not the end result. In order to be able to speak in people’s lives, one needs to be able to have a connection. These engaging events are ways to make these connections. As an example, we had one child that was having problems in our Awana program. He would not respond to me at all and was being disruptive to the class. Once I got him talking about professional wrestling, he opened up about what was going on and we could work through some struggles he had. Ministry is done through relationships. Thus, our activities need to be engaging to create those relationships.

In addition, all people tend to be more enthused to learn about topics that are more enjoyable to them. Because of this, we tend to have themes that are kids-friendly. We are doing an animal theme now and we have done a series on candy. Both of these are engaging topics for kids and they are able to have hooks in their minds to the teachings we are trying to relay to them. I still have someone that comes up to me to talk about the idea that mints hide bad breath like we try to hide our sin. The way to get rid of bad breath is to brush our teeth and the way to get rid of our sin is to confess it to God. That was taught back in early December.

Engaging topics and engaging activities help the kids connect with the lesson more and help them remember the main point better. Yes, having fun at church is a good thing but there is a purpose for the fun: to engage the kids with the leaders and with the lessons.