The Grace that no Longer Amazes: Romans 1:18-23

Our foray into the book of Romans begins to take a dark turn.  I say this because in the next two chapters, Paul lays out a scathing condemnation of humanity.  Paul reveals to his audience just how sinful they are–how sinful we are.  There are many who will not like what I have to say in the coming weeks.  Many would like to pretend that they are generally good, decent people who commit a few mistakes, sure.  Everyone commits mistakes.  But tell a person he or she is deserving of God’s wrath, then you are likely to receive a tongue lashing.  We are a culture that has become desensitized to God’s wrath.  We have been so exposed to a loving, gracious God, that the thought of grace no longer even amazes us.

I watched a lecture this week by Dr. R.C. Sproul, and he told a very interesting story.  He said that he began teaching an introduction to the Old Testament course in theology at a particular college to all 250 students. He laid out how students would be graded for the class.  There would be a series of papers turned in throughout the semester due on a certain date.  If the paper were not turned in, the students would receive a failing grade.  Sproul said that at the first due date 225 students came with their papers and 25 did not.  The 25 pleaded with Sproul saying that they were making the transition from high school to college; they had made bad time management choices and needed more time.  Sproul granted them more time, much to their delight.  The next due date came, and this time 200 students came with their papers, and fifty did not.  Once again the begging and pleading ensued.  Once again, Sproul offered an extension.  At this point, Dr. Sproul became very, very popular on campus.  All the students loved him.  According to Sproul’s story, they even sang a song to him!

But then, the final due date arrived.  This time, 150 students handed in their papers.  100 did not.  Sproul approached a young man and asked, “Do you have your paper to turn in?”  The young man replied, “Hey, don’t worry about it prof.  I’ll have it for you in a couple of days.”  Sproul picked up his grade book, looked at the young man again and said, “You don’t have your paper?”  The guy replied, “No.”  Sproul marked in his grade book and said, “F.”

Sproul continues, “There was this gasp in the room.  And I looked and said, ‘Johnson, where’s your paper?’  ‘I don’t have it, sir.’ I said, ‘F. Reynolds, where’s your paper? F.’ And as if it were orchestrated...they call cried out with one voice, ‘THAT’S NOT FAIR!’

“I said, ‘What did you say?’  ‘We said that’s not fair.’ I said, ‘Beech, weren’t you late with your paper last time?’  He said, ‘Yes sir.’  ‘And you are late this morning?’  He said, ‘Yes sir.’

“So, I gave you an F for today, and it’s justice that you want?  I’m going to give you justice.  I’m going to change your grade for the last one, the one you were late for, and I’m going to give you an F for that one.  O.K.?  Now, who else wants justice.  You people be careful about ever asking for justice because you just might get it?”

Sproul continues, “But what happened?  They became accustomed to my grace.  First they appreciated it.  Then, they expected it.  Finally, they demanded it, and that’s who we are.”

That’s who we are.  When it comes to God’s grace; His love; His mercy in this day and age–we no longer appreciate it.  Most of us expect it.  And many demand it.  This is why there is a severe lack of humility in many churches today.  This is why many Christians come across as arrogant and self-righteous.  They believe they deserve grace–they deserve God’s love.  And a Christian who is not afraid of God’s wrath or a person who is not afraid of God’s wrath, will not hear the Gospel as good news; will not ever have a change of heart; and will never experience the fullness of peace that the Gospel delivers.

Today, we begin a journey towards humility.  Today we will begin to have our toes stomped on unmercifully.  When Paul is done with us, our hearts will either be hardened to the point that we want nothing to do with God, or our hearts will be crushed and ready to hear what God has done when we least deserved it.

Paul begins, “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”  There was a time in recent Christian history when theologians wanted to get as far away from God’s wrath as possible.  They believed this painted God as arbitrary, judgmental, liable to blow up at a whim and punish whoever He wanted whenever He wanted without regard.  The idea that God could get angry to the point of dealing death toward His creation was shoved as far back as possible in favor of a God who simply loved and wanted to be loved.  The majority of theologians today have repented from this because the horrid events of the 20th century: the Holocaust; the killing fields; the murder of millions of people in Russian pogroms woke them up to the reality of evil.  And if God is a just God; if God cares even a smidgen for His creation, then He cannot stand such evil acts.  God’s anger must burn hot at sin or God is not good!!  Let me say that again: God’s anger must burn hot at sin and injustice, or God is not good!  This is what is behind Paul’s words here.  Ungodliness is sin against God.  Wickedness is injustice or sin from one human against another.  God hates these sins with a passion.  They bring about His wrath.

But one might argue, how can someone who has never known God or known God’s commands stir God’s anger?  Isn’t that injustice on God’s part?  Paul says unequivocally that God’s anger is stirred against ungodliness and injustice–of those who suppress the truth.  Can EVERYONE know the truth?

Paul anticipates this argument as he continues, “19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;”   Paul probably has Psalm 19 verses 1-4 ringing in his head as he dictates these words.  This Psalm reads:

The heavens declare the glory of God
the skies proclaim the works of his hands
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
No sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Paul believes in what we call today, natural revelation–that we can come to know God–His power and His divinity–through the natural world.  This is not anything new for most people.  Most people believe that we can come to know some sense of right and wrong; some sense of justice; some sense of God through looking around the world.  Hence, every single culture around the world has some form of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Babies have a sense of fairness and justice.  It is innate within each and every person who is in his or her right mind.  No one is without excuse.  And if there is a universal law, where did that law come from?  Paul argues that those who suppress the truth are those who claim it comes from anywhere and everywhere but God.

21for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.  There is a blatant mistranslation in this text in verse 21.  It should read “for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”  The importance of this translation will become clear in a moment.

Paul continues in his argument saying that even though people knew God–even though they knew of His revelation through creation–they did not honor Him or give thanks to Him.  They refused to worship God.  This led them to become futile in their thinking; have darkened hearts; and to become foolish.  How does this happen?

This happens because everyone worships.  Yes, everyone worships.  I don’t care if you are an atheist, a staunch believer, or even a Christian in name only.  Everyone worships something.  Some may disagree with me greatly, but here is the argument laid out for you:

We as human beings don’t just live–we all live for something.  Something in this life gives us meaning; gives us direction; gives us purpose; gives us hope; gives us a sense of value.  Timothy Keller puts it best when he says, “There has to be something which captures our imagination and our allegiance, which is the resting place of our deepest hopes and which we look to to calm our deepest fears. Whatever that thing is, we worship it, and so we serve it.  It becomes our bottom line, the thing we cannot live without, defining and validating everything we do.”  In days of old those things were literally idols–images made from wood and metal, but in our days, such idols have been changed but are still none-the-less idols: money, sex, justice, peace, prosperity, work, family, friends, busyness, power, climbing the corporate ladder, science, technology, free time, the government and a host of other things capture our hearts’ imagination and lead us to become foolish.

How does this happen?  Let me read to you the comments of atheist David Foster Wallace in his commencement speech at Kenyon College:

Everybody worships.  The only choice we get is what to worship, and the compelling reason to maybe choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.  If you choose to worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.  Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a thousand million deaths before they finally grieve you.  Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.  But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they are unconscious.  They are default settings.

When your heart’s imagination is captured by anything other than the Creator, you will become enslaved.  It will demand your time; your money; your energy; your entire being, and then you will delude yourself into thinking you are just fine.  You will justify what you are doing over and over and over again.  You will make excuses for your behavior and your thoughts.  When others confront you with your behavior, you will get angry and frustrated, and you will say, “I can stop this at any minute,” knowing full well you cannot and will not–until your heart changes.  Your stubborn, darkened heart makes you a fool.  Your worship of things other than the Creator turns you into a fool.

And now we must all ask ourselves: what do we worship?  What consumes our heart and mind and our thoughts day in and day out.  What do we think about in our spare time?  What does our life revolve around?  Odds are, it is not God.  None of us, and I mean none of us are focused with all our being upon Him.  We have traded worship for our Creator for things that are created.  Therefore, we stand under God’s wrath.  We deserve God’s wrath.  God’s anger is kindled against us.

And now, I must end with an apology.  I apologize for ending this sermon right here and right now.  For years, I have included in my preaching the Gospel.  I have brought you time and again to the point where you hear the soothing message of what God has done for you through Jesus Christ.  I have pronounced the Gospel in a nutshell: John 3:16-17 with reckless abandon.  But I cannot do this today.  This book is forcing us to reflect upon the state of our hearts; upon the state of our sinfulness.  We must continue through the darkness so that when the Gospel is announced at the end of chapter 3, we will once again discover just how amazing grace is.  Amen.

The Purpose of the Church

This morning, I am going to shift gears a little bit. Many of my sermons recently have been geared to invite people who are outside of the faith to consider having Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives. I have tried to show how and why He is worthy of such a position and how the Gospel offers insight and answers to a lot of the problems we all face in this world. I have done very little recently to talk about the role of the people of God in living out our calling to be children of God. Today’s text from the Gospel of Mark leads us directly there, so if you are not a part of the church or if you are considering Christianity, please know that this sermon is not directly intended for you. Hopefully, however, you will appreciate the information included within.

Let me begin by asking you: what is the church’s main purpose? What is the reason for the church on earth? At first, this might seem like the answer is obvious, at least to each and every one of us individually. But as you dig into this question and reflect upon it deeply, I think you will see that it is actually a very complicated question. I mean, if you really want to see just how complicated it is, those of you with computers, go home and Google the question, "What is the purpose of the church?" You will get a whole lot of responses. Some of them similar. Quite a few of them different. And as each author of each article begins to delve into the question, you will see a whole lot of non-negotiables:

The purpose of the church is to worship.
The purpose of the church is to care for those in need.
The purpose of the church is to make and train disciples.
The purpose of the church is to be the earthly representation of Jesus.
The purpose of the church is to be a place of prayer.
The purpose of the church it to provide a place where all are welcome.
The purpose of the church is to enact the kingdom of God on earth.

All of these are good, solid answers. They are theologically and biblically based. One can easily provide all kinds of support for these answers, and I certainly don’t want to demean any of them. They are all correct, but there is a danger that lurks behind all of them. There is a danger that creeps in and lures us away from the true purpose of the church on earth. That danger is our own selfish nature–a nature that emphasizes survival and security over everything else. What am I talking about?

For the last several weeks, we have traveled through the book of Mark, and every lesson that we have had before us has either been in or been about the temple. Jesus triumphally entered into the city of Jerusalem and then entered the temple. Because it was late, He went camping. The next day, Jesus cleansed the temple with a parallel encounter with a fig tree that was rotten from the inside out. The next day, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders asked Jesus by what authority He was doing these things. They asked Jesus that question while Jesus was teaching–in the temple. In each of these circumstances, lurking in the background was the Sanhedrin’s decision to turn the courtyard of the Gentiles into a marketplace thereby excluding the vast majority of the world’s population from worshiping the One, True, God. Jesus exposure of this travesty angered the Sanhedrin, and they wanted to put Jesus to death, and instead of trying to soothe hurt and damaged feelings, Jesus doubles down. He tells everyone a parable. A parable that riles the chief priests, scribes, and the elders even more.

Jesus begins, " ‘A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watch-tower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 2When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed."

Now, this situation was not uncommon in the ancient world. We have discovered a great stash of legal papers in which landlords leased their lands to tenants and agreed upon receiving parts of the harvest as payment. We have also discovered many instances where tenants refused to pay their landlord, and they indeed mistreated the servants that landlords sent to retrieve their payments. Jesus is using real world situations to illustrate His point.

And the point has to do with the nature of the landlord–which we are pretty sure is a reference to God the Father; and the nature of the tenants–which are the Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders. Mind you, this is not a parable directed at all the Jewish people. It is directed squarely at the Jewish religious authorities who have abandoned the purpose of the temple.

So, what does this parable say first about the nature of the landlord? Think about this for a moment: what would you do if you had leased a property to some renters and they refused to pay the rent? What would you do if you knew that they were reaping the benefits of living on your property without just repayment? What would you do if you sent someone on your behalf to collect the payment and your renters drove them off? How long would you wait before getting the authorities involved? How long would you wait before calling the police? How long would you wait before evicting your tenants? If you are like most people, you would have almost zero tolerance for such behavior. You would act quickly to prevent such abuse, but does this landlord do that? No. Not in the least. In fact, the landlord’s actions almost bespeak of major weakness. He is literally letting the tenants get away with murder. He does nothing except send more representatives. One might come to the conclusion that this landlord is daft.

And the tenants take advantage of this. The tenants are selfish and not only want all the proceeds of the vineyard. They want ownership of the vineyard themselves. According to the New Interpreter’s Bible commentary, "Villagers could take over land from an absentee landlord, if the villagers felt the landlord was too weak to enforce the claims." Think about that for a moment as you think about the fact that Jesus is comparing God the Father to this landlord. Think about that as you compare the actions of these tenants to the actions of the Sanhedrin in the temple. Think about the injustice being perpetrated by these tenants and the Sanhedrin. It should begin to make you angry.

We return now to the landlord. Again, we might think this landlord to be absolutely daft because even after all of His servants were beaten and killed, the landlord decides to send His only, beloved son. What Father in His right mind would do such a thing?!! I mean, if you were that landlord, would this thought ever cross your mind? Of course it wouldn’t. People would think you crazy. You would send a swat team, not your only, beloved child. But that is the difference between you and this landlord. The true Landlord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The True Landlord will go to great lengths to give the tenants a chance to pay–to honor their agreement. The True Landlord will take the chance that His only Son might meet with death because He is a Landlord unlike any other Landlord.

And the unthinkable happens. The tenants reject the Son; kill him; leave his body unburied and disgraced thinking they will now inherit the vineyard. Their thoughts aren’t totally unfounded. It is highly likely they thought the landlord dead when they recognized the son coming. They believed that, according to the laws of the land, if they killed the son and retained possession of the land, they would indeed inherit. Their plan was perfect.

But the Landlord was still around, and Jesus makes no bones about what will happen next. The tenants will be driven out and the vineyard given to others. It’s not a surprising outcome. Again, according to the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, "Since the Law permits the son to act on behalf of his father, the legal definition of agency implies that dishonor and insult to the son would be equivalent to dishonoring the one who sends him." Think about that in light of the Sanhedrin’s questioning of Jesus’ authority last week. If Jesus’ authority indeed comes from God, then to reject Jesus’ authority is to reject the One who sent Him. This is the strongest condemnation possible for the religious leaders.

But here is the interesting part: in the parable, the Son is dead. The Father is still coming to enact judgement, so why does Jesus include the rest of His teaching? For Jesus quotes a portion of Psalm 118 directly, "22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."

Now, there are couple of things here that are of note. The first is the translation of the words "cornerstone" from the Greek. When we hear this word, we think of a stone at the corner of a foundation–the foundational stone, so to speak; however, the Greek doesn’t really fit that kind of a stone. The Greek, according to Craig Evans, is better translated as, "‘head of the corner’, which probably refers to either a capstone that completes an arch or a capital that sits atop a column or pinnacle of the building." Therefore, it is a stone above all other stones. It is the stone to which most attention is drawn. It is the stone that everyone looks at. This is an important point in light of the last statement, "That this is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." What is so significant about this verse?

Again, Evans says, "Thaumastae, ‘marvelous’ suggests that God is accomplishing something against all odds, something completely unexpected, something that mortals cannot achieve apart from dvine assistance." Reflect upon that for just a moment as you think about Jesus who is the Son sent by the Father. Reflect upon that for just a moment as you think about the Son who is rejected and killed by the Jewish authorities–who is disgraced. What happens to Him? What happens to Jesus? He is lifted up; resurrected for all to see. Jesus becomes the chief stone, the cap stone, the stone above every other stone that all are to gaze upon.

Which takes us squarely to the purpose of the church today. I mean, I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out now, do you. The purpose of the church today is to point to Jesus. The purpose of the church today is to proclaim Jesus. The purpose of the church today is to lift up the name that is above all other names and tell the world what God has done through Jesus.

I hope that those of you who are sitting here this morning are saying to yourself right now, "Well, that’s obvious. Tell us something that we don’t know." I hope that you believe this is a no-brainer observation. I hope so, because the reality in most of our congregations is quite the opposite. The reality in our congregations is that we focus most of our attention and most of our arguing on things without even referencing Jesus.

Now, I want to be very clear here. I am not trying to get us away from doing things. As James writes in his letter, "Faith without works is dead." And there are those who are quick to point out a very important truth. It is worthless to go up to a hungry person and tell them, "Jesus loves you," while they are dying of hunger. They will immediately think that Jesus has no concern for their hunger–which simply is not true. However, let me ask you a couple of questions: without raising your hands, how many of you have given to some sort of charitable organization in the past month or so? My guess is that many of you have. Second question: how many of you have proclaimed the gospel and told someone about Jesus in the past month or so? I’d bet a good chunk of change that the number of hands would be far, far fewer. In fact, I’d say we have been trained to let our actions speak louder than words. In fact, you may have also heard that wonderful saying, "Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words."

I’ve used that saying numerous times in the past. I no longer use it. Why? There was a brilliant illustration that the late preacher Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones used when talking about the Gospel. He said: Imagine a king went off to war against an enemy that is threatening your country. If that king loses the battle, what does he send back? He sends back military advisors who say, "Archers over here, calvary over here, infantry over here. Get ready to fight for your lives." In other words, get ready to do everything you can. However, if the king wins the battle, he sends back heralds. They proclaim! They tell the good news, "The battle is done. The king has won. Live into the freedom!" The Gospel is literally translated "Good news." News is told. It is not lived. History is told. It is not lived.

What Jesus has done in bringing reconciliation with God is news. It cannot be lived. It must be told. Therefore, all we do must in some way, shape or form point to Jesus. Everything about our congregation, about our lives should lead people to look at the capstone, the head of the column, the stone that the builders rejected that became the chief cap stone. We must proclaim that the Lord has done this. We didn’t. We didn’t do anything. We have been saved by sheer grace. Humankind could never accomplish the salvation that was given through the cross of Jesus: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him."

This is the ultimate focus of the church and the reason it exists. Jesus is trying to convey just this to the religious leaders of His day. They reasoned that they were helping others by putting sacrificial animals on sale in the market place, but they were only truly helping themselves. Likewise, when we focus on being kind to visitors, having a lot of programming, keeping our grounds looking nice, giving through our community care fund, having perfect worship music, and all other sorts of things–FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING MEMBERS, then we too are working for and pointing to ourselves. Christianity is not about that. The church is not about that. We are not to be about that. We are called to point to and tell others about Jesus, and when we are pointing to Jesus; well, then we will be nice to visitors, have a lot of programming, keep our grounds looking nice, help others, worship well, and all sorts of things not for our own benefit, but for His. Amen.

I Needed to Worship

    My grandmother died on October 10th at 6:15 in the morning.  I was in San Antonio visiting my in-laws with my wife and children, and we anticipated the funeral services would be scheduled for Monday.  Dawna was observing classes at a local junior high.  I took the kids to El Mercado to have some fun shopping.  It helped lighten the otherwise melancholy news.

    On Saturday, other events made my head spin.  It started when I let our dogs out in the morning.  They started barking at the dogs next door when suddenly I heard yelping.  Turns out, my dog “Lucky” got his ear caught on some sharp ended wire and ripped it open–badly.  It took us a couple of hours to stop the bleeding. 

    Then, just at lunch, Kevin, Jr. walks up to us and says, “My head hurts.  My tummy hurts.”

    “Do you feel like you are about to throw up?”

    “Right here it does.”

    Ten seconds later.  He does.  Dead grandmother.  Hurt dog.  Sick kid.  Will anyone else get sick before the funeral?  Will I get sick and be unable to attend my own grandmother’s funeral?

    Worship loomed large less than 24 hours away, and I would be leading it.  I drove in early Saturday afternoon from San Antonio leaving Dawna, the kids and the dogs behind.  My head was spinning after all of the events.  My emotions were a wreck.  I had difficulty thinking.

    More than a few folks were surprised to see me at church on Sunday.  A few were bold enough to
ask/chide, “What are you doing here?”

    My initial response was, “Who else could do this on such a short notice?”  (Which does give me pause for future concerns–in case something does happen.)  But as the morning progressed, another answer came forth.

    Early service was difficult.  I didn’t seem to have the umph in my preaching.  Emotions weighed heavily. 

    Then, at the second service, I stood to sing the Gospel acclamation, “He is Exalted.”

    He is exalted the King is exalted on High.  I will praise Him.
    He is exalted forever exalted, and I will praise His name.
    He is the Lord.  Forever His truth shall reign.
    Heaven and Earth, rejoice in His holy name.
    He is exalted, the King is exalted on high.

    And there was peace.  There was reassurance.  There was order in the midst of chaos.  Worship refocused everything.  EVERYTHING!

    “Seek first the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you,” Jesus said in Matthew 7.  It all became clear.

    Worship is the time when our lives center–even for just an hour–on God and His Kingdom.  It is the time where we block out all the false gods which try to place themselves at the center of our lives–false gods which only bring chaos and disharmony into our being.  As God becomes the center and we hear of His actions and deeds, everything else falls into place–not that we completely understand it; however, we have a deep sense of trust in the One who watches over us daily.

    Many I visit with talk about how their lives are chaotic; busy; burdensome.  Our society certainly seems this way–a lot.  Is it any wonder?  Worship, for the most part, is no longer central to our lives.  False gods dominate us and cause chaos.  And instead of turning to worship, we try harder to appease those false gods!  It’s a self-defeating proposition.

    If your life resembles chaos.  If you find yourself without peace.  If you find yourself being pulled every which way but loose, worship.  Regularly.  When God becomes the center, things change drastically.  You find what I found after my grandmother died, my dog was injured, my son became sick, and I was overcome by the chaos of it all.  I needed to worship. 

Why Worship...In (a) Church...That You Disagree With

Because of a lack of time--and the lengthiness of the post, I did not come full circle as I wrote about worship.  Today, I'd like to finish the thoughts on worship and come back to the extended quote by Timothy Keller:

If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God?  In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you.  For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship.  Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives?  The husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands.  A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.

Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will?  If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you?  You won't!  You'll have a Stepford God!  A God, essentially, of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction.  Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten a hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination.  (Kindle Location 1901-1907)

If we worship to come in contact with Jesus--to hear about what He has done and how we are saved purely and solely by His action...

And if it is at worship where we attempt to shut out all the other false gods of the world and concentrate on Jesus...

And if in the midst of doing so, Jesus begins tuning our hearts toward Him...

...then we should feel quite a bit of discomfort.

And I know we do not like feeling uncomfortable.  Take another quick look at the reasons I wrote for folks skipping worship on a given Sunday (or for an extended period of time):

• I am spiritual, but not religious.  
• I can worship God anywhere.  I do not need to be in church to do so.
• I do not find anything compelling when I attend worship.
• This person hurt me, and I do not want to run into them at worship.
• I do not like the decision the church made, and I will not worship.
• I do not like the way the pastor preaches. 
• I do not like the music.
• I want more organ music.
• I want more contemporary music.
• I like being anonymous when I go to church and do not like small crowds.
• I like being welcomed and part of an intimate group and do not like large worship services.

 What do they all have in common?  Well, let me rephrase that question: who is at the center of all of these questions?

Me.  Myself.  And I.

It's understandable, really.  We live in a consumer oriented culture.  We live by the mantra, "Have it your way."  (Even though I detest Burger King.)  If we find a restaurant does not tickle our taste buds, we find another.  If a repair shop does not satisfy us with the job of repair, we find another.  If we do not like the prices at one store, we find another.  Hey, I'm just as guilty as the next guy when it comes to this.  I needed a part for my SUV, and after consulting with a few shops, I gleefully ordered it online and saved $30!!!  Saving money made me happy and much more comfortable.

And we really, really like our comfort zones. 

In quantum mechanics, there is a rule which governs atomic particles: those particles like to remain at the lowest possible energy state.  It takes extra energy to get them "excited" and changing or maintaining a particular position.  If everything is same ol', same ol', they simply will not change or move to another level.

The more I have studied humankind, I believe we too are influenced in the same manner.  We are all to happy to remain right where we are.  We are all to happy to stay entrenched in our thought processes, beliefs, and actions.  Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing in all circumstances.  For instance, you would be hard pressed to get me to change my belief that Jesus is the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, and resurrected Savior.  But am I so comfortable in that belief that I do not ask myself why I believe it to be true?  Am I so comfortable in that belief that it makes little difference in what I do and how I do it?  What challenges that belief and makes me think through why I believe what I believe and do what I do?

If I go to a church where I never end up asking myself those kinds of questions, I have a Stepford Church.  I have a church/congregation that simply affirms me and makes me feel good about myself.  I have a church that never challenges my ideas or makes me do the messy work involved in a REAL relationship.

And face it, real relationships are messy at times.  We disagree with others.  We misunderstand others.  We are forced to examine our own contributions to the problems in relationships.  We have to invest time and energy and money into real relationships.  We argue.  We fight.  Sometimes we don't talk to one another for a while.  But within those real relationships, we also find love, compassion, caring, and intimacy at a level far beyond most of the superficiality we experience each and every day.

You will find neither challenge nor true intimacy without engaging an "other" who is different from you and does not see everything just like you.

A few have asked me why I remain in a denomination that I tend to disagree with on many levels theological and philosophical.  Why stay in a denomination that I feel has gone astray doctrinally? 

Unless said denomination has people within it who challenge it (and vice versa) it will never grow, and neither will I.  Unless said denomination has people of differing theologies, it simply has Stepford Members, and if I find a denomination that fits all my beliefs, then I have a Stepford Denomination.  There is no growth, and there is no intimacy.

Whether it is a Stepford God, Stepford Denomination, Stepford Congregation, or Stepford Member, none of these are real relationships.  Relationships should make us uncomfortable as we engage the "other."  It's how we grow.

And if you are not engaging the Holy Other--Jesus the Christ, on an extremely regular basis, you are not growing; your heart is not being changed; you are maintaining your comfortable place at the lowest energy state.

Perhaps you are happy with such a thing.  Perhaps you believe you have no need to change or become a better person than you are.  Then church and worship definitely isn't for you.  Church is for people who know they fall short.  Church is for those who know they miss the mark.  Church is for those who know there is more to life than what they currently experience.  Church is for those who know they have plenty of room to grow.  Church is for those who want transformation of themselves, their relationships, and the world.

And that transformation comes from Jesus who changes hearts at worship.

Why Worship...In Church?

For many years, I have struggled to answer this question.  In many ways, even some of the answers I have posted on this blog have left me unsatisfied.

I mean, I know what has been passed onto me:

• Worship is central to the life of a Christian.
• Worship is the place we encounter Jesus in the Word and Sacrament.
• Worship is where we meet fellow Christians who share our joys and sorrows.
• Worship is where heaven and earth intersect for precious moments helping us and equipping us to endure the grind of daily life.
• Worship is where we are instructed and equipped for living the Christian life.
• Worship is where we hear the Gospel.

All of these things (and a few more), I know deep within the depths of my being, but they are sorely inadequate in persuading people to attend worship on Sunday mornings.   Such points do not cut through the fortified walls people have erected in their lives--the walls of reasoning and thought excusing them from regular worship:

• I am spiritual, but not religious.  
• I can worship God anywhere.  I do not need to be in church to do so.
• I do not find anything compelling when I attend worship.
• This person hurt me, and I do not want to run into them at worship.
• I do not like the decision the church made, and I will not worship.
• I do not like the way the pastor preaches. 
• I do not like the music.
• I want more organ music.
• I want more contemporary music.
• I like being anonymous when I go to church and do not like small crowds.
• I like being welcomed and part of an intimate group and do not like large worship services.

And the list could go on.  Instead of picking at each of these points and arguing their merits or lack of merits, I would like to approach things from a little different manner.

First, a lengthy quote from Timothy Keller's book The Reason for God:

If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God?  In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you.  For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship.  Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives?  The husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, decide to have their wives turned into robots who never cross the wills of their husbands.  A Stepford wife was wonderfully compliant and beautiful, but no one would describe such a marriage as intimate or personal.

Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will?  If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you?  You won't!  You'll have a Stepford God!  A God, essentially, of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction.  Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten a hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination.  (Kindle Location 1901-1907)

Can you connect the dots between worship and this quote?  I am sure many of you probably can, but if you are struggling, let me try and clarify.

At my congregation's last council meeting, one of the members brought up an interesting statistic: there are 8760 hours in a year.  If you worshiped every Sunday (at an average of one hour per worship service), you would only spend 52 of those hours in a place devoted to God--that's less than 1/2 of one percentage point of your time!!!

But let's also put a little more perspective on this.  During those other hours, everything else in the world is striving to garner your devotion.  Yes, I said that purposefully.  Everything else is trying to gain your worship and adoration--from your job to your family to your children to your leisure time  to television advertizements to your possessions to even your self!!  Each of these things is trying to draw your heart toward it, and they are obsessed with owning you and your time.  Don't believe me?  Try giving any one of them less attention than you do now.  See what happens.  Not only may you get a visceral reaction from one of these things, you will also feel torn, like you are letting it down.  You will feel guilty for not obeying one of your masters.  That may sound harsh, but it is assuredly true.  False gods do not let go of you easily--and it is not easy to give them up.  They have a special place in all of our hearts.

And there is no way to totally get rid of the heart's desire to worship.  There is no way to get rid of the heart's desire to grasp onto an object greater than itself.  Consider what atheist author David Foster Wallace said during a commencement address at  Kenyon College,

Everybody worships.  The only choice we get is what to worship, and the compelling reason to maybe choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.  If you choose to worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.  Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a thousand million deaths before they finally grieve you.  Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.  But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they are unconscious.  They are default settings.

Now, you may argue that there is nothing necessarily wrong with the "default settings" our hearts want to worship.  I mean, we do need money to survive in the world.  Taking care of our health and bodies are important.  Positive use of power makes a difference to people in the world--especially to those with no power.  Reading and studying to increase one's knowledge is generally a good thing.  I won't disagree with these statements, but that is not Foster's point.  Foster's point is that when these good things are turned into ultimate things, they will destroy you.  Each desire--while good in moderation--becomes destructive when it turns into an object of worship--a false god.  The reality is: there is no object of worship that does not lead to guilt, self-righteousness, pain, hunger, depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction, except God.  Unless Jesus is the heart's desire, one will remain unsatisfied and without peace.

Which leads right back to the worship of Jesus in church during the week.  Why?  Because we must answer the question: how do we put Jesus at the center of worship?  For a heart will not willingly give up its objects of worship.  It will simply turn from one to another.  Again, consider this quote
from Thomas Chalmers in his sermon "The Expulsive Powers of a New Affection":

It is seldom that any of our bad habits or flaws disappear by a mere process of natural extinction.  At least this is done very seldom through the instrumentality of reasoning or by the force of mental determination.  What cannot be destroyed; however, may be dispossessed.  One taste may be made to give way to another and to lose its power entirely as the reigning affection of the mind.  A youth may cease to idolize central pleasure but it's because the idol of wealth--the desire to make money--has got the ascendency; so he becomes disciplined.  But the love of money might actually cease to have mastery over his heart if it is drawn to ideology and politics.  Now he is lorded over by a love of power and of moral superiority instead of wealth.  But there is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object.  The human heart's desire for one particular object is conquered, but it's desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable.  The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is to replace it with the expulsive power of a new one.  Thus it is not enough to hold out to the world the mirror of its own imperfections; it is not enough to come forth with a demonstration of its evanessive character of their enjoyment; it's not enough to simply speak to the conscience--to speak of its follies; rather, you must seek as a preacher every legitimate method of finding access to the heart for the love of Him who is greater than the world. (As quoted by Timothy Keller here.)   

What Chalmer's argues is that our hearts move from object of worship to object of worship to object of worship, and this only happens when one object gets displaced by another.  We do not give those objects up freely or rationally.  Only when one object is substituted for another does our heart let go.  Tie that to what Foster said previous, and one must ask himself or herself: to what am I giving my worship, and is that worship leading me towards abundant life here and in the world to come?

If Foster is right, and I think he is, then the only worship which will lead to abundant life and not devour you is the worship of God--particularly the worship of Jesus Christ.  And, it is only at worship apart from the rest of the world and false gods, where the Gospel is proclaimed--the action God took to save you, redeem you, and give you value and worth.  It is only in worship where you hold the body and blood of Jesus and take them into yourself that He may transform you from within.  It is only in worship where you shut out all the other false gods which demand your time, effort and energy and turn your attention to the One True God.  It is only by hearing that you are broken yet forgiven by no action of your own that the false gods begin to lose their grip and be displaced by Jesus.

For He is the center of all Christian worship.  Not the music we play.  Not who may or may not be at church.  Not the size of the church.  Or whether or not I feel welcomed.  Or I find anything compelling (unless you are only receiving the Law and being told what to do over and over and over.  That is not hearing the Gospel, that is for certain.)

And you cannot hear the Gospel sitting by yourself in a deer stand, or on the beach, or while fishing.  You may see God's handiwork, but you do not meet Jesus--sorry, you just don't.  The Word takes root in proclamation not in doing.

I know this post makes a very big assumption--that people actually want to be transformed into something different.  It assumes people want to know peace and joy.  It assumes they want to have an abundant life--much more abundant than running around from activity to activity feeling tired and stressed and overworked and the like.  It assumes people are dissatisfied with the way things are playing out deep within themselves and they would like to find a place of peace.

If that fits you, I invite you to worship.  Regularly.  Not once a month.  Not twice a month.  As much as you can.  No excuses.  Come meet Jesus.  As your heart is moved toward Him, you will notice the difference.

Only Once a Month?

I wish I would have saved the reference so I could note it in this blog post, but perhaps the reference isn't as important as the reality to which it pointed:

MOST FOLKS IN THE U.S. DEFINE THEMSELVES AS REGULAR CHURCH ATTENDEES IF THEY ATTEND ONCE A MONTH.

Sorry for shouting, but it's an important item to wrestle with.  I cannot remember if the article I read referenced PEW or Gallup, but the point is the same no matter who conducted the survey.

The majority of folks interviewed considered themselves regular church attendees if they attended worship only once a month.

This is quite different from a decade or so ago when regular church attendance was considered three or four times a month.  Now, it's only one, and even though I don't like it, it did jar me with my experience as a pastor even in rural Texas.  Even in my congregation, I think I can safely say a good chunk of people in my congregation fit this trend.

There are many things to wrestle with in regards to this trend.  I have already breached the topic with my staff, and will be visiting with the congregation council about this matter at our next meeting, but I hope to spend only a few moments bemoaning and griping and wondering why.  We can speculate and gripe and wonder 'til Kingdom come, and that does no good.  The trend is not only in Cat Spring, TX--it is nation wide.  The trend is caused by multiple factors, not by a simple cause and effect.  Deciphering what is "wrong" and trying to give it a quick "fix" will not happen--even though we like to think we are capable of "fixing" such matters or people.  What I hope to accomplish is get people thinking about the reality of church 1) if this is the trend and 2) what really must happen if the trend is to be reversed.

THE GRIPING

• First, just a few moments of bemoaning, griping, and wondering why.  In my estimation, there is little wonder the definition of regular worship attendance has slipped and is slipping.  Society has shifted from setting aside Sunday as sacred--a day of rest to focus on God--to a day of work for retail and service industries and recreation/play time for others.  No longer do most businesses shut down on Sunday.  The need for more profit drives them, and workers' religious affiliation be damned.  Folks who work in this area of society generally are living paycheck to paycheck, and they cannot afford to tell their bosses and supervisors, "I want to go to church."  When the choice is bring home less income and decide whether or not to pay utilities, basic needs will win out just about every time.  And as the sacredness of the day gets diminished by the god of money, so then other gods find it easier to chip away.  
• The gladiators of the ancient Roman Coliseum could not imagine the overwhelming draw of sporting events in our day and time.  A pastor friend has remarked numerous times, "Society shows you what is most important by the biggest buildings it constructs."  In the middle ages, it was the churches.  Then the universities became prominent.  Then the skyscrapers of business.  Now, the stadiums.  Sports offers all sorts of promises to parents and children.  Some of them are true, but a great deal are false.  Sports supposedly builds character, but I know from my own personal experience, it doesn't change a heart.  
• Our technological society doesn't help either.  More and more we "connect" to each other via electronic means of communication.  Even this blog and the posting of my sermons is a testament to this.  If I miss church, I can read and hear pastor's sermon online.  There is no need to really and truly attend.  I can hear/read God's Word right from my bedroom in my pajamas, and I don't have to deal with the messiness of human relationships.  (Hey, I can even skip putting a few dollars in the offering plate.  It's a huge win!!!)  

THE IMPLICATIONS

Are there more factors: absolutely, but I told you, I don't want to focus too much on griping.  Onto the implications--or rather, what are some major questions of implication?

1.  How in the world does a congregation run a Sunday School or youth program in such a cultural climate?   If regular attendance is once a month at worst (even that is stretching it for some) and two times at best, how can students learn much about the faith?   How can congregations with less than a certain amount of members find enough teachers who attend on a hyper-regular basis (3-4 times a month) to staff their teaching positions?   How can teachers build from one lesson to another if children are constantly missing--akin to teaching mathematics when a kid is present for simple addition and then next shows up for division?  Is it possible to have well attended monthly activities any longer?  What does the role of a youth director look like in such a society?  More of a program director?  More of a mentor?  More of a person who seeks kids out at home in the evenings?   Tough questions.
2. How in the world do people connect to one another and have a sense of fellowship and familiarity?  How do people become more than a gathering of strangers on Sunday morning?  This is a fresh question since a family in my congregation decided to pull their membership in favor of another congregation down the road citing a lack of feeling "connected."  It's not surprising.  They fell squarely into that "once a month" demographic.  Given that there are an average of four Sundays in a given month, when your once a monthers are spread out over those four weeks...there is no way you can ever be connected unless you associate with fellow church members at other times on a weekly basis.  Plus, it takes time...sometimes lots of time to connect.  I am embarrassed to say that I have had quite a bit of difficulty remembering a particular congregation member's name.  I keep getting confused between "Bob" and "Bill."  I am sure it is more than frustrating for him--and it is for me too; and the sad part is, Bill is no once a monther.  We need personal contact between one another to connect and have relationship--it's part of human nature.  When we consider ourselves regular attendees while only coming once a month, we shouldn't expect to feel connected.  We simply can't with this irregularity.  Makes being in community truly difficult.
3. How in the world do you put together a choir?  A bell choir?  A children's choir?  Getting individuals to sing shouldn't be a problem, but a group?  For the same reasons youth and Sunday School become problematic, so does choir and musical ensembles.
4. How do you have a united sense of mission and ministry when so few are truly connected to a congregation?  
5. How do congregation members care for one another if they do not know one another?  How does a congregation prevent pastors from becoming burned out since he/she is the only one who has direct contact with people on a regular basis?  (The same can be said for other church staff in their appointed areas.)

I am sure these are only the beginning questions of implication.  They are tough.  Really tough. 

THE SOLUTION?

Solving the "problem" goes far beyond logistics.  This is not something that can be cured by making sure a congregation is warm and friendly; or has a website, Facebook page, Tweets, podcasts its worship services and has the latest technology; or has great programs; or has a dynamic preacher; or has a central authority; or who focuses on the right doctrine; or so on and so forth.  This is not a problem which can be solved by a quick fix of tweaking something here or changing something just to be changing it.  It's not about trying harder and working one's self or one's congregation at a fever pitch.  Those will not change society.  Those will not change people's hearts. 

I am convinced only the change of hearts in people can make a difference.  I am convinced that unless the Gospel fundamentally changes people and leads them to be in a church community more often, we will, as congregations struggle mightily with this issue.  And the problem with this approach: it takes a lot of time before the Gospel affects this kind of change--a lot of time.

I am 40.  I can say that it is only in the past year that I have finally come to begin to truly understand the Gospel--that it isn't about what I do but what God has already done.  For so long, I was trying to justify myself and worship false gods.  I thought I would get a sense of satisfaction and wholeness through such pursuits.  You would have never, ever convinced me of this at the time.  I thought I was doing God's work.  I thought I was doing the right things.  I thought my priorities were in line.  I was and am a pastor, for heaven's sake!!

But I was wrong.  Dead wrong.  And I had to be fundamentally confronted with my sinfulness--my wrongheadedness before the Gospel could begin its transformational work.  That's started.  I know the Gospel's power.  I know it can change things and mightily.  But it takes time.  A lot of time, and with a huge chunk of people coming to worship only once a month, it will take an abnormal amount of time before change is affected.  Do we have patience? 

I hope so.

I hope so.

Simply Singing

I was blessed today with the opportunity to simply sing at a funeral service.

My deepest and sincerest condolences to out to the Severen family at the loss of Arlie Mae.  May God's loving arms surround you during this time of grief.

But I thank you for the opportunity simply to lend my voice in worship.

It's not often that I get to do things simply when it comes to worship anymore.  Usually, I'm heavily involved in the planning and implementation of said worship.  Usually, I'm having to sweat a million details to make sure it all comes together. 

But this time, I just had to sing.  "In the Garden."  "How Great Thou Art."  Worship.  Praise God and pray that through my singing, others may be touched with grace.

There is something about singing and listening to others sing which does this.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been surrounded in worship with voices raising all around and felt the goosebumps arise.  I cannot tell you how music has helped the message of Christ's love sink in.

A precious memory of childhood:

Before my home congregation moved from downtown Robstown, TX to its current location near Calallen, my mother was asked to offer special music to the congregation during the offering.  She played the piano and sang, "What Wondrous Love is This?"  I can remember that moment clearly.  The final verse exclaims:

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on
And when from death I'm free; I'll sing on
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing His love for me
And through eternity, I'll sing on, I'll sing on
And through eternity, I'll sing on.

I remember the pastor standing after mom's solo and saying, "I just wanted you to keep singing on."  And I agreed.  Mom has a beautiful voice.

More and more, though, I tend to see people believe that you need a beautiful voice to sing.  You need to be able to put things together perfectly--like all those singers on television; the radio; on MP3 players.  If I don't sound like that, I shouldn't be singing.

First off, no one sounds like that.  You don't need talent to sing anymore.  They have something called autotune.  Most of those folks parading around up there these days don't have all that much talent--they have a look.  The talent is supplied by computer enhancement.  (There are some really good singers, though.  Hello Pentatonix!)  I think this is detrimental to those who want to sing but feel inadequate.

Second, you learn to sing by singing.  Your vocal cords will not get in shape until you stretch them, and stretching comes by using.  They will begin producing better sound the more you use them and train them.

Third, I know that doesn't mean squat when you are self-conscious.  Believe me, I am right there with you--or at least I was.  Another memory from long ago:

On more than a few occasions, my mother tried to get me to sing in church.  I wouldn't.  I absolutely refused.  I was too self-conscious.  I didn't want to make a fool out of myself because I didn't think I could sing.  Mom would literally elbow me right in the middle of church and say, "SING!!"  So, what did yours truly do?  Mouth the words. Yep, lip sync.  Lips moved, but no sound issued forth.  I thought I was clever.

But I missed out on an opportunity.  I missed out on training the vocal instrument God had given me.  And it's taken more time than it needed to discover, I've got a pretty good instrument--an instrument I can use to God's glory.

Which brings us back to that whole fear and self-conscious thing.  I know the standard argument is, "It doesn't matter what others think, you should just sing."  That argument never worked on me.  Never.  I'm pretty sure it won't work on anyone who reads this snippet.  So, let me try something else.

Singing is integral to worship.  All through scripture, people raised their voice in singing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.  Why?  Well, they knew what God had done for them.  They knew that God had created them; provided for them; delivered them; loved them; nurtured them.  We know that God took on human flesh and died for us while we were still sinners.  We know that God took on human flesh and reconciled the world unto Himself.  When that news sinks in, it produces great joy--a joy that cannot remain silent.  That joy wants to be let out.  It wants to be expressed.  It wants to find a voice.  And that voice wants to sing.

I'm not going to argue with you and tell you to sing.  I want you to know God's great love for you.  I want you to know just what He did for you because of that love for you.  I want that to penetrate your heart. 

Once it affects your heart, it will impact your vocal cords.

Once it affects your vocal cords, you will do what I got to do today at a funeral.

Simply sing.

Religion Versus Relationship

I haven't gone on the warpath here lately, and perhaps it is time; after all, we Lutherans ascribe to both Law and Gospel.

Let me also preface this with a little anecdote.  For many years, I had no response to folks who said that they worshiped God in nature.  I personally agreed with the assessment for in spending time in God's creation, I found myself in awe of the Creator.  But, there was always a nagging voice within me--a nagging voice that felt the idea of "worship" in such a fashion was lacking.  I was never quite able to give voice to it. 

Of course, there were others who gave voice to it.  I vividly remember folks who would say, "I am sure you can find God in nature, but when's the last time a tree offered you forgiveness?"

Such a saying is all well and good for someone who believes in Jesus Christ and is convicted by the Gospel.  It's not so good when dealing with someone who does not have a deep seeded faith.  How does one convince another that worshiping in nature and worshiping in a congregation are vastly different things?

Then, there is the whole religion versus relationship thing.  "I'm spiritual but not religious."  Yeah, I've heard that one a time or two as well.  Yet, many of the arguments addressing this particular pithy saying are based in a faith which is well grounded.  How do you address someone who is convinced their own faith is well grounded and that they are just as right as you might think you are?

Perhaps I wouldn't even be writing this blog post, but the above picture was actually posted by a fellow clergy.  Of all things, I never thought a fellow clergy would post such an picture with such an asinine message.  I mean, this is what passes for apologetics these days?

Why am I so upset?

Perhaps I shouldn't be.  And, please don't get me wrong.  I am not upset at people who do such a thing.  I'm no better than others who choose to go hunting or fishing on a Sunday morning.  My feet are as full of clay as theirs.  But I have been convinced by Timothy Keller and others who say that unless we confront our false gods and deal with them, we will continue to see the decline of Christianity in our society.

Consider me confronting a particular false god in this post--the false gods of nature worship and self-spirituality.

Let's take the above saying and tweak it just a little bit--changing the characters and the setting.  By doing so, I think you will get my point:

Infidelity is a man sitting at a restaurant with his girlfriend and thinking about fishing.  
A man sitting on a boat fishing and thinking about his girlfriend is relationship.

Is my point made?

Both of these particular instances are problematic.  Both show a complete disregard for true relationship.  Both show self-centered behavior on the part of the man.

Yet, we say that one of these is acceptable behavior toward God?

Face it, the reason most folks say they encounter God in nature is to absolve themselves of the responsibility of worship.   "I can worship God in nature," is simply code for saying, "I'd rather not go to church."

If that is your choice, fine.  Admit it, but don't sugar coat it. 

And, if indeed you are spiritually awakened in nature...
If indeed you have truly found a lasting peace, joy and fulfillment...
If you have found a sense of wholeness...

Don't you then think you have the responsibility of teaching others how to find that peace, fulfillment, and joy?  Don't you think you have the responsibility of sharing what you have discovered?  Do you think such a lasting thing should be kept to one's self?

As an old Hindu proverb says, "It takes both individual bees and the hive to produce honey."

Worship is an intensely relational phenomena--nurturing one's relationship with God and with fellow believers.  It is not practiced individually.  It is practiced corporately.  It is focused not on self, but on the other. 

When Jesus is the object of worship, as within the Christian faith, we gather to hear Him speak to us--through the written Word of Scripture, through the proclaimed Word of sermons, through the sung Word of hymns, through the proclaimed Word of forgiveness--and we gather to touch and hold Him in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  These are not things you find in nature.  Period. 

And while we are turning our attention to Christ during this time, He is also turning His attention toward us--strengthening our faith, renewing our hope, and filling us with peace.  This peace and hope pales in comparison to the peace and hope we find in nature, for that peace fades the more we are removed from it.  That sense of well being diminishes when we get back to the "real world."  The peace Jesus offers doesn't fade.  It is a spring of living water.

Why doesn't Jesus' peace diminish when the other does? 

Because it's a part of a real relationship--religion and all.

Seeking Fulfillment

    Recently, I had an interesting discussion on an internet message board.  One of the frequent posters had started a thread saying he had become an agnostic.  What was his reason?  He said that he had become frustrated with the way some Christians were acting.  He did not appreciate the things they were saying and doing and because they were not living up to the way he thought Christians should act, he questioned the existence of God.

    Internet message boards are not great places for interaction in such matters.  Usually, there’s a whole lot of underlying emotion going on in people, and they are apt to read your responses wrongly.  In fact, I told the guy that I would rather discuss this matter with him over a few cold beverages, but I did push him a little bit.  In as tactful of a manner as I could think of, I asked him, “Who did you put your faith in?  Did you put your faith in God or in people?”

    It’s an important question, I think.  I mean, I’ve run across this kind of thing numerous times.  I’ve had people tell me they’ve quit coming to worship because of something someone else said or did.  I’ve had people tell me they don’t attend church at all because the church is full of hypocrites.  Oftentimes in congregations, personalities come into conflict; people don’t like decisions that are made; people don’t like a particular theological stance a pastor takes, and the end result is nearly always the same–they either stop giving or stop attending.  They generally give the same sort of reason for their actions: I didn’t like what those folks did.

    I ask again this morning, “What was your faith in?  Was it in God or in people?”

    I mean, there is no mystery that people are sinful.  People are not perfect.  People will always let you down.  Let me say that again: people will always let you down.  That’s not a comfortable thing for me to say while standing up here before you this morning because I have to face the fact that I am a person.  I have to face the fact that when I look in the mirror, the person staring back at me has let people down.  I have not been perfect.  I have not always been there when people want me there.  I have not always made the best decisions.  I have not always agreed with others and told them what they wanted me to say.  I’ve missed appointments.  I’ve missed calling people.  I’ve allowed other pursuits to take me away from responsibilities at times.  If we are honest with ourselves, we have to say the same thing about ourselves as well.  If you put your faith in people, you will end up hurt.  You will end up angry.  You will end up frustrated and upset.  People are fallible, sinful beings.  This is just a fact of life.

    To take this further, we must ask: then what can you put your faith in?  Can you put your faith in your job?  In sports?  In money?  In acquiring possessions?  In your family?  In your children?  In the government?  In technology?  In science?  In your hobbies?

    Here’s a dirty little secret that no one really talks about.  You can certainly try to put your faith in these things.  You can certainly become very involved in these things.  All of them in some way, shape, or form offer you a promise of fulfillment.  All of them offer you the promise of contentment and happiness.  But stop and think about these things for a moment.  If you are involved or over-involved in such matters, have you found fulfillment?  Have you found peace deep within yourself?  I’m pretty certain I can say that you haven’t.  Why?

    Because all of these things will never stop placing demands on you.  They will actually try, in the long run, to consume you.  They will disappoint you.  They will frustrate you.  They will tease you and ask for investment after investment after investment only to suck you completely dry and leave you wanting more.  That is the cold, hard fact.  Everything that we seek satisfaction in and put our faith in will demand more and more of our worship only to leave us highly unsatisfied and empty.

    You may not believe me, but let me share with you something a very, very successful author once wrote.  Maybe you know the name David Foster Wallace– he was not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination.  He rose to fame by writing and was invited to speak at numerous events.  Unfortunately, he eventually killed himself.  Shortly before he committed suicide, he gave a commencement address at  Kenyon College, and he made this statement, “Everybody worships.  The only choice we get is what to worship, and the compelling reason to maybe choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.  If you choose to worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.  Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a thousand million deaths before they finally grieve you.  Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.  But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they are unconscious.  They are default settings.”

    That last statement is a bit disconcerting, yet, I think true.  It is our default setting to look to such things to worship: to look to money, sports, people, possessions and other such things for our worship.  In the Church, we call this original sin–seeking to depend upon ourselves to be god.  And the result is always the same: emptiness.

    Jesus offers us another path.  In our Gospel lesson, He has an encounter with a Samaritan woman at a water well.  Now, Jesus actually does some quite amazing things in this encounter.  First, He overcomes some major cultural barriers.  No Jewish man would ever be caught talking to a woman by himself.  No Jewish man would ever be caught talking to a Samaritan because they were considered enemies.  No Jewish man would ever dare to use a Samaritan’s cup or bucket to drink out of because that would mean defiling one’s self.  Yet, here is Jesus doing all of those things with this woman.  It surprises her greatly. 

    But there is a reason for Jesus acting in this manner.  We know that Jesus came into this world for a reason.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but so that the world may be saved through Him.”  Jesus is reconciling the world to God–even the world that was not a part of Judaism.  Jesus wanted to offer this woman salvation, and He had to crash through all these barriers to do so.  If he would have acted as most Jews acted toward Samaritans, the woman would have rejected Him outright.  Therefore, Jesus leads with a very compassionate attitude.

    The woman is taken aback, “How is it that you, a Jew ask me for a drink?”

    Jesus knows He has an in.  He knows He has shocked this woman and piqued her curiosity.  He delivers a very important statement, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

    If you knew the gift of God...what is the gift of God?  Well, it’s grace.  It’s Jesus.  It’s God’s reconciliation of the world through Jesus.  But the woman doesn’t know that just yet.  She’s still having to work through things.  Jesus still has to get her to the point where she will get this and understand it.

    “Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well?” the woman asks.  Clearly, she doesn’t get it yet.  She’s still got her mind set on earthly things.

    Jesus continues, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

    This really gets the woman’s attention.  “Give me this water!” she says.  But she still doesn’t get it.  She thinks this is all about physical thirst, but Jesus is going deeper.

    “Go call your husband,” Jesus replies.

    “I have no husband,” the woman retorts.

    But Jesus doesn’t let this pass.  He is now getting to the heart of the matter.  “You are correct in saying that you have no husband,” Jesus says, “for you have had five husbands and the man you are with now is not your husband.”

    The woman is taken aback by this, “Sir, I know you are a prophet.”

    Let’s stop here a moment because Jesus is really confronting this woman’s attempt to get fulfillment.  Some want to argue that this woman is doing nothing wrong, but living with a man who she is not married to immediately makes her a social outcast.  She would have been shunned by the fact that she had five husbands and was now shacking up.  There is a reason she is coming to the well at noon instead of early in the day like everyone else would have done.  She doesn’t want to deal with the cross ways looks that everyone else gives her.  She doesn’t want to see them snickering at her.  She comes to the well when no one else is around to avoid all that.  Fortunately, she runs into Jesus.

    The woman had spent her life seeking fulfillment through her relationships with men.  This is where she thought she would find fulfillment and satisfaction, but all it led her to was relationship failure after relationship failure.  It led her to shack up with another man before marriage.  It led her to become an outcast and distrustful of everyone else in her village.  Jesus confronts her on this in a loving, compassionate way.  This woman was worshiping the wrong things.  And Jesus diligently leads her to true worship.

     “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ 26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

    If you knew the gift of God and who is speaking to you.  The woman now knows the gift of God.  She now knows who is speaking to her.  And her life becomes transformed.  Her life is changed to the point where once she was outcast and afraid of others.  She once hid from others and avoided them.  But, after encountering Jesus and His grace, she runs to tell them.  She exposes herself, warts and all, to those around her and invites them to be transformed by the gospel as well.  Her fulfillment is so complete after meeting Jesus and knowing the gift of God that she no longer allows the emptiness and shame in her life to dominate.  She is at peace with herself.  She can look at those who once scorned her and be in relationship to them.

    Such was the transformation when she came to know the gift of God.  It transformed her.  If you knew the gift of God, it would transform you as well.  Amen.

An Offering Nightmare

I have a new found respect for offering envelopes.

Strange way to start a blog, perhaps, but let me explain.

Last week, I attended a theological conference.  I usually don't get too much out of these things--at least from the presenters.  I enjoy worship.  I enjoy the camaraderie with my close clergy friends and playing 42 into the evening and night.  No matter what, I generally find something to complain about, but that is the nature of the beast at these events.

Nothing, as of yet, has sent me over the edge, but this past week offered something that almost did--it came really, really close.

Opening worship was pretty cool.  I hadn't been a part of a jazz service, and the music at this worship was phenomenal.  The brass jazz band was led by a woman who could belt out the liturgy like no one's business.  The tunes were catchy and easily sung.  The sermon at least kept my attention even if the Gospel was rather hidden.

And then, it came time for the offering.  Good cause.  Water wells.  Provide clean water for folks throughout the world.  Goal of $7,500--one well per synod.

Then the rub.  There was no announcement about how we were to give our offerings.  Normally, they pass a plate.  Not this time.  No instructions given, but finally, a few people started heading toward the front of the worship space.

"Oh," I thought, "we are supposed to bring our offering forward."

I got up along with those at my table.  I headed toward the front.  There, I was confronted with an interesting sight: three buckets each marked with one of the three synods participating in this conference.

WTH?  Are we having a "friendly competition" with our offering to see which synod gives the most?

Apparently so (later, they announced the giving by synod).

I paused for a good 15 seconds taking in this scene.  I really was having difficulty processing this.  Offering?  A competition?  By synod?  To see which synod "gave" the most?  I found the whole scenario quite lacking.  No.  Not strong enough.  I found the whole thing to be completely wrong.

How could I protest such a thing?  I didn't want to cause any sort of scene.

I placed my offering in another synod's bucket.  It was the only thing I could think of at the time.

Now, most of you who read this blog regularly have seen a very important shift.  You've seen me "go far down the grace road" so to speak.  You've seen me begin focusing quite a bit on what God has done and the importance of Christ crucified in reconciling us unto God.  I believe focusing on this action leads us to a position of humility--not humility in the sense of "Oh, I am a terrible, horrible person," but a humility of "I mess up constantly and really, truly am no better off than any other person.  I need Jesus just as much as anyone else needs Jesus.  We're all on the same level of sin and need of grace."

No.  There is no but attached to those comments.  There is no, "this is such a blatant affront to my understanding of Christianity that I will now leave this denomination/synod/or whatever."  That's not grace.  Not at all.

I just want to put down why this bothered me so much and why I hope I never have to experience such a thing again.

First, the Law.  I kept having Matthew 6 run through my head as I witnessed this ordeal.

‘Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

What is secret about parading up to the front of a worship space and dropping an offering in a bucket?  Not much in my book.  Not much.

I also had flashes of this story:

41 He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

Giving apparently isn't about the amount, you know. 

I also thought, "I believe that as we gather in worship, we are the body of Christ.  We don't make distinctions in the body when it comes to the work we do.  The focus is to glorify God, not ourselves.  The focus should be on helping others with these gifts, not on who 'wins.'--not on which synod gives more or has the most generous pastors."

Now, the Gospel.  As deeply as I disliked this display, I know that God's work is still being done with the money collected.  As deeply as I resented this method of giving in worship, I still know God loves those who set it up just like He loves me.  I believe and trust this completely.

I personally would not set such a thing up--IN WORSHIP.  That's an important clarify-er.  I'm all for friendly competition in other arenas.  It does spice things up.

For me, worship is another matter completely.  Perhaps it shouldn't be, but it is.

And it is why I'll defend the use of offering envelopes now.

I get it.

Connect the Dots: Football and Church

(This post was inspired by a friend's post on Facebook.  The original post follows the story.)

Tom was worried about his friend Jim.  The two of them had been great supporters of the high school varsity football team.  For years, they attended games and cheered their team, but it was four weeks into the season, and Jim hadn't been to a game yet.  This was disturbing.  Tom decided to pay his friend a visit.

Tom: Jim, ol' buddy.  How you doing?

Jim: I'm fine, Tom.  Just fine.

Tom: Are you sure.  I haven't seen you at any of the games on Friday evenings.  Is something wrong?

Jim: Tom, I'm through with football games.  I just am not going to go anymore.

Tom: Can I ask why?  I mean, you used to go to every game.  You used to sit in the same spot and cheer long and loud.  Everyone counted on you being there.

Jim: I've got more than a few reasons, ol' buddy.  And it starts with the fans.  I love the team, but I can't stand the fans.  They've become rude and obnoxious.  If the referee makes a correct call against our team, they boo and hiss.  But if they see a ref overlook a call on the other team, they go ballistic!  They think the rules don't apply to them.  They are a bunch of hypocrites.  Not only are they hypocrites, the last time I went to a game, they weren't exactly nice to me.  Instead of saying, "Excuse me." when they walked past me, they simply trampled over my stuff.  A man told me to quit cheering when he was talking on his cell phone.  Excuse me!  We're at a football game for heaven's sake!  Put down your dadgum cell phone and support your team!

Tom:  Slow down there a minute, Jim.  People are people, you know?

Jim: Don't give me that, Tom.  People should know better.  They should have better manners than that.  They are representing the school when they do that.  I don't want to be associated with a bunch of uncouth, rude, and obnoxious hypocrites.  Neither do I want to be associated with any sort of fair-weather fans.  This bunch now a days--they have no loyalty or commitment.  Why, at one game I attended, more than half the fans got up and left when we were behind by three touchdowns.  What happened to sticking with your team win or lose?  And if the weather is too hot or too cold?  Gimme a break.  Only the parents come to see their kids, but don't inconvenience anyone with the weather, by God.  They'd rather sit at home instead of toughing things out.

Tom: I know, Jim.  I know.  Not everyone is that committed, but you aren't there for the fans.  You are there to support the team.  The team is most important.  You can't just support them from home.

Jim: Support.  Yeah, that's another thing.  I'm tired of getting nickled and dimed every time I go to the game.  I spend money on tickets.  I spend money on concessions.  Then they are always trying to get me to buy other stuff and paraphernalia--t shirts, jackets, stadium seats, coolers, koozies, you name it, they got it for sale.  Money, money, money.  All they want is my money.  You say support, but all I've started seeing is dollar signs.  It ain't right.

Tom: It's not like you can't afford it. 

Jim: That's beside the point.  I'm tired of them trying to get it out of me.  And it isn't just the football.  The band wants money.  The PTO wants money.  The booster club wants money.  Hell, they even let student groups in to do fundraisers.  The proverb is that a fool and his money are soon parted, but I won't be played for a fool.  I can use that money to support other causes.

Tom: But all that money does good.  It helps teach these kids character and responsibility and dedication to a cause greater than themselves.

Jim: Irrelevant.  What do I get out of it?  Not a darn thing.  Last year, the band started playing that new hip hop garbage that you hear on the radio.  No more good music.  Can't stand that stuff.  They changed the words to the alma matter, and that ticked me off.

Tom: They just made the language more inclusive for all students.

Jim: They gave in to that political correctness B.S.  That's all they did.  There was nothing wrong with things.  People understood what those words meant.  They were just getting rid of tradition.  Throw out all the old stuff for this new fangaled garbage.  I won't stand for it anymore.

Tom: But the coach is trying to uphold many of the traditions of the program. 

Jim: I liked the old coach better.

Tom: Yes, the old coach was good, but it was time for him to move on.  He did a great job, but this coach is taking the team to a new level.

Jim: By doing what?  He doesn't even teach the basic fundamentals anymore.  He's bringing in all that fancy garbage and stuff.  He isn't strict and demand discipline.  You can tell it in how the kids play.  He needs to be tougher and lay down the law.  We don't need any wusses up there. 

Tom: Why can't you give him a chance and see what happens?

Jim: There's a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things.  He's wrong, and that's that.

Tom: But this is your team.  You really need to come and support your team.  How can you support your team by simply sitting at home?

Jim: Well, I can still show my support.  I can go hunting and fishing and think about my team.  I can read about them in the paper and what they did.  I can watch other teams on t.v. and learn more about how the game is played and think about my own team.  It's not hard to support them that way.

Tom: That makes no sense, none at all.

None at all.

12 Reasons Why a Pastor Quit Attending Sports Events

1. The coach never came to visit me.
2. Every time I went, they asked me for money.
3. The people sitting in my row didn’t seem very friendly.
4. The seats were very hard.
5. The referees made a decision I didn’t agree with.
6. I was sitting with hypocrites—they only came to see what others were wearing!
7. Some games went into overtime and I was late getting home.
8. The band played some songs I had never heard before.
9. The games are scheduled on my only day to sleep in and run errands.
10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches, anyway.
12. I don’t want to take my children because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.