Death OR Resurrection?

The cross of Jesus. Is it more death or more Resurrection? The Passion of Christ, the essence of why God took on flesh is bound up in this and it seems only right to try to understand it a little better for in the understanding is a more transformed, more holy life. And since a holy life reflects the life of Christ and what we know of His life and ministry take place on the way, more or less, to the cross it is only right for us to survey that timeless event.

Paul says in Philippians 2:8; “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The condescension of the creator to take on the trappings of His creation is an act of humility. The life of Jesus as one man in the flesh is an act of humility for a God Who is everywhere. Having no place to lay His head for a God who owns the universe is an act of humility. Stipping off his robes and becoming the basest of all servants to wash the feet of His lowly students is an act of humility. Submission of a Just God to unjust authorities is an act of humility. Death and that at the brutal hand men, the very crown of His own creation is humility. Burial in a borrowed tomb is an act of humility. It seems that the biography of Jesus Christ can be summarized in one word: Humble.

Survey the Cross

And why? For love of the unyielding, proud?’ The ‘I’ that makes no room, gives no grace for the other, for ‘you?’ It makes no sense. If God, the only One who truly is justified, who truly is righteous, who truly is glorious and worthy to be King humbled Himself how much more should we sinners sit in wonder at the foot of the cross and dare to be offended and miserable and the circumstances that surround us? We must take our daily struggles as from His hand as opportunities to walk the way of humility. Humility is God’s highway to holiness, to love and true greatness. And when that highway reaches its end we will be, as St. John of the Cross said, “judged by Love.” This is the resurrection.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Contemplate the things of the Lord together

To walk the road of faith we must in some sense walk it alone. We must all come to the cross alone. We must all confront our sin for what it is alone with Jesus. But there is a caveat; to walk the way of holiness seems like we travel the road faster if we walk with other people of faith. What I mean is, if we walk in communion with other like-minded believers we learn the lessons of faith quicker, easier. Proverbs 27: 17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” It is a verse that has been overused to the point of becoming a truism. But I think John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress helps to clarify that it does not simply mean talking with each other but encouraging each other to excel in a whole life that is consistent with the character of God. The following is an excerpt of that book where the metaphorical character “Faithful” is ending his conversation with “Talkative” after confronting and encouraging him to not just talk about truths but to live them. After “Talkative” takes offense and leaves, “Faithful” then has a piercing and profound discussion with his good friend “Christian.”

“Talkative: Since you are so ready to take up reports, and to judge so rashly as you do, I cannot but conclude you are some peevish or melancholy man, not fit to be discoursed with; and so adieu.

Then up came Christian, and said to his brother, I told you how it would happen; your words and his lusts could not agree. He had rather leave your company than reform his life. But he is gone, as I said: let him go; the loss is no man’s but his own. He has saved us the trouble of going from him; for he continuing (as I suppose he will do) as he is, would have been but a blot in our company: besides, the apostle says, “From such withdraw thyself.”

Faithful: But I am glad we had this little discourse with him; it may happen that he will think of it again: however, I have dealt plainly with him, and so am clear of his blood if he perisheth.

Christian: You did well to talk so plainly to him as you did. There is but little of this faithful dealing with men now-a-days, and that makes religion to stink so in the nostrils of many as it doth; for they are these talkative fools, whose religion is only in word, and who are debauched and vain in their conversation, that (being so much admitted into the fellowship of the godly) do puzzle the world, blemish Christianity, and grieve the sincere. I wish that all men would deal with such as you have done; then should they either be made more conformable to religion, or the company of saints would be too hot for them. Then did Faithful say,

“How Talkative at first lifts up his plumes! How bravely doth he speak! How he presumes To drive down all before him! But so soon As Faithful talks of heart-work, like the moon That’s past the full, into the wane he goes; And so will all but he that heart-work know.”

Thus they went on, talking of what they had seen by the way, and so made that way easy, which would otherwise no doubt have been tedious to them, for now they went through a wilderness.”

It seems that a healthy home church will facilitate this type of faith. It seems that brothers and sisters in the Lord will not allow each other to ‘just talk’ about living the Christian life but help each other to walk the road of faith together. Paul said in Hebrews 10:25, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” The encouragement has only to do with living faithfully, more consistently with the way of the cross and in the power of the resurrection. But there is baggage we all have relative to our negative experiences with religious Christians that like to talk rather than live. And so we are afraid to truly encourage one another or we are loath to assemble together. We should push through our discomfort and not just assemble but in all our assembling truly encourage.

And what does ‘assembling’ actually mean? It means intentionally meeting with other believers as often as is reasonably possible in groups at home, with other families, one on one, on the phone, etc, etc. Iron gets dull with use. And iron can’t sharpen itself.

What Are We Supposed To Sacrifice?

Now that Jesus has paid the ultimate price for you and me and God no longer requires a sacrifice for our sin why does God still require a sacrifice from us?  Hebrews 13: 13-14 says, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His [Jesus'] reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come [Zion the heavenly kingdom].” 

The Cross on the Mountain by Caspar David Friedrich

Because to be citizens of heaven dual citizenship is forbidden. One cannot be committed to the this world and all its cares and wisdom while at the same time be committed to the values of heaven. We either trust in Jesus and live the work of faith or we live for ourselves in the style of this world. To be a member of the great and holy Church means we will in many respects look and act differently than this world. So much so in fact that it will feel as if we are outcasts living ‘outside the camp, bearing His reproach [the sacrifice of the cross]. We all must take up our cross and that cross is uncalculated obedience to God, sacrificing what he requires of us. But now that Jesus has sacrificed for us what is our sacrifice? 

  Hebrews 13: 15-16 says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” 

There are two types of sacrifice and both stem from the same root, thankfulness to God for what He has done for us through Jesus on the cross. The first is sacrifice of praise to God. The fruit of one’s lips, what one says comes from the heart. Praise does not simply mean singing the three songs at Church on Sunday morning. It is the sum total of what comes out of our mouths. Is it worthy of who God is? Is it praiseworthy of what He has made us? 

The second is ‘doing good and sharing.’ What we have received from God we freely give to those around us. If we give only criticism we have not received the grace of God. If we give only judgement we have not received forgiveness. If we give only the gospel message to the hungry then we have not received the riches of Jesus who sits at the right hand of power.

Beware of the ‘Me Monster’

We all have a ‘Me Monster’ inside of us. And one of the true  marks of mature manhood and womanhood in the Lord is not having to talk about oneself all the time. I mean engaging other people, asking about them, serving them, listening to them, deferring to them, shows that we are learning to walk the way of the cross and not be the center of attention. An interesting excercise to practice this discipline is to try not to talk about yourself at all the next time you are in a social setting be it in an email, on the phone, out to lunch, wherever. Be aware of yourself and watch how many times the ‘Me Monster’ wants to rear his ugly head.

Reaching Our Neighbor . . .

Reaching our neighbor with the message ‘the kingdom of God has come’ is more than a gospel formula. God’s kingdom implies a particular set of expectations and order. God’s kingdom has a King and that King has children who are expected to look and act like their father. So what does it look like when a person of faith interacts with his neighbors? Is the gospel message verbally explained? I would say so. But when does that conversation occur and is there more?  

A believer must submit his life to a particular person not a particular set of rules. Submission to Jesus the King, no matter how counter-intuitive or counter-cultural it may appear means we may look strange to both conventional believers who follow rules to make themselves feel good about their standing in an institution. Furthermore, it may cause us at the same time to engage the world where they live while at the same time looking strange to them too. It means that we must think differently about who we are as believers and our role as the Church in this world. To reach the world with the great message “repent for kingdom of God has come’ it is imperative that we reflect it in every fiber of our being.  

The Church must decentralize and get to work in the smelly, demon possessed trenches of this world and bring God’s light, God’s order.  It means we stop asking for permission, stop being nice, and start being good. It means we start acting like fathers to men, mothers to women, servants to all. It means we stop being a consumer of children’s programs and ‘great preaching’ and ‘good music.’ It means we stop taking and start giving. We must start being consumed with the willful fire of devotion to God and sacrifice for our fellow man. It is then God will appear in all His magnificent glory. It will be at that point people are healed emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally. It will be at that point the world pushes back so mightily as to beat a believer into submission. It seems that the vast majority of believers in America are already passively submitted to the agenda of this world. Can the world make a distinction between the believer and the non-believer in the workplace, at home, at the grocery store? It has been said that the Church experiences divorce and other social problems at the same rate as the rest of the world. The world and Satan does not want you or I being who we were born to be.  The world and Satan is afraid of it. But the Kingdom has come. The question is, “What will you and I choose to do about it?”

Boasting in the Cross of Jesus Christ

Paul says in his letter to the Church in Galatia, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

If I have the privilege of living to a ripe old age and all those years in God’s grace I would be honored to arrive at even a partial understanding of the depth of Paul’s words. How does one boast in the cross? 

Perhaps it means that the world and all it stands for, all it contains apart from God is of no concern to me when making decisions, when considering how to practically live out my life from day-to-day in His will while at the same time having so much concern for those around me that I am as committed to their success as I am to my own.

Perhaps it is the realization that all I am, all my natural talents, abilities, skills, money, intellect, wisdom, relationships, personality, is the perfect representation of bankruptcy of soul, that I can add nothing to God while at the same time valuing the people around me as the very treasure of God in my life.

Perhaps it is the understanding that all criticism of my life, all accusations are on the deepest level of my being true and that I am without excuse or defense while at the same time taking no offense from the actions of those around me having no reputation or ego to damage.

Perhaps it is resting in the grace given to my by the Cross of Jesus Christ and that now if I live to Him I am beyond any man’s judgement while at the same time recognizing and helping to bear the burdens of those around me with gentleness and truth. 

Perhaps all that is worth knowing is that Jesus bore the burden of all our sin on the cross and to bear the burden of another in this dark and demon possessed world is when heaven touches hell and the kingdom of God comes to earth.

Perhaps . . . .

Return to Fatherhood: The Only Solution for Abortion?

America’s fixation on consumerism and general lack of conscience is seen in the fact that it is replete with sexual dysfunction. One bad decision leading to another. Take abortion for example. Over one million abortions occur annually in the U.S. as just one side-effect to the misuse of sex. The Planned Parenthood Federation website states that 1 out of 3 women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches age 45.  Sexual activity outside of a marriage relationship is a symptom of a larger problem. Furthermore it seems right that the solution to the symptom of dysfunctional sexuality must be commensurate with the cause of that problem.

So our first question needs to be, ‘What is the root cause of America’s sexual dysfunction?’ If the cause is ignorance then the answer is simply education. If the cause is at a deeper level then the answer may involve education but to what extent and what kind (i.e. didactic curriculum, mentoring, etc)? I suggest we start with a conversation.

It may be important here for we the church to define our assumptions.  For example perhaps we should address the basic unit of society as described in the Bible. Is it a person, an individual as the American culture would have use believe? It seems that if not clarified Christians might easily assume that the basic unit of society is the individual since that is the line we are given from the action movies we watch (Rambo, Bourne, Bond, etc) to the way we do elections since before the women’s suffrage movement began. Before that government was representative and the basic unit of representation was the head of a household. I think it fairly clear in whole canon of scripture that the basic unit to a healthy society is a family founded on the union of a man and a woman as noted in the Genesis creation account.

Society is comprised of individuals in relationship but the foundational relationship to which all individuals emanate is the family. To disenfranchise an individual from the family is to expose that individual to pressures that they are not equipped to bear alone. Furthermore, to modify or exchange family roles or responsibilities husband to wife, father to mother, and vice versa can be just as problematic.

It seems to me that the root cause of America’s sexual dysfunction resulting in things like unplanned pregnancy and abortion, as well as a host of other issues, is the loss of Biblical gender identity and the associated and unique responsibility commensurate with each distinctive as one relates to the other. To speak generally about safe sex or responsible sex outside the context of gender role and family is not helpful since it does not get at the real issue. Questions like, “What is Biblical manhood and how should that impact my relationship with a woman or women in general?”

Bottom line, we need to think about reseating the Church’s position on human sexuality in terms of the biblical building block of society (the man and woman marriage relationship—family as opposed to the individual). This means that we must clearly define the meaning of biblical manhood and womanhood. This may be harder to get at in terms of building consensus among other believers because 1) the Church caters to the individuals that make up niche segments of society such as youth, singles, married, seniors, divorced, gay, etc apart from the family dynamic, 2) the Church’s position on gender has either been neutered or worse yet feminized and 3) most American evangelicals hold to an unorthodox theology of egalitarianism, a belief that there is no fundamental difference in function between men and women.

The reality is men are the primary cause for women opting out of having babies. Abortion would virtually dissolve if the fathers of the babies supported the mother. Somehow a large portion of young men in American culture do not feel compelled to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions vis-à-vis the women with whom they have sex and the resulting baby. There is not a sane woman alive who actually wants to have an abortion. But they feel trapped, alone, like they need to have one. It appears from my experience running medical organizations serving women facing unplanned pregnancies that the death of a generation (e.g. abortion) is the result of the death of fatherhood.

Furthermore, the question of unplanned pregnancy itself would diminish radically if men understood the importance of self-discipline, of using their procreative strength within the context of covenant faithfulness and all that the Biblical concept of covenant implies. Marriage is the closest thing we have on earth to understanding God’s commitment to us. He is faithful to us because of who He is (a Faithful Father) and what He chose to do (commit to a people). Men are in the unique, enviable position of being able to emulate God by choosing, yes voluntarily, to commit to a person or group of people as a father and leverage his strength and influence to persevere in that role even under drastic circumstances. It is not dependent on what we do as believers that makes God stay committed to us but rather whose we are–in relationship to Him by His choice, not ours. As Paul said in Romans 3:4, “Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar . . . .” Good, moral life choices result in positive consequences and bad moral life choices result in negative consequences. But either way it reinforces, even reveals God’s covenant faithfulness with His people.

The church and its members in America must reevaluate and square their understanding of masculinity, family, and fatherhood with the Bible if it is to thrive. It can do this by:

-Noting that family and not the individual is the basic building block to society

-Understanding and affirming Biblical manhood and womanhood

-Understanding the meaning and nature of interpersonal faithfulness based upon the Biblical concept of covenant

-The articulation of the role of a husband and wife within that unique and unbreakable union.

It is only after the Church recommits to a Biblical approach to understanding and living family that we will begin to see real progress on the dissolving of the symptoms of our day like abortion.

To learn more about healthy and biblical family roles and how you and your family square with that check out the following:  Family Maturity Path Self-evaluation

Act Like Men

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” What exactly does he mean there when he says, ‘act like men?’ It is couched with a few other very compelling and powerful masculine sentiments such as being alert, standing firm in the faith, being strong. When I think of manhood I think of Jesus and His myopic focus on God the Father. He cared only for His Father’s approval though the world, specifically the religious leaders, brand Him a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners . . . a blasphemor and hang Him on a cross. Did you know He cast out money changes in the temple twice? How about when He publicly humiliated the Pharisees in Matthew 22:13, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” What about when He fed the 5000 or was patient with His precocious and hard-headed disciples. What about when He took responsibility for the sins of those that were not His own, redeeming our lives. Sounds like the work of a powerful, influential, loving father to me. Sounds like a man.

Frankly I’m sick and tired of getting along and pretending that everything is just fine when it isn’t. The world is decomposing and the stink of it has filled the Church. For this world to change for the better we need Jesus-men. We need noble men who care nothing for their own comfort and everything for the health and well being of their house-holds. By the way, health and well-being does not necessarily equate to a T.V. in every room and nice college fund. We need men who can speak their mind and listen with pleasure while others speak theirs. We need men who are not afraid to stand firm together and take back their rightful positions as fathers, husbands, community leaders. We need real pastors who stop bending their neck to some sally-boy who should be wearing a skirt after being directed by his wife to tell him that the music was too loud in Church last Sunday. We need Churches to grow a backbone and stand up for what is right and what is wrong. They are real things, right and wrong. That takes real balls in a world that hates virtue, in a world that would do anything to keep good men down. If using the word ‘balls’ is offensive I apologize. But if you are not willing to be the man God has called you to be and spend your strength well I would like to quote the Apostle Paul in Galations 5:12, “I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate (castrate) themselves.” “Cowboy up, men, or be done with manhood,” is essentially what Paul is saying. Stop using your strength for penny ante garbage and start using it where it counts, in reconciling the world to God by actually living the kingdom of God on earth.

What does it mean to the live the kingdom of God? Does it mean be nice and talk pretty? No. It means be good, do good. And often that is uncomfortable. It means living a life characterized by Uncalculated Devotion to God (UDG) and being Freely Sacrificial to Others (FSO).

Not only do women need men to be strong despite what they may say but our children’s future depends on it.