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Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Gospels
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, May 13, 2007
Prayer
“Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:17
Click here to read all of Matthew 9:14-26
Prayer
O Lord, I confess that I am a lover of old wineskins. I prefer the familiar, the comfortable, the safe. Yes, I want the new wine of Your kingdom in my life. Yet the thought of leaving behind my old wineskins is scary. So I want new wine in old skins. I admit it.
Help me, dear Lord, to discern the presence of Your new wine in my life. And help me to know how best to contain this new wine, so that I might use it well in the work of Your kingdom. Take away my fear of the new wineskins. Help me to trust You more, so that I might live more boldly and freely for You, a willing vessel of Your new wine, a person of new wine and new skins.
Postscript
In Jesus’s days, wine was often stored in carefully prepared skins of animals. As grape juice fermented and became wine, it expanded. The new skins had the ability to stretch, thus containing the wine and storing it for us. Old skins would split because they had lost the ability to expand. (The picture to the right is a modern wineskin. The old ones didn’t have plastic valves, I’m afraid.)
Pray the Gospels
Pray the Gospels is one of my devotional websites. The other is Pray the Psalms.
Topics: Sunday Inspiration | No Comments »
Week in Review: May 6-11, 2007
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, May 12, 2007
My Recent Blogging
Sunday, May 6: Inspiration from Pray the Gospels
Monday, May 7: Suffering and Christian Fellowship
Tuesday, May 8: God is With Us Even When We Suffering Because of Our Sin
Wednesday, May 9: People of Hope in a Hurting World
Thursday, May 10: Living in Hopful Tension
Friday, May 11: The Content of Our Hope
Links to Other Sites
Herod the Great’s Tomb Discovered? Ben Witherington weighs in on this curious new discovery. “It must be the year for tombs,” he says.
Allelon. I’ve just become aware of a new website for Christian leaders committed to the misional church. Well worth checking out. (All-LAY-lone is the Greek word for “one another” or “each other.”)
Looking for a Nice, Little House in Orange County?
I recently visited some friends who have a wonderful home in Orange County quite near the beach. But you should see what’s across the street! It’s the so-called Portabello Estate (which even has its own website!) The good news? This home is on the market, with its 22,000 square feet of residence, 8 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, garage area for 16 cars, etc. etc. etc. The view isn’t half bad, either.
The bad news? The owner is asking a mere $75,000,000 for the home, making it one of the most expensive homes in America. But, if you’re lucky, you may be able to bid him down, because the market for $75,000,000 homes isn’t terribly hot right now.
Why is the estate called “Portabello”? Rumor has it that the current owner gave it this name because it looked rather like a portobello mushroom.
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The Content of Our Hope
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, May 11, 2007
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In yesterday’s post I wrote about how Christians live in the tension between the “already and not yet.” Though God’s kingdom has already begun to be present on earth, it is not yet here in all fullness. Though sin has already been defeated through Christ’s death on the cross, we have not yet experienced life without sin. And so forth and so on in our “already and not yet” reality. Because of what we already experience as believers, we have hope for the future. We have confidence that the “not yet” will someday come.
One common mistake with regard to hope, one made by Christians and non-Christians alike, is to place our hope in the wrong thing. This inevitably leads to disappointment. Thus we must pay close attention to the proper content of hope.
We get help in this regard from the first letter of Peter in the New Testament. Notice how Peter begins his letter to suffering Christians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, unstained, and undefiled, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by the power of God through faith, for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this fact you are rejoicing, even if for a little while you have had to suffer various kinds of trials, so that the genuineness of your faith (being more precious than gold, which, though perishable, is shown to be genuine by fire) may be found to result in your praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him, and though you still don’t see him, believing in him you are rejoicing with unspeakable and glorious joy, as you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet 1:3-9, MDR).
Though the recipients of Peter’s letter are suffering “various kinds of trials,” they nevertheless embrace a “living hope” because of the resurrection of Jesus. Here the resurrection serves, not only to exonerate the ministry of Jesus and confirm His status as God’s chosen Messiah, but also to show us what lies ahead for us. Our hope is a resurrection hope, in that it is both based on the resurrection of Jesus and looking forward to our own resurrectiopn. In time we will also be raised and will receive an “imperishable, unstained, and undefiled” inheritance. Additionally, we will receive “praise and glory and honor” when Christ is revealed. In the meanwhile, we hold fast to our hope with “unspeakable and glorious joy.”
Notice carefully the content of Christian hope. We place our hope in God, in his ultimate victory through Christ, and in our future inheritance. Hope that depends on what God has already done in Christ and focuses on what God will certainly do through Christ is a “living hope,” a hope that will not disappoint us (Rom 5:5). Christian hope is not, however, a Pollyanna-like naïveté about life, a simplistic affirmation that everything will turn out just the way we want it to. Surely, everything will turn out right in the end, if by “the end” we mean the end of human history when Christ returns and God’s kingdom is fully manifested. But along the way, many things won’t turn out the way we’d like them to.
I still remember a line from a sermon preached by Bruce Larson when I was in junior high. He was critiquing the simplistic view that Christians will always be delivered from suffering. “The early Christians were delivered from the lions,” he said, “they were delivered as lion dung!” You can see why this so impressed a junior high boy that I remember it to this day. Larson was right. Thousands of faithful Christians were put to death by Roman gladiators or consumed by Roman lions. They were delivered, not from suffering and death, but through suffering and death into eternal life.
Yet our hope of a future with God isn’t something we put on our spiritual shelf to admire from a distance. Rather, it gives us motivation to live each day for God and His kingdoms. And it helps us to face life’s challenges and pains with distinctive hope. In my next post I’ll provide some specific examples of how hope makes a difference for people in the midst of suffering.
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Living in Hopeful Tension
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, May 10, 2007
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Yesterday I explained that Christians acknowledge the suffering and pain of this world, but live, nevertheless, with hope. Our hope is oriented to the future, when God will fully reveal His kingdom in the transformation of heaven and earth. This means that we live with a certain tension between what is now and what will be in the future.
Theologians have called this tension the “the already and the not yet.” Christ has already died on the cross and rose from the grace, thus banishing sin and defeating death. We have already begun to experience the new creation. The Holy Spirit already lives within us, giving us new life and sharing God’s power with us. But . . . God isn’t finished with us or with creation. The battle between God and Satan still rages, even though the final outcome is secure. We still struggle with sinful and mortal flesh. The powers of this fallen world continue to oppose God and those who align themselves with His kingdom. Suffering is an inevitable component of our “in-between” status, as we live for God in a world that opposes Him. Some suffering comes from the brokenness of creation, from disease and natural disasters. Some suffering comes from the brokenness in human relationships. Some suffering comes from a world that hates us because of our allegiance to Christ (Matt 24:9; John 15:18-21; 17:14).
It’s hard to live in tension. Some Christians try to resolve the tension by over-simplifying the Christian life. You might hear some believers focus entirely upon new life in Christ, even claiming that people with adequate faith should never suffer. Others over-emphasize our suffering with Christ, virtually denying the experience of new creation in the Spirit. But if our life is to be primarily shaped by scriptural truth and not our own lopsided experience, then we must continue to live in the awkward tension of the “already and not yet.”
Our life in Christ is like that of a woman who is nine months pregnant. I marveled at my wife’s fortitude during her last month of pregnancies. She was extremely uncomfortable, carrying what looked like a giant pumpkin in her belly. Sleep came with great difficulty, since no position would take away her discomfort. Yet, as Linda suffered with physical struggles that would have turned me into a self-pitying pouter, she abounded with hope. She counted the days until she would hold her baby, and faced her physical discomforts with particular joy. What kept her going? The sense that she was in some way already a mother, even as she was not yet the mother she would become when she could finally hold her child. She lived in the “already and not yet,” sustained by hope. (Picture: Not my wife, but a photo I purchased from iStockphoto.com.)
That’s exactly how we should live as Christians, with joyful hope in the midst of genuine suffering, not denying the pain, nor succumbing to despair. The tension we feel in this world as Christians will not be resolved this side of the new creation.
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People of Hope in a Hurting World
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, May 9, 2007
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Genuine, lasting hope is in short supply these days. Oh, you might hear some hopeful words from political candidates. And every now and then somebody suggests that things might be getting better. But mostly we are inundated with bad news and the despair it engenders, whether we’re talking about world events or local challenges. A hopeful word usually gets drowned in a sea of naysaying if not cynicism. It’s much more cool to be cynical than to be hopeful.
Christians, however, are to be people of hope. Our hope does not involve denying the genuine pains and frustrations of this life. But it is hope in the midst of them. Our hope begins by seeing the genuine good news in the midst of the bad news.
The eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans begins with lots of good news:
• There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ (Rom 8:1).
• God destroyed sin’s control over us (Rom 8:3).
• If we belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in us (Rom 8:9-11).
• We are God’s children who can call God “dear Father” (Rom 8:14-16).
• We will share in the treasure and glory of Christ (Rom 8:17).
But then, on the foundation of such encouraging news, Paul adds something that hits us like a punch in the solar plexus:
And since we are [God’s] children, we will share his treasures — for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering (Rom 8:17).
Whoa! What is this? As believers in Jesus we look forward to sharing in his own glory. Now that’s hope! But also we share in His suffering right now. This may seem like more than we bargained for when we became Christians, both positively and negatively. The idea that someday we will be glorified along with Christ exceeds our expectations for heaven. But the notion that we must suffer in the meanwhile pours a bucket of icy water on our warm passion for following Jesus.
Why, if we are part of God’s new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), must we still suffer? The answer is that, though we begin to share in the new creation at the moment we believe in Jesus, we are still caught in the old, fallen creation for a while. As Paul explains in Romans 8, God’s perfect world has been subjected to a curse because of human sin. Death and decay replace life and health as the chief characteristics of creation, a creation that “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom 8:20-22). So, even though the Spirit of God lives within us, giving us a foretaste of glory to come, we also “groan to be released from pain and suffering” (Rom 8:23). In fact, we wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom (Rom 8:23-24). (Picture above: When I think of glory, I remember watching sunset over the Grand Tetons.)
In the midst of our current struggle, we look forward with hope to the completion of what Christ has begun with His death and resurrection. We yearn for the day when “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah!” (Rev 11:15, translation from Handel’s Messiah).
Living with such hope in the midst of a hurting world necessarily creates tension in our lives. Tomorrow I’ll have more to say about that tension.
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God is With Us Even When We Suffer Because of Our Sin
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, May 8, 2007
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In my last post I began to explain how suffering draws us into deeper fellowship with other Christians, and even with God. Astoundingly, this is true even when we suffer as a direct result of our own sin.
All suffering stems ultimately from human sin, but that does not mean every instance of suffering results from the sin of the sufferer. When His disciples ask Jesus whether a man’s blindness is a result of his sin or that of his parents, Jesus rejects both options (John 9:1-3). Many who suffer do so because of the brokenness of the world or the viciousness of human oppressors. But sometimes our suffering comes directly from our sin. The pain of shattered family life, for example, can result from adultery. In cases like these, when our suffering is in some sense deserved, does God stand far off in dispassionate judgment?
In Hosea 11 God recounts the history of Israel, the son whom He loved and delivered from bondage in Egypt. Yet the more God called out to Israel, the more Israel spurned the Lord and turned to idols. As a result, Israel will return to servitude, this time under the Assyrians, whose military might will squash the nation. God rightly judges His people for their sin, their adulterous rejection of Him and His love. Their suffering is deserved. But this doesn’t mean the heart of God has been hardened against his beloved people. After predicting the coming judgment, God laments:
Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah and Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows (Hos 11:8).
When the season of discipline is over, the Lord will bring His people home again (Hos 11:11) because His love and compassion for them have never been quenched.
This is the same Lord who “showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8). Even when our sin made us God’s enemies, our gracious Father sent His own Son to die for us so that we might live forever in fellowship with Him. “So now we can rejoice,” Paul continues, “in our wonderful new relationship with God — all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God” (Rom 5:11). Even as our entry into intimate fellowship with God depends upon God’s grace and not upon ourselves, so it is true of our ongoing fellowship with Him. When we sin, and when our sin leads to suffering, God is still with us, sharing our sorrow while offering forgiveness, healing, and hope.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not in any way minimizing the wrongness of sin. I’m not saying that our sin doesn’t matter to God, or that God doesn’t judge our sin. Without a doubt, our sin grieves the heart of God and stands under His righteous judgment. Scripture tends to use an even scarier word for God’s response to sin: wrath. God’s wrath is more than just His anger toward our sin. It’s also His condemnation of sin. So we who sin deserve the wrath of God.
Yet the God who condemns our sin doesn’t forever reject us or hate us. In fact, the good news is that God came Christ came to deliver us from the results of divine wrath. In Christ we see God’s compassion and mercy, God’s care for us even when we are caught in sin. In this reality we find reassurance and hope. In my next post in this series I show in greater details how we can be people of hope in the midst of a hurting world.
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Suffering and Christian Fellowship
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, May 7, 2007
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In recent posts I’ve talked about how living as saints–people set apart from this world for God and His purposes–can sometimes lead to suffering. Often, however, our suffering comes not as a result of our faith in Christ, but simply because we live in a fallen world. Sickness and starvation, for example, are part and parcel of a sin-infested creation. When we suffer from natural causes, we can’t attribute it to the world’s rejection of our holiness because the material world torments believers and non-believers alike. The same is often true of socially-based suffering as well. But the pain of natural or social suffering does remind us that “this world is not our home,” that we are on a pilgrimage to a world where God will remove all of our sorrows, “and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (Rev 21:4). (Picture to the right: All that was left of Christ Episcopal Church in Bay St. Louis, MS, after Hurricane Katrina)
Suffering, whether it comes from religious persecution, natural causes, or social oppression, can lead us into a deeper experience of Christian fellowship. On the one hand, suffering forges more profound relationships among Christian brothers and sisters. In Paul’s description of the church as the body of Christ, he notes that “if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it” (1 Cor 12:26). He advises the Romans to “weep with those who are weeping” (Rom 12:15). If you’ve ever had the opportunity to share your suffering with those who have genuine sympathy, you know how this kind of sharing gives new depth to relationships. Friendliness is augmented by tenderness. Mutual enjoyment becomes mutual gratitude. Christian fellowship only realizes its full potential when brothers and sisters suffer and weep together.
On the other hand, suffering also can lead us into deeper intimacy with God. Certain kinds of pain help us to feel God’s heart for us in new ways. I remember counseling with a father whose teenage son had walked away from his faith and into the perilous world of drug abuse. As this dad wept for his son, he shared what God was doing in his own spirit through this terrible experience. “I think I’m just beginning to know something about God’s heart for us. I am angry with my son for the wrong he has done. I want him to stop it. But more than anything else, my heart is breaking for him. I would do anything, literally anything, if it would save my son. I would give up my very life for him.” Indeed, this father was getting to know the heart of God, a God who in fact did everything for us through Jesus Christ.
When we hurt, God can seem very distant. Our prayers sometimes echo that of the Psalmist:” O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?” (Ps 10:1). But there is a wide chasm between our sense of God’s apparent remoteness and the truth of his proximity. God does not stand far off, “watching us from as distance,” as the popular song proclaims. On the contrary, our Heavenly Father has drawn near to us in his Son. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, entered fully into our humanity, even into our suffering and pain, in order to help us. The Letter to the Hebrews puts it this way:
It was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted (Heb 2:17-18).
Jesus knows our suffering from personal experience. Even though He is fully God, He is able “to sympathize with our weaknesses, since he has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sinning” (Heb 4:15). When we hurt, Jesus, the Son of God, understands. When we wonder if God has forgotten us, Jesus knows our desperation. Our triune God–the Father who loves us as His children, the Son who shares our humanness and died for us, the Spirit who dwells within us–hurts when we hurt, agonizes with our agony, and never leaves us or abandons us (Deut 31:6-8; Heb 13:5).
Amazingly, this is true even when our suffering comes as a result of our own sin. I’ll have more to say about this in my next post in this series.
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Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Gospels
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, May 6, 2007
Excerpt
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Matthew 7:11
Click here to read all of Matthew 7:7-12
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I do like giving good gifts to my children. I love seeing their delight when they receive them. And I continue to enjoy watching them use their gifts. So I can relate to this verse, Lord, from my own experience.
Thank You for the encouragement to ask in prayer. I do indeed ask You for all sorts of things, of course. But do I ask for my heart’s desire? Do I lay before You my deepest hopes and dreams? Not often, I fear, not often enough. There are too many times when I hold back, almost afraid to tell You what I’d really like to say. So, again, thank You, dear Lord, for the encouragement to ask. I need it.
Thank You also for this picture of a Father in heaven whose goodness so outstrips my own. This gives me the courage and confidence to come with my true needs in all of my awkward neediness. What a privilege it is to come before You, dear Father, as Your beloved child!
Postscript
One of my favorite gifts that I’ve given one of my children was a cradle I made for my daughter. When she was getting ready to turn three, Kara had all sorts of dolls, but no place for them to sleep. So I made a simple pine cradle, laboring at night so she wouldn’t catch me making it.
On her birthday I put a big bow on the cradle and presented it too her. She took one look, and started to tear up. “It’s not wrapped!” she cried. “Wait one minute!” I said, running out of the room. I found some wrapping paper, and quickly covered the cradle.
When I presented it to Kara, she acted as if she had never seen it before. Unwrapping the cradle, she was thrilled. And so was I. (And also relieved and thankful!)
I wonder sometimes if we have a hard time receiving God’s gifts because they don’t come in the form we expect, with the right wrapping paper, if you will.
Today’s inspiration comes from one of my devotional websites, Pray the Gospels. The other is called Pray the Psalms.
Topics: Sunday Inspiration | No Comments »
Week in Review: April 29-May 4, 2007
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, May 5, 2007
My Recent Blogging
Sunday, April 29: Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms
Monday, April 30: Our Loss . . . Heaven’s Gain
Tuesday, May 1: In the World, But Not Of the World
Wednesday, May 2: What Sainthood is Not
Thursday, May 3: The Cost of Being a Misfit
Friday, May 4: A Saintly Struggle
Links to Other Sites
Gladiator’s Graveyard Discovered: Archeologists have identified a graveyard for Roman gladiators. This is the first such graveyard to be discovered, and reveals much about the lives and deaths of the gladiators. It was found in Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey, which I will be visiting in a couple of months. I will not, however, be wearing my gladiator costume. But I will be on the lookout for Russell Crowe. (HT: The always helpful Smart Christian.)
The Internet Radio Network: Can’t get to an AM radio for your daily dose of Hugh Hewitt, Tammy Bruce, or Dennis Prager, then listen online.
“Vacationing Pastor Lets PowerPoint Lead Service”: Too much Christian seriousness got you down? Then visit Lark News. Where else can you find such stories as: “Nursery Catacombs Idea Flops”?
Proud Papa
Okay, you’ll have to permit me a moment of unapologetic boasting. Last week my daughter won third place in the Orange County Science Fair, Behavioral Science Junior Division. This means she gets to go to the California State Fair later this month. Her project looked at whether people learn better by reading with their eyes or hearing with their ears or both.
Guess which student is my daughter. Not hard, is it? If you’re inclined to think of Orange County as a lily-white enclave, this photo tells another story. My daughter’s class at school, in fact her whole school, reflects a similar mix of people.
Topics: Week in Review | 1 Comment »
A Saintly Struggle
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, May 4, 2007
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In my last post I explained how living “saintly” or “set apart” lives can lead to conflict, even suffering. I cited the example of Jim and Donna, whose unwillingness to let their son play soccer on Sunday morning alienated them from the coach and other parents. Today I’d like to consider yet another example, this one from the workplace.
Steve was on the fast track to success in his corporation. An executive with outstanding talent and integrity, he quickly climbed the ladder of success. Before long he was one of the corporate vice presidents, an up-and-comer touted for future greatness. Steve was also a Christian, a man who sought to live out his faith in every segment of his life, including his professional life. For a while Steve’s faith seemed to be an asset to his work since it undergirded his exceptional honesty and integrity.
But then Steve became friends with Ronald. Ronald also worked for the corporation, not as an executive, but as a custodian. Steve didn’t see Ronald as a lackey, however, but as a fellow human being and, as it turned out, a brother in Christ. Casual interactions became deeper as they began to share their lives together. Their friendship was that of equals. So Steve thought nothing of it when he began taking Ronald to lunch in the executive dining room every now and then. All the vice presidents entertained personal friends in the dining room, and no one ever said anything about not allowing certain employees to eat there. But as soon as Steve started hosting Ronald for lunch, he perceived a subtle change in his work environment. Nobody said anything directly, at least not right away. Yet Steve’s peers seemed less interested in his input, and his superiors were less willing to hear his ideas.
Finally Steve confronted the company’s president with a direct question: “Why do I feel like an outsider around here? Have I done something wrong? Is there a problem with my work?”
His boss was honest. “No, there is nothing wrong with your performance of the things on your job description. But there’s a problem with your attitude, with your sense of company values. Frankly, bringing that custodian into the dining room just isn’t acceptable. Your doing so shows very poor judgment.”
Steve responded with equal frankness. “But there is no rule that governs whom we have for lunch. And we talk in this company about the value of all employees. I don’t see what’s wrong with having my friend join me for lunch every once in a while, even if he’s a custodian for this firm.”
“That is the problem,” said the president. “You just don’t see it.”
When Steve tried to explain how his being a Christian led him to treat all people with dignity, he was told that his religious convictions belonged at home, not at work. End of conversation.
Before too long Steve was offered a new job in the company. He would maintain his official position and salary, but would no longer be in the main office. It was safer to move him out to the field, away from Ronald and the executive dining room. Steve declined to move primarily for family reasons. A few months later he was told to take a position at a distant location, with a loss of position and salary. The message was finally clear: Steve was no longer welcome at the company. No matter what his performance had been, he had committed the unforgivable sin of seeing a custodian through the lens of his faith, and not through the prejudice of the corporation. (Picture to the right: No, Steve did not work for Enron. But I wonder how the Enron story might have ended differently if Christians in the corporation had taken more risks to live out their faith at work.)
The details of this story may be unique, but the general themes are experienced again and again when Christians try to be saints of God and successful employees. A woman I know lost her job when she wouldn’t obey her boss’s order to tell “a little white lie” in a business deal. A lawyer who tried to live according to God’s priorities for his life started working less than the 80-hour a week norm for his firm. Soon he was shunned as someone who “just isn’t pulling his weight around here.” As in first century, authentic sainthood can lead to suffering.
In America, we are blessed with an exceptional quality of religious freedom. We will not be incarcerated for worshipping God or publicly proclaiming the Gospel. But if we dare to question openly the values of the cultural elites, we will soon find ourselves the target of sustained verbal persecution. When a prominent leader, for example, publicly suggests that homosexual behavior is sinful, that person is attacked as a “hate-monger” and a “homophobic extremist.” He is even accused of inciting hate crimes against gays and lesbians. When a Christian denomination makes a public commitment to evangelize Jews and Muslims, that denomination is denounced, not only by media pundits, but even by political leaders in the official meetings of state and national legislatures. As Yale law professor Stephen Carter demonstrated so persuasively in his book, The Culture of Disbelief, Christians in America who express their faith in public will be written off by the cultural elite, if not libeled and blacklisted for their religious convictions.
Of course many Christians experience far more painful and extreme forms of suffering than being fired, or shunned, or attacked in public. Throughout history, and in many countries throughout the world today, Christians have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith. As we speak, believers in the Sudan are being sold into slavery because of their faith in Jesus Christ. A fellow Presbyterian pastor who serves in a Vietnamese congregation not too far from my own spent many years imprisoned in Vietnam, often locked in solitary confinement in a space so small he couldn’t even stretch out to sleep. The suffering of our brothers and sisters throughout the world needs to motivate both our prayers and our activism. Fellowship with our persecuted Christian family will touch our hearts, both inspiring our prayers for their deliverance and moving us to work for their freedom. Moreover, knowing that thousands of Christians are standing up for Christ in the midst of severe persecution emboldens us to endure whatever suffering we must face.
But, even if our suffering does not compare in harshness to that experienced by some of our spiritual siblings, we should expect to face adversity as we live holy lives in an unholy world. If we never experience difficulties because we are Christians, then we are probably falling short in holiness or insulating ourselves completely from the world into which Christ has sent us. Suffering is not an avoidable accident, but an essential element of the genuine Christian life.
Topics: Christianity and the World | 6 Comments »
The Cost of Being a Misfit
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, May 3, 2007
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Jesus says that we who follow Him are to let our light shine into the world, so that people might see our lives and give glory to God. Shining the light of God into the world sounds like a safe, praiseworthy task, the sort of service for which one eventually receives the key to the city. After all, who wouldn’t be thankful for the light of God? Jesus shows us who:
The light from heaven came into the world, but [those who don’t believe in Jesus] loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished (John 3:19-20).
Being the light of the world, therefore, turns out to be much riskier than it first appears.
Earlier in this series I used as an example of holy behavior what many Christians do on Sunday mornings in contrast to non-Christians. If you are faithful in church attendance, most of your nonbelieving friends won’t worry about it much. They may think you’re a little too zealous. They may wonder when you’ll get over it. But they won’t be too upset with you. You might get some jesting, perhaps some pity, but probably not anger.
Consider, however, another situation that has become increasingly common in our day. What I said about leisurely Sunday mornings won’t ring true for many people because they find themselves sitting, not on their couch watching TV, but on hard bleachers watching their children play soccer, or baseball, or tennis, or you name it. Sunday morning, once reserved for church-going and dilly-dallying, is now prime time for youth sports.
Many parents in my church have confronted the question of what to do about athletic events that conflict with church attendance. Their answers differ, but many have taken an unpopular stand out of commitment to the Lord. When one young soccer player was told by his coach to show up for a Sunday morning game, he dutifully reported the assignment to his parents, Jim and Donna. They graciously but firmly told the coach that their son could not play on Sunday morning because of the family’s commitment to church. The coach was miffed, and tried to persuade Jim and Donna to change their mind. When they held firm, he made several threats concerning their son’s future in soccer. Undeterred, the boy’s parents stood their ground. From that point onward their relationship with the coach was strained. He resented their “unrealistic” priorities. Other parents of boys on the team also were critical of Jim’s and Donna’s decision and their “lack of commitment to the team.” Sadly, even some Christian parents disapproved of their actions. I have a suspicion that Jim and Donna, by putting Christ so obviously before soccer in their priorities, shone a bit too much light into the lives of other Christians whose values were more worldly. Jim and Donna didn’t say anything about the behavior of others, but the light of Christ shone through their actions. (In the photo above, my daughter kicks a soccer ball, but not on Sunday.)
Social conflict stemming from Christian holiness is nothing new. In his first letter, Peter writes to Christians whose distinctive living got them into hot water with their pagan neighbors:
Of course, your former friends are very surprised when you no longer join them in the wicked things they do, and they say evil things about you (1 Pet 4:4).
Though Peter doesn’t spell out in detail what the believers had stopped doing, he notes that their new abstention created tension with old friends. It’s likely that the behaviors now avoided by the Christians were pagan religious practices that permeated the ancient world. For example, if those living in the first-century Roman world wanted to go out with their friends for a nice steak, they would go to the local pagan temple. Not only would there be an excess of sacrificed meat there, but the temples were often set up like restaurants, and were places where friends met for food and fun. Suppose, however, that some who once hung out at the local temple of Apollo became Christians and realized that eating meat offered to idols in a pagan temple contradicted genuine fellowship with Jesus as Lord. What would their friends say? Some might have dismissed their behavior as innocuous religious enthusiasm. But others might have been hurt, even insulted. Genuine holiness can often seem like “holier-than-thou-ness” no matter how humbly and graciously we try to explain our actions to others.
In the case of the recipients of Peter’s letter, their former friends did more than express surprise. They also began to say evil things about the new Christians, accusing them of wrong doing (1 Pet 2:12; 4:4). As a result, the believers experienced social ostracism, perhaps even a measure of local persecution. But Peter urges them to keep on living holy lives, even if they must pay a painful price:
Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! (1 Pet 3:16-17).
Suffering, as it turns out, is not an abnormal and avoidable aspect of Christian living, but something to which God calls those who follow Jesus: “This suffering is all part of what God has called you to. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps” (1 Pet 2:21). When we experience criticism, false accusations, or harassment because of our commitment to Christ, we should not be surprised. It’s all a part of our Christian vocation.
In my next post in this series I want to consider another real-life example in which a person’s Christian commitment led to costly choices.
Topics: Christianity and the World | No Comments »
What Sainthood is Not
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, May 2, 2007
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Jon Krakauer is best known from his gripping portrayal of tragedy on Mt. Everest in his bestselling book, Into Thin Air. But Krakauer has written other engaging books, including Under the Banner of Heaven, his study of Mormon polygamists, and also Into the Wild.
Into the wild is the fascinating story of Chris McCandless, a young man who once hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the vast wilderness. Four months later his partially-decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters. Why did he do it? Why did this well-liked, successful, young college graduate sacrifice his life in such a bizarre manner? Krakauer decided to investigate this mystery, presenting his findings in the book Into the Wild.
As Krakauer explored Chris’s background, he discovered some alienation between Chris and his family, but nothing unusual. Yet, whereas most teenagers funnel their youthful angst into a drive for worldly success or a rebellious flirtation with fleshly excesses, Chris became increasingly estranged from the world around him. After graduating with distinction from college, one day he simply disappeared. Taking his car and a very few belongings, he journeyed far and wide across America.
But even the freedom of the road was too constraining for Chris. Possessions and relationships were just too entangling. So he set his sights on Alaska, a place as far from civilization as a young American could reach. After a hair-raising trip north, he walked out into the Alaskan wilderness woefully unprepared. According to one of the last people who saw Chris alive, “Said he didn’t want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization. He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help” (p. 159). So, with a small rifle, a couple of books, and a large bag of rice, Chris McCandless set himself completely apart from the world — a saint in the most extreme sense.
With ingenuity and determination he managed to survive for four months. But after eating some poisonous roots he became ill and began to lose the strength required for self-preservation. His last journal entry read: “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” (p. 199). Shortly after writing these words Chris passed away, 120 days after hiking into the wild, and only 19 days before his body was discovered by the six hunters, only 20 miles from a major Alaskan highway.
Chris’s story is extreme, to be sure. I doubt that you’ve been tempted to walk into desolate regions of Alaska in order to preserve your saintliness. But many Christians, either intentionally or accidentally, end up just about as cut off from the world as Chris McCandless. We can get so wrapped up in worthy Christian activities and so involved in Christian community that we have no time left over for meaningful connection with nonbelievers. Even as we rightly reject the values of our fallen world, we wrongly reject the people of the world, those whom God loved so much that he sent his only Son to save them (John 3:16).
Not only does Jesus pray that we will remain in the world, but also He gives us a very particular role in it:
You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world—like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father (Matt 5:13-16).
Notice that Jesus does not present us with an imperative: “Go out and become salt and light in the world.” Rather, he states in indicative, “You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world.” The crucial question, therefore, is: Will we be who we are in this world? Will we live in the relationship to the world that God has assigned us? Will we maintain our distinctiveness, or become insipid salt and darkened light?
I don’t mean to suggest that it’s easy to be salt and light in the world. Sometimes we Christians can struggle to know how best to season and enlighten our part of the world. And sometimes, our effort to do so meets with resistance. I’ll talk about this in my next post in this series.
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In the World, But Not Of the World
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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So far in this series on Sainthood, Service, and Suffering, I’ve explained how Christians are called to be saints, that is, to be set apart from the world for God and God’s purposes. Yet, Christian saints do not live in seclusion from the world, or at least we should not.
Certainly some Christians have separated themselves from common folk, living in cloistered communities without any significant contact with the outside world. I think of the Amish people, who have made an effort to live apart from the world even though they’re in the midst of it. Unfortunately for them, their uniqueness has also made them popular among tourists who flock to so-called Dutch Pennsylvania to gawk at the Amish and their other-worldly ways. (The picture to the right is of an Amish couple from about 1940. See http://www.loc.gov/rr/
european/imde/germchro.html.)
Other Christians live in the ordinary world, but sever all meaningful relationships with non-Christian people. They want to live holy lives, and they recognize their tendency to be drawn into sin through their contacts with the world, so they decide to back completely away from significant interaction with non-Christian people and institutions.
Some of the Corinthian Christians tried this experiment. In a letter Paul wrote before our so-called 1 Corinthians, he had told them “not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin” (1 Cor 5:9). The Corinthians took Paul to mean that they should have no contact with sinful unbelievers. Consequently they withdrew from their pagan neighbors and related only to other Christians. But in his next letter, which we call 1 Corinthians, Paul clarifies his teaching and corrects the Corinthian separatism. Concerning his earlier advice not to associate with sexually sinful people, he explains:
But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy or are swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. (1 Cor 5:10-11).
The apostle states that we should not leave the world in an attempt to avoid pagan sinners. He assumes that our rightful place as saints is in the world, in relationship with sinners who have not experienced the forgiveness of Christ.
Paul didn’t make up this idea. Jesus did. In the hours before his death, Jesus prayed for His followers, those who were with Him in the flesh and those who would believe in Him in the future (John 17:20). Jesus recognizes that His followers are special, that “they are not part of this world any more than I am” (John 17:16). This specialness will cause problems for them, because the world will hate them even as it hated Jesus Himself (John 17:14). But removal from the world is not an option, according to Jesus: “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one” (John 17:15). In the classic phrase, we who believe in Jesus are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” We must live in the world. We must have meaningful relationships with people in the world. But we must not be like the fallen world, adopting its godless values or its twisted activities.
Of course being in but not of the world is easier said than done. Sometimes the world and its ways seem strangely inviting. Even when we see the world’s brokenness, we are drawn to participate in it. Yet in our desire to honor God, we also yearn to get away from that which tempts us. Thus it’s tempting to pull away from the world, the very world into which we have been called as God’s saints.
In my next post I will consider a fascinating example of somebody who sought to back away from this world, and reflect on the implications of this story for us.
Topics: Christianity and the World | 2 Comments »
Our Loss . . . Heaven’s Gain
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, April 30, 2007
One of the great Christian leaders of our generation has died. Robert E. Webber went to be with the Lord last Friday, April 26, 2007, after a long struggle with cancer.
I won’t overview Webber’s life here. If you’re interested, check out this post on the Christianity Today website. During his long tenure on the faculty of Wheaton College and Northern Seminary, Webber was a major influence upon and inspiration for thousands of students. Webber had much to offer about Christian spirituality and leadership, but undoubtedly his greatest contribution was in the area of worship.
In 1985 Webber published Worship is a Verb. This was one of the very first books I read on worship as a new pastor, and it profoundly shaped my thinking. Webber helped me to see that worship isn’t a church thing or an event so much as an active response to God. It’s something we do for God, even as God is acting among us.
Since the publication of Worship is a Verb, Webber wrote extensively on worship. Among his greatest contributions were:
1. Inspiring and teaching the traditional, denominational church to experience worship renewal.
2. Helping cutting-edge and contemporary worship leaders discover the amazing resources for worship from “ancient” Christian experience and tradition.
3. Editing The Complete Library of Christian Worship, an 8-volume masterpiece. I consider this to be, by far, the greatest written resource for worship leaders (apart from the Bible itself). (You can get a software version of this series as a part of the Logos Bible software package. If you use Logos, I highly recommend it.)
4. Perhaps most importantly, Webber helped bring an end to the so-called “worship wars” the plagued the church in the 80’s and 90’s. Webber’s vision of worship that includes both ancient and future elements has impacted thousands of churches and millions of worshipers.
Though both Bob Webber and I served together on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, I had the chance to meet him only once. In that meeting I was impressed with his humility and his excitement for God and the church.
In recent years Webber commented on a wide range of issues through his various writings. You can find accessible bits of his wisdom from the online newsletter associated with his Ancient Future Worship website.
In recent years, Webber as the pioneer of a provocative document called A Call to An Ancient Evangelical Future. Like so much of his work, this call reflects a commitment both to the past and to the future of the church. This Call is especially clear on the significance of the larger biblical narrative for today’s church and world. I’m thinking that I might examine the Call in greater depth down the blogging road a piece.
For now, I want to offer thanks to God for Bob Webber, a man after God’s own heart. I also lift up prayers for his family, colleauges, students, and friends. He will be greatly missed. Like I said in this title of this post: our loss . . . heaven’s gain.
Topics: Tributes | 4 Comments »
Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, April 29, 2007
Excerpt
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised.
Psalm 96:4
Click here to read all of Psalm 96
Prayer
Indeed, O God, You are great, and Your greatness calls forth praise:
great praise,
exuberant praise,
continuous praise,
unfettered praise,
expansive praise,
heartfelt praise,
grateful praise,
humble praise,
colorful praise,
flowing praise,
musical praise,
echoing praise,
elaborate praise,
simple praise,
joyful praise,
hopeful praise,
committed praise,
awed praise,
intimate praise,
surrendered praise,
childlike praise,
solitary praise,
congregational praise,
reflective praise,
spontaneous praise,
loud praise,
silent praise,
rational praise,
emotional praise,
ecstatic praise,
early praise,
late praise,
traditional praise,
contemporary praise,
chanted praise,
spoken praise,
shouted praise,
whispered praise,
seasonal praise,
daily praise,
unceasing praise . . . .
And that’s just the beginning. For You are great, Lord, and greatly to be praised!
Postscript
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
German original by Joachim Neander (1680).
Translation by Catherine Winkworth (1863).
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
Pray the Psalms is one of my devotional websites. The other is Pray the Gospels.
Topics: Sunday Inspiration | No Comments »