Not a Crutch But a Stretcher

"Christianity isn’t a crutch for the weak; it’s a stretcher for the dead. The gospel doesn’t claim to help the weak; it claims to make the dead live again. We reject the notion of the crutch of Christianity because we don’t need something to help us walk along; we need something to make us truly alive." - Michael Kelley

HT: Vitamin Z

Pray For Iraqi Christians

CNN reports that seven churches have been bombed in Iraq in the last three days. Pray for your brothers and sisters there to have perseverance in the face of persecution.

Gladness and the Risen Christ

"The Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. That should affect things down here...

When unbelievers get together to drink, or dance, or whatever, they do it to forget how miserable they are. But biblical Christians have a need to overflow, and should sing and dance and drink because they are full. When we look at the secularists who are the supposed experts in celebration, all we can see is that glazed eye druggie look, clothes that hang on the body, and hair every which way. Everybody looks like they are just back from an unsuccessful exorcism. These are the people who are leading the way in gladness? "No, thank you," we should say -- but only if we then know what to do.

The answer, as with so much else, begins with getting our theology straight. Christ was crucified under Pilate, buried, raised by His Father, and ascended into heaven. And that, as they say, makes all the difference." - Douglas Wilson

The Chicken or the Egg?

A couple weeks ago, when I went out shopping for books for my high school grads, the first place I visited was a local Lifeway. I must say, I was absolutely disgusted by the drivel that filled the shelves, and the associated lack of solid content. It's a shame that this is the best our SBC dollars can do. There were three or four books I had in mind for my students, all by known authors, and none of them were anywhere to be found. The place had more Don Piper than John Piper. Fluff was the name of the game. My wife had a similar experience a week earlier looking for a family and parenting book for some friends of ours. No wonder everybody's using Amazon. I mean, it's not like there's not good stuff out there. This got me thinking recently - what's the problem? Are our bookstores stocked with fluff because that's what our biblically anemic American Christianity wants, or is our American Christianity biblically anemic because our bookstores are full of fluff? My sense is that it's much like the classic "chicken or the egg" conundrum, where the two are so interconnected it's impossible to say which begat the other. I'd be interested to hear your take.

Note: For any Louisvillians out there, let me recommend the Christian Book Nook, where I easily found what I was after. It's a great, locally and privately owned bookstore with great prices, selection, and service. Check it out. Lifeway - take some notes.

Hate Crimes, Sex, and the Love of God

A fantastic and thoughtful post by Douglas Wilson. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on it, especially the distinction he draws in how we respond to sin in terms of failure vs. rebellion.

Women are Saved Through What???

Tomorrow night, I'll be teaching my youth from Ecclesiastes chapter 11, which opens with the strange command to "cast your bread upon the waters." The chapter, especially the opening verses, is full of metaphor and has been challenging to work through. As I pondered a hypothetical field trip down to the Ohio River to have my students chuck loaves of whole wheat in, I've been reminded of the importance of diligently studying God's word. Yes, the gospel message is simple and easy to understand, but much of the wisdom in the pages of Scripture can be obscured by the 2000+ years of human culture and thousands of miles that separate us from the original authors. The temptation is to read something that we don't understand and just skip it under the assumption that if God really thought it was important he would have made it clearer.

Perhaps that made yesterday's "Mondays with Mounce" post on the Kononia Blog even more interesting to me. Greek scholar Bill Mounce looks at some textual issues in 1 Timothy 2:15, without a doubt one of the most puzzling verses in all the Bible. There have been times when I have thought to myself, "Seriously, Paul - could you not have explained that one for us?" However, God inspired it for a purpose, and he was exactly as clear as he inteded to be. Check out Mounce's post for some interesting info, and don't grow weary in doing the work of studying God's word. We can meet up by the river tonight. I'll bring the rye.

HT: Tim Challies

Hazelwood Stories, #2

Here's "Mr. C's Story," the second video in "Hazelwood Stories," my church's series of member testimonies. You can check out the first as well, if you haven't seen it.

The Gospel and Friendship

Of all the experiences Heather and I had during our time in Canada last week, perhaps nothing has stuck with me as much as a sense of wonder at the amazing implications that the gospel has for friendships. I first began exchanging emails with Dan Collison, pastor of our sister chuch, The Sanctuary Pickering, back at the end of last year. He and his wife, Denise, visited us in February, and we just spent time with them in Toronto. Between both visits, we have spent perhaps a total of 4 days together, but likely a little less. Heather and I can now say that we view them as close friends, and we feel like we've known them forever. How is that possible in only 96 hours?

It's possible because we share Jesus Christ in common. In him, there is a bond that runs deeper than any other, including blood. I realized this on an even deeper level when we worshipped with their church last Sunday. Here we were, in a room with 40-50 people we'd never met, and there was an instant connection, an immediate sense of community. We didn't share nationality in common, we didn't always share personal histories in common, but we all shared the joy of having our sins covered by the sacrifice of Christ, and that was more than enough. It was never difficult to strike up a conversation with people, and in just a couple hours we had meaningful conversations that most people would never dream of having with people they'd just met. For us, though, there was a sense that we were on the same wavelength, that we held the same values, passions, and joys. There is truly no bond like the gospel.

We're really looking forward to going back this summer with our team from Hazelwood. We've got friends that we look forward to seeing again, and we've got a fresh appreciation for the gift that our church family is to us. As you read this, think about the people at your church. You may share more things in common with some than others, but at the end of the day you share something of supreme significance with all of them, something that shatters all other petty differences. You share Christ. With him as our foundation, healthy, deep, and meaningful relationships are never far away.

Roger Ebert on "God"

Roger Ebert is without a doubt my favorite film critic. Though I don't agree with him in every instance (The Phantom Menace was better than Attack of the Clones???), more often than not I find his insights into movies to ring very true. I usually check his reviews and blogs every couple weeks, and looking at his blog this morning I read a fascinating post detailing his personal view of God and spirituality. It's fascinating to me largely because I suspect it is representative (save for being a lot more intellectually developed) of much of our culture's view of God - nebulous, un-knowable, and certainly not demanding anything from humanity save the most broad moral platitudes. An excerpt...

"Let me rule out at once any God who has personally spoken to anyone or issued instructions to men. That some men believe they have been spoken to by God, I am certain. I do not believe Moses came down from the mountain with any tablets he did not go up with. I believe mankind in general evidently has a need to believe in higher powers and an existence not limited to the physical duration of the body. But these needs are hopes, and believing them doesn't make them true."

I'd encourage you to read the post and to consider how you'd go about telling Ebert about the glory of the living God, because I strongly suspect that you'll meet a couple Eberts in your life - or that you know one already.

This Is Damning

Recently, Thom Rainer took a Twitter poll asking people what they think when they hear the term, "Southern Baptist." Here is a Wordle of the results - a word-picture that renders the most frequently used words largest.

May this be a wake-up call for our portrayal of Christ to a watching world.

HT: Vitamin Z

Three Days in the Belly of the Earth

Dr. Walter Kaiser explains how Good Friday afternoon to Resurrection Sunday morning equals three days.

HT: Tim Challies

The End of Christian America, or Truth in Advertising?

Newsweek is running an article by Jon Meacham titled "The End of Christian America." The article is well worth reading, looking at the recent study that shows a decline in Americans who self-identify as Christians and examines what that means for our country. It features reactions from across the religious spectrum, from Al Mohler to Christopher Hitchens.

For me, it's been a cause for reflection. I hear and see many Christians reacting to studies like this one by lamenting the loss of our Christian nation. I don't feel the sting of any such loss. Perhaps it's a sign of poor spiritual discernment and a too-cold heart on my part, I don't know, but my sense is that my lack of a feeling of loss is due to my perception that what we have is not a large block of people fleeing Christianity, but an increasing honestly among people who never cared much for Christ to begin with. I'm 25, and all my life, despite all the surveys that say a vast majority of Americans identify as Christians (and even this latest one puts that number at around 75%), I've never really seen much in the way of authentic Christianity. Think about your workplace or your school. If you were to randomly take 10 people and put them in a room, how many of them would you expect to be true Christ-followers? It sure wouldn't be 7 or 8, and in many contexts I expect you'd be surprised to find 2 or 3.

From my perspective, that's the reality of America today, and it's the same reality that I saw 10 years ago when I was in high school. When I survey our country's religious landscape over my lifetime, I don't see a decline in Christianity as much as I see an increase in the amount of people willing to admit that they never really gave a rip about Jesus to begin with. Ten or twenty years ago (and especially 50 or 60 years ago), cultural propriety would compel people to go through the religious motions out of a sense of civic identity. Today, those same people don't feel any real cultural stigma about fleeing a shallow or nominal religion, so they're more apt to simply be honest and say that they don't associate with an organized expression of faith. What we have in our culture then is a change, sure - but a change in name more than a change in substance.

Here's the strange thing - I find this exciting. People are jettisoning their cultural religious baggage unlike never before. It used to be that nearly everyone was in church at least occasionally and nearly everyone could tell you the basic story of what Jesus is about. No longer. With this reality comes an incredible opportunity to speak the gospel with clarity, compassion, and freshness into the lives of people to whom salvation by grace through faith is a foreign concept. I see a greater openness in people to talk about spiritual things freely and a stronger reaction from people when they see an authentic faith in Jesus rather than the cold, cultural faith of their mind's eye. I see opportunity for the Gospel beyond our wildest imagination. So stop mourning "Christian America." If it ever really existed, it's been dead at least since I was born. However, Christ is alive, his word is truth, and his power and glory are on display in the hearts of many across the land. Are there millions in America who don't know him? Sure, but look at it this way - at least now they'll likely admit it.

Welcome to Religious Insanity

Ann Holmes Redding was officially defrocked yesterday by the Episcopal church after 30 years as a minister. She's disappointed, and feels no reason why she shouldn't be allowed to continue as a Christian minister. So why did the Episcopal church make the move? What did she do that they felt was so problematic?

She became a Muslim.

Yes, you read that correctly. In 2006, Redding converted to Islam. Since then, she's continued in service as a Christian pastor, believing that there is no inherent contradiction. "Both religions say there's only one God," Redding said, "and that God is the same God. It's very clear we are talking about the same God! So I haven't shifted my allegiance."

This is madness, its silliness, and its a damning condemnation of what religion has become in our culture. We don't care about truth. We don't care about revelation. We've so stripped faith down to the barest of human-centered platitutes that a woman who went to seminary and served 30 years as a minister can say with a straight face about the God of the Bible and the God of Islam, "It's very clear we are talking about the same God!" Never mind the vastly different (and mutually-exclusive) claims of each faith about God's nature, his actions, and what he demans of his creation. Our culture has made faith more about us than it is about God, building an altar to self and making God a simple window dressing to brighten up the room - and since everyone has different tastes, it doesn't really matter what color the curtains are. Go check out the full report, and let this serve as a strong reminder of the importance of holding fast to the truths "once for all delivered to the saints."

From the Heisman to The Least of These

Last night, a guy from my youth group and I attended a benefit dinner for Desire Street Ministries, an urban outreach project started in New Orleans. The evening's speaker was the ministry's executive director, former University of Florida and NFL Quarterback Danny Wuerffel. He spoke on the great importance Jesus put on helping the poor and hopeless, and talked about how that's prompted Desire Street to work for spiritual, physical, and emotional change in several urban communities - and New Orleans in particular, where the ministry began and where it is now leading recovery efforts. From church planting to opening schools to medical clinics, Desire Street seeks to transform communities from the inside out.

The group's approach to ministry was very cool, focusing on an incarnational model where the leaders move into and live in the communities they're trying to reach - echoing Jesus, who came to the earth and lived among us. As Derek Webb put it, "Like the three-in-one, know you must become what you want to save." Wuerffel really reflected and personified this philosophy. He was very much a down-to-earth guy. If you didn't know any better, you'd think you were in the presence of just another ministry leader, not a millionaire who was a superstar in the sports world. I was particularly impacted by an ESPN video that was played focusing on the New Orleans recovery efforts. Wuerffel and his family lost their home in the disaster, and as the video showed him touring the damage, I was struck by just how unremarkable the home was. It looked more like your average middle-class city home than the abode of an NFL quarterback. Many athletes talk a big game when it comes to faith, but in just an hour watching Danny Wuerffel it was quite clear that this was a guy who deeply understood Jesus' message and mission, and sought to follow in his steps. Praise God for his work, and I'd encourage you to seriously think about supporting the work at Desire Street.

Hazelwood Stories, #1

This past week, we started a new project at church that we're calling "Hazelwood Stories." Inspired by I Am Second, we're setting out to videotape as many members as are willing telling their personal story of faith in Jesus Christ. The videos are played to open our Sunday morning services once every few weeks, and we're hopeful that they will be an encouragement to our congregation and promote unity among the body. We've opened a Vimeo page to host the videos, and I'll be sharing them here on the blog as well. Here's the first. Scott's a good friend, and I've added his blog, Digital Awe, to the "Great Blogs" sidebar as well - it's full of thoughtful and helpful meditations.

10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now

Time Magazine puts together the list for their new cover story. #3? "The new Calvinism." Cool writeup.

HT: Justin Taylor

Americans vs. Jesus on Entering Heaven

If you're a news junkie, chances are you've already seen the recently-released survey on religion in America that indicates that Americans are leaving organized religion, especially Christianity, behind. The survey has some interesting things to say, but I was even more intrigued by an article re-posted on USA Today about a similar survey taken last fall. In this one, 54% of respondents said that over half of "average Americans" will make it into heaven. The question is asked again of several different religions (or non-religious) groups with varying results, but it's the underlying assumption that interests me. Since the majority of our country self-identifies as Christian, I found it interesting to hear their idea on heaven as contrasted with Jesus.

The survey seems to suggest that people think that your average Joe is good-to-go. What did Jesus have to say in Matthew 5, though? In a chapter where he gives an impossibly lofty moral standard, he begins with the assertion that "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The scribes and the Pharisees were the "super-religious" of the day, the people who followed God's commands with zeal and fervor, and even invented their own commands to fill in the gaps. Jesus said that their righteousness is not sufficent to enter heaven. He then concludes the chapter with the even more stunning proclamation - "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus holds up perfection as the standard we must meet for acceptance into God's kingdom.

This sentiment is further expressed in Jesus' famous declaration to the rich young man in Luke 18, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” All these sayings serve to build up an incredible standard, such that the disciples eventually asked, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus repiles, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Notice his implication - it is impossible for men to gain access to heaven. This can only be accomplished by God's free grace, a grace that Scripture makes explicitly clear is given through faith in Jesus.

It's pretty clear that though we're a nation where a lot of people say they follow Jesus, precious few have actually looked to see what he has to say. This should cause us all to take a closer look at the gospel we proclaim. Are you communicating the Gospel of grace, or an easy, average Joe, be-a-good-person folk religion? Pastors, how would the people in your church answer this survey? We all need to be careful to examine the faith we proclaim, lest we contribute to the generation that has seemingly adopted a Christianity with very little Christ.

So I Had a Bad Day

Note: The song of the above video should be listened to while reading this post. It really sets the tone, and it will be stuck in your head for the remainder of the day. You're welcome. Also, I am not responsible for any flashbacks to season 5 of American Idol that you may experience while listening to this song. Some things are better left in the past, I know. Ace Young is one of them.

Tuesday was a really crappy day. Everything, it seemed, was stacked against me and conspiring to drive me crazy. I won't get into the details. They're really not all that important. What is important is what I learned about myself in the process. In the event that it's helpful, here you go. File these away for your next bad day.

1) My "niceness" is frail. I tend to be a pretty laid-back, easygoing person. I am often complemented for being "nice." However, it took a surprisingly short time on Tuesday for me to turn into a total jerk. I carried an attitude for most of the evening that necessitated several apologies to my wife on Wednesday morning. Looking at how little had to go wrong to make me feel like I had license to act however I wanted with no regard for others was a humbling window to just how much selfishness I have in me.

2) My focus is often misplaced. The scary part is that this can happen without me noticing it. Never in a million years would I have told you that I was too attached to my barbecue grill, but - as I noted yesterday - when it wasn't working right, I became incredibly stressed and upset. It was a strong reminder to just how easily I fall into the trap of buying into what this world deems important - namely, stuff.

3) Grace is enough. Though we say we're dependant on grace, I think far too often we, perhaps even subconsciously, tend to think that our goodness has something to do with our standing before God. When we're doing well spiritually, he accepts us, and when we're doing poorly spiritually, he pushes us away. This is a lie. The reason that we have a right standing before God is because he chooses to look past our sins and look upon the free gift of righteousness we have because of Jesus. Our acceptance is not merit based, or we'd all be screwed. I realized this as I apologized to Heather on Wednesday, and her forgiveness was quick and complete. I didn't deserve it, but there it was, a little microcosm of the forgiveness that the Father has bestowed on us by grace through faith in Christ.

In the sports world, they say that sometimes you learn more in defeat than you do in victory. God used my bad day to teach me some powerful lessons about grace and sanctification in my life. Even my sin served to give him glory. Shall I go on sinning that grace may abound? Of course not! But I hope and pray that the next time the camera don't lie and you're ready to sing a sad song just to turn it around, you'll realize that though we all are great sinners, Christ is a greater savior.

The Change of Seasons and the Risen Christ

Douglas Wilson offers some great reflections on the connection between the two. As one who just this morning talked of how ready I am for winter to be over, this resonated deeply with me. I've also added Wilson's blog, Blog and Mablog, to my sidebar. It's frequently filled with well-written theological reflections - and it's got the greatest title in the history of bloggerdom.

Food For Thought

And yes, the pun is intended. As my little girl gets bigger every day (8 months now!), I'm thinking more and more about how to begin to teach her, and other kids I pray God blesses us with, about Christ. Zach Nielsen has posted some practical advice from Mark Driscoll on family Bible study that I found very appealing and interesting, so I pass it along to you.

Step 1. Eat dinner with your entire family regularly.
Step 2. Mom and Dad sit next to one another to lead the family discussion.
Step 3. Open the meal by asking if there is anyone or anything to pray for.
Step 4. Someone opens in prayer and covers any requests. This task should be rotated among family members so that different people take turns learning to pray aloud.
Step 5. Start eating and discuss how everyone’s day went.
Step 6. Have a Bible in front of the parents in a translation that is age-appropriate for the kids’ reading level. Have someone (parent or child) open the Bible, and assign a portion to read aloud while everyone is eating and listening.
Step 7. Parents should note key words and themes in the passage and explain them to the kids on an age-appropriate level.
Step 8. Ask questions about the passage. You may want to begin with having your children summarize what was read—retelling the story or passage outline. Then, ask the following questions: What does this passage teach us about God? What does it say about us or about how God sees us? What does it teach us about our relationships with others?
Step 9. Let the conversation happen naturally, listen carefully to the kids, let them answer the questions, and fill in whatever they miss or lovingly and gently correct whatever they get wrong so as to help them.
Step 10. If the Scriptures convict you of sin, repent as you need to your family, and share appropriately honest parts of your life story so the kids can see Jesus’ work in your life and your need for him too. This demonstrates gospel humility to them.
Step 11. At the end of dinner, ask the kids if they have any questions for you.
Step 12. If you miss a night, or if conversation gets off track, or if your family occasionally just wants to talk about something else, don’t stress—it’s inevitable.

Adapted from “Family Dinner Bible Studies” by Mark Driscoll in Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1 & 2 Peter, a study guide. (Mars Hill Church, 2009), pages 69-70.