"To Him be glory forever": October 2020

Friday, October 30, 2020

Politics-as-religion

In just a few days the 2020 election will be history. Robin and I haven’t had TV service, i.e. cable or satellite, for 10 years now. We cancelled our cable when Kat joined our family and we just didn’t seem to have time to watch TV. Outside of the occasional baseball or football game we haven’t really missed it. Right now, in this present election cycle, we are glad not to be bringing all the emotion, conjecture and vitriol of the various campaigns into our home and family life.

Not that we are living in a box and unexposed to the news of the world. You are reading this blog post online and a number of the major sites that I visit seem to be saturated with either campaign ads, campaign commentary, or the election-related personal opinions and posts that are shared by my friends. The plus side of following the run-up to the election online is that I get to decide for myself which stories and links I’ll read and listen to, rather than being bombarded, and I mean that quite nearly literally, every time a TV show takes a commercial break.

One thing I did notice recently, which I believe I have seen in past election cycles, is the tendency for politics to be treated as a religion. This seems to happen two ways. One is by the passion, and virtual devotion, of some people to a particular candidate or proposed political position. For example, “This person will have all the answers to the problems of our day, and only he/she will set us on the right trajectory for the future.”

The other way politics appears as religion is with the language some people associate with it. The clearest example I saw recently was someone encouraging people to vote, because it was their “sacred duty.” Sacred duty to vote? Hmmm…

Something that is sacred is something that is set apart for God and his purposes. The sacred should inspire worship of God. That is my definition off the top of my head. I checked an online dictionary’s definition and found that my definition was pretty close and that non-religious usages of sacred are secondary meanings of the term. I’ll grant that voting is important and is an aspect of civic responsibility but I won’t go so far as to use language that elevates it to the equivalence of worship of God. That may not have been the intent of the comment by the person that I saw encouraging people to vote, but it is an example of bringing religious language into the sphere of politics.

Going back to my first example, of the passion and devotion shown by many people towards the candidate and positions in the pending election, I want to say that, from my perspective as a Christian and a pastor, politics makes a poor god and politics cannot save.

The best candidates, for every position in any election, may have many fine attributes. And these same candidates will also have many flaws. The God of the Bible, revealed to us most clearly in the person of Jesus, is holy. He is perfect in every respect. There are no flaws, no weaknesses, no areas that need even the slightest bit of improvement. His holiness is the very thing for which anything that is sacred should point us to. Anyone, or anything, that we might want to give the devotion to that he deserves will most certainly let us down. The Bible tells of many gods, but only One True God. Each and every one of those lesser gods is revealed for what they truly are, which is no god at all. Such is politics when looked on, when worshipped, as god.

And as a corollary, all that we might look to politics as providing the ultimate solutions for, things to save us from, or to lead us to, will also prove to be false. Politics can lead to good, and it has done so in the past, but politics can also lead in ways that even the most ardent advocates can eventually see are wrong. There never has been, and never will be, a political system that results in a universally acclaimed sense of human flourishing. There is a coming day when all will be made right, but it will be at the timing of God, by his power, and for his purposes. You can read Revelation 19-22 to get a sense of how that plays out.

I’ll close with the words of Psalm 20:7, words that point us beyond politics to the One who will never fail us:

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Dead Ends

This coming Sunday I am preaching the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where in verse 4 he writes of Jesus that he:

“…gave himself for our sins to delivers us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God…”

I’ve had two people on my mind lately, people whom to the best of my knowledge have no desire to be delivered of their sins through faith in Jesus. At least that is what I think is the case. I suppose that I could ask them but one of them doesn’t return my calls or texts and the other one has a more open hostility to the idea of being a Christian, so what might be considered a more direct method of sharing the good news of Jesus with them in an effort for them to receive and embrace it does not seem possible at present.

I’m not giving up. I continue to pray for them. And while I don’t want any bad things to come into their lives I do know that when we are in hard places and all other options appear to be eliminated that people can look at the person and work of Jesus in a new light. And so I have a desire that for these people that whatever it may be that they are hoping in, or grounding their lives in as a source of meaning, are seen to be what they truly are. Dead ends. They may be good things, such as family or work, but they are not the most important thing, which is to be made whole with God through faith in Jesus.

May it be the will of God to reveal the roads and paths that they travel on for meaning in their lives to be dead ends. The roads and paths that may look like they are going somewhere but come to an end without connecting to anything else.

For my two friends may it be the will of God to bring them to the path that ends with faith in Jesus. May it be the will of God that one day, instead of praying for the salvation of my friends, that we can join together in praising God for what he has done in uniting us in faith as his sons.

Photo credit: By haymarketrebel - Dead End At The Border, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72020913

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Negotiations

The week that has just ended has been a bit hectic. Before the pandemic I had a routine to get things done each week. The pandemic has altered the routine a bit but I have found that there is a general pattern that works for me so that when Sunday morning comes all the things that needed to be done are in fact done. Factored into all this talk of routine is the understanding that each week I can spend what amounts to a full day doing things that I had not anticipated. That means that when things come up that take good-sized blocks of time, such as funerals, I don’t have to panic.

All of which is to say that there were a number of extra things that had to be negotiated this past week. I participated in a preaching workshop via Zoom that took two full days. There was a wedding yesterday which required some preparation. And for a large portion of one day I had to supervise the boys, as Robin and Kat went to the dentist and ran some errands for our family. Robin suggested that if the boys were distracting me too much I could let them watch extra TV, or have them clean the porch, giving them free time with their iPads as an incentive.

I liked that last idea but had some trouble putting it into practice. The front porch is among the favorite places for the boys to play. It hadn’t been organized for a few days and so the time came when I thought I would set the boys to that task. I figured it would take them 30 minutes, tops, and they could use their iPads for a good long while as I worked on my sermon.

Here is how that idea worked out.

Papa: Clean up the porch and you can use your iPads.

Boys: How many things do we need to pick up?

Papa: Don’t count them. Just put everything away.

Boys: Mom tells us to pick up ten things.

Papa: Just put it all away. You don’t need to keep count.

Boys: But mom says “ten things.” How many should we pick up?

Papa: Well, maybe 100 things. (I’ve heard Robin use that method but I'm not expecting that it will work today. Way too much stuff.) On second thought, pick up ten things and let’s see what it looks like.

In the end I gave up on the porch, and fortunately for me they didn’t have their usual desire for the iPads, finding another way to stay occupied enough for me to keep at my sermon until Robin and Kat got back home.

My sermon this morning was drawn from Galatians 2:16, where Paul writes:

“We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.”

One of the things that Paul does in that statement is eliminate the possibility that we can negotiate our place with God. He takes away any attempt on our part to use our own efforts to be made right with God.

To have faith in God through Jesus Christ is an act of unconditional surrender on our part. We cannot negotiate for the most favorable terms, but rather we simply trust in God as we turn from our sin and turn to our Savior.

And that is really a good thing, because His terms are better than anything we could ever imagine. Not only does he remove all past sins, but his finished work covers any sins we may, and unfortunately will, take part in before that day comes when he brings us to our true home with him.

One day I may figure out this negotiation thing with our children, but I am glad that I never have to strike a bargain with my Savior. His offer is free, and it never fails. Amen.

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Are You An…Evangelical?

Apparently it is a bad thing for a person to be identified as an evangelical Christian. That was one of my conclusions after reading this online article, which made mention of some comments to a newspaper article that had to do with US Vice President Mike Pence. Now the newspaper article came from the Times of London, and the online article I was reading came from a pastor in Australia, so I don’t take either one of them as anything that should have any influence on voters in the US. But what was interesting was the alleged dangers associated with evangelical Christians.

“Christian” is a label that can have a very broad meaning. At its most basic level a Christian would be a person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. But right there we can go in a number of directions as to what it means to believe in Jesus. My attaching the word “Lord” to His name would be an issue for some Christians, as would my decision in this post to capitalize pronouns referring to Him.

When we add the word “evangelical” to Christian/s we can similarly go into a variety of directions. It does not have a single, or even generally recognized, primary definition. Some Christians would welcome it while others would cringe at any association between their faith in Jesus and the term evangelical. A number of years ago, fairly early in my journey of faith in Jesus, I had a conversation with my pastor. I was trying to understand some things that had been said at a recent class I had attended at our church. He tossed out, almost as an aside, words to this effect: “Brad, the problem is that you’re an evangelical and there aren’t very many of you here.” Two things in that sentence caught my attention. First, I was an evangelical at a church that didn’t have very many of them, and second, the pastor had said “you” rather than “us.”

I’m of the opinion that to be an evangelical as a Christian is a very good thing. You could easily make a case that being evangelical is essential to being a Christian, that you are not really maturing as a follower of Jesus if you don’t have your evangelical radar turned on.

To be an evangelical means that you are intentional about sharing the good news of Jesus with others. This is something that He told his followers to do, in what we call the Great Commission:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

The responsibility given to evangelicals is to engage in evangelism, of which making disciples and teaching are the core tasks.

This summer I read a short and very good book on evangelism, which gave this excellent definition: Evangelism is to teach the gospel with an aim to persuade. Here is how I understand those four key words.

Teach: To give someone instruction in something, to guide them in learning something.

The gospel: The good news of the Lord Jesus as the only Savior of the world. Explaining the gospel means dealing directly with the problem of a holy God and human sin. It is not a simple problem but it does lead to a unique and beautiful solution.

Aim: To have a particular target in mind as you teach the gospel.

Persuade: To teach in such a way that the other person not only knows the gospel, or understands the gospel, but that they believe the gospel.

The real problem for the average person with evangelical Christians is that the gospel message is a message that no ordinary person wants to hear. It’s a message that confronts us as the lords of our own lives. It calls for us to reject the gods we serve. It doesn’t matter if we serve those gods knowingly or not. It doesn’t matter if every other person we know or respect says that the things we are worshipping are harmless. Jesus is a jealous God. He tolerates no rival gods, and that is truly a good thing.

Believing the gospel sets us apart as children of the One True God, calling us to live our lives in ways that, above all else, are pleasing to Him. All of our lives. All of the time. This is something that literally takes a lifetime to learn, often by taking two steps forward and one step back. Over and over.

Living as children of the King is challenging, but also infinitely good. In virtually every respect it is different from the ways of the culture we live in, no matter where in the world you may be living. Small wonder that evangelicals are frowned on, at best, and in other cases reviled or worse.

One of the things I ask for nearly every day is that God would grow me in evangelism. That He would teach me in what to say and give me opportunities to share His good news.

I’m an evangelical. Are you?

Monday, October 5, 2020

What Are You Hungry For?

I like to eat. I like to eat a lot, as in both “I really enjoy eating” and “I enjoy eating my share and then some.” One of the benefits, for me, of being a distance runner is that it gives me some cover as I indulge in the pursuit of food. This is especially true after running a marathon, when I need to replenish all those calories that were burned up on the road.

I like a variety of foods, but certainly not all foods. Brussel sprouts and asparagus? No thanks. Bacon green chili cheeseburger? Yes, with fries, please. Which dessert? You needn’t have asked. I’ll take both. Given the opportunity I’ll make sure that my sweet tooth will be taken care of. Rare is the moment when there isn’t room for another cookie. Just ask Robin!

This past Sunday after our family worshipped Robin took the kids hiking while I went over to church. We still can’t meet for worship but I have been over there at the time we normally hold worship services, to talk and pray with anyone who stops by. On this particular morning a man came by. He is someone I know and whom I’ve spent a few times with in the past, talking about his life and praying with him. He’s not a member of our church and except for a few times when we met in passing I had not spent any amount of time with him for quite a while. He told me about some changes he is trying to make in his life. I prayed with him and then he headed back home.

When my time at church was done I went back home. It was time to get some lunch and I was hungry. While we had family worship Robin had baked some brownies for dessert on Sunday evening and there was the pan, sitting on the counter, waiting for me.

Truthfully, I was tempted. I didn’t eat any of them, but not because I didn’t want to. I passed on the brownies because I knew I needed better nutrition, not just as a matter of practice, but also because I had other work tasks to get to. A sandwich and apple would give me energy for the afternoon. Several brownies would certainly result in my blood sugar rising and then crashing in ways that would make productive work nearly impossible and an impromptu nap very likely.

One of the things my friend said outside of church on Sunday morning was this: “Everyone needs to eat. But what are we hungry for?” So far this blog post has been about physical food but my friend was getting at the idea of addictions and spiritual food. He has struggled with addictions in the past and is trying to turn from them at present. The question he faces daily is between feeding his addictions and feeding his soul. It was a pleasure to visit with him and to pray with him, asking God to fill his soul with the very best kind of food.

My friend’s words linger with me today. I need to eat. We all need to eat. But what are we hungry for? One of the things I asked God this morning in prayer was that I would have a continual desire to feed on and be nourished by His word. That He would use His word, each day, to nourish me spiritually and to give direction to my life.

We all need to eat, but there is nothing that will nourish us like the word of God in the Bible. May you hunger for His word today and every day. Amen.