The Ultimate Balance: Resting Faith in Christ & Taking Dutiful Action

Blake's depiction of Jacob's ladder, I have a print of this painting mounted on the wall above the spot where I fell to my knees in my disaster and cried out to Jesus (two years ago)

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works

In life there is often a balance we must seek after, finding good measures of various attitudes and actions to find a happy medium in life.  The struggle to find this difficult balance can best be summed in the shortened version of the serenity prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. 

This is a difficult balance for anyone to maintain in this world.  I've struggled greatly with this dilemma myself.  How much do I rest in God and his plan?  Conversely, how much do I take action and do the necessary foot work?  

These two questions will determine the level of peace I have in my heart.  If I step too far into the side of resting faith in God, my actions and activism begin to drop off and eventually that damages my faith.  If I step too far into the realm of action and attempting change I run the risk of losing my peace in the hopelessness of changing situations outside my control.  

What is the healthy balance?   

We're asking the question of balance.  This is fundamental, but how little it seems to be discussed.  What can I change and what can't I change?  How does peace of mind and calling to action play into the equation of daily life?  

This is a very difficult one for me.  Because I'm very sensitive to this kind of thing.  

When I read a news story about Monsanto pouring millions of dollars into ads to prevent GMO labeling, it just slays me.  It slays me because I know it's so wrong, on so many levels.  When I read about the 20+ lobbyists in the Obama administration, I just want to lay down in a corner and collapse internally.  It's terrible.  And most people just don't know, and they don't care, and they don't want to know.  When I see Christian organizations praising what a great president George W. Bush was, I feel sick to my stomach.  I recall the Iraq war, the Patriot act, the financial industry bailout, and the constant corruption bubbling out of that administration and my spirit just cries out to the Lord: "How can it be?  How can it be this lost?"  

It breaks my heart you see.  The United States, the Christian nation, having been so plundered inside and out, so corrupted in politics, in banking, in media, and in business.  It slays me every time.

Even further, the slanted news reporting the mainstream media news, Fox, CNN, all the rest.  It's scary, how the truth never comes out.  How lies become truth!  Even further, to the hollywood industry, how stars like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus are used to turn the kids who idolize them into drug addicted, sex crazy immoral monsters.  Monsters that will later be wielded against the former Christian majority.  I can hardly handle it day by day.  

And still, even further, before my very eyes, where I work at the shelter, watching people stuck in the same old patterns, same old addictions, they leave, they come back, they get sober, they relapse, it's enough to drive a man completely insane with the existential horror of it all.  This is a very ugly world!  And I haven't even mentioned war, disease, genocide, or world hunger yet.  Wild!

What is peace?  How can we have it?  I'm known to go too far into action, and not far enough into resting trust.  On the other end of the spectrum are those who take too little action in response to their faith in God.  The Bible says such faith is useless (James 2:26).

There are many dualities in this world, and in ourselves, and even in our God:

• Jesus came full of grace and truth.  
• God the Father is mercifully forgiving, and a just judge. 
• The Holy Spirit both comforts us and convicts us.
• There is a time to love people and show mercy, and another time to explain the truth and give justice.  

What can I change?  If I can change it, then I will champion it as my cause.

What can't I change?  If I can't change it, then I must accept it as it is.

John 16:33 says I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

And as it says in Mark 6:31 "And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."

There is a time to act, and a time to rest.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV) "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing"

Do you recall what Jesus said?  An often debated passage.  He said, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:13-16).  

Salt and light.  Preservation and hope.  Another interesting statement by Jesus is in Matthew 24:6 when he says "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet."


I find myself challenged by the teachings of Jesus over and over again.  I'm to be a man of good conduct, loving those around me.  But what of the corruption?  The Bible says to expose the deeds of evil (Ephesians 5:11).  So God likes whistle-blowers!  Yet when I see the evil, the wars and rumors of war, do not be surprised.  These things must happen.  And also recall that the end must come, as described in the book of Revelation.  So I should just let evil things happen and trust that it's part of God's plan?  What if Europe and the United States had taken that attitude in 1939 when Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan decided they wanted to conquer the world?  We'd be living under a Nazi government today.  And it could've easily looked that way to Christians in the 1930s.  Hitler would appear to be the anti-Christ, and the time had come for the end.  But that wasn't the case.  So it's difficult to understand the balance between action (James 3:13) and resting faith (Psalm 62:5).

Even more challenging are the words of Paul in Romans when he writes regarding the convening authorities being set up for your good, and to obey them (Romans 13:1-7).  That is one of the most challenging statements in the Bible to me.  Almost every authority figure in my life, since I was very young has not been out to protect me for my own good, but out to harm me for their own desires.  Paul himself suffered greatly at the hands of the convening authorities.  He would've known clearly in his own mind that they are not set up for the good of any Christian, but the good of the rich to the plundering of the poor.  But by that interpretation, the American Revolution was wrong?  That can't be the case, can it?  Were the British convening authorities working for the good of the colonists?  They weren't.  And the colonists rebelled, successfully.

I don't want to float too far from the topic of balance in faith and action, but it's an interesting question.  The point is there is a balance in scripture.  Some might jump to the conclusion that there are outright contradictions in scripture, but that is not the case.  The instructions and principles in scripture are multidimensional, and must be interpreted in the sense of looking at a 3-dimensional image, one side at a time.  While mercy and judgement may seem to be contradiction, they are not.  They are vitally linked.  Multifaceted.  Much like love and justice.  Everybody loves love.  At the same time, everybody loves justice.  They are both good things, but they are quite different.  Everyone wants mercy for themselves, and judgment for those that hurt them.  It's all about balancing the dualities in scripture.  

God, within his divine character has the perfect amount of mercy and the perfect amount of judgement.  He applies them in perfect amounts to fit every situation.  The unrepentant villain receives judgement, the sinner who comes to the cross receives mercy.  It's all contingent on our actions. 

Bearing that in mind, how can we choose resting faith, and also choose action?

James 3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

We must sow peace.  For you gen z kids, "sowing" is when you plant a seed in the ground.  That's where most food comes from.  Dirt.  We plant our good deeds in the dirt, and they grow over time into a harvest of righteousness, bringing peace to our hearts.  Blessed are the peacemakers.  

Peace in the storms of life.  Who could hope for such a rare thing?  Most people I see today look half crazy.  Running through life, hurrying along from this to that.  Seems crazy.  Like I woke up in a nightmare or something.  The further I get from the world and it's values, the more I'm disturbed by what it does.  Have you felt the same thing?  I certainly have.  It's come to the point that I find it generally disturbing to just go about my days.  It's all so antithetical to what God would want a society to look like.  I feel so powerless against it.  The media is so powerful.  The companies, the advertisers, the sex industry, all so powerful.  It sucks.  I wish I could flip a switch and make it all ok.  But God is letting this thing play out.  He's letting it get real ugly before Jesus returns.  Why?  I'm not sure really.  I wish it was over today.  I wish the kingdom would come.  I'm ready, my faith in Jesus is here and I know with that faith, I am clean before my maker.  

Life is a balancing act.  In the past I've lived by the misguided motto "All things to excess."  Some people live there lives that way and never find out there is another way.  I've found out.  I've gotta unplug myself from the world, while still remaining in the world, offering the way out to those who could want it.  There are so few that seem to.  Yet there are many.  The remainder of an unbalanced equation.  With God all things are possible.  When the world drives me nuts, I need to step back and realize that God is in charge.  Some things I can change, most of it, I can't change.  So then I will accept them as they are today, as I am today, and rest in the knowledge that I live in the extended grace of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.  

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 

 

Origin, Meaning, Morality, & Destiny: An atheist and a Christian square off on four qualifiers of a Worldview

Introduction: 
Discussion and open dialogue are a wonderful aspect of a free society.  To that end, a friend and I have gotten together to address the topic of worldview.  Two worldviews will be examined, the Atheist perspective and the Christian perspective.

What makes up a worldview?  The prompt I suggested was on four central topics, the four qualifiers of a worldview made popular by Dr. Ravi Zacharias, a Christian philosopher and writer.  

The four areas were:
Origin - How does your worldview explain the origins of humanity?
Meaning - How is meaning described within your worldview?
Morality - What is the moral basis of your worldview? 
Destiny - What is the future of your worldview?

A good friend of mine by the name of Jennifer Sternitzky was kind and gracious enough to step out and explain her worldview by these qualifiers, upon my request.  Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Green Bay, with two degrees in Psychology and English.  Jennifer is a feminist and a well read atheist.  We've been friends for several years.

We decided upon approximately 750 words, one page, to describe the four points of worldview in a concise, direct manner.  Enjoy.
 


The Atheist Perspective:
Jennifer Sternitzky, University of Green Bay

Origin: I believe in evolution, human and social. I believe humans evolved from apes, and apes evolved from…whatever they evolved from. I don’t pretend to understand everything in science or how evolution works, but I don’t believe there is a God (Christian or otherwise) or in any higher power. I believe we are the product of a series of mutations, enabling the ‘fittest’ to survive, though I do not believe humans are the ultimate beings. I believe we are part of a larger ecosystem and no living creature is above the other, though people certainly act like humans are the dominant creature. I suspect that somewhere along the way we’ll find a way to destroy ourselves—maybe even our planet. If we destroy ourselves, I suspect vegetation and animal life will repopulate the earth; whether humans ever re-emerge again, who knows. 

Meaning: Plenty of people tell me that without God there is no meaning to life, and I disagree. Humanity is special, not because God created us all with a special purpose, but because we didn’t have to be. Through a series of mutations, humans evolved into what we are today, proving that we were better fit to navigate the world than previous humanlike primates. Still others ask if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys. And those people clearly don’t know how evolution works. It happens over millions of years, very slowly, mutating and branching off into new species. Other primates were equally good at surviving and so their species was sustained. The same with humans. But I digress. I believe humanity is special because we are sort of ‘happy accidents’; mortality makes it special too. We’re born with a certain, undesignated, amount of time to live and to create our own meaning. We find what means the most to us and strive to create a life around it. Most humans want to help others in some way—be it art, science, philosophy, psychology, civil service, etc. I believe humanity’s purpose is to look out for each other and to love each other and ensure the species’ survival. In the evolutionary sense at least. We find our own reasons to live and to make our difference in the world. 

Morality: I’ve also been told that without God there can be no morals, or that, as an atheist, I must have no morals. And I again disagree. I believe in love, hope, honor, loyalty, honesty, trust, respect, etc. Those things don’t come from God. They come from within and from human interaction. They are not imposed on us by some invisible spirit. To me, if you need God to tell you what’s wrong or right, and you can’t figure it out on your own, then you may be part of the problem. Also, I find that excessively religious people try to pass off their own opinions of morality as God’s will or God’s word or God speaking through them. It seems as if they’re trying to justify their own hatefulness. Also, basing morality off of an ancient text written by superstitious people who had vastly different values (slavery, women as reproductive beings only, myths about how crops appeared or weather changed, etc) seems absurd, as does picking and choosing the parts we agree with and want to practice. Do we still follow the Malleus Maleficarum? Of course not.  Because that’s of a time when people believed different things, superstitious, irrational things. They condemned things out of fear, because they didn’t understand it. I’m a firm believer in “Just because you can’t explain it, doesn’t mean God did it.” 

Destiny: To be honest, I don’t know that I believe in destiny. It’s a nice thought to believe that everything happens for a reason and we all have some special purpose, but that also defeats the idea of free will. It may be comforting to believe that there’s a special plan for each of us, but it’s illogical and superstitious, and doesn’t allow for people to take responsibility for their own lives.

The Christian Perspective:
Justin Steckbauer, Liberty University

Origin: The question of origin has puzzled man kind for centuries.  How did we get here?  Where did we come from?  How did life come to be?  For the Christian, the action and the process by which life came about, the length of years it took, the exact biological functions that brought about the complex human life form are less important than the first cause.  Micro evolution, small changes in species that provide for adaptation, is beyond dispute.  That is something science can measure and observe.  In fact, I love science.  However, macro evolution seems highly speculative, and the processes by which a puddle of amino acids could become a highly complex life form like a human are not observable.  Given chance, matter, and time, a puddle of amino acids will never, ever become a human being.  It is simply impossible, statistically.  For the atheist, the first cause is a vacuum, an unanswered question: Where did energy come from?  For the Christian, the first cause is a loving architect of the universe, a necessary first cause who over 10,000 years or 7 billion years, crafted the universe into existence.

Meaning:  The question of meaning in Christianity is simple: We are children of the loving biologist, chemist, artist, writer, and architect, the designer of the human soul, who we call Father God.  In that context, every human being has value, incredible value, so much that God would come, Jesus Christ, to offer himself as a path of redemption for his wayward people.  In addition meaning, for the Christian, is a stark reality: The Earth is a very troubled place, and the problem is not outside ourselves, but within ourselves, and the only treatment is the indwelling presence of Jesus.  In the context of meaning, we find a treasure trove in the Bible of meaning, and inherent worth. 

Morality: What is the perfect moral code?  Who had it?  What does each moral code look like when put it into practical application?  For atheism, we see Nazi Germany, with Nietzsche's idea of the superman put into practice.  Genocide.  Again in Russia, Stalin a former seminary student turned atheist, what do we find?  The writing of Karl Marx used for the purpose of subjugation.  Genocide.  And what about the Christian worldview?  The most prosperous countries on planet Earth, in contrast: Europe, and the United States.  Now we see in the 21st century as Europe and the United States drift into post-modernism and naturalism, corruption begins to grow like a cancer.  

The teaching of Jesus Christ is the perfection of morality described in powerfully simple terms: Love God and love others, as you love yourself.  Jesus Christ provides the model for a life of humble service to others, that will always bring about the most peaceable and prosperous paradise, when practiced in truth.

Destiny: What future does an atheist have, after 100 years have passed?  After 1000 years have gone by?  The atheist passes out of existence into the natural and biological cycles of the environment.  What future does the Christian have?  Unending life, in community with a loving God and fellow believers who have chosen to fly in the face of everything the world says, and do it the way God says.  Jesus Christ provides the way, he is the road, a personal savior present, willing to show you the hard truth about yourself, and offer a way of total redemption and a future unimaginably wonderful. 

Conclusion: 

 Thank you for reading.  An open and respectful dialogue is vital to the ongoing discussions and debates between Christians and atheists as we attempt to navigate and make sense of things in a difficult world.  Respect, love, and mutual admiration can go a long way to healing wounds and bringing otherwise diverse groups into reasonable social harmony.  Take care and God bless.   


Related Posts:
Secular Views vs. Christian Truth
The Power of Love in Western Culture
Outlook for a Revived American Christianity
Questions on Salvation and God 
Processing the Past and Being Restored

Depression & Meaninglessness: Where is God in the depths of despair?

Ecclesiastes 2:17-23 (NIV) So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. ¹⁸ I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰ So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²² What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? ²³ All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

There is a part of me that aches with meaninglessness.  I cannot describe fully, how terrible it is.  Who can manage it?  Solomon the writer of Ecclesiastes describes the pain of wisdom.  He described the meaninglessness of the daily life.  

I've always, even before becoming a Christian, been keenly aware of the meaninglessness of life.  I've always been a deeply depressed young man.  Maybe I just read too much.  And maybe it's been a tough walk.  Psychologists say that the impact of a divorce, in particular, an ugly divorce is often worse than the death of a parent, on the children involved.  

There are many types of pain in life.  There are many ways to hurt.  But who can say that they are happy?  I've asked that question to many, and the most common answer is that they are not happy.  Many say that God wants us to be happy.  And I believe that.  The question I wonder about is the timing.  Happy now, or happy later?

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 (NIV)

1 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

Timing is everything.  Who can know the mind of God?  Who can perceive a being without beginning or end?  I have yet to understand the self existence of God.  The first question is always, well, who made God?  Anything that exists has a beginning, right?  Then I think, if I was God, I would be intensely disturbed by the notion of how I came into existence.  I would be terrified to ask who I was, and how I came into being.  Because everything I am aware of has come into being, including myself.  At any moment before 6:00 PM on April 6th, 1985 I did not exist aside from inside the belly of my mother.  Nine months prior I did not exist what-so-ever. 

In a very real way, I find myself incapable of understanding a self-existent entity capable of generating a universe with mere thoughts and acts of will.  The notion is beyond my ability to comprehend.  Because by all the calculations I muster, there must be something before and therefore the designer of what is after.  But logically there must be a first undesigned designer.  Origins is an absolutely fascinating topic.  But I'll leave it there.

The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind of emotional chaos and depression within my own mind.  I very often struggle with intense, crippling depression.  I struggle with anger too, and frustration.  I don't know how most people do it.  This is such a difficult existence.  I find myself so isolated from those around me, that I can hardly bear it.  I find myself so desperately crippled by fear and worry that I can hardly keep going day by day.

Always in my mind is the starkness of the limitations of this Earth.  Always in my mind is the evil, the political corruption, the next mission and the next lost cause to champion.  The burden of my heart is for the millions around me who seem brainwashed to care for nothing but sports teams, television shows, drinking, and sex.  I try to tell them about Jesus Christ, and it's not even that they have questions or don't understand, it's that they just don't care.  I'm gripped with the hopelessness of the human condition.  There is very little I can do.  Only when the Holy Spirit grabs someone, does anything change; Or when someone is sufficiently defeated to offer a surrender, and come to God in earnest humble seeking. 

The noise is incredible.  I find myself captured by it too so often, by the screens, the phone screen, the laptop screen, and noise of the radio, the music, the videos, and the noise of endless goings on and news and stories and cinema.  I make war for my prayer life, for quiet time with God, but I find myself losing that war.  I make war against sin, and I find myself with surprising victories at times, but so often still trapped in certain patterns, whether it's food, or coffee, or cleaning or overspending.

Thankfully, God breaks every chain.  It happens, over time.  But I find myself frustrated, with the pain.  Often the agonizing, drizzling pain over a single day.  The anxiety, the worry, the anger that grips me at times.  It seems so unmanageable at times, like I might just explode.  Of course this is nothing new.  This is not surprising.  Such is mentioned time and again in the Bible.  Elijah found himself deeply discouraged after his greatest victory.  Job, with good reason, found himself deeply impacted by suffering.  Jonah fell into despondency and anger.  Moses doubted his own abilities.  Gideon had little faith.  Thomas doubted.  Peter denied his friend.  Jesus wept.  

There is no doubt that suffering is part of life, and the reaction against suffering is pain, sadness, depression, doubt, fear, and agony.  

That was the one thing that cheered me up a bit over the past few days.  I remembered that Jesus Christ, my own God, is intimately acquainted with suffering.  Jesus suffered.  He cried out to his Father in heaven.  He wept over so many people not being able to hear his message.  He felt frustrated as many of his followers refused to follow him anymore, because his teaching seemed too hard.  He wept over the death of a friend.  He wept watching his friends' friends crumbling in grief.  Jesus was nailed to a cross, to die slowly.  Perhaps nearly as bad as dying slowly, was the mental trauma of such a death.  He was mocked, ridiculed, when he knew deep down that he had never done anything wrong.  Not even a little.  He was laughed at.  He was shamed.  

In the past, when I found myself in a hospital bed, or in jail, or sitting before a judge... it wasn't always the ordeal that was the worst part.  The worst part was how people looked at you, how people treated you.  They looked you in the eyes angry, ashamed, and their eyes said: "you are bad. you are wrong.  you are evil."  When children are abused early in life, according to psychology, the worst part is being treated like an object, instead of a person.  And that's how they looked at Jesus.  They treated him like a demon, a monster, and condemned him, hung him up, and spit on him as he died slowly.  

The point of this description is to emphasize one point: Jesus understands when I suffer, when I feel lost and alone and isolated, and he understands when you feel depression and despair.  He knows.  He understands.  And he cares.  

Understanding that my God knows exactly what I'm going through, and "walked the walk" as it were, I can then begin to see that the problem is not with God, the problem is with my perspective.  It's easy for people to lose perspective in this world.  It happens to me all the time.  I'm a fallible human, it just happens.  

How did Jesus confront his accusers?  He asked them questions.  In so doing, he opened them up within their own thinking and helped them to see the truth from a new perspective.  

I was "advised" by a dear friend, watching me bitterly peruse in my own morass, to take a new perspective.  She said "Justin, stop it and write a gratitude list. Now!"  And I did.  Would you like to see it?  I knew you would.

So I asked myself: "What do you have to be grateful for?"

I came up with:
I'm grateful for the people who encourage me at 11 am on Tuesdays.
I'm grateful for bottled water.
I'm grateful for a warm house to live in, thank you Father.
I'm grateful for 2 years of recovery!
I'm grateful for my friend Chelsey.
I'm grateful for my job at the Salvation Army.
I'm grateful for my church that I go to.
I'm grateful for my heavenly Dad. 
I'm grateful for Jesus Christ.
I'm grateful for the people at the shelter that I get to help.
I'm grateful for 89Q.
I'm grateful for my home group.
I'm grateful for almond milk.
I'm grateful for my mom and sister.
I'm grateful for the grace of God.

Most of us, all of us, have a lot to be grateful for.  When I start to focus on the negatives, the corruption, the lost, the defeated, and the hopeless then I need to find a new perspective.  Jesus understands my isolation and depression.  But Jesus invites me to be grateful in him and his completed work.  Jesus reminds me to be filled with all joy despite trials and persecution, and suffering.

In closing, Colossians 3:15-17 (ESV) says "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
 (underline added for emphasis)

              

The Elegant and Meaningful Message of the Book

1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

There is so much noise surrounding the Bible.  There is so much rhetoric.  There is so much bias.  There are so many skeptics, with so many things to say.  But when you actually open up the Bible and read it, wow.  Just wow.  The message is elegant, beautiful, deep, and meaningful.  There are so many ideas, so many stereotypes.  It's taught to mean things it never meant and twisted to say things it never said.  But in the end, when I actually, myself, open up the book and read it myself, I find something quite different.

That has been my experience in many areas.  History is another example.  I was very illiterate regarding history and as I read it, more and more I understand the present problems the world faces.  Another area is regarding church history, the crusades, and the development of the New Testament canon.  I had read books like the Da Vinci Code and the Gnostic gospels.  Such fabrications, such obvious forgeries.  Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.  In retrospect I was looking for a reason to disbelieve.  I read a bunch of conjecture and took it as fact.  I watched the movie Zeitgeist as well.  It was an interesting look at world politics, but it also tore apart Christianity.  At first I was impressed.  But after reading up on the topic, I realized that most of the information about religion in Zeitgeist was simply not true.  I watched a rebuttal to Zeitgeists claims regarding Jesus, and similar stories in other religions, and almost none of Zeitgeist's claims held up under academic scrutiny. 

Truth gets lost very easily in this world.  So does trust.  But there is one outside the system in whom we can trust.  That is God our Father, through his son Jesus Christ.  

Our Father in heaven is indeed faithful.  And I will in return be faithful to him.  During this present hour of struggle we must suffer in all manner of trials.  I've found these trials particularly taxing on my emotions, my ability to keep going everyday, and my ability to sleep soundly.  These trials often hurt badly, it's no doubt.  But, as verse 7 says, the testing and building of my faith is yielding something worth more than gold.  Did you know that an ounce of gold today is worth 1,180 dollars?  An ounce is the size of a peanut.  Imagine what your faith will be worth in heaven. 

I choose to believe what God says today, in his book.  That is a radical thing to do, even in a church setting.  A lot of people will give it lip service, but they don't live it.  After youth group they go home and have sex with their girlfriend.  They go get drunk and watch the game.  On and on.  It's radical to really believe and follow the Book.  Can you handle that?  Can we do that?  

Let's do it.  Do you really believe him?  I do.  He says in verse four "This inheritance is kept in heaven for you."  That's not just a nice religious thing to say, or a romantic tradition, it's a fact and a reality.  

Verse 3, in his great mercy we have a new birth into a living hope.  It's so elegantly stated, don't you think?  The scriptures cut right through my mind, my emotions, and the Holy Spirit within gives me a trigger that what I'm reading is actually true.  I love that.  It's just awesome.  It's amazing.  It's foundational.  It cuts through all the advertisements, false truths, sexualized culture, rhetoric, pomp, and lets me know there and then that God is indeed the sovereign creator of the known and unknown universe. 

Verse 5, we through faith are shielded by God's power until our coming salvation.  Wow.  Shielded through God's power.  I love that.  I need that shield, everyday.  When I wake up in the morning I take a few minutes to lean over and make my petition that God my dad would shield me from the temptations of this world.  Verse 7 the perseverence of our faith through this world of skeptics, and reasons to doubt will, yes, will result in praise, glory, and honor at the coming of Jesus Christ.  

Verse 8, though you don't see him, you know him, you love him, you believe in him.  Remember what Jesus said to Thomas?  Jesus said: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

Finally at the end of verse 8, and going into verse 9, you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the end result of your faith, which is the salvation of your souls.  Very simply, it is eternal life we are receiving through Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Amen.  

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The Servant Leader: A Radical Concept

John 12:26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 

The radical idea of the servant leader.  I have brought this subject up many times.  The true role of leader in the Bible is that of the humble servant.  People have said that kind of limited view of leadership is "dangerous."  I disagree.  The biblical view of leadership is most certainly humble service.  Listen to what Jesus had to say regarding leadership:

Matthew 20:25-28 (ESV) But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  

That seems pretty clear to me.  Also have a look at the way Luke recorded it:

Luke 22:24-27 (ESV) A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 

Also, have a look at the example Jesus left for us in his actions in John 13:

John 13:12-15 (ESV) When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  

The role of the leader is the servant of his entire congregation, his organization, or missionary group.  In the United States often the pastor or leader looks more like an Oil Tycoon or CEO.  Rick Warren comes to mind.  Or in the case of Mark Driscoll, when the pastor plays king on the mountain, and staff members get bullied as a result.  Power, prestige, influence has often been the role of the pastor in the United States.  Such things invariably lead to corruption.  Dare I even mention the Pope or Bishops across Europe who have so often wielded such immense power, leading to such intense corruption in the papal ranks?  

I really don't think I'm wrong about this one.  You'd be hard pressed to find scripture to back up a Pastor as a wielder of influence and power.  Historically we've seen time and again that when too much power is wielded by religious leaders that power is abused and the cause of Christ in the world is damaged.  To me, that seems much more dangerous than the servant leader.  

It's important to understand that while I am referring to a humble servant leader, that is greatly different than a servile weak leader.  

Let's look at 1 Timothy 3:

1 Timothy 3:1-7 (ESV)
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 

The servant leader is a radical concept.  Self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.  Gentle, but firm, able to lead but not lording it over his people.  It takes careful balance.

In conclusion, how would Jesus lead?  He led by serving.  He set the ultimate example of putting others before himself.  In the end his servant attitude meant he died for his friends.  That is the ultimate picture of a leader, yesterday, today, and always.    

Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  

Big Picture: The Solution to all the Problems of Earth

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The first verse of the Bible says in the beginning God created.  And the last verse of the Bible says:

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

From the very beginning of time, space, reality itself in which we exist God the designer, the grand architect of energy and matter foresaw all that would happen.  He knew before his voice called the stars and planets into existence that a redeemer would be needed for a wayward mankind.

Does that mean that God forced man into sin so he would need a redeemer?  Most certainly not.  God paradoxically gave 100% free will, yet could also foreknow every decision that would be made.  Foreknowledge doesn't take away choice, why would it?  Just because my architect knows the choices I'll freely choose to make, doesn't mean that I'm any less free to make them.  

"Sin" is a taboo word, of course.  It conjures pictures of angry religious people condemning homosexuals to the hell fires.  But what is "sin"?  What does it mean?  Sin, the word, in it's simplest form would be a choice that hurts someone or something, instead of helping or being a neutral action.  A father raping his daughter would be a sin.  The girl will be traumatized for the rest of her life.  The "sin" will most likely have long term effects on that girl as she grows up.  She may become a prostitute or stripper, subconsciously concluding that her worth is found only and entirely in her sexual ability.  She may become a shadow of a person, lapse into depression and later commit suicide.  She might become a drug addict and overdose at age 37 in a crack house.  And as the Bible says, the sins of the father are passed on to the son.  People misinterpret that to think that a mean, cruel God punishes children for their parents mistakes.  Of course that's not the case.  What that verse does mean, is that when a father sins, very often his son will pick up on that behavior, start to duplicate it.  Consider the example of cigarette smoking.  Children of smoking parents are extremely likely to smoke later in life.  Thus it's passed on, generation to generation.  In the example of the girl raped by her father, she may in turn pass on that abuse to her children, and her children may then pass it on to their children.  Do you see how destructive "sin" is?

So then, if we're to be frank and honest and let the emotion behind the word "sin" wash away, we can start to see that our planet, our home of 7 billion people or so has a serious problem that can be summed up in one word: sin.  

Sin is doing the wrong thing when we know the right thing to do.  We're all guilty, every single one of us are guilty of adding to the problems of our home rather than helping.  Sometimes we do try to help.  But more often we've hurt people.  We've hurt family, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, and ourselves.  It's frank, it's bare, it's not a fun truth, but I never said it would be easy.  But it is the truth.  
The media, the companies, foundations, organizations, political parties are always in such a frenzied search: Why is our world so troubled?  How can we solve it?  What's the problem?  Who is the enemy?  How do we deal with this financial crisis?  How do we deal with militants in the middle east?  How do we end such institutional corruption?  What about poverty?  How can we stop AIDS?  Is everything really getting better despite the evidence?

How often do we stop to see not the problems surrounding us, but the problems within us?  Forgive me for so many questions.  But often questions help us open up within our own assumptions.  

In the history of Earth found in Genesis we see the beginning of the problem in the temptation and fall of the first humans.  From there we can look to the historical texts of the Old Testament or to the written history of the world outside the Bible for evidence of the problem.  Oppressive power structures a plenty, wars and genocides.  One might expect these tragedies would become less and less frequent over the years, but as humanity began to gather into larger tribes and nations the wars only became that much more violent and brutal.  

The problem was clear.  Even under God's guidance and laws, the nation of Israel was unable to sustain a healthy love for truth and mercy.  One generation would return to the Lord, another would depart.  One can read through the histories of Chronicles, Kings, Samuel and see the problem very clearly.  One generation follows the laws, another generation does a 180 and worships idols.  Reminds me of 2 Chronicles 34:14-21:

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan.
¹⁶ Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him: “Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them. ¹⁷ They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. ²⁰ He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah,^[a] Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: ²¹ “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”

The previous generation had gone so far from God that they had lost even the writings inspired by God!  When Josiah became King his men had to search for it and found it in the rubble!  This was God's nation on Earth, Israel, to be an example to the nations!  Incredible, truly incredible.

To understand the big picture of the Bible, the Book, the multifaceted message of Christianity one must first understand the need for redemption.  

God made man perfect.  Man chose a path of self-deification.  Man wanted to play god.  Today, 2014, is the resulting culmination of that disastrous choice.  The sin pile built up slowly from 6000 years ago, and now it's at it's height.  

The Bible beginning in Genesis describes God introducing man to the problem: trying to live outside of god.  

Early in the book of Job, the story of a man's suffering, Job prophetically spoke these words: "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth" (Job 19:25). 


During the story, the Old Testament God raised up his nation, Israel among the other nations to be his people.  If they would trust in him, have faith in him, and live by his laws, all would be well.  Israel could not do that however.  God foreknew that as well.  


We see the theme running through every book of the OT, of the need for a savior, a redeemer.  In books like Isaiah and Joel the coming savior was prophesized as coming to redeem Israel.  And he did.


The name of that savior is Jesus Christ.  In the New Testament are the four gospels, the eye witness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of God himself, Jesus Christ, come to redeem his people.


The cure for sin, for the woes of planet Earth is Jesus Christ.  Why?


John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

On an individual, one on one basis, Jesus Christ redeems man.  Let's say Joe Trouble, our exibit A reads my blog and decides he wants to accept Jesus Christ as savior.  He's lived a normal human life, hurt some people, helped a few, but now he's found himself in a bit of a mess because life seems meaningless.  He welcomes Jesus Christ into his heart, his life, and as a result he is born again.  Assuming this is a legitimate conversion experience, at the moment he truly trusts and believes in Jesus he receives the Holy Spirit within and declared "sinless" in the eyes of God the Father.  He has his ticket in hand.  Regeneration is triggered by the presence of the Spirit and he begins to experience and embrace new motivations.  The Spirit works in his heart to begin the process of sanctification and he begins to be a blessing to the same world he was once a curse to.  

Joe now regularly donates to charity.  Joe helps his neighbor lady take out her garbage and recyclables.  Joe starts encouraging his coworkers.  Joe starts calling his mother once a week to see how shes doing.  

Do you see how one by one, person by person, the world changes through the transforming power of Jesus Christ?  No other religion can offer that.  All the others, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism are all about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps "just try harder" mentality.  "You've got to outweigh your bad deeds with good deeds" kind of life.  We've seen how well that works.  It simply doesn't.  

It is solely in Christ that the world is made better.  Of course the world doesn't want to hear that.  They can't hear that.  To be told "you are a sinner" is something no one wants to hear, no one.  Who can love the truth when it is so difficult?  It's a hard question to answer.  But God won't force anyone into his loving embrace.  He loves us too much.  He gives us the choice.  The gift of choice is so profound, so expansive, that there is no way we can understand it, because there is no way to comprehend not having a choice.  Without choice, one might as well be a computer, a calculator, or a bologna sandwich.  Even my dog has choices!  Though sometimes I wish he didn't.  

Do you understand?  Can you comprehend?  

I know I couldn't.  My ears closed at the word "sin" or "Jesus."  I could not face the truth.  I couldn't come to Jesus until I had nowhere else to go.  So be it.  The only thing that matters to me is that I came.  But only to Jesus.  No one other name answered.  

In the word of John Calvin: "We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ (Acts 4:12). We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. It we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is "of him" (1 Cor. 1:30). If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his annointing... if purity in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth... if newness of life, in his resurrection... In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other." 

The message of the Bible is first, the need for redemption from an internal brokeness, emptiness, lostness, and yes, sinfulness.  The message of the Bible is second, and most importantly, the free gift of justification, regeneration, sanctification offered in the perfect life, perfect death, and perfect resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.  

The answer to sin is not an idea, or a concept, but a person named Jesus Christ.  The key to completion is Jesus Christ.  The key to the endless problems of planet Earth is none other than Jesus Christ himself.  Because the key to solving the problems on Earth is not a problem outside ourselves, but a problem within ourselves.  The problem within is solved by Jesus Christ eternally, and the Holy Spirit presently.  The problem of the physical world, the environment, the political and economic chaos is found in the renewing of the universe itself by God the Father described in the last book of the Bible called Revelation (Rev. 22:1-5).  It is described like this:

Revelation 22:1-5 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Now this is not conceptual, or allegorical, but real.  It's actual, and it will physically, actually take place.  That is the great hope.  That is the great reality.  But God will not force anyone to take part in the renewing of our planet.  Those who through their lives choose to ignore and reject God's offer of community with him, will then be disconnected from God.  Admit it, it's the same thing you would do.  If you had a friend living in your house for 90 years, constantly mocking you, ignoring you, telling you that they don't need you or want you, disobeying all your house rules, hurting your kids, your wife, your husband, the other people in the house, that person would be gone way before 90 years was up.  I'd throw that person outside into the dark after about a week, probably less!  It's not so "mean spirited and judgmental" when we think about it from his perspective, is it?

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible helps us identify the problem with ourselves, the illness, and then provides the free gift of the cure, the cure being Jesus Christ and his work.  If you don't know him, please begin to seek him out.  Pray to him, ask him to reveal himself.  If you do know him, congratulations!  That is a wonderful thing.  Choose happiness, despite the troubles you see around you.  Because you are greatly blessed and awaiting the renewal of all things in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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