Thoughts From Chris

One of the common messages teens hear today is the message of abstinence.  The message goes something like this:

“Make a commitment to not have sex until you are married.  God wants you to ‘save yourself sexually’ for your future mate.  Just think of how beautiful it would be for you to give your future spouse the gift of your virginity.  Not only does God want you to wait until you are married, there are also many other practical reasons it is good and right to not be sexually active before marriage.  STD’s are common today among sexually active teens.  You are placing your body and your future spouse at risk if you place yourself in a position to get one of the many STD’s.  Safe sex or protected sex is not only no guarantee against STD’s or potential pregnancy, it violates God divine plan for sexual purity. ”

This is the basic message of abstinence.  The main problem with this message is that it sets the bar too low.  Remaining a virgin until one gets married is a worthy desire, but it is an inadequate substitute for true, godly purity.

The reason the message of abstinence is inadequate is because godly purity is about a heart and mind of purity – not simply the abstinence of a physical act.   Understanding this distinction is critical in pursuing deep and inward sexual purity.  Consider the following verses:

^“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matt. 15:19)

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” (Job 31:1)

^“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” (Eph. 5:3)

Sexual purity from a biblical perspective means that sexual thoughts only occur within a marriage relationship.  Sexual purity is a mind and heart issue.  All impurity begins in the mind.  That is the battleground of pursuing purity.  Sexual acts always begin in the mind.  This is why abstinence or avoiding STD’s are inadequate (they address behavior).   Someone can remain a virgin and yet be filled with immorality in the mind and in various kinds of actions.  This also is the impetus for the question, “how far is too far?”  When sexual purity is relegated to curbing behavior, there will always be a question of where the line should be.

However, when purity is pursued in the mind, the line simply becomes anything that instigates impure thoughts.  This is not difficult to determine. 

Practically, we have been trying to plant some initial seeds in the minds of our children (who are elementary age).  The window of opportunity we have capitalized on is t.v.  Television shows aimed at elementary children already begin at a young age with the concepts of boyfriend, girlfriend, kissing, etc.  We have had numerous conversations with our children that these kinds of pursuits are not appropriate for their age and are really more appropriate when one gets into college.  When our kids see these things on t.v. now (even among their own age level shows) their radars go up, and they know these things are not appropriate for them.

As parents we have a great opportunity to plant seeds before they get into middle school and high school when these feelings become much stronger.  We are trying to build parameters in their minds early in the process that romance is really for those who are much older (even though the media begins planting these thoughts into children who are in elementary and middle school). 

Again, this is another opportunity for us as parents to train our kids to know the difference between how the world lives and how followers of Christ live.   They are being inundated already as second and third graders that pursuing romantic feelings is acceptable and normal for kids or even teens in school.  We are doing what we can to shape them in a very different way.  It is helping them develop the muscle of morality when they are still very young. 

We pray almost every day for our kids purity – not just that they will be virgins when they get married, but biblical purity in the heart and mind. 

If you still have children living at home I want to encourage you with the difficult task of training them to be critical thinkers.  Parenting is not one of the easy things of life.  We all need to be encouraged and challenged at times with how we parent.  It is hard work.  One of the many challenges of parenting is the balance of teaching our children to respect and obey authority, while at the same time teaching them that it is OK to question authority. 

My six year old son came home a couple of weeks ago with a book from the library at his school he wanted me to read to him.   As I started to read it, I realized the book was coming from an evolutionary perspective on the origin of life.   Our kids don’t go to a Christian school, therefore, evolution is what they get taught.

Evolution is what many people in our society believe, and so I am thankful they are learning it.  It also gives my wife and I a great opportunity to train our kids how to be critical thinkers – that it is actually OK to question authority.  We want them to learn that not everything their teachers teach is ALWAYS right, that not everything their church teaches is ALWAYS right, and that not even what their parents teach is ALWAYS right. 

We want our kids to be submissive to authority and respectful, but we also want them to learn how to use the lens of Scripture to decipher truth from error and to evaluate what they get taught.  Teachers, church leaders, and parents can and will all make mistakes but everything must be tested by Scripture.

We recently sat our third grader, second grader, and kindergartner down and talked about evolution and then talked about Genesis one.  We want them to know that there is a disparity between what the world often believes and what God says.  It was a great conversation. 

We have also already had some brief conversations about other issues in this same vein like homosexuality, abortion, sexuality, the way our society views boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, modesty in dress, friends they have of other religions, etc. 

Out in the world they will and already are engaging in so much stuff.  We want to train them how to think these things through biblically. At the same time we want them to learn how to respect people who believe differently.  We don’t want them to be judgmental against people who may believe abortion should be a choice or homosexuality is simply an acceptable sexual orientation or that all religions lead to God.  We are trying to train our kids to believe differently based on Scripture regarding these and other things, but we also are just as motivated to train them how to love, serve, befriend, and get along with people who believe and practice things we believe are not right.  We want them to avoid relativism (everyone’s views are equally true), and we want them to avoid arrogance (a prideful demeanor of “I’m right and let me prove to you how wrong you are”).

Like I said, parenting is not easy.  It is hard work.  Whether your children go to a Christian school, public school, or are home schooled, I encourage you to teach your children not only what God says but what the world teaches as well (and teach them the delicate balance of how to respect people who believe differently).  Counsel them how to navigate through a world that will bombard them with challenges to their young faith (as well as the delicate balance of respecting authority while at the same time questioning authority).  We don’t simply want clones of ourselves, we want independently thinking children who are following Christ and influencing other children to follow Christ as well. 

And lastly, let me say, it is not too late to teach teenagers these things (or even adults for that matter), but if at all possible, let’s begin instilling these things in our elementary children.   The earlier we can train them to think critically and biblically, the more potential they will have to be leaders of those around them and not simply followers of the masses.

If you are in the trenches right now with this stuff (like we are), and feel like you fail more times than you succeed (like we do), be encouraged and don’t lose heart.  Keep going after it.  You are not alone.  It is worth it in the end.

Sometime last year, I received the following e-mail asking me my perspective on the emerging church movement.  If you don’t know what that is, this e-mail exchange will still make some sense.  I would say we probably have a lot of different opinions on the movement within Grace, but here was my response as simply some food for thought.  Here was the original e-mail. I have changed the name to make it anonymous:

Hi, Chris

What are your thoughts on the Emerging Church Movement?  How would you define it, are there things associated with it that we should learn from, and are there things associated with it that are dangerous (and if so, how do we combat those things)?  These are questions that my wife and I are processing and would appreciate your input as we seek clarity on this issue.

Thanks,

Joe

My response:

Thanks for the e-mail, Joe.  Again, sorry it has taken me a little while to get back with you.  I didn’t want to give you a trite answer.  Here is how I will answer your question.

There have been, are, and will be many “movements” within the Christian church.  An example of some of these movements are the following:  Seeker sensitive movement, Parachurch movement, Charismatic movement, Dominion theology movement, Contemporary Christian music movement, Young Earth/Old Earth Movement, Church Growth/mega church Movement, Liberal Theology Movement, Conservative/Fundamentalist Movement, Liberation theology movement, Home School Movement, House Church Movement, health/wealth movement, emerging church movement, etc.  

Most movements are reactionary and while they usually emphasize a good point (and can serve as a correction in the church), they often take things to an extreme and swing the pendulum over to one side.   Believers in the church often negatively react to their positions and arguments, and this becomes a reaction to the reaction.  The end result is that you have polar opposites who argue for and against their positions.   Most of the time the most biblical and balanced truth is somewhere in the middle.  The polarization is unfortunate, because generally there is healthy truth contained within the movement outside of its extreme.

The emerging church is no different.  In my humble opinion (and it is only that) this movement is by nature reactionary.  It is a reaction against the traditional church (go to a building to get your spiritual goods and services), it is a reaction against the “Seeker Sensitive” church (performance oriented and spectator oriented), it is a reaction against approaching doctrine as logical proofs that make perfect sense while minimizing mystery and the transcendental, it is a reaction against viewing God and the church through the lenses of Greek culture versus Hebrew culture (left brain/linear in thinking versus right brain/creative and nonlinear in thinking),  it is a reaction against emphasizing the distinctions among denominations versus emphasizing the likenesses, and it is a reaction against these things and much more (both in approaching style and in approaching doctrine).

What happens in any movement is that extreme statements are made by some public voices in any given movement, and the critics on the other side use those examples to show the error of the movement as a whole and why it is so unbiblical and dangerous.  And while it is true that those extreme statements are usually unbiblical and should be called out, most don’t have the ability to avoid “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” while they do this.  In other words, most pounce on the extreme statements and cannot look past them to see some of the truth contained in the movement.   Even if a movement can have an overall positive effect and correction to the church at large, the focus becomes exclusively on the extreme statements and further polarization occurs. 

These kind of polarizing debates occur within the peak of all these movements.  I really like reading from authors of all the different movements I mentioned above.  I find solid truth in all of them, and at the same time I find some error with some of the more extreme statements and ideas in all of them.  I cannot think of any of these movements that don’t make extreme and unbiblical arguments at times.  If someone were to ask me, I don’t consider myself in the seeker sensitive camp, the mega church camp, the emerging church camp, the liberal church camp, the fundamentalist church camp, the charismatic church camp, or even the house church movement camp.  Yet, at the same time, the polar opposite of each camp would probably label me in all of these because I do believe and practice some of the biblical truth I see in all of them. 

As it pertains to the emerging church (or any other camp for that matter), I don’t like some of the extreme statements that I hear from some leaders within these camps, and I would not shy away from declaring them as error.  As you can imagine, if you take any of those issues I raised regarding what the emerging church is reacting to, and you take them to an extreme, you will move into unhealthy and unbiblical perspectives.  I am sure it is not hard to see what those unbiblical positions might look like. While we should never shy away from declaring truth from error, I have really appreciated much of what has been written from this particular movement, and it challenges me to look back into Scripture, to shed some of my presuppositions that I perhaps didn’t know I had, and to make me more biblically balanced. I think most of the movements I have studied have done this for me. 

This may be a little broader answer to your question about my take on the emerging church (and may not be specific enough for you).  I think, though, that explaining this broader perspective as a whole on church movements in general helps you understand how I approach these kinds of things, and how I would not agree with certain aspects of emerging church and wholeheartedly agree in other areas.  

Feel free to ask me any follow-up or clarification questions – or if you want me to get more specific.  I am certainly no expert in all this – just trying to learn and grow as I journey through it. 

Thanks, Joe.

Chris

As we begin this series called “An Ancient Walk with God – a survey of the OT” we have some inherent challenges we must recognize as we approach an understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.  We will spend some 35 messages covering the main themes of the OT, but we cannot go into it without recognizing our own cultural and presuppositional biases and assumptions.  Here are some things we need to remember:

3000 years removed from the authors

Different way of life

Different language

Different geography

Written from an Eastern mindset

Higher value of experience over knowledge

Higher value of truth within story over abstract truth

Higher value of mystery over systematic answers

Higher value of holistic thinking over linear thinking

How fitting it is that the presidential inauguration of America’s first black president comes a day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  This is truly a historic day in our country.  Regardless of what one may think of Obama’s views and politics (both good and bad), I never thought I would witness a dark skin president in my lifetime. 

Some consider Obama the next savior or messiah of the world, and others consider him the next anti-christ (two extremes I personally avoid), but whatever the case, history is being made.  Racism, bigotry, and prejudice have plagued our country for centuries, and there are signs of hope.  

We still have a long way to go in conquering racism, but hopefully we can continue to make progress as Jesus leads us to treat people with dignity and respect regardless of the color of their skin.

I think the below picture shows how historic this inauguration really is for the United States with regard to race.

See below pictures of our 44 presidents.

I had an opportunity earlier this week to pray with some pastors at “A Hope Center” (formerly known as Crisis Pregnancy Center).  We prayed with board members and staff members on behalf of unborn children, parents who are hurting and confused, as well as for the ministry itself. This ministry has been in Fort Wayne for 23 years.  The last 22 years they have had one executive director at the helm – Judi Hapke. 

Judi retired last month, therefore, there is a current search for a new leader.  This ministry has had significant expansion in recent years and is certainly a beacon of light in our community for the marginalized in our society. This Sunday is “Sanctity of Life” Sunday.  Please pray for “A Hope Center” and pray in particular for wisdom as they select their new leader.

This past Sunday I gave everyone at Grace Gathering a very practical but significant challenge.  In our quest to become more like Jesus in the depths of our character, and in our quest to become more engaged in his mission as a missionary to those around us (loving them, serving them, and calling them to repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins), here was our challenge:

1)  To grow in two specific areas of Christ-like character.  The first one I would choose for all of us and the second area each person would choose on his/her own.

The first area is to be more sensitive to the promptings of God’s Spirit in 2009.  As God prompts us in our hearts to help someone, to seek someone’s forgiveness, to challenge someone, or however he prompts us, we should attempt to follow through on that even if inconvenient or uncomfortable. 

I then encouraged everyone to select a second character trait of Jesus to more intentionally pursue this year from the following list (this is just a beginning list of Christ-like traits): compassionate, humble, firm, loving, prayerful, submissive, truthful, approachable, persevering, patient, bold, gentle, giving, faithful, empathetic, merciful, flexible, Spirit-led, discerning, self controlled, sexually pure, joyful, forgiving, disciplined, caring, thankful, simple, self-denying, content, uncompromising, servant-oriented, gracious, etc.

The other major area of challenge I gave was in regard to taking on more of a missionary mindset in 2009 as we intentionally engage in the mission Jesus gave us of loving people and calling them to repentance for salvation. 

I challenged us all to think of two specific people that we interact with:  1) the person we think is the least likely to become a follower of Christ in 2009, and 2) the person we think is most open to repenting and placing faith in Christ this year.  My challenge is that we pray for these two people as regularly as we can, and we pray for the opportunity to love them, serve them, and share the gospel of repentance and faith with them this year. 

Are you willing to take the challenge of becoming more like Jesus in your character and life this year and becoming more engaged in the mission Jesus has given us?

It is time for us to stop talking about what God calls us to do and start living it. 

The new year usually begins with hopes and dreams of what “could be” for 2009.  This is not only true when it comes to our spiritual lives but also in other areas as well.  Take for example the Detroit Lions. I know they were terrible in 2008.  Well, maybe more than terrible.  They were the worst team ever in the history of the NFL.

The most common way church people answer the question, “how are you doing spiritually?” is by basing their answer on the evaluation of their “devotional life,” which is typically Bible study and prayer.  If we are consistent in our Bible reading and prayer, we have a tendency to think we are doing well spiritually.  If we are not consistent, however, in our Bible reading and prayer, we have a tendency to think our spiritual life is in the tank.

Somehow, particularly in the Western World, we have made our pursuit of reading, study or engagement with the Bible the marker of spirituality.   The more we study and learn the Bible, the more we come under the illusion that this equals spiritual growth.  What many do not realize is that this is deception.

What we often do not understand is that the Bible is a means and not an end.  Reading it and learning it is simply a tool or channel that we should use to get to our goal or end. 

What is the goal or end?  To live out a Christ-like character and to be engaged in Christ’s mission of serving and reaching the world with the gospel. 

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.” 

Why would James warn us against deception as we engage the Bible?  The answer is because reading and studying the Bible as an end, and not a means, can lead us to a false sense of spirituality.

Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees in a similar way when he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me.”

What was the problem?  The Pharisees were great studiers of the Bible but were not transformed into the likeness of Jesus.  They used the Scriptures as an end and not a means. 

Jesus was the greatest example in the history of the world of what it means for a human to follow God. 

Here is a list of some of his attributes or character traits: compassionate, humble, firm, loving, prayerful, submissive, truthful, approachable, persevering, patient, bold, gentle, giving, faithful, empathetic, merciful, flexible, Spirit-led, discerning, self controlled, sexually pure, joyful, forgiving, disciplined, caring, thankful, simple, self-denying, content, uncompromising, servant-oriented, gracious, etc.

If we want to evaluate our spiriutal life, Bible reading and prayer do not cut it.  Don’t get me wrong, they are both very important, but if they don’t lead to transformation, they often lead to deception.   Are we becoming more like Jesus by the way we live our lives and are we more engaged in his mission of reaching unbelievers with the gospel?  There is the measuring stick of spirituality. 

In our sermon this past Sunday I suggested that the church should spend more time and more energy on Bible living and not simply Bible reading and study.  The church in America is one of the most theologically advanced churches in the world and yet one of the least transformed churches in the world. 

Probably not one of my safest messages of the year, but one I think all of us, including mostly myself, need to hear.  

As we move into this new year, this is a good time to set our sights more clearly on the goal.

More to come on some of this later …

Tomorrow we will host a free meal to the community from 4:00 to 7:00.  Although most of our house churches are serving the community in various ways during this holiday season, this is an opportunity for our entire church family to serve together. 

We had many people step up during this last week to help us have enough food and grocery gift cards to provide the community.  Thank you to all who have or will be contributing. 

Feel free to invite individuals or groups of people whom you think would appreciate a nice meal this Christmas season.

Hopefully you are surviving the ice storm today.  Look forward to serving alongside many of you tomorrow.

Throughout the OT God communicated to his people that they should repent and have faith in him:  “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”(Eze 18:32)

John the Baptist enters the scene and he has one main message as he prepares people for the Messiah:  “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4)

Jesus comes on the scene and guess what his message is: “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

Jesus’ apostles and disciples took the mantle and followed Jesus’ example: “They went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mark 6:12)

The early church then relayed this same message: “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20)

The message of repentance, which is to turn from sin and turn to God  in some area of life or in all of life, is the dominant message God gives to humanity all throughout human history.  It is the consistent message throughout Old and New Testament.  

As the church today, we are called to love people, serve people, be a blessing to people, live out Christ-like character, and with humility call people to repentance of their sin and turn to a loving and forgiving God.    

This past summer I asked our church gathering how many people have communicated the message of repentance for the forgiveness sins to an unbeliever in the last 12 months.  About 10% acknowledged they had.  This means that 90% of the church is not regularly engaged in communicating the very message Jesus commissioned his church to give (the dominant message in all of Scripture).

If this is true, and if this is true generally speaking in the contemporary church today, does this mean something is broken in the church today?  If 90% are not involved in communicating the mission, the very reason Jesus has left us on the earth (to live out and speak the message), has the church departed from the mission?

Being a witness, in the Acts 1:8 kind of way, means we communicate Jesus to the world both by how we live and what we communicate as the message.  Are we losing the message?  Have we lost the boldness that John the Baptist had (that cost his life), that Jesus had (that cost his life), or the early church had (that cost many of their lives)?

Maybe it is simply sharing our faith story with someone and applying it to them at the end, or asking them to do a Bible study on the gospel, or simply looking for windows of opportunities in our conversations with others.    Encouraging people to repent and believe in Jesus can happen in all kinds of ways.

What price are we willing to pay to be bold in calling people (with gentleness and humility) to repentance for forgiveness?  Apparently, 90% of us aren’t willing to pay any price at all.  We are not even engaging people with the message. 

Is something wrong or am I missing something?