|
|
 |
|
Leave Blog Feedback! View Blog Feedback!
|
|
|
|
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Biggest Question of Them All!
The last few weeks on Wednesday nights, we’ve been discussing the
ramifications of the basic facts of the gospel: Jesus lived, died, was buried, rose again, and people believe in Him.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, our sins can be forgiven, we have hope beyond this life, and specifically, we’ll
be resurrected when Jesus comes to earth for the second time.
All of this discussion leads to a natural question:
what happens in the meantime, after we die and before Jesus comes again? That question was quickly asked,
and I answered it quickly (and poorly - my sincere apologies for not being better prepared). So, to supplement
that discussion and to introduce the topic to those who were not there, I give you two types of answers: the short one and
the long one (note: these are both the SAME answer; one is fleshed out in more detail for those people who like knowing details).
So, the question: what happens to people immediately after they die?
The Short Answer
The New Testament clearly spells out the promise that when we die, we go to be with Jesus, whom we’ve trusted,
loved and followed in this life. While He was on the cross, Jesus clearly promised one of this fellow criminals
that he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day (Luke 23:43). Furthermore, in his letter to the Philippians,
Paul writes that while he would love to continue to preach on earth, he would much rather go on to be with Jesus (Philippians
1:23), and in his second letter to the Corinthians, while discussing a similar topic, he claims that being away from our bodies
means that we’re in the presence of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8). So, for Christians, when we die,
we go (spiritually) to be with Jesus until the Second Coming, when we are given new bodies and are with Him physically.
The Long Answer (tip of the cap to Gareth Reese and his Special Study
in his commentary on Acts)
The first time we see mention of a ‘place of the dead,’ is all way
back in the book of Genesis, where Jacob talks about going to Sheol to see his son (Genesis 37:55). The
word ‘Sheol’ is a Hebrew word, and its Greek equivalent, which is used in the New Testament, is ‘Hades.’
All throughout the Old Testament, we see men expecting to die and then go to Sheol/Hades, including righteous men,
like Job (Job 17:13), David (Psalm 16:10) and Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:18). Therefore, Sheol/Hades, for several
thousand years, was simply the place where all dead people went after they died. It was not good or bad,
a reward or punishment; it was simply the next world after this one where people went to.
In the New Testament,
we learn that Jesus made a change to Sheol/Hades after His death and resurrection. We’re told that
He went to the normal place of the dead, though God did not ‘abandon’ Him, meaning He wasn’t there for good
(Acts 2:26-28). Instead, Paul’s letter to Ephesus seems to suggest that it was at that point that
Jesus separated the righteous dead and the unrighteous dead: we read that when He ascended to heaven, He did not go alone,
but instead took a ‘host of captives’ with Him (Ephesians 4:8). This would fit perfectly into
the time frame when Jesus was dead, but not yet raised, and would explain how Jesus could promise paradise to the rebel being
crucified next to him (Luke 23:43).
Now, in the time after Christ’s death and resurrection, it appears
that Sheol/Hades is the place where only those who do not belong to Jesus go to, while those who are Christians go to a different
place with Jesus, who is reigning at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). A key passage is in the book of
Luke, where we read of Jesus’ hypothetical scenario of Lazarus and an unrighteous rich man (Luke 16:19-31).
In it, we read that the unrighteous man is suffering in Hades (NOT Hell, as the KJV and NIV read; the Greek word is
different than the word translated ‘Hell’), and Lazarus is at Abraham’s side in another place.
Both men can see the state of the other, but there is a ‘great chasm’ fixed between them that cannot be
crossed. This account, which may or may not be parabolic, suggests there is an intermediate place between
life and the eternal states of heaven and hell, since we’re told the Lazarus is comforted (Luke 16:25), and in a perfect
heaven, there would be nothing to be comforted from. Therefore, we can assume this story is not describing
the final and eternal state of either man.
At Jesus’ Second Coming, we’re told that every person will be
resurrected (Acts 24:15) and given a new body (1 Corinthians 15:35-49). Those who have belonged to Jesus
will live with Him eternally on a renovated, perfect earth (2 Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 21), and those who did not will be
cast into Hell with all of Hades, Satan, and his minions (Revelation 20:9-14).
The Bottom Line There
is one reason, and one reason only, that the afterlife is going to be so amazing for Christians: we get to be with Jesus!
So many people see Heaven as this perfect place where nothing ever goes wrong, but the REASON everything is so great
is that Jesus is there. Here’s the point: if you’re planning on spending eternity in Heaven,
then learning to passionately love and follow Him in this life is essential. After all, when we do get
there, His is the first voice we’ll hear, telling us ‘well done!’ (Matthew 25:21)
That sounds pretty
darned good to me!
2:12 pm
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Caught in the Crossfire
Sometimes the deepest questions people ask have the simplest answers.
Sure, there are some questions- ‘Where did God come from?’ or ‘What would have happened if Adam and
Eve never ate from that tree?’ or ‘What will it be like when Jesus comes back?’ - that have long, complicatedly
convoluted answers because, at the end of the day, those questions are ultimately unanswerable. But there
are other questions that, for one reason or another, people fail to see the answer to, even thought it’s staring them
right in the face. One of those questions is this:
‘Why do bad things happen
to good people?’
Variations on this question can be ‘how could a loving God allow so much evil?’
or ‘if God is so powerful, how come so many tragedies happen?’ Regardless of how the question
is worded, however, the answer is surprisingly simple, and it’s perfectly illustrated in our sermon this past Sunday.
As we finished our series on the life of David, a man after God’s heart, we learned from his greatest failure.
Often, we think of the accounts of 2 Samuel 11-12 as the story of ‘David and Bathsheba,’ when upon a closer
look, we should probably call it ‘David Betrays Uriah.’ Considering Nathan’s parable
and his subsequent criticism of what David had done (see specifically 2 Samuel 12:9), it appears that the heart of David’s
terrible sin was how he treated his once dear friend.
As you’ll recall, Uriah was one of David’s
‘Mighty Men,’ (see 2 Samuel 23:39), and was a fantastic example of what it meant to be a good soldier, a good
leader, and a good Jew. In other words, no matter how you slice it, Uriah was one of those ‘good
people’ that we always love to talk about. He committed no crime, offended no one, and even went
above and beyond the expectations of God and country to be loyal to his men and his king. And what did
he get for his trouble? He was betrayed and brutally murdered, and as salt in the wound, he lost any shred
of dignity that his name had when his wife married David only a week after his death. The way David treated
Uriah was an absolute tragedy.
The question, of course, is ‘why?’ The answer
couldn’t be simpler: a bad thing happened to a good man because David chose evil over good. David’s
choice brought about negative consequences, not only in HIS life, but in the lives of others. See, God
has set his creation up as a community - we are all intertwined in this life. Therefore, not only are effected,
for better or worse, by OUR actions, but we are effected by the actions of others. This is a truth that,
short of living in on Antarctica, we all have to face.
But we still want to know ‘why?’
Why didn’t God stop David? Why didn’t God warn Uriah? Why didn’t
God compel Bathsheba to confess? Why? I think a better question is this: why WOULD God
do any of those things? The simple fact is that we are the ones who are ultimately in control of our lives,
and since we are an interpersonal community, we are ultimately in control of the live of other people. It’s
because of that fact that Jesus’ teaching almost universally dealt with how we treat each other - God has given us the
ability to steer our own ship, and He’s not going to take that ability away from us just because our idiot decisions
lead us straight into glaciers in the ocean.
None of this, though, changes the tragedy that was the end of Uriah’s
life. But you know what? Uriah lived his life the best way he knew how, and he died
standing on his faith and devotion to God. His integrity cost him his life, because he got caught in the
crossfire of David’s horrible decisions… but I suspect if he were writing this blog, he’d have no regrets
about how he handled that situation. I believe with all my heart that Uriah was perfectly content with
his decision. He understood that he made the choices he made not out of self-preservation, but because
they were the right choices to make.
And I imagine that God was smiling when he saw what Uriah chose.
3:38 pm
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What's Your Motivation?
What is your motive for living your life the way you do? It’s
an important question, you know – and one day it could end up saving you. The other night I couldn’t
sleep, so I found myself watching a 3 AM episode of ‘Dateline’ on NBC. In the episode, they
told the real life account of a man who had been accused of putting out a hit on his son’s daughter. The
motive? Racism – the man was a traditional Indian (from India, not North Dakota) who supposedly disapproved
of his daughter in law’s black skin. His main argument was that the motive was bogus, as he had many
African American friends and had never shown any bigotry before (actually, scratch the part about ‘saving you.’
The man was convicted of murder. Maybe it’ll work better for you one day…).
At any rate, the case was all about motive, and when you think about it, people’s motivation can tell a lot about
their actions. A person whose main motivation is selfish will act in a different manner than one who is
selfless, and a person who wants to help other people will make different decisions than someone who wants other people to
help them. A person who’s motivated by money or power will carry himself with a different attitude
than a person who’s motivated by peace and contentment, and someone whose main motive is blind love and adulation of
another person can justify nearly any action. Our motives are what drive us to be the people we are, for
better or for worse.
So, what should our motive be to live a Christian life? Take it from a person
who was divinely authorized to say ‘follow in my footsteps’ on multiple occasions (see Philippians 3:17, 1 Corinthians
11:1, etc.): one motivation of our lives should be sin. That’s right – sin. In
1 Corinthians 15, Paul lays out his argument concerning the life after this one: because of the basic gospel message that
we believe and live, we can be assured that we will live forever with God in a resurrected, glorious existence.
As he makes his case, he offers an interesting aside: he is the least of all the apostles, because he is the only one
who has persecuted the church the way that he did (15:9). But instead of simply beating himself over the
head with false humility or using his past as an excuse for failure, he did the opposite: he worked HARDER than any other
apostle (15:10)!
In other words, Paul used his past mistakes as motivation to live a fruitful life in the here
and now. He knew full well what he was capable of, and he understood better than he would have liked that
his actions had the potential for dramatic consequences, one way or another. Therefore, it was all the
more important, to him, that he used the time he had been given to lead other people to a saving faith in Jesus.
He allowed his mistakes to be a tool instead of a hindrance; after all, what better person to teach on love, grace
and mercy than one with intimate experience in hate, wrath and punishment? He knew where he’d been,
and he knew the pain it had caused, and because of his knowledge on the subject, he made sure that not only would he never
go back, but others would know the truth as well.
Maybe you can’t relate to Paul because you’ve
never done anything ‘all that bad,’ or maybe his words about being the least of the apostles ring true in your
heart. Regardless, we are ALL capable of terrible actions, and we all need to be motivated by what we are
without God. The beauty is this: God doesn’t see us as the sum of our mistakes, and instead of dwelling
on who we are not, he helps us to be who we are in the best way possible. When we follow God, He can help
us to make sure we’re never back in the dark places we’ve lived before.
All we need is motivation!
11:23 am
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
David's Dancing
While writing last week’s sermon, I have to admit that there was a
topic that had nothing to do with the point I was attempting to convey, but I continued to think about it… it’s
all about our idea of ‘worship’ today, and specifically what we sing about on Sunday mornings.
(Note:
Before we go any further, let it be known that the sermon did NOT get recorded this week, as my mic battery died about ten
minutes in. For those of you who missed it, read 2 Samuel 2-6, and then read Matthew 6:19-21.
The point I hopefully made was that David’s intense celebration and subsequent humiliation was a result of a
lifetime of investment into God’s plans. For us, then, if we want to make the most of our relationship
with Christ, we need to invest ourselves into what He’s doing in the lives of His people, and when we do that, we’ll
share in the type of joy David had.)
Whenever I read about David dancing in his underwear, I have to admit that
I think about a song by David Crowder Band called ‘Undignified.’ The song was (I think at least)
written in the spirit of this event, and quotes David’s words to his skeptical wife. This song is
just one of a gaggle of ‘worship’ songs that talk about dancing before God - in fact, if you listen to Christian
radio enough, you might think that a pre-requisite to being a Christian is having an audition tape currently on the desk of
the producers of ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’ Furthermore, in most of our ‘worship’
music, we learn that we should ‘bow down,’ and ‘lift our hands,’ all in an attempt to ‘feel
God’s presence,’ ask God to ‘pour out his power and love’ and ‘touch our hearts’ and accept
our ‘gifts and offerings’ to him. This, we’re led to believe is ‘praise and worship.’
Now, full disclosure: I am, personally, the person who chooses each song in each service at ACC, so if any of this is humorous,
then it’s my fault. And yes, we regularly sing songs that send the message that I described in the
last paragraph (more on that in a future blog post, I promise). But I do think that, especially when it
comes to David’s spontaneous act of devotion in 2 Samuel 6, there’s great irony in trying to hold him up as an
example. David wasn’t laying down an authorized way of worshipping God; he was freely acting out
his excitement to God in the only way he could think of. He didn’t do something that someone else
prescribed, and he didn’t do anything that anyone expected or that God had commanded. Instead, he was simply expressing
himself in the best way HE knew how.
In that respect, David’s actions had a lot more
Jesus to them than Chris Tomlin or Michael W. Smith. His wife was right: his display WAS inappropriate,
humiliating, socially unacceptable and even a little perverse. And all of those adjectives can be used
to describe Jesus’ ministry when he was here. He spent time with whores and national traitors, and
he taught his disciples that the social norms relating to women and Gentiles didn’t apply to them. He
attacked the religious institution and refused to get bogged down in politics, and he re-defined what it means to have a healthy
relationship with God. In other words, Jesus was a social radical and rebel who showed us that if we are
to truly worship God, we’re going to look a whole lot different than the world around us.
What does that have
to do with you and me? Well, obviously it doesn’t matter too much if we’re overly charismatic
in our Sunday song service, so if that’s not you’re thing, that’s totally fine. More
than that, though, I think it’s high time that instead of copying what was radical thousands of years ago, that we thought
of life-altering ways to worship God in our own lives. We don’t have to worry about restrictions
that are needlessly placed on us by so many in the church, because our relationship with God is about us and Him, and no one
else. We are FREE in Christ to worship as we please.
So… how are YOU going to
show God that you appreciate and love Him?
4:43 pm
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Your Preacher, The Heretic!
While researching for last Sunday’s sermon (and by “researching,”
I mean, “watching ‘King Arthur’ because it was the introductory video clip”) I came across an interesting
aside to the main story in the film. Arthur, as we’re told, is a devout Catholic, and he follows
the theological teachings of a man named Pelagius. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll recall that
the other Catholic leaders are no fan of this Pelagius fellow, and eventually, Arthur is distraught when he learns that his
teacher has been killed.
I can’t speak for the historicity of Arthur, but as it turns out, Pelagius really did
exist, and his teachings really did cause quite a stir. He was most famous for two doctrines in particular:
he taught that mankind had free will to choose whether or not they would be saved, and he denied the teaching that is ‘original
sin.’ The first doctrine is fairly self-explanatory, but the second, perhaps, needs more explanation.
Original sin can loosely be defined as the idea that every person born into the world inherits the guilt and consequences
that resulted from the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3). This doctrine is widely taught in Catholic and
various denominational churches, and the practice of infant baptism has been directly derived from this idea. Well,
when Pelagius taught against original sin and taught that men were free moral agents (the majority of Christians believe that
men are pre-destined and therefore have little to no free will), he drew the ire of the Pope and was branded a ‘heretic’
- a dissenter from the truth of the church.
I bring these facts up not because I love history (I do not, in fact), but
rather, because I have a confession to make: while I do take issue with some of Pelagius’ teachings (as I do nearly
every teacher), I happen to agree that he is correct in the two main doctrines that caused his excommunication.
First of all, since the Bible clearly teaches that God wants everyone to be saved and that Jesus died for each person
(see 1 Timothy 2:4-6), AND Jesus taught us that not every IS saved (see Matthew 7:13-14), then there is only one conclusion
to be made: God has given us the ability to choose for ourselves whether or not we will spend eternity with Him.
And second of all, the very passage that explains the results of Adam’s sin on the human race (Romans 5:12-21)
also spells out the fact that what Adam caused for the human race, Jesus erased (see verses 18-21). So,
I am quite confident that we are NOT pre-destined before we are born to go to heaven or hell, and I’m fairly sure that
our decision to avoid baptizing infants is a solid one.
BUT
What if I’m wrong?
What if the perspective that I’ve taught from for the last fifteen months is diametrically opposes to the Biblical
view? What if we really ARE pre-destined and we really WERE born sinful? What then?
Am I going to hell for false teaching (see Galatians 1:8-9)? Are all of you going with me since
you’re following a false teacher (see 2 Peter 2:1-2)?
These are heavy questions, and rest assured, they
are some that have haunted me for quite some time (being in the minority is never a completely comfortable position to be
in). At the end of the day, however, I have to hold on to one fact: I am not saved because I have perfect
theology. Not only that, but I don’t belong to God because I proved to Jesus that I was smart enough.
I am a Christian - a saint whose citizenship is in heaven, a child of my Father who created the universe, a born again,
Holy Spirit filled follower of the Savior of the world - for one reason and one reason only: because I have trusted that Jesus
is sufficient for my needs, in this life and in the next. Period.
One of the verses
that has helped me to determine who I am in Mark chapter 8. In it, Jesus tells the ones he was teaching
that, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take
up your cross, and follow me,’ (Mark 8:34). In other words, if you want to be a Christian, then be
one - it’s not about adhering to a specific set of doctrines, but instead, it’s about living out your relationship
with Jesus. It’s about who you are, NOT how well you can answer theological questions.
It’s about trusting and being obedient to Jesus, NOT perfectly explaining every detail about His nature.
So, if I’m wrong (which, for the record, I’m pretty positive I’m not), my
salvation and standing before God is unchanged, because that was never based on my being right or wrong in the first place.
My standing before God was ALWAYS based on Jesus, and my choice as to whether or not I would follow Him.
And right or wrong, heretic or teacher of the truth, I am going to follow Jesus… and I invite all of you to
join me.
3:18 pm
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Say It Ain't So A-Rod...
Obviously, I’m
a baseball fan. Ok, I’m a HUGE baseball fan. Fine - I probably love baseball too
much. I’ll admit it. And that means the most recent news coming out of baseball
circles has had me thinking a lot.
If
you haven’t seen the headlines, I’ll fill you in: Alex Rodriguez, perhaps the best player in all of baseball,
has admitted to taking steroids over a three year period, from 2001 to 2003. This is devastating news to
an already depressed baseball fan base - A-Rod is currently on pace to blow by Barry Bonds on the all time home run list,
and when he does, it has been widely assumed, baseball will once again have a ‘clean’ home run champion.
Well, that hope is officially no more, as Rodriguez has admitted to more than even Bonds ever has about taking performance
enhancing drugs.
So, what do we
make of it all? Well, in an interview with ESPN.COM yesterday, he gave a somewhat stunning reason for his
steroid use:
When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight
of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.
Enormous amount of pressure? The weight of the world? That’s a
pretty stunning admission considering the circumstances: in 2001, Rodriguez signed a contract to become the highest paid professional
athlete in the history of professional sports. The terms? Ten years, $252 million!
Now, most of the time we look in disgust at how much these guys are paid to play a game, and we almost
never give them even a little bit of slack to make mistakes. Well, you’ll have to forgive me, but
I actually feel a little sorry for him. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live up to the expectations
of millions of people, ESPECIALLY considering the contract that he signed.
Pressure and
expectations are something we all have to deal with. No matter how old we are or what profession we work
in, there’s always pressure to succeed, to be the best and to be make a name for yourself. And make
no mistake, professional athletes are human, and they’re no different than you and I when it comes to having to deal
with this. I can really empathize with Rodriguez, because I know what it’s like to have pressure
to succeed - to get good grades, to hold down a good job, to save money and maintain a home, to be a good husband, to be a
good preacher, to see ACC grow, to win people to the kingdom of God. All of us have been there, and all
of us know what that’s like.
So maybe we should all admit that A-Rod (and others) taking performance enhancers is no worse than when
people deal with pressure by getting trashed on the weekend, smoking a carton a week, or yelling at their wife and kids when
they get home from work. Maybe, just maybe, we ALL struggle with dealing with stress, and it’s a
tad hypocritical to throw stones at a guy just because we have (falsely) idolized him enough to give him more money than the
gross national product of a small nation. Maybe we should be a little understanding and realize that
athletes and celebrities are just like you and me.
One last thing: how SHOULD we deal with stress in a healthy way? Well, the simple answer
is still the best. In Jesus Christ, we find our true identity, and when we belong to God, we ARE good enough,
no matter how stressful life gets. It’s a good thing to be reminded of that every now and then, huh?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Single Coolest Thing a Band Has Ever Done
While I love music in a way I can hardly describe, I can also freely admit that most of the
time, the music industry is about one thing: money. Unfortunately, this is usually true no matter what 'scene'
you're talking about: radio bands, 'Christian' bands, indie bands, etc. They're all out to make a buck,
and while their art is, at times, stunningly moving, the bottom line is the bottom line. And that makes what one
of my favorite bands is doing that much more amazing.
The band is Mae, and I've been a fan for around five
years now. Their debut was called 'Destination: Beautiful,' and it was just that - beautiful. I was immediately
in love, and while it's been sort of a roller coaster ride with them since that point (they've struggled to duplicate
their earlier work), I've stuck with them. Well, recently, they were dropped from their record label, and that gave
them an opportunity to unleash their new passion called the '12 Songs. 12 Months. One Mission' project.
Here's how it works: every month in 2009, Mae will independently and digitally release a new song. You can
download, and better yet, you can set your price (minimum $1). The amazing thing? THE BAND WILL RECIEVE ZERO PROFIT
FROM THIS PROJECT! Instead, every penny their fans pay for these songs will go towards a charity. The first charity
they're working with is Habitat For Humanity, and Mae, along with their fans, will be building a home for Rhonda Floyd,
a single mother of two living in Virginia. The band has really struck a chord with their fans, as they have, to date,
raised $8,430.37. At this rate, Rhonda and her sons will have a home by August.
I'm not sure there's
anything else to say - Jesus called us to be the salt of the earth and a light to the world, and these guys are doing exactly
that. While Mae's religious beliefs are their own (they're not always forthcoming with their beliefs, though
at least one of their members is an outspoken and committed Christian), they're certainly using their God-given talents
to make a difference for people who need it. I think we can learn a lot from what they're doing, and we can also
help them out with their project (and besides - we also get some pretty solid tunes as well!).
For more information
and to buy their first song, check them out at www.whatismae.com.
3:02 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
