OFFENSIVE

It is popular talking point among progressive Christians that Jesus often offended the religious-types of his day. 

And it is true that He greatly offended the Jewish leaders. He called them whitewashed tombs and snakes and told them they were the children of Satan. And made them mad enough to plot His death.

But Jesus offended lots of other people too. He told them they should stop sinning. That they were under God's condemnation and could expect His wrath. That they had little faith. That they were blind and deaf. 

And the common people didn't plot his death, but they were fine with the plan. 

DOES THIS OFFEND YOU?

Chapter 6 is the longest in the book of John. The preceding chapter tells the feeding of the 5,000, which sets up a detailed discourse in 6 about Jesus being the "Bread of Life". 

Here Jesus touches on his divinity ("I have come down from heaven") and on good works verses faith (The crowd asks, "What must we do to do the works God requires?") and his own upcoming sacrifice for the world ("This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."). 

The crowd struggled to comprehend what Jesus was teaching, but when he started talking of their need to "eat" his flesh and "drink" his blood, they full-on grumbled. 

But Jesus insisted this was the only path to eternal life.

Even many of his disciples - outside the original 12 - considered Jesus's teaching and then griped, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

Jesus's response was not at all seeker-sensitive: "Does this offend you?" 

Then He asked, "What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?" He wasn't backing down or letting up.

The narrative is blunt about the crowd's response: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.

Wow. These were people who considered themselves disciples - who knows how long they had been following Him - but they up and left. 

There is no record of Jesus chasing after them, apologizing for offending them, or softening his words. 

SORT IT OUT NOW

At what point does a church cease being The Church? 

“I decided that we needed to be bold with our message of love and inclusion, especially for those who are marginalized especially by religion,” said Pastor Adam. “My goal is is to be part of a larger movement that is reframing or redefining Christianity so that it’s based on God’s love for all people, but especially those who are marginalized.”

“I just want people to know that God loves them and we love them and we’re for them. It sounds so cheesy but that’s the basic message!” says the Pastor.

“There is a big movement, not just in my generation but in all generations, of people looking for a more inclusive faith. We find it in Jesus,” says Pastor Adam. (Quoted on demilked.com)

"Loving people", though, means warning them when they are headed for a cliff. 

Just imagine all the Scripture passages that will never see the light of day in the Clackamas United Church of Christ. 

It can be a hard pill for us to swallow - because we are so adverse to being "intolerant" - but God hasn't given the church the option of standing by idly as people drive themselves toward the cliff. 

Woe to us if we simply shrug our shoulders and sigh, "It's ok - God will sort it out later."

THE HITCHHIKER

(In relating the following story, I am not recommending this sort of action by anyone outside of a naïve, young, 6'4" male.)

"Whenever you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me."

One summer evening I was driving back to LeMars, Iowa from a week at Lake Okoboji camp when I saw a hitchhiker standing off the shoulder of the narrow country highway.

I was in my early twenties, living in a trailer park, and working as a youth pastor. The man I picked up was pretty shaggy and rather quiet and heading to the South. 

It was getting late and since LeMars was coming up, I told him I wasn't going too much further but that I would be glad to get him to a busier intersection where it might be easier to find a ride for the next leg of his trip. 

There was a McDonald's near the spot I planned to drop him, so when he said he was hungry, I figured I would be generous and give him a few dollars to grab himself a Big Mac and a Coke.

But when we arrived at the McDonald's, I felt a nudge in my spirit - that's all I can call it - that what he really needed was some company. So I stayed and had dinner with him.

As we were eating, I was noticing how little traffic was really passing by and I found myself telling him that I didn't think his chances were too good to get another ride in that place at that time of night and that - if he wanted - he could spend the night at my place. 

He was more than happy to accept. I actually had a spare room in my little trailer and I made up a bed for him. I am not sure how long it had been since he had slept in a bed. He was grateful.

When he closed the door to his bedroom, I said a little prayer that he would not murder me in my sleep.

But then something weird happened. 

Now, I have had some distinct experiences in my lifetime when I have felt God's leading, fewer times when I have "heard His voice" almost audibly. But that night was different from any other spiritual experience I had known - I had the unmistakable impression that Jesus Himself was present.

He was in my home! In fact, I had just given him my spare bedroom to use for the night. Jesus was just on the other side of that door.

I felt God's approval that night and I slept well.

(And the hitchhiker didn't murder me.)

MORE THAN MONEY

I remember passing a homeless man on a city street one night – this was in Lexington Kentucky -  and he looked at me and said, “Do you have any money to spare for beer? I won’t tell you I need money for food because I’m being honest – I am going to spend it on beer.” 

Although I appreciated his honesty, I did not give him any money.

Opening a wallet or a purse is not always the easy solution to someone's troubles that we - or they - hope for. 

I think one of the reasons we are so often reluctant to help the poor is that, deep down, we understand they need so much more than money. 

NEW YORK

When I was 16, I had the opportunity to travel to New York City with a church group. Our group was made up of high school students from all over the state of Indiana.  

When we deplaned at LaGuardia and collected our luggage, we immediately stepped onto a tour bus for a two hour look at the city. 

So we were moving through the streets of the The Big Apple and the bus driver was speaking into his microphone and pointing out the various landmarks.

"There's the Statue of Liberty across the bay" and “we are about to pass the Empire State Building” and all of us students were nodding along and glancing left and right, wide-eyed but passive. 

And then all of a sudden one of the students yelled, “Look! A bum!” 

All the teenage passengers on the right side of that bus jumped to their feet, crossed the center aisle and crushed against the left side passengers to get a look out the windows. 

"Where? Where?" "Oh, I see him!" 

None of us had never seen a homeless person before. 

The poor can be quite invisible to us. And unfortunately, when not invisible, they may not be much more than a curiosity. 

NIGHTFALL IN CAP-HAITIEN

I remember the first time I was caught after dark in downtown Cap-Haitien, a sprawling Haitian city of a quarter million people. 

I was at a restaurant with my 3 Haitian sons – my treat – and when we came back to my truck, night had fallen. Mikken said to me, “You need to drive as fast as you can.” 

And why is that? 

“You don’t want someone to throw a Coke bottle through your windshield.” 

And why would someone throw a Coke bottle through my windshield? 

“To protest the fact that Cap-Haitien has no working street lights.” 

OK. How is throwing a bottle through MY windshield a protest against the lack of working streetlights? 

“People say, ‘If we had streetlights - if the streets were lit up at night - nobody would dare throw Coke bottles.’”

It kind of made sense to me as it sunk in. The poor of Cap-Haitien had no voice. So they were trying to get the attention of people who had voices - the rich. The fact that I had a truck to drive meant, in their eyes, I was rich. 

They figured I had a voice and some power that they could only tap into by lobbing Coke bottles at me.

I think when Peter, James, and John tell the Apostle Paul that they want him to "continue to remember the poor", it is a recognition that the poor can be forgotten. 

It can be easy to forget what is silent and invisible to us. 

THE ADVOCATE

I was struck while listening to last Sunday's sermon by the realization that the Holy Spirit's job description is the opposite of Satan's. 

The Holy Spirit is The Advocate. Satan is The Accuser. 

I think if we listen closely to the jumble of voices in our own heads, we should be able to distinguish fairly easily between the two.

Right?

If it's the Holy Spirit's voice, it might be convicting, but not accusing. It will be for our good, not leaving us wallowing in guilt and shame. The Holy Spirit is not going to be negative in a shaming way. He's not going to tell us we're incapable of doing better. And even if He must tell us tough things sometimes, there's a genuine sense that it is for our own good.

He's advocating for you and for me. He's for us in the deepest way imaginable. 

And not against us. 

YOUR MIND

In "The Veil of Thought", Sam Harris says ...

Your mind is 

"the most rambling, 

chaotic, 

needling, 

insulting, 

insufferable person 

you will ever meet. 

It's like having some maniac 

walk through the front door of your house 

and follow you from room to room 

and refuse to stop talking. 

And this happens every day of your life."  

When I heard this, I thought, "Huh. I guess I'm not the only one."

(By the way - if you're curious - Harris does offer a "solution", a way to shut up your mind. Meditation. Learning how to exert control over your thoughts.) 

REMINDERS

When Peter, James, and John tell Paul to "remember the poor", there is part of my brain that says, "Well, it can't be all that important if they think Paul might forget about it."

But if we are honest, we admit we are prone - always - to forgetting THE most important things. 

Is it a function of our fallen human nature? A result of the limits of the human brain? A shrinking attention span. 

Who knows.

Whatever the cause, it is easy to allow even the most important concerns to fall by the wayside.

Take marriage as an example. Is there anything more fundamental to the whole enterprise than loving your spouse?

I have been married for almost 22 years at this point, but it's a fact that each time I hear Paul tell the Ephesian men, "Husbands, love your wives", there's something in my brain that goes, "Oh, yeah. I need to refocus."

Love God. Love your neighbor. Resist the devil. Honor your parents. Be holy. Serve the poor. 

We need frequent reminders of the most important things. 

REMEMBER THE POOR

In the midst of big discussions in the early church about what actually qualifies as The Gospel, the Apostle Paul visited the Biggies of the Faith - James, Peter, and John - in Jerusalem. He sought them out to double-check his own understanding of Christian teaching "for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain". (Gal. 2:2)

Fortunately for Paul, the Big Three gave him the thumbs up and "the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me." (2:9) They could see that Paul was called and equipped by God to reach the Gentiles just as they were to reach the Jews. And their message was the same message.

It is interesting to note that after all of them agreed on the core of the Gospel - our need to put our faith in Christ Jesus and thereby to be justified in a way not ever possible by observing the law - they went on to agree on one more thing:

"All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (2:10) 

Of all the things they could ask of Paul as they sent him on his way, they chose "remember the poor". 

And Paul responded by saying he was "eager" to do it. 

How about you? 

What does remembering the poor look like in your own life?

Are you eager to do it?

NO THANKS FROM PAUL

My professor pointed out that the Apostle Paul often began his letters to particular churches with something like "grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". 

This was usually followed by an expression of thanksgiving for those particular Christians, something like:

• "I thank my God every time I remember you." - Philippians 1:3
• "We always thank God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you." Colossians 1:3
• "We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers." 1 Thessalonians 1:2
• "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world." Rom 1:8

Even the church at Corinth, where there were major moral failings Paul needed to address, got a similar thanksgiving: "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus." 1 Cor. 1:4

But the church in Galatia? They got "grace and peace" but no thanksgiving.

Instead, Paul goes straight to his point: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all." (Gal 1:6-7a)

I suppose there are degrees of false teachers. Some merely cause believers to go chasing down pointless rabbit holes. I am thinking of a video a friend shared where the preacher was rebuking men for growing beards ... because facial hair on men is a sign of pride!

And then there are those who go much further and make up their own version of the gospel. 

These are the types who had infected the Galatian church. In short, SOMEBODY was teaching the Galatians that they could only be justified in God's eyes by observing the law. "Do this" and "don't do that" and you will win God's approval. This, of course, completely dismissed the need for faith in Christ. 

But, Paul was eager to point out, if we can work our way into God's approval, we have no need for God's grace and "Christ died for nothing!" (Gal. 2:22) 

I guess if you are a church which is dismantling the very heart of Christian faith, you shouldn't expect too many pleasantries from Paul. 

DOUBLING MY CHANCES

In a week I will have the opportunity to preach at the Moravian Church in Hope, Indiana - the town where I taught English not too long ago.

I can't tell you how excited I am. 

Or how scared.

And I am not scared just because I might be a little out of practice in both writing and delivering a sermon. Or because I will know a few people in the congregation. And not know all of the others. Or because I have to deliver the sermon at two services that morning. 

I get scared because I consider preaching to be a momentous responsibility. 

Paul exhorted young Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

My preaching professor back in my seminary days reminded us of  all the biblical warnings against false teachers and how we must be faithful to Scripture in our preaching. 

He was fond of saying, "Don't forget - as soon as you step into the pulpit, you double your chances of going to hell."

"Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." - James 3:1

STUDY WEEK

I made it home by 1:00 AM early Saturday morning after a fantastic week at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.

This was the week for Intensives for my second semester classes and it was all about John Wesley and theology. Great stuff with a couple of world class teachers - Dr. Bounds and Dr. Ury.

What a privilege it is to have the time and resources to engage in this program. I am so grateful.

I didn't expect to get home so early, but a classmate from Indiana had some returning flight issues and decided to ride with me in the van rather than risk missing an important Saturday afternoon event. 

So today consisted of a short run, 5 hours of class, an incredible lunch buffet, goodbyes, and then a 9.5 hour drive.

Thankful to be home now with Melissa and the dogs! 

Here is a grainy photo at the restaurant before goodbyes, but it's all I've got:

WEALTH AND INDEPENDENCE

John Wesley feared rising wealth among Christians would result "in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life."

Let's add one more item to his list that might be just as bad or worse: "independence leading to poverty of relationship". 

When we have enough money, we don't have to rely on family, friends, or neighbors for help. 

Here's a small example of the sort of thing that happens daily in one way or another: 

Say you need to clean your gutters. It's once a year, and it's your only need for a ladder. You have noticed that your neighbor has a nice one, just the right height. So what do you do?

Go to Lowes' and buy your own. 

Obviously. 

That way you don't have to speak to your neighbor. And you won't owe him a favor. 

WESLEY'S CATCH-22

Towards the end of his life, John Wesley published an essay entitled Thoughts Upon Methodism in which he expressed one of his main fears regarding the movement he had founded.

The fear was straightforward: 

Wesley maintained that there is an inverse relationship between wealth and faith: in any culture when riches increase, the "essence of religion" decreases proportionately. And he defined "essence of religion" as "the mind that was in Christ" (Phil. 2:5).

There is Scriptural backing for this: "Has God not chosen the poor to be rich in faith?"- James 2:5

Wesley explained: "Therefore do I not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of true religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality. And these cannot but produce riches."

"But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches." 

Even in his lifetime, Wesley saw Methodism's "spirit ... swiftly vanishing away". 

His solution was this: "If those who gain all they can, and save all they can, will likewise give all they can, then the more they gain, the more they will grow in grace, and the more treasure they will lay up in heaven." 

But that's a tall order, isn't it?

SOIL EXPERIMENT UPDATE

A few weeks ago I wrote about how amazed I was that green bean and marigold seeds could grow in nothing but sand and water. Although they were stunted by the lack of soil, they grew much bigger than I could have imagined using the material in the seed plus sand and water. It seemed to me that something supernatural was going on!

(If you didn't see it, you can read it HERE.) 

Well, today I came across a short video by Mark Rober online and he pulled the veil away. So I want to set the record straight.

(If you've never watched any Mark Rober videos, you need to check him out! His content is both educational and entertaining.) 

Rober explained that most of the mass of a plant is carbon and most of that carbon is pulled from the AIR around the plant. This is why trees can grow hundreds of feet high without pulling an equivalent amount of material from the soil underneath them. 

So my beans and marigolds were getting water, sand AND AIR. And apparently that is enough to grow a few inches tall. I had just overlooked the power of air. 

So my plants are pulling their building blocks from the air around them by a process which science can describe. But should that disqualify the process as a miracle?

Why should it? 

What do you think?

GRADE-A JERK

The Bible features some downright evil people, but also some garden-variety, low-level jerks. 

The man Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda is one of those jerks. His story appears in John 5.

All we are told explicitly about him is that he couldn't walk and had been an invalid for 38 years. He would lie beside the pool, hoping to be the first one in whenever the angel came to stir the water.

When Jesus approached him to ask if he wanted to be well, this man only complained that nobody ever helped him into the pool in time for him to find healing.

At this, Jesus simply told the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And so the invalid found himself healed.

If the man then jumped around in excitement or thanked Jesus profusely, it is not mentioned by John.

Soon after his miraculous healing, some Jewish leaders stopped the man to reprimand him for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. And he decided to pass the blame to Jesus - but he didn't know Jesus's name (never bothered to ask) and Jesus had slipped away. The hassle with the Jews apparently blows over.

Some time later, Jesus caught this guy at the temple and told him to stop sinning or "something worse might happen" to him. 

Did this guy thank Jesus or make him a promise to live righteously? Nope. He ran off to find the Jews and told them "that it was Jesus who made him well". (John 5:15)

He knew the Jews were mad and wanting to find out who was ultimately "at fault" for breaking the Sabbath laws. This guy went out of his way to find them and then threw Jesus under the bus.

What a jerk. 

THE WEEK AHEAD

Not much focus or energy to write tonight. I left Columbus this morning later than I had intended and arrived in Jackson, Mississippi about 12 hours later.

The trip was supposed to take about 9 and a half. 

So I had plenty of time to think and pray. I listened to Scripture so that I could give some thought to an upcoming sermon. I listened to some training videos about writing. And I listened to some of my favorite songs on Spotify.

A week of intensive classes starts tomorrow morning on the campus of Wesley Biblical Seminary. 8:00 am sharp. I am looking forward to it, even if I am still not sure where all of this doctoral work is going.

Some lyrics from Tom Petty played this evening on Spotify and these words rang true for me currently:

"I started out 

For God knows where. 

I guess I'll know 

When I get there."

(Tom Petty, Learning to Fly) 

2-WAY PRAYER

Why do we tend to think of prayer as mono-directional? 

We talk and God listens. "Lord, please do this, that, and the other thing. Amen."

But isn't prayer meant to flow in two directions? Might God have something to say to each of us as well?

The advice to "pray as though everything depends on God" does not acknowledge this second possible direction of genuine prayer. 

If we listen in prayer, He might say, "Here's the part you need to do ..."

Are we in the habit of passing along our requests to God and then logging out? Or do we linger in prayer long enough to hear the still, small voice of God? 

DON'T WORK FOR GOD

 If we "work as if everything depends on us", our work becomes drudgery ... when it's not stressful.

And stressful when it's not drudgery.

At one point when Jesus was hassled by the Jewish leaders for healing an invalid on the Sabbath, he told them all, "My Father is always at his work to this very day."

"And I too am working." (John 5:17)

We are not called to work for God. We are called to work alongside God.

How can you play off God's activity if you are running yourself ragged, working "as if everything depends on you"?

If we can get into the mindset of working alongside God, following His lead, it's going to feel like a slower pace, but more important stuff will be accomplished.

There's so much more joy in it, too. 

AS IF

The internet attributes the following quote to C.S. Lewis, John Wesley, Irenaeus, and St. Augustine:

 

"Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you." 

Whoever originated it, it has been around for years. And it has come out of the mouths of countless preachers, I suppose. And whenever I hear it, it bothers me.

The message seems well-intentioned: "Pray hard and work hard."

Still, it bugs me. Something is off. And here's how I know that it's flawed ...

I can't imagine Jesus saying it.

AVOIDANCE

In Samaria, at the well, Jesus said to the woman who came to draw water: 

"Go, call your husband and come back."

"I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is quite true."

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."      (John 16-20)

Religion is comforting when you can focus on the theoretical and the controversial.

It's not so comforting when you are called out for your sinful thoughts, words, or behavior. 

That is when your pride says, "Let's change the topic."

But at the end of the day, your own sin or righteousness is the only topic that truly matters to your faith. 

Don't avoid it. 

WHEN YOU PRAY

In Matthew 6:5, Jesus teaches, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." 

Years ago, I knew a pastor's wife who bragged - more than once - "Sometimes I am walking downtown, and I get so overwhelmed by God's goodness that I just drop down on my knees right there on the sidewalk and start praying to Jesus. I just wave my arms and pray, and people are walking or driving by me, but I don't care who sees me or what they think." 

She was one of the most insincere people I have ever met. Nobody was fooled. 

Here is the sneaky thing about self-righteousness: it allows the pretense of holiness to remain even as we disobey God's commands.

*****

“Prayer is the lifting up of the heart to God: All words of prayer, without this, are mere hypocrisy.” - John Wesley 

OUTRAGE 17 CENTURIES LATER

Twitter can be fascinating and - simultaneously - bad for my mental health.

Here's a recent example. I found the following tweet rather interesting. As a believer, I see the cross being carved over the top of pagan hieroglyphics as deeply symbolic:

But, this being Twitter, there is no chance of harmony in interpretation.

First, I got a chuckle out of an indignant commenter who does not understand that CE in "4th century CE" is what used to be called A.D. and not B.C. - 

But most of the commenters were preoccupied with outrage - for "vandalism" done 17 centuries ago! The last commenter shown here even takes a dig at Islam in the process. 

Check these out:

Being offended on behalf of ancient Egyptians? Evidence of Christianity as "a parasitic evil that corrupts the sacred"?

This is expert-level virtue signaling. 

Self-righteousness is running rampant in our culture. 

PROGRAMMABLE

Rather than throwing up my hands and saying, "This is just the way I am", I have come to see my brain as programmable. 

This can be very useful in changing behaviors of various kinds - eliminating bad habits or creating good ones. 

I feel like I am still in the beginning stages of understanding the potential of my brain's programmability. 

Here's a good example: If you're like me, you fall asleep in one particular position every night. Also, if you are like me, you assume that this particular position is somehow genetically wired into the core of your being. 

For years I have slept primarily on my stomach with my head on a thick pillow and facing to the left. Over the past year, I started having chronic neck pain. And at first I thought, "What can I do? This is the way I sleep best."

But then I remembered that my brain is programmable. And since most people say it is healthiest to sleep on your back, I wondered if I could reprogram my body's favorite sleep position. 

If I could, I figured it might ease my neck pain. I also wondered if sleeping with my face to the ceiling could help keep my sinuses clear to boot.

So I decided to reprogram my brain.

It took about five weeks, but it wasn't difficult. 

Each night, as soon as I slipped under the covers, I simply lay on my back until I fell asleep, no matter how long it took. During the first 4 weeks or so, I was awake an extra 10 to 45 minutes - when I am used to being out within about 2. After the first 3 or 4 days, I switched to a much thinner pillow and that helped. 

By the fifth week, I had created a new sleep habit.

Now my body is convinced that lying on my back with a very thin pillow is the most natural position for sleep. Once again, I am able to fall asleep within about 2 minutes of hitting the sack. 

The neck pain is diminished greatly. (The jury is still out on my sinuses - if I can go 2 or 3 months without a sinus infection, I will declare it a success.) 

On the down side, according to Melissa, my snoring has increased. 

Maybe I can program my brain to keep my mouth closed. 

ASSUMING THE WORST

A story I came across this morning has been on my mind all day.

It's a sad little story about an older man working at a company where a new project required two normally isolated departments to work together.

This man thought the project was a great idea and so he joked to a young co-worker from the other department, "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"

If you are my age or older, you will immediately recognize this as a reference to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercials from decades ago. In those ads, two people would collide into each other, one carrying a chocolate bar and the other an open jar of peanut butter. The chocolate ends up in the jar. Momentarily irritated, both quickly realize they have discovered "two great tastes that taste great together". 

Anyway, this man quoted this commercial and later that day was called to the HR department. The young lady had reported him for possible harassment! 

She didn't know what he meant with his comment about chocolate and peanut butter, but she figured it was some weird sexual innuendo. 

One of the most unfortunate aspects of fallen human nature is our penchant for assuming the worst about other people's motives. Once you notice it, you will see it everywhere.

Even in your own heart.

FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

Yesterday I posted these results from a study conducted by the Barna Group of 15,000 Americans, asking about their spiritual development. These people were asked where they would place themselves on the following spectrum:

1. Unaware of Sin     1%
2. Indifferent to Sin      16%
3. Worried about Sin      39%
4. Forgiven for Sin      9%
5. Busy in Church Activities       24%
6. Holy Discontent      6%
7. Broken by God      3%
8. Surrender & Submission      1%
9. Profound Love of God      0.5%
10. Profound Love of People      0.5%

If we agree that the whole point of the Christian faith is to love God and to love others, then why are only 1% of respondents reporting that this is where they are in life? Where is the breakdown?

In a sermon entitled Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity, John Wesley was tackling the same sort of question in his day: "What a mystery is this, that Christianity should have done so little good in the world! Can any account of this be given? Can any reasons be assigned for it?"

His conclusion was this:

"What do the hulk of [professing Christians] know of scriptural Christianity? Having had frequent opportunity of conversing with many of these, both at home and abroad, I am bold to affirm, that they are in general totally ignorant, both as to the theory and practice of Christianity; so that they are "perishing" by thousands "for lack of knowledge," -- for want of knowing the very first principles of Christianity."

I think he is right, but how is it that so many people commit their time, their money, and their very selves to something they really don't understand?

FAITH STOPS

In his book Social Holiness: The Company We Keep, author Jonathan Raymond cites a study conducted by the Barna Group a few years ago. 

"Over a six-year period, fifteen thousand people were surveyed in search of their pitfalls and challenges in faith development. All of those surveyed were American citizens, a random sample not limited to Christians. The focus of the study was how Americans assessed their own faith development and progress." (Raymond, page 29)

"Barna calls these 'stops' because it is at these ten points that various groups appear to stop in their faith development and transformation." (30)

Here's what Barna found for Ten Transformational Stops:

1. Unaware of Sin     1%
2. Indifferent to Sin      16%
3. Worried about Sin      39%
4. Forgiven for Sin      9%
5. Busy in Church Activities       24%
6. Holy Discontent      6%
7. Broken by God      3%
8. Surrender & Submission      1%
9. Profound Love of God      0.5%
10. Profound Love of People      0.5%

Some observations:

• It is reassuring that 99% of the public at least knows what sin is.
• More than 8 out of every 10 people recognize that sin is a problem (Stops 3 to 10). 
• Over half the population gets no further than believing their sins are forgiven (1 to 4).
• Another quarter get to that point and then add church activities on top (stop 5). 
• Only about 1 in 10 progress beyond church activities (stops 6 to 10).

Most importantly, how sad are the percentages for #9 and #10? 

Do we not all acknowledge that Jesus taught the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind and the second greatest commandment was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? 

Isn't obedience to these commands the goal of Christian faith? Then how do we have only 1% feeling like they have arrived?

Which "stop" would you have chosen for yourself if the Barna Group had questioned you?

FOCUS ON BIRTH

John doesn't start his gospel the same way Matthew, Mark, and Luke start theirs. 

John has no Christmas story. No shepherds watching over their flocks. No multitude of angels. No manger. No mention of Mary or Joseph.

Instead John starts in a way that echoes Genesis 1. He writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

It seems to me that John wants the reader to focus on Jesus's eternal divine nature. Any talk of Jesus's birth might undercut that.

But there is talk of birth in John. 

Twelve verses in, we find this: "Yet to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." 

Look closely at how John describes our spiritual birth: 

• Not of natural descent.
• Not of human decision.
• Not by a husband's will.

The Calvinists cite these verses as simply supporting predestination - they say John is clear that we have no control over this birth. 

Is that really John's point?

It strikes me that what John says about our birth sounds a lot like what Matthew, Mark, and Luke say about the birth of Jesus. His birth was also:

• Not of natural descent. (Although Jesus's human lineage is very important in Scripture, it was only half of the equation.) 
• Not of human decision. (The nativity was God's initiative. Mary was caught off guard.)
• Not by a husband's will. (Joseph was not even consulted.)

John isn't making some point about God's sovereign election of a certain number of sinners to experience rebirth. I think John is saying that what set apart Jesus's birth is the same as what sets apart our rebirth: the work of the Holy Spirit. 

So in Chapter 1, John is foreshadowing what Jesus tells Nicodemus in Chapter 3, "You must be born again" and "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Whatever all this means and however we interpret it, we need to devote serious thought and prayer to it because it's pretty darn important.

After all, "No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again."