Today has been quite insightful for me. I had a good talk with my good friend Javier about how Christianity shouldn't be comfortable. We both agreed that the American church has gotten so into this "comfortable Christianity" that is so contrary to Scriptures.
Maybe some would disagree with me, but I think Christianity is weakened when it becomes a cultural norm--as it has been in the US. Think about it, the early Christians we're always fearing for their safety. Under Nero they were being killed, tortured, imprisoned....looking at history it is easy to see why Paul talks so much in his letters about tribulations and persecution (he himself was in prison half the time because of his faith).
Jesus told us specifically that life would not be easy. He said we are being delivered as sheep to wolves (Matthew 10:16) and that we will be "brought before govenors and kings" (Matt. 10:18). In vs.23 of that same passage it doesn't say "if" they persecute you, it says "when" they persecute you. Persecution and hardship is to be expected! Jesus also says that because the world hated him, we, as His disciples, can expect the same treatment (John 15:18-22).
That my friends is not comfortable Christianity. The kind of Christianity Jesus describes is the hardcore, rebellious, hiding-out-in-catacombs type of Christianity that the early believers were living. This was not the "freedom of religion," IN GOD WE TRUST, "God bless America" type of cultural Christianity that we have in this country.
I'm not suggesting that I want everyone in the country to go secular so that we can live that "underground" movement out...it's more of just a desire that the Church would get out of cultural and start stirring up the pot and making people angry again (in a good, God-like way of course)! "...tribulation builds perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope (Romans 5:3-4). Notice how the first item on the list is tribulation? In order to start this cycle of gaining Godly attributes we need to be TESTED!! beat up, tried, pushed! That is how character is built. How do you know your faith is real if it is never tested? If it is always easy?
And yet what does Paul say just verses before? "Glory in tribulations" (Romans 5:3). And just reading Philippians, a book he wrote when he was imprisoned, you can see was living it out. James also said a similar thing in James 1:2-5: "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." Bring on trials...I want to be Christ-like!! What an attitude...
So, how is this lived out? Well, a good example lies in Phlippians. Paul speaks of a fellow Christian, Epaphroditus: "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because of the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service towards me."
In order to do the work of God, in order to tend to Paul, Epahroditus almost got himself killed--that's living out the faith--and that's the kind of self-sacrificial love Jesus commands His followers to have for one another (John 13:34, 1 John 3:16).
Thinking about this I know that I have live in deep, comfortable Christianity for so much of my life. I want to really live out my faith, not just know it...I just know that Christ calls me to engage the world, not simply hide in desfense of it. I think that I'll definitely be in the front lines when I get into my profession--journalism is not known for being a particularly faith based or Christian friendly :) . But what can I do now? What works does God have for me now--what trials must I endure....?
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Friday, February 9, 2007
Worship
I know there are many forms of worship....worship is, after all, simply any kind of expression or action that exalts God's qualities, or acknowledges His character. It is something done in the (S)spirit (remember the women and the well story?) and is not simply a feeling.
But man...music and singing is a great form of worship, isn't it? I know it is for me. Something about music just opens me up and helps me feel the power of God that is always there. Music is also so beautiful, and especially in a setting like chapel, unites believers together in a God glorifying symphony. Just focusing on the words of the song, picturing the throne of God, and imagining His return just stirs up such great feelings in me--that's not a bad I don't think, worship isn't emotion, but can cause emotion.
I don't know about anyone else, but just singing praise songs corporately together makes me desire the kingdom even more....I certainly feel completely satisfied singing praise to God, and am always a little upset when it has to end and I return to daily routines. I just want to capture those moments and take them with me everywhere, you know? I guess that's a challenge for me...I should be experiencing that satisfaction everywhere I go.
For me, an eternity of singing praises to God--that wonderful feeling of unity with believers and the Spirit being contiunually sustained--sounds absolutely perfect.
But man...music and singing is a great form of worship, isn't it? I know it is for me. Something about music just opens me up and helps me feel the power of God that is always there. Music is also so beautiful, and especially in a setting like chapel, unites believers together in a God glorifying symphony. Just focusing on the words of the song, picturing the throne of God, and imagining His return just stirs up such great feelings in me--that's not a bad I don't think, worship isn't emotion, but can cause emotion.
I don't know about anyone else, but just singing praise songs corporately together makes me desire the kingdom even more....I certainly feel completely satisfied singing praise to God, and am always a little upset when it has to end and I return to daily routines. I just want to capture those moments and take them with me everywhere, you know? I guess that's a challenge for me...I should be experiencing that satisfaction everywhere I go.
For me, an eternity of singing praises to God--that wonderful feeling of unity with believers and the Spirit being contiunually sustained--sounds absolutely perfect.
Monday, February 5, 2007
In Clarification
I want to make sure people are deciphering the implications of being a Christian and the actual substance of what saves a person.
When I say things like "falling in love with Christ" isn't what saves you, I am not somehow suggesting that this "falling in love" is absent in a Christian's life. No, all I am saying is that that feeling by itself has no saving quality. In fact, I believe that "falling in love with Christ" is something very real that happens to every new Christan. However, to reiterate my point, stating something like that as what saves a person is innacurate, rather "falling in love with Christ" is a result of coming to have faith in Christ's atoning death and His resurrection from the dead.
This feeling vs. faith is something that is discussed pretty heavily in Moreland's Love Your God with All Your Mind. Feelings are great, yes, but they are driven by what? Yes, your emotions. Emotions, as you will find out in a detailed study of the Bible, are really products of our soul.
Our souls are currently in an unsaved state as you can deduce from 1 Peter 1:8-9: "Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
We obviously have not reached the end of our faith--that'll come when Christ finally returns to take us home and we see Christ completely for who He is and are ourselves conformed utterly into His glorious image. So knowing that our souls are still very much under the influence of our sin nature, we don't want to rely solely on them to discover truth; rather we want to rely on our spirits.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 explain that we have access in some way to the very Spirit of God. Similary Acts 1:5 says that we are "baptized with the Holy Spirit." Examples of this "imersion" into Christ and the joining of our spirit to God's can be seen in Romans 6, Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. These passages also explain that affirmation between God and ourselves about salvation is through our spirit (Romans 8:16).
So I guess the point is to put your faith in something more solid than wavering emotions. Christ said that we are to "worship in spirit and in truth," if you're just worshipping with emotions, you can never really be sure of their authenticity.
When I say things like "falling in love with Christ" isn't what saves you, I am not somehow suggesting that this "falling in love" is absent in a Christian's life. No, all I am saying is that that feeling by itself has no saving quality. In fact, I believe that "falling in love with Christ" is something very real that happens to every new Christan. However, to reiterate my point, stating something like that as what saves a person is innacurate, rather "falling in love with Christ" is a result of coming to have faith in Christ's atoning death and His resurrection from the dead.
This feeling vs. faith is something that is discussed pretty heavily in Moreland's Love Your God with All Your Mind. Feelings are great, yes, but they are driven by what? Yes, your emotions. Emotions, as you will find out in a detailed study of the Bible, are really products of our soul.
Our souls are currently in an unsaved state as you can deduce from 1 Peter 1:8-9: "Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
We obviously have not reached the end of our faith--that'll come when Christ finally returns to take us home and we see Christ completely for who He is and are ourselves conformed utterly into His glorious image. So knowing that our souls are still very much under the influence of our sin nature, we don't want to rely solely on them to discover truth; rather we want to rely on our spirits.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 explain that we have access in some way to the very Spirit of God. Similary Acts 1:5 says that we are "baptized with the Holy Spirit." Examples of this "imersion" into Christ and the joining of our spirit to God's can be seen in Romans 6, Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. These passages also explain that affirmation between God and ourselves about salvation is through our spirit (Romans 8:16).
So I guess the point is to put your faith in something more solid than wavering emotions. Christ said that we are to "worship in spirit and in truth," if you're just worshipping with emotions, you can never really be sure of their authenticity.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Loosy Goosy
Since when did the Gospel become "falling in love with Christ" as Donald Miller once said on a radio show? Since when did "asking Jesus into your heart" become a step for being saved? And whoever got the idea that somehow humans have the power to turn their lives around for Christ?
Why are people making the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so complicated? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "...I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I taught you, otherwise you have believed in vain." Get that folks? Paul is about to say what someone must believe in order to be saved. "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."
That's it. Belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is what saves you. Not some invitation, some declaration, or some secret prayer. Specifically it is faith (substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not yet seen, Hebrews 11:1)...faith, that I might add, that is not even from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8...might talk about this in another blog).
How did such a basic Christian doctrine become so polluted? I really don't know...but I think that if we don't know the very basic of our Christian faith than we're in big trouble.
I guess my message is this...let's stick to the Bible. The Bible isn't a list of suggestions, it's a great story of God's work with mankind...one that contains the highest wisdom ever revealed. Revere it as such and don't be so ignorant as to think you can describe salvation better than God.
--1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Why are people making the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so complicated? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "...I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I taught you, otherwise you have believed in vain." Get that folks? Paul is about to say what someone must believe in order to be saved. "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures."
That's it. Belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is what saves you. Not some invitation, some declaration, or some secret prayer. Specifically it is faith (substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not yet seen, Hebrews 11:1)...faith, that I might add, that is not even from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8...might talk about this in another blog).
How did such a basic Christian doctrine become so polluted? I really don't know...but I think that if we don't know the very basic of our Christian faith than we're in big trouble.
I guess my message is this...let's stick to the Bible. The Bible isn't a list of suggestions, it's a great story of God's work with mankind...one that contains the highest wisdom ever revealed. Revere it as such and don't be so ignorant as to think you can describe salvation better than God.
--1 Corinthians 15:1-4
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