Uncategorized Posts
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Thanksgiving Boxes
Posted by stephen on November 3rd, 2011
HolidayFoodDrive2011-edited – CLICK ON LINK FOR A PDF WITH LIST AND DIRECTIONS.
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Psalm 3, the Gospel, and our Fears
Posted by stephen on January 28th, 2011
In the January 30 Venture sermon on Psalm 3, I make the point that we find ultimate protection, deliverance, and victory in Jesus. The gospel addresses all of our deep fears, and the Spirit can overcome those fears in us as we live in the victory that we have in Christ. Here are some common examples of deep fears that we all have, at one level or another, and how victory in Christ has overcome those fears:
Fear of Death- Read Mark 16 and meditate on how Jesus overcame death.
Read Col 3:3 and1 Cor 15:55-57 and meditate on how our lives are hidden in Christ, and how we have victory over death in him.
Failure- Read John 6:38ff. about how Jesus came to do what his Father sent him to do.
Read John 1:12 about how we are children of God, something greater than any accomplishment that we could achieve. In Christ we are never failures.
Read Philippians 3:7-14 about how everything that we accomplish in nothing compared to knowing Christ.
Pain/Suffering -Read Mark 15 and see how Jesus suffered great pain.
Read 1 Peter 2:20-24 about how we have an opportunity to suffer with him.
Read 1 Peter 5:10 about how he is our comfort.
Rejection – Read Mark 3:1-6 about how Jesus was rejected by his own people; and then read Philippians 2:9-11 about how Jesus is highly exalted by the Father.
Read Eph 1:4-5 and Romans 8:31-38 about how we are completely accepted by God and how nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.
Powerless- Eph 1:18-22; 2 Cor 12:9-10 (Idol of Power)
Christ became weak in his death, but read how in his resurrection hewas given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:18) and how in Ephesians 1:18-23 he has supreme power.
Read in 2 Cor 12:9-10 about how in our weakness, we are strong in the power of Christ.
Reflect prayerfully and thankfully on these things that God has done for us in the gospel of his Son Jesus.
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Q+A: Galations Wrap-up.
Posted by stephen on December 7th, 2010Questions from Galatians Blog Post
Here are your questions from the series on Galatians, and my attempts at some answers. Thanks so much for sending them in! – Danny
(1a) When Paul says that Christians are free from the Law, is he referring just to the festivals and rites (circumcision, various offerings, etc), or to all of the mitzvoth (commandments)? What about the practices which God called “detestable” (there are quite a few in Lev. 18, for instance)? Surely he didn’t just change his mind about them after Jesus came, so sins are still sins and God would prefer that we not do them even if he isn’t holding us to the Law. Paul says the deeds of the flesh are “obvious”. Does that mean that we’re just supposed to ignore those of the 613 which aren’t obviously inherently bad, like #200 (do not eat fruit from a tree less than 3 years old) or #69 (no shaving), but still obey the ones which fit with Paul’s list of acts of the flesh?
(1b) I had a question about the OT law and how it applies to Christians. We were actually talking in our small group last night about 3 catagories of the Law; judicial, ceremonial and moral and that God’s moral law is still what applies to us. How do you determine what God’s moral law that we are still to obey and what parts of the law were only meant for Israel under the old covenant?
There are different views on this. Some divide up the law between ritual (offerings), ceremonial (festivals), and moral. They say the ritual and ceremonial aspects are done away with, but the moral law we still need to keep. The argument is that Paul talks about rituals and ceremonies that are obsolete, but not the moral laws being obselete. Here’s the problem I have with that- I’m not a big fan of dividing up the law. I don’t see Paul doing that. He just says “law” in Galatians and I think it’s best to take that to mean the whole law.
So do we still have to follow the law? Paul says “No.” Remember how Paul had a DTR (Define the Relationship) moment with the Galatians about their relationship to the law in Galatians 3-4. He said, “There’s been a break-up.” The law is an inferior and outdated system. It cannot save you and it cannot bring you into Christian maturity. Instead, walk by the Spirit, love others. That’s what he tells us to do.
So are sins against the law still sins? In a sense yes, and in a sense no. In the “yes” sense, we do still sin, and sometimes the sins we commit look like the things that are prohibited in the law. But sin is no longer accounted against a moral law code. To use Paul’s language, it’s living according to the flesh- we defined that as “me living for me” (and not living “in Christ”). And yes, some of the manifestations of living according to the flesh sure do look like some of the laws, but the issue is not performance against a law code. The issue is unbelief, a lack of faith and trust in the Spirit.
And when he says the deeds of the flesh are obvious, there is a sense in which we do know what they are. We don’t need a law to tell us what is of the Spirit and what is of the flesh. He lists those examples to the Galatians in 5:19ff. And those are all examples of me living for me, living by the flesh. But there are certainly other examples, and to those of us who have the Spirit, those things are obvious. If we are confused, we can ask the Spirit, or we can go to another Christian for wisdom, or think about who God is. But there’s no law code by which if we do certain things we are acceptable to God.
(2) In Galatians, Paul singles out the act of circumcision as not just unnecessary but spiritually erroneous behavior, evidence of trying to please (Jewish) people and not God. And yet, in Acts 16, Paul himself circumcises Timothy “because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek”. How do we reconcile Paul’s own actions with his strong words to Galatia?
Paul says that it is spiritually erroneous for the Gentiles in Galatia, because they were trying to please God and be connected to the promises of Abraham through that ritual of circumcision, when they are already connected through Christ. Look at what two commentators have said about this incident:
Martin Luther from The Freedom of a Christian:
St. Paul circumcised his disciple Timothy, not because he needed circumcision for his justification, but that he might not offend or contemn those Jews, weak in the faith, who had not yet been able to comprehend the liberty of faith. On the other hand, when they contemned liberty and urged that circumcision was necessary for justification, he resisted them, and would not allow Titus to be circumcised. For, as he would not offend or contemn any one’s weakness in faith, but yielded for the time to their will, so, again, he would not have the liberty of faith offended or contemned by hardened self-justifiers, but walked in a middle path, sparing the weak for the time, and always resisting the hardened, that he might convert all to the liberty of faith. On the same principle we ought to act, receiving those that are weak in the faith, but boldly resisting these hardened teachers of works, of whom we shall hereafter speak at more length.
Richard Longenecker from his commentary on Galatians:
“While Paul saw it as perfectly legitimate for JW Christians to express their faith in Jesus through the traditional Jewish practices, he strenuously opposed the imposition of these practices on Gentile Christians either for full acceptance by God or as a normative way of life.”
(3) Matthew 5: 17-19 says: “Jesus said: ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’” As far as I can tell, heaven and earth have not passed away, so is Paul called least in the kingdom of heaven?
It might appear that way, but continue reading the passage in Matt 5:20 “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
In the rest of Matthew 5, Jesus will then go on to set up an impossible standard of righteousness- lustful thoughts equal adultery, anger equals murder, etc. Only Jesus can accomplish this standard of righteousness. Therefore he is the one who will fulfill the law. In him all of these things are accomplished or “everything takes place” (5:18- I see that happening in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the inauguration of God’s kingdom in his earthly ministry. Note Galatians 4:4.) And by union with Christ, and by walking by the Spirit and loving our neighbor, we fulfill the law as Christ did. (Galatians 5:13-14 and context). So no, Paul is not least in the kingdom of heaven. He is encouraging followers of Christ to fulfill the law by living in Christ, living by the Spirit, and loving neighbor.
(4) In Acts 15, James says to the council at Jerusalem that they “should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God” and proposes a short list of prohibitions (essentially the Noachide laws) in place of the full Mosaic Law. Then they send a letter to the “Gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia” informing them of their decision (the Apostolic Decree). That only seems to let Gentiles off the hook, though. What about Christians with Jewish ancestry?
I think the Jews were content to continue a lot of their traditional practices, and that was OK with the apostles, as long as they 1) didn’t think that it made them acceptable to God and 2) didn’t force Gentiles into doing it. (see Longenecker quote above in the answer to question 2.) I assume that a Jewish believer had the freedom to do or not to do those things. It was just that some young Jewish believers might not understand their freedom and it might cause them to stumble if some Jews did not do those traditional Jewish practices. Hence Paul had Timothy circumcised. (But Titus he did not circumcise, because he was dealing with the issue of changing the gospel in that case- see Gal 2:3)
(5) If we are free from the law, how then should we, believers, regard the 10 commandments? As guidelines? Rules that our heart should want to follow out of a deep love for our God who commanded them in OT? Does it bring glory to God by our desire to follow those laws? I want to have the correct mindset.
The 10 commandments, like all of the law, are holy and righteous and good (Rom 7:12). But we can’t keep them. In fact, they are a mirror for us to see our sinfulness. But Jesus fulfilled the law and did what we could not do (See Matt 5:17ff.). Therefore as we abide in Christ, and as we live by the Spirit and love our neighbors, we, in Christ, are fulfilling the law.
As for giving God glory, it is Jesus that gives glory to God, and as we abide in Christ and walk in God’s Spirit, God is glorified in our lives.
(6) I have a question in general regarding the concept of freedom in Christ. You had mentioned something about how you did *not* consider smoking a cigar, watching a R movie(?) can’t remember if this was specifically used in the example, drinking a beer etc., as examples of freedom in Christ. If I understood correctly! Then you went into an example of service and the freedom to serve the Lord and each other in unique ways as what freedom in Christ was about. I appreciate that and it made me think, but would like to get your thoughts more specifically on those gray issues.
My question relates to what you think we as believers need to restrict in our lives? I know that’s a tough question, and probably needs to be an individual response, but frankly there are zillions of media that bombard us from every corner these days. I think that not knowing or understanding certain things will make us culturally isolated and prevent us from being able to discuss some topics that help us connect to non-Christians. On the other hand we are called not to be of the world. But there is also a part of our souls that connects to art, music, and literature in many forms which I think is a natural creative drive. At other times, we may justify doing whatever we feel like by giving this standard response that we need to understand our culture better. I often hear friends say they are afraid they will be “judged” (by other believers mostly) for watching a certain movie, listening to a secular band, etc., I feel that way too. So – what kinds of aids can you give us in learning how to sift out this crazy maze of allowing ourselves to understand the culture and engage our minds and souls, without dishonoring Christ or causing other believers to stumble? It is something I am burdened about spiritually.
This is a wonderful series of questions. And in forming the questions, you have said much of what needs to be said. First of all, one clarification: I do see drinking and watching movies as expressions of freedom, just not the fullest expressions of Christian freedom. Paul talks about serving others in love as the quintessential expression of Christian freedom in Gal 5:13. But back to the series of questions at hand: there isn’t one particular answer to these questions, but here are some of the basic principles to remember as you think through this struggle (many of which are in your question already!):
1) We have freedom as Christians to interact with art, media, etc. Often we approach these things as Christians with fear, thinking that we might be contaminated by them. And while there are certainly appropriate levels of exposure that have to be considered by Christians (I’m thinking specifically of parenting children here), an adult Christian has the freedom to interact with art and media. And we can learn a lot from media, music, etc. I personally find that listening to certain music is a wonderful way for me to express joy, melancholy, etc., in a way that I would not be able to without it. These are wonderful gifts from the Lord!
Two things to consider here: first, we have to think about what we read, watch, listen to. What is this book/movie/music saying or arguing? Do I agree? What parts to I accept and what parts do I reject? What can I learn from here? A second thing to consider is that we do have to be careful not to expose ourselves intentionally to things that we know will make us stumble in the name of freedom. (You hinted at this abuse in your question above.)
2) We have to be sensitive to others. While some people may embrace freedom, others who do not understand freedom or who may stumble from our free actions have to be considered. So sometimes we might choose to forego our freedom for the sake of those who are weak in freedom or who might stumble because of our free choices.
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Nicaragua 2010
Posted by stephen on August 9th, 2010Our team leaves in a little less than a week! Please keep them in your prayers. Pray for safe travel, high spirits, and great fellowship as they work to bring people clean water and teach them about personal hygiene!
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Nicaragua Recap
Posted by stephen on August 22nd, 2009
The Trip Was a great success! We dug a 120ft well and were able to obtain water for a village in Leon! See the slide show -
Victims…really?
Posted by admin on November 3rd, 2008In the third presidential debate, one of the candidates, when discussing the present economic situation, referred to Americans as “innocent victims” of the crisis. I don’t know about that. In fact, I can think of a better word to describe Americans with relation to our economy. And the word is ‘oppressor’. Read More…