New Blog

I have moved my blog, changed its name and will be posting there from now on. Thanks for visiting!

The new address is http://ubergoober.wordpress.com/

See you there.

To Hell in a Handbasket?

Is the world going to hell in a handbasket or are we just mad because the world isn't the way it used to be? There was a time in America when the church could see its own influence in the political and moral perspectives widely held by the citizenry. This is largely because "church" was a part of the fabric of society in those days. A large percentage of people went to church. There was a basic agreement that, although probably few actually knew what it contained, the Bible had some authority in determining the beliefs and moral moorings of the nation.

Sure, there were the occasional Buddhists and athiest-anarchist-homosexual-poets and snake-oil salesmen, but generally speaking the church enjoyed prominence, prestige and power.

Then the world started (continued?) to change. It became fashionable to question the establishment. Someone asked, "why?" and the whole system began to shudder. The church, it seems, was unable to engage in a real and substantive way when the emerging population began to question its monolithic status. It seems the response was something like, "Because I said so," and, as we all know, that answer is not very satisfying to the one asking the question.

With the structure now vulnerable, confidence and boldness to experiment with repressed and hidden sin grew. Behaviors that were once taboo became more open, noses were blatantly thumbed at the man mowing his lawn in a tie and cardigan sweater, and the whole thing unraveled.

The church, which had abandoned its work of advancing the hope and love and truth of God and His gospel in favor of enjoying its position as king of the hill, withdrew into its institutional self and muttered. In some cases various movements sprang up which tried to reinvigorate the spiritual influence of the church, but, for a variety of reason (not the least of which, I think, is that the power structure deemed it unorthodox, charismatic, liberal or loony) these movements didn't gain much traction in the culture at large.

This brief history (which is admittedly abreviated and myopic) is now being interpreted as the advance of evil, signs of the end, and, unless something dramatic happens, America is going to pay severely (probably with terrorist attacks and hurricanes).

The question is this: Has the world (and its inherent depravity) advanced? or has the church retreated? Has the world become increasingly unsavory? or has the church simply lost is saltiness? Has darkness triumphed over light? or has the church simply retreated to the underside of an inverted basket?

Is there hope? Did Jesus mean what He said in Matthew 28:18-20? Or is this the end-game? Should we be optomistic and diligent and joyful? Or should we continue the retreat into holy huddles, curse the evil age and pray for the rapture? The answers to these questions are profoundly significant to how we live as the body of Christ.

Just thinkin'.

What say ye?

Thank God for Pneumonia

As Christmas arrived in our house this year, so did a minor plague. Everyone had some sort of coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever thing. I got pneumonia. (It is still funny to recall the doctor saying, "You have pneumonia," and me responding, "No, I don't.")

The result of the illness was that for more than a week I was forced to do virtually nothing but lay around and cough and wheeze and moan. It also meant that, because we were all at various stages crud infestation, our whole family was sealed inside our house...together...with no possibility of parole.

By day four I was convinced that God had sent these people (aka my kids) as thorns in the flesh, messengers of Satan, and I was considering the best way to beseech the Lord to remove them. It seemed as if my kids were bent on rebellion and meanness and disobedience and bad table manners! They were acting like...like...sinners!

I couldn't believe these were my kids. I remember as a much younger man saying, "If I ever have kids, they will never act like that!" And here were my kids acting just like that. Something had gone horribly wrong.

I tried to reason with them. No good. I tried to intimidate them. Nothing. I tried to plead with them. They thought the fever had got the best of me, and I think it scared them...but not enough to intimidate them into changing their behavior.

Then it dawned on me. My kids are sinners. They need Christ.

Then something else dawned on me. It is my job to lead them to Christ.

As a pastor, you would think that this would be a "no-brainer" for me. I've read Deuteronomy 6. I've read the Proverbs. I've read Ephesians 6. I know it is my responsibility to be the spiritual leader in my home. I've even preached on it!

But during this week of hacking and wheezing and other consequenses of the Fall, God turned on the light for me. He stopped me from all of my "knowing" and gave it to me in a way I would really get it.

My wife said four of the most profound words she has ever said to me (right after, "Honey, I am preganant). She said, "We need to repent."

Thank God for pneumonia. In my weakness His power was made perfect. Even now as I wrestle with the ramifications of Deuteronomy 6 in a fresh way, it is clear that it will only be by His redeeming grace that I will be equipped to lead my children into His truth. And I trust that His grace will be sufficient.

Holy Drunkenness!

I just started reading a book called The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, and I came across this quote. It is way to good to not pass along. He quotes Robert Capon:

The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred-proof grace--of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the gospel--after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps--suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started.... Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.

So much for the understanding of the Reformers as dead guys with a dead orthodoxy.

I am really looking forward to the rest of this book.

Kramer, Racism and the Grace of God

Thought this might be interesting. Marvin Olasky, editor in chief of World Magazine, wrote this piece in the wake of the Michael Richards (Kramer) rant that generated so much buzz.

Olasky reflects true grace without compromise. Check it out.

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/12499

Do Christians Hate Christians?

I recently made the statement that "if the world wanted to be rid of Christianity, all it would have to do is ignore it for about twenty minutes and we would kill each other." That statement is strong, and clearly exaggerated, but it stems from an intense frustration that I am experiencing lately. I have been looking at all the hills "Christians" are willing to die on and for.

Calvinists vs. Arminians
Regulative principle vs. Normative principle
Cessationists vs. Continuationists
Premillenialists vs. Amillenialists vs. Postmillenialists vs. Preterists
KJV Only vs. Everybody else
Fundamentalists (of all stripes) vs. Emerging Church (of all stripes)
Conservative vs. Liberal
Cushioned chair vs. Wooden pew
Pulpit vs. Barstool
Adam with a navel vs. Adam without a navel
Polyester vs. Natural fiber
Big hair vs. Shaved head
Hymnal vs. Projector
Young earth vs. Old earth
Pork vs. Chicken

In arguing a position, people are willing to sacrifice signigficant relationships. I have heard believers verbally assasinate other believers simply because their perspective was different from theirs. Is there not room for disagreement in the Church?

The sad part of it (and I'm talking about the kind of sad that should make us weep!) is that those outside the church don't even know what we're fighting about. They just see us bickering over how we do things and what our "positions" should officially be. When "Worship Wars" makes the front cover of national magazines, we have to say openly, "Woe is us!"

Can it really be that many of us would gladly travel around the world to contend for a point, but only reluctantly love our neighbor with the gospel of Christ?

I am not saying (NOT NOT NOT saying) that we should not be diligent in pursuing truth, and that there is not objective truth in these issues. What I am saying is that there is room for disagreement and learning and wretstling and teaching in every one of the above mentioned issues.

Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 2:1-4:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

It is an occasion for great grief that we are more concerned with proving our points and being right than we are with serving each other with humility and grace. Let us pursue truth! But let us also, with intensity and zeal, pursue love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

If it is true that they will know that we are Jesus' disciples by our love for each other, is it also true that they will know we are not his disciples when we tear each other to shreds because we disagree on theological details? Is it possible that by trying to nail everything down to the finest degree that we are collapsing any possibility of being of one mind?

Head, Heart...and Hands?

We've all heard that "head knowledge" of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not sufficient for genuine salvation. There must also be "heart knowledge," meaning that we have to know it in our heart, our bones, our inward parts. While I do affirm that mere intellectual ascent is insufficient by itself (although necessary!), I'm not ready to say that feeling it or knowing it deeply (although necessary!) is enough either.

When I was in the optical business, I attended a week of meetings hosted by a major contact lens manufacturer. During the meetings, which took place in the early 90s, an expert in the area of managed health care and third-party payer systems talked for about half of one day. In his presentation he made the startling claim that the average discount for optical services over the course of the next couple of years was going to be 60%!

That number was shocking to me, the only retailer in the room, because we were already heavily discounting as a part of our marketing strategy. In addition to giving hefty discounts, we were paying significant fees for franchise rights, royalties and advertising...not to mention the cost for payroll, space, materials and insurance. Doing just a little cursory math told me that we would be bankrupt in about a week if what this man was saying was true. The implications were staggering.

I began researching the issue and, the more I dug, the worse things appeared. It was inescapable that third-party plans were going to be a fact of life. Head knowledge. It also was inescapable that we were going to experience negative financial changes as these changes escalated. We felt it in our bones. Heart knowledge.

It was also clear that something had to change if there was any chance for this company to survive. We had to do something. We had to do the work of living into the changing reality of the world we were living in. The circumstances demanded that we work as a natural response to what we now knew and believed. To not would have been to commit professional and financial suicide.

And now back to the gospel of Jesus. If we know the facts of Jesus and agree with their truthfulness, and believe in our hearts that Jesus truly is the Son of God and did what He said He was going to do, doesn't that demand that we do something? How can it not?

I think this is a natural part of our experience as Christians. We so desperately want to do something, don't we? I can't tell you how many times I've heard people sincerely ask, "So what do I do now?" Tragically, we often think that the "do" is law-keeping, keeping our noses clean, obeying the rules so that God will think we're good boys and girls.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus seems to give us a different picture of what the implications of being His follower are. It seems that the knowledge passes from head to heart to hands. See also Matthew 25.

I'm not advocating a works righteousness, but it is undeniable that we are created for good works. Serving, giving, loving, sacrificing, self-denying, truth-telling. These are what Jesus said we should be doing. Can we truly call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ if we are not doing these things?

Cosmic Vanity Plate?

I'm not sure if this blog will amount to anything or if it is merely a World Wide Vanity Plate. In the coming days I will be posting thoughts and observations that I hope will stimulate new conversation, or contribute to existing ones. We'll see if it flies. If it doesn't...there is a "delete this blog" button conveniently located at the settings page.

We'll see.