Countercultural Christianity

Christians must live counterculturally.  Christians must not resemble the priorities, the struggles, the joys or the miseries of the world.  Christians must be holy, but now I'm raising an interesting question.

What does it mean to be holy?  I think there is a huge misunderstanding of the meaning of that word.  For many in Christ, the meaning of the word "holy" is something as far removed from the realm of possibility as perfection.  These Christians are haunted by verses like Matthew 5:48 which says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."  When read out of context, this verse, as well as others like it, can seem outlandishly daunting.  To others, being "holy" simply means being set aside for a task or purpose, for the word "holy" does mean "set apart" in the Hebrew.  In this idea, holiness is not a lifestyle as much as it is an identity created by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.  In this viewpoint, Christians are holy only by the nature of the Divine presence within and calling upon them. 

Where both of these views on holiness have some merit, neither is complete.  God doesn't expect perfection.  Scripture can appear to say that only a sinless life is holy and honorable to God, but we must remember that the debt of all sin, for all who are in Christ Jesus, has been paid by His sacrifice on the cross.  However, holiness is not just something received by the Holy Spirit.  1 Thessalonians 4:7 says, "For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life."  To live a life that is set apart here takes on a meaning that goes beyond just "chosen."  The Greek word used here for "holy" is a word that means "pure" as we can see by the contrast created in the verse itself.  To be set apart from the world becomes complete by not being stained by the world; being pure salt, being pure light.

For any who know me, I find such revelation and illumination in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  Jesus' traveling sermon is so all-inclusive in its implications that I am reminded of His words daily.  In the introduction of His sermon, Jesus describes what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.  At first, Jesus turns the tables by saying that the least are the blessed.  He then moves to a brief description of the purpose of a Kingdom citizen's life.  Here are His words, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."  (Matthew 5:13-16)

Anything that contaminates our saltiness makes us "unsalty" and, by default, no different than the world.  In this regard, holiness is a purity set in direct contrast to the impurity of the world, but to what end?  We are a light in the darkness.  When light shines in the darkness, the darkness is overcome by the direct contrast.  When light shines in the darkness it's like a cityscape viewed from the country.  A brilliantly lit city outshines the stars in the sky.  It's impossible to miss.  When our purpose on this earth is to shine, our holiness is the radiance of that light drawing people to the Father.  Peter restates this in 1 Peter 2:12, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." Holiness is our ministry.  Holiness is our purpose.  We must choose to live holy lives, lives in direct contrast to the impurity of the world, in order to point people to Christ.  We can't earn salvation through holiness, but when we are not living lives of purity, when we are not following Christ in His ways, lock-step as it were, then we are salt that has lost its saltiness, a lamp covered by a bowl, a tree that bears no fruit.  None of these describe kingdom citizens.  Being a follower of Christ is nothing decided for you but something we must work out daily as Paul says in Philippians 2:12-13, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

To that end, let's be set apart from the world.  Let's turn the world upside down (or right-side up).  Let's live in the world but not of the world.  Let's be a light to the world that all may see God working through us.  Let's be the instrument of God's mercy and grace.  Let's live counterculturally, against the societal norm.  Let's be holy!

In His Grip,

BJ

Faith Is not a Feeling!

Thank God reality is not based on how we feel! Many of us understand this intellectually; however, we contradict that knowledge with the way we live our lives. It's true. We live in a "feel-good" culture that trusts feelings over logic and sense! Marriages break up because two people don't feel that spark anymore, fall for someone else or other similar instances when feelings trump common sense and reality. We enter contractual agreements for cars and houses with the understanding that we can't just feel like turning our back on the agreement whenever we get a wild hair. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more common for people to breach contracts, obligations and even marriages for that very reason. Our emotions have become the source of reality for us. They have become the dominant presence in our lives. What do I mean by that? Our emotions rule us. We, as a culture, are what we feel. How can God rule our lives when our hearts are doing that already?

Emotions are funny. They come and go. Happiness, sadness, contentment and wistfulness are strong yet unpredictable and spontaneous frames of mind. These emotions are not reality. They are experienced by us; they augment and enhance our lives, but they don't naturally define us. However, in this culture, to live contrary to one's emotions is perceived to be phony. I can't help but think of Psalm 13 where David says, "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, 'I have overcome him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fall! But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me." Many would criticize these final lines of David's poetry saying that he is not being authentic and true to where his heart is. I agree that David's ending words probably were written in direct conflict to how he felt, but that is where the truth was. David's heart was strong, and his emotions were vibrant. However, he knew the truth disagreed with his heart as John later wrote in 1 John 3:20, "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything."

If we allow our hearts to dominate our lives, we will end up enslaved to them. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Matthew 6:24) It happens time and time again that people have entered into a relationship with the Lord to get those "feel-good" benefits. When we hear promises from the Lord that He will give us love, peace and joy, we often hear warm-fuzzies, tranquility and happiness. This presents a significant problem since Jesus guarantees that our lives will have trouble (John 16:33) and persecution (Matthew 5:11, John 15:20). What will we do? Will we feel lied to? Will we decry, "What's this God? I signed up for the feel-good plan!" Will we bail on God? Will we say, "I just don't feel it right now?" Will we allow our emotions to dictate what truth is in our lives? Will we say, "I used to have this fire, but I just don't feel it right now?"

So we don't feel close to God right now. So what! We have to understand that the first step for freedom from our hearts' dominion over our lives is to see that we are not our emotions! This "feel good," emotional thinking is a virulent form of selfishness. It only knows how it feels. Our minds must educate our hearts. Our faith in Jesus Christ must be cerebral; it must be what we know to be true, not what we feel. That's the bottom line. God is so much greater than our hearts. I have watched so many kids' movies saying "follow your hearts," but oftentimes people who follow their hearts follow to the end of a bottle or worse. Instead, let's thank God that when we feel alone, He is still there! When we feel abandoned, He is still holding on! When we feel guilty, He has forgiven us. Thank God reality is not based on how we feel!

In His Grip,

BJ

Church Is Community

I am looking at the clock right now because I know that I have to take my son, Landon, to a Boy Scout pack meeting in just a few hours. I also just thought, I have no time to finish everything I have to do. I have to be honest, after an action packed weekend, actually an action packed few months, I kind of want to just curl up and eat/sleep/play Xbox for a good week. Life is just busy! We have families to tend, houses to care for and bills to pay, not to mention the hours of work to provide the appropriate funds for that list of to-do's. This just makes time away, secluded and relaxing, that much more important...if we get it at all. Many work as many as six days, some even every day, of the week. Students work hard on their academic, extra-curricular and social lives for most if not all of their waking hours. It seems to make sense for many Christians why we need to take time in the busy-ness of life to pray and do our Bible study. We need to draw from God! We need to recharge and refresh spiritually! It just makes sense! What doesn't always make sense to us is meeting together...with other Christians. Sometimes, we have a problem understanding the importance of community.

One of the biggest reasons that community is important can be seen in one of the first things God has said about people in the history of all mankind. It comes from a passage in the creation account, Genesis 2:18a, which says, "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'" We are not designed to be alone. I know that when life gets busy, we tend to draw away from crowds just to focus on and almost protect what is considered the most important to us. This sounds awesome! This sounds like such a good idea! The problem is that we aren't designed to do this. When caught out in extremely cold circumstances, your blood will start to leave your fingers, toes, ears and nose to protect your organs. This sounds great until your fingers, toes, ears and nose succumb to advanced frost bite. It's the same as hypothermia when in freezing water. The body is not designed to function with this extreme, inward focus. The same goes for the Body of Christ, the Church.

God designed the Church to be united and together, not just a few individuals spread over the globe. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." As the writings of Paul constantly affirm, the Church is designed to function as the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and a whole bunch of other places in Paul's letters), a unified structure of people who are joined together by the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). In short, just as people, in general, are created to be involved in each other's lives, God's new creation, followers of Jesus Christ are no different. We as Christians are even more than instructed, we are created to be involved in community with each other regularly.

Usually there are reasons why we don't involve ourselves in Church services. Some of us are too busy as stated before. It's absolutely easy to think that personal devotion and having Christian friends is enough. Body life is a good idea, but one that some of us just don't have time for. Another thing that deters people from Church community is having been hurt by a congregation of Christians, or even just a certain member of a congregation, or, let's be honest, sometimes just disagreeing with a sermon. Whatever the case may be, let me take a moment to iterate a common theme to my articles. The Bible seems to be quite clear from Genesis to Revelation that righteousness is selflessness, and selflessness means saying, "It's no longer about me. I need to get over myself." I immediately think of Philippians 2:3-4 which says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

When we are consumed by the needs of our brothers and sisters, God uses our brothers and sisters to take care of our needs. I ask in youth group, "If everyone in this room looks after everyone in this room but themselves, how many people are looking after you? If you ignore everyone and only look after yourself, how many people are looking after you? Which number makes more sense?" This doesn't mean that we look after other people because they look after us. We are called to love regardless of whether we are loved back. We look after each other because we believe that Jesus meant it when He said, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and (money, food and clothing) will be given to you as well." When the church functioned as a group, there were no needy among them (Acts 4:34). Church community, body life, is not about getting. That would be absolute selfishness. It's about giving, not being alone, considering others above ourselves and loving the men and women that God loves and calls His children. See you at Church this Sunday!

In His Grip,

BJ

Evangelism: Beyond the Word

There are many quirky things about my home state of Alaska.  We joked that the state bird  was the mosquito.  (Big as eagles I tell ya!!!)  We called snowmobiles "snow machines."  We referred to the main American cluster of states as "the Lower 48."  We also knew how the little town of Chicken, Alaska got its name.  Chicken was an original Gold Rush town from the 1800s...now rotates its population from around 7 to around 17.  There was an overabundance of Ptarmigan, a native Alaskan bird, in the area.  So, when it was time for the town to be named, it seemed like the obvious choice save for one big problem: no one knew how to spell it!  In order to save embarrassment, they decided to hit as close as they could, Chicken, Alaska.

This isn't just an Alaskan thing, however.  I remember reading Arkansas spelled with a "w" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.  Making French words into English words evidently isn't easy.  There is a mountain in Arkansas called Petite Jean.  Now, here in St. Louis, where we are used to seeing such words as Gravois and Des Peres, we might endeavor to call the mountain by its French name.  The Arkansans I lived among, however, called it "Petijean."  The Ozarks are, in fact, a mutated, transliterated form of the French "Aux Arc."  There are many similar transliterations we use today that are from the Roman culture, many of which were originally from the Greek culture. The Greeks had Heracles but the Romans had Hercules.  We see this kind of thing especially in the Biblical language with such words as pastor, baptism and evangelism.

Evangelism is a scary word.  What do you think of when you hear the word?  Some think of screaming preachers on TV.  Some think of scripted confrontations on street corners with or without picket signs and megaphones.  Some think of uncomfortable conversations with friends or family trying to convey a message of hope wrapped in a veneer of condemnation.  Hopefully many see evangelism for what it really is, simply proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ.

Unfortunately, evangelism can easily be misunderstood due to it being an English transliteration of a Latin transliteration of a Greek word...wait, what???  Instead of interpreting the meaning of the word, "euangelion" in the Greek was simply just called "evangelium" in Latin which became "evangelism" in English.  Why is this unfortunate?  In order to understand it for what it means, we need to briefly look at the history of the word.  When a king or some kind of mighty leader would enter a city, he would send word ahead to cheer the people up.  They should be excited for they will be hosting royalty!  This messenger was called the "euangelos" which simply meant "good messenger" or more accurately to intention "messenger of the good news."  Remember when the angel (Angel = Angelos=Messenger) Gabriel told the shepherds that he brought good tidings of great joy?  That was the "euangelion," the good news, the gospel.  So what did we learn here?  Evangelism, in the context of the Bible, is the telling of the good news of God.  Phew!  Easier!

Now that the difficulty of the word is taken away, how do we do it?  As I have spoken with Glenn (our Sr. Minister), read through scripture and commentaries, it has become quite clear to me that evangelism isn't a functional step-process.  There are recognizable phases for sure!  But sometimes you might just be able to share what God is doing in your life, your personal testimony, but they aren't ready for the full-on Bible study just yet.  Paul's evangelism seemed to be individually tailored to his audience.  To the Jews, he was quoting the Hebrew Bible constantly, but to the Athenians he spoke to their philosophical and religious mentalities.  What do we learn from this?  Evangelism is telling the good news of God's redemption.  That's it!  What makes you particularly suited for this task as a Christian?  You are the end result of the Gospel's redemptive power!

 

In Romans 1:16, Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings  salvation to everyone who believes!"  The word Paul uses here for "power" is the same word from which we get dynamite.  Not only should we not be ashamed of what set us free from death and Hell, but we need to recognize    in that cognizant part of our mind that the gospel empowers us with God's gift of the Holy Spirit.  He is God's very active and personal presence in our lives who Paul later tells Timothy (2 Timothy 1:7) isn't a spirit of timidity but of power.  The excitement and desire to share should well up inside us that the very idea of not sharing what God has done causes us to say as Peter and John said under     orders to not evangelize, "Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be  the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)
                                                                                                                                       In His Grip,
                                                                                                                                                       BJ