Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Politics, Policy and Religious Practice

Survey Shows How Liberals and Conservatives Differ on Matters of Faith

As we learned last fall in our series, "The Bible and the Ballot" during the fall election cycle from our last ministry together, people have either liberal opinions and views, or more moderate or conservative ones, and then we have God's views on politics, policy and issues which should be our own. How do you know if your views are the correct ones? How do you know whether or not your political views and votes line up with God and His biblical worldview? Do you see through His lenses?
According to the latest bit of George Barna religious research, nearly one-third of all adults (32%) consider themselves to be “mostly conservative” on social and political matters, and about half as many (17%) claimed to be “mostly liberal” on such matters. The other half of the adult population generally takes a position somewhere in between those opposing viewpoints.

Of greater interest to me of course though is the disparity in world-views among people professing faith and their religious practices or observances. Based upon an evaluation of more than a dozen religious beliefs of liberals and conservatives, consistent and significant differences are evident.

- Liberals are less than half as likely as conservatives to firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches (27% versus 63%, respectively); to strongly believe that Satan is real (17% versus 36%); and to firmly contend that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others (23% versus 48%). Liberals are also far less likely than conservatives to strongly believe each of the following:

- their religious faith is very important in their life (54% of liberals vs. 82% of conservatives);
a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by doing good deeds or being a good person (23% vs. 37%)

- their faith is becoming an increasingly important moral guide in their life (38% vs. 70%);
the church they currently attend is very important in helping them find direction and fulfillment in life (37% vs. 62%)

- their primary purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul (43% vs. 76%)

Is there a pattern here? The Barna study examined five specific religious practices and found that conservatives were more likely than liberals to engage in all five. In a typical week, the survey showed that conservatives were more likely than liberals to:
-read the Bible, other than at church events, during the past week (57% vs. 33%, respectively)
attend a religious service during the past week (62% vs. 35%) pray to God, other than at a religious service, during the past week (91% vs. 76%)

-share their religious beliefs with others, during the past year (56% vs. 39%, among the born again Christians interviewed from each segment) have ever participated in a short-term missions trip, either within the U.S. or in another country (12% vs. 6%)

- The research also revealed that liberals are twice as likely as conservatives to be categorized as “unchurched” (40% vs. 19%, respectively), while conservatives were twice as likely as liberals to be categorized as having an “active faith” (45% vs. 21%, respectively, defined as having read the Bible, attended a religious service and prayed to God during the past week).

The trends go on and on (see the full article at http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/13-culture/258-survey-shows-how-liberals-and-conservatives-differ-on-matters-of-faith). Barna summarized his research this way,“Liberals appear to place a greater emphasis upon self-reliance and what they personally accomplish than upon faith alone or intense participation in a community of faith,” Barna explained. “They also seem less inclined to trust the Bible as a moral authority or source of truth, and have less involvement in some type of personal relationship with their god.” “Conservatives are more active in a wide range of religious behaviors, both individual and corporate,” the researcher continued. “They are also more connected to their deity, seeing God as more personal, interactive and involved in their lives than do liberals.”

Conclusion? Make you're own, as political persuasions may vary by definition from era to era, but there seems to be little doubt that a more biblical worldview as defined by doctrine and practice, seems in general, more closely aligned with one political ideology (not a party) than another.

Speaking of which... was anyone else aghast over this headline yesterday? Obama asserts gov't control over the auto industry. Our president made a serious of policy announcements regarding the auto industry this week that some of you may find appealing or palpable. One that struck me as quite shocking though subtle was the one reported as, "The administration engineered the ouster of longtime Chrysler CEO Rick Wagoner over the weekend, an indication of its deep involvement in an industry that once stood as a symbol of American capitalism. Did we read this right? Did an American Preisdent just get involved in the affirs of a publically held and privatelly run corporation and fired it's boss? Socialism in America anyone? We were great and free once weren't we? The Prophet Samuel had something special to say about this in 1 Sam. 8:6-22.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Eyes That Will Not See

Archbishop: God is not a safety net
We can't depend on God to save the world from the environmental depredations of humanity says Archbishop of Canterbury


Talk about the blind leading the blind. According to the British Times Online, "The Archbishop of Canterbury said this week that God cannot be trusted to save the world from the environmental depredations of humanity. Dr Rowan Williams did not say there was no God. But he said that God is not a “safety net that guarantees a happy ending in this world.”

He warned that the pillaging of the world’s resources meant it was facing a “whole range of doomsday prospects” that went far beyond the consequences of global warming. Humanity faced being “choked, drowned or starved” by its own stupidity, he said. What Williams is doing is "starving" British Christians (the relatively few left) from biblically based truth and "drowning" them all in a sea of humanist based (see last blog) folly, which drives extremist green, tree-hugging environmentalists to worship the creation instead of the creator (Ro. 1:21-23).

How does one explain the Archbishop's ignorance of the plain-teaching of the Bible on the inevitable future of the planet (responsbile stewardship notwithstanding) - being God's remodeling and restoration of earth as found in the apostle Peter's second epistle to the church, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed (2 Pet. 3:10)." The only explanation of such biblical ignorance or confusion can only be found in spiritual blindness. More on that Sunday. Don't be one of the blind.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Arming for Spiritual War


God-less 'congregations' planned for humanists

There is a religious 'gathering' which takes place in Cambridge Massachussets, and according to the Washington Post, it looks like this; "The monthly schedule is church-like, with its parenting classes, guest speakers and small group meetings to hash out shared beliefs. But God isn't part of this Cambridge congregation. "

Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University, is building a God-free model of community that he hopes helps humanists increase in numbers and influence. Epstein sees potential in research showing that there are more people with no religion. In the latest American Religious Identification Survey, released this month, 15 percent of respondents in 2008 said they had no religion, compared to 8.2 percent in 1990. Epstein believes that group includes large numbers of people who are humanist, but have never identified themselves that way and can be reached.

If you look through the numbers with your biblical world-view (lenses), you'll see that religion is indeed universal, as per God's Word (Ro. 1:18-32), and that humanism, which places man in the position of being his own god at the center of his own life, is indeed a religion, which is also man-made and defined as; "a body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." Make no mistake about it, humanism along with atheism have a comeback of sorts in American culture, making tremendous strides among media and academic elites, infiltrating every sector of society once again, even to the point of ironically establishing humanist "churches," all under the guise and direction I'm sure of the "prince of the power," and "prince of the air."

As Epstein added, "There are so many millions of people out there who basically share our views, that we've got room for everybody. What we're doing here has got to grow even more." I wouldn't be surprised if it did just that. Rather than atttack Epstein and humanist congregations politically however, we are instead exhorted by scripture to follow and do as our blogging motto states in 2 Cor. 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Where does that spiritual war begin? For us individually and as a corporate local body at CCC, it means PRAYER. Let's roll-up our collective sleeves, get on bended knee together, beginning this Sunday, as we join our brothers, sisters and friends from Pines Baptist Church for a concert of prayer at 6PM. I encourage all of you consider rearranging your schedules and doing all you can to be there and partake in one-hour of the power of the Holy Spirit as we begin in a new and fresh way as family, to "pull down" our nations "strongholds," including those of bogus humanist church congregations.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

An Idea That Could Change the World


The Sovereignty of Salvation

TIME magazine's most recent cover story ("10 ideas that could change the world) http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html) shockingly posits the "New Calvinism" (as if anything was wrong with the old one) as the third most influential idea around the world right now. The real shock is not so much that a Christian item or controversey could make the list, but what is staggering is that a classic doctrine of reformed Christian theology is what not only made the list, but ranked so high. Why?

According to the article, "A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation," says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. "They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God." Baptist theologian and author Al Mohler says, "The moment someone begins to define God's [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist."

John Calvin would have turned 500 this summer and as we remember his massive ministry and influence, one may be tempted to cannonize such a man. At least until we remember, that he was quite a falible and fallen scholar, preacher and theologian in his time (i.e. his eschatology or end times doctrine). In fact, one of the reasons that we should not follow or strictly adhere to any man-made system of theology, is precisely because its founders and adherents are human, and thus falible and errant, as opposed to the Word of God.

That said, respect and honor must be given when due, and Calvin's theology (TULIP notwithstanding), according to TIME, "offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by 'glorifying' him." Indeed, I can think of no greater a God-glorifying theology than that which gives Him the due credit and reverence He deserves for all good things- including even salvation. Salvation? Don't we choose or believe in Christ for salvation? Absolutely, the Bible says, "confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Ro. 10:9, ESV)."

However, who is the source or the initiator of our salvation? Who as Hebrews asks, is "the author and finisher of our faith?" Jesus put it this way when addressing His confused and questioning apostles and disciples, when explaining that He was the 'Bread of Life' in John's gospel (Jo.6:37,39,44,65), "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out... And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day...No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

This is the doctrine that Calvin loved and that we can embrace. One which says as the Bible repeats over and over again, that God is sovereign (a king who rules, reigns and is authoritative) over everything in the universe and which means he is also captain of our souls. Which is why TIME added, "Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision. " You may not like this description of your sinful condition (the Bible says it worse- Ro. 3-6; Eph 2, etc.) and God's role in salvation, but it's true.

Further, it should even make sense. The Bible tells us we're spiritually dead as unbelievers and most dead men I know don't revive themeselves or can. Isn't that why we pray that GOD would save sinners, and not that sinners save themselves? If the 'new Calvinism' will help turn man to the mirror, to see who he really is and what he needs, then it may just be an idea whose time has come- again.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

"A Heaping Helping of our Hospitality"

Romans 12:13
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

It's been said that South Floridians don't show hospitality. They say, 'we don't open our homes for company -this is not the deep south or midwest you know, we're tired, we have soccer, mom and dad (where that exists) both work and who has time for discipleship and Bible study anyway'?

Well, as per our response already to people's needs in our baby church, men's shepherd group attendance and other family shepherd groups coming on-line at CCC (see "Capturing Thoughts" ), that is not and should not be the case. Not according to scripture anyway. As Pastor and author John Piper wrote in his commentary on Ro. 12:13, “Contribute to the needs of the saints—that’s giving things away for the sake of others in need. And 'seek to show hospitality'—that’s not merely giving money and things away, that’s drawing others in, not just for meals now and then, but to stay with you if they need a place for a season. In times of official persecution it was a dangerous and subversive practice. For some today it still is. It was and is a radical way to live. That was the meaning it had in the early church. "

Therefore- that model is and will be our model as well. It should be the model for all those that claim Christ and allegiance to His kingdom. The early church caught and applied what they had heard and experienced by assuming that all their possessions were not really theirs but God’s and were to be used joyfully to meet each other’s needs. So we read in Acts 4:34, “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” That’s how Romans 12:13 happened at the beginning.

Piper asked rhetorically in his message, "What are the rewards if we trust God’s promises, give lavishly, and open our homes to each other and the needy? The suffering of the saints will be relieved or at least diminished. That is what verse 12 means when it says, 'Contribute to the needs of the saints.' We lift a burden. We relieve stress. We give hope. And that’s a reward!"

If we like the Clampets of Bevery Hillbillies fame, give others a "heaping helping of our hospitality," we'll see the glory of God being displayed (Mt. 5:16), confirm our love for God and his love in us (1 Jo. 3:17), and lay up treasure in heaven. (Lu. 12:33-34). Piper concluded, "Lavish giving and open homes are close to the center of life in Christ. The reasons we don’t open our checkbooks and homes as often as we should are rooted in the bondage of fear and greed. The remedy is the pleasure of Christ’s presence and the certainty of Christ’s promise. My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Our reward is the display of God’s glory, the good of others, and the joy of treasuring Christ together forever."

Therefore brothers and sisters of CCC, I exhort you to, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” Go to the web-site today.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Shepherd Groups Together for Christ

REAL DISCIPLES... Why are we, and will be making such a big deal about shepherd groups, or small-group discipleship meetings for our people at homes? Why not just do Sunday or Saturday night School Bible studies as the traditional end-all?

Frankly, because relational, family-intergrated small-group discipleship was what King Jesus and the apostles did- lived and taught when they launched the first and early church, and we think that principle is right for today - in 2009 as we launch CCC. Why reinvent the wheel? My study of scripture, ministry and experience has led me to conclude that discipleship is about a choice to follow Christ as Lord and Savior, and is a way of life, not a program or institution (i.e. Sunday school- it's good teaching notwithstanding).

Ray Stedman, author and former pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in California, spoke of such discipleship leading to revival and revolutionary church growth in his classic work, Body Life, where he said of relational discipleship and revival, “What is terribly missing in all too many churches is the experience of body life”- that warm fellowship of Christian with Christian which the Bible calls koinoia, and which was an essential part of early Christianity."

Stedman added, "The New Testament lays heavy emphasis upon the need for Christians to know each other, closely and intimately enough to be able to bear one another’s burdens, confess faults one to another, encourage, exhort, and admonish one another…” That brothers and sisters, can only occur completely and comprehensively in family and home-based, small-groups, as we've already begun with men and couples at CCC.

Why then intentional discipleship in small-groups? Author and scholar Leroy Eims wrote, “Disciples cannot be mass produced. We cannot drop people into a program and see disciples emerge at the end of the production line. It takes time to make disciples. It takes individual, personal attention.”Jesus Christ began New Testament discipleship with a small group of 12, who then multiplied to 70, then 120 and so on. Christ’s vision began small, and by the Holy Spirit through His living Word, began to build His church “not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.”

If you're ready to get serious about biblical discipleship, contact me pesonally, or get on-line at http://www.christcomchurch.org/ and click on 'Shepherd Groups' to learn more and join a group.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Are you Really a Follower?

"A Christian by Any Other Name"
Lisa Miller's most recent Newsweek column on religion points to the new psuedo-definition of Christianity in spiritual culture, which disdains and avoids denonminationalism and doctrinal distinctives for the simple moniker of "Followers of Jesus." This might sound positive on the face, as we Bible boys and girls define discipleship as that very thing.

However, not so fast. Miller writes, "Now, as the Christian world continues to refine its identity, another label is gaining currency: 'follower of Jesus." It is gaining among the young. On Facebook, more than 900 groups use some variation of "follower of Jesus", which according to Miller and other boosters, has at least two advantages over "Christian" or "evangelical," its boosters say. "First, it doesn't carry baggage. You can wear it abroad, in Islamic countries, or at home with your Jewish or Buddhist friends, without causing offense. Second, it distances the bearer from the culture wars that have made American politics so divisive."

Once again the fallen world misses the point. Christianity was, is and should continue to be counter-cultural, sprinkling salt and shedding light on a festering worldy culture and system that God "hates" (Ja. 4:4, 1 Jo. 2;15-17) and will eventually destroy. We don't need a redefinition of the faith, but what we do need is education leading to transformation, which comes from a proper understanding of Christianity and discipleship. Jesus didn't come to bring peace to the world and civil societies, He came to bring a "sword." Was and is Jesus concerned about causing an offense to an unbelieving and wicked world? Quite the opposite. In Matthew 10:34-39, King Jesus expresses as poltically incorrect and mind-shattering a challenge as He can to His "followers."

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Miller noted, "Over the past several years, as evangelicals strained to define themselves and the media strained to comply, Christians fell into narrower and narrower niches—until at last the niches were as narrow as the denominations once were." Didn't Jesus say the road to salvation was supposed to be narrow (Mt. 7:13-14)?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Death by Work and Relief of Family-Intergrated Church

Karoshi: “Death by Overwork”

Kenichi Uchino, a quality control manager with Toyota, was worked off his feet, quite literally, in fact. He collapsed and died at 4 AM while at work after clocking more than eighty hours of overtime for each of the six months prior to his death in 2002. Only a few days earlier, he remarked to his wife, “The moment when I am happiest is when I can sleep.” Kenichi, the third generation of his family to work for the Japanese firm, left behind two children, aged three and one. On November 30, 2007, A Japanese District Court accepted Hiroko Uchino’s claim that her husband had died of karoshi, or “death by overwork."

Karoshi is rooted in the cultural and economic makeup of Japan. Hard work is respected, and a virtuous person will sacrifice his own interests for the well-being of the group. Well with money tight, the economy tailspining and jobs becoming increasingly scarce, the west- the U.S. in particular, is in danger of falling prey to this same disease of death by work. With the proliferation of electronic resources (e.g., cell phones, cafés, blackberries and Wi-Fi ) whereby workers can be connected and toiling 24/7, the prospect of karoshi looms large. Indeed, as many families around the world seek a higher standard of living, both parents may be holding down two or three jobs—and advancing toward an early grave, regardless of scripture's warning of work and cash as competing idols for Jehovah God's glory.

Though the Bible teaches a strong work ethic, it does not teach “the more work the better.” If it did, then devout Christians would be dropping from karoshi everywhere. We have the privilege of taking advantage of rest in the Fourth Commandment and the folly of worry in the Sermon on the Mount. Indeed, the burden God puts on His children is light; it is a joy to bear it. If, however, you let fear or ambition rob you of his joy and health, then you need to let God gently lift your hands (and mine) from the keyboard and our shoulder from the wheel. Let's get back to the basics and let the Lord restore the vital balance. Speaking of which...

Creed or Chaos?

Playwright, novelist, and Christian apologist Dorothy Sayers said, "It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe."

Sayers got it right. Right belief and doctrine lead to a right talk and walk. Sayers added, "It is fatal to imagine that everybody knows quite well what Christianity is and needs only a little encouragement to practice it. The brutal fact is that in this Christian country not one person in a hundred has the faintest notion what the Church teaches about God or man or society or the person of Jesus Christ. " At Christ Community Church, we aim to change that tune by intergrating our families together in community for family-driven and biblically-saturated discipleship.

Coming soon, many of you will be called and many will seek, to join our fellowship of family small-groups for mid-week discipleship at C.C.C (Christ community Church). This early church model of relational Bible study in homes, will emphasize family, real practical theology and foundations for your faith. All of that adds up to God's greater glory, your blessing and relief from the threat of "karoshi." More on this Sunday.....

Monday, March 2, 2009

Repentance for Revival in the UK?

Christians Turn to God Over Moral Crisis in UK

LONDON – “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done” was the prayer of hundreds of Christians who gathered at a central London church on Saturday to cry out to God over the moral and spiritual crisis in the United Kingdom. The State of the Nation gathering also focused on repentance over the church’s silence in the face of immoral legislation passed over the decades, particularly in the areas of the unborn child and marriage.

There you go-the British may be coming and they're getting it- confession of sin and repentance (2 Chr. 7:14) is what leads to revival in a nation. That's precisely what Daniel prayed for (Dan. 8) when Israel was in the Babylonian captivity, mirroring our current captivity in the world of materialism and cheap grace. Revival cannot happen without repentance and it begins in our own homes on a grassroots basis. Howard Springs once said, "The kingdom of God is not going to advance by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God."

As for the UK effort, David Noakes, a member of the State of the Nation facilitating group, said the prayer meeting was possibly the most important gathering since World War II. Noakes chided the church for failing to speak out against ungodly legislation and urged the church not to be swayed by political correctness. “God is not politically correct but biblically correct,” he said, adding that the church needed to cast out the sin within its own ranks and return to a fear of the Lord. " Amen and that will preach brothers and sisters.

"Revival restrains the righteous anger of God, restores the conscious awareness of God, and reveals the gracious activity of God." - Stephen Olford