Life and Death

Am I the Kind of Person God Saves?

How do you really know if you’re a Christian or not? Were you to die today (like the 150,000 or so people around the world passing into eternity), do you really know whether or not you would go to heaven? A pretty important question you think? On the one hand the world is crowded with churches and preachers that say salvation is something you earn through good works and a moral lifestyle. In fact most of the cults and Catholicism that infer faith in Christ would lean toward such a doctrine. Others market salvation as a feel-good path to self-fulfillment, and downplay sin or personal guilt, and preach that salvation is nothing more than a “belief” or acknowledgement of certain facts about Jesus (the gospel).

Either way, the message is the same: God saves those who have something to offer Him. But is that really the kind of person God saves? Have you sought salvation on God’s terms, or yours? Sometimes we complicate this issue more than necessary and shouldn’t, since it’s only life and death and getting it wrong (as in more than one gospel) can cause painful consequences for today and tomorrow. John Piper in a six-minute gospel presentation defines salvation essentially in one sentence, “The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That’s the gospel.” Is it that simple?

I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. You can see it from the very beginning. It's right there in the Christmas story in what the angel said to Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). Perhaps the church just needs to get back to remembering that God sent His Son into the world to save His people from their sins (Mission of the Messiah- Lu. 19:10). Seemingly, a proper presentation of the gospel would focus on that. The angel told Joseph: "He is the one who will save His people from their sins. That is why you must name Him Jesus (Yeshua-“Jehovah who saves”). Humanity's real destroyer is sin and its penalty, and the guilt for sin is a real guilt, a God-imposed guilt that damns to eternal hell. That is why people need to be saved, rescued, and delivered. That is what people must understand in the gospel, and that is what we must proclaim.

That’s why this Sunday, we’ll begin part one of a two-part message in our Basic Training series entitled, “Why The Gospel?” We’re going to clear up the myths, ambiguities and questions surrounding the issue of what it means to be saved and have eternal life as opposed to eternal death (which is not so good). Come and learn once and for all what it means to be a Christian. Then, on Father’s Day Sunday, we’ll finish this message with an answer to the question, “Why Give the Gospel?” That answer will equip and empower you to meet the requirement to give the answer to the first question to those that appear lost If you have been hesitant or scared to share your faith and the gospel to family, friends and neighbors, come and learn why you MUST and can share your faith and do your part to fulfill the Great Commission. Let’s make this summer a key time to refocus on what maters most shall we?

Can you Tweet the Gospel?

How Twitter Changed- Ruined Our Lives

Though I am loathe to tweet or text, I find it interesting that one could theoretically tweet the gospel- at least the plan of salvation via John 3:16, as it just makes it under the 140 character limit, though the gospel as presented by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:2-3 does not. Though God can and uses all mediums of communication to gather His elect and bring glory to Himself including Twitter I'm sure, short, limited electronic burts of words are not my preferred means of sharing life-transforming truth. How about you?

I agree with the introduction of this week's TIME cover story about this latest techno fad, which begins by saying, "The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression. You hear about this new service that lets you send 140-character updates to your "followers," and you think, Why does the world need this, exactly? It's not as if we were all sitting around four years ago scratching our heads and saying, 'If only there were a technology that would allow me to send a message to my 50 friends, alerting them in real time about my choice of breakfast cereal." Indeed. Our President, the leader of the free world as we know it, took time from his busy schedule to alert his "followers" (disciples) last year, "Hosting a 4th of July family picnic in Butte, MT and celebrating Malia's 10th Birthday! Watch it live: http://my.barackobama.com/l...11:05 AM Jul 4th, 2008 from web." Did we need to know that? Was that TMI (too much information)? Do Tweeting followers have a life?

Better yet, what happened to interpersonal communication? Can anyone pick up a phone and make a call today? At this rate my beloved email habit will become archaic by next month. Tweeting may have its place somewhere under the sun, but nothing can replace personal, loving, discipleship- discipleship that is about exhortation, encouragement, yes reproof and as we learned last Sunday, "instruction in righteousness." This Sunday, we'll take at least 40 minutes to answer the question, "Why the Gospel?" Be sure that no tweeter can fit that message in nor should, as it happens to be the most important news in the history of the universe. I pity the fool who tries to tweet that truth in our church!

More Biblical Blindspots

How About a Bible Study?

While it’s one thing to expect a sitting U.S. President to have proper biblical theology, it’s quite another thing when a Christ-professing protestant denomination seems to lack a clue. Again, as we’re learning from our Basic Training series, the church of America continues to struggle with retaining a biblical world-view as evidenced by the Episcopal Church’s recent decision to appoint a panel of its theologians to prepare a paper on same-sex relationships in the life of the church.

According to one Episcopal leader quoted by the Christian Post, the project is "designed to articulate theologically a full range of views on the matter of same-sex relationships in the church's life and to foster better understanding and respectful discernment among us." Have any of the leaders in this denomination considered God’s “view” and “understanding” through His revealed Word as Paul exhorted Timothy (2 Tim. 3:16-17)? Obviously, Episcopalian theologians think the scripture is as inspired by God and as sufficient as President Obama, who just declared June “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month,” becoming the first U.S. president to include bisexual and transgender in the proclamation’s title.

How curious is it that a professing Christian president issued a proclamation encouraging pride in what God clearly calls sin? Does such an act profess more biblical compromise or plain biblical ignorance? Less we’re too harsh towards public figures, note that nearly nine in ten Americans who participated in the latest Associated Press poll identified themselves as Christian but only about half of them fit the typical picture of one – or at least one close to what their leaders try to paint. Case in point, though 86 percent of those polled said they consider themselves a Christian, only 35 percent said they attended religious services at least once a week. Meanwhile, 51 percent said they believe abortion should be legal in all (19 percent) or most cases (33 percent). Are U.S. ‘believers’ misinterpreting their Bibles (even more fundamental and straight-forward doctrines) or flat-out not reading them?

Your Best Life or Risky Advice?

How Many Steps to a Better Life Now?

No sooner do we preach a sermon last Sunday about the debate over whether or not the Bible is sufficient and authoritative over all matters of life, do we get a deluge of news items and controversies in the culture war this week, highlighting that very same world-view conflict.

First, the church of Oprah is actually being scrutinized by Newsweek over her holiness' advocacy of Suzanne Sommers unusual secrets to staying young. The cover story reports that "Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these unregulated "bio-identical" hormones to restore her levels back to what they were when she was in her 30s, thus fooling her body into thinking she's a younger woman."

Sommers also swallows 60 pills per day and practices "overall detoxification." If she drinks wine, she goes to her doctor to rejuvenate her liver with an intravenous drip of vitamin C. If she's exposed to cigarette smoke, she has her blood chemically cleaned with chelation therapy. In the time that's left over, she eats right, exercises, and relieves stress by standing on her head. Somers makes astounding claims about the ability of hormones to treat almost anything that ails the female body. She believes they block disease and will double her life span. "I know I look like some kind of freak and fanatic," she said. "But I want to be there until I'm 110, and I'm going to do what I have to do to get there." That was apparently good enough for Oprah. "Many people write Suzanne off as a quackadoo," she said. "But she just might be a pioneer." While I'm tempted to go with the former description as I'm reminded of her Three's Company character Chrissy, I'm thinking that this obsession with finding a biological fountain of youth is endemic with an attitude that says this life is all there is and we determine it's length and breadth.

Sommers and others with a similar worldview, omit God from the picture and ignore His sovereign rule as creator and sustainer of all life in the universe. While some people focus entirely on spirituality, to the neglect of their physical bodies, others focus so much attention on their physical bodies that they neglect spiritual growth and discipleship. 1 Timothy 4:8 informs us, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Notice that the verse does not negate the need for physical care. Rather, it says that exercise is valuable, but it prioritizes exercise correctly by saying that godliness is of greater value. To say nothing of the fact that it is God who "fashioned" all of our days and are written in His book (Psalm 139:16). More on this story Sunday at CCC.....

Are Pro-Lifers 'Facist?'

Hours after the Sunday morning shooting death of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller in Wichita, Kan., a Boulder Colorado physician — who says he could be the only doctor in the world still performing the procedure — said Tiller’s assassination was the “absolutely inevitable consequence” of decades of anti-abortion fanaticism.“I’m profoundly sad and I’m furious and I think the American people need to understand that we have a fascist movement in this country,” Dr. Warren Hern told The Colorado Independent on Sunday. “We don’t have to invade Iraq to find terrorists. They’re right here killing abortion doctors.”“Every doctor that does abortions has been under an assassination threat for decades,” Hern said. “The anti-abortion movement message is, ‘Do what we tell you to do or we will kill you,’ and they do. This is a fascist movement.”

Gee, I never thought being pro-life in my view equated me to being a Nazi-like facist! This view leads to the common fallacy that Christianity is cruel or false because of the Inqusition and the Crusades done in the name of Christendom or every Muslim should be condemnded because of extreme terrorism. To paraphrase the good doctor above, I'm more concerned about the ignorance expressed by abortion advocates, who while crying out about a rare case of exteme and inexcusable murder, turn their back on the more than 3,000 children being legally executed in this country every day. May God remove the scales from their eyes and be merciful to us all.

Gay Double Standards

Former Vice President Dick Cheney became the third national Republican figure to publicly approve of gay marriage this week, joining a former McCain campaign manager and President Bush's former Solicitor General Ted Olson, who is helping spearhead a legal challenge to Proposition 8 in California. Yet, Cheney also signaled his support for letting states ban gay marriage. Is it possible to hold both positions simultaneously? Absoutely, if you ignore scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17) or leave your biblical worldview behind when thinking about issues - especially when they impact your family.

At a press conference this week, Cheney said, "I think freedom means freedom for everyone. As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. And I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish." So we can take this to mean should we have a child who wished to marry three or four people (regardless of their gender and age) it would be allright and good for everyone, as long as they consentually "wished" right? This kind of thinking doomed Israel when in the time of the Judges, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). While I symphatize with the former Veep's family conflict, we cannot form good public policy on personal and emotional whims absent from the wisdom of God's Word.