What If They Were Liars?

William is seven years old, but he's been asking tough questions for some time. Questions like, "What makes the wind move?" or "Do I have a step-dad?"

Tonight he asked me, "What if the people who told us about Jesus were liars?" I admit I didn't expect to need my apologetic reasonings this early in Will's life, but I rejoice that he thinking about the gospel I've been teaching him.

I love the way Chuck Colson described how he and about a dozen men committed themselves to a lie in order to protect the President of the United States during the Watergate scandal. These men possessed great political power, prestige, and were afraid of no one. Yet they couldn't sustain a lie for three weeks.

Lets go back a little further in history and consider the disciples of Christ. After the resurrection event, this ragtag bunch of misfits spent the next fifty years turning the known world upside down with a story proclaiming that the illegitimate son of a carpenter had come back from the dead, all while suffering persecution and ridicule from opponents. And when they were faced with the options of changing their story or accepting death, they died without flinching.

These unsure young men not only immerged as fearless defenders of the resurrection story, making Nixon's hatchet men look like kittens, but they had an entire gospel message that seamlessly fulfilled all the Old Testament shadows, themes and prophesies. And don't even get me started on Paul.

The point is this, people die for lie all the time, but they don't die for a lie when they know its a lie. And if anybody would have known that Jesus' resurrection was a fabrication, it would have been the disciples. Yet they poured their lives into the proclamation of this story while under the constant threat of torture and death.

And die they did, never once retracting their testimony that Jesus defeated death.

Love for Homosexuals

The culture war between secular minds and biblical thinkers perhaps has not been more heated than in the discussion of sexual orientation. One side argues for a genetic link predisposing one to homosexuality, while the other side reduces it to a simple choice. One side will argue that homosexuality is in line with God's will, while the other side cries "abomination" with judgmental venom signifying the highest degree of ignorance (yes, I’m talking to you Westboro Baptist Church).

Yet, even those not numbered among the grossly misguided fringe are often misguided still. Since homosexual lust is not in their sin portfolio they feel morally superior to those who are of the homosexual persuasion. This ill-fated air of moral supremacy has resulted in the catastrophic failure of the church to reach out to the homosexual community with any meaningful degree of grace. Paul prescribes this wise approach in Colossians 4:5-6, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace…”

This tragic misunderstanding of sin and gospel, and the attitude accompanying such a misunderstanding, often costs evangelical Christians the right to enter into any meaningful dialogue with homosexuals (and many others).

I must admit I’ve never been persuaded that homosexuality was a mere matter of choice as if it could be turned off with the flip of a switch. Theology teaches us that our sin nature is much too deeply embedded to simply be turned on and off at will. Paul said in Romans 7:18 “For I know that in my flesh nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” He continues in verses 24-25 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Every sinner who comes to faith in Jesus Christ recognizes the need to have their flesh redeemed, including its sexual desires. Homosexual lusts can no more be turned off at will than heterosexual lusts. Evangelical Christians often fail to remember that we all are sinners, and all of our sexual desires fall short of God’s glory (regardless of orientation), and that the only hope for our redemption was and is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Al Mohler said, “All Christians struggle with their own pattern of sinful desires, sexual and otherwise. Our responsibility as Christians is to be obedient to Christ, knowing that only He can save us from ourselves.”

Clearly the New Testament pattern of evangelism included ministry to homosexuals (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Yet when this ministry takes the form of moralism, the true Gospel of Christ is compromised. No sinner has the capability to redeem him or herself. We all enter this life plagued with a darkness of heart that can only be remedied by the Light of the World, and until that illumination takes place we remain slaves to our fallen nature (see John 8:34).

Yes, I love homosexuals. I love them because God loved me. Dear Christian, the grace of God to us wretched sinners is too precious a gift to be misunderstood, taken for granted, or hoarded. So lets find a fresh sense of gratitude and humility, praying that it would lead us to obey the dictates of the Great Commission by taking the gospel of grace to all sinners with a disposition that reflects the gratefulness of a soul that was once lost, but now is found.

Questions For Your Wife

Tom Eliff, the President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention asks his wife these questions every year:


1. What can I do to cause you to feel more loved and cherished?

2. How can I best demonstrate my appreciation for you, your ideas, and your role as my wife?

3. What can I do to assure you that I hear and understand your heart’s desires?

4. What can I do to make you feel absolutely secure?

5. What can I do to ensure that you have confidence and joy in our future direction?

6. What attribute or practice would you like to see me develop or improve?

7. What attribute would you most like to develop in yourself, and how may I help you in the best possible way?

8. Is there some accomplishment in my life that would bring joy to your heart?

9. What would indicate to you my desire to be more like Christ?

10. What mutual goal(s) would you like to see us accomplish together?

And yes, I did ask Jill these questions. And no, I'm not telling you what she said.

Encouragement For Teens

John Piper wrote the following letter to a discouraged teenager.

Dear ________,

My experience of coming out of an introverted, insecure, guilty, lustful, self-absorbed adolescent life was more like the emergence of a frog from a tadpole than a butterfly from a larva.

Larvae disappear into their cocoons and privately experience some inexplicable transformation with no one watching (it is probably quite messy in there) and then the cocoon comes off and everyone says oooo, ahhh, beautiful. It did not happen like that for me.

Frogs are born teeny-weeny, fish-like, slimy, back-water-dwellers. They are not on display at Sea World. They might be in some ritzy hotel's swimming pool if the place has been abandoned for 20 years and there's only a foot of green water in the deep end.

But little by little, because they are holy frogs by predestination and by spiritual DNA (new birth), they swim around in the green water and start to look more and more like frogs.

First, little feet come out on their side. Weird. At this stage nobody asks them to give a testimony at an Athletes in Action banquet.

Then a couple more legs. Then a humped back. The fish in the pond have already pulled back: "Hmmm," they say, "this does not look like one of us any more." A half-developed frog fits nowhere.

But God is good. He has his plan and it is not to make this metamorphosis easy. Just certain. There are a thousand lessons to be learned in the process. Nothing is wasted. Life is not on hold waiting for the great coming-out. That's what larvae do in the cocoon. But frogs are public all the way though the foolishness of change.

I think the key for me was finding help in the Apostle Paul and C. S. Lewis and my father, all of whom seemed incredibly healthy, precisely because they were so absolutely amazed at everything but themselves.

They showed me that the highest mental health is not liking myself but being joyfully interested in everything but myself. They were the type of people who were so amazed that people had noses—not strange noses, just noses—that walking down any busy street was like a trip to the zoo. O yes, they themselves had noses, but they couldn’t see their own. And why would they want to? Look at all these noses they are free to look at! Amazing.

The capacity of these men for amazement was huge. I marveled and I prayed that I would stop wasting so much time and so much emotional energy thinking about myself. Yuk, I thought. What am I doing? Why should I care what people think about me. I am loved by God Almighty and he is making a bona fide high-hopping frog out of me.

The most important text on my emergent frogishness became 2 Corinthians 3:18 —


And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

This was one of the greatest secrets I ever discovered: Beholding is becoming.

Introspection must give way to amazement at glory. When it does, becoming happens. If there is any key to maturity it is that. Behold your God in Jesus Christ. Then you will make progress from tadpole to frog. That was a great discovery.

Granted, (so I thought) I will never be able to speak in front of a group, since I am so nervous. And I may never be married, because I have too many pimples. Wheaton girls scare the bejeebies out of me. But God has me in his hand (Philippians 3:12) and he has a plan and it is good and there is a world, seen and unseen, out there to be known and to be amazed at—why would I ruin my life by thinking about myself so much?

Thank God for Paul and Lewis and my dad! It’s all so obvious now. Self is simply too small to satisfy the exploding longings of my heart. I wanted to taste and see something great and wonderful and beautiful and eternal.

It started with seeing nature and ended with seeing God. It started in literature, and ended in Romans and Psalms. It started with walks through the grass and woods and lagoons, and ended in walks through the high plains of theology. Not that nature and literature and grass and woods and lagoons disappeared, but they became more obviously copies and pointers.

The heavens are telling the glory of God. When you move from heavens to the glory of God, the heavens don’t cease to be glorious. But they are un-deified, when you discover what they are saying. They are pointing. “You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy” (Psalm 65:8).

What are the sunrise and sunset shouting about so happily? Their Maker! They are beckoning us to join them. But if I am grunting about the zit on my nose, I won’t even look out the window.

So my advice is: be patient with the way God has planned for you to become a very happy, belly-bumping frog. Don’t settle for being a tadpole or a weird half-frog. But don’t be surprised at the weirdness and slowness of the process either.

How did I become a preacher? How did I get married? God only knows. Incredible. So too will your emergence into what you will be at 34 be incredible. Just stay the course and look. Look, look. There is so much to see. The Bible is inexhaustible. Mainly look there. The other book of God, the unauthoritative one—nature—is also inexhaustible. Look. Look. Look. Beholding the glory of the Lord we are being changed.

I love you and believe God has great froggy things for you. Don’t worry about being only a high-hopping Christlike frog. Your joy comes from what you see.


Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

There is another metamorphosis awaiting. It just gets better and better. God is infinite. So there will always be more of his glory for a finite mind to see. There will be no boredom in eternity.

Affectionately,

Pastor John

Budweiser, Coors and Michelob, OH MY!

The following is from pastor Burleson in Enid Oklahoma:

Some Southern Baptist leaders believe that the way to stop believers from straying into sin, or to keep church members living lives consistent with personal holiness, or to establish churches with a worthy 'Baptist Identity,' is to lay out for Christians 'the law' of proper behavior. Following the articulation of 'the law' (whatever it may be from church to church), comes the use of threats to keep Christians from violating the laws of the church. In this manner, some Southern Baptist leaders seem to feel comfortable that they have done all they can to perserve the purity of God's kingdom. However, in my experience, such behavior exhibited by church leadership contradicts the beauty of the gospel as an internal change of heart. To demand conformity through outward pressure is a tactic of religious cults, not Christian grace.
Years ago a young man named Eric was driving by the church I pastored in Tulsa. He had a pistol underneath the front seat, an open container of beer in the cup holder, and was on his way to an open field where he would drink himself to drunkenness in order to have the courage to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. As he drove south on Sheridan Road he saw our church sign that said, "Prepare to Meet Thy God." The words so rattled him he turned into our parking lot and prayed, "God, if you are sending me a sign, let someone be inside this church to help me." The Lord answered his prayer.

Eric came into our offices and our Worship Pastor began to talk with him about knowing Christ. I was soon called and within an hour we had the privilege of seeing the Holy Spirit regenerate Eric's soul, with the end result of Eric trusting Jesus Christ as His Savior and Lord. The transformation was enormous. Eric was excited about his new life in Christ and when we explained the purpose of baptism, Eric committed to be in church Sunday to make known his faith in Christ through believer's baptism. We explained that at the conclusion of my sermon, he would need to come down the aisle to be introduced to our church and he would be baptized later that night.

Sunday morning came and I closed the message with an invitation to make public the work God had done, or was doing, in the listeners' lives. No sooner did our Worship Pastor begin singing when Eric came running down the aisle, and in King James language, he came walking and leaping and praising God. When the appropriate time came I introduced him to our church. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce you to a young man who this week was intent on killing himself, but God has intervened. This is Eric . . ." As I was speaking to the crowd I turned to look at Eric and to my horror, I saw Eric was wearing a Budweiser Beer T-Shirt that said, "Budweiser, King of Beers."

I knew some of the deacons would be upset. Sure enough, after church one of the older deacons came up to me and said, "Pastor, did you talk to Eric?" Acting ignorant, though knowing full well what he meant, I said, "About what?" "Did you tell him he ought not be wearing that beer t-shirt in church? It ain't appropriate."

I took a deep breath and said, "No, I didn't. He has just come to faith in Christ. If we begin to tell him what he can't do, shouldn't do, ought not do, etc . . . we quench the work of the Spirit by imposing a law. If we were to speak to him about the t-shirt, and he were to stop wearing it, he will confuse regulations of a religion with the reality of a relationship. Let's love him, get to know him, and encourage him - but let's stay away from the 'should nots' of religion and give time for his relationship with Christ to develop."

I can't say my deacon fully understood what I was saying, but to his credit, he listened quietly - and walked away without a response. We baptized Eric that night and the next Sunday Eric came to Sunday school wearing a 'Coors' t-shirt. The next week he came with a Michelob Light t-shirt. The following week he came to church wearing another beer t-shirt.

Eric was a beer t-shirt collector.

It was not easy staying quiet. Many were tempted to say something. I might have said something if the Bible addressed the subject, but nowhere in the sacred text does it say, "Thou shalt not wear a beer t-shirt to church." Eric himself had no idea that some people might be 'offended' at his clothing, and when a handful of church members came to me to talk about Eric's Sunday dress, I asked them if they were personally offended with this new Christian wearing beer t-shirts. Those who spoke to me about it, to a person, never said they were personally offended, but there was some, nebulous person 'out there' who might be. I told them when they could introduce me to this mysterious, offended person, whom I had not yet met, I would talk to Eric. Until then, our love for Eric would cause us to love him where he was in his walk with Christ.

About the fifth Sunday Eric came to church wearing a new t-shirt. It was a t-shirt with a Christian logo. He had found a Christian t-shirt store and, prompted by the Spirit, Eric purchased several t-shirts with a Christian message. That Sunday he had traded in his "Budweiser: King of Beers" t-shirt for one that said, "Jesus Christ: King of Kings." Christ had Eric's heart. The change that occurred happened within. There was not the demand for conformity imposed upon this young Christian by a Southern Baptist congregation, but rather, there was the powerful, internal work of the Spirit within the heart of a man that experienced the love, acceptance and patience of a people who themselves had tasted of the grace of God.

Because many Southern Baptist churches, contrary to historic Baptist principles, are often filled with unregenerate, lost people, Southern Baptist pastors are often tempted to impose LAW on the congregation to keep them in line. However, when churches recognize the beauty and power of the Holy Spirit to tranform lives, and receive people into membership whom the Spirit has already given new life in Christ (and not those convinced to 'join the church' through manipulation), then we pastors can simply trust in "He who began a good work". May God give us the necessary grace to resist the temptation to precede the internal work of the Spirit in His people. Patience allows us to feel the excitement of seeing the beautiful, internal work of the Spirit which trumps any work of the law.

Definition of Insanity

The Harvard Business Review had an article discussing the reasons many leaders will fail to change course even when their strategies are not working.

A study in the 1970's showed that most MBA's would stick with the strategy they chose even when that strategy proves to fail. In other words, they would choose to pour more money and energy into a failed plan, rather than admit a mistake and change. Interestingly, the study makes reference to the Vietnam Conflict as an example of logic falling prey to face-saving.

No one likes to admit being wrong, especially if you've been chosen as one more likely to foresee future needs while having a plan to meet those needs. A leader who can admit being wrong and recognize the need to change course is an increasingly rare commodity.

Ellen Langer's study on the illusion of control showed that people were more willing to bet on a gamble when it was their hand that would roll the dice or pull the card. With all these psychological pressures its no wonder most leaders choose to double down on bad decisions.

The best leaders are not those who never make bad decisions, but rather will be able to recognize a bad decision, give it the axe, and start over with something new. To fail to do so sounds much like the classic definition of insanity: Continually doing the same thing while expecting different results.

Happy 4th of July