Sermon Video: The same attitude toward each other as Jesus had -Romans 15:1-6

Why should Christians of "strong" faith bear with those whose faith is "weak"?  The answer certainly isn't to bolster our own ego (as if the faith we have were our own doing rather than a gift of grace), instead the Apostle Paul tells us that we are obligated to act toward our fellow Christians with the same attitude that Jesus Christ had.  Now, let's be honest, that's far beyond our capability.  Thankfully, God has also committed to empowering his people to imitate Jesus (through the Holy Spirit that indwells God's people).

Sermon Video: Living like Jesus in the everyday things - Romans 12:13-16

As disciples of Jesus, imitating him is a key aspect of our faith.  Here in Romans 12, the Apostle Paul offers 4 examples of behavior that help illustrate our obligation: (1) sharing/hospitality, (2) blessing those who persecute us, (3) having empathy, and (4) limiting pride to foster harmony.

The folly of the "Sin of Empathy" - A self-inflicted wound to Christian Fundamentalism

Sin is a big word for Jews and Christians, it is an especially toxic word among Evangelicals and Fundamentalists.  When some attitude, thought, or behavior is put under the label of sin, people take notice.  When I was much younger than I am now, it was not uncommon for people in my sphere to talk about going to the movies or social dances as a sin.  In fact, both of those things were banned by the Christian College, Cornerstone, that I attended.  In both cases, blanket bans and talk of sin was unproductive, and unnecessarily legalistic.  What should have happened was a much more nuanced discussion about temptation and stewardship of time and resources that led to much more accurate conclusions like, "Some movies should not be viewed by Christians, and would thus because of their immoral content be sinful to attend." Or, "Some social dancing, because of its connection to both alcohol and potential to inflame lust in young people who may not be capable of saying no to that temptation, should be avoided by Christians."  Statements of that nature don't fit on a bumper sticker, don't feel tough enough by those rooting on the Culture Wars, but actually conform much more closely to both the teaching of the Apostle Paul about the confluence of Christian freedom and responsibility {1 Corinthians 10:23 New International Version “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.} and the actual reality of how Christians deal with and overcome temptation.

That being said, the choice of Pastor Joe Rigney {with the support and agreement of Pastor John Piper, Pastor Doug Wilson, and apologist James White} to label Empathy a SIN cannot be set aside as hyperbole or click-bait {if that was the goal, to gain notoriety and ultimately sales, this discussion takes on a whole different tone; let us not assume the worst}.  Rigney, and those like minded leaders in the Church, want Empathy to be reevaluated, judged, and jettisoned from Christian discipleship, ministry, and counseling. 

The following quotes are from Pastor Joe Rigney's, The Enticing Sin of Empathy HOW SATAN CORRUPTS THROUGH COMPASSION   Unfortunately, Rigney considers himself to be somehow C.S. Lewis' literary successor and has written his indictment of Empathy in the style of the The Screwtape Letters.  It worked well for Lewis' genius, less well here.

When humans are suffering, they tend to make two demands that are impossible to fulfill simultaneously. On the one hand, they want people to notice the depth of their pain and sorrow — how deep they are in the pit, how unique and tragic their circumstances. At the same time, they don’t want to be made to feel that they really need the assistance of others. In one breath, they say, “Help me! Can’t you see I’m suffering?” and in the next they say, “How dare you act as though I needed you and your help?” The sufferer doesn’t want to be alone, and demands not to be pitied.

Rigney sets forth an example of the complex emotions of traumatized people.  He evidently considers it a tool useful to Satan that those who have are experiencing deep pain may at the same time struggle to accept help for that pain.  Traumatized people don't have straightforward emotional responses; that's not news.  He really shouldn't be surprised, is not the Bible full of examples of people who didn't feel worthy of God's redemption, Peter saying to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) being but one example.  Moreover, in ministry I've experienced this, as have countless other pastors and lay Christians.  When we reach out to someone in desperate need of help, that person either struggles with pride (not being willing to admit they need it) or with despair (not seeing that help is possible for someone like them).  The human condition, especially apart from the involvement of the Spirit, is a mess.

Now, sufferers have been placing such impossible demands on others from time immemorial. In response, our armies have fought for decades to twist the Enemy’s virtue of compassion into its counterfeit, empathy. Since we introduced the term a century ago, we’ve steadily taught the humans to regard empathy as an improvement upon compassion or sympathy.

Here is Rigney's premise: Empathy is a twisted mirror to Compassion, a counterfeit modern opposite.  For this to be true, one would need to search the Bible in vain for empathy on display and only find compassion.  Let's take a look, does God show compassion ONLY, or empathy too under its umbrella?

Matthew 9:36 New International Version

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

1 Peter 3:8  New International Version

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

Romans 12:15  New International Version

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

John 11:34-36New International Version

34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Hebrews 4:15  New International Version

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Beyond these examples from Scripture, passages where Compassion is not devoid of emotional connection, there is one simple act of Jesus that puts aside any thought that Jesus only felt Compassion and not Empathy: He touched the lepers.

Matthew 8:3  New International Version

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

To touch a leper was forbidden, it made one unclean according to the Law of Moses, and risked infection.  Why would Jesus touch this man before he healed him?  He could just have easily healed him first, and then (after presenting himself to the priests to be declared 'clean') this man could have had all the hugs he needed.  Why?  Because Jesus felt his pain, his isolation, his loneliness.  Was Jesus thus unable to see what the man really needed?  Did he lose sight of Truth?  Of course not, his Empathy was one of the reasons why Jesus was able to transcend conventional wisdom and accepted limits, to show the mercy and love of God to someone in desperate need of both.  In all honesty, this one passage is a deal-breaker for the notion that Empathy is Sin.  Jesus felt the pain of others, it didn't hinder him from remaining true to his calling and purpose one bit.

In addition, this entire pronouncement of SIN against those who feel empathy is a semantic exercise with two words that have significant overlap in their semantic ranges, and are often used interchangeably by authors, pastors, and the public.   

According to Merriam-Webster, which actually contains a page comparing the two terms:

What is the difference between empathy and compassion?

Some of our users are interested in the difference between empathy and compassion. Compassion is the broader word: it refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain:

Our rationalizations for lying (or withholding the truth)—"to protect her," "he could never handle it”—come more out of cowardice than compassion.
— Eric Utne, Utne Reader, November/December 1992

Sometimes compassion is used to refer broadly to sympathetic understanding:

Nevertheless, when Robert Paxton's "Vichy France" appeared in a French translation in 1973, his stark and devastating description ... was rather badly received in France, where many critics accused this scrupulous and thoughtful young historian either of misinterpreting the Vichy leaders' motives or of lacking compassion.
— Stanley Hoffmann, The New York Times Book Review, 1 Nov. 1981

Empathy refers to the ability to relate to another person’s pain vicariously, as if one has experienced that pain themselves:

For instance, people who are highly egoistic and presumably lacking in empathy keep their own welfare paramount in making moral decisions like how or whether to help the poor.
— Daniel Goleman, The New York Times, 28 Mar. 1989

"The man thought all this talk was fine, but he was more concerned with just getting water. And, if I was going to be successful on this mission, I had to remember what his priorities were. The quality you need most in United Nations peacekeeping is empathy."
— Geordie Elms, quoted in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Autumn 1992

In some cases, compassion refers to both a feeling and the action that stems from that feeling:

Compassion, tenderness, patience, responsibility, kindness, and honesty are actions that elicit similar responses from others.
— Jane Smiley, Harper’s, June 2000

while empathy tends to be used just for a feeling:

She is also autistic, a disability that she argues allows her a special empathy with nonhuman creatures.
— Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 29 April 2009

Thus if Rigney is correct, and compassion is a virtue, but empathy is a sin, the only thing that a Christian can do to have compassion, which is required, is to understand the pain of others, want to help them alleviate it, but NEVER feel that pain.  The primary distinction between the two terms is the emotional connection that empathy makes beyond that of some forms of compassion.  I've known this many times in ministry.  There are some people I have helped in their distress whose emotional state, for whatever reason, does not powerfully connect with me at that time.  I help them just the same.  And yet, there have been others, perhaps in the same circumstances, whose emotional pain hits me powerfully, even causing me to loose control over my emotions and shed tears.  In both cases I offer such help as I can give, am I to believe that the emotion-less response, Spock like, is a virtue, and the one that causes me emotional pain too, the more empathetic response, is SIN??  This conclusion I reject both categorically, and whole-heartedly.  I have my mother's heart, I always have.  When she cries, I can't hold back tears, the things that tug at her heart have always tugged at mine.  It is a gift of God born of both my nature and my nurture, and something that I am profoundly grateful to my mother for the role she played in giving it to me.  Why?  Because it has produced some of the most powerful and transformative moments in my ministry.  In addition, it has shaped my heart and mind, bringing me closer to the suffering of others, shutting down excuses and rationalizations against helping others in need, because at times I can feel what they feel (at least in part).  That Christian Fundamentalism (or Evangelicalism, the two terms, ironically, have much overlap) has degenerated to the point where a seminary president lays this down as the Rubicon that cannot be crossed, is an indicator of just how ill this patient has become.

Of note: In his discussion Rigney is defining Empathy in a way foreign to both the dictionary definition and common usage.  He is putting on empathy all manner elements that are not required, not part of what this emotion actually is.  Those who just read the headlines won't notice this, they'll assume that a minister of the Gospel has warned them not to feel the pain of others because it is sinful, and walk away even more misguided than if he/she had tried to maintain the hair-splitting definitions Rigney is favoring.

Think of it this way: the Enemy’s virtue of compassion attempts to suffer with the hurting while maintaining an allegiance to the Enemy. In fact, it suffers with the hurting precisely because of this allegiance. In doing so, the Christians are to follow the example of their pathetic and repulsive Master. Just as the Enemy joined the humans in their misery in that detestable act of incarnation, so also his followers are to join those who are hurting in their misery.

However, just as the Enemy became like them in every way but sin, so also his followers are not permitted to sin in their attempts to comfort the afflicted. Thus, his compassion always reserves the right not to blaspheme. It seeks the sufferer’s good and subordinates itself to the Enemy’s abominable standard of Truth.

Our alternative, empathy, shifts the focus from the sufferer’s good to the sufferer’s feelings, making them the measure of whether a person is truly “loved.” We teach the humans that unless they subordinate their feelings entirely to the misery, pain, sorrow, and even sin and unbelief of the afflicted, they are not loving them.

Here Rigney builds his Straw Man to dismantle.  His false dichotomy states that one can ONLY have empathy if one abandons the desire to seek the good of the other person, that while Christ did indeed suffer 'with' those who were hurting, in other words he felt their pain, this was somehow not Empathy, but only Compassion.   The last sentence above is instructive: Rigney has now redefined empathy to be feeling the pain of others WITHOUT any recognition that pain might be, at least in part, caused by sin or unbelief on the part of the person one is feeling empathy towards.  But why??  Even if there is an attempt to demand such unquestioning, truth-less, empathy on the part of a person in pain or from segments of society, why must a Christian accept it?  This is a classic example of 'throwing the baby out with the bath water'.  Joe Rigney, as a Culture Warrior, fears that 'they' are trying to use blind empathy to advance their political causes, and thus 'we' must reject empathy, in its entirety, to deny them that tool.  In other words, let us surrender this field of battle and retreat.  The answer is no.  No, I will not allow the Culture War to dictate my theology, I will not adjust my ministry focus and methods to avoid any taint of looking/acting/sounding like 'them' to satisfy the knee-jerk reaction of political partisanship.  

By elevating empathy over compassion as the superior virtue, there is now an entire culture devoted to the total immersion of empathy. Books, articles, and social media all trumpet the importance of checking one’s own beliefs, values, judgments, and reason at the door of empathy.

This is the what Rigney believes the Left is doing.  If taken at face value, why would the Church change in response?  One can first listen to those hurting and in pain without making judgments either way until you know what is going on.  One can simply say instead, "I do feel your pain, but my devotion to Christ shows me what the ultimate answer to that pain is."  Why must we abandon Empathy to protect Truth??  This is the dangerous false dichotomy of this position.  We are being asked to make a sacrifice by abandoning empathy, 'for the greater good', that is unnecessary.  I, as a minister of the Gospel, am fully capable of understanding the pain of someone I'm trying to help, even feeling some of it myself, without abandoning my own connection to Truth and Righteousness.  

Is it possible for a minister or a counselor to lose objectivity, to get too close to someone they are trying to help?  Of course it is,  but Rigney didn't say, "Be careful because sometimes people take empathy too far."  The "Sin of Empathy" is a much catchier title, but also foolish.  

Rightly used, empathy is a power tool in the hands of the weak and suffering. By it, we can so weaponize victims that they (and those who hide behind them) are indulged at every turn, without regard for whether such indulgence is wise or prudent or good for them.

Here is where it seems the 'quiet part' is said out loud.  The reason for this diatribe against Empathy is that victims have been 'weaponized' in the last few years.  The primary examples of this are the MeToo Movement and BLM.  Women are starting to believed when they report sexual abuse, and questions of ongoing systematic racism are starting to be taken seriously.  Rigney, and those echoing his fears, view such victims as a Trojan Horse, threatening both Complementarianism, what John Piper is best known for, and the longstanding dominance of Whites in America.  If we feel the pain of women and minorities, if we take the harm done to them by individuals and institutions who have not traditionally been held accountable seriously, will we not be seeking what is True and Righteous?  Is this not the call of the Church, to defend the powerless against those who harm them?

This reminds me of the attempt to smear Rachel Denhollander, a sexual abuse victim and advocate for those being abused, by some within the SBC. {"By What Standard?" - A shameful trailer made by Founders Ministries utilizing the worst political ad tactics}  This Christian woman was connected to 'godless ideologies' by Founders Ministries, despite the fact that her efforts were both God honoring and biblically correct.  Her crime?  Working on a 'Blue' issue that was shining the light of Truth on the sins committed in churches on the 'Red' team.

How do we know that this push against Empathy is connected to blowback against MeToo and BLM?  In other words, that it is a Culture War response of the Team Red against Team Blue, and not simply the seeking of theological Truth?  The ouster of three pastors at John Piper's church, known for their empathy and willingness to work on behalf of the oppressed, makes the connection clear.  Read the article from Christianity Today, it provides important context for this discussion. {Bethlehem Baptist Leaders Clash Over ‘Coddling’ and ‘Cancel Culture’ A debate over “untethered empathy” underscores how departing leaders, including John Piper’s successor, approached hot-button issues like race and abuse. by KATE SHELLNUTT}  

 Empathy demands, “Feel what I feel. In fact, lose yourself in my feelings.”

Why must it be thus?  Even if some demand that Empathy be this, it isn't, nor does it have to be.

When faith is abused by some, do we declare faith a sin?  When love is abused by some do we declare love a sin?  Of course not, don't be ridiculous, so why would we cast empathy out into the darkness simply because some may want to use it for unhealthy purposes?

The Culture Wars make for BAD theology.  When we look at what is happening in the Culture, and then design a theological response to bolster 'our side' against 'them', the results are not pretty.  The Church is supposed to be above such swaying to and fro, supposed to be firmly planted on the Solid Rock.  This is yet another example of how we endanger the Church, its purity and its mission, when we marry the Church to politics.  Empathy is not a sin, it never was.

For further discussion:

Holy Post Episode 472 The “Sin of Empathy” & Spotting Toxic Leaders with Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel  This topic is discussed from the 33:20-59:00 mark.

Empathy is Not a Sin by Warren Throckmorton

“Your Empathy Is a Sin”: A Response to Desiring God by Rebecca Davis

Empathy is a Virtue, by SCOT MCKNIGHT

The American Crisis of Selective Empathy And how it reaches into the church. By David French

The troubling whitewashing of Jonathan Edwards' ownership of slaves by John Piper

Coming to terms with the flaws of your heroes can be rough.  We all need heroes, mentors, those who will inspire us and open our hearts and minds as we grow toward intellectual and spiritual maturity, but those to whom we look are not flawless.  In some cases, the flaw if well known.  Martin Luther, for example, wrote and spoke in favor of kind treatment of the Jews of Europe earlier in his Post-Reformation career, only to change course around 1536, ultimately writing a disgusting tract entitled, On the Jews and Their Lies.  This change in his thinking taints the last ten years of Luther's life, increases the scrutiny of anything he wrote in that period, and of course complicates his legacy because his antisemitism was influential in the road that eventually led to the Holocaust.  When considering Martin Luther, the bravery of "Here I stand, I can do no other" is weighed with the darkness that made a home in his thinking later in life.  People are complicated, they all have flaws, heroes are no exception.  Not every hero has a glaring flaw, let us not be that jaded, but some do, and pretending otherwise is a bad idea.

Which brings us to one of Christianity's great preachers, Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening along with George Whitefield, who was used by God to bring about tremendous reform in the American Church.  And a slave owner. {Jonathan Edwards' disturbing support for slavery: some reflections, by David Baker }  In 2019, Pastor Jason Meyer wrestled with Edwards' legacy in light of his owning of slaves, Jonathan Edwards and His Support of Slavery: A Lament, without attempting to sugarcoat or excuse Edwards' choices:

Jonathan Edwards had more intellectual firepower than any person reading this article, and he was a systematic thinker. He could connect theological dots like no one else. If he could succumb to such obvious, woeful oppression and injustice and theological hypocrisy, then we should be spurred on to greater levels of self-examination. Where are our blind spots? Or where do we willfully turn a blind eye to things we’re simply afraid to address?

And then this month, Meyer's mentor, who picked Meyer to succeed him as the lead pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, decided to revisit Jonathan Edward's legacy by speculating that Edwards owned slaves with good intentions: How Could Jonathan Edwards Own Slaves? Wrestling with the History of a Hero:

I do not know whether Edwards purchased the 14-year-old Venus to rescue her from abuse. I do not know whether she was given care in the Edwards home far above what she could have hoped for under many other circumstances at age 14. I do not know if the boy Titus was similarly bought to rescue him from distress and was then given hope. I do not know if the Edwardses used their upper-class privileges (including the power to purchase slaves) for beneficent purposes toward at-risk black children. The scope of what we do not know is very great.

If someone says, “Piper, this is just wishful thinking,” my answer is that indeed it is wishful thinking. I do not wish for one of my heroes to be more tarnished than he already is. But perhaps it is not just wishful thinking. My wishes are not baseless, however unlikely they may seem against the backdrop of mid-eighteenth-century attitudes. All I know of the godliness that Edwards taught, and in so many ways modeled, inclines me to wish in just this way. It is the sort of dream that, if it came true, would not surprise me.

Rather than wrestling with the contradiction in Edward's life and testimony that the owning of slaves makes clear, Piper has decided (at this particular moment) to attempt to excuse/explain this flaw, leading to predictable blowback: Christian Leaders React to John Piper’s Thoughts on His ‘Hero’ Who Owned Slaves By Jessica Lea and John Piper's 'Wishful Thinking' about Jonathan Edwards and Slavery, by Chris Gehrz.

This change of tone is particularly disturbing, in part, because John Piper himself had a much more balanced and God honoring answer to the fact that Edwards owned slaves in 2013: Slavery and Jonathan Edwards.  Had he left it at that, we wouldn't be questioning his thought processes and conclusions now.  My past self doesn't always agree with my current self, but hopefully that's because I've grown in wisdom and knowledge, maybe even humility, it is hard for me to see how this could be the case regarding this particular issue and John Piper.

There is much to admire about the life and ministry of John Piper, even if one rejects his strict Complementarianism, as I do, but this late in life attempt to polish the image of Edwards is certainly troubling.  When taken together with the choice of the seminary that Piper founded to make its new president Pastor Joe Rigney, whose current crusade (along with other like minded fellows) is to declare Empathy a Sin: Have you heard the one about empathy being a sin? by Mark Wingfield at the same time that Pastor Jason Meyer resigned from Bethlehem Baptist Church, along with two other pastors.  The three pastors in question were, as noted by Christianity Today the staff's most empathetic pastors.  {This article is insightful: Bethlehem Baptist Leaders Clash Over ‘Coddling’ and ‘Cancel Culture’ A debate over “untethered empathy” underscores how departing leaders, including John Piper’s successor, approached hot-button issues like race and abuse. KATE SHELLNUTT}.  #1 Rigney vs. Empathy, #2 Meyer and other pastors resign, #3 Piper speculates that Edwards owned slaves for good reasons.  

In the end, I don't know John Piper personally, and he certainly has no idea who I am.  I've never been to Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.  And yet, at the same time that John Piper and Joe Rigney are badmouthing empathy and disparaging the idea of feeling the pain of others {declaring it to be a SIN of all things},  John Piper also decides to look on the sunny side of Edwards' ownership of slaves.  Taken together, these two purposeful stances are an ominous sign that doesn't belong in any church of any denomination: The pain felt by the oppressed is not their problem.

For more discussion of the "Empathy is Sin" debacle:

Empathy is Not a Sin, by Warren Throckmorton

“Your Empathy Is a Sin”: A Response to Desiring God, by Rebecca Davis

Empathy is a Virtue SCOT MCKNIGHT

Sermon Video: Jesus was indignant? Mark 1:40-45

 When a man with leprosy comes to Jesus asking, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus' emotional response was to be indignant or compassionate? The textual variant here involves the reading in Codex Bezae (the only Greek manuscript to contain it) which may be evidence that copyists had 'fixed' their text to avoid answering the question of why Jesus might be indignant. The answer is simple enough. When confronted with disease, and the hurt that it causes, who wouldn't be angry? Whichever variant is original, Jesus next move it clear: He reached out to touch the man, demonstrating compassion, and healed him. Jesus was willing. We don't always know when God will be willing to miraculously heal, our role is simple: pray, show compassion, kindness, and love.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Coronavirus: It will reveal our true character

In the past twenty-four hours, the impact of the Coronavirus upon life in America accelerated greatly:  The NBA is on hiatus (with other sports and entertainment events soon to follow), colleges are sending students home (primary schools will be next), and as expected the stock market is in free fall.  At this point, certainty about the eventual impact upon both lives lost and the global economy is impossible.  It will be significant, it will last a while, people will lose their jobs, and some their lives.  This is not the first time that a global pandemic has brought life to a halt, with the 1918 Influenza Pandemic as the worst example in modern history.  This pandemic will not result in a Mad Max style apocalypse, but it will have a significant impact, no matter what precautions are put in place.
The question today is this: What will this crisis reveal about our character?  Will it showcase our xenophobia, our greed, and our callousness to the potential harm of others, or will it remind us that we all live on the same planet, that resources are not our possession but gifts from God, and that our proper response to the needs of others is compassion?  In other words, will be respond to this crisis with good or evil?  In our everyday lives we face opportunities to choose to act in selfless righteousness, and opportunities to act in selfish immorality.  These are only made more acute and more consequential during a crisis.  Who you truly are is revealed when pressure is applied.  To whom you owe allegiance is made manifest when tough choices need to be made.
For Christians, the answer to this crisis is simple: continue to embrace righteous living and reject immorality, continue to serve others, continue to place your faith and hope in the Lord, continue to pray.  We as a Christian community fail to fully live up to this standard when times are easy, we are not an unvarnished reflection of our Savior, and for this we are rightly criticized and must repent.  A crisis like this will propel some Christians to extraordinary acts of bravery and charity, and it will reveal the deficiencies in the character of other Christians.  Every crisis is an opportunity to rise to the occasion, in the weeks and months ahead the world will be watching to see how the people of God react; for the sake of the Gospel, we must, by the grace of God and through the power of the Spirit, reveal ourselves to be true disciples of Jesus Christ in word and in deed.
In the Gospels, the repeated response of Jesus to the need of individuals and large crowds is compassion (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 20:34; Mark 6:34, 8:2; Luke 15:20).  In each case that compassion leads to action.  What actions we can take, as a Christian community, to help during this public health crisis are not yet clear, but they will be.  The opportunity to help will arise, we must be ready and willing.

Seeing the world through a father's eyes

For those of you who don't know, I came to fatherhood later in life than most of my peers.  My wife Nicole and I had already been married for nearly 15 years, I had been a teacher at Portland Adult and Community Education for ten years, concurrently a pastor at 1st Baptist of Palo for five years, and moved here to Franklin PA to be the pastor at First Baptist of Franklin just over three years prior to the birth of our beautiful Clara Marie.  As much life experience as I had: marriage, teaching, being a pastor, all of which had their own unique challenges and lessons to be learned, nothing changed my point-of-view as much as becoming a father.  Books that I had once read, and am now re-reading (I do that a lot), with a father-daughter relationship, or TV/Movies that hadn't struck me that way before, now touch at something in my heart and mind that is both real and powerful.  {For example: The girl in the red dress in Schindler's List, while always being a gut punch, would shake me much harder now}  I consider myself to be a person of empathy and compassion, by the grace of God, it is a characteristic one must have to be an effective pastor, but nothing reinforces these Christian virtues in our hearts quite like having had a similar experience; its just the way we work as human beings.

Clara on the day of her birth, holding dad's finger.

Clara on her way to her first day of pre-school this past August

Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV)
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

You don't need me to tell you that our experiences powerfully affect us, both for the better and for the worse, but the words of Hebrews offer an insight into our relationship with God that is truly profound.  Jesus knows what it is like to struggle, to feel tired, to be in pain.  Jesus knows what it is like to wait patiently, to have to trust in your friends, and to be let down by them.  Jesus knows the sorrow of being at the graveside of a parent, the frustration of being rejected by people you're only trying to help, and the joy of helping a 'lost cause' find purpose in life again.  Jesus has been there, and his empathy for your life situations is real.  That alone would be a Truth to "cling to when the rain set in".  But Hebrews tells us something far more important: Jesus knows what is like to be you without the failure of sin.  One of the reasons why we have empathy for other people is that many of us recognize the wisdom of the phrase, "there but for the grace of God, go I".  In other shoes we might equally fail, or we might even do worse, than the person whom we now empathize with in their struggles.  That compassion compels us to act, but that weakness limits how much we can do to help.  Not so with Jesus.  Not only does Jesus know what it is like to be you, but he knows what is necessary to overcome and be victorious in your situation as well.  I, and others like me, can comfort you, maybe even assist you, Jesus can save you.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we can point out the way to hope, Jesus is the way.
What do we do with this knowledge?  Hebrews offers the answer there as well, approach the 'throne of grace with confidence', knowing that in our time of need, our compassionate AND victorious savior, who empathizes with our plight, is both willing and capable of giving us the mercy and grace we need to live righteously, no matter what. 

Sermon Video: God's Chosen People: Bound together in love - Colossians 3:11-14

Having already told the people of the church at Colossae of the need to "put to death" their earthly nature with all of its vices, now Paul advocates for the virtues that the people of God must embrace as they disavow vice: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  As a precursor to this list, Paul reminds the church that "here", that is, in Christ, all of the distinctions and categories by which people divide themselves into subgroups no longer apply, for "Christ is all, and is in all."
In addition to the need to develop and employ the virtues listed by Paul, a significant challenge, but one God's people can achieve through the Spirit, we are also told of the need to pursue these virtues while at the same time forgiving each other when we fail.  Lastly, and most importantly, is the need to "put on" love over all of these efforts, binding them together and leading to harmony.

*As a bonus, this sermon begins with an illustration about brotherly love drawn from the experience of the 9 members of the Fellowship in Tolkien's LOTR.*

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Why we can never allow "them" to be singled out.

After World War II, Pastor Martin Niemoller, who was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1937 and eventually confined at Dachau concentration camp, wrote about the failure of the German people, including himself, to speak up in defense of the "others".  His poignant words offer us a stark warning about letting society, whether that is the government or anyone else, label some people as "other" to be segregated, regulated, or otherwise cataloged.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Christians ought to be the first to raise their voices in protest when a minority group, whether they are citizens or not, are singled out for persecution.  In the political presidential primary currently underway in America, some candidates have proposed rounded up all members of a certain ethnic group to be expelled from the country, one has even floated the idea of a national database for one religious group so that the government can track them.  It should matter to you, not at all, as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, that the ethnic group in question are Hispanics and the religious group being targeted are Muslims.  If you see them, whoever they are, as not equally deserving of rights and liberties as you are, you will one day regret your folly, even if this nation never persecutes "them" anywhere near as much as Niemoller's did, for you will have to answer for that attitude before Almighty God.  We are Christian by grace, not of our own worthiness, and we are American citizens because in God's kindness we were born (or able to move to) this great nation.  To treat either as something earned to lord over others is a sin of pride and a sin of lacking compassion.

There will be no national round-up of millions, and there will be no national database to track religion, we won't allow it, we will speak out, we have to, for our Savior has taught us compassion and mercy.

Sermon Video: The Prodigal Son's brother - Luke 15:11-32

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is the third parable in a row told by Jesus in response to the muttering of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had observed his friendly social interaction with the tax collectors and assorted "sinners".  Each of the three emphasizes God's concern for the Lost, God's willingness to seek and save the Lost, and the joy that erupts in heaven when God succeeds in saving one lost soul.  The younger son in this third parable is indeed prodigal, that is he is wasteful through loose living of his resources, in this case his portion of his father's estate, at which point he hits rock bottom and reconsiders his choices in life.  The younger son begins the process of repentance, turning from his sinful choices and seeking forgiveness for them, even formulating a plan where he will ask his father for a lesser role than being his son, hoping instead to become simply an employee of his father.  Such a resolution is unacceptable to the father, who upon seeing his son return, rushes out to meet him in a loving embrace and immediately restores his son's rights as a son in a tremendous act of grace.  Likewise, God meets the lost sinner where he is, rushing out to meet us and offering total and free forgiveness as well as cleansing us and making us whole.  This parable is a heart-warming story, a tremendous lesson in love, grace, and forgiveness, as well as a warning about the danger of "freedom" apart from God; but it doesn't end there.  The second son, the older brother, is the true target of the parable as he sits sulking in his bitterness and anger when he learns of his father's generosity to his undeserving brother.  It takes the father's intervention, along with harsh and unfair words from the older brother aimed at his father, before the point gets across that the younger brother had been dead, and is now alive, he had been lost, and is now found.
Why do Christians, people who have been forgiven themselves, become judgmental and self-righteous?  They certainly should not, such attitudes are always and everywhere unacceptable within the Church; as former defendants before God whose sentences were commuted by the intervention of Jesus, our response to grace shown to others ought to be a shout of hallelujah, if it is a mumble of self-righteous indignation, shame on us.  Why does it happen?  Two reasons: (1) Those who don't remember their own forgiveness may resent when it is given to others, which would come from a false sense that one's list of sins was somehow small or petty, not really a big deal.  (2)  And those who don't value the Lost as God values them, seeing them in his image, as our very brothers and sisters, are likely to care less about their salvation.  The Prodigal Son may have left home, and hit bottom before finding forgiveness, but it is those of us who stayed behind, who remained with our Father, who may need to learn compassion.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: When rules choke out compassion - Luke 13:10-17

While teaching in a synagogue, on the Sabbath, Jesus was confronted with the implications of a cultural/religious phenomenon known as expansion of piety.  In this case, it was observance of the Sabbath that had grown more elaborate and restrictive over time to the point that by the first century, it was even considered to be a violation of the Law to heal someone of infirmity on the Sabbath.  This has, of course, nothing to do with the original intent of the law of Sabbath rest, but is instead a result of small incremental steps of increasing piety/devotion over time and the eventual integration of those new facets of keeping the Sabbath into the accepted form of obeying the Law.  Eventually, the traditions surrounding the Sabbath came to be accepted as being as sacred and binding as that which was contained originally in the Law of Moses.
This same phenomenon occurs in Church history, as pious scribes over time magnify the name of Jesus in the text that they are copying such that what was originally simply "Jesus" eventually becomes "our Lord Jesus Christ".  Similarly, appreciation for Mary as the mother of Jesus eventually builds and grows until it becomes full blown Marian devotion in the Middle Ages, the same thing applying to the Saints and their relics.  Likewise, the church liturgy itself, along with the church buildings, communion items like the candlesticks and cups, and the priestly vestments, all grew more elaborate and complex over time.
The problem with this tendency arises when a would be reformer seeks to return things to their original intent or purpose only to be viewed as a heretic for daring to attack the sacred when in reality he/she is only seeking to peel away the layers of human additions to what God instituted.  Some such additions and growths are harmless, but others, like the change of how the Sabbath was observed that Jesus confronted, can lead to a twisting of what the original purpose was to the extent that it actually becomes harmful.  The enhanced Sabbath observance not only led to hypocritical and silly extremes, but it eventually raised keeping the Sabbath above the needs of real people such that the crowd became indignant with Jesus when he dared to heal on the Sabbath.
In the end, what God had decreed, we have no right to change, what man has built upon that foundation, should always be open to reform, especially if what we have built puts tradition, rules, and preferences, above the needs of the people of God.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: Those Forgiven Much, Love Much - Luke 7:36-50

The intro and first 1/2 of the initial Scripture reading were inadvertently not taped, the message proceeds as usual from that point...Do you appreciate what you have?  Most people tend to do so only when they've had a taste of what it is like to do without.  In this passage from Luke, Jesus explains through a parable of two debtors that forgiveness from God is treated the same way by us.  Those of us who know how much we have been forgiven, because we realize the depth of our sins, have much to be grateful for, but those who consider themselves to be only minor sinners can be tempted to view the forgiveness they receive with scant appreciation, and perhaps even look upon those forgiven great amounts with scorn.  The woman of ill repute, who crashes the party of his host the well regarded Pharisee Simon, turns out to be the own approved of in the sight of God because she recognizes her sin, has sought the forgiveness of God, and has found it by faith.  Faith is always the answer, whether our sins be a hill or a mountain it doesn’t matter, our only hope to escape their cost is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video 

Sermon Video, "As a father has compassion on his children" Psalm 103

When searching for a sermon text for Father's Day, it becomes painfully clear that there are few fathers in the Bible who are known for being good fathers.  This lack of proper fathers is the single greatest need in American society, affecting millions of homes and countless children growing up without a godly father's influence.  In Psalm 103, David highlights the action, heart, and mind of an amazing father, our heavenly father.  God, because of his love and compassion, is an example of the type of father each of us would want as our own.  Throughout the psalm, the example of God resonates with father's as a how-to guide to parenting.  Not only biological fathers, but father figures and anyone and everyone trying to fill the void of a missing father, all would benefit from copying the attitude of God toward the wayward children of humanity.  In the end, God earns the praise directed to him, and so will earthly fathers if they too learn from his love, compassion, and wisdom.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Manti Te'o, online relationships, and real people

Having moved 400 miles away from my hometown after 37 years this past year I value online communication via Facebook and e-mail with those I left behind.  That long-distance contact helps us keep in touch and eases the pain of being away from friends and family.  There's one big difference between those online relationships and the one that Manti was a part of (whether he knew it was a hoax or not); I actually know these people.  I've had conversations with them face to face, we've built relationships over time that have included shared acts of kindness, we really do know each other.
There may be some value to having a purely online relationship with someone, but there's one important thing it will never have; human contact.  The germaphobes may not appreciate this, but handshakes, hugs, and actually talking to someone (while not checking your cell phone every two minutes) are all integral parts of genuinely meaningful relationships.
As the age of electronic communication progresses, here I am "talking" to you on a blog, this will become more and more important to the building of healthy relationships.  The value of taking the time to be with someone and investing in them will only increase as it becomes more rare in society.
This is also an incredible opportunity for the Church to minister.  There are some who worry how the Church will cope with the changes in technology that seem to make our weekly gathering seem obsolete; they're worrying over nothing.  The Church will continue to be the place where authentic relationships happen, where people care about you even before they know you, and where you can get some heart-felt human contact.  People will want to talk to you, they'll offer to pray for you, and they may even give you a hug whether you want one or not.
To a generation yearning for authenticity, needing to feel connected, and hoping to find people who are willing to put in the time to actually know them, the Church can (and should) be a haven, a place of refuge from the 24/7 hurry up world that won't slow down for anyone.  How do we reach a generation that won't respond to anything except a text message, with a warm smile and a hug.

A day in the life of a church pastor

I know that some people wonder what a pastor does during the week.  Well, it took me 30 minutes to write this next sentence because I was helping one family in need of assistance on the phone and then answering a couple of e-mails about a work project for another family.  In between that sort of thing, there is preparation for tomorrow's Bible study, thoughts about the week's sermon (and hopefully writing some of it), and general things around the church like prayer requests, hospital visitations, and planning of future events.  At the end of each day, it's a question of wondering what things can keep until tomorrow and what things need to be finished today.  I know that plenty of people out there have jobs busier than this, I'm not looking for sympathy (I love my job, it's what God put me here to do), just a reminder that when I get up to preach on Sunday morning, the hours that I spent getting this message ready were only the tip of the iceberg.

A seed is planted...Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County

There have been several pleasant surprises here in Franklin in my first ten months: the ease of making the transition due to the overly friendly people, the amazing ecumenical cooperation among our churches, and now the fulfillment of a vision that began before I arrived but which I have become a part of.

Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County: a cooperative effort where Faith Works

This group is the official name of the Venango County Children's Roundtable's effort to come to an understanding with local churches in order to help (primarily) the children who are on the CYS caseload.  Of course, when you help the children, you help their families; and when you help families, you help the community.  This effort represents cooperation between more government agencies than I can possibly keep track of (amazing in and of itself) and more churches and denominations (a God thing if anything is) than I can list. 

My involvement began this past spring as a substitute pastoral representative at a meeting of about 20 people where we heard about the work of Seeds of Hope in Tioga County, an organization that has been doing something similar for the past ten years.  Other meetings followed, and the numbers began to grow; 30, then 40, and finally over 75 in September.  By then, there were representatives from about 50 churches throughout the county that had attended or expressed interest.  There was a critical mass of enthusiasm and hope, but a beginning still needed to be made.

And now, in the last 2 weeks, we have chosen representatives to be on a committee that will begin to move this vision into reality.  Our first priority: get out into the real world and help one of the families that we've been talking about all year.  That is now a reality that will soon be coming true; a local mom with a teenage daughter living in a home that is not safe will be receiving new windows, probably a roof repair, likely some new plumbing, and new doors (more or less).  All this with the generous donation of people's time and money, and especially the help of people with training and expertise in the building trades.

Soon, the project will be regularly helping with unsafe housing, rides to doctors appointments (using county vehicles, expanding an already existing system), and mentoring and counseling of families.  Each time a church offers real help to real people the potential exists to turn that moment into the beginning of a relationship.  Our goal, even beyond the very big task of helping in these situations, is to help construct the support structure that every person and family needs.  Where does that structure exist already?  Within our churches, as those of us who have been blessed with a church family know.  Where is the answer to drug abuse, alcoholism, neglect, anger, hopelessness, insecurity, grief, and every other such trouble that is common to man?  In the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We, Mustard Seed Missions, are not a social service organization; those already exist.  We're not an evangelism arm of our churches, they exist too.  What we are is a mixture of both.  By offering real and meaningful help to people, by showing the love of Jesus Christ through deeds not just words, we show to those in need that they have value; that God loves them.  If those who receive our physical help decline our spiritual help, we offer them God's blessing and leave the door open; if those who receive our physical help wish to know why followers of Jesus Christ would be willing to help them, we have an answer ready to share, "we love because he first loved us." (I John 4:19)

Will it be easy?  No.  Will it be without bumps along the way?  No.
But then again, what worth doing really ever is, and can you think of anything else our churches should be doing more than this?

The website: mustardseedmissionsofvc.org is up and running; it will soon become the hub for upcoming projects and will alow us to see what materials/volunteers are needed and also allow those who wish to help see what is needed and when.

Sermon Video: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" - Luke 5:27-32

Jesus once again does the unexpected when he calls the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to be his disciple. In 1st Century Judea tax collectors were especially hated as Roman collaborators, and as such were grouped with other "sinners" such as prostitutes. Jesus, however, sees in Levi a sinner in need of repentance, not a lost cause outcast. When the Pharisees complain that Jesus has agreed to eat with tax collectors and "sinners", he responds by telling them that, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick". In other words, God is concerned with the lost, with sinners who need to be healed; rather than hating them, God holds out a hand in hope that they will repent. As Jesus concludes, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Why does God care about each lost soul? Because he made each one, each person has value in his sight, and each person can be washed clean by the blood of the lamb.


Do we value every lost sinner, or have we become heartless like the Pharisees? Those who follow Jesus must welcome amongst them any who are willing to kneel at the foot of the cross.   To watch the video, click on the link below: Sermon Video

Sermon Video: "To seek and to save the lost" - Luke 19:1-10

As Jesus walks toward Jerusalem to face the cross he is confronted by an odd sight; a grown man sitting in a tree looking at him.  The man, Zacchaeus, was a hated tax collector, but Jesus chose to invite himself over to Zacchaeus' house for dinner that day.  Why?  Because Jesus' mission, and our mission too, is to seek and save the lost.  God's message is heard by those who know they're in need of salvation.  It wasn't a popular move, but Jesus, this time, like always, shared his grace and mercy with those in need.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Sermon Video: "clothe yourselves with compassion" Colossians 3:12-14

How does a Christian become Christ-like?  What do we need to do to imitate our Savior and set our minds on 'things above"?  Paul offers us the strategy of developing compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  As we work on building these character traits, we also need to learn to forgive each other as God forgave us.  In addition, the glue that holds this process together is love.  Love binds us together and love makes our transformation into a holy people possible.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video