Sermon Video: Put to death your earthly nature - Colossians 3:5-10

Having told the people of the church at Colossae that following Jesus Christ necessitates setting their hearts and minds on "things above", Paul then proceeds in strong terms to emphasize the need to "put to death" the earthly nature that Christians retain (despite their salvation and the receiving of the Holy Spirit).  After listing some manifestations of our "earthly nature" (sexual immorality, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language); all of which must be eradicated, not simply controlled, Paul then adds one further warning to those who follow Christ, we must not lie to each other.  In the end, in Christ we have put on the new self, we have been transformed by the Holy Spirit, and we therefore must abandon the attitudes and actions of our former fallen nature.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

The Purpose of Freedom: A Christian Viewpoint

This upcoming Sunday evening, the Franklin community will gather together in the park to worship as part of the town's 4th of July celebration.  I have the honor of delivering the message this year derived from Paul's letter to the Church in Galatia.  That text illustrates well Paul's point that freedom for a Christian is not a license to do whatever we want, but an obligation to serve.  How can freedom be obligation?  The two thoughts may seem opposed to each other, but for Christians who understand that before our rebirth in Christ we were, like all mankind, slaves to sin, the answer becomes clear.  Those apart from God are not free, whatever political system they live under, for whatever rights they may have in their own society, they remain in slavery to their own nature.  To truly be free we must be set free by the forgiveness of ours sins, and the destruction of our sinful nature.   Because we as human beings are incapable of affecting this change, we must rely upon the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  Christ sets us free, from ourselves, when he redeems us.

But why did God call a people of his own and give them freedom?  That they might serve him.  As Paul wrote, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, sever one another humbly in love." (Galatians 5:13)  As Christ followers, we are obligated to serve each other, humbly, in love; to put the needs of others above our own, to self-sacrificially replicate the love of God for us in our interactions with other people.  We have indeed been set free, but for a purpose.

As Americans, the most intractable and even violent disagreements in our nation's history as well as our current society are differing responses to the question: What is the purpose of freedom?  Over the years various Americans have answered that question in radically different ways, along the way prompting our Civil War over slavery, the movement that gained women the right to vote, the Civil Rights movement, the sexual "revolution" that spawned our differing viewpoint on abortion, gay marriage, and gender issues, gun ownership, property rights, not to mention our ongoing disagreements over poverty relief and immigration.  We, as Americans, are sharply divided regarding our rights and responsibilities as free individuals within a free society.  These questions are not going away anytime soon, and some will get more divisive and perhaps spark further violence before they are resolved, if they ever are.  Why the vastly different viewpoint on what American society ought to be?  In part because of deep and significant disagreement regarding the fundamental question: What is the purpose of our freedom?

As Christians, whether Americans or not, we ought to have no such disagreement as to the purpose of our freedom in Christ.  We have been set free, not to indulge our own selfish desires, but to serve each other.

Sermon Video: Christianity and Sex - 1 Corinthians 7:1-2

As an introduction to the next seven sermons from 1 Corinthians 7 that focus upon the topics of marriage, sex, and celibacy, this message looks at the nature of sex in relation to the creation of humanity by God as male in female with the inherent capacity and need for sexual fulfillment.  The Church has struggled with this issue in its history, from promoting the false piety of celibacy above marriage, to allowing lax standards in relation to sexual immorality, but despite that failure, the function and purpose of sex remains ordained by God within marriage, a blessing of joy and union for those who embrace the Law of God reflected in our nature.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: The Government on His Shoulders - Isaiah 9:6a

Why did take the extraordinary step of the incarnation?  Why come himself to earth, taking on human likeness, why not just continue using intermediaries like the prophets and priests of old?

In this crucial passage about the promised Messiah, the prophet Isaiah lays forth who the child that he called Emmanuel ("God with us") back in chapter 7 is going to be and what he will accomplish.  Jesus, who 8 centuries after Isaiah fulfilled his promise, would be no ordinary man, but the very Son of God, God in the flesh, here on earth to save humanity from itself.  Why?  Because humanity was hopeless, even with the assistance of God's Law and those called by God to assist his people, to save itself.  Humanity couldn't even govern itself, let alone save itself.  Outside help was needed, mankind needed a Messiah.

The reason why is simple: The sinful nature of humanity prevented any form of reform or revival in the face of how deep-seated our rebellion against God was in human nature.  A rebirth was needed, and for that the penalty for sin of death would need to be paid for.

In addition to solving the problem of sin (no small task!), the Messiah would also one day take upon his shoulders the government of the world.  Every human leader who ever has been, male or female, and who ever will be, is inherently flawed.  All are either sinners in need of God's grace, or sinners saved by God's grace, all are sinners.  Every human leader, no matter what form of government, will be prone to the temptations of sin, will fail at some point, for none can compare to the perfect Messiah.

As Christians, we long for a leader unlike any other, we long for a government unlike any other.  Our kingdom is not of this world, for we await the return of the Messiah, for when he returns to reign there will truly be a government of justice and peace.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Why the killing won't stop...

After yet another horrific mass shooting in America, this one breaking the "record" for most people killed in one incident, a "record" that continues to horrifyingly climb, talk will invariably turn toward questions of prevention revolving around issues of law enforcement, mental health programs, gun ownership, and safety precautions.  All of these conversations are necessary, and useful, but they won't solve the problem because the problem lies deeper.  Combating the inhumanity of man against his fellow man, is not like combating a communicable disease.  Education, treatments, and vaccines have a chance at wiping out a disease, and even though some diseases which were thought to be no longer a threat have made a bit of a comeback (often due to laxity in keeping the vaccinations going), there remains realistic hope that solutions are possible to even the deadliest and most widespread diseases.  The human propensity toward violence is a far different problem, and far worse.
Why do people commit heinous acts against each other?  The answer is simple: mankind is flawed; deeply.  This is not a new concept to those who are part of the Judeo-Christian worldview, for scripture contains the first recorded act of violence among humanity, the story of the murder of Abel by his brother Cain spurred on by simple jealousy, as well as ample teaching that repeats again and again that our individual and collective hearts are darkened.  The psalmists and the prophet Isaiah wrote (as paraphrased by Paul in Romans), "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one...the way of peace they do not know.  There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18)  Making the same point, the prophet Jeremiah wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)  In Christian theology this viewpoint regarding innate human nature is known as Total Depravity.  Its conclusions are simple: (1) All of mankind is flawed, in rebellion against God, (2) Nobody is capable of fixing this problem for themselves or anyone else, (3) therefore mankind is entirely dependent upon God's grace and transforming power.
We ought to do what we can as a free society to protect the innocent from those who would do them harm, but we also ought to recognize that the underlying cause is a spiritual one, not one of economics, education, or ideology.  Why do people kill?  Because their hearts are full of sin.  The only solution to this depraved state is the grace of God given freely to mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord, anything else is a band-aid on a bullet hole.
Pray for those who protect the innocent in society, but don't expect them to win this war anymore than the war on drugs, or the ongoing scourge of sexual slavery, the heart of man is too far gone to be restored by anything less than the power of God.

Is mankind wicked? Is there any doubt? Jeremiah 17:9

The prophet Jeremiah, a man called of God to warn a people gone astray who did not listen to him, wrote this chilling thought, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)  While it would be easy to speak of the wicked/fallen nature of humanity based upon historical events like the many genocides exemplified by the Holocaust, reading my local paper this past week provided, unfortunately, ample evidence.  In just one week, our local paper (which is excellent by the way) reported on two ongoing cases involving the trials of local teachers accused of a sexual relationship with a student, of two men accused of raping children, one of whom was also his own child, and to top it off, a two year old child found naked in the middle of a busy road while his parent was passed out drunk on the couch with a second one year old child being neglected in the crib.  Are you kidding me?  This isn't the big city, our county only has 53,000 people living in it, and yet these five incidents represent evil that was both reported and prosecuted, in other words, there is more than this going on, these are just the people who were caught.
The old saying, "ignorance is bliss" isn't true.  Would I rather not know about child rape and endangerment going on in my community, of course, but only if it wasn't happening.  How can we combat evil if we don't recognize it?  Still trying to cling to the notion that people are essentially "good" and in no need of help from God?  Good luck with that, me, I'll continue to trust in the saving power of Jesus Christ to rescue us from our woeful state transforming those who trust in him through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I'll continue to share that message of hope to a world sorely in need of it.

Are good people in Heaven?

Short answer: No

Heaven doesn't contain "good" people, it contains forgiven people.

God is holy, God is perfect, and only those who likewise are holy and perfect can enter into his presence.

Humanity is not holy, humanity is not perfect, all of us are flawed, all are sinners.

If God had not intervened with the Incarnation, if the Son of God had not died for our sins and if he had not been raised to life for our justification, the gulf that exists between God, who is holy, and humanity, which is not, would have remained separating us from God forever.

Heaven isn't for "good" people; good isn't good enough, only perfection will work, and since the only way for a human being to be perfect is for God to forgive us, and give us his righteousness (through Christ), the only people who will join God in heaven are those who by faith have been forgiven.

The Narcissism of Nationalism is spreading

Much is being made, globally, of the rise once again of nationalism after a lull following the end of the Cold War.  "America First" is a cry being echoed, in altered form of course, in England, France, Germany, and a host of other countries.  The sense that we're in this together is being challenged by the cry of every man for himself.  An example of this tendency in action is the ongoing controversy in Gdansk, Poland regarding the WWII museum set to open next month.  This museum was designed years ago to focus upon the civilian suffering, worldwide, that WWII caused.  Nationalist Polish politicians, however, want this global focus scrapped in favor of a museum that focuses on the heroics of the Polish army and resistance.  Instead of a museum that reveals the horrors of nationalist wars, they would have a museum that glories in the futile effort of the Poles to withstand the Nazis and Soviets at the same time.  The second museum isn't a bad idea, per se, the story of what happened in Poland during WWII, to Jews and Poles alike, needs to be told, but the rationale behind the animosity toward the original idea is a telling example of why nationalism can never be compatible with Christianity.  The foundation of nationalism is the belief that our people are worth more than their people.  It is a clear "us" vs. "them" mentality that ultimately devalues the lives of people living beyond our borders.  Those wanting to change the museum in Gdansk believe that Polish lives today, and the tragedy of lost Polish lives in WWII, carry more value than those of people elsewhere.  The ideology of the Nazis is simply this idea taken to its extreme form.
The Christian must reject the claim of nationalism that his life, or the life of people like him, have a greater value than those of a person who happened to be born elsewhere.  Paul makes the Christian ideal of equality clear in Galatians 3:28 when he writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all on in Christ Jesus."  Our ancestors failed to heed this command in the word of God, and willingly marched off to war, generation after generation, to seek national aggrandizement at the expense of their neighbors.  Humanity ought to have learned the horror of going down this road before, WWI and WWII should have been enough of a lesson, but humanity doesn't change, and one generation's call to "never forget" fades into the background as demagogues of a new generation seek power through nationalist grievances.  It may be inevitable that nationalist forces claim supremacy for "us" over "them", but Christians, those who take seriously the Word of God, must reject this call, always.

If God hasn't forgiven you, you're not a Christian, period.

"I have great relationship with God...I like to be good. I don't like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don't do a lot of things that are bad. I try to do nothing that is bad...I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."

The above quote is typical of a post-modern, "I'm good enough for God" attitude, one sadly often acquiesced to in some Christian circles, though they certainly should know better.  What would Paul's response be to such twisted thinking?  A few simple quotes from his letter to the Ephesians ought to illustrate it: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace (1:7)...As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins (2:1)...Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. (2:3-5)...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. (2:8-9)"

We are not good enough for God on our own, never, ever does the Bible say anything of the sort, the idea is anathema to the Gospel.  We must be forgiven for our sins, period, and this only by the blood of Christ, only through faith, only by grace.  Anything less, and we remain dead in our sins, to pretend otherwise is to leave the sinner separated from God.

The initial quote is from a famous person, somebody who claims to be a Christian, who is accepted as a Christian by many people, but who most certainly is not a Christian if those words reflect his/her heart.  The true follower of Jesus Christ knows that he/she is only a sinner saved by grace, and knows that God's forgiveness means everything.

Why the Church shouldn't be afraid of the "Nones" - Romans 11:36

Much has been made of the rapid increase here in America (and previously in Europe) of those who consider themselves to be a "none" regarding faith and religion.  While it is certainly true that those who do not consider religion (Christianity in particular) to be worthwhile have been on the rise of late, historically speaking a generation or two does not make a break from all of human history.  Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has consistently sought after a connection with the divine.  The ways in which this goal has been attempted have varied a great deal, but the need has always been nearly universally felt, throughout the world and across the barriers of culture.  The reason for this is quite simple: We were made this way.  It is a part of our DNA, as it were, a portion of humanity that cannot be quantified by science, but the evidence for which is abundant.  Modernity may have given some people the sense that they no longer have to look to the heavens for the meaning and purpose of life, but science will not and cannot answer these questions, nor can human philosophies nor trivial self-centered pursuits; people will always in the end lift their eyes to the heavens and consider what God requires of them.
Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans, describing our relationship to God in poetic form in Romans 11:36, "For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever!  Amen."  Paul understood that the glory of God and the happiness of mankind are not divergent goals.  It is only when we obtain the spiritual transformation of new life in Christ that we truly understand and experience the purpose for which we exist.

To illustrate this point, in the September 26th 2016 issue of Time magazine, in an essay by Susanna Schrobsdorff, a self-described member of the "none" group, Susanna speaks about her experience with religion, about her mother's loss of faith, and why her mother reached out to God as she was dying.  Reflecting on her mother's return to faith at the end, she writes, "It was a comfort I envied as I watched her slip away...but when she was gone, it felt like a void had opened up.  Then, as now, I long for faith.  That essential human need might just be proof that God does exists...We have innate cravings for food and sleep and love, and so perhaps a desire to identify with a higher power is not an accident of our design...That built-in yearning is there because there's something worth yearning for."

And that is why I'm not afraid that we are about to become a nation of "Nones".  Humanity cannot escape its connection to God, no matter what it may try to put in God's place, no matter how loudly people protest that they don't need God nor believe he exists.  The fact is, he does.  God does exist, he did create you, and me, and he put within us a longing to have a relationship with our maker, a longing that will in the end always gnaw away at those who deny him.  For our part, the Church needs to remain faithful to its proclamation of the Gospel, maintaining the witness of our forefathers on back to the apostles, and continuing to live righteously in an immoral world.  It may not be "If you build it he will come", but the idea is similar, the Gospel will draw people by the power of the Holy Spirit, as long as we continue to lift high the cross of Christ.

Apes, children, and the value of life.

There was a recent incident at the zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio, involving a three-year-old child falling into the gorilla enclosure and the subsequent killing of a male gorilla named Harambe by zoo officials who was either threatening or protecting the child, depending upon who you ask.  Setting aside the question of whether or not Harambe would have harmed the child if the zoo had instead tried to use a tranquilizer on him, for that ought to be a question answered by gorilla experts, we all ought to be able to agree that Harambe could have easily killed the child he was holding on to, whether intentionally or not.  Thus the question should not be about the intentions of the gorilla, but instead about the value of the two lives involved.  One of the two was a endangered gorilla, the other a human child.  How can these two lives be weighed, how can one decide their relative value?
For those who do not believe in God, and thus have no concept of humanity as having an immortal soul, nor of humanity created in the image of God, the question is a much more difficult one to answer.  If you don't believe in God, humanity is simply on step above primates, higher, but only relatively so.  If we are only the product of evolution, and our place at the top of this planet's food chain is only the outcome of chance, and not the design of a Creator, there will be little separating humanity from other life in terms of value.  For those who don't believe in God, the idea that a human life could have less value than an animal's life becomes a possibility.
To those who do believe in God as Creator, who see humanity as a reflection of the divine image, every human life must have an inherent value qualitatively different than any animal life.  Without God, human life is greater in a difference of degree, not a difference of kind.  But for those who see the hand of God in the face of every child, the gap between human life and animal life is, and must be, vast.
I would choose to save a human life, at the cost of any animal's life, even a great number of animal lives.  I would choose a 90-year-old with Alzheimers disease over an endangered baby animal.  I would choose a severely handicapped human life, mentally or physically, over any animal's life.  Why, because that human being has a soul, that life is a gift from God, and it is our duty to protect it in any way that we can.  In case this implication isn't clear too, I would also certainly choose the life of an unborn child over an animal's life as well.
Do I love animals?  I certainly do, some of my best memories and interactions have been with my dogs, and we've taken our one-year-old daughter to the zoo twice already.  My wife is obsessed with hiking in the woods out West to look for moose.  We've done this many times, and will undoubtedly do so again soon when our daughter is old enough to trek along.  I think moose are awesome, and would oppose cruelty or senseless killing of them or any other animals.  But don't think for a second that I would hesitate to protect my wife or child, or any other human life, if it was threatened by an animal.
This recent controversy over the killing of an ape to save a child has been greatly inflated by a significant number of people who have erroneously concluded that the life of the child and the life of the ape have a similar value.  Such belief is wrong, dangerous, and not connected to the teaching of the Word of God.  Perhaps the zoo could have used a tranquilizer, but to do so they would have put the life of a child at a greater risk in order to save the life of an animal, and that decision would have been not only unacceptable, but immoral.  They chose human life because they valued it as they should have.

Sermon Video: The Nature of Temptation - James 1:13-18

From the very beginning, man has sought to assign blame to somebody else.  This isn't a tactic that we need to be taught, children figure it out on their own.  The problem is, when blame truly does reside with us, foisting it off elsewhere doesn't make things better.  Temptation is just such an item.  People try to blame society, argue about nature vs. nurture, even go with, "the devil made me do it", all in a vain attempt to shift the blame for our moral failings elsewhere.  Unfortunately for us, temptation comes from within us.  External factors matter, as does parenting and a whole host of related positive and negative factors that affect a person's ability to resist temptation, but the origin of temptation is always from within.  James makes it clear that the villain that is dragging us away toward sin is our own evil desires.  The reason that Jesus successfully resisted temptation, from the devil himself, was his complete lack of wickedness in his heart.  God is all-sufficient, in himself, and thus beyond temptation, we on the other hand, act all the time out of our real or perceived lack, thus our temptation to do evil.  Correctly diagnosing the cause of temptation is an important step, it gives us hope that we can have victory over our temptation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for we don't have to change the world to remove external temptations, we need only let God repair our damages hearts to remove them internally.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Batman v. Superman and the problem of evil

{No spoilers}  You might not expect a comic book movie to delve into one of mankind's oldest and most fundamental philosophical questions, but Batman v. Superman does just that by utilizing Lex Luthor to ask about how an all powerful and all good God can co-exist with evil/tragedy in our world.  In theology, we call this theodicy, or The Problem of Evil.  Evil, both human caused and natural (disasters/disease/death) does indeed exist, only a fool would try to call the inhumanity of man toward his fellow man anything but evil, and only someone who is heartless would not be troubled by the latest drought/plague/volcano, etc. to spread misery and destruction.  Lux Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg, shares his belief that God cannot be both all powerful and all good, a conclusion that apparently contributed to his path toward villainy, an assertion that is not met with a response, per se, by any of the movie's heroes apart from their subsequent self-sacrificial actions.  In the movie, Superman's motives and choices are called into question, because of his power, as characters wonder if Superman must save everyone who is in danger, and if he doesn't, is he responsible for that 'neglect'?  Bruce Wayne/Batman does indeed hold Superman at least partly responsible for the destruction caused in his efforts to fight evil {General Zod from the last Superman movie}.
So, what is the Christian response to the problem of evil?  There are three possible choices: (1) Emphasize the sovereignty of God, as typified by the book of Job, with a "who are you to question God?" response, (2) emphasize the freewill of humanity, as typified by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, who maintained that this is the best of all possible worlds that God could have created because human freewill with its accompanying evil is better than a world of automatons, (3) or attempt to meld some combination of God's sovereignty and human freewill.
A foundational belief that is built into Christian theology, which also has a significant impact upon theodicy, is Original Sin.  The idea that the world was created without flaws, humanity included, but that both humanity and the world around us (i.e. disease, natural disasters, etc.) are consequences of humanity's rebellion against God.  The finale of Christian theology, the End Times, as expounded primarily in Revelation, also posits that God will do away with this world, making a new heaven and new earth, one that is free of these causes of pain and suffering, at the same time that he removes the stain of sin, for good, from humanity.
Another aspect of the Christian response to the problem of evil is to consider the relationship between God and humanity within the analogy of parenting.  God often refers to himself in parental terms.  We know full well the warping danger of withholding consequences from our children, some of whom would become spoiled brats given that level of intervention, others of which would be psychopaths.  God must allow humanity to taste the bitterness of rebellion, of independence from him, if only to allow us to learn the value of obedience.
In the end, the problem of evil isn't going away any more than evil itself.  It will still cause skeptics to doubt God, it will still trouble believers (as it should), but the ultimate answer remains the same: Choose to trust in the goodness of God.

What have we learned, one month into our time with Clara?

Tomorrow will be one month since the birth of our little bundle of extra cuteness, Clara Marie.  What have we learned thus far, about parenting, life, and humanity?  Perhaps not all that much, sleep deprivation is not the formula for mental brilliance.  We have learned things that every parent knows: that an infant in entirely dependent upon others for his/her care, that their communication ability consists of three types of crying ("feed me", "change me", and "I'm too cranky to do anything but cry").  It is a wonder to me that anyone could harm a child, especially their own.  What does it say about humanity that we see this sort of depravity far too often (let alone the killing of unborn children in the womb)?  It doesn't say anything good about us, that's for sure.

It seems far fetched at this point, but I know that before we know it our sweet little girl will look back at us and say, "no" with all the fervor of a zealot.  That fallen nature, although nowhere on display as of yet, is there in the background waiting to come to the surface.  Soon enough, our little Clara will show herself to be just like the rest of us, a sinner in need of the grace of God.  That day lies in the future, for now, we'll just enjoy the fact that everyone's first comment about our girl involves how cute she is.

Sermon Video: Athaliah chooses power over children - 2 Chronicles 22

How does someone who values human life, from conception until natural death, understand the thinking of someone who is convinced that abortion is an “act of love”?  In a new book called Pro, Katha Pollitt asserts that abortion is a social good for women, men, and children.  Where can we begin to unravel the thought process that leads to such a conclusion?

                In 2 Chronicles 22, the reign of Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, only lasts a year before he is killed alongside Ahab’s son Joram by the agent of God’s wrath against Israel’s wickedness, Jehu.  The kingdom of Judah has plummeted from its moral high-point under Jehoshaphat with the murderous reign of his son Jehoram and grandson Ahaziah.  Now, in the wake of Ahaziah’s death, his mother Athaliah (Ahab’s daughter) decides to take over the throne for herself and proceeds to attempt to wipe out any remaining descendants of David that had survived Jehoram’s killing of his six brothers and other relatives.  Even though God preserved Ahaziah for the sake of the line of David, it now appears that Athaliah will finish the job.  How can a woman turn against her own children and grandchildren and choose to murder them for the sake of power?  The darkness of the heart of mankind is a truly frightening thing when it destroys the natural bonds of love and protection that we expect from a parent and turns them instead into the total disregard for human life that Athaliah shows here.

                At this point in the story, modern man’s willingness to treat human life as expendable seems to be in keeping with our history, unfortunately.  When the children are about to be murdered, however, one of their aunts, Jehosheba, decides to risk her own life to act as she hides the year old Joash from Athaliah’s henchmen.  From that point on, Jehosheba and her husband Jehoida, a priest of the temple, hide the child for the next six years from Athaliah.  Where do they keep the only surviving heir of the line of David safe?  Within the temple of the LORD. 

                How do we as Christians respond to the threat against the innocent posed by abortion and euthanasia?  The political process cannot be our primary response, as it may never bear fruit and doesn’t help those vulnerable today.  We must commit ourselves, as a Church, to supporting the young pregnant girl, the exhausted parents of the special needs child, and the family wracked by end-of-life issues, we must offer concrete support to anyone we know in such a situation, and also support the organizations that are helping within our communities (such as ABC Life Center, here in Franklin) with our money, time, and prayer.

                We cannot understand how anyone could think of life as something to be discarded when inconvenient, but human history is full of examples of people doing just that.  We can, and must, do our utmost to protect the weak from those who, like Athaliah and Katha Pollitt, have decided that some lives don’t really matter.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

When warnings go unheeded

“No marvel that hardened sinners are not frightened from sin and to repentance by the threatening of misery in another world, which is future and out of sight, when the certain prospect of misery in this world, the sinking of their estates and the ruin of their healths, will not restrain them from vicious courses.”  This is from Matthew Henry’s Bible commentary, the passage he’s commenting upon is 2 Chronicles 21 where King Jehoram is confronted by a letter from the prophet Elijah predicting woe to him personally and to his kingdom because of his exceedingly great wickedness (he murdered his six brothers).  Henry is correct to note that the consequences of sin are not wholly relegated to judgment after death, we see what choosing to embrace evil does to humanity day after day.  The truth that virtue is its own reward, and your sin fill find you, out is clear for anyone willing to look at it, but ignored by those whose hearts are unwilling to admit their error and seek God’s forgiveness.  This is clearly a flaw in our fallen human nature, something that we will always have to strive against, and the reason why Plato’s simply solution of educating everyone on right and wrong is insufficient to create a better world.  In Plato’s mind, “to know the good is to do the good”.  Sadly, as Henry correctly points out, there have always been people willing to ignore what they can plainly see.  As it always does, grace rescues humanity from itself when God intervenes, first through sending Christ to make the way possible, and now each time when he calls through the Spirit to break through our resistance and blindness.  The warning of future judgment is still necessary, and the pointing out of present consequences still appropriate, but we also need to remember that such things will not always be sufficient to turn the sinner from his/her self-destructive path; there but for the grace of God go I.

Sermon Video: Who is the greatest, and who is on our side? Luke 9:46-50

Just prior to his decision to set out resolutely for Jerusalem, Jesus deals with two misconceptions on the part of his disciples.  Both of these questions involve the warped perspective of humanity versus the correct perspective of God.  In both instances, Jesus reveals to his disciples that the viewpoint of God is what they must adapt to because it is the basis of the kingdom of God.

            In the first episode, the disciples are busy arguing amongst themselves about which of them will be the greatest when the Messiah establishes his kingdom.  Forget for a moment that Jesus just told them once again that his future contains suffering; the debate is still woefully misplaced because it focuses on the human preoccupation with appearing great instead of God’s judgment regarding true greatness.  Jesus corrects their error by using a child with no rank, status, or privileges to illustrate that in the kingdom of God greatness will be awarded to those who serve the least in this world.

            In the second instance, the disciples attempt to stop a man who is copying their ministry by casting out demons in the name of Jesus.  Jesus responds to this desire to monopolize the work of the kingdom by declaring the very generous parameter that, “whoever is not against you is for you.”  In working for God, we don’t have the luxury deciding who we want to work with and who we want to be accepting of.  Everyone who is working by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Gospel, and the glory of the Father, is on our side.  All of our excuses to exclude those we don’t like or don’t agree with fall by the wayside in light of Jesus’ declaration of unity for all those who follow him.

            It isn’t easy to adopt either of these perspectives.  Our human nature seeks aggrandizement at the expense of others; it is only by the power of God that we can hope to seek the benefit of others in a Christ-like manner.  Likewise, it is clear that those who follow Christ are not united, that divisions have always plagued his Church, but that is no excuse for us to perpetuate the mistakes of our ancestors in the faith.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

Happiness without God?

Some words of wisdom from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity,
"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there.  There is no such thing.  That is the key to history.  Terrific energy is expended - civilizations are built up - excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong.  Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin."
I don't see how anyone can look at the world we live in today, or at any point in human history, and argue with that conclusion.  Where is the panacea of happiness and harmony that mankind has ever come even close to achieving.  What great pinnacle of humanity can we point to that isn't marred by the lust for power?
I know that the lives of celebrities seem to be what everyone should want: fame, wealth, glamour, power.  And yet, never has a year gone by without multiple accounts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and suicide by these whom we are supposed to idolize.  If they haven't found happiness, with everything a consumer culture tells you to want at their fingertips, then nobody can.
This is one of the great tools of evangelism for those who follow Jesus Christ.  We don't have to convince people that their lives are missing something very important without God.  They already know it, they might be trying to fool themselves a little longer with something in God's place, but they know it.  What God's people need to be doing is living lives in obedience, fellowship, charity, and love worth emulating when those who long for what is missing turn their eyes to the Church of Christ.  Our task is not to convince the world that it needs God, our task is to prove through our lives that we've found him.

Virtue run amok

G.K. Chesterton wrote his explanation of why he believed in Christianity, Orthodoxy, in 1908.  He wrote at the dawn of the Modern Age that we know live in, prior to WWI, when electricity, the automobile, and radio were on the horizon.  In the last one hundred and five years some things have changed a great deal, one observation of his in particular about virtue and vice has only grown more true with the passage of time.
"The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good.  It is full of wild and wasted virtues...The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad.  The virtues are mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone." (Orthodoxy, p. 22)  By this Chesterton meant that Truth, Justice, Mercy, Love, etc. are still valued in our society, but out of proportion with each other, and in grotesque ways that ultimately lead to evil instead of good precisely because they have become detached from their framework within the Christian faith.  Those who value Truth above all else think nothing of persecuting those with whom they disagree.  Those who trumpet Mercy do so by declaring and end to judgment; rather than learn what true mercy means, they simply deny any absolute sense of right and wrong.  The examples could go on and on, but the most disturbing of all virtues run amok is Love.  Our society is drunk on the idea of Love, but the love we now worship is a self-centered, pleasure seeking charlatan, it cares not for those who do not love it back and resembles not at all the Love of God shown at Calvary.
Chesterton's observation about the virtue of humility is particularly poignant, and worth quoting, "Humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the arrogance and infinity of the appetite of man...But what we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place.  Modesty has been removed from the organ of ambition.  Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be.  A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed." (p. 23-24)  This is the Post-Modern world we find ourselves living in.  Everyone is full to overflowing with self-confidence, but scared to death to say that one thing is right and another is wrong.  The result is an ever more pathetic arrogance about one's own place in this world, and an ever shrinking ability to define one's purpose in this world.  It is any wonder that people grow weary of the bluster and long for some sense of Truth to comfort their souls?  Is it any wonder that far too many young people around the world have embraced fanaticism in the vain hope that the brutal certainty of a violent claim to truth will make up for their own feelings of uncertainty?
The world may not look much like it did one hundred years ago, but the mind of man hasn't changed all that much.  Would that we might once again embrace the mind of Christ and put an end to all of this virtue run amok.

Paradise is Lost and it isn't coming back on its own

My wife and I spent the afternoon hiking in Oil Creek State Park, enjoying God's wondrous creation and spending some quality time alone.  It was just the sort of thing I need to recharge my batteries and begin another week of ministry.  As we drove home from the park I switched on ESPN radio only to hear the President talking about some bombing.  Moments later the news of the Boston Marathon bombing confirmed once again that evil has no bounds, nor does it understand pity or mercy.  Once again Mankind's inhumanity was on display, the peaceful woods and babbling streams were forgotten, replaced by an act of terror.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this senseless violence and to their families.
As my wife and I talked about today's act of terrorism, I commented that this sort of thing is never going to go away.  Even if 99.99% of the world is convinced that such acts are cowardly and evil it only takes the 0.01% to kill.  There's no going back to the days we thought of as innocent.  But were they really; was the Cold War more civil than the chaos we see on display now, has humanity ever set aside war to choose peace?
Last night I was watching the Vikings on The History Channel.  For the people of Medieval England, the terror lay across the sea, with the unknown barbarian peoples.  No villager, ignorant of what lay more than a day's walk from where he grew up could feel confident that a marauding horde was not on its way.  In a sense, terror lay outside of the known, it was the unknown that caused fear.
In our world today there are no longer any barbarian peoples, the edges of the maps have all been filled in.  We can no longer blame the inhumanity on display each day on "them".  Terrorism isn't simply international, it is also domestic.  The words of William Golding continue to ring true from The Lord of the Flies, "the beast is us".
And so I begin another week of striving to mend what others have broken, a week of helping the weak and powerless, a week of bringing hope through forgiveness.  If I did not have confidence that Christ would one day rectify this world's evils, that a final judgment will indeed come, how could I continue trying to do my small part against the "reckless hate" (to steal a line from Theoden in Two Towers) that no longer hides beyond the edges of the map?  But we do have hope, we do have faith, this world is not all there is, God will bring judgment upon those who do such evil, in this world or the next.