Sermon Video: We preach Christ crucified - 1 Corinthians 1:21-25

The field of Christian apologetics is concerned with spreading the Gospel message and defending the faith from critique and attack.  This is an important field, oft used by God, but as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians, it operates under an important caveat: We preach Christ crucified.  The message of the Gospel was offensive to some and difficult to accept for others in the 1st Century, and it remains offensive and difficult for the Lost to accept today as well.  Paul was willing to try different approaches to his preaching in order to make it possible for the audience to hear the message, but he was completely unwilling to adjust the message to fit the audience.  Why?  Because "Christ crucified" is the wisdom and power of God.  Should anyone attempt to change the message to make it more palatable, they will only exchange the power of the Gospel for popularity, a poor choice indeed.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Stepping into history: A conversation with Jo Beach

Jo holding newborn Clara in May of 2015

I had the privilege yesterday of visiting with a member of my church, something I do as often as I can for those who have difficulty in getting to church.  I went to the home of Jo Beach, who is in her 98th year and has been a member at First Baptist for over 80 years.  In our conversation, Jo talked about the past quite a bit, which is always fascinating to me as a lover of history.  Three things in particular stood out from that conversation: (1) That Jo's grandfather was a POW at the notorious Andersonville, Georgia prison in the Civil War.  Jo's grandfather never got over the horrors that he witnessed there, and was unable to work the rest of his life.  My grandfather was in the merchant marines in WWII which was 75 years ago, what an incredible step back into history that Jo's grandfather was a Civil War veteran, that war having ended 151 years ago. (2) Jo herself was born 16 days after Armistice Day, the end of WWI on 11/11/1918.  Her father was not yet conscripted, but would have soon joined the army to be shipped over to Europe, but the war ended. (3)  Jo was born near Cook Forest and her father worked at one of the lumber mills there.  The lumber mill only paid its employees with script redeemable at the company store.  One day, Jo's mother went to the store and demanded a portion of her husband's earnings in cash, to which the company employee replied, "What do you want cash for?"  Jo's mom made her husband quit his job, presumably after an interesting conversation, and the family moved before Jo started school here to Franklin where several of their extended family members already lived.

The next time you have a chance to talk to somebody who was born sixty years or more before you, take it, you won't regret the chance to get a glimpse at the window into the past that they can provide.

Sermon Video: The Foolishness of the Cross - 1 Corinthians 1:18-20

The Message of the Cross, that is the Gospel message about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has always been foolishness to those who don't believe it.  In the first century, it was the shame of dying upon a cross that Paul had to overcome, and while that connotation has been replaced by the much more positive symbolism of the cross following the triumph of Christianity within the Roman Empire, the message itself still remains hard to accept.  Why is that?  It isn't the message, per se, but what the message requires of us.  To accept the Gospel, we must first admit our own failure and allow God to save us from our sins.  The problem with this step is of course human pride.  It is an act of humility and submission to bow before Jesus Christ, and plenty of the Lost are unwilling to countenance that step.
The difficulty of the Gospel message raises an important question about the relationship between faith and reason.  Do we arrive at faith through reason or do we abandon reason in order to have faith?  While there have been famous Christian philosophers who embrace their God given reasoning ability in service to their faith, there have also been Christian theologians who reject the use of philosophy in connection with theology.  In modern American Christianity, those rejecting the role of reason in faith evidence an anti-intellectualism that in particular tends to despise science.  It is not, however, all wisdom that God thwarts, only that of the world that in opposition to God, his people ought to be using their God given reason to serve his kingdom.  It is true that we do not arrive at faith by reason alone, nor is it true that faith ought to be devoid of reason, when we understand our faith properly it has reason as a partner.

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The Temptation to be a Culture Warrior as a Pastor, and why I'm not interested.

I've been a pastor for ten years, five at my first church in Palo, MI and five here at Franklin, PA.  During that time I've received many expressions of thanks and many heart-felt signs of appreciation for things that I've done in my capacity as a pastor such as funerals, hospital visitations, my class on the history of the Bible, and various sermons.  These are the kinds of things that keep a pastor going when his desk is covered in post-it notes, like mine usually is, of things to do.  This job is a calling, and the person who first said that you shouldn't be doing it if you can envision yourself doing anything else, was right.  It is uniquely demanding in many ways, but also uniquely rewarding.  I can't see myself doing anything else, and the only task that compares is one that I do as part of this profession anyway: teaching.

A couple weeks ago here in Franklin a controversy started brewing.  An anonymous letter writer threatened to sue the city of Franklin if the nativity scene that had long been placed in the downtown park's bandstand wasn't removed.  I was asked by the religion reporter of our excellent local paper if I would comment on the impending decision by the city council as to whether they would acquise to the threat of a lawsuit and remove the nativity, leave it as is and risk the cost of a lawsuit, or seek some sort of compromise.

Those of you who have followed this blog for some time, and/or know me in person, know that I've chosen to avoid politics in my public life.  I don't talk about politicians, elections, or the latest culture war issue raging on Facebook.  It is a choice I've made for reasons that I believe are extremely compelling.  They include: (1) That ministering to the Gospel is far more important than whatever political decision is currently being made, (2) that the marriage between the Church and politics has always been a one-sided affair that tarnishes the Church's reputation, and (3) that the last thing I want to happen is for somebody to avoid coming to my church to hear the Gospel, or choosing to leave it, because of a position that I might take on a political issue.  During the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. my patience was sorely tested, there were a great many things crying out for comment, but I refrained.

There are exceptions to this self-imposed rule, when the issue being discussed is primarily one of morality and not politics, and when the issue is of local concern.  My comments about the nativity fit that restriction.  I spoke to the reporter about why I'm troubled by the threat of a lawsuit being a reason to make a decision, whether it is a church, school, local government, or business that is being bullied by the threat.  I also spoke about how this was the type of issue that could easily have been dealt with locally by a compromise that works for all concerned rather than bringing outside organizations into it, thus making any equitable conclusion more difficult.  Those were carefully considered comments, and pretty much the limit of what I was willing to say about this topic.

Long story short, the city council voted unanimously to compromise by placing some secular items in the bandstand along with the nativity and thus hopefully negating the threat of the lawsuit without removing the nativity.  The crowd that had gathered at the council meeting cheered this outcome when the vote was taken.

What has happened since the article quoting me appeared in the paper is another reason why I remain committed to NOT being a culture warrior as a pastor: I've been congratulated, a lot.  I've received phone calls, personal remarks, even an old fashioned letter in the mail, cheering on my stand on this issue.  Are these appreciated and appropriate?  Sure, but they illustrate a very solid fourth reason why I should avoid politics and make only very rare exceptions to my own rule.  A pastor could easily grow to love the adulation and let it influence how he does his job.  It feels good to have so many people express confidence in you and say they're proud of you, it really does.  The never ending culture wars in America are a ready-made source of cheers for any pastor who wants to be their champion.  But that's not why I was called to be a pastor by God, and that's not the mission I'm responsible for.  If all I wanted was the cheers of men, I could easily have it by shouting about the latest battle in the culture wars, but Jesus warned us of this temptation, "when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." (Matthew 6:5)

I don't need to tempt myself by doing things that will allow me to be "seen by men", I don't need to find out if my pride can be kept under control, if my preaching can be kept focused on what the Word of God is saying, not what I think people want it to say.  These are temptations that have ruined the ministry and reputation of far too many pastors.  If you want to be a culture warrior, that's your business, I've already got a job, and my boss' kingdom has higher priorities. 

Sermon Video: The Sorrow of Divisions within the Church - 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

The first issue dealt with by Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth after his introduction is unity.  Paul had received a report that the church was divided, with various members claiming to follow different leaders, including Paul himself, instead of being united under the authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ.  To Paul this was an intolerable situation, one that prompted him to ask the rhetorical question, "Was Paul crucified for you?"
Division within the Church is nothing new, local churches can be divided over all manner of issues, from finances to leadership, not to mention theology, and we know full well that the global Church is hopelessly divided into a multitude of parts.  If we cannot rectify this situation, and that seems clear, Christ himself is likely the only one who will be able to unravel the know we've created, what then do we do in response?  The reality is that the Church is divided, how do we leave honoring Jesus' call for unity in a divided Church?
Every Christian who is a true disciple of Jesus Christ, that is any person who has been washed by the blood of the Lamb by the grace of God and through faith, and who has thus been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, must belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, there is no other church but His Church.  It doesn't matter how we divide things here upon earth, there is only one Church.  Therefore, we must work with, not against, anyone who is a disciple of Jesus Christ, and likewise with any church that proclaims the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
If we are united on the foundational things, nothing that separates us on the peripheral things can divide us, likewise if we are divided upon the foundational things, nothing that we have in common on the peripheral things can unite us.  Christ is the foundational issue, we have one and only one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

To watch the video, click on the link below: