praising God!!!

Okay, I wanted to share with you that I just finished getting my second thesis proposal accepted. This is a great weight off my shoulders, to say the least. God is good. Now I am free to proceed on my research and writing for both mini-theses. These are the last and final parts to my finishing and receiving my Masters of Theological Study in Contemporary Theology. I am very excited. Both of the professors who are my main readers are great and very supportive. The reader for my second thesis, Dr. Adelekan, whom I met with this afternoon, told me he was very excited to see what he would learn from my work. I need someone like who believes in me, or more accurately, believes in what God wants to do through me. In any event, I praise God for this. Now, join me in praying through this semester for the good Lord to provide me with all discipline, insight, knowledge, wisdom, and discernment in getting both of these theses finished, finished well, by early December. Amen!

reading Isaiah

a month or so ago I shared the lament that I was struggling to read Scripture on my own, as part of what is an important ongoing discipline in the Christian faith. I was reading as part of Sunday worship, but beyond that it was definitely challenging to either find the time when I thought about it, or I just didn't think about doing it, getting caught up in life in general.

but praise be to God, as I started reading from the prophet Isaiah over this past week, and have, but for a day, read at least one chapter a day over these last several days. it is refreshing to read consistently - something I know in my mind and know from my studies in school - and yet to do it purely for my self and my own faith is something like a breath of fresh air.

I think Isaiah is one of the most important Old Testament books for Christians to study and be familiar with for two reasons. 1) it is one of the books of the Bible that Jesus quoted most often, not the least of which was during what is referred to as His inaugural sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth, as recorded in Luke 4, for instance. 2) there is some disagreement among OT biblical scholars as to whether Isaiah is the work of one prophet, or three distinct sections, where the chapters 1-35 or so were written by the prophet Isaiah, chapters 36-55 or so and then chapters 56-64 were written by two other groups of prophets writing in the tradition and school of Isaiah. But this last point is merely the opinion of scholars who first off have an anti supernatural bias, i.e., there's no way that one man named Isaiah could possibly have "known" such things, and there's no way God is real, and therefore God could not have communicated any information to Isaiah. Peronally, I find such a bias as nonsense. I believe that one Isaiah very well could have written the entire book, with later generations of that line or school of prophets (post-exilic) editing the book in some minor ways (per its canonization, for instance).

But I'm excited, and I hope you will be inspired to read along, or read another book of the Bible. God's richest blessings in Christ to you!

living in tension

the early but escalating tensions in 2008 presidential campaign. the ongoing implosion of the Republican party. the seemingly powerful homosexual captivity over pop media and politics. the growing godlessness among pastors and laity in Main Line Protestant denominations (even as those denominations lose more and more members).

What does all of this mean? What should all of this mean for Christians living in the United States (or anywhere else for that matter)?

I think several honest observations are called for. First, we must understand that as wonderful, and at times helpful, democracy and capitalism are, in and of themselves, they are not the end-all, be-all, and are not to be confused with the Kingdom of God. Second, we should recognize that no political party, be it Republican or Democrat, is more "Christian" than the other; both are merely what they are - political parties. Third, While we must have laws that legislate some generally agreed upon standard for acceptable behavior, the law and the culture it stands to guard should not be mistaken for the Kingdom of God.

That all being said, Christians today, living in the US particularly, are living in a tension that the Apostle Paul never mentioned, let alone could have imagined: we are citizens of a nation-state that is, at least theoretically, run by us, the citizens. We are living in a tension that brings about a lot of confusion for us as men and women who are seeking to live faithful lives of witness to Christ our Lord. Things are not entirely so black and white. We can get involved in politics on a number of levels. We can have a say in who runs the country. It seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same - and the worse they get. And yet, we are citizens of heaven, worshipers of the God who is three and one, of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High, the Sovereign God. And therefore, it does not matter how immoral government and culture get, for in the end, God gets the last word.

This says to me that while we can get involved, we can take a stand, or we can demonstrate for or against something in the pop/political realm, Jesus is in Heaven, God is on His throne, and the Holy Spirit lives in all of us believers. Out of that, out of Scripture, we should be mindful that as Christians, our primary calling is first and foremost to live lives of witness to who God is. While I am not advocating a pulling back into the Christian ghetto - something which, I fear, is something many Christian evangelicals subscribe to - I am suggesting that regardless of what laws are on the books, what person is in the White House, or group is pushing their agenda, we as Christians are to keep on being faithful, both personally and corporately, to our witness that Jesus is Lord.

If Jesus came to set the captives free, to let the blind see, and to announce the year of the Lord's favor some 2,000 years ago, that same gospel is still at work through the presence and power of God's Holy Spirit. Rather than throw our hands up over what-ever-it-be, we Christians should fall on our knees and pray to the One who promised to raise the poor over the powerful. This is the tension we Christians are called to live in. It is the tension of the Kingdom of God, the already and the not-yet of the Kingdom, as first announced and demonstrated by and through Jesus' life, death, and most importantly by His resurrection, and left to the Church to witness to via the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

The Church's first job is not to set public policy for the nation, or for the world. It's job is not to elect a "Christian" president. It's not to make sure the name of Jesus appears on every lunch box, video, or bumper sticker. Rather, our first and only job is to personally and corporately live lives pleasing to the Lord, lives that bear witness to the reality and power of the God who is redeeming the world, creation as well as people. We are to do this faithfully, without complaint, until that glorious day, when Jesus shall again return, and the Kingdom of God is established, where the already and the not-yet are consumated, and the Kingdom is now.

If we would focus on funneling our resources to showing Jesus' love to young pregnant girls, rather than the millions of dollars spent on advertising and printing letters telling Christians how bad abortion is (I know abortion is evil, and I don't need another piece of bulk-mail telling me), maybe we'd not only shrink the number of abortions to a minor number, but we'd actually create doorways for those mothers and their subsequent sons and daughters to come into the kingdom. If we would actually live more simply and stop trying to keep up with the proverbial Jones, we might actually have money to help our neighbors who are stuck in poverty. Rather than tell them how lazy they are, maybe we could help them meet the expenses of basic needs so that they might have a chance at a better education, career, or what have you. If we put as much passion into living out more seamless witnesses before our neighbors, more passion into showing them what it means to be saved, as we do into our political and policy opinions (including how much money we give to such PACs), there might be more people who live by kingdom values and live their lives for Christ.

This is what living in tension means for us as Christians. We must trust in the sovereignty of God. We must trust in His calling for us to be His Church. May the Holy Spirit empower us and guide us to live our witness out, that God may be glorified, and His Kingdom be furthered one more person at a time.

What do you think?

Satan vs. Sin

A friend of mine [we'll call him 'A'] sent out an email yesterday sharing the frustrating experience of another friend [we'll call - yes, you figured it out - 'B'], whereby a tree 'B' was seeking to take down in his back yard ended up coming down on his house. This, coupled with family struggles, both immediate and extended, led to 'A's seeing this as the latest attack of many by Satan on 'B' and his family.

This brings up an interesting, and I think important series of questions: Are we assigning too much credit to Satan? When should we just chalk up what happens in life to people(s)' own sinfulness (or to natural phenomenon)? Is there a danger in crediting Satan with certain activities and events? Is there danger in just blaming something on someone's sinful nature? And perhaps the most controversial question in the series, If God is sovereign, what is God trying to accomplish when He allows such things (that we might blame on Satan) to happen?

What do you think? Please feel free to share... I'm going away on vacation for a few days, so I won't be checking in for a bit, but let's hear your opinions and thoughts - extra points to those who can back them up with good and accurate Scriptural support.

Matthew 7: Judging Others

As part of the kingdom teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew presents Jesus as reinterpreting the Law, and teaching on the ethics of the Kingdom. In Matthew 7, Jesus presents a word-picture regarding judgment. Noting the sinfulness that each of struggles with, Jesus warns us to make sure we are relying on our own sense of right and wrong, or dispensing legalisms out of our own self-righteousness.

There is a needed insight that only comes from the Holy Spirit, where we must look at our brothers and sisters through eyes that acknowledge our own brokenness, and we can see them with compassion because we ourselves struggle with our own fallen nature and the impact we have upon ourselves. Rather, Christians need to understand the differences between accountability and judgment, and make ourselves vulnerable to the first and resist the second.

With accountability, we accept the words of others, and should resist all temptations for self-defense, when we fall short in some area, personal or corporate. With accountability comes a wise grace that speaks to the issue, not confusing the person with the issue. This grace speaks out of godly love, not some sentimental notion; rather, love, as described in the apostle Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, "does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (13:6,7). If this is the spirit in which we both bring and receive accountability, then we are fulfilling the law of God.

Judgment, meanwhile, is antithetical to love. It is about puffing ourselves up at the expense of the Other. It is not rooted in love. I'll say no more, as it is all quite obvious. The one thing I must point out, however, is our own perpetual struggle with accountability, and seeking to deflect it by accusing the one who brings it as judging us. To feel judged is not the problem. When such feelings crop up, and they will and they do, we must stop and ask why this is so - what is in my heart that I feel so defensive? - and then we must pray - whether it be a quick utterance or a time of confession - and then we must ask our Lord for ears to hear and eyes to see. Perhaps our gut reaction is rooted in "right"; that is, the person bringing the "accountability" is in fact judging us. But the question remains, do we trust God enough to bring that to the forefront of the minds in others, if not conviction in the heart of the one who attacks us? But perhaps they are right, but their method is sloppy, wrongly motivated, or framed by some off-centered view of us - does this justify self-defensiveness on our part? Absolutely not. Again, prayer is needed here, and cannot do us harm. We must pray for knowledge, wisdom, and discernment, all from our Heavenly Father, so that the Spirit may lead us in sifting through all that is said so that we might find the nugget of truth that will help us learn and grow.

Judgment is motivated by anger, bitterness, evil, or jealousy (or anyother anti-virtues!); and it seeks only to leave such poisons in its wake, whether we realize such intentions or not. Accountability sees you as God sees you, and hopes the best for you. It is motivated by humility - not that you or I has the proverbial answer needed, but that it is for the best that one comes to speak. It is done humbly, and, too, in prayer. Are you sensing variations on a theme? Prayer undergirds our entire faith journey, and no less so in this area. Only through a humble, God-dependent spirit, where we realize our own brokenness can we offer assistance and help through accountability, in love. Anything less is tempted by judgment.