Saturday Quotes #3

This Saturday I present Kevin DeYoung's Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. What a title! I am not going to lie, I had to pick it because of that title!

The title tells you all you need to know about the book. If you have a weekend and are one of many Christians who uses the will of God as an excuse - look no further then this book for much needed medicine. We are called as Christians to create, influence, love, and live. The Spirit was never given to give man means for hesitation. We are free to work, love, and laugh hard and then we are free to rest. Let God do his job and get going on the job you are supposed to do - worship God with a life that pursues his heart.

“I’d like us to consider that maybe we have difficulty discovering God’s wonderful plan for our lives because, if the truth be told, He doesn’t really intend to tell us what it is. And maybe we’re wrong to expect Him to.”

“God has a wonderful plan for your life – a plan that will take you through trial and triumph as you are transformed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). Of this we can be absolutely confident. But God’s normal way of operation is not to show this plan to us ahead of time – in retrospect, maybe; in advance, rarely.”

“Passivity is a plague among Christians. It’s not just that we don’t do anything; it’s that we feel spiritual for not doing anything.”

“Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.”

Reconstruction - Part 1 (Happy 150th Lincoln Inauguration Day)

After the presidential victory of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, six southern states seceded from the United States before he took office in March of 1861. The state to lead the charge was South Carolina. South Carolina officially adopted a declaration of their reasons just a month after the election stating that the threat to their institution of slavery was their primary reason:

"...an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of [the Government's] obligations [to] the Constitution... [Lincoln] has declared that that 'Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,' and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction... On the 4th day of March next, [Lincoln] will take possession of the Government. [He] has announced... that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States... The slaveholding States will [then] no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy." SOURCE - http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html

The Civil War was very bloody. The casualties by the War reached to an estimated 620,000 American lives. That is more then the casualties of any other American war, from the Revolution to Afganistan.

The first African slaves on record to be transported to an American colony came in 1619 to Virginia. This, however, was preceded by Spanish colonies (on modern-day American soil) by as early as 1520. By the time Lincoln wrote his Emancipation Proclamation (enacted on January 1, 1863) it is estimated that 3.5 million African slaves were living in the South. That number was equal to over sixty percent of the free population in the South at the time.

And so from 1520 - 1863, generation upon generation of African-Americans grew up only knowing a life of slavery. If you were born in a closet and were not let out you would think that that closet was the entire world. Similarly, slaves lived lives in which they were told they were less then human. That they were property. That they were not free. But in 1863, all of a sudden these slaves were given their freedom.

Jesus compared the human condition to slavery (John 8:34)... The difficulties that followed the Civil War during the Reconstruction are similar, in one sense, to those that Christians face.

Once you, Christian, were a slave to sin, and now you have been set free (Romans 6:17-18). In a very real sense it took most African Americans more then a hundred years to fully realize their identity as free Americans. This is evidence that it could very well take the Christian an entire life to fully realize and embody their freedom in Christ. By Christ's great bloody Emancipation Proclamation on the cross, 'It is finished!' the Christian became fully and finally free from sin... In one sense similar to the African American during Reconstruction, Christians are now charged to be filled with diligent cherishing and preserving of this freedom that Christ attained for us.

African-Americans were free from slavery after 1863. But how did that really effect their lives after that point? Even though a living document declared their freedom in America, was it a real truth that they were able to embody in their lives afterwards. Even though Christ on the cross obtained for us a tangible freedom for us from sin have we come to embody that status? Trying to put myself 'inside the shoes' of the slaves, I feel that former slaves must have had to remind themselves of their freedom everyday. I think Christians must also do the same (in a basic sense this is what we mean by 'Preaching the Gospel to yourself daily'.

Think about those encounters the former slaves had with the white people of their city after that time. What would have happened when they came face to face with their former slave-owners? They were free, but how could one not help but cower in fear in the presence of a former slave owner? Christians will also come face to face with their old oppressors after they received the status as free sons of God. What is your old oppressor? I am sure it still feels like you are in slavery... How will you not cower in fear? 2 Timothy 1:7 says the Spirit of God is in the Christian. Remember that! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead has the same power to raise you from your death. Trust Him! I know it is hard... Even when you cannot feel Him trust Him! He gave His life for you, He won't let you go now... This is how we grow in faith...

Disclaimer - I am not trying to water-down the brutality of slavery in America and I am not trying to take away anything from the African-American people. I am only struggling to understand how a people who were once enslaved and now are free can struggle to fully become free in a holistic sense (in mindset, culture, livelihood, spirit, etc). In one sense, people everywhere are also slaves, slaves to their passions and desires. The Bible promises the Christian that they have a Savior that will save them from that enslavement.

More on Romans 8:15 and a few more connections a Christian can take from the Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction period afterwards on a post next week...

Law or Love - What Would Jesus Say About... Submission?

There are approximately 613 rules in the Old Testament. That is a lot! Many of the reasons for these Laws are hard to understand today. But according to the Bible they, at the very least, had plenty of meaning and significance for ancient Israel and Jesus. The Laws were meant to shape and guide the lives of Israel toward communion with God.

Today the average American Christian looks to Jesus and the New Testament for their shaping and guidance. American Christians try very hard to follow principles and rules set down for us in the New Testament.

The Pharisees also tried very hard to follow the rules set before them in the Old Testament and now there name is synonymous with 'hypocrite' in our modern world. What might be confusing for them if they were to have found out about such a label is that they very much did what they set out to do. They followed the rules set out in the Old Testament to the T. Their very livelihoods and reputations depended on it! But it is recorded in the New Testament that God came down as a man and exclaimed to the Pharisees, 'You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?' (Matthew 12:34). Even though they thought that their tireless pursuit of the Law of God would make them righteous before God, God truly saw that it made them evil.

According to God, there is more to a righteous, religious, God-honoring life then just following the rules.

Jesus was not saying in Matthew that following the rules was wrong of the Pharisees. In fact, earlier had He said that He was on earth to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17-18). The Law was good according to Jesus, but later He sums up the Law giving clarity to how He (the author of the Law) truly saw it. In Mark 12:28-31 He is asked to sum up the 613 laws of the Old Testament. Jesus responds by boiling these laws down into "one principle - love, directed to God and to others. Here Jesus is going to the very heart of the core dilemma of ethics. Human thinkers have for centuries felt there was a tension between 'Law' and 'Love.' Do I do the legal thing, or the loving thing?" Today we have a similar tension in the Church.

Very quickly let me explain:

Let's apply this idea to one controversial aspect of the Christian life. Do Christian husbands love if they authoritatively demand submission from their wives? NO! And so even though they are following the letter of the New Testament law they are missing the point. They maybe missing the point as much as the Pharisees who were later instrumental in killing Jesus!

"Jesus is not so much picking one or two rules over the others [in His summary of the Law], nor is He choosing love over the law, but rather He is showing that love is what fulfills the law..."

"The law is not being fulfilled unless it is obeyed as a way of giving and showing love to God or others."

No matter how good we are at following Biblical principles (Law), we are missing the point if it is not obeying the greater law of love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Love God with everything you are. Dream about Him, long for Him, think about Him, spend time with Him, spend time doing the things He loves, talk about Him, passionately pursue Him with your heart, creativity, energy, strength... And love people just like you love yourself. Love them with all the energy, creativity, and time you give to loving yourself.

I think Jesus would say if you are not fulfilling New Testament principles (Law) like this then you are missing the point!

If you understand that you are helpless in fulfilling all that Jesus requires of you then you are one step closer to understanding what the Gospel is all about. And only then do you even have a chance at fulfilling what is actually 'required' of the Christian life.

*Everything in quotes in this post is taken from Timothy Keller's book 'King's Cross' on Page 134. I hope I did not take Keller out of context and butcher the incredible book that he has just recently put out with this post. If I have I am sorry. I am very open to critique and criticism.

Postscript (Submission)

I want to bring a little bit of clarity to my thinking on my last post. I want to briefly address, once again, the MODERN idea of submission in marriage. I am not qualified to address the entire issue of submission in the Bible. I think, though, that I can confidently critique the modern practice of the principle.

This 'principle,' of Christian wives 'submitting' to their husbands, HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY ABUSED. If there is not a way for submission to happen in a loving way (Paul commands husbands to LOVE their wives) then I argued in the last post that we should abandon the law until husbands can learn how to actually love our wives. It might take us our whole lives or it might take until Jesus comes (If that happens to be the case then so be it!)... Maybe we need to learn how to count before we try out trigonometry! The law is only fulfilled through love...

And we are not 'loving' just to slowly get wives to submit. If you, husband, think you have the resources to lead then step up and show her. If you are demanding (vocally or subtly) your role as an exclusive leader then you have lost, not loved, and need to start over. And believe it or not, your wife might just have the ability to lead you too (I say dripping with sarcasm). For the love of God, lay your pride down so you can learn from her and grow in God's grace with each other...

P.P.S. For all of you Reformed nerds out there - I have this view AND consider myself to be on your team... Life is full of contradictions I know!

P.P.P.S. Complementarianism is NOT synonymous for the Gospel!

Wrestling With What the Bible Says About Marriage

Disclaimer: Please forgive me for this post. This is the hardest topic I have ever written about. There is so much to learn and I know I don't have it right here! This is my best attempt at being faithful to Biblical passages on marriage and that is not saying much. As you will see I wrote out more questions then sentences with periods in this post. I would appreciate any and all feedback you may have!

I have some questions on gender differences before I get into the topic of marriage: If a man and a woman were put into the position of CEO with 2 similar, but different thriving companies, and were given similar goals, would they go about their job using different leadership styles? Do men lead differently then women? By the end, will the man and woman have gotten to their goals in different ways? Is a woman the same type of manager as a man?

I don't think you can answer these questions universally and with absolute certainty. I think the answer is, it depends. Sure, I think generally there is an answer, but it depends when you are speaking about individuals.

I think Ephesians 5:21-33 is similar with the application of the principles it puts down for marriage.

Being a man and being a woman are two different ways of being human and by themselves, the Bible says, they are kind of imbalanced. I believe this is the reason the Bible never puts the same imperative on a man as it does for a woman when they are coupled together, and visa-versa. Both are more complete when they are with each other because they both have resources that the other does not have.

Another point I wanted to make here can be seen in verse 33 when Paul tells us that husbands are supposed to love their wives and wives are supposed to respect their husbands. Does this mean that wives do not have to love their husbands and husbands do not have to respect their wives? No, of course not.

I think that leads to this question: does the Bible give us exact guidelines on how to live, on what to do in every single situation? No, and I don't think that was ever the point. The Bible never gave me the exact answer on whether or not I was supposed to marry Danielle. The name Danielle is not even mentioned once in the Bible!

What are you supposed to do when... you are offered a new job across the country, see a homeless man in need on the streets, when your child does not share with the other kids, when you are not sure how to reconnect with a friend... there are a million scenarios we face everyday that are not specifically addressed in the Bible. What does the Bible say to do in these situations? It depends!

Whether you believe it or not, the Bible is not about us, it is about God. Because we are stamped with His image there will be implications for us in the Bible but we must not get carried away with our own self-importance. I don't think we can take hard-line literal approaches to every section and see ourselves working perfectly into the Biblical passages every single time. We are not God! Only Christ fits into the Bible perfectly every single time. We are to be molded and shaped for sure but through it all we must walk in love, the greatest commandment that Christ left us with, because the world (including ourselves) is messy, full of sin and very corrupt. There is much need for love and grace. And as we try and love with His help we will become more like Him. One of the ways in which He loves us is through the fact that He has given us the Great Helper, the Spirit of God, to help us with wisdom and resources that we do not have when the Bible is not crystal clear in how to exactly move throughout life.

The Bible is not a how-to guide or a manual on life. Wisdom is spoken of much in the Bible. There is much on the Holy Spirit and prayer. This is our help we must tap into when the Bible is not crystal clear. Galatians 4:6 says that our Great Helper, the Holy Spirit, is crying in our hearts, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit, our Great Help, cries out for the only one who can help! In Him we were made to rest in and trust in.

According to Ephesians 5, who is the man suppose to look to as his example of loving his wife? Christ. Who is the woman supposed to look to in her example of submitting to her husband? Christ...

Let's get to the pink elephant in the room right now. SUBMISSION. Paul calls women to be submissive to their husbands in this selection of Ephesians. What does 'submission' mean? In the Greek it means 'a help.' I think a sharper translation is, 'to use your power in a way that enables and empowers somebody else.' Are not women, IN GENERAL, better at this then men? I think it depends, but I think there is some truth to the fact that, in general, they might be better. Are not some men better at this then women though? I think some might be. Are not both men and women both capable of this? I think so. Would not a marriage be stronger if both submitted, or in other words empowered, the other? (Forget the Bible for a second) Would this not cultivate a great marriage if both the man and wife submitted to each other, if they both empowered the other with resources the other did not have? Do not good marriages survive, inside and outside of the church, because the man and woman love each other in this way?

A person can only submit, can only be 'a help,' if they have resources that the one they are helping is without. I can only help a student with their homework when I have knowledge they do not have. I can only help the student if I know more about the homework then they do. A women can only help their husband if she has got resources that he does not have. And are not there resources that the man has that the woman is without? Is the woman unique in her ability to enable others in this way? Is not this the way women, in general, would take a leadership role (like the CEO position I talked about at first)? I might be wrong with this but I think that in general this may be the case.

Are there deficiencies in husbands that are not in wives? Are there things that husbands cannot do that wives can? Is it not this the case the other way around?

Let's look to Jesus' life as we continue. He was and is the perfect picture of masculinity - real leadership, real authority, no oppressiveness, real love without conditions, and sacrificial love that empowers others. At the same time Christ is our picture of femininity too. The glorifying of someone else with His resources, the enabling and empowering of somebody else in love... (Femininity is much more then this I am sure. Maybe it is not this. I know I do not understand it fully. I would love to hear about any other thoughts on how Christ embodies the strongest elements of femininity because I am sure there is much more to add to this discussion.)

I think the Bible says at least these things about the genders: neither masculinity or femininity are more divine, neither is higher then the other, and both are seen in Christ.

But is Christ's life only relatively an example? What I mean by that is are we supposed to pick and choose what characteristics of Christ we are supposed to emulate according to whether we are a man or woman? Maybe we are given unique gifts and are more apt to love in certain ways like Christ (I think the Bible affirms the general differences in the genders) but does that mean that we are supposed to deny the full influence of how Christ loved us in our lives? Why can't the man submit to his wife if he is empowering her with resources she does not have? Why can't the woman sacrificially love and lead if this is loving and strengthening the marriage?

The Bible gives us important principles about marriage in Ephesians, but is it saying that husbands must demand that your wife submits? Paul also says that husbands should love their wives. Would this kind of demanding, authoritative leadership be loving? Why do some Christian marriages choose submission for the wife and do not give equal attention to the love the husband is commanded to give her wife? If you are sacrificing one for the other you are not being Biblical. Whether you at fault for this or not, husbands should always be asking and being shaped by this question: how exactly does Christ loves the Church?

Christ was both submissive and loving, are not men and women called to be both? Because I am a man am I not to be submissive, am I not supposed to empower others if I have resources they do not have?

Will not the marriage magnify God's glory if we seek to emulate Christ as much as possible? Should we limit Christ's example in our lives?

The Bible is a powerful resource we have in life, but life is messy. The Bible affirms that. Trust the Bible, but also trust the Spirit's lead when the Bible does not give exact instructions and the messiness of life makes it seem less clear. Seek wisdom, seek the Spirit, it is crying out for us in the streets! Proverbs 1:20-23 The Spirit longs for us not to be simpleminded, the Spirit understands how complex life is! And if we had any doubts to that fact, God came down to identify and embody all of the pain and complexities that life gives. Look to Christ. Trust Him, He understands how scary life is, He understands how messy it is. Know you are not perfect (you are not God), and rest in the fact that God is perfect in love. Do your best to love your husband or wife with the gifts and resources you have, know that you will not do it perfectly (only God can!), and rest in the unconditional love that Christ has personally given us when we are shamed for not loving like we should. He is full of grace. He is our perfect husband. Let Him lead and empower our lives and marriages. He is crying out. Are you listening?

Sunday Surfing

I hope these links provide for some good internet surfing opportunities over the weekend:

(1) Book Review of Timothy Keller's 'King's Cross'
Using a succession of images Keller walks through the book of Mark in a way that will "directs readers’ gaze toward the cross and will not allow them to look away." I am currently reading the book and have found myself frequently just having to stop. I am compelled to process and take it all in. I feel so in love with what Christ did for us as I read this book. And the integration of our world with Christ's life and the explanatory power it has on our world is brought out in the book. I am so thankful to Keller for showing this to me. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. This link is a fair review of the book as well.

(2) Shane Claiborne asks the question: 'What Would Jesus Cut? Bread vs. Bombs'
This is very timely and important for us to all wrestle with as we all face uncertain times in the economy. How would Christ grapple with the situation we are in? Is there any or hope or opportunity for redemption in the bleakness?

(3) Donald Miller's 'Thoughts on Being Worshiped'
I love Donald Miller! As he says himself about John the Baptist in this blog Miller 'takes the pressure off' on being a Christian. We are not perfect! Miller understands this and at the same time is very insightful into Christians need to be seen as perfect. Miller helps me take realistic looks at myself and shows me where I don't match up to Christ but that Christ lived and died so I didn't have to!

(4) Kurt Williams responds to Justin Taylor's critique of Rob Bell's new book
Kurt is a Facebook friend of mine and an old friend of my wife. I like his blog and really appreciate a lot of his posts. This one is quite helpful for me. He critiques a well-known Reformed blogger (I consider myself apart of the Reformed crowd) and in the process shines some much needed light into a weakness of the Reformed shade of Christianity. The critique's most influential section for me is quoted below.
"Ok, my neo-reformed brothers in Christ. Please quit being quick to “cast the first stone.” No, you will not agree with everything that Rob Bell has to say in this book, but lets be clear – you do not speak for all of evangelical orthodox belief. Please quit acting as though you do. It is damaging the larger body of Christ."