If God Were King

             I have been interested in politics and government all of my adult life. In 2011, in anticipation of this year’s election, I attempted to cultivate a theology of government.

            That project didn’t last long.

            Later, I began studying the book of Deuteronomy. I had never preached Deuteronomy and desired to do so to our Sunday night group.

            While journeying through Deuteronomy, I came as close as I ever will to a compiling a theology of government. I preached it in detail in the spring. I thought I would share in this blog some of my amazing insights (he said tongue planted firmly in cheek).

            The thing about Deuteronomy is it comes the closest to telling us what God was thinking when it comes to running a country. God inspired Moses to preach sermons; in them, Moses is saying, in essence, God is King… here is how he wants his nation run. I believe Moses’ words offers us insight today, which we can apply to our own nation.

            [Disclaimer: In Deuteronomy, God was talking to an ancient people in the Middle East 3500 years ago. No direct one-to-one correlation should be made between that ancient government and the United States of America. Attempts to do so may cause arthritis, stomach cramps, high blood pressure, and irritation. If any of these symptoms appear, please consult a doctor.]

            Now, one thing I was reminded of in this great book: God shows his love for people by becoming involved in their lives. He showed his love for the Hebrews in Egypt by rescuing them from the tyranny of the Egyptians.

            He expected a response from these rescued slaves: wholehearted love and devotion to God. They were to offer God heart, soul, mind, and strength, and they were to offer it to God alone (Deut. 6:5-6.)

            The natural result of this commitment was love for one’s neighbor. As one has stated, since these people were loved by God, they were qualified to extend God’s love to their neighbors—Israelites or otherwise. (When Jesus was talking about the Great Commandment and how to live it out, this perhaps was what he was thinking.)

            Unfortunately, this did not occur naturally. To keep people from hurting and killing each other, God gave humanity government.

            Now, regarding us today, as God blessed those Hebrews, so has he blessed us. How will we apply those blessings? How do we love our neighbor?

            Doug McIntosh, in his commentary on Deuteronomy, illustrates the importance of this point. There was a fellow who lost control of his car and crashed into the front porch of another’s house. Rescue crews and other skilled groups arrived on the scene.

            A utility crew began checking for gas leaks. They discovered that the homeowner’s chimney and gas pipes were clogged by rubbish. As a result, carbon monoxide had been seeping into the house for a while.

            For two years, the homeowner had been experiencing flulike symptoms, trembling, headaches, chills, and nausea. He had also been blacking out occasionally. The owner had no explanation for any of this.

            Because of the accident, the homeowner was able to address the problems in his house, and his symptoms vanished. Without that wreck, he may have died as a result of the poisonous gas.

            Strangely enough, the homeowner had formerly made his living… as a building contractor. He knew the blessings of chimneys and furnaces, and he knew how dangerous furnaces and chimneys could be. He had always warned his customers to check them two or three times a year. Nevertheless, he had never checked his own.

            A lot of American citizens today are guilty of the spiritual equivalent. God has blessed us with a nation that is, compared to others, healthy and safe. However, provision must be made to keep things in check.

            Human nature produces a lot of “rubbish.” Unchecked, that rubbish—selfishness, greed, immorality, or whatever form it may take—can poison us all. God has given human beings government to address this problem and to facilitate the proper application of the blessings of God.

            May we the people apply the blessings of God in the proper way. 

The Secret to Unity

            I believe in the goal of unity. After all, Jesus called his followers to be unified.

            Now, how do you live that unity?

            Scripture teaches us that, if we are truly serious about pursuing the life of Christ, if we truly desire to be remade into the image of Christ, an integral part of this process is making disciples of Jesus.

            Jesus came to earth to make relationships with people, which is another way of saying Jesus came to make disciples in his image. When we give birth to spiritual babies, and dedicate ourselves to helping them grow up to be like Jesus, we are ourselves becoming more like Jesus.

            In a church, no greater question can be asked than this: what do the (new Christians) babies need? Unfortunately, it is rare churches ask this question. Usually, if members of churches are honest, including those members who should be more mature, the question they will often find themselves asking is this: what do I need? Or, more crudely, what do I want?

            Often the result of this is that baby Christians fall away; meanwhile, Christians who should be more mature spiritually gorge themselves, consuming what they wish. All the while, baby (young) Christians are starving to death.

            If we in churches ask ourselves, “What do the babies need?”, we will cover all of the important things of the Bible. We will emphasize the Lordship of Christ; we will emphasize the sound doctrine of Scripture; we will create strong relationships with these baby Christians to help them grow up; and we will learn how to prioritize and serve them.

            Probably the most difficult implication of asking the question, “What do the babies need?” is the fact that we would have to give up so much more than we would like. This is good for the spiritual babies, AND this is good for us as well.

            For a married couple, nothing could be more stressful than to bring a child into the family. Some marriages break up because of their inability to cope with the responsibilities of parenting. But in those marriages where the husband and wife, the mother and father, are able to prioritize and ask, “What does the baby need?”, they will find as a serendipity more maturity and unity.

            Many married couples discover they can sacrifice extensively when they recognize a young life is at stake. Raising healthy babies is more important than their own wants and desires. On a spiritual level, this premise lies at the core of Paul’s admonition to the Roman Christians in Rom. 14-15.

            I am convicted to the core that more churches can find maturity and unity if they will submit themselves to the transcending goal of training up new Christians, spiritual children, in the ways of the Lord.

            May those children never depart from Him.

Spiritual Infertility

            As I have written before, I have never met an infertile couple, who did not express great pain and disappointment over the reality of their lives. They always yearned to have children.

            When it comes to Christians, I rarely see this attitude regarding spiritual infertility. I am not saying that when we are spiritually unfruitful, we should be beating our chests, dressing in sackcloth, and pouring ashes over our heads.

            Yet, scripture shows us a God who yearns for us to have spiritual children, much more than we do. He also goes to great lengths to see that it happens. We can observe this in two stark ways.

            First, he desired spiritual children so much he was willing to allow his Son to carry a cross. Indeed, he engineered the events of the cross. The cross was no accident.

            Second, God desires spiritual children so much that he is willing to allow his church to carry a cross. That is what happened in the book of Acts. Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

           Unfortunately, the Jerusalem church did not do this. The Jerusalem church was content to remain infertile and not allow the Gentiles to be born into the Kingdom of God, so God allowed the Jerusalem church to carry the cross. Specifically, that was seen in the persecution she experienced, which drove the Gospel ultimately to the ends of the earth. Gentiles at last entered into the Kingdom, in droves.

            How badly does God want to have spiritual babies? Enough to allow his church today (whom he loves) to carry a cross—even if it means experiencing persecution.

            I doubt we will ever want to have spiritual babies that much, but we all probably need to ratchet up our desire a few notches. The cross tells us God badly wants to have more spiritual babies; do we?

The Measure of Accomplishment

           A few years ago, Warren  Buffett led a discussion amongst some of his closest friends. The premise they were pondering was from Andrew Carnegie—“He who dies rich dies disgraced.” The group dialoguing the subject contained some of the richest people in the world.
            When he had the opportunity to speak, Bill Gates asked an important question, “Shouldn’t the measure of accomplishment be how many lives you can save with a given amount of money?”

            Gates was referring to physical lives, and his question makes a valid point. I believe, however, the more profound question is this: shouldn’t the measure of accomplishment be how many spiritual lives you can save with a given amount of money?”

            After all, Jesus once said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36.)

            If all this world has to offer one’s physical life is ultimately not enough, then clearly anything less will not be sufficient either.

            For this reason, I believe we need to reassess our emphasis on helping people. If all we offer the world is the physical (which is never enough), and we never get around to addressing the spiritual needs of people, what have we accomplished? 

Source: THE SNOWBALL by Alice Schroeder

No More Virgin Births

           I use to think that all babies came into this world the same way Jesus did. God put 

the baby inside the mother's stomach (womb), the baby grew inside the woman and finally 

entered into the world. I will never forget my fellow freshman in the college dorm telling me 

that was not how babies were made.

            I'm kidding! That's a joke.

            Actually, I learned at age 7 that my view of bringing babies into this world was incorrect–thanks to some older boys that I hung around with.

            It took a while to fully appreciate this, but in time I realized that while God was involved in the birth of every baby, so were human beings–the father and mother. Through the years I have continued to marvel that God would work through people to bring babies into this world. That is how he has chosen to empower the fulfillment of his commandment for the human race to be fruitful and multiply (see Gen. 1-2.)

            God has another commandment for people in his Kingdom. It is to be spiritually fruitful and multiply.

            As with physical births, God chooses to deliver spiritual babies in a process that involves people. God chooses to bring spiritual babies into his Kingdom through a process using people. Just like a physical birth requires a human father and mother (except for Jesus), so too a spiritual birth requires human participation in the process.

            Many Christians act as if they belief God alone will bring people into His Kingdom. He could, of course, but he chooses not too. There was only one virgin birth—and it is over and done with.

              All Christians I have known, who married and desired children, completely understood that they must participate in the process. Many Christians I have known who desire to see spiritual children fail to realize that they too must participate in the process.

            Jesus calls for us to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This can be a burden, or it can be an enjoyable process. We love, we serve, and we teach people about Jesus. What a blessing to participate in God’s mission of helping people to be born… again.

Hold That Tray!

            John Brodie was pro football’s first player to sign a million dollar contract. His career spanned from the late fifties to the early seventies. During his prime, he was without doubt one of the great quarterbacks in the game.

            In the mid-sixties, Brodie and the old American Football League’s franchise, the Houston Oilers, arranged a deal which called for him to switch leagues and join the Oilers. It was this transaction that helped to cause the merger between the National Football League and the AFL.

            Because of his success, a reporter decided to goad Brodie a little during a particular press conference. The reporter asked Brodie why it was that a million dollar quarterback had to hold the football on field goals and extra-points. "Well," Brodie replied, "If I didn't, it would fall over."

            I always like that story, and it gave me encouragement yesterday morning when I was asked to serve the trays for our communion service. As silly as it sounds, serving “on the table” made me feel apprehensive. It had been almost thirty years since I had done that. I knew there were always risks involved in serving communion.

            When I was a kid, one of our members accidentally dropped the trays of grape juice he was holding, shattering the glass cups. The preacher tried to pass off the situation lightly with some humor, but the guy was so embarrassed, he never came back.

            I did not want to make a mistake in front of a lot of people, but risks notwithstanding, I decided to accept the challenge. After all, if nobody were to "hold the ball", “it would fall over.” 

            I knew the guys who were given the responsibility to locate people to help during the assembly. They always had a hard time finding folks to serve.

            Moreover, and I hope this does not sound presumptuous, but I thought it would be good for my kids to see me serve the church in another way besides being the preacher. So far my transition out of the pulpit has gone well, and I have been very pleased that my kids are identifying me in a role unique to them—“regular” member. You see, for as long as my kids have known me, I have been the preacher of their church.

            Our fellowship, comparatively speaking, is pretty good about not holding preachers on too high a pedestal, but even in our fellowship, there is something distinctive about the position of pulpit minister. I DO want my kids to nail down the fact that I'm a disciple first—not a preacher.

            That can be hard, particularly when their friends do not view things that way. At Shiloh, we are blessed with a large campus and many wonderful facilities, which people of the community use literally everyday. Last July, during our Vacation Bible School, one my son's elementary school friends (who does not attend a church) visited.

            One night, he emphatically stated to the children of his VBS class, “Timothy's dad owns all of this!” Of course, we know Jesus owns it; we're just marking time attempting to become more like him.

            Having stated that my kids (and their friends!) need to see me as a disciple first, I know I do as well. As I wrote a few weeks ago in this blog, I have loved preaching so much. Earlier this year I became concerned preaching may have become an idol for me. I know how crucial it is that I view myself as a disciple first, and not a preacher.

            As silly as it sounds, serving the communion trays-with all of its risks-was another opportunity to allow myself to be tested. I knew it was a good probe into my heart.

            Subsequently, I passed out the trays. Thankfully, I do not think I disrupted the service. I did not pass the trays to the wrong person. I did not drop grape juice.

            I think I passed the physical test of serving during communion.

            I hope I also passed the spiritual test of my heart.

            

The Man on the Moon

            I’m sorry Neil Armstrong will not live to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of his footsteps on the moon. He missed it by seven years.

            Neil Armstrong, for me, is not simply a photo in the history books or in the newspapers. He is a living being inside my mind. I can ever yet see him as a 39-year-old in 1969 flying to and from the moon. The memory is indistinguishable from my ninth birthday party of that year. That’s because in a way, I participated in both.

            My dad bought our first color TV a few days before the launch of Apollo 11 in July, 1969. It was summer, so I watched almost every moment of the CBS telecast of the mission.

            Perhaps, because I was a child, what seemed so incomprehensible to adults seemed so comprehensible to me. A chorale group from an orphans’ home was singing at our church that weekend; at an afternoon reception, everyone stopped and watched as a portable TV was brought out and NBC announced that the EAGLE had landed.

            Later that night, my parents, our houseguests, and I watched in wonder and fascination as Neil Armstrong descended from the ladder of the lunar module… and then he was on the moon.

            At some point in the two-hour plus spacewalk of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, I fell asleep. I awoke during the historic phone call from President Richard Nixon to the astronauts.

            Observing this conversation in my post-nap haze seemed dreamlike. Perhaps that is the best word to describe the Apollo 11 mission—dreamlike. For centuries humans aspired to travel to the moon, but that night four decades ago, the dream was fulfilled. And I was there.

            I consider it a privilege to experience my childhood during the sixties. I owe Neil Armstrong a debt for taking me along with him on his incredible voyage.

            In the ensuing years after his moonwalk, critics would chastise Armstrong for not viewing his space event more romantically. He never claimed to be a poet; he was simply an engineer. Ironically, in the minds of succeeding generations, the words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" form one of the most poetic sentences ever uttered.

            Twice Armstrong faced close calls in space. Once, nearly spinning to his death in Gemini 8, and the second time, coming without seconds of running out of fuel landing the lunar module on the moon. In both cases, his cool, analytical, engineer’s brain manufactured solutions to his life-threatening problems. Nevertheless, Armstrong was no unfeeling automaton.

            Several years ago, I read James Hansen’s excellent biography of Neil Armstrong, FIRST MAN. In his book, Hansen peels away the layers of the complex man to reveal not only a gifted, rational thinker, but also a husband and father with feelings and emotions. Here is how I put it in a post I wrote in 2009:  

         One of the interesting aspects of Armstrong's life that this book [FIRST MAN] reveals is the tender heart that he had for his daughter, Karen. She died as a child of a brain tumor [in the early 1960s]. The event shattered Armstrong emotionally, and he never fully recovered.

            [After Karen’s death and] after the successful Apollo 11 spaceflight, the mission's astronauts toured the world. While in London, England, crowds mobbed the astronauts.

            At a barrier, which separated the astronauts from the people, a little girl found herself pressed against the obstruction. Frightened, she began to cry.

            Armstrong picked up the girl, hugged her, soothed her emotions with kind words, and kissed her. An enterprising photographer snapped the picture and newspapers around the world ran it.

            The press noted that this intimacy was out of character for Armstrong and were puzzled by this display. Hansen writes that it was no coincidence. The girl was the age of Armstrong's daughter when Karen had passed away.

             

            Rest in peace, Neil Armstrong.

Photo courtesy of NASA.gov