Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Xmas vs. Christmas?

No wonder comedians have so much material to work with. I've heard folks suggest that those have a problem with "Merry Christmas" and who make a stink about it should just get over it or move someplace where freedom of speech doesn't exist. The political correctness seems way to sensitive on one hand and inauthentic on the other. After a while you realize that many who often touting political correctness do so for pragmatic reasons rather than from actual love and care for people.

When it comes to issues of faith, Christians fear that our country is going the way of Europe. A common complaint is that we are losing our roots as a Christian nation and becoming secular and so we have become adversarial and engaged in a cultural war. Folks are passionately arguing for “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” or “Christmas over Xmas”. “How dare we cut Christ out of Christmas?”

Truth be told, Christmas is not a Biblical Holy day or an ordinance or sacrament or command to be observed. Jesus wasn’t born on December 25^th. The term Xmas has been used by Christians for hundreds of years as a shorthand way of referring to Christ through the Greek letter Chai that looks like the letter X.

Even if all of the above wasn’t true, the approach of trying to change the culture through a public war on it is not at all unlike how the world does it. The way the New Testament speaks of the world being changed is through our own transformation, testimony, humble love for others, sacrificial giving… and work of the Holy Spirit touching lives. No wonder we are having little effect. We are using worldly weapons to fight a spiritual war.

It seems to me that those of us complaining and proclaiming the loss of Christ in Christmas are going about this backwards; trying to get Jesus back in culture instead of focusing on getting Jesus back into our own lives. 

Here are some questions I’m asking myself this season: “Am I spending time with Jesus?” “Am I becoming inspired by his life once again?” “Am I following him in the act of daily loving God and neighbor as self?” “How is my relationship with my family, with my wife, with my friends?” “Is my reputation that I treat others well?”

It's a bit cliché but “be the change”. Anyone can speak about what is broken but very few actually do anything about it. So, put Christ back in your Christmas, in your everyday life. Are you humble, loving, hopeful, faithful, generous? Do your words bring life to others? Do you seek to encourage others? Do you praise more than complain?

At our church’s candlelit service, we have this tradition at the end of our service. The lights are turned down and everyone takes out a candle. We light one person’s candle and that person lights the candle of next person and so on until the whole room is bright. I imagine that, if instead of shouting at the darkness demanding it to become bright, we become the change we seek in culture, others will catch our fire and the once darkened world will become bright.

Thoughts on Electing Our Next President

for those who consider themselves followers of Jesus

 

Think about who represents your understanding of Biblical values.

• This insists that you take your cues from the Bible more than from Fox News or CNN.

Keep perspective

• The Gospel is the hope for this world, not a political party. Always remember that above our political affiliation we belong to a political system whose origin is heaven and whose destiny is earth (John 18:36) and whose message should inform how we vote.   

Listen to opposing views and not for the purpose of bolstering your own.

• Here’s my working theory: I don’t own Jesus and I haven’t figured him out. If he upset his disciples than, he will also upset me. This should lead me toward humility and open mind to learn from those on the other side who might just have a perspective that I don’t. This will help you remain open to what Jesus might say.

Pray for guidance.

• When we pray the “Our Father”, we are joining with the prayer of saints over the millennia for God to finally rule over the earth and do so with the faith that it is happening and will continue to happen.
• We can walk into the voting booth with a measure of faith that God is working to bring about his kingdom on the earth and thus will guide us as we vote.

If you are undecided, don’t let it stop you.

• Do your homework but then go with your best guess trusting that God will guide you.

Pray blessings on both candidates even after the election.

• The Bible is so very clear on this one. Don’t disrespect, mock, ridicule them. Pray for them and pray that they would be blessed Titus 3.

And for Jesus’ sake love, no,  really love one another.

• In gentleness and humility, love those who think differently. We are the body of Jesus and therefore we need one another

Fasting for Lent

Fasting is tough! Fasting for 40 days, even if not every day, is really tough! So, I'm not doing this alone. I think I echo some of your sentiments. If you are like me, you get can yourself amped up for anything short lived. It's when it lasts weeks that I begin finding excuses why I shouldn't fast.

If you're a slow starter but then eventually get warmed up and motoring along or you don't like doing anything alone or you're competitive and secretly believe that you will outdo and outlast everyone or you prefer not having the pressure of others knowing what you are doing... Whatever your predisposition all of us share the greater goal of following and experiencing Jesus more in our lives which is why you might find this blog a great place to be encouraged by the stories; by being reminded that we are all doing this together; and by being re-calibrated by the larger goal.

In order for this to work, we need to hear from each other so, post, post, post. I would remind you that advice giving is not what this blog site is for. Your story is what we want to hear and what motivates us all the most.

What's in Going to Church?

Last week I had a conversation with a guy who hadn't been to church in over 20 years. He told me how when he was young he saw the hypocrisy of church attenders. In his opinion they were going there to look good, to convince others they were good people even though they really weren't. He didn't get much out of church itself so he left.

He developed the reputation of a good guy who did everything for everyone else. He even saw himself this way. Leaders of institutions to his mind were more in it for themselves than for actually helping people thus affirming his decision to no longer attend church.

From what I gathered, his reputation really did back him up. He was a good guy and more moral than many who professed faith and regularly attended church. It struck me as a very interesting conversation because of the popular assumptions many Evangelicals hold which is that one cannot really be good without God.

Is it any wonder that many folks have left the church altogether because of the hypocrisy of leaders professing this proposition and yet appearing more interested in preserving the institution at the expense of others? If those theoretically closer to God aren't good then why church, why faith?

He gave his own answer to this as he has since returned to church and found it profoundly helpful. His realization was that what kept him from going to church was his own stubbornness to do life his way. He says that God has begun showing him the powerful effect a community committed to following Jesus can have on growing in one's faith.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Can one be good without going to church or without faith? What's the value in going to church?

The Rapture

In our Revelation series on Sunday mornings I have been dealing with some controversial subjects hoping that instead of adding to the confusion or coming up with a clever theory that, we might come away with a helpful, thoughtful and practical insight.

The Second Coming is one of those confusing and controversial subjects. The popular view is that the world will get worse then Jesus will rapture or vacuum Christians in an instant right out of the world. After this comes the tribulation, then the second coming.

For the first 1700 years after Jesus the church did not hold to a rapture theory. This view came in as a reaction to the widespread liberal theology that didn't take anything in the Bible literally.

I'm not sure exactly how the idea came to the progenitures but the only Scriptural support given for it is 1 Thessalonians 4 and even that says nothing about a rapture but is speaking of a resurrection that will take place. Revelation also speaks of a resurrection that will take place at the full appearance of Jesus. This is why there are no biblical scholars who believe in a rapture.

So why is it that this has been sustained since the mid 1800's? Sensational theories will always have an audience especially if the theory is one that guarantees that Christians escape difficulty that is coming to the earth.

The worst part of this theory is that it teaches that things must get worse before Jesus takes his church away. Why would you and I work for a better world? This is part of the reason that the Evangelical church has been slow in getting involved in social and global causes. Finally, when it did it did much of it was done so in a bait and switch way trying to save people's souls.

In Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of his return. In chapter 25 he gives three parables as to what his followers were to do in preparation for his return. The last one states clearly that his followers are those who actually do something about the practical needs of others. These are the ones who are received into God's heaven. It is as if Jesus is actually saying that by being actively involved in making our world a better place that we don't need to worry about missing or figuring out when or how Jesus will return.

Two Witnesses

I grew up with a very literal view what is known as a Premillenial Pretribulation view of Revelation. After so much confusion on the book I, along with many others, adopted a Pan-millenial view – “I’ll know what happens in the end when it all pans out.” The problem for some is that there are not as many exact answers as they would like and yet there is a way of understanding the book that can have real time benefit.
We've been doing a series through the book of Revelation and this past Sunday we talked about the two witnesses. If you haven’t read it, read it before you read this. The popular view is that two men are going to arrive on the scene performing miracles, defeating their enemies through supernatural means. Then the beast, who is the one world leader, will have them killed and then their bodies will be publicly exposed and the whole world will see them. After three days, they will rise again.
The view above is certainly possible as are almost any number of interpretations about Revelation. Whatever one we come up with we must first agree that it would have had some meaning to the first century reader. My belief about the Bible is that it is written satisfy more than our curiosity and our need to see into the future otherwise we are no different than the religious rulers of Jesus day who did the same trying to figure out what the Messiah would be like and missed him altogether.
There are some clues as to who the witnesses are that may help us not to miss what God has for us. The first one is as I mentioned that whatever it means to us it had to mean something to these first century readers. Second, the two witnesses theme is one that is found in both testaments in the legal context. If there was a case but no witnesses, it could be tossed out. Without the forensic science of today, witnesses were the strongest form of evidence. This suggests that the two witnesses are making the claim that something is true over against something that is false. The third help we get is that they are called lampstands which is what the church is called in chapter 1 and chapter 2 and nowhere else in Rev except here in chapter 11 of the witnesses. Additionally, there were only two of the seven churches in chapter 2 and 3 that received no correction. They were good witnesses in word and example.
For these reasons it seems reasonable to consider that the witnesses are symbolic of the church. If this is true then as two witnesses they are declaring publicly before the court of the world that God’s ways are true while the Roman way of life is not. They do so by being willing to give up their lives. As representatives of the church, they are demonstrating what it means to be a good witness.
So, whether you believe that most of Revelation was fulfilled in the first couple centuries or that it is being fulfilled over the course of history or that it will be fulfilled, we can all agree that instead of craning our necks to peer around the corner of history or attempting to figure out how it took place in the first couple centuries or sitting back passively assuming that we can’t know anything for sure let’s not be like the religious rulers of Jesus day but instead, begin to live out prophesy until Jesus finally establishes his rule and reign on this earth.

Mark of the Beast

We've been going through a series of Sunday sermons through the biblical book of Revelation. One of the things I said this morning was that first century Jews expected another Exodus to rescue them from Roman oppression through judgments and a clear demonstration of who belonged to God.

If you remember the story of the Exodus, the Jewish people were oppressed in enslavement to Egypt. God delivers them through a series of 10 plagues or judgments on this nation who finally lets them go.

Revelation has a similar story. During the time Revelation is written, the Jews are either experiencing outright persecution or at least disfavor and under the temptation to declare Caesar as Lord and Savior. It is in this story that the writer of Revelation sees the plagues or judgments from chapter 6 to 16 as God coming against the forces that oppress his people.

Who are his people? They are ones who have the seal of God on them. Who are the ones who are not? They are those with the mark of the beast identified as 666. While there are all sorts of modern day explanations for what this could be; it had to mean something to these readers first.

Most scholars believe that the numbers in Revelation, and really elsewhere in the Bible, are symbolic. Even the most literal interpreter of Revelation would acknowledge that the 144,000 that are seen in heaven are symbolic. Humanity was created on the 6th day according to Genesis and then God rests on the 7th. The number 6 in the Bible is used to symbolize humanity.

Put this together with what we know so far and it seems that the author is simply and yet profoundly making the point that those who yield to Rome out of fear or seduction are those who are marked as worshipping all that is humanity - greed, power, lust, etc. while those who worship God by choosing his way for life are those marked with his seal.

Certainly, there is a lot more that can be said about this and how it applies to our day today. I would love to hear from you - observations, thoughts, questions?