EMA 2010: discussion about prophecy from The Proclamation Trust on Vimeo.

This is a great discussion. Ian Hamilton really gets to the heart of my objection to the more charismatic view of prophecy: why are folks so set on using the word ‘prophecy’? If they are not equating to the Old Testament,  ”Thus says the LORD” or the New Testament apostolic prophecies, then why the insistence on using the exact same phrase? I still have not heard an answer on this that satisfies me.

Originally posted at: http://100peoplenetwork.org/blog/uproot_and_follow

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photo by: Scott Wade

Noah Burns has deep roots in Austin. He grew up in the Texas capital and has strong connections all around. There is the high school he graduated from, the university he loves, and the church where he came to know the Lord. It’s where his family and friends are.

Recently, though, Noah has felt a tug to uproot from Austin and his tight network here to follow Jesus to his new home, in a nation thousands of miles away where he knows almost no one – except the Lord.

After being saved as a high school freshman, falling away for a time, and then graduating from college, Noah’s faith was refreshed and the Lord drew him near. “His faithfulness and steadfast love for me is very real in my day-to-day life,” Noah stated. In this renewed closeness with Christ, Noah felt a call to pursue a lifelong interest in acting that took him to Los Angeles.

It was a tough time professionally, but he found a home in a local church that welcomed him, where people were committed and the worship was powerful. God continued to grow Noah’s faith during that time in a very evident way. “It’s the coolest thing in the world when God is actually moving in your life,” he said. Noah’s acting career, however, didn’t take off and he felt God’s call to return to Austin – and, as it turns out, to a lofty calling to another faraway place: North Africa.

Noah had no concept of what it meant to serve internationally when he moved home to Austin and started attending The Austin Stone. “I never knew about missions, never thought about missions. I didn’t know what an unreached people group was,” Noah said.

Upon hearing a recommendation, he began reading Let the Nations Be Glad John Piper and the first paragraph hit him hard. It said:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

This thought, this concept of worship, compelled Noah to leave his hometown in order to serve his Lord. In addition to worshipping the Lord through his obedience, Noah also finds sustenance in the promises of God.

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)

And that’s exactly what Noah and his team are doing in North Africa. “We’re going there to gather God’s children. I have brothers and sisters there, and my job is to go over and find them,” Noah proclaimed. “I know God’s promises; He will bring them to Him.”

The freedom that Noah found in those promises has begun to put his personal idols to death. Before he answered the call to overseas missions, Noah struggled with seeking the approval of others. “I was the last person to look for an opportunity to share my faith with my friends,” he confessed. “I was just really cowardly.”

Once Noah committed to serving in North Africa, he found that God would sanctify him through his obedience, and he started to see victory over his idol of approval. “Now, by God’s grace, I am always talking about Jesus,” he said. “I look back just nine months ago and think about the person I was and how God has used this to bring me to where I am today.”

Noah’s calling has already produced fruit in an unexpected place: “Both my parents have just fallen head over heels in love with Jesus over the last few years,” he told me. “Two years ago if I had come home and said, ‘I really feel the Lord taking me overseas’ I think they would have not understood it, but now they are incredibly passionate about it.”

He laughingly relayed a small suspicion that that his parents are a bit envious of his calling. And who can blame them? “I worship him for calling our team,” he said. “I worship him for calling me. I mean, how humbling is that? God is calling me to gather his children!”

From the very first paragraph Wilson sets his sights on the hypocrisy of “Christians” and let’s the bullets fly. While his critique is direct and relentless from start to finish, he also wisely gives us a proxy and example of realistic Christian struggles. By sitting Chad Lester, pastor of the enormous Camel Creek Community Church, opposite of John Mitchell, the pastor of the tiny Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Wilson shows a consistent view of two models. Through this point of view he takes direct aim at hypocrisy without inflicting collateral damage to faithful Christians.

Pastor Lester is the confident, smooth charismatic celebrity pastor caught in a sex scandal that threatens his career and church. Having been accused of molesting a young male counselee, he is outraged at the charges. The thing that really stings about this accusation is that it is false. He does of course sleep his way through the congregation, but he is absolutely straight and offended that anyone would think otherwise. From there a dense web of relationships bring Pastor Mitchell in and out of the narrative through to a fitting and true to life conclusion.

To many Christians I am certain that this sounds like a malicious hit piece, a blind and frantic attack, or simply something we should not take the time to consider since it is all just so low and, well, dirty. I assure you this is not the case.

Wilson’s attacks and criticisms land on deserving and valid targets. The hypocrisy on display here is not that of a well-meaning but flawed leader, or of someone at war with sin. Rather it focused on the blatant pandering leaders who willfully, intentionally and without shame lie through their teeth while pursuing the pleasure of this world off the backs of their people. From the philandering senior Pastor, to the web of adulterous elders, the church members outraged at the idea of confessing sin, to the church CFO who has zero faith or belief but has rather found the perfect target for embezzlement, Wilson creates a cast of characters who are disgustingly realistic and illustrate exactly how the major scandals we hear about every once in a while can take root in our churches. If you want a case study that inspires you to design an accountability and oversight process for your church I doubt you could better than this.

Wilson’s writing is on display in a very fine case in this book. His insight is great and his skill as a writer brings this story and its evil to light starkly and powerfully. Many times Wilson surprises with a clever turn of phrase, an unexpected laugh, or well crafted plot point. He crafts a fine story that was genuinely a pleasure for me to read.

I would heartily recommend this novel to anyone. Even if this in no way resembles the average mega-church, we would all do well to heed the warning present in this story. Sometimes it takes just the right fictional story to bring an undeniable truth to light in a way that directly hits home. I believe Doug Wilson has done just that.

We are a people who value the Word of God. God chose to speak to us in this day and time through the written Word. Even when He spoke audibly to Israel it was words with which He communicated. His visible signs and wonders were preserved in the written and oral traditions of their day and still speak to us actively through the power of the Holy Spirit. Words matter to God, and they matter for our faith.

In light of this, reading and writing are crucial to developing our knowledge of God. Doug Wilson sums up why this is true when he writes, “for Christians … this means that we are people of the Word, and therefore we are to be people of words. Because we are people of words, we may, later on, be people of essays, poems, blog posts, screenplays, and novels.” In my estimation, he is absolutely right.

The Puritans knew this truth as well. The Puritan sermon was, and still is, considered an art form. It was the finest oratory of the day. In fact, I read ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in high school and I bet I am not alone. The Puritans also religiously kept personal journals, detailing and recording their lives, spiritual growth and social connections. This is all made even more impressive when we remember that the Puritans never let their scholastic expectations fall, even in the light of harsh conditions, new settlements and conquering the wild.

For this reason I restate my thesis, every Christian should be a writer… and a reader. We all need to be reading everything we can get our hands on. The Bible, books on doctrine, good novels, unusual poetry, all of it. I would add that we should not just restrict ourselves to the Christian bookstore either. We need to read widely, understand the world, concepts and beliefs. We need to cling to the Bible while surveying the rest.

We need to write. We need to have more blogs and conversation. We need more private journals. We need more writing in and about our churches. We need to teach our children how to write. And we need to pray that we glorify God in all of it.

So, pick up your iPad, the laptop you are reading this on, or even old school pen and paper. And write. It will be good, I promise.

Ephesians 1:3-14:

• Praise God, who have given us every blessing in our future heavenly home
• He chose us for these blessings before the creation of the world, and he chose us in order to make us holy in His eyes
• Because of His love he picked us for adoption, as his very own children, according to His own purpose
• His purpose in this predestination is for the praise of His grace
• Our forgiveness and redemption, which make us holy in God’s eyes, is through Christ very own shed blood
• He has lavished this grace on us wisely, and again for His own purpose, which is a plan from the beginning of time to unite all things in Christ
• This inheritance has been predestined for us, according to God’s perfect will
• When we heard the truth of the gospel and believed in Christ and His promises, we were sealed with promise of the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation until the day God calls us home

The density of this is astounding, but at the same time standard for Paul’s writings. I feel as if I could understand this basically in 2 minutes. But to truly comprehend the depth, breadth and truth of this would take a lifetime.

My twin granddaughters were born in a Catholic hospital last December. On Christmas Eve, they were rushed back into that same hospital, fighting for their lives. For nine days, we prayed without ceasing for their recovery. Protestants don’t usually do Novenas. This one did. Happily, the twins were released earlier this month.

Our family trusted a Catholic hospital with the lives of those most precious to us. Catholic hospitals have the latest technology in their pediatric intensive care units (PICU). But they have something more: They have an unwavering commitment to the sanctity of human life.

He goes on to compare Obama’s radicalism to previous Democratic Presidents.

How radical is the Obama administration? Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most liberal president in our history. A Democrat, FDR would have found most Catholics practicing in those hospitals — and the patients being treated in them — among his warmest supporters.

So beloved by Catholics was FDR, and so many of them Irish, that it was said the president’s rolodex looked like the Dublin phonebook. FDR would not have dreamed of so violating conscience rights of Catholics.

His thesis is valid, and a good summary of the stakes at hand:

The Obama administration is threatening the very life of Catholic hospitals. This administration wants to compel these hospitals to join the culture of death by forcing them to provide insurance coverage for their employees for sterilization and drugs that cause abortions. In so doing, the Obama administration violates not only the conscience rights of practicing Catholics, but also the conscience rights of millions of “separated brethren,” protestants like us, who rely on Catholic health care to uphold the sanctity of life.

It’s worth your time to read the whole thing.

If you do not have a full grasp on the concept and its effect on the church and our culture you will quickly find yourself lost in the insanity of our times. Post-modernism is not just a trend, an artistic movement or a subject for philosophy students. It is a very real change in our society’s metaphysical viewpoint. It has changed the way our society, in its hive-mind-like consensus, views reality. The best description of this concept I have seen comes from a site for poets:

For Postmodernists the world exists only through our understanding of it, and the prime medium of that understanding is everyday language. There is no further or ultimate reality that words point to, and we deceive ourselves by seeking deep spiritual meanings in art.

Obviously this explanation is geared to the arts, but the principal holds true for the whole school of thought. A post-modern view of art ascribes no deeper meaning to an artists work, only what you may see in it. A post-modern novel may have an unreliable narrator so the reader is not able to trust the story as told. A post-modern view of language posits that words only have the meaning that the speaker and the hearer gives them, and they do not have to even agree. A post-modern theology is one where there is no absolute truth, and the only truth we can uncover is what we find ourselves.

As you can see this viewpoint stands directly in opposition to orthodoxy of any kind. Must we ignore post-modern artists, writers, and other culture makers? I would say no. As a technique in the hands of an artist it can be entirely benign, or even beneficial to Christians. Should we entertain the teachings of post-modern philosophers, thinkers, ethicists and theologians? If you are an orthodox, confessional Christian I would daresay you know that answer already.

A good overview of this discussion can be picked from Ross Douthat, the token NY Times conservative.

At 19 weeks of pregnancy, Gabriel was found to have a potentially fatal fetal abnormality. After a risky intrauterine surgery, Karen Santorum came down with an infection that ended up triggering labor. The baby lived for just two hours, and after his death the couple took his body home overnight — so that their children could “absorb and understand that they had a brother,” Santorum said later — before burying him the following day.

As Ross and Pete Wehner point out, this is in line with the recommendations of medical professionals. The American Pregnancy Association outlines the following suggestions for dealing with this loss. Here is an excerpt:

After the tests are completed, you will usually have the choice to spend time alone with your baby. You can find comfort in looking at, touching, and talking to your baby. Most parents find it helpful to make memories of this precious time that will last a lifetime. Here are a few ways you can make memories with your baby:

• You can give your baby a bath and dress them in a special outfit. Before leaving the hospital you can take the a piece of this clothing to have as a keepsake.
• You can take pictures of your baby.
• The hospital staff can give you an imprint of handprints and/or footprints.
• You may want to take a lock of your baby’s hair.
• It may seem odd at first but you can read a story or sing a lullaby to your baby.
• If you would like, the nurse can record your baby’s measurements.
• You probably have also named your baby by now. Be sure to tell the hospital staff as soon as possible so all documents can have your baby’s name listed.
• You can have your baby christened or blessed while in the hospital.
• A baptism certificate will also be given to you to keep.

You will be able to spend as much time as you need with your baby, but at some point you will need to say goodbye. This will probably be one of the most challenging things to do because it is so final. Allow yourself to cry; expressing emotion is natural in the grieving process. Having the keepsakes will remind you that a part of your baby will always be with you.

If you are like me you cannot possibly read that without out feeling a deep empathy for anyone who has to deal with this staggering of a loss. Heartbreak of this magnitude should be understood and respected enough to not make it an issue of public criticism and debate. However, sadly, that is not the case.

“He’s not a little weird, he’s really weird,” Robinson said of Santorum. “And some of his positions that he has taken are just so weird that I think that some Republicans are off-put. Not everybody is not going to be down, for example, with the story of how he and his wife handled the stillborn child. It was a body that they took home to kind of sleep with it, introduce it to the rest of the family. It’s a very weird story.”

The divide that is visible in this viewpoint is shocking. While mainstream medical and psychological advice gives full support to treat a stillbirth as a real loss of a very real person the political Left has come to a point of seeing little value or humanity in the body of a stillborn child.

The inevitable conclusion for Christians who still value life is that while the tide may be turning on abortion, the value of life will continue to be degraded and dismissed by a small, vocal portion of society. How do we deal with this on an everyday basis? How do we live with and explain our decisions that may start to be very different from what is expected? Do we dedicate our time to the old-fashioned culture wars? Or work to change our world one mind and family at a time? I think we will unfortunately have to spend a good deal of time deciding these things.

What I thought was true, of course. Without an all powerful Savior to put our full faith, hope and trust in we look around for substitutes. We look for hope in other people or relationships. We look for security from a government or an army. We look for compassionate change from the masses. We erect these people, institutions and things as idols in our lives. We worship them, we sacrifice for them, and we orient our lives around them in hopes of a form of salvation. This is the condition of the human heart as it always has been, but I also realized something else.

I am a hypocrite. Not just a hypocrite in the sense that I have my own idols. I’m a hypocrite in the sense that I have have the exact same idols. Those that know me will immediately know that I do not subscribe to the same beliefs, but the result is the same.

I trust a well armed and trained military for my security. I trust my 2nd Amendment rights to protect myself and my loved ones. My hope is for a change in government over what we have had these last many years. My justice is found in the letter of an imperfect law. But most damning of all, my greatest refuge of hope for our country is in a free market system that while efficient, is by no means perfect.

This is painfully ironic for someone who, only a few years ago, mocked political opponents for holding their candidate up as a ‘messiah’. Crow is not a fun meal.

My idolatry is even worse than those I called out, because my faith has enabled me to see it for what it is, and I still buy into the lie. This makes me even worse than those that I looked down upon. Upon this I build my public confession, I am a hypocrite and a liar.

Now, these things are not unimportant. I do think it is vital for all people to be engaged and educated about how our country, states and cities are run. But for Christians, it cannot be our ultimate.

Now that God has used this to reveal the depth of my sin, where do I go next? For one, I need to dig deep in prayer and repentance to ask my Lord to remove those idols. Additionally, I need to examine my heart and my mind and determine how I can engage in the civic life of this society without basing my identity or my faith in either the actors, institutions or machinations of government.

Change cannot come from a sinful heart. Confession, repentance and then obedience is the path to defeating sin and temptation. How will this play out for me? I’m not sure yet… but I know where the right place to find my hope is.

Originally posted at: http://100peoplenetwork.org/blog/goer_story_in_response_to_grace

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photo by: Scott Wade

With its current population of over 1.21 billion people, India is on track to become the world’s most populous country by 2025. Greg wants to see a church planting explosion there that would rival what has taken place in China. For someone with such high hopes, washing the feet of the poor in the countryside might seem like too meager of a beginning. But Greg is following the example of humility that Christ displayed for us: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Greg was raised in church, but by the time he started school at The University of Texas, he realized he was not living in obedience to God. Originally, his goals were to obtain a degree in computer science, find a good job and pursue what this world has to offer. But at the invitation of a good friend, Greg started attending The Austin Stone and going to a campus Bible study. At that point, God made some remarkable changes in his life.

When asked about the change, Greg states, “I started living in response to grace.”

Read the whole thing…

Originally posted at: http://100peoplenetwork.org/blog/goer_story_where_i_want_to_be

When he was a child, Cameron’s mother had one single prayer for her son’s life; all she wanted was for him to follow God’s will. It was a simple prayer, but it was that simple prayer that is now taking him to North Africa.

Preaching the gospel to an unreached people group in a foreign land was the farthest thing from his mind when Cameron walked into The Austin Stone Community Church for the first time. The look in his eyes and the confidence in his voice tell the story of a changed heart.

Before coming to Austin, Cameron was not walking with God. “I began to realize what a hypocrite I was, but I met a group of people here who really had a relationship with Jesus, who really knew him and loved him.”

This spoke to Cameron deeply and the change in his life began with simple, small steps. “I began to do the only thing I knew to do,” he said. “I began reading the Bible and telling God, ‘I want to know you more.’”

During his last summer as a college student, Cameron took advantage of a last-minute opportunity to spend his summer teaching English in the Czech Republic. His time among the Czech people confirmed a growing awareness that God was calling him to go and serve the nations. “God just opened this door and I jumped through it,” Cameron said. “But by the end of the summer, I knew I could do this for the rest of my life.”

On his way back to the United States, he made a stop in North Africa to stay with a friend. In hindsight, Cameron realized it was during this visit that his eyes were opened to see a truly unreached group of people in a place where the gospel is rarely preached. “In the five days I spent in North Africa, my heart was really drawn to that area,” he explained.

On the plane ride home, Cameron filled out an application to serve on the international missions team at the Austin Stone. A few weeks later, he had been selected and was starting his internship. While serving as an intern, Cameron met the leaders of a group that was preparing to go to North Africa and decided joined their team.

In the midst of his final preparations, he knows that this call to go to the nations is not the end of a journey but, rather, the beginning of something much greater. “My time in the Czech Republic was a huge time of sanctification and growth in my faith. It’s not like [God] grew and sanctified me and then sent me out. It’s that I didn’t know what I was doing. He sent me out and then used that to produce fruit in others and in my own life,”

Cameron’s first two years with his team in North Africa will be focused on learning the language and building relationships within the local community. He and his teammates are eager to fully immerse themselves in the culture of their new homeland. “Thirty years down the road, if we spent the first two years learning the language – and learning it well – it will be much more fruitful than if we did not.” After this intense time of language acquisition, the team will begin working to planting churches in one of the toughest areas of the region.

It was the words of Jesus in Scripture that helped Cameron say yes to God’s call, as well as to help calm any fears that may arise as he looks to the future.

“Behold, I will be with you always to the end of the age.”

It is with a distinct boldness Cameron claims, “When I read that, the Holy Spirit pierced my heart. It led me to a place of saying, ‘I want to be in a place where this is true for my life. Wherever that is, that’s where I want to be.’”

Profile by Brian Lundin
Photos by Chris Hedlund

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Are evangelicals in America living up to this command of Paul’s? I’m not sure. I think an honest examination of this passage is uncomfortable for us. Denominations, theological tribes, and unfortunately even “Christian celebrities” are common and usually unquestioned features of the evangelical landscape. We have grown up with them, been passively taught to put our our faith and devotion into them. Even churches that specifically claim to be the single unified church cannot help but to deepen the divisions just by existing. No matter what, in this day and age the church will be organizationally split. How do we deal with this in light of Paul’s teaching?

I’ll back up a bit to explain why this question has popped up in recent days. Last week I was reading some blogs and I saw a recommendation for N.T. Wright’s book “The Resurrection of the Son of God”. The recommendation was glowing, but the only time I had heard Wright’s name before was in conjunction with his spirited theological disagreement with John Piper over justification. I googled Wright’s name along with Piper’s Desiring God URL to see if he had anything to say about Wright other than what I knew. In that moment I realized that I just experienced an interesting instinct.

You see, I had just reacted to an unexpected referral from someone I trusted by running to another person as the source of viability on this recommendation. Essentially, I was asking Piper for his permission to read a book by Wright. Was this a sin? I don’t think so, but it easily could be. The key is, sin is in our hearts, not in our actions. Over time John Piper has proven to be a reliable source for me on interpreting Scripture and learning Biblical truth. I have grown to trust his advice, and it is logical that I would seek his counsel. So when I read that he appreciated Wright’s efforts on this topic I purchased the book and dove in. I don’t think this reaction to check with a theologian I trust was wrong.

However, what if Piper’s response was the opposite and I shunned the book for that reason alone? Would that have been sinful? I think it could have been. By taking Piper’s thoughts and, in my mind, condemning someone as a total heretic could have been very unhealthy for me. To look for others’ opinions or even engage skeptically with the text myself would have been preferable to using just this one person’s opinion. In looking at this experience I realized that I identify myself so much with a given viewpoint (Reformed Baptist) that I was hesitant to engage with someone outside of that group.

With that in mind I, had two other interactions that made me think about this as well. I met someone recently and in our initial conversation church came up. When he told me he was going to a conference soon and I inquired who was teaching. His reaction was, “They aren’t well known outside of certain circles.” The other one conversation was with my girlfriend who stated that a certain theologian/pastor’s name still elicited a negative reaction because of connotations his teachings had in her collegiate ministry.

Have we gone too far? Is it too dividing to look upon theological or missional distinctions as a basis for separation? Fundamentally I think not. I think what matters is the heart and the motivations for separation. If we are judging another school of thought or denomination and being unfairly or destructively critical we can go too far. If we remain humble and know that the truth is God’s and not our own I think we are being true to Paul’s teaching and God’s desire for His church.

Which is what brings me to this post. The video interview below was very illuminating and did more for my understanding of the topic than most things I have heard before. If the topic intrigues you I highly recommend you take the 50 minutes or so to listen to it.

Part 1:

Part 2:

I had many thoughts flash through my mind in the 10 minutes it actually took to have my grandfather interred. I thought of the funerals I had been to in my life and how I had not seen this before. I thought about how the Bible tells us that these bodies will go back into the dust we came from. I thought about my baptism and all the baptisms I had seen. I thought about those beautiful words, “buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in the newness of life”. I thought about the death of Christ, His burial, His resurrection and the fact that one day believers will see that resurrection ourselves. This was good. This was fitting. This was the reality of our earth and our sin. But this is not final. God’s grace is final, Jesus’ sacrifice is final.

Over the last few days I have watched my beloved grandma cope with the grief of losing her husband of 62 years. As I was seated in her dining room this evening watching her process everything the day had brought I had one thought running through my head. I may never have the opportunity to be married for more than 60 years, but I hope I can experience some of the love that they had for each other. The love and devotion between my grandparents was obvious to those around them. To people of our generation there may have been many things we did not understand about their relationship, but it was easy to see the affection.

Finally I am sitting here at my parents house sorting through the events of today and the last few days. It’s impossible to put into words what it feels like to sit here and realize all that has come about in the last five months. I have lost both of my granfathers, moved to a new job and seen untold change in my personal life. Christ is showing me that I must lean on Him, that through all of life’s trials and joys He is my constant.

So, when I think about my grandfather I think about the verses that came to mind months ago. To the verses that tell us what we, believers in Christ, will be singing to praise the Lord in His final act of redemption. I look forward to looking up at Jesus and singing these words, and doing it standing beside my Grandpa Lundin.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready.

Revelation 19:6-7

Today I buried a grandfather for the second time in five months. We said goodbyes, but not for good.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Last night when I heard the news I tweeted “Bin Laden is dead. Good.” Since then I have been reading with fascination the debates on twitter and facebook between Christians about whether or not we should celebrate and rejoice in this news.  Some of these folks I have read are just random people I don’t know and therefore have no frame of personal reference on, but other people I know quite well and I count all of their intentions as good.  So I have to deal with this question: should we embrace and “celebrate” the fact that the Navy SEALs did some up close and personal work in Pakistan yesterday?

I say yes, yes we should – but soberly and with a keen eye towards the big picture.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Romans 13:1-4

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

lest the Lord see it and be displeased,

and turn away his anger from him.

Proverbs 24:17-18

There are many passages that can be used to form this discussion, but I feel like the tension shown between these two sets the stage for consideration well. God is the sovereign ruler of this world, everything that happens is within control. From the actions of al Qaeda on 9/11 to the actions taken by our guys on the ground yesterday He has ordained it all. This should be the governing perspective in this discussion.

The clear conclusion we can draw from the Romans 13 passage is that God has ordained the authorities on earth to exercise some part of His judgement. Laws, police, armies and rulers are His instruments on earth, imperfect as they may be. As we have seen from many stories throughout the Bible, God uses imperfect people to bring about His perfect will. From there we can see overflowing evidence in the Psalms and other places that we should seek to be satisfied with God’s will. God’s will is done on earth, and we should strive to greet with His will with joy.

Of course, we need to look at the whole of Scripture and not just rest our judgments on a single passage or story. The Bible is filled with ideas that seem to present a dichotomy, but in reality demand for us to hold them in a productive tension with each other. When we look at the Proverbs passage in light of the previous points we see an instance of this idea. When God tells us not to rejoice in the downfall of our enemy, how should we understand this? I propose that each of these passages actually speak to different motivations.

I think Romans is talking about justice and Proverbs is talking about vengeance. These are two very different motivations for cheering the very same act.

To look at this news as justice is to embrace the Lord’s promise that eventually His justice will be done once and for all on this earth. This should stir several reactions in us. We should be fearful, as we all deserve death. We should be worshipful and grateful for the grace He will show His children on that day. We should gladly embrace His holiness manifested in His just judgement.

To look upon this news with vengeance is the sinful part of us, mistakenly perverting the call for justice. Anger, hatred and bitterness are all at the sinful core of revenge. We would do well to recognize this in ourselves and repent.

So, in the end my personal application is: I have sinfully reacted by feeling a sense of personal vengeance even as I recognize God’s holy judgement in this act. I need to repent and continue repenting for that sin while praying that the Lord will give me eyes to see His perfect justice instead of my wanton anger.

Done? Ok, good.

Here’s why this is so appealing, and why even if you don’t watch it yourself, you should in some small way care. Now, just so y’all know I have no desire for us to be under any sort of monarchy, and I no, I don’t wish we were part of the UK or the Commonwealth. But I do have a deep affection for British culture, the land and the people.

Which brings me to this, for good or for bad the British Crown is a very deep part of the character of the UK and then by extension the English-speaking world. In a very real way everything that we know about politics, government, religion and society has been inexorably shaped by the Monarchy.

So why do I think this wedding matters?

Mankind needs traditions, we need an anchor in a sea of change. In a world and time where everything changes around us so quickly there seems there is nothing to hold on to. In my day to day life the most change averse institution I have is the church, specifically the Southern Baptist Church. I don’t think I need to explain the differences in the ritual and services from the Baptist church of my youth and the one I go to today. I’m sure all of us have analogous institutions or organizations in our lives.

Traditions and institutions like the royal family and all of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds them give the British an anchor, a firm center of society and culture.

The closest our country will see to an event like this is inauguration (maybe, not near the sentimentality around it) or a full state funeral for a President (think Reagan or Kennedy). The fact that we don’t have these events is very much an extension of our revolt against this same Monarchy. We have no titles or honors that approach the British system of peerage and honors, even our “aristocracy” of celebrities is very, very pedestrian and lowbrow. I often wonder if we seek to knock them down as we do in order to keep them from ever feeling as if they are a class above.

So I say we watch these two get married, raise our mugs of tea and toast them with prayers and blessings.

I have spent every Easter of my life with my family, including the previous 8 years I have been in Austin. It’s one of the few times I get to see a couple of my favorite cousins, and one of 3 times I get to see all of one side of my family. It was hard not to be with them today. What made it even harder was this being the first Easter without my grandpa Downey. Easter plays a large part in my memories of him and it was tough today without him around.

I love my church family

However, I was able to spend Sunday with most of my closest friends in Austin. There were a few folks missing (miss you guys!) but it was great to have the whole gang there. It was even better to see some relatively new faces come around. It’s great to see our group grow and change.

We can never sin too much for His grace

Matt Carter’s sermone was great and he is right, we can never run to far from God’s grace. If we doubt that grace can cover our sins then we are doubting the power of the cross.

I am not worthy of His grace, yet He gave it

This truth is the most basic we have, and yet the hardest to let sink into our hearts. I pray that the Lord continues to drive it home for me.

Amazing Easter service at the Stone

To see 10,000 people worshipping our King and Savior was a great sight. To know it was one faithful church body was even better. It was great to see our whole church under one roof and in one service. It was also impressive to see the results of the food drive. It was a simple way to make a big impact. I’ve posted a news story on the topic is at the bottom of the post

My world is a little different on this Good Friday. I woke this morning and my first thoughts (besides getting the dog off me) were thankfulness to my Savior.  Before I went to bed last night I read Luke’s account of the holy week, this morning I read Matthew’s and I will finish the other two over the weekend. My church doesn’t have a service today, but I took the afternoon off to pause and reflect on today’s meaning. My awareness of my own sin is much sharper than it is on a normal day, and I am quick to thank Christ for his mercies. I am not one for high church ceremony or ritual, but a simple day of reflection is important to me, it’s how I mark this day. The importance for this day, a day of remembering the depth of our depravity and the lengths to which Christ went to show us grace, is only eclipsed by one other.  The day He rose from the grave and defeated death.

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

Luke 23:44-48

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2