Pastor Sam's Blog

Schools or Prisons?

Sam Crabtree — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:54:33 +0000

“If we’d put more Bibles in the high schools, we’d need less of them in the prisons.”

—Ravi Zacharias, in a speech at the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington (MN) two weeks ago

Friday Q & A #68

Bryan DeWire — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:17:55 +0000

How do I speak to my gay friend?

Matt Reagan, an elder at Bethlehem Baptist Church and a staff member with Campus Outreach, spoke on the title of this post after receiving the following email (the name of the woman has been changed):

Hey Matt it’s [Oprah]. I have quite the situation coming up and need some massively helpful advice. Basically a good friend of mine says he is a Christian but just got engaged to his boyfriend and has agreed to talk with me on Friday and I want to lovingly get at his heart but I need help.

What do you say to someone who is on his way to engagement with someone of the same sex?

I would say something like this:

I love you dearly. I care deeply for your happiness. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you.
I want to live fully and be happy, and I know you do, too.
But the world is broken. More specifically, people are broken. We see it in the large-scale world problems of genocide and racism and starvation while others hoard, and we see it even more clearly in our smaller scale daily thoughts: the self-centeredness, the putting down of others, the anxiety, the fear.
If we can see the brokenness of the world and us all the way down to the level of our wayward thoughts, why would we not assume that we are also broken at the level of our desires? I want wrongly. I feel wrongly.
If I know that I want what is wrong in any number of areas, how can I trust my desires (follow my heart), even when I feel them deeply and keenly?” In other words, human desire is not decisive in discerning where happiness can be found. Logical Question: Then what do I trust? Or, what is trustworthy?
You trust the expressed will of the One who has shown Himself to be a good King, a dying King, an agonizing-over-you-and-your-well-being kind of King. So now we know that I want to live, and you want to live, and the Bible shows us that God really wants you to live.

Consider this revealing admission from a pro-gay writer when considering what the Bible says:

The task demands intellectual honesty. I have little patience with efforts to make Scripture say something other than what it says, through appeals to linguistic or cultural subtleties. The exegetical situation is straightforward: we know what the text says…I think it important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority when we declare that same-sex unions can be holy and good. And what exactly is that authority? We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience thousands of others have witnessed to, which tells us that to claim our own sexual orientation is in fact to accept the way in which God has created us. By so doing, we explicitly reject as well the premises of the scriptural statements condemning homosexuality; namely, that it is a vice freely chosen, a symptom of human corruption, and disobedience to God’s created order.—Luke Timothy Johnson

The question is not “Who are you to limit my freedom of choice, especially in matters of the heart?” but “Who is God to limit my freedom of choice, especially in matters of the heart?”

Answer: He is the One who invented pleasure. How can he limit me and who I say I want to marry? What if I fell in love with a horse and wanted to marry it? Why should God limit my happiness? He tried horses. They weren’t enough.

Make no mistake. Heterosexual, Christian marriage is not salvation. It is not heaven. But it is in the dead middle of the path toward heaven, and it is the most substantial shadow of heaven that we have.

So the question is, what do you want? How strong are your desires? Are they strong enough not to settle for what you feel in a moment and instead to lean on and hope for the loving work of God?

When it comes to speaking with gay neighbors and associates, a widespread problem is apathy (self-centeredness and indifference), not hatred or even homophobia. Do you want heaven? Do you want heaven for them?

(Contact Matt.)

What Paul Cornwell Said to All the Bethlehem Staff

Sam Crabtree — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:26:05 +0000

When a desire is elevated to a demand, an idol is talking.

Challenge: Turn indicatives (statements) into interrogatives (questions). If you leave them as statements (judgments), you will remain stuck where you are in your thinking. Questions manifest greater humility.

Marriage Has Not Worked Out

Sam Crabtree — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:45:57 +0000

According to Amber & David Lapp,* 43% of high-school educated adults say that marriage has not worked out for most people they know.

Though I can imagine what they mean by “not worked out,” I wonder how many high school graduates know what marriage is for. Understanding the purpose of marriage profoundly affects one’s assessment of whether a marriage has “worked out.”

God works all things (including difficult marriages) according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). In that sense, even bad marriages are working. They are working something, producing something in God’s hand. He is working all things together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28).

Further, even terrible marriages—those that include abandonment and adultery—can still work out, especially if we understand that marriage is not primarily for our temporal happiness. First, marriages like Hosea’s to Gomer (commanded by God in Hosea 1) are not meant primarily for Hosea’s immediate joy, but to be a picture of Christ’s merciful faithfulness to his bride, the church. Second, marriages are meant for our sanctification, so when a marriage is seemingly “not working” (specifically, it’s not making us happy), it might be working very fruitfully when it comes to refining us in Christlikeness. Third, when a marriage seems deeply broken, God is not done; the marriage might yet be re-knit, strengthened, sweetened.

Meanwhile, those of us in marriages should avail ourselves of ample grace so that high school graduates who know us are able to say that they know at least one marriage that is working out.

*In an article entitled “Looking for Marriage in Middle America,” published in the April 2013 edition of Propositions.

Pray for Boards

Sam Crabtree — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:08:40 +0000

The Board of Bethlehem College and Seminary meets on Thursday, May 16, as does the Board of Desiring God. Both Boards operate under the authority of the Elder Council of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Ask God to …

• Give them vision for ministry priorities and clarity on the related issues.

• Grant them oneness of heart and mind as they point to Jesus in their respective ministries.

• Tether them to his Word, specifically authorial intent.

• Prompt donors to give strategically and generously.

• Produce lasting fruit through these ministries and others similar to them.

Which Parent Do I Not Need?

Sam Crabtree — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:51:10 +0000

“Which parent do I not need, my mother or my father?” one of my 11-year-old heroes, Grace Evans, asked legislators on the House Civil Law committee during a hearing on HR1054, a bill to legalize so-called “gay marriage.” She respectfully waited for a response, and not getting any, she repeated her question. Again, no answer.

Her question made the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other news outlets.

Some observations:

Two males do not make a mom.

Two females do not make a dad.

So-called gay marriages systematically prohibit an adopted child from having a mom or a dad.

Meanwhile:

A mom plus a dad does not make a God.

A mom plus a dad is not a guarantee of godly outcomes.

Moms and dads are very important to children, but God is central.

Friday Q & A #67

Bryan DeWire — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:27:02 +0000

What is a Barnabas Support Group, and how do I get into one?

A Barnabas Support Team is a small group (six to twelve) of committed people who come together to care for their global partner in a variety of ways, striving to help meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. It is a group of people with whom the global partner can be open and honest, allowing them to see his needs, and share his successes and defeats. The specific ways in which a Team goes about meeting their global partnersʼ needs will vary depending on the specific personality and needs of the global partner, as well as the personality (creativity and giftedness) of the Team. This doesn't mean that the Team does everything but they do take personal responsibility to serve as that global partnerʼs advocate at Bethlehem.

If you would like to learn more about Barnabas Support Teams or if you are interested in joining a Team, please contact global@hopeinGod.org.

See all Friday Q & A posts.

Surpassing Worth

Sam Crabtree — Thu, 09 May 2013 05:23:32 +0000

Every star in the sky, every note that is sung,

every bird that flies, and every game that is won …

Every business transaction made, every news broadcast recorded,

every brick that is laid, and every sock that is sorted …

Jesus reigns at the bus depot and at the stoplight,

in the hospital and over the bomb-filled night.

Whether on the playground or in the lab,

in the bedroom or in the cab,

Jesus Christ is preeminent, upholding and guiding everything.

And because of this, knowing him is of surpassing worth.

—by Jason DeRouchie, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary
(read by him as part of a meditation at a meeting of the BCS strategic planning task force)

Your Photo Helps

Sam Crabtree — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:03:00 +0000

If you attend Bethlehem Baptist Church, your photo could help us. Here’s how: We are a large enough church that our leaders don’t personally know all 7,000 people who call Bethlehem their church, and when a name is mentioned in a meeting, a photo of a face helps confirm that we’re talking about the same person—whether we’re discussing a nomination to a committee, a prayer request, a wedding announcement, or a birth announcement … and so on.

So, for example, someone mentioned a Jared to me the other day. I went to our database to see if I could find a photo of Jared to see if I was thinking of the same Jared somebody else was referring to. But of the 42 Jareds, we only had 8 photos (that’s 19%). So just out of curiosity I looked up my own name—Samuel. Of the scores of Samuels, we have photos for only 18% of them. If Bethlehem is your church home, email us your photo or make an appointment with us to have an updated photo taken.

I know that not everyone who reads this blog attends Bethlehem. Perhaps YOUR church needs an updated photo of YOU.

Jesus As Bridegroom Is Pictured in Marriage

Sam Crabtree — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:32:05 +0000

It is a wife that makes a man a husband. Jesus is not betrothed to a groom. So-called "gay marriage" legislation misses the point of marriage.

The MN House has scheduled a vote on the same-sex "marriage" bill this Thursday, May 9. This implies that the House leadership thinks they have the votes to pass so-called "gay marriage" legislation.

How shall we respond to such news?

1. With sad-hearted thanksgiving. We are clearly instructed in the Bible to receive ALL things with thanksgiving, for God is at work in every situation to bring about his good outcomes for his glory. We may be saddened that Joseph has been taken into captivity, but God is working a multi-century plan for a better deliverance.

2. With prayer. It is never too late to pray, to ask God for eleventh-hour reprieve. God can turn the king's heart like a watercourse, and a legislator may change his mind even as he reaches for the vote button. Only one or two legislators could swing the vote. Political decisions are not the main thing to pray for, but a legitimate thing to pray for.

3. With action. People are invited to the capitol to express their biblical convictions. Some people will consider this issue important enough to skip school or work on Thursday. There is still time to send messages to legislators. (Note: signs brought inside the capitol building must be hand-held, not attached to a stick.)

"Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God."—Daniel 9:17–19