Out of the Mouth of Children’s Books

I’m rereading the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.  I came across several interesting excerpts.

Susan: “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

Mrs. Beaver: “That you will, dearie, and no mistake; if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

Lucy: “Then he isn’t safe?”

Mr. Beaver: “Safe? Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

I think this excerpt from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe helps us understand what it means to fear God.  Our fear of God is not a terrified fear so much as it is a awe-filled fear.  If we truly understand the power of God, then we cannot help but have a deep and profound fear of Him (Psa 33:8-9).  But that fear operates in full tension with our knowledge of God’s goodness.  His goodness is what sustains us in the face of His Power (Lam 3:22).  God is not “safe.”  One of the worst things that we can do as Christians is to drag the God of the Universe down to our level in an attempt to be “comfortable” with Him.  He is far above us in every aspect of His being; if we attempted to make Him like ourselves, all we would do is diminish His glory and majesty.  When we worship God in church, we are not commanding His attention–we are begging for His favor.

This second excerpt is a reminder of God’s compassionate care for us.  In The Magician’s Nephew, young Digory pleads with Aslan to provide some means of curing his mother’s terminal illness:

“Up till then he had been looking at the Lion’s great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face.  What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life.  For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes.  They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.”

As much as we are to fear the Lord, we can be confident in His care for us (Psa 115:12-13).  And it is in this way that we can boldly approach the throne of God; He is Good and He loves His children.  There is no pain in our lives of which God is not aware–there is not a moment in which he does not care.

Our Heavenly Father is far above us and yet, right beside us.

Saved…Safe and Secure

I asked Jesus to be my Savior when I was 10. . . .I think.   Or it could have been a few years earlier when I was 7.  Possibly it was at any point between the ages of 10 and 16 when I would cry out to God at night because of the doubts that assailed me.  Some nights I would run around my room pulling everything away from the radiators because I was afraid that they would start a fire and I would be plunged into eternity.  Did i mean it when I prayed in that back room of the church?  Did I say the right words?  What if I didn’t say it just right — God extending His mercy…and then withdrawing it because I did not summon up the correct phrasing.  I still sinned.  I yelled at my brother and talked back to my mom – did this demonstrate that my salvation was not real?

I believe that these doubts and fears that overwhelmed my teenage years are the same doubts that with which others have struggled and with which many others will struggle.  A few years ago I worked at a Christian camp as a counselor.  I was appalled at the way that the camp speakers addressed assurance of salvation.  “If you have any doubts — then come get saved,” “If you don’t remember the exact date — then come get saved,” and the worst of all, “If the thought of hell still scares you — then come get saved.”  Preaching and teaching like this causes us to doubt our salvation.  This practice places the whole burden of our salvation upon our own thoughts and feelings.  Dozens of children went forward to pray a prayer because they were scared.  Next year they will come to camp, hear the same message, still feel scared, and go “get saved” again.  What an onerous burden we place upon others and upon ourselves when we advocate an assurance of salvation that is based upon ourselves.

Overall, I prefer the idea of “eternal security” to that of “assurance of salvation.”  Assurance of salvation still can carry the idea of feelings — eternal security is predicated upon the promises of God.  Use whichever term you prefer, but make sure you understand the truth behind it.  God brought us, is bringing us, and will bring us through the entire process of salvation (Rom 8:29-30 [maybe a topic for another post]).

Here are some verses and truths that have shaped my understanding of eternal security.  1) Salvation is based upon God, His mercy, and His power.  If he promises to save you, then you are saved (John 6:37-40).  2) The details of your salvation (e.g. what the choir sang and what color your socks were) are not important, it is solely a matter of whether you asked God to save you (Rom 8:16).  Our salvation is not based upon our saying the “right words,”  if our works can’t save us, how can our words save us (Eph 2:8-9)?  Feel free add some others in the comments section.

I don’t really know the exact date at which I trusted Christ, although I believe it was probably May 16, 1998.  That uncertainty used to bother me; an evangelist might question whether that uncertainty is enough to guarantee my salvation.  But I thank God that He has shown me through His Word that my salvation is based upon His character and His promises.  I am secure in the arms of the One Who saved me!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Who Cares?

I took the opportunity to visit a new church on Sunday.  The pastor said something in his sermon that made me pause.  He was challenging us to have a proper understanding of our relationship to God — a proper set of expectations.  He was preaching from Ephesians 6:4ff about the mindset of a slave.  He critiqued a health-and-wealth approach to Christianity that expects (demands?) that God will give physical, tangible blessings for obedient service.  He said something to the effect of “God does not care if you catch the winning touchdown in your high school football game.”  This statement was protested by some of his listeners and I decided to mull it over a little more.  This post is the result of that mulling.

I am reminded of Matthew 10:30 — “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (ESV).  This verse is a comment on both God’s knowledge and providence.  The secondary issue is that God is completely aware of every aspect of our lives — He is aware when a single hair is shed from our scalps; the primary issue is that God’s knowledge assures His control of the situation.  There is not a single aspect of our lives of which God is not aware.  So when you catch a touchdown pass in a game or when you get a promotion at work, God knows about it and God planned it.  Thus in a providential sense — God cares about our actions because He ordained them.

For the sake of time, I will not outline a theology of God and emotion — it will suffice to say that God derives satisfaction from appropriate acts of His servants that are performed for His glory (Philippians 4:18).  Romans 12:1ff indicates that every action of a believer’s life can be performed as worship to God.  Thus, catching a pass in a football game can be pleasing to God if it is performed for His Glory.  God is not pleased by the action itself – no more than he is pleased with a sacrifice of full hands and empty hearts (Malachi 1:6ff).  God is pleased by the attitude of worship that motivates that action.

Here we return to the intent of the preacher’s statement — our service to God is performed out of a heart of love and devotion to Him; our own desires are secondary.  Our service, in and of itself has no value; but our attitude of service sanctifies every action, every word, every moment of our lives before Him.  The noblest actions are rubbish in God’s sight if they are performed for selfish reasons.   The issue is not whether He cares for us — the issue is whether we care for Him.

A worship of culture? Or a culture of worship?

I know how much you’ve all missed my blogging <insert sarcastic laughter>.  In a renewed attempt to be relevant and contemporary (contemporvant), I’m going to blog regularly until I get too lazy to continue (normally this takes about a week).

I wandered over to Grace to You’s website yesterday and I came across the following post.  In the conversation thread relating to the Elephant in the Elephant Room, one of the readers wrote:

“I’d like to challenge Mark Driscoll & Perry Noble & Steven Furtick & any of the other shock pastors to take one Sunday & announce that for the next 30 days, the church will remove all flat screens, all secular sounding music & any deliberate attempt to blend in with the culture. No hip dress & no hip hair styles. Plain expository teaching and preaching. See what happens? If attendance is obviously low, you might realize those not there come only if you give them their comfort zones. If the attendance doesn’t drop, then you have misjudged your members. Honor God’s Word & let the Holy Spirit lead any visitors.”

The abovementioned individuals do dress, act, speak, and worship in a fashion that is quite different than is found in more traditional church services.  The blogger obviously is uncomfortable with these practices; she views them as a layer or facade over the true practice of the church.  She calls on them to practice church in a traditional manner.  If people leave the church, then those people are demonstrated to be weak and obsessed with modern culture and comfort.  If people stay, then the pastors will realize that their attempts at relevance were unnecessary (and dishonoring to God).

Setting aside the morality of jeans, guitars, and spiky hair, I wonder if this is sometimes are own attitude toward different practices.  We might very well call on these men to make this change — challenge them to be more biblical — like us.  It is too easy for us to assume that we do things the right way and that everyone else is wrong.  But we are also guilty of trying to be relevant to our own traditional sub-culture.  We have our suits, skirts, pianos and comb-overs.  What kinds of people attend our traditional churches?  People that are comfortable in our clothes and blessed by our music.  There is nothing wrong with making choices in our churches — each congregation determines what kind of atmosphere they will cultivate.  But it is arrogant to assume that our own culture is the only acceptable choice.

What would our church look like if we gave up all the elements of our practice that attempt to be relevant to our sub-culture?  Take away the suits and ties, the hymnals, and the massive pulpit.  Let the women wear pants and silence the organ for 30 days.  How many people would still be left after that month?  “Good morning, everyone” <crickets chirping>. . . .  Communicating and interacting with culture is an extremely important aspect of our philosophy of church.  Our churches look different because there are different cultures that they are attempting to reach.  We do not operate in a cultural vacuum.  I wear glasses every day and I often forget that I am wearing them.  I don’t realize how my vision is being altered until I remove my glasses — then I know how much they affect my eyesight.  In the same way, our culture is a constant part of our decision-making process; it alters our perspective and we often forget about it.  We need to remember that people can have a different prescription than we do.  If we want them to look at Christ without their glasses, then we also need to take off our glasses.  I think we’ll find that each person can best focus on Christ with his own glasses.  There is only one path to God — but some people walk, some people run, and some people choose to skip.

Taken out of context and hijacked from authorial intent, the above quote is very helpful.  We cannot let our culture distract us from our true purpose of worshiping Christ.  Christ must be magnified — to Him be glory in the Church!

A Poetic Adaption of Psalm 61

Inspired by Psalm 61

From my mountains of pride, from my valleys of shame,
I call out to You, Lord, I call out Your name.
When my strength is but weakness, make my weakness strong;
I cry out to You, Lord, all the day long.

My God is a strong tower; My God is my Source of Power.
Before His strength all evil cowers,
My God is a refuge to His own.

Let me dwell in Your house, let me rest in Your shade,
Make me one of your own, call be by Your name.
Your Spirit guides me toward right and away from the wrong,
I will serve You, O Lord, all the day long.

You have raised many kings, but You reign over all,
Your love and Your faithfulness will never fall,
So I promise to serve You with life and with song,
I promise to praise you, all the day long.

Osama

I happened to be on facebook a few minutes ago and noticed a peculiar trend in the status updates.  Earlier today, it was revealed that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces.  Now, half of facebook is rejoicing and the other half is chastising the rejoice-rs.  The former are ecstatic that the man responsible for orchestrating the deaths of thousands of people has been killed; the latter are bemoaning the passage of an eternal soul into eternal punishment (assuming that Osama did not make a profession of faith prior to receiving a 5.56 NATO round to the cranium).  How is it possible that such a large number of Christians with similar worldviews have such opposite opinions of this news?  We expect a certain amount of disagreement about important issues like the impropriety of certain clothing articles or the absolute prefer-ability of a specific Bible translation — but why would there be such angst over the assassination of an arrogant Arabian antagonist?

Two rival ideas come to prominence in my mind in regards to this hubbub (An irrelevant idea comes to mind in regards to coffee).  First, I recognize the desperate need that every human being has to be in right relationship to their Creator (Rom 1:18-25).  Each individual must accept Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf (Rom 10:9).  It is my responsibility to be an ambassador for Christ that ameliorates the fractious relationship between my Heavenly Father and my fellow human beings (Rom 10:13-14).  Having escaped from the burning building of sin and hell, I cannot help but turn around and pull others out — hoping that others will be likewise saved (1 Cor 9:22).  Second, I realize that God’s glory is frequently revealed through His justice.  In Gen 9:6, God protected His own image by instituting the death penalty.  The Mosaic code carefully defines appropriate punishments for murder.  In Rom 13:1, Paul points out that civil government has the responsibility of dispensing justice and judgment on evildoers.  As Gracious and merciful as God is, He is also Just.  The final chapters of Revelation detail God’s judgment on those that oppose Him.  The twenty-four elders that are in God’s presence praise God because He is vindicating his saints by punishing their oppressors (Rev 11:17-18).  My goal is not to equate Osama with the devilish forces that will oppress God’s saints during the Tribulation (bear with me if you are a-mill. or post-mill.), however, we can see that it is appropriate for God’s servants (at least in the future) to praise Him when his justice is revealed.  Additionally, the Psalmist seemed to derive pleasure from the thought that God would punish those that abused and attacked him (Psa 18).  To some extent, there is biblical warrant both for sorrow and joy over the premature passing of this pugilistic planner of peril in Pakistan.

The secret answer to the difficulty posed by these competing ideas is actually no secret.  As responsible students of God’s Word — and also as responsible facebook-ers and tweet-ers, we must avoid extreme positions.  Though we may regret that any sinner passes into eternity without being in right relationship to God, we may also rejoice that God’s justice was enacted on a person that was responsible for the deaths of so many people.  My loathing for his deeds is tempered by my compassion for all human souls.

In the end, I find myself somewhat satisfied with the recent news.  Osama bin Laden was a murderer that deserved the fullest punishment that human government could dispense.  I am deeply saddened that the world and all its inhabitants have been cursed by sin.  I am dismayed at the horrible atrocities that mankind propagates against himself.  But I am confident that my God metes out perfect justice, if not in this life, then in the next.

C. S. Lewis once told a writer, “Instead of telling us a thing is ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified.” Don’t say it was a ‘delight,’ make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description.  You see, all those words (‘horrifying,’ ‘wonderful,’ ‘hideous,’ ‘exquisite’) are only saying to your readers, “Please, will you do my job for me.’” (Letters of C.S. Lewis, 271).

Tim Keller applies this analysis by commenting, “Sentimental worship leading works in exactly the same what that Lewis describes.  With typical comments–’Isn’t he just wonderful?’ ‘Isn’t it such a blessing?’ –the leader tells people how they ought to feel about God instead of telling them about God.”  (Worship by the Book, 209-210).

This makes me consider the songs that our congregation sings.  How many songs describe how we feel?  The focus is often about how God makes me feel.  Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to sing songs about God that cause me to want to worship him.

A Reasonable Worship

“The Christian home, or the Christian parent who obviously delights in corporate worship, in thoughtful evangelism, in self-effacing and self-sacrificing decisions within the home, in sacrificial giving for the poor and the needy and the lost–and who then explains to the child that these decisions and actions are part of gratitude and worship to the sovereign God who has loved us so much that he gave his own Son to pay the price of our sin–will have far more impact on the child’s notion of genuine worship than all the lecturing and classroom instruction in the world.  Somewhere along the line it is important not only to explain that genuine worship is nothing more than loving God with heart and soul and mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves, but also to show what a statement like that means in the concrete decisions of life.” –  D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book, 62-63.

Romans 12:1, 2 make it clear that we must give our lives to God — it is our reasonable worship.  This the bare minimum that we can give to God.  Every aspect of our being is given over to God; this is contagious worship.  Parents can tell their children to worship God; sometimes their children will continue to worship God.  But parents that actually model a true life of worship demonstrate the fulfillment of a God-centered life; this cannot help but have an effect on their children.