Stepping Stones in God's Story

William Bradford, the first governor of the Pilgrims, recorded this in his journal about his fellow sojourners: “Last and not least, they [the Pilgrims] cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.”

In our culture we do not often hear of people aspiring to be “stepping stones” for future generations. More common today is an attitude or outlook of self focus. It’s all about me and my story.

The Pilgrims held a solid Christian “worldview” that sees our lives not as the focal point, but as playing a purposeful part in the larger story of God. God’s story didn’t end with the Bible. It continues all around us. The Pilgrims believed in “Providence”. They stood upon foundations laid by those who came before them. They understood that they were building on stepping stones laid by saints of previous generations.

Stepping stones like those laid by John Wycliffe, who committed the capital offense of translating the Bible from Latin to English in 1382; who desired to implant the truth of Scripture into every heart; who distributed Bibles and tracts throughout England; who declared “Scripture must become the common property of all so that government might be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Stepping stones laid by the blood of Jan Huss or Jerome, both burned at the stake. Huss died with these words: “…what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” Jerome, with these: “This soul in flames I offer, Christ, to thee!”

Stepping stones laid by William Tyndale and Luther and Calvin. Tyndale’s last words as the flames consumed him: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes!” Luther’s famous declaration, “…my conscience is thus bound by the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant…Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me!”

I pray our generation of believers would be given grace to embrace living a Christian worldview and regain the understanding that it isn’t about our own story. May we begin to see our rightful place in God’s larger story of Providence and be content, even joyful to be a stepping stone for future believers. Oh God, let us choose to lay good foundations.

Mama Needs a New Pair of Eyeballs

As I get older I find the need to use reading glasses. I'm thankful for their invention and think about people from long ago or in developing countries that did not or do not have access to something I have several pairs of. My reading glasses allow me to see clearly what I am reading.

1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us this about God's truth,
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

I was pondering the thought that perhaps the Holy Spirit is like my reading glasses when it comes to the Truth of God found in Scripture. He allows me to see the Truth clearly. Without my "Holy Spirit lens" I cannot see clearly and understand. But the analogy does not hold up. It implies that the Holy Spirit restores my ability to see clearly but the fact is, I needed more than glasses, I needed complete eye transplants! My eyes were spiritually blind, useless because they resided in a corpse. Glasses can only restore vision; they can't restore what was never there.

Ephesians 2 tells us this truth:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Holy Spirit did and does give me eyes to see His Truth, all made possible because He raised me from spiritual death to Spiritual Life. I was stone cold dead like Lazarus in the tomb. God, by grace and according to His good pleasure, chose to give me the gift of faith, complete with new eyes that can now truly see, to go with my new heart of flesh that replaced my dead heart of stone so that like Peter I could confess about Jesus,

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. Mathew 16 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1

Who Am I ?

As Christians, we are told in 2 Corinthians 10 to "...demolish strongholds.. [to] demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we [are to] take captive every thought to make it obedient of Christ." When we pay attention, (ask for God to give us eyes to see) we start to notice that we have many opportunities every day to do put this instruction from Scripture into practice in obedience to Christ.

Our message is very different from the culture's message. In fact, it is typically the antithesis. How would the culture answer the question, "Who am I?" Culture, by in large, places it's faith in Evolution and the truly sad belief in our having sprung up through a series of accidents from the slime. Nothing special there. Just advanced bugs, rodents, apes. But God tells us in Colossians 1, For by Him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. And in Genesis 1, Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." And from Psalm 139, For you [God] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

These are just a tiny bit of what God tells us is true about "Who we are". As Christians, we can confidently answer the question "Who am I?" like this: I am the crown and glory of the creation of God. Here by design, on purpose, made for God's glory, set apart by the Creator of the Universe to do good works that He has prepared in advance for me to do. My life matters, as does the life of every human being.

We really need to convey this Truth to our children. They are taught Macro Evolution in government run schools and bombarded with culture's sad faith in a lie daily, which if taken to its logical conclusion, is a message of despair. We are in a battle for our minds and the minds of our children. Our weapons are not like the worlds. We have the sword of Truth (God's word) and prayer. So speak often about the truth of who we are with your kids or they will be confused by the conflicting messages they are receiving.

God is our Savior, not the State

I get why socialism continues to be an attractive philosophy to so many. Advocates include a variety of good hearted, well meaning people from all walks of life who truly care about the well being of their fellow man. They see suffering and injustice and want to relieve it. They see some with so much and others with hardly any and think if we just share the wealth, those with more than enough will still have plenty and those with hardly anything will at least have a little more and much suffering will be alleviated. Sounds good, in theory... But in practice, it just doesn’t work. History is replete with examples of failed socialism and none where it was/is successful when fully employed. Socialism does not, can not, bring about the utopia its devotees yearn for. Shangri-La remains elusive. Paradise will still be lost.

Socialism fails in practice for a number of reasons. Behind some lovely sounding platitudes are some fatal assumptions. Karl Marx, the father of socialism made this famous statement, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This statement naively assumes that the producers can’t wait to jump into their labor with enthusiasm so that at the end of the day they can give most of it away to those who need but can’t or won’t produce. That flies in the face of human nature. This is why free market systems always out produce communist systems. And communism is the only logical political end of socialist thinking. Marx and Engles outlined their ideal socialist classless society in their Communist Manifesto.

A socialist views man as basically good. But God tells us man is sinful at his core. Many ‘good’ men when they acquire power and wealth soon begin to abuse that power, craving more and accumulating excess wealth while still spouting platitudes about helping the huddled masses.

Socialism elevates the State to be in the place of God, but unlike the transcendent good God, the State is made up of flawed men however well intentioned they start out. The State will inevitably demand complete unquestioning allegiance desiring increasing amounts of power and control. It will simultaneously, incrementally remove liberties from the people all the while promising that their sacrifices are necessary for the greater good of the State and to usher in the coming utopia. When the State is given the place of God, eventually the State will see God as a threat to its goals and seek to remove Him. The State will seek to silence all dissenting voices for the good of the State. The State will always seek to further cement their socialist philosophy in the minds of their citizens by instructing the youth in this State promoting worldview in the State run schools and institutions of higher learning.

What I ‘get’ less is a growing group of Christians I’ve been interacting with that seriously think it would be good idea to adapt Socialism because it could be used to bring about the fulfillment of Christ’s commandment for the church to help the poor and hurting of the world. I think these sincere Christians are likely fed up with a lack of perceived progress the church has made in reducing the plight of the poor (whom if you remember, Jesus said would always be among us). The church should seek to bless the poor, the orphan, the widow, as they share the love of Christ because they have been blessed by His grace. It should be an act of charity. When the State seeks to give aid to the needy in a socialistic manner, they do so by forcibly taking money away from some and redistributing it as they see fit - devoid of the gospel.

Christians should be at the forefront of helping the hurting in our communities and the world as the Church. However, I think it is dangerous and wrong to think it is safe and good to use a godless philosophy to further God's commandments for the CHURCH to help the poor. It's like Abraham using Hagar to fulfill God’s promise of a son. Trouble will likewise come when Christians think it is okay to abdicate the duties of the Church to the State and put the State in a position that only God should be in. The Church needs to be the Church and the State needs to stick to what the State should do – punish evil and condone good. People have been taken captive by the lie that it is the State, and not God that is to be our savior and sustainer and source of all good things. Even some well intending Christians have been tempted to believe this lie. Lord, shine the light of Truth and give us eyes to see any lies we may be tempted to believe.

Is Unfair Always a Bad Thing?

Life isn’t fair. Have you ever thought that or had your child bemoan that sentiment to you perhaps in response to a parental ruling just handed down? Well, life is not fair. Why do we think it should be? And when it comes down to it, what would fair actually look like? Who gets to decide what fair is? Because of differing worldviews, we would never agree as to what being fair is. Hitler thought it was fair to rid Germany of those he determined were screwing up the gene pool. He thought it only fair to the über manch to eliminate inferior genes from being passed on. I don’t think it’s fair that just because I’m over 50 I can no longer eat the same things I did at 49 and not gain weight. UNFAIR. So by fair do I mean I don’t want any unpleasant consequences and basically I want my cake and to eat it too? (without gaining weight that is)

Well there is one case of unfairness that I actually rejoice over. My salvation is unfair! I am saved from the wrath of God to come not by merit but by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus my Lord and Savior. Totally unfair! I deserve God’s wrath for committing cosmic treason against my Creator every time I sin. I deserve to go to hell. But I praise God and am so grateful for His mercy and grace who credits me with the righteousness earned by Jesus living a sinless life and also accepts on by behalf the payment given by Jesus sacrificing His perfect life on the cross in my place. I am freely given by grace what I could never earn and do not deserve based on anything found in me. I am reconciled to God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Really glad about receiving grace instead of what was fair when it comes to my salvation. Plus, since I didn’t earn it, I can’t lose it so I can rest sweetly in His grace. God thought of everything. That's why the Bible's message of salvation is called the gospel or 'Good News'. There could be no better news.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Pondering the Imponderables

Do you ever lay there at night and ponder the imponderables? When I was a teenager it used to be INFINITY that blew my mind. We were taught that the universe went on forever… Now we know that is not true. It is continually expanding but it does not go on forever. So now I get to ponder, what is on the other side of the edge of the universe??? Contemplating these things is child’s play compared to contemplating God. He’s the One who spoke and the Universe came into being. God has no beginning and no end. He created time and is not bound by it. So what will existing outside of time be like? Why did God make billions of people who will choose never to accept Him as their Lord and Savior? Why did God allow this or not do that? How does God accomplish His sovereign decretive will using our free will choices that often violate His prescriptive will… and is able to work it all out for the good of those who love Him and are called by Him according to His will and purposes?

Over years of pondering the imponderables (I have only mentioned a few here) I can only speculate as to the why and end up having to be content with, "I don't know" - but that's okay. God knows and I since I must trust Him for my next breath, I think I can trust Him with the whys to my imponderables. But pondering these imponderables is not an exercise in futility. It is exercise for my mind that has helped me arrive at some solid truths.

• Pondering these questions will either drive you to your knees in worship of your Creator or send you pridefully huffing away from Him. [Pray it is not the latter]
• God’s ways are not our ways

  [Isaiah 55:9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. - I must accept that my finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite mind of God except for where He has sweetly stooped to lisp]

• God does not owe me an explanation

  [(book of Job) and why possibly would the clay pot get to lip off to the potter?]

• When ever I have the ridiculous thought that I am ever more loving, more caring, more fair than God I need to remember that the only reason I have a clue as to what loving, caring and fairness are, is because God gave me the ability to even value those qualities that are a reflection of who He is. [So, yikes. I should shut up]
• Is this universe with all it's pain and suffering the best possible universe for God's good purposes? Many times I end with echoing Peter from John 6, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” [LORD, I believe, help my unbelief]
  

The heavens really do declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory. Selah.

The Fruit of Post Modern Thinking - Whatever

Our first Post Modern President selects the first Post Modern Supreme Court Justice with the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. What does it all mean? Well what ever you want it to mean if you are a Post Modernist, because truth, after all, is relative. If you are a Post Modern thinker you manufacture your own reality based on what works for you. You determine from the richness of your extensive experience - what is true, what is just, what is morally good, what is right, what is acceptable – today… There is no bigger picture, no lasting truth, so you are left with only preferences. Hard to build a nation (or a life) on a foundation foolishly laid on the shifting sands of human preference, (which is always self serving). It will crumble, crash, burn. No basic truth system exists for the Post Modernist so reason is conveniently tossed out the window, because, well, they just don’t like it if it doesn’t serve their desires.

In selecting Sotomayor, Obama said he chose her not only because of her "brilliant" legal career, but her "wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey." She has been brilliantly overturned five of the six times her decisions were brought before the Supreme Court. Oops. But don’t forget, post modern thought allows you to create your own reality, never mind those pesky facts. An inspiring life journey, while nice, does not qualify you to be on the Supreme Court. Obama also selected Sonia for her “empathy” and “common touch”. Since when does empathy trump justice? It did for a group of firefighters who sued New Haven Connecticut for tossing out the results of a promotion test they passed that happened to qualify too many whites and Hispanics for promotion but no African Americans. NOT FAIR and after they paid to have a test made that would not discriminate based on race. After all, we need a firefighting team that looks like America not those most qualified. Duh. Sotomayor empathetically sided with New Haven and against the fire fighters that deserved promotions based on their test scores but were denied them so those who flunked the promotion test (people of color) would not be discriminated against or feel bad or what??? She ruled there was no injustice on the part of New Haven as no promotions were handed out so all were treated the same… I don’t think so! Justice is no longer about the law or right and wrong, in a post modern world it is merely the empathetic preference of a “judge” using her power to redistribute justice based on her personal bias for or against a certain ethnicity or gender or… whatever. Our post modern president has already begun implementing his preference to redistribute the wealth from those who earned it by working hard to those who didn’t. Wow, what empathy. I’m going to work really hard and earn lots of money so my president can take it from me and give it someone else who doesn’t feel like working as hard as me. Remember the story the Emperor Has No Cloths? We’re living it.

Nothing, Nothing, Nothing --- EVERYTHING!!!

Where did the cosmos (all there is) come from?
There are only two possibilities.

1. The cosmos at one time came into being

2. The cosmos has always existed

Carl Sagan would opt for #2.

“The cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be”

But Carl had not considered the second law of thermodynamics when he made his faith claim. Simply stated, the second law demonstrates that all energy is becoming less efficient. The cosmos is winding down. If it has been around for not only billions and billions of years, but forever and always, logic insists that it would necessarily had to have wound down completely.

Both Macro-Evolution and Creation believe in #1, though they have very different views on how the universe and life began. Evolution affirms the ‘Big Bang Theory’ where the universe burst into existence about 13.7 billion years ago and time began. The bang wasn’t an explosion but actually happened when a very small point of singularity like those thought to exist in the middle of black holes, for no known reason, started to expand and the universe came into existence. So all the matter in the entire universe was compressed by a huge gravitational force into this infinitely small point and then expanded to become known as the universe, which science has observed is still expanding today. The singularity didn't appear in space; rather, space began inside of the singularity. Prior to the singularity, nothing existed, not space, time, matter, or energy - nothing.

Close your eyes and think of nothing….. you can’t do it. Once you think of anything, it is no longer ‘nothing’. But I digress.

In other words,

nothing, nothing, nothing --then-- EVERYTHING!!!

Creation also believes the universe burst into existence but not by chance but on purpose at the command of the Creator. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Isaiah 40:22 and Psalm 104:2 talk about God stretching out the heavens like a canopy, spreading them out like a tent to live in. So while Creationists share the belief that the universe and time had a beginning, they believe the cause of creation was the self-existent, eternal God of the Bible who created the universe to glorify Himself.

In other words,

Self-existent, eternal God –created-- EVERYTHING!!!

Even if you don’t believe in God, you have to admit, a self-existent, eternal God creating everything at least has logic on its side. Cause and effect. Everything coming from nothing or being coming from non-being, takes way more faith then belief in an eternal God. Ya kind of have to suspend some laws of physics as well.

Timeless Truths

Excerpt from a Michael Steele speech where he commented on policies pushed forth by our current president and democratic congress that will bring about an America that is more dependent on government, less industrious and less ambitious than our nation's ideals. I couldn’t agree more. I really want America to remain a free democratic republic and not get led by a Pied Piper into failed socialist ideologies that will bring us trickle up poverty and misery like they have everywhere they have ever been tried throughout history. Stop drinking the kool-aid people. Wake up.

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."

"You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."

"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred."

"You cannot establish security by borrowing money."

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."

"You cannot build character and courage by taking away one's initiative and incentive."

"You cannot help individuals permanently by doing for them what they should do for themselves."

Imagio Dei or Imagio Goo?

Are we - Imagio Dei, created by God, made in His image as stated in Genesis or are we imagio goo with no more significance than a grown up germ; a meaningless accident of time and chance and goo? Here are three quotes from people who ardently reject the idea of God being our Creator who designed our amazing world and filled it with abundantly diverse life.

"Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose" - Richard Dawkins in his book "The Blind Watchmaker"

"Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed but rather evolved" - Francis Crick, the discoverer of DNA double helix

"I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all over, but I have got over this stage of the complaint, and now small trifling particulars of structure often make me very uncomfortable. The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick." - Charles Darwin from "The Life Letters of Charles Darwin" - letter written to Asa Gray dated 3 April, 1860

Imagio Dei or imagio goo. It changes everything.

Universal Truths for Universal Questions

It seems to me God has set some questions in the heart of every human that they eventually ask:

Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
How do I get there?

Answering these questions is at the core business of living life. These questions cannot be answered simply by observing the marvels of nature and the material world. You could deduce from creation that we are here by design, but why? What is our purpose? Does our life have meaning beyond the moment or is it ultimately meaningless because it has no purpose beyond being a biological machine that exists and responds to stimuli? Does it matter how I live my life because I will some day give an account? If there is no final justice, what does it matter how life is lived? God set these questions in our hearts and blessedly, He does not leave us hanging as to how to the answer them. God gives us the answers to these questions in His written communications to us (the Bible). God lovingly provides us with the universal truths that answer these universal questions as a starting point so we can then intelligently and accurately interpret the particulars of the world.

Metamorphed

What does it means to have a Christian Worldview? Ponder this – Do I, do you, really believe, that what you believe, is really real? In other words, how does your life choices, how you live, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, etc. - line up with what you say you really believe to be true of who God is and who you are in relationship to Him? For instance, if we truly believe God is omnipresent, would we go, say and do all we are currently going, saying and doing? Realistically, every time we sin, we are answering no to that question. There is only one way to live an authentic Personal Biblical Worldview and that is to take Romans 12:2 seriously. We will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. As we study and apply God's word to our lives, God promises His Holy Spirit will transform us so that we look more and more like Jesus. So the things that make Jesus weep, will make us weep. The things that make Jesus joyful, will make us joyful. We will be metamorphed (like the caterpillar is forever changed into the butterfly). We will naturally, more and more, reflect the glory of God in our lives. There could be no better gift to our children, to our families to our community, our country and church than for us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Can you imagine what would happen if all of us lived like we really believed what we say we believe is really real? Last time 12 guys did that, it transformed the world.

How we think matters

My small group Bible study has been going through The Truth Project. It explores Identifying, developing and living a Biblical Worldview. It has been a fabulous and challenging study. I've been thinking about the bigger picture. In order for the church to be the true countercultural change agent that it is called to be (salt and light), we need to learn how to think from Scripture [not media sound bites, or celebrities like Oprah, or other supposed experts including academia...] We need the mind of Christ.

The Bible begins with the assumption of God's existence:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).

The Bible tells us "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7).

Our thinking will always flow out of our core assumptions—our presuppositions about how the world works. As long as this core principle is drilled into and tattooed on our brains, the particulars will always reflect this – for good or bad. We need to continually examine our thinking and see if our particulars are flowing from a sound Biblical worldview based on the solid rock of Scripture, God’s unchanging Truth or if we are allowing the ever changing ‘wisdom’ of the world to influence these core assumptions. How we think matters.

Romans 12:1-2 With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give Him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and acceptable by Him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all His demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

Deut. 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.