What Would You Do If...? [3]

How should the truths of Revelation 21-22 shape us?  Remember, the only reason God reveals anything about Himself (which includes the future) is so that we conform to it.  However, while reading the last two chapters of the final book of the Bible, it is understandable why it is often ignored.  Yet we must not make the mistake of continuing to ignore Revelation (or abusing it) - the stakes are too high.

Let's take verse one of chapter 21, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  This verse is easy to quickly read over with hopes of getting to the "good stuff".  Yet in a sense the best stuff (at least the foundation for it) is contained right here.

The easiest, and perhaps most striking image is that of the sea being no more.  While water lovers among us may bemoan this concept, we need to understand what is being communicated.  In the Jewish mind the sea was the stock image for evil and chaos - it is the abyss.  This can be seen in Daniel 7 where four evil beasts (four kingdoms) arise out of the sea.  Likewise, in Revelation 13, one of the beasts emerges from the sea.  So when a Jew (and early Christian) heard sea they did not think beach and relaxation...rather they thought evil and chaos.  Therefore when John said "the sea was no more," he means all evil is gone.  Can you imagine that, a future devoid of evil?  And please, do not think "evil people".  Rather, think evil - as in the sinful thoughts and desires that wreak havoc on your own soul.  Won't it be amazing (truly liberating) for those to be gone?!?  A future without "evil" - how hopeful!

John also saw a new heaven and new earth.  This needs more explanation, but for now think of an old beat up car that has been restored to vintage (and maybe even better than) quality.  That is this word for new.  It is not "new out of nothing" new...but new in the sense of taking what exists and refining/purifying it.  It is a lot like what God does with us (cf. 2Cor5:17).

So let's stop here for now.  A future where both "heaven" and "earth" are refined and made new...and a part of this means no more evil is present.  One of the many things this does is give us hope.

We do ourselves a tremendous disservice when we do not focus on this hope more.  Somehow Satan has duped us into thinking heaven is escapist thinking and is of no help to daily life.  How many of you have ever felt a bit uneasy (or "churchy" or "religious") about saying to someone who is suffering that "One day...all of this stuff will be gone when Jesus comes back and everything is made new."  Granted, we should not make the mistake of offhandedly dismissing the pain and suffering of anyone.  Yet neither should we make the mistake of failing to bring hope into the picture.  What is the other alternative?  A future without hope looks something like, "Well, I know it is bad now...but you know what...that's just the way it goes...it's rough for some but not for others...the luck of the draw I guess..."  Yeah, that isn't much help.  In fact, that is more rude and calloused than bringing in the truth of the new heaven and new earth.

In light of that, why not say something similar to, "I don't know why this has happened to you (your loved one, etc.)...but rest assured a day is coming when Jesus will return...this world will be refined...all who are faithful to God will be able to live in a new heaven and new earth...nothing evil will ever happen again...we will live in relationships of harmony and mutual love (but that is going into a future post)..."

In summary, what would you do if you reminded yourself that this world is temporary and something much better is in store for us?  Remember, this does not ignore pain, suffering, evil, or anything like that.  Rather, it gives us a way to face it square in the face and with confidence say "You will not have the last word...my God is going to make everything new!!"

Praise God for that!

What else would you do if...?

What Would You Do If...? [2]

If you had a firm view of "heaven" in your mind - would your life be any different?  This question begs another, "Just what can we know about 'heaven'?" (more on that later).  Do you realize God wants what He has revealed about "heaven" to shape what it is we do in the present?  Think about it, why has God revealed anything about Himself?  So we change - right?

God has revealed Himself through creation (general revelation) so that people will respond by acknowledging something bigger than themselves.  A response to creation ought to be something like "Wow!!  This can't be an accident.  I wonder what kind of God/being made all of this...does He care for little ol' me?!?".

God revealed Himself through Jesus, His Son, so that we would see, more concretely, what God's desires are.  Ultimately, God desires the consummation of His Kingdom.  Until that day (when Jesus returns to renew all creation) God desires the lives of changed people to impact and transform the world for His glory.  A response to this revelation of God (i.e., Jesus) ought to include things like, "Jesus, save me!" "Jesus, You are my Lord!" "Jesus, I want to love people the way You love(d) people!"

God has revealed Himself through the Bible (His Word), so that we can have a record of Who God is, What God desires, and What God demands from us (this is a definition of prophecy offered by Shane J. Wood - I think it fits quite nicely for 'why the Bible' as well).  When we read the Bible it is not merely to pass the time, learn something new, or make a check next to our Christian "to do" list.  When we read the Bible we are to submit ourselves to It.  In other words, we ought to realize Scripture is the subject and we are the object - it pokes and prods our lives...and we are to conform to it.

In light of all of this, since God has revealed so much about "heaven" - why do we do ourselves a disservice and insult God by not studying and reflecting on it more?  Go ahead and read Revelation 21-22.  What is the big picture here?  How should concepts contained here shape us?

What Would You Do If...?

What immediately came to your mind when you read the title question for this post? 

What would you do if ________? 

Questions are powerful.  It could be argued that without questions there would be no advancement (however we want to define that term) in society.  It goes without saying that we are glad someone else asked, and answered, certain questions (e.g., I wonder what would happen if I squeezed that growth under the cow’s belly and then drank what came out of it? – OK, I think that is an old Jeff Foxworthy joke or something…). 

Be those things as they may be, questions are powerful.  In fact, it does not take much investigation to see how the questions being asked in a society play a major role (if not the major role) in shaping a society.  Yet before a society is shaped we know individuals need shaped first – right?  Evidently the questions you think about are important.  Of course individuals can also be shaped by a society – as the society poses certain questions (e.g., advertisements). 

How many times did you hear the question, “What are you going to be when you grow up?”  Did that have an impact on you?  If you are a parent, how many times have you asked that question?  What might that question convey to your children? 

If you are a parent how many times have you heard the question, “Mommy/Daddy, are we going to have any food to eat tonight?”  Oh, perhaps that has not been asked of you.  Evidently there are vitally important questions asked by many that others never even dream of having to ask.   

Yet one question everyone has asked in one way or another – no matter your culture or economic level – is, “What does the future hold in store for me?”  We all think about the future.  In fact, whether we realize it or not, what we think about the future will dictate our decisions in the present.  In light of that I think we can see that the questions we ask about the future are significant.  What do you think? 

What would you do if…?  

Confused About "God's Will"? [1]

What is God's Will?

• a google search produced 27,300,000 results in .17 seconds...  
• a search for books on amazon.com produced 2,096 paperback books and 692 hardcover books...  
• a survey on the street will likely produce at least half as many answers as people you ask (in other words a lot of variety with some overlap)

Should discerning God's will be this confusing?  Does God intend for it to be confusing at all?  Is all the confusion associated with our culture, or is it universal (i.e., do people in other parts of the world struggle as much with it as we seem to struggle?)?  Is all the confusion about God's will a recent development, or has it been a constant throughout history?  

Perhaps a reason why there is so much confusion about God's will is because a popular belief I often hear is  God "knows the plans He has for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future..." (cf. Jeremiah 29:11 - NIV).  Well there we have it; God has plans for you (and "me").  And if God has "plans for you" then that must be His will - right?  (We can add "everything happens for a reason" to this discussion...but that will likely be done next time.)  Before we leave the Jeremiah passage alone I simply ask you to read at least verse 10 along with verse 11 (God may indeed have hopes for you, but to whom was this text initially addressed?).

I am going to humbly suggest something.  Is it possible a reason there is so much confusion concerning "God's Will" is because we confuse God's desired response with His will?  What exactly do I mean by that?

God always wants faithfulness from His people - period.  I know we could say God wants us to "do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with" our God (cf. Micah 6:8).  We could also say God wants us to love Him with all we have and our neighbor as ourself (cf. Matthew 22:36-40).  Yet those responses fall under the umbrella of faithfulness to God.

So, God desires faithfulness - nothing more, nothing less.  And this is why we confuse God's desired response with His will.  E.g., "family A" suffers the loss of a child due to a tragic auto accident, but the remaining family members turn to God and their faith grows.  As a result they are not only closer as a family but a neighboring family comes to know Jesus because of the marvelous way in which the tragedy was handled.  Wow!!  That must have been "God's Will" - right?

Let us consider another example.  Here "family B" also suffers the loss of a child due to a tragic auto accident, but instead of turning to God the family turns their back on Him.  The family also breaks down and goes their separate ways; a neighboring family sees this and wants nothing to do with God, etc.  Wow!!  That must have been "God's Will" again, right!  Right?  Wrong.

God desires faithfulness.  Due to this Scriptural truth it is easy to confuse the response of "family A" with God's Will.  But again, what about the response of "family B"?  God's Will was for a family to turn their back on Him, be fragmented, and negatively influence neighbors for the Kingdom?  Really?!?  There is no doubt God can be glorified as a result of any life situation (e.g., Romans 8:28).  Yet this happens when people respond in faith to God.  Indeed, that is light years away from saying God causes all life situations to happen (note "causes" and not "allows").

The reality is, a lot of "stuff" happens because we live in a world impacted by sin (cf. Genesis 3; Romans 8:19-22).  So when thinking about "God's Will" allow the beautiful portrait Scripture paints to inform your thinking and not merely isolated verses and popular sayings in our culture.

Hmmm...maybe here is where part of the problem lies.  After all, it is a lot easier to be, with good intentions, searching for God's Will (praying, hoping, trying things - which if it does not go how we wanted it to then it must not have been God's Will) than it is to be sexually pure (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  By the way, both of those areas are "God's Will" according to Paul.

As you can see this is [1] - of how many I do not yet know...

"Happy Birthday"

Time flies so quickly!  It is hard to believe our youngest daughter, Charis, is now a month old...it seems like yesterday she was born.  It does seem a bit further back than yesterday for her big sister Ellei (who is 2yrs and 9mo today) - but not much further back.

Dates of birth usually receive a great deal of attention in our culture.  Quite often they bring family and friends together for a celebration.  Unfortunately it seems many parents go overboard, worry, stress, spend money they do not have, etc. - all for a party a child likely will not remember...  What we are to make of that is not my focus here.  Instead I will briefly focus on the other extreme - ignoring important "dates of birth".

How many Christians, especially those in the "Protestant" (what an ugly word) tradition, know today is John the Baptist's "birthday"?  It is sad, but true, that when The Church ignores the "Christian calendar" a cultural calendar will dominate Sunday mornings (and therefore the minds of many Christians).  Yet what does this mean exactly?  One example is how many congregations will make much ado about the "4th of July" next weekend (i.e., on the 3rd) - but John's name will scarcely be mentioned in a few days.  Another example is how many congregations likely touted "Mother's" and "Father's" Day recently - but Pentecost (perhaps) passed by with barely a whisper, let alone a sound like a mighty rushing wind.

Why do we do this?  I certainly do not know all the reasons - but one has got to be that we do not have a Kingdom focus.  Think about it, John was the herald of the coming King - Jesus.  Therefore John knew what was important; he preached about the Kingdom of God (e.g., Matt3:2).  Interestingly, Jesus preached the exact same message (e.g., Matt4:17).  Yet not only did Jesus preach the same message as John, Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the same thing as well (e.g., Matt10:7).  Hmmm, maybe The Church should focus a bit more on the Kingdom of God.
 
I have hopes and dreams of an "extended advent season" in the future where I serve - but that will take a lot of preparatory prayer and work.  My hope is to ground it in God's Story...to show the needs for HisStory to impose itself on our cultural story (i.e., cultural norms).  In other words, for His Kingdom to trump everything else (e.g., our desires).  Unfortunately, it seems that is not a popular message.  After all, John's message started with "Repent..." - which implies a radical change had to be made.  

So "happy birthday" John.  May we learn to live as citizens of the Kingdom our King established.

What Next? Apparently this...

It did not take too long for an explanation to come out concerning the failed "prophetic" prediction of Harold Camping.  You can click here for an article; the basic explanation is Camping was off by five months as this past Saturday was an "invisible judgment day" (how convenient), and October 21st is still the day the earth is going to be destroyed by a fireball (presumably a gigantic one).  Apparently, as you can read here, this dawned on him over the weekend. 

I wonder what happens with "the rapture" in light of this new revelation?  That is (unfortunately) a mainstay in the eschatology of many...but apparently Camping - err, I mean God - has no use for that now.   Apparently there is no use for the earth either as it will be destroyed...but I will leave that behind for now.

While far from being an exhaustive list, a few major options we have are to either a) believe Camping, b) dismiss him as a false prophet, c) go about life as normal and ignore eschatology because another prediction has failed, or d) take a serious look at eschatology and its implications.

I opt for "d" - but this is where many often do not like to go because of the belief eschatology is confusing.  This is unfortunate because the implications of eschatology are important...important enough God wanted them clearly communicated so His people would obey by them. Believe me, God does not want this to be confusing - why would He?

Indeed, many live unconcerned about eschatology due to ignorance.  Please note I did not say "stupidity"; we are all ignorant of many things - this is a fact of life.  So how about this, how about we shed light on some biblical teaching concerning eschatology in an attempt to remove the cover of ignorance?  While doing this together people will be able to form their own conclusions; e.g., reject the most commonly held eschatological teachings as false (e.g., a rapture, the earth being destroyed, etc.) and actively seek to live a life of readiness...OR accept what culture says is true about eschatology - and basically ignore it.

Open our eyes Lord...

What Next?

To the dismay of several, yet not to the surprise of most, "judgment day" did not occur this past Saturday.  I am not sure how Camping and his followers will adjust.  While I would like to say I could care less, as a follower of Jesus I am compelled to care (and therefore repent of a "care less" attitude).  Based on past predictions, which have ALL failed, it seems some will leave the group and others will become more entrenched in the belief based on an explanation of some sort.

Partially leaving the "Judgment Day" prediction of 5/21/11 behind for now, I turn our attention to the tornadoes of Saturday (Reading, KS) and Sunday (Joplin, MO) evenings.  What are Christians to do in response to those events?  Among other things we should offer help.  God's love is shown in times like these through His people.  Indeed, our interaction with others directly reveals how much we love God (cf. Mt22:34-40).

The reason I said 'partially leaving...' above is because I want to keep this discussion informed by eschatology, which ought to influence all Christian discussion.  Among other things, in Luke 13:1-5 Jesus tells us we should not be concerned about finding a "one-to-one" correlation between disaster and some sort of cause/sin.  Rather, Jesus tells us is we need to live a repentant life.  Living in light of eschatology ought to compel one to lead a repentant life.  So why don't we live in light of what the Bible teaches concerning "eschatology"?

Confusion is one answer.  I hope to post a bit about confusion in the near future.

Yet it also seems to me the very fact of living a repentant life is another struggle we have with living in light of biblical teaching on eschatology.  By and large people do not want to repent.  By and large people enjoy doing what they think is best.  By and large people enjoy the (supposed) comforts life in this world offers.  Yet what happens when those comforts are wiped out?

Alas, we are back to the tornadoes of Reading and Joplin (not to mention the recent flooding of the Mississippi and other tornadoes...or the earthquake/tsunami in Japan...or ______).  This is not to minimize the loss of lives and material things suffered recently, or at any other point in history, due to anything (such as a "natural disaster").  What it is intended to do is help us to realize an obvious reality; THINGS ARE NOT RIGHT IN THIS WORLD!!!

Somewhere around 22,000 children die of poverty related issues around the world every day.  The majority of those deaths are on different continents, which makes "out of sight and out of mind" very prevalent for us in the West.  However, when tragedy strikes closer to home it is harder to ignore the reality of this world being a mess.  At this point we have options.  CS Lewis said "pain is God's megaphone".  I am not saying God causes these horrible things to happen (views on this vary).  Yet I am saying we can either choose to listen to the pains of the world or ignore them (I do not know if there is another option).

Back to the Camping crew...as misguided as they were at least they acted on their beliefs.  I, for one, need to repent of not being shaped more by what I believe - which is shaped by what I know about eschatology.