Faith, Unbelief, and Growth

The ultimate cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief.

For if it were not for unbelief, even the devil could do nothing.

It is because we listen to the devil instead of listening to God that 

we go down before him and fall before his attacks.

Martyn Llyod-Jones

Last evening at youth group, I asked, "What is faith."  I got some shallow answers and then one of my youth leaders commented, "You know, I just do not know for sure sometimes." (Notice the lack of confidence in the way the statement was made!  Why do we feel we lack permission to doubt?)  He continued, "In the end, I still have to live just like everyone else.  I still have to go to the grocery store like everyone else.  I do not know how much difference faith makes."

That got me thinking.  I did offer some observations about that statement last evening, but I bet others feel the same way.  What difference does faith make in the small things in life?

First we must define faith.  What is it?  Is it a magic formula to get what we want?  Is it something everyone has?  What is it?

I think the answer to this question has many different angles.  First, we all have faith.  Faith at its most basic is trust in (something).  We have trust that when we brush our teeth, we will not poke our eye out but instead get the brush in our mouth.  Why?  Because we have done it before.  If we have a stroke, all bets are off.  On our own, in normal conditions, we trust so much of our experience to teach us how to deal with reality.

Thus, faith in how to drive to the grocery store is the same for believers and for unbelievers.  Faith that we can pick our groceries is the same for all.  We all exercise faith daily.

Yet, what I am talking about is a different kind of faith.  Faith in God does not mean that we believe He exists.  As scripture tells us, even the demons do this and they shutter!  No, faith means trust.  Trust means to acknowledge the presence of God moment by moment in our daily, common activities.  

I believe this type of faith was inherent within humanity before the fall.  After the fall, this gift was completely lost.  We still have the ability to trust something, but we lack the ability to trust God by acknowledging and living in His presence always.

Ultimately such a trust in God, such a faith, is supernaturally given by the Holy Spirit at conversion.  Yet, it is not given in whole.  Because we live in a fallen flesh, we struggle to believe/apply our faith moment by moment.  In other words, we believe, but we have so much unbelief!  Growth in Christ-likeness implies growing in our ability to have faith moment by moment.  It does not come naturally.  In fact, our flesh will attempt to instruct us to run the other way!  

Here is where we use the means of grace- scripture, prayer, spiritual disciplines, Church, Christian community, the sacraments, and any combination of the above- to grow and develop.  Without people around you to remind and assist you, failure to grow is almost assured!  With growth in faith, we gain increasing victory of our flesh, our worldliness, and the devil.

So what does this faith look like in real life?  Here is a great quote from Chip Ingram's The Invisible War.

This ability to quench arrows that have the potential not only to pierce but also to start a destructive fire is what faith does for us.  Faith in this context means absolute confidence in God, his promises, his power, and his program for our lives.  It is rooted in the objective reality of the gospel and our new standing with God- the saving faith that justifies us- but it is more specific here.  This kind of faith refers to our present trust in Jesus for victory over sin and demonic hosts.  Its purpose is to quench all the fiery missiles hurled at us by the enemy.  Claiming God's promises by faith, trusting in his unchanging character, and holding up his trust will deflect and extinguish all the enemy's lies.  Regardless of the form which these incoming flames take, faith overcomes.

(pp. 124-125)

I so appreciate his definition of faith as absolute confidence in God, his promises, his power, and his program for our lives.  Such faith is truly a supernatural gift!  I know I do not have it latent within me.  I also agree with his final statement that faith overcomes.  The problem is that so often on the road to overcoming all we can do is persevere.  Yet, faith means persevering while clinging to God, his promises, his power, and affirming trust in his program for our life!

May each of us grow in our faith in the living Lord!  Use the means of grace and pray for God's grace and help to grow!

What is Grace Part 2

I pray that everyone is having or has had a great Sabbath to worship and enjoy the Lord's presence.  Today is my 200th post.  It is a repeat with corrections of where I began this journey of blogging and writing.  This is really a praise to God's patient grace and mercy.  May the Lord bless your reading of it!

Today's reflections about Grace will be hard for some to understand.  Yesterday, I described my conversion.  In the narrative I described grace as God's favor given to one who does not deserve it.  This grace changed my heart and restored a relationship with the living God.  It was a process where God's word, particularly the Law of God, illustrated my need for a savior.  By faith alone, given by God's grace alone (I had no means of calling out for help without God's drawing me to Himself!), I was transformed by Christ alone into a child of God (Ephesians 2: 8-9).  While before I knew that God existed, now I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God knew me and I knew God.  At least I knew a little about God!  

My unseen problem remained my need to grow.  I believed, but my life reflected so much unbelief!

Even with so much room for personal and spiritual growth, God blessed me richly.  As a new believer, I was blessed to have many people come alongside me to teach me, to love me, and to help me grow.  This process is called discipleship.  

On the intellectual side, I was a very quick learner.  I devoured the Word of God, and I deeply enjoyed growing in my knowledge of God.  I read the Bible daily, I prayed often, I believed and tried to practice what I read, and I learned to enjoy having a relationship with God.  I also learned how to witness about Jesus- sharing the same journey I had just experienced.  Furthermore, I discovered I was very good at teaching the bible and I was a more than able defender the faith in debate.  I am so thankful that during this time I witnessed many people come to faith, and I grew deeper in my relationship with God.  God was transforming my life into the person He made me to be!

All of this is well and good.  The problem for me, and for many others, is that much of what I learned went from life transforming to sort of dull and repetitive.  What happened?  I think I became "Christianized."

I began to hang around more and more with Christians.  I was told and I believed it that my old friends were "worldly" and "not good influences" on me.  Suddenly my witnessing bore little fruit.  I could not understand this change.  More 'mature' believers told me and I believed they were right that this lack of fruit was due to my "worldly" campus that would not accept the truth.  In other words, because we were right, they reject the message!  

I also learned how to fit in within my new community of faith.  Through off-hand comments, rolled eyes, and shocked looks, I learned that I needed to fit in.  So, I gave up swearing, womanizing (or even trying to think of women, which was even harder), drinking, and acting like the "lost."  Yet, somewhere in this good Christian character development, I lost my zeal and excitement for and about God.  I also lost the touch of being able to tell people about Jesus and seeing them come to faith.  

By this time, devotions were something I did, and I felt guilty if I did not do them.  It is amazing the change in just a few short years!  Church, ministry, and all the rest became my identity.  I had Bible studies I led and attended, I had fellowship groups to be part of, and I met weekly with accountability partners to keep me (and them) on the straight and narrow.  And somehow in the midst of all this activity, I stopped experiencing and knowing God's life-transforming power.  

My friends and I would talk about God's life-transforming power.  We prayed about it, sometimes wished for it, but seldom did we experience it.  Honestly, I did not know many other Christians who were tapping into God either, so I took it as normal Christian growth.  In fact, I had it explained that this is what typically happens.  I should not worry about it, but remain faithful to God because His ways were better than mine.  God blesses our faithfulness, so walk with Him in faith and keep being faithful.   

Throughout this time, I did confess my sinful struggles with lust, anger, and pride, but I did not ever change.  I would vow to God to change, but I just could not carry it out.  I also could not really admit to myself or to others my struggles because it was fairly obvious that within the Christian community weakness with sin was not really tolerated.  I also could see that everyone else I knew struggled just like I did!

During this time, I worked in the Church, completed seminary, grew to be a fine Bible teacher, and started a family.  The problem was that while I believed in grace for salvation, I really did not believe in applying grace to my life.  Why?  I really did not see I needed it.  I might have momentary struggles with pride, lust, or anger, but I felt bad about it and resolved to sin no more.  Wasn't that faithfulness?  I thank God that He did not leave me in this situation.  I also repent of the years marked by walking in this trap!

Through the course of several different trials and difficulties, I was confronted with the absolute fact that I really needed grace.  I discovered, much to my amazement, that I was much worse than I thought.  I did not love people well- especially my wife and kids.  I was full of self-conceit and pride.  I was extremely judgmental of others.  I was self-sufficient and lacking in faith.  I was controlling.  I could not believe how much I needed Jesus!

How did I miss all this?  In truth, it was there all the time, but I only confessed the surface sins instead of the deep heart sins that caused my momentary anger, lust, and pride.  God, in His mercy, shined the spotlight of the Holy Spirit into my heart.  What He revealed was almost more than I could bear.  So, I cried out to God for mercy.  I asked for grace.  I sought Jesus for help.  I confessed my heart sins, and I asked for the Holy Spirit to change me.  Contrary to all the evidence I now saw coming from my heart, I held by faith unto Jesus as my only hope (Romans 7).

So, what happened?  I experienced grace.  God gave it to me.  His love softened my hard heart.  His love and presence changed me.  The sins of anger, of not forgiving, of judging, and of lust began to drop away.  They just were not attractive to me anymore.  Living and drawing upon the grace of God were much better than those pet sins I had held unto for so long.  I found myself humbled.  I found myself doubting my own self-effort and self-sufficiency.  I found myself depending upon Jesus for all of my life.  I repented quicker.  I believed more.

Real, authentic grace also goes somewhere.  It is not just a private experience.  It is the vanguard of the Spirit's work in building the Kingdom of God.  

It changed me by allowing me grace to love people.  In fact, I found I could not wait to love people!  I still struggled at times, but I found the avenue to God's grace- real repentance and desperate faith.  Surprisingly, I also found that my witness about the living God came with power and not the same boring formulas.  I stopped talking about what God did for me 20 years ago, and I started talking about God's grace now- what He did for me this week.  Those who were yet believers liked me, and I loved them.  With this combo, people came to faith and many believers who were tired of the same routine I had lived for years, regained hope, love, and faith.  Real, authentic grace always goes somewhere!

This blog is about exploring and applying this real authentic grace: for salvation and for all of life.

For those exploring Christ and his claims, I want you to know that true relationship with God is always found in repentance and faith.  I know that we as Christians often do not live this out, but it is what we should believe and live!  Forgive us as we struggle with the same issues that you have!  Forgive us because God is willing to forgive you.

To those who believe in Jesus but struggle to grow, I urge you to join in the discussion and the application of the truth of the gospel.  Hope again and find the mercy of God!  Walk in repentance and faith.  Cling desperately to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to blow afresh through your life!

To those who profess faith, but have no idea what I am talking about, I beg you to think about, pray about, and seek to apply what is discussed in this blog.  The gospel and the Kingdom of God are bigger than you might know, but God wants you to know and experience it!  True life is found in repentance and faith.

What is Grace?

This is my 199th post of a year of writing.  Lord willing, on Monday I will complete post 200 and complete my goal!  As I prayed about what to write for these posts, I kept coming back to my first two posts on this blog about my life and my encounter with God's grace.  I wish to share these memories with you.  Over the past year, I have picked up readers from around the world.  I would love to have some of you share with me your stories!  If it is personal, I check all comments before posting, so I will not share it publicly.  May the Lord bless us with a fantastic weekend filled with His presence.

I have to admit that for years, I had no idea what grace was all about.  My discovery of this idea has taken two distinct steps.  Today's post will describe the first step of discovery.

For the first 18 years of my life, I did not understand the concept of grace at all.  I grew up in a household that emphasized, "God helps those who help themselves."  I was pretty good at helping myself.  I had good grades, musical talent, sport talent, and I was at least fairly popular.  I asked that God would bless what I did.  Yet, I had no real idea of how to relate with God!  

Then, the God of this universe began to draw me to Himself.  I began to feel very dissatisfied with my life.  I was successful, but I was not happy.  I had friends who were not successful, and they were not happy.  I realized that if I moved on to college, achieved all my goals and matched all ideas of success, I would still not be happy.  What was the purpose of it all!?  This is when I first learned about grace.

The summer after high school graduation, I began to read the bible.  I wanted to discover what my church supposedly believed.  My family attended a church that did not really teach the bible.  At least, I did not have ears to hear if they did!  That summer, I began reading about Jesus in the book of Matthew.  I was shocked!  His words and actions had such weight and power.  Why had I not heard this before?  He challenged me to "consider the cost," and to "hate my mother and father in comparison with my love for him."  This was not what I expected nor had heard.  

Then one evening, I had gone out with some friends to go partying.  I really did not enjoy it, but I went to hang out.  I noticed most of the other folks were not enjoying themselves either.  After several hours, I came home and went to bed.  I remember waking to a horrible dream.  In my dream, I was walking in the dark when I noticed a light behind me.  As I slowly turned around, I was blinded by a bright, piercing light.  I shielded my eyes, but sought to see the source.  I saw through tears a man with light coming from his face.  I was terrified!  I woke up, went to the bathroom to get some light and get out of my room.  I looked up in the mirror and saw through my own eyes, a look into my soul.  What I saw scared me.  I was guilty in God's eyes.  His piercing eyes saw right through me.  I was a sinner!  I was partying and not living for God.  I did not know what to do with this information, but I knew I was not right with God because of my actions.

In the weeks that followed, I  began reading in the first few chapters of the book of Revelation about the risen Jesus.  His holiness was so evident to John (the writer of Revelation) that he fell down as if dead.  Had I seen this same risen Christ?  I have to say that the dream scared me straight.  I stopped partying, and I continued to read deeply of the New Testament.  My saintly Grandpa came to visit, and he pointed me to some of his favorite scriptures.  He talked to me about prayer- saying it was just talking with God.  I started to try it.  I learned that Jesus claimed to be the son of God (many references throughout the gospels), and he had the audacity to say that he was the only way to God (John 14:6).  I witnessed through the pages a man different than anything I had ever seen or heard about.  

Finally, just before I moved to college, I was listening to the Boston, Third Stage album in my car.  There was a song that spoke of changes.  One line sings, "Now I can see both sides."  I realized that before I had no idea that God had a perspective on my life and all of life!  There is right and wrong, and I was on the wrong side.  Tears welled up in my eyes, and I pulled the car over.  I remember clearly asking that Jesus would forgive me for my sins.  I asked him to help me follow him.  Along the side of the road in northern Michigan, I experienced grace.  Grace is mercy and love given to one who does not deserve it.  Jesus extended grace to me.  He loved me, even when I did not deserve it, and he changed my heart.  This was my first discovery of grace.  I was changed in a moment, but I had just begun the process of learning how to live out this "God transformation" in my life.

Faith in Work and Calling

The works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone. ... Indeed, the menial housework of a manservant or maidservant is often more acceptable to God than all the fasting and other works of a monk or priest, because the monk or priest lacks faith.

Martin Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520.

Luther's critique of Medieval monastic life was radical and transforming.  He wrote as an Augustinian monk himself.  In other words, he was an insider, offering an insider's critique of a movement that began as a renewal movement, but that had slowly transformed into a movement that promoted false spirituality throughout the culture.

What was so revolutionary about Luther's critique?  He reintroduced the idea that all of our life must be lived before the face of a Living God.  How often we forget!  We often believe our job is what we do to make money, while church and other spiritual activities are when we seek God.  Luther calls such a dualism false, treacherous, and dangerous for true spirituality.  I believe such dualism is also why Christians make so little impact on our culture!

As Os Guinness writes,

If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished.  There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class.  Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself.  Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God's (primary) calling.  For Luther, the peasant and the merchant- for us, the business person, the teacher, the factory worker, and the television anchor- can do God's work (or fail to do it) just as much as the minister and the missionary.

The Call, 34.

I do wish I could convince so many business people, teachers, factory workers, television anchors, ministers and missionaries that this is true!

How you do your work determines the ultimate value of the work.  Any occupation that does not directly contradict the revealed will of God as demonstrated in the Word of God is a holy occupation.  

What does this mean?  

First, there should not be two sets of rules for how you live your life at work and at "holy activities."  The same integrity and changed heart that illustrates living in light of God's presence should adorn all of life.

As a student, we should not cheat so we pass and then we can do "God's work."  As a business person, we do not cheat others through misleading statements and half truths before we go to our prayer meeting.  As a teacher, we do not teach our subjects like God does not exist and then head off to Bible study.  As a pastor, we do not run a business that peddles religious truth on the weekends, but treats our employees and our parishioners badly.

Second, we should not neglect nor diminish whatever work we find ourselves doing.  If you are a janitor, clean to the best of your ability for Jesus is right beside you.  If you are a teacher, do not look forward to retirement when you can really do something worthwhile, but teach each day before the presence of God. If you are a homemaker, rejoice that God has allowed you to clean clothes, wipe bottoms, as well as cook and clean.  What you are doing is God's work- at least when you do it in faith!

No job is beneath us and every job/occupation has honor.  

What can you do to bring the presence of God more into your labor?  Perhaps your workplace does not allow "outward expressions of faith."  So what?  How can you do your job to illustrate the grace, mercy, and presence of God?  How does your heart have to change to make this happen?

May the Lord bless this day of labor!  

Finding and Enjoying God's Presence

The wonderful and long vacation is now over.  I so enjoyed being away, but I also enjoyed a good night's sleep in my own bed last night.  After 3500 miles of driving, I am back home.

Why was vacation so wonderful?  It provided a space and a place for me to be still before the living Lord.  We stayed right on the beach, so I went to sleep hearing the breakers roar, and I woke up each morning hearing the breakers roar.  For a week, I watched the tide come in and the tide go out.

I found it so refreshing to think that I can do nothing about the tide.  Even though I am 1300 miles away from that home on the beach, the tide still comes in and goes out.  Even as my first ancestors arrived on these shores hundreds of years ago, so the tide come and goes.

There is a God in this universe.  I am not this great God!  Neither are you.  Why do I forget this truth so much?  Why do I believe I must work and labor to make all right since God is not doing it?  I worry and think about so many things, but it would be wiser to rest in the living God's strength.  Just like the tides, He will work His purpose and will.  I praise Him for His goodness and mercy.

So, what did I learn or should I say relearn?  Rest and believe.  Trust and know.  Enjoy His presence and all goes well.

This reminds me of a quotation from David Adam in his book called The Road of Life.  Adam was the Vicar on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne for 13 years.  This island has been a Christian retreat center/monastery almost 1500 years, and it is the destination for many seeking peace and the presence of God.  

Adam was discussing how we as humans always bring our sin tendencies with us.  Even on "retreat" or a vacation, we can find our mind thinking about our issues instead of focusing on the living God.  As he states,

Often people come to the Island for peace; some are fortunate but others find they are the same on the Island as they were at home.  I try to persuade such people to give up seeking peace.  Do not look for a present, look for the Presence.  In seeking peace we are like the child playing with the box and the wrappings while ignoring the real gift.  We may get deep delight from peace, but there is a far greater gift offered.  God offers himself to us.  God is willing to walk with us, to listen to us, to care for us.  When God is recognized, when we abide in his presence, we also receive the gifts we sought.  God says, 'My presence will go with you and I will give you rest' (Ex. 33.14).  In this world the only lasting peace we will find is in his presence.  

p. 97

I could not agree more!  Yet, I find so many who do not know how to come into the presence of God.  They "feel him" in worship, so they become worship junkies.  They "feel him" in nature, so they become nature junkies.  Others "feel him" at the beach, so they always go to the beach!  There is a great problem with this.  

Like any addict, the effects of the outside stimulus diminish over time.  God is not "felt" in worship like He was.  So, we trade churches looking for a new high.  We do not see him in the same old natural places, so we look for new activities and new places.  We might become a thrill seeker.  We do not find him at the same place again in the same way, so we look for a new and better vacation spot.

God's presence is found when we seek Him in humility.  When we repent and come naked before Him asking for mercy and depending upon Christ, His presence is found.  With His presence comes peace and life-changing power.

As a pastor, I often come at this issue in the opposite direction.  Do you lack life-changing power?  Do your addictions to sin and self dominate your life?  The power to break sin only comes in the presence of God and by His grace.  You cannot use God as a self-help motivator.  You must enter His presence and allow Him to work as He wishes.  He will put away sin and He often leads us in ways we would not naturally go.

Seek His presence today.  In quietness, repent of your sin.  It might take time.  You have much clutter in your mind and heart!  Ask the Lord to put it in order or to take it away.  Begin the journey with the true source of power and peace.  Seek His presence!

Our Special Purpose

I am currently traveling from Pennsylvania back to Maine.  In just a few minutes, I will enter the van and drive, drive, drive.  I am trying to achieve 200 blog posts in my first year, so I do not have the luxury of not posting this week.  I am reposting an important blog about calling and purpose.  For some reason, most likely the day of the week it was posted, this post did not get many hits.  Well, here it is again!

Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a purpose bigger than ourselves.  Only such a larger purpose can inspire us to heights we know we could never reach on our own.  For each of us the real purpose is personal and passionate: to know what we are here to do and why.  Kierkegaard wrote in his Journal: "The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.

Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, 3.

Today I wish to change direction a bit in this blog.  I have encountered many people in the last year who just "do not know what they want to be when they grow up."  Unfortunately, many of these folks are in the 30s, 40s, and 50s!  I also have met some in the 60s and 70s who wish to live life over because they feel they missed their calling.

What is calling?  Guinness defines it as "the greatest good (summum bonum), the ultimate end, the meaning of life, or whatever you choose." (2)  I would say it is the nagging understanding that all of us are made for a special purpose.  I believe deep down all of us feel this nagging understanding.  All of us know we are made for some purpose. 

Unfortunately, most of us have no idea what that purpose should be!

So we search and try different things.  Some just fall into a fulfilling occupation and life.  Others settle into a job or occupation but live for the weekends when they can escape their job.  Others drift along through life fearful of missing their calling if they settle into any job of occupation.  

Some give up.  In fact, the folks who despair of finding something bigger are a growing segment of American society.  How can you recognize them?  Guinness comments about these folks using an analogy from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

"For the secret of man's being is not only to live... but to live for something definite.  Without a firm notion of what he is living for, man will not accept life and will rather destroy himself than remain on earth." (2)

Folks that believe their current life is all there is destroy themselves through their behavior and beliefs.  They live for the moment, for their pleasure, and without purpose.  Others despair and fall into great depression and anxiety.

Let's not be these folks!  We were called to so much more!

Calling is beyond our job or occupation.  Hopefully our current job or occupation help us fulfill our call, but sometimes they do not.  In fact, I have had tons of jobs.  Many I could not wait to quit.  Yet, they all helped me fulfill my calling by providing money and experience.

Calling is the key to living a fulfilling life.  It goes beyond "success" as described by our world system.  It is holy and beautiful.  It is the special shape or leading of God to each of us.

Lord willing I will have the time, energy and focus in the next couple of weeks to write about this topic!

The Demise of a culture?

I know that this blog is primarily a theological and practical blog about living the Christian life.  Yet, every now and then I feel like being an historian instead of a theologian.  Today is one of those days!

Yesterday I opened the WSJ app on my iPhone to discover two opinion pieces that fit well together.  The first was by Peggy Noonan entitled, "America's Crisis of Character." (April 20, 2012)  The second was by Theodore Dalrymple entitled, "The Ugly Brutishness of Modern Britain." (April 19, 2012)  Both articles got me thinking.

Before I begin, please understand that I am not some right-wing nut job whose purpose is some political agenda.  While I do agree with Winston Churchill's assessment, "If you are not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, and if you are not a conservative at 40 you have no brain," this is not meant to be a political rant.

Most strong cultures fall not because of outside military intervention.  Instead, they fall because their insides rot out from internal decay.  Then, when faced with a military or economic threat that they would have easily defeated before, they crumble and fall.  Please understand this is not a political warning, but what I take to be a fact of history.  I know that their are many "causes" that lead to any eventual event.  Yet painting with broad brush strokes, I believe internal moral and structural weakness is always one of the biggest "causes" of major cultural collapse.

I will begin with some observations from Noonan.  As she perceptively writes, (I apologize for the formatting issues.  I do not understand why they are present and I cannot fix them!)

Now I'd go a step beyond that (Worries about economic issues). I think more and more people are worried about the American character—who we are and what kind of adults we are raising.  Every story that has broken through the past few weeks has been about who we are as a people. And they are all disturbing.

A tourist is beaten in Baltimore. Young people surround him and laugh. He's pummeled, stripped and robbed. No one helps. They're too busy taping it on their smartphones. That's how we heard their laughter. The video is on YouTube along with the latest McDonald's beat-down and the latest store surveillance tapes of flash mobs. Groups of teenagers swarm into stores, rob everything they can, and run out. The phenomenon is on the rise across the country. Police now have a nickname for it: "flash robs."

That's just the young, you say. Juvenile delinquency is as old as history.

Let's turn to adults.

Also starring on YouTube this week was the sobbing woman. She's the poor traveler who began to cry great heaving sobs when a Transportation Security Administration agent at the Madison, Wis., airport either patted her down or felt her up, depending on your viewpoint and experience. Jim Hoft of TheGatewayPundit.com recorded it, and like all the rest of the videos it hurts to watch. When the TSA agent—an adult, a middle aged woman—was done, she just walked away, leaving the passenger alone and uncomforted, like a tourist in Baltimore.

In isolation, these stories may sound like the usual sins and scandals, but in the aggregate they seem like something more disturbing, more laden with implication, don't they? And again, these are only from the past week.

The leveling or deterioration of public behavior has got to be worrying people who have enough years on them to judge with some perspective.

Something seems to be going terribly wrong.

Maybe we have to stop and think about this.

Indeed, we should stop and think about these things.  Why are we seeing nuns now packing concealed weapons in Bangor, Maine?  Why are we no longer shocked by outrageous behavior?

Here is where the second article is so helpful.  Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of a physician named Anthony Daniels.  He is discussing the growing lack of civility in modern Britain.  His concern is that British society is increasingly dominated by the aggressive and wicked.  He notices that there is no longer any cultural "stomach" for confronting evil and malicious people.  As he begins with a true story of a 13 year old fellow rider on a bus who throws food at a friend making a mess.  When Daniels confronts him and asks him to pick up the mess, the young teen snarls for him to "Shut the f--- up!"  As Daniels observed,

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, in England, come- obscenities.  No one at the bus stop dared say, much less do, anything.  For increasingly, the English are a people who know neither inner nor outer restraint.  They turn to aggression, if not to violence, the moment they are thwarted, even in trifles.  And those who are neither aggressive nor violent are by no means sure that the law will take their side in the event of a fracas.  It is better, or easier, for them to pretend not to notice anything, even if it means living in constant fear.

Wow.  Is that not where we are heading in America?  Is that not where we are in many inner cities?  What has happened?  How did we get to this place?  Daniels maintains, and I almost completely agree with him,

In other words, practically no behavior is now beyond the pale for the British state.  Sadly, the freedom to behave badly is almost the only freedom valued by, or left to, young Britons.

What has caused this collapse of civility in Britain, which was, within living memory, a civil country?  In my view, it is a demotic version of egalitarianism, allied with multiculturalism.

Even middle-class people now behave in an increasingly uncouth and rough fashion in Britain because they think that by doing so they are expressing their solidarity with the lower reaches of their society.  Imitation, they think, is the highest form of sympathy.  This, of course, is an implicit insult to many of the poor, for poverty and unmannerliness are by no means the same thing.

Multiculturalism is damaging because it denies that, when it comes to culture, there is a better and a worse, a higher and a lower- only a difference.  The word culture is used here in its anthropological sense, that is to mean the totality of behavior that is not directly biological.

Hence any conduct- lying scantily clad in a pool of vomit, for example- is part of a culture, and since all cultures, ex hypothesis, are of equal worth, no one has the moral right to criticize, much less forbid, any kind of behavior.  And if I have to accept your culture, you have to accept mine.  If you don't like it- tough.  Unfortunately, the lowest level of culture is the easiest to reach and, again ex hypothesis, there is no reason to aim higher.

Incivility in Britain thus has a militant or ideological edge to it.  The uncivil British are not uncivilized by default- they actively hate and repudiate civilization.

Again, here is something to actively ponder!  In America we are not quite to this point- at least not in most of our culture.  Yet, is this not what we are teaching our young?  Is this not what we have learned with the recent you-tube sensations that Noonan mentions?  Is this not what is being taught in the "best  colleges" that refuse to teach Western Civilization?

I, for one, am tired of giving into this race to the bottom of culture.  What can we do to change this cultural tide?

How can God use me?

I am blessed to have Christian friends who work for the gospel around the world.  Some of these folks have ministry that impact thousands of people in many countries each year.  Others have local ministries that impact less than 100.  Each of these missionaries and pastors has their own strengths and weakness.  Each is learning to grow in grace.

As I think of these friends and their ministries, I am reminded that folks often express and believe that only "super-Christians" like these missionaries or pastors could be used by God.  I have often heard people say, "I wish God could you me like he uses pastors and missionaries."  Others say, "I mess up so much that I doubt God could use me."  Somehow many believe that "When I get it all together, then I will be able to serve God."

In my years in the ministry, I have heard all these statements expressed in different terms, but uttered many times.  Many people believe such nonsense!  I am writing today to encourage us that God can use anyone and everyone who is open to His leading.  Yes, God can use you to advance His Kingdom.

Let me give an example from Jesus' most famous followers, the Disciples.  In Matthew 28:17, the writer gives us a glimpse into their hearts and minds.  As a group, they go to Galilee in response to Jesus' request.  He appears to them and "When they saw him, they worshiped him."  Obviously, they believed he was the Messiah.  A good Jew of that day and age would not have worshiped anything but God.  They believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Obviously they did not understand all that this means (who has!), but they knew Jesus was the Messiah.

"But some doubted."  This is the next part of versus 17.  What did they doubt?  Obviously from the context they did not doubt that Jesus was the Messiah.  Instead, Matthew's context might give a glimpse into the cause of their doubts when he records the Great Commission.  "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples..."

These early Christ-followers doubted that God could use them.  Why?  They had rejected him.  Peter might have been one of the biggest doubters as he had sworn his fidelity to Jesus, and then denied him three times in an evening.  They had more questions than answers.  In the last week of Jesus' life, they had fought over who was the greatest.  They no longer had the assurance of Jesus' presence in a physical sense.  From the accounts, it is obvious the risen Jesus did not show up on command.  He had appeared, but when would be the next time?

They were living and believing just like we often do today!  How could Jesus use them?  They were so disappointing.  They were struggling.  They did not have all the answers.  They now did not have Jesus' physical presence.  How could God use them?

"Surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age."  Jesus concludes with words of promise and hope.  Words of Grace into the midst of the disciples' fear and doubt.  He was not leaving them as orphans!  He would lead them!  He would work in, through, and even in spite of them.  He would use their strengths, their weaknesses, their sin, their doubt, and their times of faith.  He knew their past, but He did not condemn.  He gave a command to go and make disciples sandwiched between the promise of His power and authority (it is really about Him and not us), and his promise of abiding presence.

How can God use you?  How can He use me?  Real ministry is about trusting in His grace that He can use you even with our weaknesses.  In fact, Christ often uses us through our weaknesses, as Paul tells us that His power works through broken vessels (2 Cor. 4:7).  As I see it, there are three keys to being used by God:

1.) Recognize and confess that we are broken "jars of clay."  Don't put on airs or think your answers will change anything or anyone.  Confess your need for God to work!

2.) Ask God to work through you. Missionaries or pastors are not a special class of Christian.  We are all priests of the Great King!  Ask Jesus to use you at work, at home, or where ever you find yourself.  Walk in partnership with Him.  Talk with Him about people and situations.

3.) Be open to God's leading.  In other words, have your eyes open to opportunities to love God and neighbor.  Sometimes this means speaking.  Often it just means going out of your way to express love and concern.  As you do this, you will be amazed at the opportunities that will arise to speak about what God has done in your life.

Authentic grace means that God can use people like the disciples: folks like you and like me!  I am so encouraged by this fact.  Do not fear for Jesus is the risen King!

Vacation, Revival, and Sabbath Rest

And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27

As a family, we are enjoying a great time at the beach with our extended family.  It is the first real "going somewhere" vacation we have had in several years.  We are here to celebrate my in-laws 50th anniversary and our 20th anniversary.  After five days, I am really starting to relax.  It reminded me of my childhood.

When I was growing up, we would take three- or four-week vacations to the beach in Michigan.  Generally, the first week we would run all over the place.  It was hard to slow down!  Then the second week we would relax totally.  All we could do is sleep.  Finally, the third week was one of enjoyment.  The stress was gone, we were caught up on rest, and we felt like ourselves again.

Why is this the case?  I do not believe the human nervous system is made to go all the time.  I think one of the major causes of illness in the West today is our lack of true rest and separation from the normal stresses of life.  We never allow our nervous system and body to rest.

What do I mean?  When was the last time you even heard of someone taking a three- or four-week vacation?  We take Thursday and Friday off, go on an action packed four night cruise, and we claim we had a vacation.  In such a case, it is more likely we enjoyed gluttony than a true rest!

In the past, people went on holiday for a month.  As a family, they went somewhere to get away.  This time and space allowed their bodies to rest and recuperate.  Why did we lose this cultural practice?

Jesus often spoke about the importance of rest in the human life.  He taught that we should obey the command concerning the Sabbath not merely because it "pleases God" but because we need it!  In fact, God's command was for our benefit (like all of them are).  

What is the Sabbath?  It is setting apart one day in seven to rest, set aside the normal activities of life, and to grow in trust in God.  

How do we grow in trust in God?  Keeping the Sabbath is a good start.  Working non-stop illustrates a profound lack of trust in God to provide and work apart from our labors.  When we cannot "shut-it-down" we live as one apart from Christ.  We prove we trust more in our actions than in God.

But what about all the people who need me?  What about all the work demands?  Friends, are you really that necessary?  Can God not take care of these folks and these demands?  Of course He can!  Trust that He will do so!

I think real vacation should be the same.  While we have not gone anywhere the past couple of years because of financial reasons and because we own a farm, we have taken at least two weeks straight of rest and vacation.  Typically I have played in the yard with my kids, fished, rested, and just turned my eyes back to Jesus.

These extended times of rest have quieted my "inner dialogue" that always seems to grow over the course of a year.  Do you have the same inner dialogue?  The voice inside my head that runs through all the bad conversations and the relational hurts as well as my needs, my wants, and desires.  Generally right before vacation, this voice dominates my life!  By the end of vacation, peace, quiet, and a resting in God is my new rule.

So where are you in life?  Do you need to begin the practice of taking a true Sabbath rest?  Work it in this week!  Do you need to take a real vacation?  Start making plans!

Perhaps the reason you are not experiencing revival and renewal is your schedule does not allow space for God to quiet you and transform you by His grace.

One Cause of Church Splits

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?  

Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

You desire and do not have, so you murder.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel." 

James 4:1-2

This morning I am reflecting upon a passage I read in Gene Wood's Leading Turnaround Churches over the weekend.  This is a specialized book for pastors, but I enjoyed re-reading it as I walked on my elliptical machine.  

In the book, Wood was describing some of the primary reasons for church power struggles.  One of these reasons was the common struggle between Pioneers and and Homesteaders.  This description comes from a famous church growth consultant named Lyle Schaller.  As Wood writes,

"Pioneers and homesteaders always find it difficult to get along with one another.  The pioneers feel they have the 'first rights' to the land and resent the intrusion of the homesteaders.  This happens in the church too." (49)

When I pastored a rather contentious church in Minnesota, I experienced this first-hand.  I can see now that I never should have gone to the church as it was not ready for change and growth.  I was desperate.  They were desperate.  Nothing good ever happens when two desperate folks get together!

When I interviewed at the church, I told them what needed to be done to change and grow.  When I arrived, I did what I said I would do.  The result was many new believers and a strong influx of new people into the church.  At the same time, I started a "range-war."

Why?  To use Schaller's language, I did not respect the pioneer prospective.  These folks had a long history at this church, and they thought of themselves as owners of it.  When new folks came in with new ideas, it challenged their "authority" and past.  These homesteaders were concerned with the here and now and not the past.  As the new pastor, I was identified, no matter what I did or said, with the new intruding "homesteaders."  

What happened?  Before the new folks (including my wife and I!) could be brought in as new members, the pioneers called a congregational meeting, said many disparaging, malicious, and false things against me and the new "homesteaders" and they voted in a close vote to "go back to the way things were."  These moves caused the homesteaders to leave.  Within six months of the vote, I resigned.

What causes fights and quarrels within the church?  Many issues!  Perhaps the most important was the question of control.  Often people who are very controlling come to positions of power in the church.  Often we allow the squeaky wheel to get our attention and into positions of power.  These folks have no real concern with the Kingdom of God.  Instead, they believe their wishes and desires are the Kingdom!

When control is lost or a threat to the control is seen on the horizon, these folks "murder, covet, fight and quarrel." (James 4:2)  Unfortunately, the collateral damage is huge!  Equally unfortunately, most of the time those desiring control at all costs do not care or they blame it on everyone else.

Have you been caught in an event like this?  Did you cause it?  Repent!  Confess your control issues and look to Jesus to bring healing in your soul and to those whom you hurt.  If you lived through it and were hurt by it, I challenge you to understand what happened.  These struggles in the church illustrate the reality of the Fall of humanity.  The church is an institution in need of grace and renewal or it will quarrel and fight!  All sides need to repent and believe!  People and churches will let you down because they live in and reflect our fallen world.  Jesus does not let us down, and He loves the Church.

Understanding the human heart

"Go and say to this people:

'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'

Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed."

Isa. 6: 9-10

As a pastor, I have served churches in many parts of the United States.  I have also served as a witness for Christ in a 10 week summer mission trip to southeast Asia.  Lord willing, I hope to be a witness for Christ in many other parts of the world in the next 20 years.  In every place I have gone, I have seen people come to know Jesus and others who have been completely hardened to the gospel.  Why is there such a range of response?

In the passage above, Isaiah has just seen the Lord, and he has fallen down before Him.  The Lord took a burning coal, touched his lips, and made him a vessel ready to bring the Word of the Lord.  In other words, Isaiah just experience repentance and faith from seeing his true condition before the Holy God and calling out for mercy followed by a commissioning for ministry.

After this conversion, Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  Notice the plural "us", which demonstrates the multiple personhood of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  In response to this question, Isaiah says, "Here am I!  Send me."  The above passage is the message the Lord gives Isaiah.

So, why do some believe the message of the gospel and many others reject it?  The human condition apart from God's grace is that of one deaf, blind, and hard-hearted to spiritual truth.  As Paul says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins."  Dead people cannot respond to outside stimuli!  Apart from being made alive again, they cannot respond.

I know this biblical teaching goes against what so many of us wish to believe.  In our culture, we know that we are not really dead in sin.  We can change if we really wanted to!  How dare your write or even thing such things?  

I write that the human heart apart from God's grace is deaf, blind, hard-hearted and dead in sin because according to the scriptures, it is true.  We are dead to true spiritual situation unless the Lord opens our eyes, unstops our ears, and changes our hearts.  When He does, we turn or repent and we find healing!  

This teaching does not mean that we do not have a measure of a free will.  We can love our families and friends.  We can be honest.  We can be generous.  We can have good self-control.  We can even give up drinking or anything else we call a vice.  In other words, we are not robots!  Being created in the image of God gives us great gifts and abilities.

So what happened?  What is dead within us is the gift of Faith which brings us repentant and trusting faith in the living God.  Such faith is foreign to our fallen human nature.  Without God's grace, we will not have living faith!

We need true revival because apart from God's grace we cannot bring lasting transformation to anyone. We may improve someone's morals.  We may help them have a positive outlook.  Yet, we cannot bring repentant faith apart from God's grace.  We cannot unstop their ears, open their eyes, or soften their hearts to the gospel.  Why?  Because apart from God's grace, they freely choose to walk in their own paths and decisions apart from repentant faith.

We need true revival in most parts of the world today!  Let's pray that God will send it.  Pray for individuals and groups of people that God will open their eyes and ears so they may see and hear the gospel.  Pray that they may have hearts softened and ready to respond.  May many turn and find healing for their souls!