Category Archives: Christianity

SBC Name Change: Update

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Will Southern Baptists change their name?  Last week I said the answer was a little yes, a little no.  Literally.

The SBC task force appointed to study the prospects of changing the name recommends adding a tagline, the descriptor “Great Commission Baptists.”  Micah Fries, a member of that task force, has revealed much of what went into making that recommendation.  Read the post in its entirety; here’s an excerpt:

Changing the name to something that sounded good today, but would lose potency and effectiveness over time had little appeal to me. From my perspective, Great Commission Baptists was a great choice, as it did not preserve some of the baggage that comes with a name like Southern Baptist all the while clearly explaining our desire to unite around the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Task Force came to the unanimous recommendation that ‘Great Commission Baptists’ captures well who we have historically aspired to be and propels us forward to a bright Great Commission focused future.

A discussion of financial considerations is included, as well as a plea to prayerfully consider supporting the recommendation.  Thoughts?  Concerns?  Many feel there are more important issues we could be spending our time and energy on, but that may not happen for a while.

From the Archives: Jesus Was Not Religious

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During his lifetime Jesus was an observant Jew.  But doing more and more religious things is not the same as living a life that is being transformed into the image of Christ.  The following was originally published June 22, 2009.

I’ve said before that the problem with religion is that it’s easier than following Jesus.  It is usually a given that something is wrong with us, wrong with the world, perhaps critically or else just a little off, but most people agree that something must be done because all is not right in the world as it is.  Religion, in most cases, offers us the chance to do something.  If we read the right book, say the right things, act right, talk right and treat each others the right way we can “fix” what is wrong.  Religion, as such, is worthless.  But what could I mean that Jesus was not religious?

The religious leaders of his day were the Pharisees, and a careful reading of the Gospels shows that Jesus never really had much good to say about them.  He was always willing to share with anyone seeking to understand the truth (i.e. Nicodemus), but as a group Jesus was most likely to call them hypocrites, false teachers, spiritually blind, and sometimes worse.  Continue reading →

Not Enough Hours in the Day

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There are posts filed away that were started and never finished.  I have ideas that never got as far as unfinished posts.  There are things I would like to share that are just never going to happen.  There are just not enough hours in the day for me to blog everything I would like to.

Blue Like Jazz (written by Donald Miller, see also Searching for God Knows What) has been made into a movie.   It opens April 13th.  I saw this a couple of days ago about Barack Obama’s Christianity, and read an interesting article asking “Who is authorized to Baptize?” at SBC Voices.  I wish I could read everything on the Christian blogosphere and link to everything you should read, but for the time being I’ll leave that to Paul Wilkinson (Wednesday Link List) and Jeff Dunn (Saturday Ramblings on Internet Monk).  I rely on those guys to keep me informed.

Maybe I want too much.  Isn’t that always the way?  We’re in full time ministry, raising a two-year-old, and I’m trying to finish a book.  The same book I’ve started three times already, this time making it to chapter six.  Sometimes I daydream about starting a vlog, but I started a Bible Survey website that never got out of Genesis.  I probably don’t need to do more, but focus on doing a better job at what’s already on my plate.  Still, I look at these guys that post 3 or 4 times a day, often more than I do in a week, and think how do they do that?  Must be nice.

What is Ash Wednesday?

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Re-posted from March 17, 2009.  The original title was Ash Wednesday, Lent, (and p.s. Mardi Gras)  The only change is the date in line 2.  

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday occurs 46 days before Easter, 40 days if you don’t count Sundays.  This year it fell on February 22nd.  This marks the beginning of Lent, a time of preparation for Holy Week.  At an Ash Wednesday service, part of the ceremony is placing ashes on the forehead as an outward symbol that you will be observing Lent.  During the 40 day period something is given up, anything typically important to the individual, and more time spent in prayer, worship and meditation.  Lent is about preparing ourselves spiritually to observe Holy Week, the days between Palm Sunday and Easter.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is one week before Easter, and celebrates Jesus’ triumphal entry.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to celebrate Passover.  The crowd shouted “Hosanna”, and waved palm branches.  Actual palm branches may be used in a Palm Sunday service, and those branches will be saved until next year, burned, and the ashes used during the Ash Wednesday service mentioned above.  The same Jews shouting “Hosanna” at Jesus’ entry would be shouting “Crucify him” just a few days later.

Good Friday

Continue reading →

You Have to Be a Friend

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There’s an old saying that goes “To have a friend, you have to be a friend.” The implication is that if you are friendly others will be friendly toward you. There is no guarantee that if you put yourself out there others will reciprocate. Even if you don’t have a friend, the Christ-like thing to do is be a friend anyway.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13, ESV) Jesus had 12 chosen apostles and a multitude of followers, but during his trial and crucifixion nearly every single one of them ran away. Jesus was a friend of sinners, healed legions of the sick and afflicted, feed thousands, but when the time came… he was left alone. His mother was there, and perhaps one disciple. Peter denied Jesus three times, and even invoked a curse on himself. After Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the rest had fled in fear.

Yet on the cross, Jesus extended mercy even toward the people that were nailing him to the tree. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We are told to give without expecting repayment, to walk the extra mile (literally) and  to turn the other cheek. Jesus’ final command was to love. We are to have the same mind is us that Christ had. Regardless of what anyone else does or doesn’t do…

You have to be a friend.

The Cross Isn’t Pretty

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There’s a little icon on my desktop that represents a trash can.  A real trash can would be showing its age by now, but my icon always looks exactly the same.  It never gets filthy, never dents, never smells, and the lid always closes no matter how much “trash” is inside.  The icon represents a trash can, but a real trash can isn’t pretty.  So it is with the cross.

We wear crosses of gold and silver about the neck, carve them into our church pews, paint them in our artwork and place them above our church buildings.  As an icon, the cross represents Christianity.  But our images have no splinters, rusty nails, nor do they drip with the blood of the slain.  The image of the cross is meant to remind us that the broken body of Christ was hung on the tree.  Our communion wafers are perfect little squares, and the wine/juice tastes sweet, but the body of the Lord was broken and his blood poured out.  Flesh was ripped away by the whip.  Blood and sweat mingled and dripped to the ground.  The air was ripe with the smell of blood and the stench of death.  The cross was an instrument of torture and execution.

I’m not suggesting we do away with the symbols.  It is our nature to forget, and we must be reminded of what God has done.  Rainbows actually are beautiful, but they remind us of mercy in the face of judgment.  Baptism represents death of the old man and rebirth of the new.  Passover reminded the Jews of what God had done for them, just as communion does for us today.  Our hope is in the resurrection, made possible by the crucifixion.  We must remember what God has done.  But remember as well… it wasn’t pretty.

Coffee with Jesus: Re-Posting

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Click the image to see full size

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I love Jesus.  I am not ashamed of the Gospel.  But I’m not guilted into copying & pasting nor reposting every lame statues update, jpeg image and gif file that tells me I have to.  “If you love Jesus you will repost, if you love Satan you will keep scrolling.”  Bull crap!  Today it’s Facebook, but we went through the same thing for about a decade with e-mail.  There is something that compels people to dream up new ways to get people to re-forward.  It doesn’t have to be religious; Facebook is not donating 3 cents each time you retweet that sick image of the little girl with cancer (if that’s even what the picture is of).

The e-mail petitions used to kill me.  Let’s say you get a petition in your inbox for a cause you really believe in.  If you add your name and forward to 10 people, as soon as those people sign and forward you’ve just created 10 different permutations of the petition list.  There is no way to consolidate that raw data back into one list.  Even if the 1000th person forwards it to whomever, what they will end up receiving is hundreds, possibly thousands of different lists.  Many of the names will be duplicates, especially of the early signatures, but each petition will be unique.  If you sign and forward, a day or two later you will start getting the petition again, and no two will be alike even if your is signature is #25 on each one.

I am not ashamed Jesus, so not forwarding your email or reposting your status will not cause him to be ashamed of me before his father.  You can read my Facebook profile or any one of 400 blog posts to know how I feel about Jesus.  I teach Bible at a Christian school, and preach frequently in our chapel and at a small church nearby.  I lead a youth group, play and sing praise & worship music, have driven a church van and some years ago played on a men’s church softball team.  When I “keep scrolling” it’s not because I love Satan.  Just for the record.

Surprised by Jesus

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In the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus begins his public ministry and gets right to it, so to speak.  By the end of Mark 1 Jesus has been baptized by John, tempted by Satan, called the first 4 apostles, cast out a demon and healed many people, including Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

Jesus’ apostles know that he can heal the sick and cast out demons.  They were given power and authority to do those same things.  But at the end of Mark 4 they are filled when fear when Jesus calms a storm.  “Who then is this, that event the wind and sea obey him?”  They were surprised by Jesus, their own leader and teacher.  They had been given power to heal the sick, but seeing Jesus command the raging storm to be peaceful was more than they expected.  It appears they woke him up to help bail water.  He criticized their lack of faith, and it appears that even they don’t get.

I set out to write a sermon titled “Don’t be surprised by Jesus.”  He was, after all, the Son of God.  After everything else they have already witnessed and been a part of, how could they still not understand?  Along the way I realized that it is unreasonable to not be surprised by Jesus.  He is surprising, his grace is amazing, and his love and mercy surpass our understanding.  Throughout his ministry he is talking to women, eating with tax collectors, and touching lepers.  As he is nailed to the cross to die, he prays for the people crucifying him.  “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”  If you’re not surprised yet, read further into the New Testament where we are commanding to think that way.  (Try Philippians 2)

We must not become so comfortable that we are not surprised by Jesus.  We can be lulled into such a sense of complacency that we miss the spiritual warfare going on around us.  There’s a line in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe that says of Aslan “He’s not a tame lion.”  Jesus is incarnate deity, maker of heaven and earth, who will one day judge the nations.  It’s a shame that after a time we get used to it.  Just don’t be surprised when you get surprised.

Life Begins Before Conception

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When does life begin?  Consider Jeremiah 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:5 ESV)

What about in the cases of rape or incest?  What if the mother’s life is in danger? Does a woman not have the right to choose when it comes to her own body?

Abortion is used in this country as birth control.  If allowing abortion for exceptional cases such as rape or incest would allow all other abortions to be made illegal in this country I would support it.  The very vast majority of abortion procedures in this country are for birth control.  Pregnancy is seen as a nasty side effect of a pleasure seeking lifestyle.  A baby would “cramp our style” or “get in the way” so abortion is an easy answer for people that act like they don’t know where babies come from.  For some women, who have had 10 or more abortions, that is their only form a birth control.

Of course a woman has the right to choose.  How about choosing to honor God with your body?  Men have always had it a little easier when it comes to “moving on” after a relationship, but each father will give an account of how many fatherless children he created or how many abortions took place to clean up his mess.

Each human being is created in the image of God.  

God created life and it is precious to him.

Your life is a gift from God and someday each individual will give account with what they did with what was given.  To whom much is given, much shall be required.  The command in the Garden of Eden was to be fruitful and multiply.  Our ability to procreate is God-given to fulfill his purposes, not simply to enjoy ourselves while we here.

God had a plan for your life before you were born.  Before you were conceived he knew you; his plans are to prosper you, not to harm you.  He gave his only son, and the Son gave his life, so you and I might live.  And what some doctors would have you believe is tissue, nothing but a lump of cells much like a tumor?  That is God’s gift also.