Category Archives: Christianity

Coffee with Jesus: Re-Posting

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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.

The Intersection of Gay Marriage and Tennis

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I had never heard of Margaret Court until I read this story out of Australia.  Apparently the Australian Open is played at the Margaret Court Arena.  She is a professional tennis champion, holding 62 Grand Slam titles.  Court is also a pastor with an uncompromising view on gay marriage.  Because of her celebrity status in the world of tennis, her views on marriage and family have attracted what she feels is unwarranted criticism.  There could be protests at the Australian Open next week, and some are calling for the arena to be renamed.

Read the full story here, via Utterance.  Thank you Peter Hallett for the coverage.

The real shame would be if Court is denied the recognition she deserves from the professional world of tennis because of her convictions in her role as church pastor.  Her views on marriage are based on scriptural precepts and have not changed.  Only recently, however, have they become a thing of public scrutiny.  The same protesters waving rainbow flags and claiming people should be accepted the way they are seem to be refusing to accept Margaret Court for the way she is.  If her name is removed from the arena because of her views on marriage, which differs from some people, that almost smacks of prejudice.

Can We Be Christlike?

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We are commanded to be like Christ.  We must imitate him and be conformed to his image; we must “put on” Christ.  These are New Testament directives.  But we will never really become exactly like him.  So what is the goal?

I use artificial sweetener in my tea.  It’s not the same as sugar, but I have tried and failed to drink unsweetened tea.  Diet pop, Mrs. Dash and Smart Balance butter-flavored whatever that is are all examples of products made to imitate the real thing.  While we endeavor to become like Christ, we will never do so perfectly.  But it’s a progression; we’re on  a journey.  The real goal is to keep getting closer.  Paul said has not achieved it yet but he continued to press on toward the mark and the prize. Continue reading →

John Wayne, Robert Schuller, and Why I Read Snopes.com

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If you think that title is a little far out, just be glad I didn’t settle on “Will I Meet John Wayne in Heaven?”

Snopes.com is an incredible resource for fact checking urban legends and internet scams.  Remember the whole Veggie Monster debacle?  There are still plenty of people that think Cookie Monster has been removed from Sesame Street and replaced with a health conscious, veggie munching counterpart designed to combat childhood obesity.  There was an email writing campaign to get him back on the show.  Thing is, he never went anywhere.  He admits that “Cookies are a sometimes food” but there is not now nor has there ever been a Veggie Monster.  Sesame Street has denied rumors and even issued press releases, but the rumor is larger than life.  People repeat it without any confirmation whatsoever, making it the perfect example of what happens when we copy and paste total fabrications.  If people would spend 60 seconds on Snopes, such stories would die a quick death. Continue reading →

Our Daily Bread

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Our Daily Bread is a daily devotional magazine and the signature product of RBC Ministries.  A few years ago I was a daily reader.  I will skip all the details, but it’s suffice to say that it’s been a while.  I’ve thought about subscribing again a couple of times.  Just a few minutes ago I searched Google for Our Daily Bread and was pleasantly surprised.

At odb.org you can read the text of each devotion, or click the player to hear the mp3.  Our Daily Bread is still available in print format, or you can subscribe to email or RSS feeds.  They are also on iTunes and I just liked their Facebook page.  As a fan of social media and a blogger, I don’t know why it never occurred to me that Our Daily Bread would have made the update to the Information Age.

This daily devotion can be read in under five minutes, but I found it a great way to put myself in the right frame of mind to face the day.  I’ve also packed it in my lunch and took just a few minutes in the middle of the day to recenter.  These are not the hard sayings of Jesus and there will not be any emotionally charged reviews of Mark Driscoll’s new book on sex.  It’s a few minutes in God’s word and a little bit of encouragement each day.  And I’m looking forward to it.

The Answer is Jesus

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“If God is the question, Jesus is the answer.”

That’s why I love Michael Spencer.  I still read Christian blogs, including Internet Monk.  I author a Christian blog, but haven’t found anything that gets my gears turning the way Spencer did.  Read this classic iMonk post to see what I’m talking about.

Michael Spencer was blogging before I knew what a blog was. He started internetmonk.com 12 years ago, really getting in on the ground floor of the Christian blogosphere. Chaplain Mike and others keep the dream alive at iMonk after Michael passed away in April of 2010.  I was a disciple of  Michael in real life for seven years, and he had a profound impact on the way I think about ministry.  The post linked above cuts right to the heart Christianity.

Coffee with Jesus: Give with your Mouth Shut

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Coffee with Jesus is a comic strip produced by Radio Free Babylon.  They’re for people with a sense of humor and this one helps teach an important lesson.