No, I am not Roman Catholic. CatholicVote2008.com has put together an excellent video to remind us all that it’s not as important who you vote for as it is that you vote. I believe all Christians should be able to agree with the message of this film. It’s a good way to spend the next 3 1/2 minutes.
My video quit working, watch it here on InternetMonk.
In the Old Testament, God gave Moses the Law so that the Hebrews could be His people and He could be their God. Most people are familiar with the 10 Commandments, but there were many others. You can read page after page in Leviticus and Deuteronomy about what to do if your bull accidentally kills one of your neighbors sheep and other such unlikely events. Many laws were simply about calling the Hebrews out to be different from the culture they lived in. Every now and then, some well-meaning Bible teacher wanders into the Levitical law and comes out preaching a sermon about how God does not want us to eat catfish. Some people make the argument that it’s all impossible to understand, and that we could never keep all of the law. That conclusion would be exactly the correct one to reach. Continue reading
Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, is publishing a book online about pornography and masturbation. Each week a new chapter is added, which you can read online and/or download a PDF. The first five chapters are already available at Porn Again Christian, where you can also read a table of contents that lists the dates of upcoming chapters. Continue reading
We live in the richest nation on earth. It may be borrowed money, and we may be about to pay the piper for it, but Americans are simply the wealthiest society ever in history. We currently consume over half of the world’s natural resources. The poverty line in the United States is higher than the per capita income of many nations. My dog drinks cleaner water than about half of the world’s children. We spent more money last year on ice cream than NASA spent in the entire space program. That is the beauty of capitalism. The revenues generated go back into fueling the system. Carl Marx predicted capitalism would destroy itself, but you see, greed makes it work. Our greed drives us to work harder, put in more hours, educate ourselves to get higher positions, etc. And what do we do with all of that additional hard-earned cash? WE SPEND IT, creating jobs and providing increasing salaries for our friends and neighbors. So what went wrong? Continue reading
I set out to make a short list of essential posts, my list of personal and reader favorites from all the material found on The Master’s Table. Writing a “short list” almost proved too great a task for me. The new page “Best Of” is sort of an anthology of my work here on this blog. I don’t expect anyone to go back and read each post, but the 18 posts listed almost form a working theology of everything I believe. Some of these probably deserve a repost, and I will actually be looking over some of them as I prepare sermon material in the near future.
The simple answer is yes. Jesus was radical in his ministry and teachings. He questioned the rulers of the Jewish faith, he threw people out of the temple, he pronounced woe to the scribes and Pharisees, he performed healings and miracles on the Sabbath, his disciples did not fast, and even ate without washing their hands. His whole Sermon on the Mount turned the Jewish traditions and laws seemingly upside down. The simple answer is that Jesus was a radical; however, I don’t believe it’s that simple. Continue reading
I want to share with my friends and readers the different Bible studies I’m in right now, but don’t want to sound like I’m bragging. I work in full time ministry, so there’s lots of people leading many different activities all around us. I’m not trying to wave in anyone’s face how holy I am or anything like that.
I remember my dad teaching through the book of Matthew when I was in the 8th grade. We might do a few verses this week, or just one. Then we’d pick up next Sunday where we left off. It takes months sometimes to get through a book this way (or years) but it provides a thorough understanding. I seem to have wound up in several studies like that at the same time. The Sunday School class I attend is studying the book of Galatians. Anytime you study one of Paul’s letters you get some history of Paul, and often compare what he writes to one church with what is written to another.
Our Sunday a.m. text until advent begins is the book of Phillipians. The a.m. small group my wife and I lead is working through the Gospel of Mark. And our men’s morning devotional group is doing a verse by verse study of Nehemiah. That’s a total of 2 epistles, 1 gospel account, and one Old Testament book of history. I don’t always take enough time to study scripture on my own. This whole situation is a blessing to me because of the consistency.
In the first chapter of Mark (I happen to be leading a study of Mark) Jesus begins to call his first disciples. Jesus had many followers, but from those he called out 12 to be his “inner circle” if you will. In verses 16-20 he calls first Simon (Peter) and Andrew, then James and John. All 4 of these men were fishermen. This was not the most respected vocation in first century Israel. Fishermen worked long hours, spent a lot of time away from home and family, and they, well to be honest, stank. Fish stink, guys that spend a lot of time with them also stink. It was hard work, and while you could make a living at it, a fisherman would never really “be somebody.”
In Mark chp. 2 Jesus calls Levi (Matthew). He was a tax collector. He may have had more education than a fisherman, and would have definitely had more money. Most were crooked however, so he still would not have had a lot of friends. If he did, they were also crooks and/or tax collectors. We don’t know as much about some of the other disciples. Luke was not one of the 12, but he was obviously hanging around. Remember that Jesus had other followers and students besides the 12. If Luke was not following Jesus from place to place during his ministry, we know for sure that he was very much involved in the formation of the early church. Luke was physician. This was a guy that was not only educated, he would have been respected in the community. So what am I getting at?
God calls all types of people into his service. There is not a Christian type, but he invites all types to become Christian, then uses whatever they bring with them to the table to further his kingdom and spread the gospel. In Luke 8, we find out that many women were not only following Jesus, but supporting his ministry financially. Luke does not neglect to list some names for us. And just to top off the list, one of the first miracles performed by Jesus was healing Simon’s mother-in-law (Mark 1). There’s only one way to get a mother-in-law; it’s a small detail, but we learn that Simon was married. God calls into his service the educated and the illiterate; the single and the married; men and women; those respected by the community and those disrespected. God is not interested in our ability, but in our availability.
One more thing: Go back to Exodus chp 3 and see what happens when God calls someone who is not interested. After God speaks to Moses from the burning bush, Moses’ first response is “Who am I to go before Pharaoh?” God answers he will be with him. In chp 4 Moses questions if the people will believe God spoke to him. Moses complains he is not a good speaker. He finally comes right out and asks God to please send someone else. By this time God is angry with Moses. We are the body of Christ; he has already done the hard stuff. We need to be willing to respond when he calls us. And there is no one that he cannot use, no matter how many excuses we can come up with. Let’s be the salt and the light people.
We’re studying the Gospel of Mark in our Sunday morning small group, and my wife was fascinated by one of the stories in chapter one. As this person possessed by a demon is approached by Jesus, he identifies Jesus and asks why he is there. Jesus at once commands his silence, then casts out the unclean spirit. This event was early in his ministry, and Jesus didn’t want anyone blabbing out who he really was just yet. On at least one occasion, Jesus will instruct those just healed to tell no one what has happened. The interested thing, though, is that the demonic spirit knew immediately that Jesus was the Holy One of God when he saw him. Many people would listen to the sermons, see the signs and wonders, and still not believe. Jesus would read from the prophets, have long talks with leaders such as Nicodemus, and still people would walk away puzzled not knowing what to believe. But any demon or unclean spirit Jesus encountered at once knew who he was, and often questioned if they were to be punished before the time. We should not be surprised at their apparent knowledge.
Jesus exists from everlasting to everlasting with God. The Nicene Creed describes him as being the eternally begotten Son of God. Before their fall from grace, the angelic beings worshipped God (and his Son) in heaven. Consider also the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness. The devil can quote scripture, no doubt. And just why was he offering Jesus all this stuff anyway? He knew that by following God’s plan, Jesus could ruin all of his plans. Herod had tried to kill Jesus as an infant, now Satan would attempt to derail his ministry just as it was beginning. Just because someone believes in God or knows scripture doesn’t make them a true believer. This is illustrated by James 2:19 that says “…even the devils believe and shudder.” They know the scripture, the prophesies, and even the God that created them better than we do.
When you meet a person on the street and say that you are a Christian, what you mean by that and what a stranger thinks may be galaxies apart from each other. Bill Maher has commented on how ridiculous it is to believe that a cracker turns into the body of a guy that’s been dead for 2,000 years, and your salvation depends on eating it. That’s one way in which the outside world views Christianity. And when other people hear that, that’s what they think of all Christians. The reference is to the Roman Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, and most Protestants find it ridiculous also; yet they break the bread and take the cup. That’s just one example of thousands where Christians disagree.
I wrote an article in April called Roman Catholic Christians in which I listed several things that Baptists and Catholics agree on, all having to do with the work and divinity of Jesus Christ. Recently there have been some new comments, and I’ve responded to those, but that’s so far back I decided to bring it up again. Continue reading
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