In taking a class on the History of the western church, I have discovered something groundbreaking. The way a Christian views the past and the future effects the way in which they live their lives. Let me explain.
In looking at the North African theologian Augustine, the class got into a spirited brawl about Christian views of the end times. After the blood has cleaned up, and the chairs were righted, Professor Spencer asked the class an interesting question.
"How does your view of the end times effect the way you live your life?" At first, this struck me as an odd question. What does the eschaton have to do with every day life? As I began to think about it, I came to some Conclusions.
Pre-millennialists believe that Jesus will return and then his thousand year reign on earth will happen. A pre-millennialist will traditionally see our culture as a sinking ship, that will continually get worse until Christ comes back. This view often results in a present life of apathy. They will think of it as, "why polish the ship's bell, if its going down"? This apathy to our society causes many traditional premillenialists to simply disregard the downward decline of morality and ethics in our society and huddle in there little white churches.
Conversely, Post-millennialists believe that we are currently living in the millennial reign of Christ, having started at the Cross. They hold that until the kingdom of God is fully established on earth, Christ will not return. This view demands that we actively work in our societies to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. While this view is helpful in getting Christians active in their communities and societies it seems to predict a society that is progressively getting better. This view of the future directly effects the way we as Christians interact with the fallen world around us.
Unfortunately, neither view satisfies the revolutionary call of the gospel to love our neighbors. The premill view neglects the kingdom of God, while the postmill view requires the formation of the kingdom of God in order for Christ to return.
While the Post-Millennial view seems more biblical in construct, it fails to satisfy a basic requirement of faith. It would seem that we must consider a third alternative.
The kingdom of God is mention over 30 times by Jesus in the gospels, yet it doesn't seem to be important to many pre-millenialists. This is a sad and unfortunate reality. As someone who would agree with a premillenial view of the end-times, I must still work in my society to see God's Kingdom realized. This is not because Jesus is waiting for the Kingdom of God, but because we seek to see the salvation of the lost. Think of it this way.
In the sinking ship that is our society are many souls heading toward hell. We as Christians have been given a way off of the sinking ship into another boat. Why should we not present the hell-bound souls with the opportunity to get off the boat? We are seeking to slow the boats descent so that God can save as many as possible before the boat sinks and Christ returns.
So then let us remember that Christ our mediator will return, and whatever your view, we must actively do the work of God in our societies.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
115,000 orphans and this is a "Christian" country?
"America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop "shootin' up" with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease."
Anthony Bradley in his blog made a pretty convicting argument for the sad state of American Christianity.
"The Washington Times reports that there are about 65 million evangelicals in America. So, again, why are there 115,000 orphans in America's foster care system? Does this mean that there are 65 million people missing huge sections of their Bibles? Would someone please alert Crossway and Zondervan!
Here's the deal: pagans were introduced to Jesus because Christians were taking care of the needy in obedience to Scripture. Taking care of the needy is not done only for the sake of evangelism. Practicing "true religion" is an extension of the kinds of Kingdom-oriented, salt and light, truth-bearing, grace-filled, Jesus-loving people who live to treat other people the same way God treats them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
We were all orphans and God adopted us in his family, remember? "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Rom 8:14-16). As such, the best possible home for an orphan is in a home where a family is following Jesus together as former orphans themselves.
If your church is not cultivating an ethos that practices "true religion" it may not be missional at all. It may be dying or sinking into a consumeristic, entertainment quicksand where people come to have their "felt needs" stroked. Your pastor might wear "cool" clothes, have a "cool" blog, or be in the process of trying to make God and Jesus androgynous but God seems to care that his people are being led by capable men who lead the rest of God's people in bringing the Kingdom to their local neighborhood in all its forms.
While not all Christians are gifted or equipped for taking in orphans it's pretty convicting that 65 million American evangelicals can't rescue 115,000 kids from an unstable hell. If the pagans in our neighborhoods aren't struck by how our churches are applying the Word of God to the needy it's possible that we aren't the real deal yet. May we all pray that our churches are soon as mature as James commends. The revolution continues. . ."
Anthony recommends:
Bethany Christian Services (a Christian adoption agency operating in the US and abroad; www.bethany.org)
Anthony Bradley in his blog made a pretty convicting argument for the sad state of American Christianity.
"The Washington Times reports that there are about 65 million evangelicals in America. So, again, why are there 115,000 orphans in America's foster care system? Does this mean that there are 65 million people missing huge sections of their Bibles? Would someone please alert Crossway and Zondervan!
Here's the deal: pagans were introduced to Jesus because Christians were taking care of the needy in obedience to Scripture. Taking care of the needy is not done only for the sake of evangelism. Practicing "true religion" is an extension of the kinds of Kingdom-oriented, salt and light, truth-bearing, grace-filled, Jesus-loving people who live to treat other people the same way God treats them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
We were all orphans and God adopted us in his family, remember? "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Rom 8:14-16). As such, the best possible home for an orphan is in a home where a family is following Jesus together as former orphans themselves.
If your church is not cultivating an ethos that practices "true religion" it may not be missional at all. It may be dying or sinking into a consumeristic, entertainment quicksand where people come to have their "felt needs" stroked. Your pastor might wear "cool" clothes, have a "cool" blog, or be in the process of trying to make God and Jesus androgynous but God seems to care that his people are being led by capable men who lead the rest of God's people in bringing the Kingdom to their local neighborhood in all its forms.
While not all Christians are gifted or equipped for taking in orphans it's pretty convicting that 65 million American evangelicals can't rescue 115,000 kids from an unstable hell. If the pagans in our neighborhoods aren't struck by how our churches are applying the Word of God to the needy it's possible that we aren't the real deal yet. May we all pray that our churches are soon as mature as James commends. The revolution continues. . ."
Anthony recommends:
Bethany Christian Services (a Christian adoption agency operating in the US and abroad; www.bethany.org)
Friday, April 20, 2007
Joy in the Hard times
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance
and perseverance developes character and character; Hope
and hope will never fail us, for we do not hope in a God made by human hands but a God who has loved us so much that he would send his very son to die a traitor's death, so that we, lost and hopeless, may find peace through the blood of his cross
for when we were lost in our sins and without any hope for a life to come, Jesus Christ called us out of darkness into the Kingdom of the light, that we may be called Sons of God, not by anything we could ever do, but purely becasue of God's great love for us
for we know, that in the dark times, as well as in the greatest joys of our lives, our God will reign in holiness, loving us and preparing us for our best possible life of service to him
In the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God
Amen
and perseverance developes character and character; Hope
and hope will never fail us, for we do not hope in a God made by human hands but a God who has loved us so much that he would send his very son to die a traitor's death, so that we, lost and hopeless, may find peace through the blood of his cross
for when we were lost in our sins and without any hope for a life to come, Jesus Christ called us out of darkness into the Kingdom of the light, that we may be called Sons of God, not by anything we could ever do, but purely becasue of God's great love for us
for we know, that in the dark times, as well as in the greatest joys of our lives, our God will reign in holiness, loving us and preparing us for our best possible life of service to him
In the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God
Amen
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
City within a City
The relationship of Christians to culture is the singular current crisis point for the church. Evangelicals are deeply divided over how to interact with a social order that is growing increasingly post-Christian. Some advise a reemphasis on tradition and on "letting the church be the church," rejecting any direct attempt to influence society as a whole. Others are hostile to culture, but hopeful that they can change it through aggressive action, often of a political sort. Still others believe that "you change culture one heart at a time." Finally, many are attracted to the new culture and want to reengineer the church to modify its adversarial relationship with culture. Many in the "one heart at a time" party play down doctrine and stress experience, while some in the reengineering group are changing distinctives of evangelical doctrine in the name of cultural engagement. That is fueling much theological controversy, but even people who agree on the need for change disagree over what to do to our doctrine to reach the culture.
None of the strategies listed above should be abandoned. We need Christian tradition, Christians in politics, and effective evangelism. And the church has always contextualized itself into its surrounding culture. There are harmful excesses in every approach, however. I think that is because many have turned their specialty into a single magic bullet that will solve the whole problem. I doubt such a magic bullet exists, but just bundling them all together is not sufficient either.
Instead, we need a new and different strategy.
City Within a City
My first strategic point is simple: More Christians should live long-term in cities. Historians point out that by A.D. 300, the urban populations of the Roman Empire were largely Christian, while the countryside was pagan. (Indeed, the word pagan originally meant someone from the countryside—its use as a synonym for a non-Christian dates from this era.) The same was true during the first millennium A.D. in Europe—the cities were Christian, but the broad population across the countryside was pagan. The lesson from both eras is that when cities are Christian, even if the majority of the population is pagan, society is headed on a Christian trajectory. Why? As the city goes, so goes the culture. Cultural trends tend to be generated in the city and flow outward to the rest of society.
People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing, the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture. Having lived and ministered in New York City for 17 years, I am continually astonished at how the people I live with and know affect what everyone else in the country sees on the screen, in print, in art, and in business.
I am not talking about the "elite-elites"—the rich and famous—but about the "grassroots-elites." It is not so much the top executives that make MTV what it is, but the scores of young, hip creatives just out of college who take jobs at all levels of the organization. The people who live in cities in the greatest numbers tend to see their values expressed in the culture.
Do I mean that all Christians must live in cities? No. We need Christians and churches everywhere there are people! But I have taken up the call of the late James Montgomery Boice, an urban pastor (at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church) who knew that evangelical Christians have been particularly unwilling to live in cities. In his book Two Cities: Two Loves, he argued that evangelicals should live in cities in at least the same percentage as the general population. If we do not, we should not expect much influence in society.
Once in cities, Christians should be a dynamic counterculture. It is not enough for Christians to simply live as individuals in the city. They must live as a particular kind of community. Jesus told his disciples that they were "a city on a hill" that showed God's glory to the world (Matt. 5:14-16). Christians are called to be an alternate city within every earthly city, an alternate human culture within every human culture, to show how sex, money, and power can be used in nondestructive ways.
Regarding sex, the alternate city avoids secular society's idolization of sex and traditional society's fear of it. It is a community that so loves and cares for its members that chastity makes sense. It teaches its members to conform their bodily beings to the shape of the gospel—abstinence outside of marriage and fidelity within. Regarding money, the Christian counterculture encourages a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak. Regarding power, Christian community is visibly committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the body of Christ. The practical evidence of this will be churches that are increasingly multiethnic, both in the congregations at large and in their leadership.
It will not be enough for Christians to form a culture that runs counter to the values of the broader culture. Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the city as a whole. We must move out to sacrificially serve the good of the whole human community, especially the poor. Revelation 21-22 makes it clear that the ultimate purpose of redemption is not to escape the material world, but to renew it. God's purpose is not only saving individuals, but also inaugurating a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife, and selfishness.
So Christians work for the peace, security, justice, and prosperity of their city and their neighbors, loving them in word and in deed, whether they believe what we do or not. In Jeremiah 29:7, Israel's exiles were called not just to live in the city, but also to love it and work for its shalom—its economic, social, and spiritual flourishing. The citizens of God's city are the best possible citizens of their earthly cities.
This is the only kind of cultural engagement that will not corrupt us and conform us to the world's pattern of life. If Christians go to urban centers simply to acquire power, they will never achieve cultural influence and change that is deep, lasting, and embraced by the broader society. We must live in the city to serve all the peoples in it, not just our own tribe. We must lose our power to find our (true) power. Christianity will not be attractive enough to win influence except through sacrificial service to all people, regardless of their beliefs.
This strategy (if we must call it that) will work. In every culture, some Christian conduct will be offensive and attacked, but some will be moving and attractive to outsiders. "Though they accuse you … they may see your good deeds and glorify God" (1 Peter 2:12, see also Matt. 5:16). In the Middle East, a Christian sexual ethic makes sense, but not "turn the other cheek." In secular New York City, the Christian teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation is welcome, but our sexual ethics seem horribly regressive. Every non-Christian culture has enough common grace to recognize some of the work of God in the world and to be attracted to it, even while Christianity in other ways will offend the prevailing culture.
So we must neither just denounce the culture nor adopt it. We must sacrificially serve the common good, expecting to be constantly misunderstood and sometimes attacked. We must walk in the steps of the one who laid down his life for his opponents.The Worldview of Work
There is another important component to being a Christian counterculture for the common good. Christians should be a people who integrate their faith with their work. Culture is a set of shared practices, attitudes, values, and beliefs, which are rooted in common understandings of the "big questions"—where life comes from, what life means, who we are, and what is important enough to spend our time doing it in the years allotted to us. No one can live or do their work without some answers to such questions, and every set of answers shapes culture.
Most fields of work today are dominated by a very different set of answers from those of Christianity. But when many Christians enter a vocational field, they either seal off their faith and work like everyone else around them, or they spout Bible verses to their coworkers. We do not know very well how to persuade people of Christianity's answers by showing them the faith-based, worldview roots of everyone's work. We do not know how to equip our people to think out the implications of the gospel for art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Developing humane, creative, and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel can be part of this work. The embodiment of joy, hope, and truth in the arts is also part of this work. If Christians live in major cultural centers in great numbers, doing their work in an excellent but distinctive manner, that alone will produce a different kind of culture than the one in which we live now.
Jewish society sought spiritual power, while Greek society valued wisdom (1 Cor. 1:22-25). Each culture was dominated by a hope that Paul's preaching revealed to be an idol. Yet only in Christ, the true "wisdom of God" for Greeks and the true "power of God" for Jews, could their cultural storylines find a happy ending. The church envisioned in this article attracts people to Christianity by showing how Christ resolves our society's cultural problems and fulfills its cultural hopes. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
From an Article by Tim Keller of the same name.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today.
None of the strategies listed above should be abandoned. We need Christian tradition, Christians in politics, and effective evangelism. And the church has always contextualized itself into its surrounding culture. There are harmful excesses in every approach, however. I think that is because many have turned their specialty into a single magic bullet that will solve the whole problem. I doubt such a magic bullet exists, but just bundling them all together is not sufficient either.
Instead, we need a new and different strategy.
City Within a City
My first strategic point is simple: More Christians should live long-term in cities. Historians point out that by A.D. 300, the urban populations of the Roman Empire were largely Christian, while the countryside was pagan. (Indeed, the word pagan originally meant someone from the countryside—its use as a synonym for a non-Christian dates from this era.) The same was true during the first millennium A.D. in Europe—the cities were Christian, but the broad population across the countryside was pagan. The lesson from both eras is that when cities are Christian, even if the majority of the population is pagan, society is headed on a Christian trajectory. Why? As the city goes, so goes the culture. Cultural trends tend to be generated in the city and flow outward to the rest of society.
People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing, the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture. Having lived and ministered in New York City for 17 years, I am continually astonished at how the people I live with and know affect what everyone else in the country sees on the screen, in print, in art, and in business.
I am not talking about the "elite-elites"—the rich and famous—but about the "grassroots-elites." It is not so much the top executives that make MTV what it is, but the scores of young, hip creatives just out of college who take jobs at all levels of the organization. The people who live in cities in the greatest numbers tend to see their values expressed in the culture.
Do I mean that all Christians must live in cities? No. We need Christians and churches everywhere there are people! But I have taken up the call of the late James Montgomery Boice, an urban pastor (at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church) who knew that evangelical Christians have been particularly unwilling to live in cities. In his book Two Cities: Two Loves, he argued that evangelicals should live in cities in at least the same percentage as the general population. If we do not, we should not expect much influence in society.
Once in cities, Christians should be a dynamic counterculture. It is not enough for Christians to simply live as individuals in the city. They must live as a particular kind of community. Jesus told his disciples that they were "a city on a hill" that showed God's glory to the world (Matt. 5:14-16). Christians are called to be an alternate city within every earthly city, an alternate human culture within every human culture, to show how sex, money, and power can be used in nondestructive ways.
Regarding sex, the alternate city avoids secular society's idolization of sex and traditional society's fear of it. It is a community that so loves and cares for its members that chastity makes sense. It teaches its members to conform their bodily beings to the shape of the gospel—abstinence outside of marriage and fidelity within. Regarding money, the Christian counterculture encourages a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak. Regarding power, Christian community is visibly committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the body of Christ. The practical evidence of this will be churches that are increasingly multiethnic, both in the congregations at large and in their leadership.
It will not be enough for Christians to form a culture that runs counter to the values of the broader culture. Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the city as a whole. We must move out to sacrificially serve the good of the whole human community, especially the poor. Revelation 21-22 makes it clear that the ultimate purpose of redemption is not to escape the material world, but to renew it. God's purpose is not only saving individuals, but also inaugurating a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife, and selfishness.
So Christians work for the peace, security, justice, and prosperity of their city and their neighbors, loving them in word and in deed, whether they believe what we do or not. In Jeremiah 29:7, Israel's exiles were called not just to live in the city, but also to love it and work for its shalom—its economic, social, and spiritual flourishing. The citizens of God's city are the best possible citizens of their earthly cities.
This is the only kind of cultural engagement that will not corrupt us and conform us to the world's pattern of life. If Christians go to urban centers simply to acquire power, they will never achieve cultural influence and change that is deep, lasting, and embraced by the broader society. We must live in the city to serve all the peoples in it, not just our own tribe. We must lose our power to find our (true) power. Christianity will not be attractive enough to win influence except through sacrificial service to all people, regardless of their beliefs.
This strategy (if we must call it that) will work. In every culture, some Christian conduct will be offensive and attacked, but some will be moving and attractive to outsiders. "Though they accuse you … they may see your good deeds and glorify God" (1 Peter 2:12, see also Matt. 5:16). In the Middle East, a Christian sexual ethic makes sense, but not "turn the other cheek." In secular New York City, the Christian teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation is welcome, but our sexual ethics seem horribly regressive. Every non-Christian culture has enough common grace to recognize some of the work of God in the world and to be attracted to it, even while Christianity in other ways will offend the prevailing culture.
So we must neither just denounce the culture nor adopt it. We must sacrificially serve the common good, expecting to be constantly misunderstood and sometimes attacked. We must walk in the steps of the one who laid down his life for his opponents.The Worldview of Work
There is another important component to being a Christian counterculture for the common good. Christians should be a people who integrate their faith with their work. Culture is a set of shared practices, attitudes, values, and beliefs, which are rooted in common understandings of the "big questions"—where life comes from, what life means, who we are, and what is important enough to spend our time doing it in the years allotted to us. No one can live or do their work without some answers to such questions, and every set of answers shapes culture.
Most fields of work today are dominated by a very different set of answers from those of Christianity. But when many Christians enter a vocational field, they either seal off their faith and work like everyone else around them, or they spout Bible verses to their coworkers. We do not know very well how to persuade people of Christianity's answers by showing them the faith-based, worldview roots of everyone's work. We do not know how to equip our people to think out the implications of the gospel for art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Developing humane, creative, and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel can be part of this work. The embodiment of joy, hope, and truth in the arts is also part of this work. If Christians live in major cultural centers in great numbers, doing their work in an excellent but distinctive manner, that alone will produce a different kind of culture than the one in which we live now.
Jewish society sought spiritual power, while Greek society valued wisdom (1 Cor. 1:22-25). Each culture was dominated by a hope that Paul's preaching revealed to be an idol. Yet only in Christ, the true "wisdom of God" for Greeks and the true "power of God" for Jews, could their cultural storylines find a happy ending. The church envisioned in this article attracts people to Christianity by showing how Christ resolves our society's cultural problems and fulfills its cultural hopes. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
From an Article by Tim Keller of the same name.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Treasonous
As paul said so eloquently, "I, Paul, am the Chief of Sinner's...
When I was only 8 years old I asked jesus Christ to come into my heart... This was the first step toward full joy and love in my life.
I continued living just as i had before my conversion, not understanding what it meant to give up everything to follow Christ.
When I was 10 I began to get into some distinctly non-Christian things.
Through the grace of God, when i was 14, my parents caught on to my sins and promptly confronted me.
After their confrontation and punishment, i realized exactly how bad I was being and how much i truly needed to follow Christ. I recommited my life to Christ on November 30, 2002.
Since that time, my life has not been easy. i have struggled with many of the same things I struggled with before. In 2004 I moved from West Virginia to Raleigh NC, to pursue an education at a college prep school.
Throughout this time i was still struggling with the same problems that I had for years.
During the summer of 2006 I began to question how to change.
By offering up my sins to Christ and fully and finally repenting of my sins, i have come to a peace that only can be accounted to the grace of God. I have been given a passion for the thousands of American youth who live like i lived for so long.
Not being perfect, there is a daily repentance that i must make for my sins, but i am no longer held under the weight of controlling sin.
if you have any questions about anything I've said, feel free to email me or IM me...
When I was only 8 years old I asked jesus Christ to come into my heart... This was the first step toward full joy and love in my life.
I continued living just as i had before my conversion, not understanding what it meant to give up everything to follow Christ.
When I was 10 I began to get into some distinctly non-Christian things.
Through the grace of God, when i was 14, my parents caught on to my sins and promptly confronted me.
After their confrontation and punishment, i realized exactly how bad I was being and how much i truly needed to follow Christ. I recommited my life to Christ on November 30, 2002.
Since that time, my life has not been easy. i have struggled with many of the same things I struggled with before. In 2004 I moved from West Virginia to Raleigh NC, to pursue an education at a college prep school.
Throughout this time i was still struggling with the same problems that I had for years.
During the summer of 2006 I began to question how to change.
By offering up my sins to Christ and fully and finally repenting of my sins, i have come to a peace that only can be accounted to the grace of God. I have been given a passion for the thousands of American youth who live like i lived for so long.
Not being perfect, there is a daily repentance that i must make for my sins, but i am no longer held under the weight of controlling sin.
if you have any questions about anything I've said, feel free to email me or IM me...
to every tribe and langauge, to every age and race
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