Jesus, I'm NOT in love with You...

Can an individual Christian believer who lives a life that is passionately devoted to serving Jesus Christ make the statement, 'Jesus, I'm NOT in love with You' and, at the same time, obey Jesus' command in Matthew 22:37 to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"?

Noted Christian author and apologist John G. Stackhouse, Jr. believes the answer to this question is a resounding 'YES!' Check out his blog to see his thoughts on the matter, along with some lively discussion in the comments section there.

Personally, I believe Dr. Stackhouse makes some good points, both theologically and experientially. I am not, in any way, suggesting that we downplay the importance of expressing the depth of our love for Jesus in our songs. As Jonathan Edwards, perhaps America's most important theologian, argues, true Christian religion is a matter of the religious affections, those strong inclinations of the soul that go beyond simple emotion. If we claim to be believers who love Jesus and we don't experience that relationship intensely, to the depth of our being, how can we say that we are wholly committed to Him?

When things like the latest game of our favorite sports team, or a much needed vacation in our favorite spot consume our emotions, intellect, longings, and desires in deeper ways than our relationship with Jesus, something is wrong! Augustine said it another way:

"He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee which He loves not for Thy sake."

All of this is to say that, yes, we have a desperate need to express our love to Jesus...we cannot ignore this fact, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for some. At the same time, as Dr. Stackhouse points out, we should be careful that the language we use to express this love does not miscommunicate important biblical truths, creating misconceptions that could actually hinder our quest for a close, profound walk with Jesus.

Keep Praying for Myanmar

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble. -Psalm 9:9

Please stop, right now, and go before the Lord in prayer on behalf of the people in Myanmar. According to recent news reports, a mild crackdown on non-violent protests led by the country's monks has begun. Reports of tear gas, warning shots from rifles, arrests, and beatings are coming out of the country.

I won't write anymore so you will have just a little bit more time to pray!

Enjoying Diversity in the Kingdom of God

Please, don't freak out! I'm not coming out in support of homosexual marriage or the ordination of gay priests/pastors! I'm also not going to unleash a diatribe on racial tensions, prejudices, and discrimination that still exist in America and around the world. Instead, I'm praising the Lord for allowing me to be part of an international church fellowship in Bangkok, Thailand where I get to worship and minister alongside brothers and sisters in Christ from as many as 40 different nations on any given Sunday!

Two Sundays ago, we had a newcomers lunch after our last morning service. I counted 25 new faces at the lunch. As we went around the room, I recorded the home countries of each person. When it was all said and done I realized that these 25 people came from 11 different countries! The countries represented were Australia, New Zealand, United States, Peru, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, and Holland. If you count England, where one of the Thai women spent the last several years, it's 12 different countries!

Last year, at one baptismal service that stands out in my mind, we baptized a Chinese couple from Hong Kong, an American teenage girl, a Brazilian teenage boy, a Thai man, and a family (1 brother and 2 sisters) from Iraq. I regularly stand amazed at how God is bringing together people from so many different cultures, occupations, and socioeconomic levels.

A guest speaker at church this Sunday suggested that the first recorded church outside of Jerusalem was an international church in Antioch. Just look at Acts 13:1 which reads, "Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were Jewish; Simeon was likely African; Lucius was from a Greek city in present-day Libya; and Manaen was a local from Antioch (present-day city of Antakya, Turkey)! It was out of this context that God birthed the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas that planted the seeds needed for Christianity to spread throughout the world.

As is true for every Christian group I know, there is some unifying factor outside of the gospel that helps bring people together in a given church, no matter how diverse they may be in other areas (like ethnic origin). For our church in Bangkok, like the church in Antioch, it's language. They spoke Greek and we speak English. International churches are certainly not the only strategy needed to reach international (non-Thai) people in Bangkok. Some groups will require specific strategies in the languages of their homelands. Others will integrate into Thai society and be best reached through Thai-speaking strategies. Still others need specialized approaches that may or may not come through the ministries of international churches (like outreach to 'backpacker' long-term tourists).

At the end of the day, I'm extremely thankful to the Lord for the way He has enriched my understanding in so many aspects of my life and faith through interaction with godly people from such a wide range of cultures. Praise Him!

Pray for Myanmar (Burma)!

You may have seen in the news of the growing protests against the oppressive military regime that has ruled Myanmar since 1962. Not since a popular 8/8/88 uprising led by university students was crushed with thousands of deaths has the country seen such widespread protests. This time, the Buddhist monks have taken the lead.

I was in Myanmar on August 15 when the government made an unannounced 100% fuel price increase that, in turn, triggered increases in every other area of life (like transportation and food costs). Even before the price increase, as I traveled a bit outside of the capital city, visiting several groups of Christian believers, I commented to my traveling partner that things seemed more tense than I had ever witnessed in 5 years of travel in Myanmar. The believers, especially, were scared to be seen with people like me (i.e. Caucasians) because they feared government officials who are known for their relentless interrogations.

Nobody knows what will happen as the current situation continues. As believers, we must get on our knees and pray that God will be glorified, whatever transpires. Change always creates challenges and opportunities for the spread of the Gospel message.

We must pray that God will grant both wisdom and boldness to national Christians and missionaries alike. This type of prayer goes beyond praying for an end to oppression and a rise of democracy! Throughout history, God has done some of his most amazing work in the midst of severe storms of disaster, oppression, and persecution. God has also done amazing work through liberation, freedom, and democracy coming to nations. The point is that, as believers, we seek whatever will cause the beauty and worth of our Savior Jesus Christ to shine most brightly in the darkness!

Wisdom: Enhanced by Community

Proverbs 26:12
"Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."

I read this verse today and it struck something within my spirit. Do you know any people who are very intelligent but still never seem to get much of significance accomplished? If others are following these people, they are doing it with reluctance and even bitterness. In my experience, there is usually no problem with intelligence or right answers. Lack of humility is the issue.

If we look back a couple of chapters in Proverbs, we can find the following description of a wise person in chapter 24 verses 5-6: "A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory." Someone who is truly wise, however intelligent, will always know the value of input from others. A wise man might be confident about the truth in a given situation yet still seek counsel from others. He will know there is always more to learn; always some improvement that can be made. When the time comes to make a decision, he will not waver. Still, those around him, even if they don't agree, will be less likely to charge him with arrogance or insensitivity.

This week, I faced some interesting circumstances that required difficult decisions on my part. I was incredibly grateful for perspective and counsel that I was able to get from others. In the end, my overall assessment of the situation did not change through these conversations, but I'm sure it was refined. The decisions I ended up making turned out to be good, as evidenced by circumstances that changed for the better as well as affirmation by others.

Throughout the whole process, I was progressing with fear and trembling because I know my own faults and weaknesses. I sought the Lord through prayer, His Word, and godly counsel. In the end, I believe the actions I took and the words I spoke were wise. The reality of the situation is that any wisdom was not my own, however, but the Lord's. I praise God that, this week, Proverbs 26:12 was true in my life, in a positive sense. I pray for God's grace to continue on this good road.

Suing God

Yes, the title of the post is correct. Check out the news story of Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers who filed a county court lawsuit against God! Apparently, his suit seeks a "permanent injunction ordering Defendant to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats."

When I read the story, I was intrigued, especially in light of my recent series of posts "Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies." In those posts, I argued that, even if God does intentionally send disasters of whatever form to the world, he is not unjust because human sin is so serious. Of course, the only brief needed in God's favor is the Bible, which clearly explains the issues involved. The problem is we too often refuse to listen!

Senator Chambers claims that he is not upset with God. He's simply trying to make a point about frivolous lawsuits. Sadly, however, many people all over the world, including some inside 'Evangelical' Christian circles, live their lives as if the lawsuit is valid. Here are some potential responses:

• Yes, God is guilty. I would be thrilled if, in the name of justice, God could be banned from causing natural disasters.
• Actually, the lawsuit needs to be expanded. God is sovereign and in complete control of all that happens in the world. As such, He needs to be put on trial for every crime that has ever taken place...He had the power to stop them all and he didn't. That makes Him a criminal accessory, right?
• No, God is not guilty. He was like a clock maker when he created the world. He made it, wound it up, and now sits back letting it go. Any problems are not His fault.

The list could go on and on. If we believe the Bible, we will remember that God is the one who defines what is good and right. God cannot sin.

Instead of shaking our heads in confusion or shaking our fists in anger, we need to shout for joy and bow in worship before God, the One who created us, saves those who believe through Jesus, and holds every atom in the world together moment by moment! Let God be God!

Letting God Work in Salvation

Last night I taught the third installment of a basic Christianity class to several junior high students at our church in Bangkok. The topic for the evening was 'How Can I Be Sure of My Faith.' I taught from passages in the Bible that show how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit play various roles in our life as believers to assure us that we belong, irrevocably, to Him.

One of the key parts of the lesson involved what sorts of things should not be the ground of assurance that we are true believers in Christ. For example, I stressed that assurance should not be based on a 'salvation experience' in the past where a hand is raised to 'accept Christ', the 'sinners prayer' is prayed at an invitation time, or some other event like these. One perceptive student explained it well when she said, "If you don't have faith in God, saying the sinner's prayer doesn't mean anything...it's just words."

A few days ago, a colleague drew my attention to a blog post by fellow Southern Baptist missionary David Rogers entitled Keith Green and 'Spiritual Abortion'. It's worth checking out. More importantly, it's worthwhile for all of us to consider what we and those around us look to as the basis for our assurance in Christ.

Content in the Hands of God

Imagine the following scenario: You are sitting in a room calmly looking at a beautiful aquarium when, suddenly, a giant who is 3 times your height grabs you in his arms and carries you out into the hot afternoon sun. He then takes you to a massive piece of machinery and balances you on one hip with his left arm while he opens a door in the machinery. Both of his hands then grab you, strapping you into the machine in such a way that escape is absolutely impossible. During the whole process, there is one reality that never changes:

You have no control whatsoever over what the giant does to you!

What would your response be to such an event? Would there be peace and contentment in your heart? Would you smile with joy, even laughing on occasion in the midst of everything? Those aren't the thoughts that come into my mind, for sure!

This exact set of circumstances happened to my family this afternoon in Bangkok, Thailand. My one-year-old son was in my office standing on a chair looking at the goldfish in my aquarium. It was time to go, so I picked him up, proceeded outside to our truck, and strapped him into his car seat. Was he afraid? Did he freak out and struggle against me? Did he fear for his life as I held him in one arm in order to open the door? The obvious answer to all of these questions is a resounding 'No!'

Why was my son content, helpless as he was in this situation?

My son trusts me. I have never done anything that would lead him to believe I mean him harm. I have never picked him up to take him somewhere and ended up dropping him on his head. He is secure in my arms.

My wife commented as I was putting our son in the car that we need to be trusting with God in the same way. How true! Has God ever given us reason not to trust Him? Has God ever caused or allowed any harm to come to us that wasn't for our good and His glory? Do we need to struggle against His guidance in our lives in order to ensure our safety, happiness, and success in this life? Do we need to be constantly wary that God is going to 'drop the ball' in our lives? Again, the answer to these questions is 'No!'

Romans 8:28
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Scripture clearly teaches that we cannot manufacture love for God or a life that coincides with His purpose on our own merit. We cannot earn the favor of God that causes all things to work together for our good. If, however, by God's amazing grace, we are transformed into new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17) who love God and live our lives according to His purpose, we have a rock-solid promise from the Bible that God is on our side, with our best interests in mind. No matter how scary the circumstances or how out-of-control we feel in the midst of them, we can have the same wonderful contentment as a little child in the hands of his father!

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 7 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6

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Luke 13:6-9

⁶ And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ ⁸ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹ Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

What is the point of the parable Jesus tells in these verses? How does it relate to the broader issue of tragedy, sin, and repentance that were highlighted in verses 1-5?

People in the world are like trees in God’s vineyard. In verse 7, the owner of the vineyard comes seeking fruit on his fig tree. He planted the tree so he could harvest and enjoy the fruit. The purpose of the tree is to benefit the one who planted it! The purpose of God in the world, from His act of creation to His sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, is not, ultimately, to make humans happy and comfortable.

We exist for God’s glory! There is no one more glorious, no one more valuable in the entire universe than God. There is nothing more important in the entire world for God to do than to shine more and more brightly as the All-Satisfying and Worthy One. That’s why we’re here! Jesus is helping us to turn our focus from human pain and suffering in this world in order to focus on God, the one for whom all humans were created!

Why do bad things happen to good people? I hope and pray that we can all now understand that this is the wrong question. A better question is: Why don’t bad things happen to all people? Or, Why do good things happen to any people?

Paul tells us in Romans 12:15 to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” When tragedy strikes, we should never respond with a callous indifference that says “Oh well, no big deal, just a few less sinners in the world to worry about…we all deserve it anyway.” NEVER! We should weep. We should mourn. We should comfort those who are hurting.

The difference is that, as Christians, as people who have heard God’s very words from this book, we will know that there is much more to weep and mourn about. We will weep and mourn our own sin and the sin of the world that turns its back on a holy, loving, and gracious God.

At the same time, we will rejoice! Yes, we will rejoice even in the face of tragedy. The horrors that confront us will be a reminder not only of our sin, but of our awesome God who has made a way for that sin to be erased. We will rejoice and, in the midst of tragedy, we will shine forth, displaying the beauty and worth of Jesus Christ for the whole world to see!

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 6 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part 5

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I just can’t get over the truth that we considered in Part 5 that, in sin, we turn away from God who is infinitely glorious and wonderful. We truly prefer sin over God! If there is injustice and inexplicable tragedy in this world, dishonoring God in this way fits the description.

In May of this year, my wife and I were able to get away for 3 days to Phuket, Thailand in order to celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary. Our girls stayed in Bangkok and we took our baby son, Micah, with us. One of the things we enjoyed most was renting a car for a day and driving around the island of Phuket, looking in wonder at all the different breathtaking views and scenery that can be found on the island. We ended our day at Cape Phromthep, at the southwest corner of the island. When we got there we, along with about two hundred other people, were confronted with a breathtaking panoramic view of the sun setting over the ocean.

My picture doesn’t even come close to the beauty our eyes saw! I’m an avid photographer, so I was busy setting up my tripod and finding the best composition for the perfect photograph I knew I was going to take. After taking several shots, I looked up and noticed the huge crowd of people around me. They were staring in wonder and taking many pictures as well. The only difference was that they weren’t taking pictures of the gorgeous sunset…they were taking pictures of my son!

I was dumbfounded. I know that he's a very cute kid and he was a uniquely cute kid in Phuket with his bright white skin and clear blue eyes, but we were standing right there with one of the most majestic and beautiful scenes imaginable right in front of us!

That’s how we are with God sometimes…He is offering to show us Himself, glorious, magnificent, beautiful!...and we choose, instead, to look at a little white boy!

It’s like we are hopeless, dying of thirst in the desert. God comes and opens up a roaring spring of clear, fresh, perfect water for us to drink and be saved and satisfied. What do we do? We turn our backs on the water, dig a hole in the sand, stick our head in it and suck at the sand! What’s worse is that we convince ourselves that we’re happy to live this way!

Let us pray that God will give us the wisdom to see the folly of our misguided and sin-deceived sense of what is truly good and bad; beautiful and ugly; tragic and cheerful. We need God’s help in order to see things as they really are!

Lord, please help me to see the true blessings and tragedies that take place in my own heart and home everyday. Please don’t allow me to be deceived by sin, Satan, or the world. Help me to value You above all else. Amen.

Go to Part 7

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 5 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part #4

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In Part 4, we considered the seriousness of sin against a holy God. There is no way to deny the Bible’s teaching that the just consequence of every human being’s sin is judgment and wrath from God. Praise God that the story doesn’t end there! The amazing thing about Jesus is that he takes willful, brazen traitors like you and me and speaks verses 3 and 5 from Luke 13: “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Jesus speaks these words as a warning to those who would take their sin lightly, but don’t miss the awesome grace and mercy in those words! Jesus’ words in response to real and horrible tragedy are not harsh! They point us to the most amazing love in the universe: God’s love and His mercy towards sinners. The wonderful implication in these verses is that if we do repent, we will not perish.

God’s response to our adultery against him, to our betrayal, was to send His one and only Son into the world to die on the Cross and take the punishment we deserve for our treason!

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

What’s the most shocking and appalling thing you can imagine? For many, this question brings to mind events like the ones I have already mentioned: Tyrants like Pol Pot, Hitler, and Saddam Hussein. Terrorists like the ones responsible for 911 in America, the Bali bombings, or the London subway bombings. Tragedies like the Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, or hurricane Katrina. The Bible has a different answer: In Jeremiah 2:12-13, God speaks through the prophet:

“¹²Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, ¹³for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns than can hold no water.”

The most mind-blowing, shocking and horrible thing in the world is that God’s people:

• people who claim that God is holy
• people who claim to know that they are sinful
• people who have heard about God’s forgiveness through Christ
• people who have publicly claimed to repent from their sins in order to follow Jesus

God is telling the heavens to be appalled that this sort of people are turning away from God, from infinite joy, infinite love, infinite holiness, infinite satisfaction for their souls and, instead, betraying God and looking for happiness in their own way!

Dear Jesus, please capture my heart with the reality of how glorious and beautiful You are in all Your infinite power and might. Help me to be appalled for the right reasons as I look at my own heart and the world around me. Help me to know that there is absolutely nothing appalling about You no matter what circumstances I encounter in this world.

Go to Part 6

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 4 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part 3

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At the end of Part 3, I offered my response to the question of why God would allow a tsunami to occur:

“The thing that amazes me most when I think about the tsunami is not that 230,000 people all over the Indian Ocean were wiped out on that day…the thing that amazes me most is that my family, along with the other 11 million people in Bangkok were allowed to live!”

Why do I believe such a statement? The answer is because sin is really that bad.

Sin, my sin, your sin, is really that bad! Sin is like spitting in the face of God, the King of Kings! In David’s Psalm of repentance in Psalm 51, he says in verse 4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” Not only do we sin against God, we do it in His sight! We sin right in front of Him!

One time in Bangkok, I was riding home in a taxi at about 9:30 at night. When we were almost to our house, the taxi driver said to me, “Do you want a beautiful lady?” I said “No, my wife is at home and I love her.” He said, “Come on, only 2000 baht (just under $60) for a very beautiful lady. Others will charge you 3000, 4000, or 5000 baht, but I’m only asking for 2000. I politely told him again that “I DON’T WANT THAT” and then paid him and got out, happy to come home to my wonderful wife.

What if it had happened this way: The taxi driver asks me if I want a beautiful lady. I accept and he takes me to pick up the prostitute. I have the taxi driver take me and the prostitute to my house where I ask the prostitute to wait outside the front door. I go inside, kiss my wife, and tell her how much I love her. Once my wife and I are ready to go to bed for the night, I ask my wife to wait in our bedroom. I then go downstairs and bring the prostitute up, forcing my wife to watch…

Every time we sin willfully against the Lord, that’s exactly what we’re doing! If we really believe that God sees all and knows all, then when we sin, we are knowingly and willfully betraying our King, right before His eyes.

Yes, I know it’s a very shocking, revolting, and even offensive picture. I was reluctant to even share it. I believe, however, that sharing is glorifying to God because the revulsion, horror, and anger we feel when we consider such a hypothetical scenario pales compared to the response our sin deserves.

No human can be justifiably outraged at God over a tragedy such as the tsunami. The fact of the matter is that there is no person on this earth who doesn’t deserve judgment from God. For the nicest person you know to suffer the most horrible death imaginable would still not come close to being adequate punishment for that nice person’s rebellion against the holy and righteous God of the universe.

Do I know the mind of God as it relates to the Indian Ocean tsunami? Of course not! Am I saying that God caused the tsunami? Not necessarily. There are other explanations in the Bible for evil and tragedy besides God’s judgment. What I am saying is that if God did cause the tsunami, it was a just and righteous action on God’s part.

Again, our sin is really that bad! The good news is that our sin, in all its seriousness, is not the end of the story! More about that in Part 5…

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 3 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part 2

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In Part 2, we ended with the very politically incorrect truth from Luke 13:1-3 that there are no 'innocent' people in the world. Jesus is careful to make sure his listeners understand. He won’t let them miss the point of their own sinfulness by emphasizing the evil of a ruthless dictator like Pilate. That’s why he brings up the second tragedy in verse 4.

Luke 13:4
⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

In this example, 18 people were killed, not by an evil dictator or a terrorist, but by a building project ‘gone bad’! It was an ‘accident’! Where was God in that? Wasn’t He strong enough to hold up the tower until nobody was around? Wrong questions, says Jesus…those 18 people weren’t any more guilty than everyone else in Jerusalem…the whole city is guilty and deserves to die like that!

Because my wife and I work for a missions agency, when we go back to the United States, we spend a lot of time sharing in churches about what God is doing in our part of the world. When we went back in October of 2006, it was our first time since the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. There were many people in different churches who asked a similar question: Where was God when 230,000 people were wiped out on one day? What is your answer to that?

My response was usually the same. I would describe how I was with my family here in Bangkok when we found out about the tsunami and turned on the TV. I would describe the emotions related to the fact that we had vacationed in Phi Phi Island just a month before the tsunami and that the beach where people died in Penang, Malaysia was a favorite of ours for walks and shell collecting. I would describe the pain of returning to Phi Phi Island on the tsunami’s anniversary and talking to people, including a boat driver we knew from previous trips who lost his wife and a child. I would describe all of these things and then, based on conviction and truth from this passage of Scripture (and others) say:

“The thing that amazes me most when I think about the tsunami is not that 230,000 people all over the Indian Ocean were wiped out on that day…the thing that amazes me most is that my family, along with the other 11 million people in Bangkok were allowed to live!”

Yes, I really believe that statement. Why? Because sin is really that bad. More in Part 4…

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 2 of 7)

This is a multi-part series that is looking to the Bible in Luke 13:1-9 for help in answering the difficult questions facing Christians when confronted with evil and tragedy in our world.

Go to Part 1

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In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus is responding to news about a tragedy. Pilate, the Roman governor had executed some people from Galilee when they were coming to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Not only did he kill these people, he took their blood and mixed it with the blood of the animals they brought as a sacrifice to the Lord! Imagine the outrage and confusion felt by those questioning Jesus! How could God let this evil happen? What horrible sins must have been committed by these Galileans for God to allow such a savage penalty!

Jesus’ response can help us understand the evil and cataclysmic events that continue to happen today in the world around us.

Understand sin and judgment from God’s perspective

^{Luke 13:1-3
1}There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ² And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

In verse 2 Jesus, in his typical fashion, teaches his inquirers with a question that turns the implied questions of their news right back on them! Jesus gives the correct answer to his own question, which is ‘NO! They weren’t more evil.’ Jesus makes it very clear in verse 3 that ALL, including the people coming to Him asking the question, deserve death!

What about today? When an evil dictator slaughters his own people, what are we supposed to think? When Islamic terrorists crash a plane into the World Trade Center or blow people up on the subway in London, what is our response? What about when a criminal kills or seriously injures someone we know? Where is God when evil people do bad things to innocent people? Jesus’ response, from this passage is that there are no innocent people. There are no people who don’t deserve to die in those ways (or worse)...no exceptions!

People today don’t want to hear Jesus’ answer. We want someone to blame! We want to be outraged by the evil actions of someone else. We don’t want to be bothered to think about the evil that resides right inside our hearts! I pray that the Lord will help us take the truth of verse 3 to heart when faced with tragedy in our lives or in the news. Go to Part 3

Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tragedies (Part 1 of 7)

It’s been 6 years since that horrible day in 2001 when the world was faced with the news that terror, on a massive scale, had penetrated the defenses of the mighty U.S.A. I can still remember getting the phone call from a Chinese friend in Malaysia, where my family had been living for less than 4 months. Because we did not own a television, I ran to his house, injuring myself in the process. I can still remember the horror I felt as I sat bleeding in my friend’s living room watching the live feed of the first tower collapsing to the ground.

What do we do when tragedy strikes our world? As Christians seeking to tell the world about an almighty loving God, how do we respond when 230,000 people are wiped out in one day by a tsunami? Do we have answers when terrorists fly airplanes into skyscrapers and secure government facilities, killing thousands? Do we know what to say or think when faced with other horrifying natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake? What about personal tragedies, on a smaller scale, like the death of a young wife and mother to cancer?

Many times, we don’t know what to say, or even think in response to events like these. Some of us will get very quiet when our friends or people at work start talking about the latest horrible tragedy in the world. What will I say? How can I talk about God being good when so much bad is happening to normal people? If I speak up, will I get it right? Will I be laughed at and scorned?

Pain, suffering, and death, in whatever form and on whatever scale is not something new in the world. The Bible, the very word of God, contains many examples of events that would provoke front-page headlines and outrage in today’s world. As Christians, we worship the God of the Bible.

• We worship the God who destroyed the entire cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.
• We worship the God of the exodus, who killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt in order to free the Israelites in Exodus 12.
• We worship the God who defeated the Amorites in Joshua 10:11..”The Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.”
• We worship the God of Numbers 16 who sent a plague that killed 14,700 Israelites in response to the people’s complaining about God’s judgment on the 250 rebel chiefs of Korah who were opposing Moses in the desert.

Still, how are we supposed to understand these kinds of events from the Bible and from our own time? In the coming days, I’d like to examine the words of Jesus in Luke 13:1-9 for a response:

13 ¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ² And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶ And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ ⁸ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹ Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Ultimately, from this passage, we will learn that…

Tragedy, in whatever form, should cause all of us to consider our own sin, repent, and bear fruit for God’s glory.

More in Part 2…

A Christian Perspective on the Coming War With Islam

A while back, a friend of mine emailed me a copy of an article by Solly Ganor entitled "The Coming War with Islam." As I read, I found myself intrigued and then started wondering what I should think about this whole issue as a Christian. Below is a stub (to use Wikipedia terms) of a response that I hope to flesh out into a real article someday. Any comments and/or ideas are most welcome!

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I pray for God to work against the rise of violent Islamic fundamentalism (yes, I know that’s redundant) in military and political ways. Even more, however, I pray that God will fill our hearts as Christian believers all over the world to engage in the active, self-sacrificing work of providing a first-hand witness about the beauty and glory of Jesus to the Muslims who surround us. We need to combine love-in-action with bold, uncompromised proclamation of the gospel. We should still lobby and vote with a mind for increased security and safety in our towns and neighborhoods. At the same time, when it comes to personal action, we should never bow to the god of safety. Instead, we should say, with Paul, “For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ…And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Phil 1:20-21 NLT).

Throughout history, God has raised up nations, using them to execute judgment on the enemies of God. I believe He still does that today as well. I pray for it! As an individual, however, I must learn from Paul in Romans 1:14 that I am in debt to Jews and Greeks (even the Muslim ones) all over the world. Without the gospel, I am as much an enemy of God as Osama bin Laden, the five Iranian mullahs, or Ahmadinejad (President of Iran)! It’s only because of God’s free and sovereign grace in my life that I am no longer His enemy and death, for me, is not wrath, but entrance into life eternal! One result of all this grace in my life is being freed to love, live, and tell the gospel without fear.

I pray that my dismay and even anger over the glory-stealing evils of Islamic fundamentalism will never cause me to think or act in a way that suggests I, or my countrymen, are more worthy of God’s favor than the very ones seeking to destroy us. I pray that my willingness to sacrifice everything in order to display God’s goodness to Muslims will be at least as strong as my desire to see their violent schemes defeated by military strategy and might. Certainly, God calls some Christians to be directly involved in the physical war against Islamic fundamentalism. In America and some other countries, Christian citizens can be indirectly involved through the political processes. Without doubt, however, God calls all Christians to be involved through prayer and sacrificial personal witness!

Sin Can be Tricky

This morning, my attention was turned to Genesis 6:5, where we get an insight into the condition of the world before God sent the flood of judgment. The verse reads, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Wow! It would be hard to make a more emphatic statement about the depths of sin in rebellious human hearts. This sickness continues today, a few thousand years after the flood. Even for believers, we have to be constantly vigilant to fight the indwelling sin that continues to battle against our new natures.

When I heard this verse, I was immediately reminded of some reading I've done this week from the Puritan author, John Owen, in his book Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (thanks to Crossway Books for the new edition). Perhaps the most famous quote from that work comes from the first chapter where Owen writes, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Later, in the second chapter, Owen warns, "When a man has confirmed his imagination to such an apprehension of grace and mercy as to be able, without bitterness, to swallow and digest daily sins, that man is at the very brink of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

Owen is right. If I find myself at a place where sins are slipping by without conscious thought; without grief and repentance, then I have reached a frightening place! This morning, Genesis 6:5 reminded me that sin, in any form, is evil. Without question, if I allow any form of sin (no matter how small, ordinary, or common it might seem) to go unchecked in my life, I will start down a road that may lead to Genesis 6:5. God used this verse to help unmask the deceitfulness of sin that tries to tell me not to worry when I move on in my life, tolerating some sins just as long as there are no 'big' sin problems in my life.

I pray that God will give all of us the power, by His grace, to battle sin in our lives every day. The battle isn't fought so that we can go to bed at night patting ourselves on the back because we engaged the enemy. We fight so that we will be more useful tools in the hands of our God to push forward in our goal to spread His Name all around.

God's Work in China

Many thanks to John Piper for highlighting the 200th anniversary of Protestant missions to China in his article Mark This Day and Marvel at the Work of God. What immediately struck me as I read was the time lapse between Robert Morrison's arrival in China on September 7, 1807 and the baptism of the first Protestant Chinese believer on July 16, 1814. That's over 6 years and 10 months before any visible fruit was evident from Morrison's labors! Praise God for his faithfulness.

As today's missionaries continue to press forward in pioneer fields among people groups where few, if any, people have ever heard the name of Jesus, we need to be willing to wait for the fruit. Yes, it is crucial that missionaries employ good strategy and minister with boldness, possessing full faith that God can change the heart of a person in an instant. Still, I sense a great need to guard against the widespread cultural value of instant gratification. In America and the West, but increasingly throughout the world, society conditions us to expect immediate results. When the results seem slow, the principles of instant gratification cause us to assume that there is some problem or inherent flaw in what we are doing.

This sort of pressure can have multiple undesirable effects. Missionaries get frustrated and burned out for the wrong reasons. Sending churches and agencies diminish their support (even sub-consciously) because of their need to 'see results.' Missionaries may make compromises for the sake of speeding things up. For example, they might pay less attention to language and cultural study because it takes too long. Some will sacrifice depth of spiritual life in new believers in favor of quickly spreading breadth in evangelism. Others will insist on forcing fast, simple models of church regardless of cultural factors that may or may not suggest otherwise.

Bottom line: Let us all remember Paul's example from 2 Corinthians 6:2-10,

"Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ³ We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything."

Yes, 'now is the day of salvation.' Praise be to God! We just need to remember all that is involved in leading up to this glorious day.

Redeeming the Time

I'm a suburb boy by birth and, growing up, I always lived close to mountains of some kind. Imagine the shock when our family first moved to Bangkok, Thailand - a concrete jungle of 11 million people! After a few weeks in the city, I finally figured out how to get my driver's license and I started using our truck to get around. It wasn't long before most of my time in the truck was spent frustrated and angry because of the horribly congested and completely unpredictable traffic.

I remember a few times, 45 minutes into what could have been a 15 minute drive, thinking of all the places I could travel in 45 minutes or less from my previous homes in Colorado, Virginia, Kentucky, and Malaysia. Mountaintops, the Appalachian Trail, scenic lakes, and beautiful beaches all came to mind. Here, there are times when I can't even get to the main road in less than 45 minutes! Discontentment and mini pity parties started creeping into my heart and mind.

Thankfully, God transformed my driving time through the ministry of John Piper. All 27 years of Piper's sermons are available for free download as .mp3 files from the Desiring God website. One luxury that is common in Bangkok is high-speed Internet. I quickly downloaded all of the sermons in the Romans series to that date (about 150 messages) and had my parents send me one of those cassette tape adapters that let me plug the car stereo into the headphone jack on my mp3 player. All of a sudden, I found myself hoping that a particular drive would last a few more minutes so I could finish listening to a particular sermon. Sometimes, people would catch me sitting in the parking lot at the office, unwilling to wait before hearing the end of a message!

In Romans 5:15-16 we read,

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

Paul also reminds us in Philippians to "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (4:4). He then shares that he has 'learned in whatever situation [he is] to be content" (4:11).

Do I still experience times of frustration due to traffic jams? Unfortunately the answer is yes, sometimes. However, I praise God that I can sincerely say that there are many times when I rejoice in the midst of a traffic jam, perfectly content with the situation!

When the News Hits Home

Yesterday evening, my wife called my attention to this article about a scuba dive boat that sank of the coast of Phi Phi Island in Thailand, killing one tourist. I learned how to dive in the very same place the boat sank. Reading the article caused me to remember another day when Phi Phi Island made the news: December 26, 2004 when the Indian Ocean Tsunami wiped out almost all of the buildings and half of the locals and tourists on the island at the time just over a month after our family vacationed there.

It's always true that we think more deliberately about the issues of life and death when tragedy of some sort comes close to our lives. We often wonder, "How would I react if I was in that situation?" or "How would I respond if it was someone I loved who died in that incident?" As a Christian, the rock-solid realities that govern any such incident are known already in the Bible. Some passages that come to mind as I reflect on this situation include:

• Job's words after he received news that all of his children had just died,

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21)

• David on the brevity of life in Psalm 39:4-5O

Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

• Paul in Romans 8:22-23,

"For we know that the whole creation ^has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as ^we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, ^the redemption of our bodies. For ^in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

I pray that God will give me strength and build my faith right now, when tragedy is still at arms length. I don't want strength and faith so I can somehow avoid or stop tragedies. I want my life to be a clear picture of God's infinite glory and worth when tragedy strikes.