on bearing witness…

Acts 1.8: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Hebrews 2.1-4: Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message declared through angels proved valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was confirmed for us by those who heard him, 4 while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

The baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit empowers our witness to Jesus. One would not be far from the mark if she were to suggest that the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower believers to be witnesses to Jesus Christ and the salvation that comes in His name. In other words, to be a witness to Jesus Christ, we first need a witness. In the New Testament, the empowered witness of the apostles was the second expression of the baptism of the Holy Spirit— the spiritual and tangible endowment of the Holy Spirit that came upon the upper room assembly. While no single experience or manifestation of the Holy Spirit should be projected as normative for all, we rightly celebrate the various and diverse experiences of the Holy Spirit believers bear witness to. Sometimes, He comes upon you gently, and other times, as a mighty torrent of conviction and strength. What is normative is that the Holy Spirit’s coming is a tangible, albeit frequently ineffable, experience in the life of a person because He comes to bear a living witness to Jesus. Jesus says, “You will receive power.” Powerless people know when they have been empowered. The baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit do not leave a person guessing! So what does the Holy Spirit bear witness to?

His witness brings a fresh awareness of the presence of God. The Holy Spirit makes real to us the things that we have believed by faith. His love, grace, majesty, and strength are not merely the lyrics of choruses and hymns— they become tangible realities arising from the Holy Spirit’s living testimony within. Faith is no longer merely the will to believe or a cognitive affirmation of doctrinal truth. Instead, faith becomes, through the witness of the Holy Spirit, like a living umbilical cord between the seen and the unseen, nourishing and sustaining our life in Him.

His witness provokes a fresh sense of awe in God's presence in us. The women and men of Scripture who meet God never refer to Him tritely or in overly familiar terms. Their intimacy with Him is never an excuse for presumptuous speech or behavior. Instead, the ones to whom the Spirit bears witness have a deep reverence for the Lord. They recognize the gravity of their sin, the duplicity of their ways, and the great disparity between their humanity and His glory, greatness, and majesty.

His witness brings the assurance of God’s love.  The Holy Spirit’s testimony gives us the overwhelming knowledge of God’s love through Jesus Christ. The Spirit powerfully proclaims to the soul of the believer what He said to His own Son, “You are my beloved Son; in you do I take pleasure.” Paul simply described it this way, “The Spirit bearing witness with our Spirit that we are sons of God.” (Romans 8.16)

Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan living in the 17th century, described it this way: A man walks with his little child. The child knows that he is the child of his father; he knows that his father loves him; he rejoices in that love and is happy in it. There is no uncertainty about his relationship with his father, but suddenly, the father, moved by some impulse known only to him, takes hold of his child and picks him up. He lifts him through the air above him and then lowers him so that their eyes meet. He tussles his hair, squeezes his arms, embraces him, and then sets him down, and they continue walking together. The child knew before that his father loved him, and he knew that he was his child. Nevertheless, this loving embrace, the serendipitous joy of being swung through the air, the meeting of their eyes, and the tussle of his hair all communicate this love in extraordinary ways. The relationship is unchanged, yet the child is assured in extraordinary ways. Such is the living witness of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's witness is not a once-for-all experience. It is His continuing gift to us for all time. He is our witness so that we might bear witness to Him. Take notice of the world around you. Do you not think the world needs a Spirit-baptized church

whose witness is empowered,
whose testimony is vibrant and
whose heart has been flooded with the love of God

through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5.5)?

May we all hunger for a fresh and tangible outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that we may be empowered by the Witness of God to be powerful witnesses to Him.

2025 - for a purpose: the Mordecai question…

Please indulge me as I tell you a true story… It was a golden age. The nation had triumphed at war; the economy was prosperous, and the people enjoyed their newfound affluence. The nation enjoyed her emerging status as a world superpower. Women of wealth enjoyed elaborate cosmetic makeovers (a combination of diet, exercise, and beauty treatments), while other notable women contested for respect and their rights. Nevertheless, it was still a very conservative era when every man was encouraged to be king of his own castle.

The country is Persia. The place is Susa, the nation’s capital. The time is 486-465 BC. The king is Ahasuerus, in the third year of his reign, and his queen is Esther. Her ascent to the throne came by way of her beauty, not her bloodline. She was truly the Cinderella, the Princess Kate Middleton of her day. Her life as a royal was a far cry from the life she had known as a child.

Esther, born Hadassah, was orphaned as a child when her parents were taken captive in Jerusalem and carried away to Persia. She was adopted and raised by her older cousin, Mordecai, under whose tutelage imparted a love for her Jewish heritage and faith. And so it was that Hadassah, the spoil of war, trafficked for her beauty, became the young woman Esther– a woman whose beauty and grace would ultimately capture the king’s gaze and later his affection. Twelve months after their first meeting, she would be made queen. By all accounts, she was loved and popular– her husband even established a national holiday in her honor. But there is a storm on the horizon, and Esther is on a collision course with her destiny…

Ahasuerus appoints a new Prime Minister who conspires to settle the Jewish question once and for all. He capitalizes upon the pride and prejudice of his day as he promises the king a great multiplication of wealth once the Jews are disposed of –– some arguments never change. Genocide is now the order of the day.

Mordecai enjoins Esther to use her position of influence to stay the king’s hand but he is abruptly rebuffed. Esther professes helplessness and protests that she, too, will be killed if she walks into the king’s inner court uninvited. But Mordecai will not be dissuaded and exhorts her with words that ring out across the centuries: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this.”

****************

Mordecai's question exhorts us to rediscover our sense of purpose. Like Esther, it is not by accident that you are where you are. Even if this is a season of transition, you have a God-given purpose for being where you are. If not you, then who is God calling to exercise the watchful care of others where you are? If not you, then who is God calling to show forth energy, fidelity, tenacity, generosity, and grace where you are? If not you, then who is God calling to sacrificially serve and illuminate the presence of Jesus and His kingdom where you are? If not you, then who?

It is from within this context that I have been reflecting on my own statement:

• I have a purpose.

• My purpose is to multiply God's Kingdom presence anywhere I have the opportunity.

• I won't be happy until and unless I am living out my purpose.

• I can best fulfill my purpose as part of a Kingdom community

• Since I have no guarantee of mortal life tomorrow, I must pursue my purpose today.

Dear ones, I believe you are where you are for such a time as this…

2025 - for a purpose continued…

NOTE: As I post this, at least seven fires are burning across Southern California. I believe the amount of fires and their proximity to homes and businesses is unprecedented. The worst of these burns out of control with zero containment. The churches representing our denomination (Foursquare) have opened their campuses as shelters for families. Our relief arm (Foursquare Disaster Relief) is resourcing our churches with supplies and resources. If you want to assist, please follow this link and select “fire response” from the drop-down menu. 100% of your donation will supply resources to our shelters.

The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the evil one.
(1 John 3.8)

God is purposeful.

Before your parents conceived you
   He conceived you.
You are not an accident,
nor are you the fruit of a moment’s passion.
You were deliberately fashioned.
   and richly endowed.
You were born of God’s purpose
   and you were born for God’s purpose.

Several years ago, as part of a Strengthfinders exercise, I was encouraged to write a purpose statement… I believe that God has used it to give me a “true north” that I can daily calibrate my life to:

• I have a purpose.
• My purpose is to multiply God's Kingdom presence anywhere I have opportunity.
• I won't be happy until and unless I am living out my purpose.
• I can best fulfill my purpose as part of a Kingdom community
• Since I have no guarantee of mortal life tomorrow, I must pursue my purpose today.

I have a purpose.
Everyone who has been twice born through Jesus Christ has been lovingly and strategically created for a purpose. There is nothing more tragic than aimless Christians who have lost their grasp of this simple reality. Purposelessness is surely a barometric reading of the true condition of our soul. The plethora of Christian self-help titles suggests that we have exchanged the great ends of the Church for trifling illusions that personal fulfillment is merely reflected in emotional well-being and daily convenience. This is narcissism, not discipleship.

God’s purpose for us and through us is robust, life-affirming, and fruitful. It will add dimension and meaning to every facet of our lives and endow every relationship, every opportunity, and all our time with significance.

My purpose is to multiply God’s Kingdom presence anywhere I have the opportunity. I am called to live in a perpetual state of rebellion. G. K. Chesterton once noted that the devil rebelled against heaven and fell to earth, holding creation captive, but the Christian rebels against the devil that we might liberate creation to rise to heaven.

Spiritual warfare is not an option for followers of Jesus Christ. Evil is real. The devil will not go away unless he is put to flight. The Scriptures testify that Jesus came to destroy the works of the evil one. This is our purpose, too.

I concede that it is difficult to look in the mirror and recite: “My purpose is to destroy the works of the evil one.” I know because I have tried it on several occasions and felt foolish! I found that the moment I declared aloud, “My purpose is to destroy the works of the evil one,” I was defeated by thoughts of my own powerlessness- not even my dog comes when I call!

I was liberated when the Holy Spirit led me to a study of 1 John 3.8. I discovered that the Greek word translated, “destroy,” is more frequently translated as “loose” or “untie” in the New Testament.  There, I remembered one of my favorite sweaters being destroyed by my oldest daughter when she was three. She merely found a dangling strand that she continued to pull until an entire sleeve was gone! Every day, I have the possibility of meeting people or facing situations with dangling strands that I can pull with the person and power of Jesus Christ.

 I will not be satisfied with my life until I am fulfilling my purpose.
You are created and called by God for a purpose. Therefore, embedded deep within you are yearnings whose origins lie in the eternal heart of God. Living for the trophies of this world will never satiate these longings. Their home is the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God, and you will gain the personal fulfillment you long for even if you don’t get the things or opportunities you hope for.

I can best fulfill my purpose by being part of a Kingdom community — a team!
We cannot fulfill our purpose alone. San Diego Padre Tony Gwinn (a 5-time National League batting champion and Hall of Fame inductee) may be called to play right field and hit .366, but he never did win a game unless he participated on a team. There is nothing Satan appreciates more than unplugged Christians who are adrift from the Body of Christ, distracted by the world’s allure, and preoccupied with their happiness.

I have no promise of mortal life tomorrow, so I must fulfill my purpose today!
Even though we have the promise of eternal life forever, we have no way of knowing when illness, accident, or violence may end our mortal lives. Live the life you are called to today. Look around you… your life is full of opportunities to untie and loose the works of the devil in the lives of others. Go on… pull those strings…

So let me ask you again, will you rejoice, reflect and recommit yourself to God’s purposes for you and through you in 2025?

2025 — for a purpose…

“My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention…” (Isaiah 46.10)

I have shared the following before, but I share it here to encourage you as you carry your memories from 2024 and look towards 2025.

Years ago, when I was facing my future with an awareness of personal emptiness and the certainty of defeat, God spoke to me with these words:

God is purposeful… 
            No exercise of His might,
                        no declaration of His wisdom,
                                    and no expression of His love
                                                is trivial, capricious, or random.

God is purposeful…

He does not say one thing and do another.
            He does not undermine His own advance
                        through indecision or retraction.
                                    He does not take three steps forward
                                                and two steps back.  

God is purposeful…

He is undeterred, unhindered, and undistracted.
            His love is resolute and
                        His tenderness is relentless.
                                    Therefore He will never turn away
                        until He has accomplished everything
            that He has purposed
within the counsel of His will.  

God is purposeful…

In Jesus dwelled the fullness of God
            and the fullness of God’s purpose.
In Jesus God purposed to become man
            in order to take up our case.
In Jesus God closes the breach, gulf, and abyss
            between God and us for which we are responsible. 

God is purposeful… 

At the very point where we
            refuse and fail
                        offend and provoke
         miss our destiny
            tread underfoot our dignity,
               and lose our salvation…
                     God purposed to intervene as a man
                     in the person and work of Jesus. 

God is purposeful.

He makes no mistakes.
   He has no regrets.
      He faces our future with
         unrestricted liberty
            uncompromising devotion
               unlimited resources
                  unbounded wisdom
                     and unconditional love. 

God is purposeful.

Before your parents conceived you
   He conceived you.
You are not an accident nor
   are you the fruit of a moment’s passion.
You were deliberately fashioned
   and richly endowed.
You were born of God’s purpose
   and you were born for God’s purpose.     

God is purposeful.

Will you rejoice, reflect and recommit yourself to God’s purposes for you and through you in 2025?

on the wonderful…

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
– Isaiah 9.6 –

There are 256 names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ. I imagine this is because He is infinitely beyond all that any one name can express.

Isaiah prophesied that His name shall be called Wonderful… Wonderful describes

❧ someone who is transcendently beyond the common…
❧ someone who exceeds the ordinary…
❧ someone who serendipitously stirs the soul with astonishment…
❧ someone who ineffably woos the heart, engages the mind, & ennobles the spirit…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Consider His birth— no other has ever occurred like it. He could have come amidst pomp and ceremony, or He could have been born in a palace and rocked in a golden cradle while attended by angels. But even this would have been a great condescension for Him. Instead, Jesus comes incognito, yet not anonymously. The swaddling clothes wrap the Baby whose flesh wraps the glory which is His incarnation. His name shall be called Wonderful…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Consider His character—no other has ever approached His perfection. He is sinless but never self-righteous. Rich and poor, male and female, Jew and Gentile, legalist and hedonist, prostitute and Pharisee are equally welcomed by Him. His love is relentless, His favor is unbiased, and His example is unmatched. After living closely with Jesus for three years, His closest friends esteem Him so highly that they worship Him as Messiah, Lord, and Savior. His name shall be called Wonderful…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Consider His life— no other has ever lived as Jesus lived. He came to bless and not to curse; to lift up and not to cast down; to save and not to destroy; to free and not to oppress. There has never been the slightest hint of selfishness or self-interest found in the testimonies of His life. He never used His authority or His power for personal gain. He had the power to turn stones into bread and yet went without food for forty days. He fed crowds, wept for cities, healed the sick, ignored barriers of gender and race, blessed His enemies, forgave His killers, and purposely gave His life as a ransom for sin. His name shall be called Wonderful…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Consider His teaching— no other has taught what Jesus taught. His teaching is simple and clear but never patronizing or condescending. He is original and never pedantic. His parables reflect His creativity, and His exhortations manifest His authority. He came without credentials and made claims that are humanly unbelievable. He wrote no sermons, dictated no letters, published no books, founded no school, and committed his message to uneducated fishermen. Yet His teaching has endured for 2000 years and has lifted nations and peoples out of darkness and degradation. His name shall be called Wonderful…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Consider this… When Jesus was born, Rome ruled the world. Her invincible power and ubiquitous influence secured her an empire without rival in world history. 33 years later, in one of her least esteemed provinces, a man was crucified for sedition according to Roman law. His execution would have gone unnoticed by 99.99% of the empire. This man never launched an army, nor did He ever carry a sword. On no occasion did He ever incite violence or organize a revolution. He exhorted His followers to pay their taxes, healed a centurion’s servant, and taught His followers to bless their persecutors. Humanly speaking His teaching should have been completely forgotten within a generation. Neither Rome nor Israel embraced it as mainstream or practical.

Within 300 years of His death, the teaching of Jesus dominated Rome. By then, His life and teachings had been carried further than the empire had ever reached. Today, Rome is a capital but not an empire. Her power is gone, her temples lie in ruins, and her gods are forgotten. Today more people call on the name of Jesus than any other name. He has overcome every barrier known to humanity— gender, class, nation, culture, race, and tongue. Oriental and occidental are within His grasp. 2000 years later, the world continues to be shaken by the compelling and relevant testimony of Jesus. You have only to lift up your head and look about you to see the wonder of His presence impacting our world today. His name shall be called Wonderful…

Is Jesus Wonderful? Oh yes, He is wonderful and so much more…

He is Counselor…
  He is Mighty…
      He is God…
         He is Everlasting…
            He is Father…
               He is Prince of Peace…
               Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end…

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

This Christmas I hope you recognize that His presence and His impact will be no different and no less in your life than He has been for countless millions around the world throughout history and today.

Happy Christmas!

There will be no posting until January 3rd…

on prophetic grammar…

For a child has been born to us,
A son has been given to us,
And the government has been
resting on His shoulders;
And His name has been called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9.6)

Here begins the first lesson… Mind your verbs. Your past, present, and future depend on them.

Here begins the second lesson… The perfect tense derives its name from the Latin word perfectus, meaning “carried through to the end, complete.” It denotes action that is completed and over with or a state already achieved and complete.

Here begins the third lesson: Isaiah's tense of choice is perfect, not future. He is so convicted about the certainty of God’s Word that he writes about the future as if it were the past. This can only mean one thing—the future is history. Therefore…

Trend prophets,
Demographic augurs,
Economic forecasters,
Environmental clairvoyants, and
Geopolitical seers
Take heed…
Worriers,
Pessimists,
Fretters,
Optimists, and the
Fearful
Take note…

The future is history…

Fate,
Whim,
Luck,
Chance, and
Kismet
Are each rendered impotent because

The future is history…

We will beware of any speculative vision of the future that fails to:
give Him preeminence;
reckon with His righteous judgment;
recognize His sovereign rule;
take courage in His covenant-destiny; and
be assured by the certainty of His promises.

The future is history…

Faith recognizes that the future is unknown.
Faith rejects the notion that the future is uncertain.

The future is history because we are certain
that Christ completely holds the future.

What can be added to it?
He is the First and the Last.
What can be taken away from it?
He is the Beginning and the End.
What can elude His rule?
He is the Lord Almighty.
He is the one Who Was
and Who Is and
Who Is to Come.

In Jesus Christ, the future is history…

What Isaiah saw prophetically, we see historically—but not more completely than he did. Otherwise, why would we be drawn to his prophecy season after season? Isaiah beheld the certainty of God’s future in Christ prophetically revealed to his present. He strategically oriented his life around God’s “historic future” and called Israel to do the same. God summons us to “back into” the future like the rower who goes forward while looking backward toward a reference point on the horizon.

Our reference point is the promises of God.
Our destination is God’s promised future.

Happy Advent

the questions of Christmas…

For unto us a child is born… (Isaiah 9.6)

Christmas is a challenge for every parent…unless your child is God—  then it must be overwhelming! While shepherds, wise men, Simeon, and Anna all beheld the child as Messiah, Savior, Lord, and King, none of them— or for that matter any of us—  had to grapple with the reality Mary and Joseph faced. Many may welcome a newborn baby, but it remains the blessed burden of parents to bear the responsibility for him.

No parent before or since has confronted the mystery of the incarnation with the immediacy, the mystery, the awe-filled fear, and the questions… all those questions… They must have haunted Joseph and Mary ever since those moments when the Lord first invaded their lives with the News… Questions that dogged them over the months of pregnancy… Questions which they discussed together… Questions left unspoken within the most intimate recesses of the heart… Questions which competed for their attention amidst the demands of childbirth.

Joseph, what did you ask in those frail, still, helpless moments? You who were denied the lover’s role in conception, the man’s right to name, and the father’s honor to lead your son into his calling… Joseph, what were your questions?

I can only imagine…

My Lord and my God, why me?
   How do I deliver the One sent to deliver me?
      Is He bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh?
         Is He my son or Your Son?
            How can one so sinful, father one so sinless?

How do I nurture the God whom I serve?
   How do I lead when my son is my Father?
      Does He even need me to be His father?
         How can I meet His needs when I need Him so much more?
            How do I teach the Word to one who is the Word?

How do I judge my Judge?
   Can I ever be “right” before Him?
      My Lord, how do I overcome the paralysis I feel within?
         Oh my God, why this way?…

The challenge and the stumbling block of Christmas is not God’s divinity—  it is the truth that He freely chose to empty Himself in order to be born… (Philippians 2.6)

God is coming… what should we expect?

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

The scholars’ query: How can an infinite and holy God reveal Himself to finite and sinful man?

The seekers’ question: What is God like?

Philosophers, kings, theologians, priests, sociologists, presidents and chiefs, historians, and people of every culture and ethnicity have been grappling with questions like these for over three thousand years—some without reaching any final conclusions. Inductive speculation has not brought humanity any closer to a meaningful consensus. Humanity’s search for the Divine has been like the story of the five blind men trying to describe an elephant. One feels the tail and says, “An elephant is like a rope.” Another explores the leg and exclaims, “An elephant is like a tree stump.” A third feels the trunk and describes the elephant as a snake. A fourth feels the body and says, “The elephant is like a wall.”  The fifth man feels the ears and declares, “An elephant is like a large leaf.” Our postmodern commentary would pronounce them all correct—but in fact, they are all wrong.

The world’s search for God has revealed a fatal flaw. We are the blind men who only see a part and then take the fragment we behold and make it into an absolute declaration of the whole. The truth of the matter is this: we cannot discover Him. He must discover us; we can only hope that God will want to do so. This is why the Christmas message is so important.

Christmas declares, “God has become man in order to take up our case.” What takes place in this act of inconceivable mercy is the free overruling of God over our ignorance, arrogance, and sin. But this is not

an arbitrary overlooking and ignoring;
   not an artificial bridge-building;
      not a covering-over or hiding;
   but a real closing of the breach, gulf, and abyss
between God and us, for which we are responsible.
At the very point
   where we refuse and fail;
      offending and provoking God;
         making ourselves impossible before Him; and
            in that way, missing our destiny;
         treading underfoot our dignity;
      forfeiting our rights and
   losing our salvation;
At that very point, God intervenes as man.

In Luther’s famous words:
“He ate, drank, slept, walked;
   He was weary, sorrowful, rejoicing;
      He wept, and He laughed;
         He knew hunger and thirst and sweat;
      He talked, He toiled, and He prayed
   so that there was no difference between                 
Him and other men, save only this— He was God, and He no sin.”

The Old Testament prophets revealed the character and attributes of God, but it was Jesus who clearly revealed the person of God. The New Testament writers (all but one were Jewish) declared that Jesus revealed God so perfectly that He is described as

the image of the invisible God (Col 1.15),
   the radiance of God’s glory, and
      the exact representation of His being (Heb 1.3).

When the disciples wanted to be quite sure about the person and presence of God, Philip said to the Lord, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” The apostle John records Jesus’ startling response, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.8–9).

We have seen His glory. These words have staggering implications for the world’s search for God. They beckon us to recognize that in Christ,

God has discovered us.
   The quest is over;
      our sojourn has a destination.
         His name is Jesus.

Simply and clearly, Jesus reveals to us that our God is our Father as He shows and demonstrates to us 

our Father’s nature,
   our Father’s attributes,
      our Father’s purposes,
         our Father’s love for us,
            our Father’s blessing,
               our Father’s justice for all, and

our Father’s desire to bring us into a personal and loving relationship with Himself and others, which is destined to last forever.

Those who wish to know God and this life that He offers us must now begin a new pilgrimage that follows God’s journey among us. In 19 days, our quest will begin (afresh) at His cradle.

Happy Advent…

a thanksgiving epistle…

NOTE: Every year I send out a “Thanksgiving epistle” to friends and family on Thanksgiving Eve… I thought I would share it this week…

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven...  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

For everything, there is a season... This is the season (at least in the United States) to focus on Thanksgiving. Here, it is a holiday; for me, it is a discipline. It is a day to give thanks and a discipline to apply myself to, lest my gratitude be rote or generic platitudes that lack life's context.

As I anticipated another annual Slomka Thanksgiving letter, I was drawn to the theme of "aging"—something we all have in common—and how it contributes to the discipline of thanksgiving.

I recognize that many (if not most?) reading this are younger than me. Let me assure you upfront that this will not be a critique, commentary, or consideration to impart for your unique journeys. I am not writing to advise… simply to share. Perhaps my thoughts will echo something of your own for those my age or older. Regardless, all of us are part of an aging community on diverse journeys filled with experience and insight.

Aging presents me with a cornucopia of opportunities (how's that for a holiday metaphor?!) for giving thanks. I realize my thinking was more binary when I was younger. When we are children, days are good or bad, fun or boring, happy or sad, scary or safe. Aging permits me to have a more nuanced and expansive context for gratitude. I can be grateful amidst grief for the gift of people I have lost to death; I can thank God for the resilience challenge has produced in me; I can express gratitude for His presence amidst anxiety and uncertainty. This is not a matter of looking for the silver linings amidst life's clouds. Instead, it is the opportunity to have my capacity for gratitude enlarged by insights aging brings. Rare is the day that lacks the context and the opportunity for thanksgiving that aging provides.

Aging has multiplied my joy and, therefore, my thanksgiving. I no longer think life can be so neatly divided between young and old. I still have an inner 12-year-old who loves superheroes, fantasy stories, a good ice cream cone, fast food, secret agents, competitions, and loud music. And, come to think of it, I think my 12-year-old self had an inner adult who loved art, books, the power of story, museums, Ella Fitzgerald, the Gershwin Brothers, watching sports, innovation, and reflective thinking. All that to say, those things that brought delight when I was younger continue to do so today -- only more so.

Aging invites me to fully cherish the opportunities, people, conversations, and discoveries that populate my "todays."  Since I have no promise of mortal life tomorrow, [aging]() has reminded me that life is not about longevity. How I live is more important than how long I live. Who I have done life with is more important than how many I have known across my life. The opportunities I have been given are more significant than the achievements I have accomplished. Aging has a way of recalibrating life's treasures. As I age, I am more uncertain about what, if anything, I have accomplished that has lasting value. But aging has made me more certain of the people and opportunities God has blessed me with, igniting my gratitude.

Aging has inspired me to be more observant. I am mindful that there is no guarantee that I will have this conversation, see that bird, enjoy the sun's warmth, or glean a new insight tomorrow. Far from making life somber or maudlin, aging is a daily invitation to be alert, see, learn, listen, engage, serve, and love. When I was younger, I simply presumed there would always be tomorrow; I'm not as sure today. Aging does not make me feel desperate, anxious, or insecure; it makes me feel an urgent curiosity and desire to maximize these days. Aging has made me grateful that I have more vision and yearning than I have a lifetime to realize -- a sure sign that God has put eternity in my heart... that I was ultimately made for a different time-line that mortality limits.

In one of his letters, C. S. Lewis once asked what we would do if aging and death were optional—assuming everything remained as they were—the promise of eternal life in Christ, the love of God, etc. What if the day of separating ourselves from mortality, for our true destiny with God, was up to us? He wondered whether our love for this life would keep us tethered to this compromised yet beautiful mortal coil or whether we would choose to separate ourselves from our joys, accomplishments, and loves on this for the forever life we were created for. That's where aging comes in. Aging is a process that resets my compass towards God, producing gratitude for the joy set before me. His love bridges both "shores," and aging becomes the guide who will ultimately position me to be brought safely home.

This Thanksgiving, my gratitude is more alive than ever. I am grateful to you and for you...

your faces… 

   your love...

your wisdom...

   your laughter...

your inspiration…

   your lives;

The opportunity to add more names to my Thanksgiving email list is a further sign that God blesses my life by enlarging the community I am fortunate to share life with.

The words of David's song again resonate and stir my soul to gladness: "You, God, crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake." (Psalm 65.11)

When I awake tomorrow morning, I will awaken with life that God has made full through you.

Thank you...

Mark

on thanksgiving & Thanksgiving…

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving… (Col. 4.2)

Thanksgiving, the discipline, not the holiday, is a spiritual rhythm in a healthy person because it alerts us to the hand of God in our midst. A person who pursues the discipline of thanksgiving sees life– our loves, friendships, accomplishments, joys, the blessings that embrace those around us, etc.– as a gift from God. Thanksgiving protects us from conceit, self-sufficiency, cynicism, and blind consumerism. It frees us from vain comparisons and competitions, which only serve to tire our spirit as we pursue elusive goals that cannot bring lasting fulfillment. Thanksgiving humbles us, whereas the ungrateful heart, steeped in pride, will drift towards bitterness, selfishness, duplicity, fear, sin, and doubt because it is unable to rejoice in the bounty of God’s goodness manifest towards others. Ingratitude shrivels our capacity to give thanks because it is ultimately narcissistic — unless it blesses me, enriches me, or raises me up, it doesn’t really count. The ungrateful heart can only begrudgingly concede that good things are happening to those around them — but the fact that it is happening to others and not to them is one more evidence that life is unfair.

This Thanksgiving holiday, will you take the initiative to encourage the discipline of thanksgiving in yourself and others by pausing to give the Lord thanks for the significant blessings in your life... whatever table you gather around, why not ask friends and/or family members to share what they are grateful for and either pray together or close the time with a simple prayer.

Finally, I thought you might be interested in reading the proclamation establishing our Thanksgiving observances here in the United States. It is our only original national holiday whose focus is the Lord. It is a simple illustration that our recognition of God’s goodness is independent of our circumstances. Thanksgiving can (must?) arise even amidst the most turbulent and distressing times. Lincoln made his Thanksgiving Day proclamation during the final year of the American Civil War. By that time, at least 465,000 were dead on both sides. As a percentage of our nation’s population, that would be the equivalent of 5.25 million deaths today. Can you imagine?! It is amidst this devastation that Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Day proclamation:

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

October 20, 1864, by the President of the United States of America

It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has crowned the labor of our working men in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of Freedom and Humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions.

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby, appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day, which IA desire to be observed by all my fellow citizens wherever they may then be as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do farther recommend to my fellow citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessing of Peace, Union, and Harmony throughout the land, which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and, of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth… Abraham Lincoln

Happy Thanksgiving!

on the church…

NOTE: This is part 6 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern."   

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning
1. God
2. Humanity
3. Jesus Christ
4. Salvation and
5. The People of God -- The Church
that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the Church and using it as an opportunity to conclude this extended and unintended reflection.

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (John 17.14-16)

 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.14-16)

Jesus, "Yes!" Church, "No!" This seems to be the sentiment among many in our culture today. The interest in "spiritual things" and Jesus has not waned. But the relevancy of the Church is in question, as is the general perception that the Church is, by and large, a decaying building filled with white-haired people who are hostile, self-isolating, and afraid of the world around them. In some quarters, the Church has endeavored to combat this stereotype by attempting to make herself more relevant by watering down our theological confessions, secularizing the Gospels, and redefining moral truth. The results have been just as disastrous-- after all, who wants to be part of a Church whose only offering is a neutered God, smug hallelujahs, and a people whose faith appears to be evidenced in the same "will to power" and material desires that are present in the western world today? For the "loud Church" -- as one of my friends calls us-- these are expressions of the Church that are larger, have "concert worship," and make their political aspirations known. I wonder if our culture looks at this expression of the Church almost like a cult -- "religious" people who do "religious" things while secretly plotting to takeover!

Now, more than ever, we must recover what might be described as the Church’s "double identity." On the one hand, we are a "holy' people," called out of the world to belong to God. On the other hand, we are a "worldly" people, in the sense of being sent back into the world to be an apostolic witness and to serve. What makes us distinct and counter-cultural should be our "holy worldliness." Unfortunately, we have not remembered, embraced, and intentionally preserved our double identity in our long and inconsistent history.

Sometimes, motivated by our quest for holiness, we have withdrawn from the world while seeking to insulate ourselves from it. At other times, motivated by our desire to be immersive, we assimilate to our culture’s standards, longings, and values. We become impressionable rather than influential. Yet without the preservation of both parts of her identity, the Church cannot engage in mission. Mission arises out of the biblical doctrine of the church in society. An unbalanced ecclesiology makes the mission unbalanced, too.

Jesus taught these truths Himself in his famous "in the world but not of it" (John 17.14-16) expression and in his vivid metaphor of “the light of the world." (Matthew 5.16) He implied that the two communities, the church and the world, are as radically different from one another as light from darkness. He also implied that, if they were to do any good, the light must shine into the darkness.

Thus, the double identity and responsibility of the church are plain.

John Stott observed:

In a similar way, the apostle Peter describes the members of God's new people on the one hand as "aliens and strangers in the world" and on the other as needing to be conscientious citizens in it (1 Pet. 2.11-17). We cannot be totally "world-affirming" (as if nothing in it were evil), nor totally "world-denying" (as if nothing in it were good), but a bit of both, and particularly world challenging -- recognizing its potentiality as God's world and seeking to conform its life increasingly to His lordship.

Our redemption sets us apart to God — we belong to Him. But redemption from our slavery to sin has never meant extraction from the world we live in. Our redemption should send shock waves throughout society that multiply redemption’s invitation, Christ’s redemptive presence, and His wholeness to all. Our effectiveness as expressions of Christ’s Church will depend on our intentionality to press into our “holy worldliness.”

Over the last 9 weeks (with a few breaks), I have endeavored to celebrate 5 essential theological confessions that should provide frameworks for how we should think about politics and social concern and have asked you to hold them (guard them?) in their biblical fullness — our confessions of God, humanity, Christ, salvation, and now, the Church. Coincidentally, these five confessions constitute the biblical basis for mission-- for evangelistic and social responsibility, taken together, obligate us, the Church, to intentionally incarnate Christ in the life of the world. This obligation is personal and communal.

First, let's consider the individual Christian. A disciple of Jesus is called to be both a witness and a servant — these are the inseparable twins of a Christian missional life incumbent upon us. While I want to confirm that callings and gifting may differentiate our emphasis towards one direction or the other, our gifting and calling does not exonerate us from our responsibility to identify with both. Whatever our specialist calling may be, emergencies will override it. The priest and the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan could not excuse their shameful neglect of the man who had been assaulted and robbed by saying that their calling was to work in the Temple. If we are called to a predominantly social ministry, we still have an obligation to witness. If we are called to a predominantly evangelistic ministry, we still cannot say we have no social responsibilities.

Second, let's consider the local church. The versatility of a church's missional impact will be maximized when full use is made of all her members with their diverse gifts and callings. A church can mobilize mission as her leadership releases people to coalesce in groups for reflection, prayer, and missional action. A life-giving fellowship can consider the gifts that God has uniquely given them to be Christ's incarnate presence amidst the pain points in their community. One of the most remarkable expressions of this is the ministry of Angelus Temple (Los Angeles) during the Great Depression under founding pastor Aimee Semple McPherson. If people know her, most think of her as a Pentecostal faith healer and evangelist -- and an eccentric one at that. However, I wish every church would be so "eccentric." Under her leadership and through this community, countless lives were transformed spiritually and healed physically. But consider this: in an age marked by inequity, racism, and bias against immigrants, this church welcomed black and white, German and Irish, Mexican and Armenian, the wealthy and the destitute through her doors. Between August 1926 and May 1937, they established a church commissary that cared for 99 520 families, fed over 355,000 people, and gave away more than 257,000 articles of clothing. By 1942, they had fed and clothed over 1.2 million people.[1] This is one example of a Church incarnating the presence of Jesus for missional impact as they brought the whole Gospel to a whole city so that it might experience the transformative wholeness that only Christ can bring.

Let me conclude with what might appear to be a non-sequitur reference to the Roman Catholic Mass. The word "mass" comes from the final sentence of the old Latin liturgical rite, which closes with this phrase: ite missa est. Today, it is usually translated as, "Go forth, the Mass has ended." It literally means, "Go, it has been sent." It begins with a command and concludes with the reason. We know what "Go!" means. The "it" refers to the self-giving love of God that communicants, according to Catholic theology, have literally just received and digested through the bread and the cup. Therefore, I think a more blunt and honest translation would be: "You have been loved; now get out!" Think of it: every week, the Mass concludes with a missional imperative: "You, who God has loved, GET OUT! Go into the world that Christ came into because it is the world in which you now belong."

The late South African Bishop Desmond Tutu said: "I don’t preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now, is that political or social?” He said: “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread."

Dear ones, if Shakespeare was right, "that all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," then this is the stage the Church must fully inhabit, the platform upon which we will live and love, witness and serve, suffer and, if necessary, die for Christ.

We are the Church...  may our "holy worldliness" multiply God's life-giving Kingdom presence in word and in deed in our world today.

---

[1] from "Angelus Temple," Dictionary of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement.

on taking sides…

NOTE: I have been doing a series on politics and social concern. This week, I will take a break to share some final reflections on the election, and then I will conclude the series next week.

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” And the captain of the Lord’s  host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5.13-15)

That was then… this is now…

Then Joshua was forty years younger…
Then Moses was in charge…
Then God seemed to work miracles daily…
Then there was so much momentum, but…

Then, common sense supplanted faith…
Then the people abandoned their future to fear…
Then the nation wandered for forty years…
Then Joshua witnessed the death
of his generation…

But that was then, and this is now…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Jericho’s walls are no smaller…
Now Jericho’s streets are no less populated…
Now Jericho’s might has not diminished…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now he stands before a fortified city…
Now, he has no battle plans…
Now the risks of defeat are real…

Now Joshua is forty years older—and the underdog.
Now his troops are young and inexperienced…
Now, he does not hold a strategic position…
Now, he lacks the element of surprise…
Now, he needs a miracle…

That was then… this is now…

Now Joshua is still forty years older…
Now, he is not the warrior he once was…
Now, Joshua is still a man of vision;
Now, there is still hope…
Now Joshua still sees...

Now it is the eve of a great battle…
Now behold! A man was standing opposite him…
Now the man’s sword was drawn…
Now Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Joshua is a man of vision and
Now Joshua sees the truth…

Before Jericho falls…
Joshua must bow…
Before Jericho is defeated…
Joshua must surrender…

Loved ones, the election is now behind us, but there is a nation, a state, and a local community before us. You stand at the threshold of a strategic opportunity full of our Father’s opportunities for you. Yet vision without surrender is thinly disguised vanity. Our greatest challenge post-election will not be who won or lost, our budgets, any changes we need to make, new ministries, or our disappointments. Our greatest challenge will be to surrender fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and recommit to His redemptive mission. History teaches us that it is always a disaster for mission whenever the Church aligns herself with power and/or political sides. Surely, we can learn lessons from the Church's past and not repeat the same errors?

We cannot look at this country through the binary lens of an electoral map displaying red states and blue states. I think Jesus sees all states as "need states." Every state and the communities therein need the redemptive presence of Jesus preached and expressed through His Church. Is there a different Gospel for a blue state than for a red state?! Does one color state not need a Church catalyzed by The Great Commission and charged to express the Greatest Commandments?! Which color state can stand before the Lord and boast of their righteousness?! Does one state need Jesus less than another?! If we woke up the morning after the election thinking our missional labors just got easier, think again! Republicans will gloat over the power regained, while Democrats will now stew and strategize a path forward to regain the power they lost. Neither comes in the Spirit of the Lord that we have been anointed with nor the Gospel message entrusted to us.

... he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5.19-20)

On the eve of the Jericho invasion, both common sense and human deduction might correctly assume whose side God was on. Joshua learned that night that God does not take sides; He calls us to His…

This is the post-election lesson I need to remember and embrace afresh...

meanderings from 39,000 feet on the election…

NOTE: I have been doing a series on politics and social concern. This week, I will take a break to share some "meanderings" from 39,000 feet concerning the upcoming election...

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding. (Daniel 2.20-21)

Our world looks vastly different when I am on an 11-hour flight looking down from 39,000 feet. The high altitude squashes the dimensions of the landscape below, and it also conceals the beautiful panorama of faces normally visible to me. The view from up here reveals no borders, poverty, war, hostility, or divisions. But it also hides joy, creativity, ingenuity, and generosity.

The view from 39,000 feet is simple and peaceful. It invites me to behold this created planet, mindful that everything and everyone that has life and breath shares this space amidst diverse climates, environments, and geography. From street level, however, the view is more complex. It assaults my eyes daily with a barrage of emotions: courage and fear, solidarity and division, compassion and hostility, grace and judgment, charity and greed, the abuse of power, and the selflessness of sacrifice, laughter, and lament.

From 39,000 feet, there is no "side to take" or "line in the sand." But from street level, my imagination is challenged by daily attempts to hijack it with images, sounds, and speech that demand my allegiance. Whose side will I be on? Whose cause will I support? Whose anger will I embrace? Human capacities that should unite us are distorted behind the rhetoric of bias. These deep divisions erode our ethics, weaponize our differences, excuse violence, disintegrate common truth, vilify the poor and non-white people groups, and define victory using the language of dominion and vanquishment. Such is life in 21st-century America.

Occasionally, a glimpse from 39,000 feet can be helpful. It allows me to reset, be inspired, realign, and reassess. But it can never be a "place" to retreat permanently. The truth is, I was made for the "street."

All of this leads me to Election Day in the USA next Tuesday. Before I get my "knickers in a knot" over the outcome, I find myself reflecting on 2 questions:

1. Does anything change? No, nothing changes. Policies, personnel, and rhetoric may shift, but these changes won’t alter the nation’s soul. The truth is that this nation, represented by all her political parties, is increasingly showing a growing disregard for the biblical and historical God who has revealed Himself through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. His ways, words, and warnings remain unacknowledged and/or unheeded. Regardless of who occupies the White House, the nation will not become more welcoming to the Lordship of Jesus. Revival, not elections, is what transforms a nation.

I think that in the United States,, it is easy for us to equate wealth and success with God's favor. But let us be cautioned and humbled by the history of the Assyrian empire. God used Assyria, the wealthiest and most powerful nation at the time, not because He condoned its barbaric empire-building but simply because He chose them as His "tool" to judge Israel and other nations. Assyria's national delusion in their own self-sufficiency positioned them for the judgment of God that would eventually visit them. Consider these verses from Isaiah 10.5-19:

“What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.
6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation...

Is. 10:12    After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,

  “By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull...
Is. 10:15    But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?...
18 The LORD will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!

We must remember this: It is not always God's favor that promotes a nation, but it is always God's will -- and the intent of His will is inscrutable to us. No wonder Paul cries out with praise-filled frustration: "Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11.33)

We are not called to be co-workers with God in the knowledge and execution of His sovereign will. However, we are given the astonishing opportunity to be co-workers with Christ in His redemptive purposes. (see Romans 16.3; 1Corinthians 3.9; 1Thessalonians 3.2)

2. How will I choose to live? The answer to this question is the same as question 1: “Nothing changes." While the answer to question 1 is observational, the answer to question 2 is existential! Because nothing changes, I will still resolve to live on mission:

• I will still choose to surrender to God through daily worship and prayer. I will renew my "Yes" each day as if it is for the first time.

• I will still pray for this nation I have been assigned to. I will pray for our leaders to be humbled before the Lord and be gifted with wisdom so that we might live in peace.

• I will still invite the Holy Spirit to convict me through His written and living Word-- to challenge my worldview with His Kingdom vision, which is true, real, here now, and coming.

• I will still ask the Lord to form my soul with His heart, His righteousness, and His love.

• I will still seek a daily filling with the Holy Spirit so that I might express His grace, truth, and love.

• I will still devote my energy to building up an apostolic Church-- to be a community on mission locally and globally.

• I will still celebrate fellowship and establish myself within a local community in Christ.

• I will still endeavor to be a man of grace and truth, a good friend, practice hospitality, and live generously.

• I will still identify myself with justice as God defines it and seek to resource the poor.

• I will still preach and teach the Scriptures -- the Good News of His Kingdom and the Gospel.

• I will still deliberately seek opportunities to share the Gospel of the Kingdom through word and deed.

• And at the end of each day, I will still choose to surrender that passing day to God, expressing my gratitude and commitment before I sleep, as if it were my first time saying “Yes” to His will.

On Tuesday, the nation will "decide" on its next president. Next Wednesday morning, just like this morning, I will wake up and choose to live a life defined by the Great Commandments and the Great Commission...

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind... Love your neighbor as yourself... Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 22.36-40; 28.18-20)

Nothing changes...

on salvation

NOTE: This is part 6 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern."   

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning
1. God
2. Humanity
3. Jesus Christ
4. Salvation and
5. The People of God -- The Church
that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the full salvation God offers...

Isaiah 5.7: How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Mark 10.24-27: Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals, it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

A few weeks back, Carol and I took the Alcatraz tour and became reacquainted with some of the infamous residents who lived on "The Rock." Mickey Cohen was a notorious Jewish crime boss who ran with the likes of Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Seigel. While he was a "resident" there, it is said that he had spiritual conversations with the prison chaplain and later, upon his release, with Billy Graham. He appeared to indicate that he made a commitment to Jesus but never left his career in organized crime. When confronted about his chosen "career path," Cohen allegedly responded: "Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?" Why not, indeed?!

We live in a time when "pop Christianity" trivializes the nature of salvation as nothing more than a moral reality check, the forgiveness of our sins, a personal fast pass to heaven, a get-out-of-hell free card, or a private spiritual experience without social or moral consequences. It is urgent that we "save" salvation from these caricatures and re(dis)cover the doctrine in its biblical fullness. The challenge is that "pop Christianity" separates and then discards truths that Scripture holds together. The result is an understanding of salvation that is individualistic, shallow, and lacking the capacity to transform lives and communities.

Let me suggest 4 “truths” that we must continue to hold together with salvation if we are to embrace a fuller understanding of salvation.

We must not separate salvation from conversion. Christians have historically confessed that salvation is a radical, comprehensive, and transformative conversion of a person in three movements. It has a "beginning" when we surrender to Christ's call, a "middle" as we continue being saved amidst daily rhythms of conviction and surrender, and an "end" when our salvation is brought to perfection when Christ returns. C. S. Lewis observed:

"For mere improvement is no redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.. If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions – if he continues to be just as snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary... Fine feelings, new insights, and greater interest in 'religion' mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness, 'feeling better' is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. (Mere Christianity, pp. 215, 207)

Second, we must not separate salvation from the Kingdom of God. In the Bible, these two are virtually synonymous, alternative representations that describe the same work of God. According to Isaiah 52.7, those who preach the good news of peace are also those who proclaim salvation and say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" ' That is, where God reigns, God saves. Salvation is the blessing of his rule. Again, when Jesus said to his disciples, 'How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God,' it seems natural for them to respond with the question, 'who then can be saved?' (Mark 10.24-26). They evidently equated entering the Kingdom with being saved.

Once this identification has been made, salvation takes on a broader aspect. For the Kingdom of God is God's dynamic rule, breaking into human history through Jesus, confronting, combating and overcoming evil, spreading the wholeness of personal and communal well-being, taking possession of his people in total blessing and total demand. The church is meant to be the Kingdom community, a model of what the human community looks like when it comes under the rule of God, and a challenging alternative to secular society. Entering God's Kingdom is entering the new age, long promised in the Old Testament, which is also the beginning of God's new creation. Now, we look forward to the consummation of the Kingdom when our bodies, our society and our universe will all be renewed, and sin, pain, futility, disease, and death will all be eradicated. Salvation is a big concept; we have no liberty to reduce it.

Thirdly, we must not separate salvation in Jesus the Savior from Jesus the Lord. It is a little short of incredible that some Christians erroneously teach the possibility of accepting Jesus the Saviour while postponing a surrender to him as Lord-- even though God has exalted Jesus to his right hand and made him Lord. From that position of supreme power and executive authority, He is able to bestow salvation and the gift of the Spirit precisely because He is the Lord who has the power to save.

The affirmations 'Jesus is Lord' and 'Jesus is Saviour' are almost interchangeable. His lordship extends far beyond the religious or spiritual part of our lives. It embraces the whole of our experience, public and private, home and work, church service and civic duty, missional and social responsibilities. As A.W. Tozer famously declared: "Either He is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all." Salvation is as comprehensive as it is holistic. We must be careful not to fragment it -- as if it could be -- by giving the false impression that there are, for pragmatic reasons, people, places, or "spaces" that are exempt from His Lordship. The salvation Jesus offers can be refused but it will not be reshaped by a world that wants to coopt Jesus to satisfy its will to power.

Finally, we must not separate salvation by faith from our obligation to love our neighbor. Salvation is something we receive by faith, and it is something the faithful bring. While salvation is a gift of grace alone to be received by faith alone, salvation does not remain alone. The same salvation that transforms lives personally is expressed through the saving expressions of love -- service, sacrifice, generosity, and compassion -- that manifest God's saving presence. If it is living and authentic, it will inevitably issue in good works; if it does not, then it is fraudulent and those claiming to be saved may, in fact, be deluded.

Jesus himself taught this in his 'sheep and goats' description of Judgment Day. Our attitude to him, he said, will be revealed in, and so judged by, our good works of love to the least of his brothers and sisters (Matthew 25.31-46). The apostles all lay the same emphasis on the necessity of good works of love. We all know that James taught it:

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. (James 2.14-18)

So does John:

14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? (1 John 3.14-17).

And so does Paul.

He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2.14)

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10)

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love... For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love, become enslaved to one another. (Galatians 5.6, 13)

"If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13.2).

The salvation that redeems belongs together with the love that serves. Whenever one is absent, so is the other. Neither can exist in isolation. Those who authentically experience salvation—the saving hand of God in their lives—bring the truth and depth of that salvation through acts of love with no hope of reciprocity.

I will close with this... A salvation incarcerated in the closets of personal piety or in the binary self-assessment of "saved" or "unsaved" will be prone to separating salvation from the great truths accompanying it. This kind of salvation does not expect transformation, makes no demand, and promises no hope to the world. Such salvation is an exercise in cognitive dissonance-- embracing a truth that we consider important yet remains functionally irrelevant to daily living. This is why we must not separate salvation from conversion, the Kingdom of God, the Lordship of Christ, or the command to love. Dear ones, salvation is so much more than the forgiveness of sins and the promise of a forever life in God's presence-- although it is nothing less than that.

The gift and the anticipation for this comprehensive salvation are captured by C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the Beavers of Narnia sing:

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

Thanks to Jesus, we are living in the springtime of His Kingdom ...

Next week, we will look at our confessional understanding of the Church.

on the Incarnate Son…

NOTE: This is part 5 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning

1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church

that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of the Savior we worship -- Jesus Christ!

Every generation and culture endeavors to proclaim Jesus in relevant and compelling expressions. The challenge for all of us is to do so in a manner that is consistent with Scripture while conscientiously attempting to eschew our own cultural bias. Across time and cultures, Jesus has been presented as a mystic, monarch, a guerilla revolutionary, an ascetic, a rock star, a sufferer, a gun-toting patriot, a capitalist, a CEO, a socialist, a communist, a delusional utopian, a seer, a zen master, wise teacher, hippie, and, even, "Buddy Jesus." Some are mutually contradictory, and others have little or no connection with Jesus, as presented in the four Gospels.

Therefore, it remains the Church's responsibility, as best we can, to present a biblical, historical Christ free of cultural bias. Our confession and presentation of Jesus must be intentional, clear, and inviting. We must also be resolute not to allow the biblical, historical Jesus to be hijacked and coopted into cultural narratives that are not in alignment with the Scriptures that reveal Him in all of His paradoxical fullness:

His deity and His humanity,

His sufferings and His glory,

 His incarnate meekness and His cosmic majesty,

 His servanthood and His lordship,

 His merciful love and His just judgment,

His Kingdom that is both small and vast.

By His own introductory announcement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1.14), the Christ of the Gospels sets Himself on a collision course with every kingdom, culture and generation. His self-introduction is a salvo across history and civilizations that He will not take sides. His Incarnation and His Kingdom confront both Rome and Israel, Pilate and Herod, Priest and Pharisee, Zealot and commoner with the new reality that invades the planet in the incarnation of the Son. His grace invites a "transformative surrender" while His truth shakes the foundations that inform power, prejudice, and pride. No one can escape His judgment, and no one is disqualified from receiving His mercy. His mission was never merely to improve life for the fallen Adam and Eve or to protect civilization by reinforcing moral righteousness. His mission was to call a broken and unrepairable creation -- all nations and peoples-- to repentance while offering Himself as a ransom for all sin. Jesus is God's radical and unforeseen response. What was true in the first century is true in the twenty-first as well.

While we confess the reality of the Incarnation, I wonder if we leave ourselves vulnerable to misaligning Jesus with causes, ideologies, policies, and ethics when we do not reflect on its theological significance and practical implications. What reflection might protect us from perpetuating fresh expressions of past sins like crusades, inquisitions, violent conquests in the name of Jesus and the king, human trafficking (slavery), aligning with the Nazis, racism, etc? Let me suggest three truths about the Incarnation that might frame our reflections, protect the integrity of our worship and mission, preserve our unity, and position our voices to be prophetic exiles in the kingdoms and cultures we inhabit.

First, the self-emptying of the Son. The Incarnation is not merely the confession that "in Christ, all the fullness of the deity dwells." (Colossians 2.9) Nor is it simply the confession that "the Word was made flesh and lived among us" (John 1.14). The Incarnation is not merely the question, "Was Jesus fully God and fully man?" The Incarnation should cause us to ask, "What kind of man did God fully become?" The circumstances around His birth give us ample pause for reflection. His birth was modest, His parents common, and His demeanor average. In other words, there was nothing about His birth, family, or appearance that commanded attention or suggested position. Consider afresh these words from Philippians 2.6-7:

> 6 Though he existed in the form of God

did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself

 by taking on the form of a slave,

by looking like other men,

 and by sharing in human nature.

The Son vacates His heavenly supremacy to be an incarnate newborn rather than simply appear a fully grown adult. This self-imposed incarnation elects to be helpless, small, and vulnerable. His self-emptying was intentional, not accidental or merely incidental. That neither the world He made nor the people He called recognized or received Him (John 1.10-11) makes me skeptical of powers, causes and agendas that make pretexts to do so now.

Second, the ministry of the Incarnate Son. The Gospels portray an Incarnate Son who entered into our pain, alienation, and temptations. He not only proclaimed the Good news of the Kingdom of God, but He demonstrated its arrival by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving the sinful, befriending those on society's fringe, and raising the dead. He testified concerning Himself that the Incarnate Son came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom price for the release of others. He allowed himself to become a victim of gross injustice in the courts, and as they crucified Him, he prayed for his enemies. Then, in the awful God-forsaken darkness, he bore our sins in his own innocent person. Amidst all this, He refuses to capitulate to Rome, compromise with the Priests or Pharisees, or collaborate with zealots or ascetics. No culture, king, or empire could envision the KIngdom He brought, so He comes preaching repentance, inviting followers, and announcing that God's unique Kingdom has come. All kingdoms and kings are welcome to bow and surrender before Him, but the Incarnate Son will never bow, surrender, or serve another save the Father Who sent Him.

Third, the commission of the Incarnate Son. Our reflection on the Incarnation should extend to our understanding of the commission the Incarnate Son has given "us." Should not His self-emptying and His ministry inform our understanding of our commission when He says: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20.21)? Surely, our mission is to be an extension of His mission -- a congruent expression and demonstration of His presence continuing to be incarnate in and through us. Like the Incarnate Son before us, it will find us "incarnate" as God embeds us in nations, cultures, and generations -- not to be coopted but to live distinctly and simultaneously as exiles in the world and citizens of His Kingdom. What was true for the Incarnate Son is true for us --

we will empty ourselves or our entitlements; 
 we will announce the coming of the King and His Kingdom; 
 we will invite any and all to repent, believe, and receive;
 we will serve, not be served, and, like the Incarnate Son,
for the joy set before us, we will carry the cross we are called to bear.

We are commissioned not simply to orthodox belief but to orthodox likeness. We are commissioned to go, live, and be in the likeness of the Incarnate Son. We are commissioned to a lifestyle whose only credible explanation is "the Incarnate Son and His Kingdom."

Dear Ones, I believe theological reflection about the significance and implications of the Incarnation will ultimately lead us to humble ourselves before the world-- regardless of the nation, culture, and generation we are part of. Our goal is not dominion—our way or the highway. Our goal is redemption. The Incarnate Son not only inspires our worship, He defines our humanity. He directs us toward the humanity He became incarnate with so that, like Him, we will express His compassionate and redemptive devotion. Therefore, we will resist every attempt to redefine the Incarnate Son in the image of any single nation, culture, generation or political expression. Nations and movements that might try to redefine the cross-carrying, enemy-loving, neighbor-redefining, violence-refusing, culture-defying, Jew-and-Gentile-embracing Incarnate Son into a culturally partisan extremist wrapped in expressions of power, division, and coercion. We must resist, reject, and respond to every such attempt through the apostolic preaching and prophetic testimony of His word and the demonstration of His mission through us. A cultural Jesus will never be a transformative Savior. The Incarnate Son can be on no "side" save His own.

Let me close again with the "Hymn to the Self-Emptying Christ" in Philippians 2.4-11. Here in these verses, Paul clearly indicates that the Incarnation should define our posture before the world and the basis for our relationships with others.

> Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6    who, though he existed in the form of God,

 did not regard equality with God

 as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself,

 taking the form of a slave,

 assuming human likeness.

 And being found in appearance as a human,

8 he humbled himself

 and became obedient to the point of death—

 even death on a cross.

9    Therefore, God exalted him even more highly

 and gave him the name

 that is above every other name,

10 so that at the name given to Jesus

 every knee should bend,

 in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

 that Jesus Christ is Lord,

 to the glory of God the Father.

Next week, we will look at our confessional understanding of salvation...

Until then... may the Incarnate Son quicken our souls to live wholly for Him and fully through HIm...

on being heralds…

NOTE: This week, our team hosted 600+ pastors of our annual Foursquare Leaders Conference. This is a gathering of leaders in our district (California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona) to celebrate and encourage our missional engagement and apostolic responsibility to herald God’s Kingdom. All that to say, I do not have the time to continue my (unintended) series on politics and social concern. So, I thought I would share the open letter I sent to our pastors attending this gathering.

******************************

2 Corinthians 5.17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Therefore if anyone… an old person or young person…a rich person or poor person… an extraordinary person or an average person…an athletic person or a clumsy person…a clever person or a dim-witted person… a blue-collar person or a white-collar person… a leader-person or a follower-person… a passive person or an aggressive person…a married person or a single person…

Is in Christ… forgiven…liberated…reconciled…restored… called…adopted…gifted…loved…filled…

The old… the primitive…the antiquated…the expired…the worn out…the used up…the obsolete…the decayed…the out-of-date… the run-dry…

Things… pride… lying… fear… lust… envy… greed…brokenness… unforgiveness… estrangement… prejudice… loneliness…

Passed away… surpassed… passed-over… exceeded… gone by… nullified…

Behold… Look! Take notice! Listen up! Pay attention! Check this out! You’ve got to see this! You’re not going to believe this BUT

New… the unexpected… the unfamiliar… the wonderful… the unforeseen surprise…joy… the implausible, but true

Things… a new Savior… a new covenant… a new Kingdom… a new Spirit… a new promise… a new grace… a new life… a new name… a new nature… a new courage… a new song… a new strength… a new hope… a new love… a new joy… a new future…

Have come… has arrived… has landed… has succeeded… has triumphed… is here to stay…

Western District, we are heralds of the Good News… We are harbingers of the Kingdom of God — co-workers with Christ in His redemptive purposes! Dear ones! Our mission is clear: we must multiply God’s Kingdom presence as we preach in word and deed a Foursquare Gospel. We will not give up, step back, or burn out. We will remain focused, resolute, curious, collaborative, adaptive, and perceptive. We will not play the victim, nor will we lead with a besieged mentality. We will extend a truth more beautiful, a love more compelling, a promise more certain, and a life more abundant. We will bring a light that will shine in the darkness, a healing that will address all brokenness, a comfort that will embrace all grief and a joy that will not be repressed. We will not be divided in our loyalties, distracted in our priorities, or deluded in our allegiances. We will lift up, not put down; we will prosper, not oppress; we will choose sacrifice over entitlement.

We belong to Jesus Christ! Over the next few days, we will worship our Lord, celebrate His Kingdom, and reflect through conversations on how we might multiply His Kingdom presence. When we leave here, I pray that the Holy Spirit might disrupt us with a deep hunger that cannot be satiated until all have heard and countless more have surrendered.

******************************

What I prayed for our district’s gathering, I pray for you wherever this letter shall find you…

Mark

concerning humanity…

NOTE: This is part 4 in a series -- which I did not intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning 


1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church


that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on our confessional understanding of humanity...

Genesis 1:26-26:   Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created humans in his image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Genesis 9:6   Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed, for in His own image God made humans.

James 3.9: With it [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people, made in the likeness of God.

Psalm 8.1-9: O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
 3    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
 5    Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
 9    O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

One might be tempted to say, "If God is socially concerned (see last week!), then we should be socially concerned. That's it! Case closed!" Quite the contrary, I would say it is "Case opened!" God's social concern creates the pathway for our own social concern by allowing us to explore why we feel the need to care for others and why we feel guilt, shame, guilt, and/or remorse when we witness injustice, poverty, and personal need we cannot address, be present to care for or alleviate the needs of others.

What is it about our humanity that beckons us to be "our brothers' keeper?" Let me suggest 6 biblical foundations that should compel our social concern.

First and most obvious, we were created in God's image. In one sense, the Bible "out Darwins" Darwin. In his "Origin of the Species," Darwin says that humanity descended from apes; hence, we were not entitled to ascribe lofty notions to our humanity. We are animals, nothing more and nothing less.

The Bible does him one better: it says we came from dust! While we truly are "animals" -- creatures God has created our origins are not even as lofty as an ape! Left to ourselves, our fate and the fate of all created life is the same -- we have a start, a lifespan, and a death. As Ecclesiastes (3.19-20) observes:

> For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

More to the point, and what Darwin cannot embrace, is that while we are creatures, animals to use Darwin's designation, we are the only animals possessing the unique dignity of being created in the image of God. This is the message of Psalm 8. Humanity is the animal God relates to graciously, in remembrance and care. Humanity alone is God's partner in the stewardship and care of Creation. It is our given dignity (the image of God) that allows us to be transcendent over the Creation we co-inhabit with the rest of the animal kingdom. Without the awareness and circumspection of this bestowed dignity, we will become (revert?) to a mere animal existence whose survival instincts will reduce us to live as predator and prey. In other words, without God and this critical worshipful awareness, humanity is bound to descend into mere animality, as George Orwell fabled in Animal Farm.

Second, our image is shared—He created both males and females. While there is great debate over what the "image of God" means, there is no debate regarding who has it. Fundamental to our humanity is a shared dignity. We were created in community (male and female) for shared lives. Care, like love, existed long before humanity's descent. Our origin story should elevate our vision, inspire our creativity, empower our curiosity, and magnify our steadfastness towards one another.

Sadly, that dignity continues corrupted... even something so basic as our speech illustrates the plight of humanity, for with our words "We bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people, made in the likeness of God." Now, we live in a world of "we and they," "safety and threat," "wealth and poverty," "generosity and greed," and the list can go on and on. While some may be flourishing, all are not. Humans were never intended to live in a Creation that has been breached by sin and brokenness. Our divisions are not endemic to our created nature; they are the epidemic that evidences the corruption of it. The tragic irony is the shared dignity bestowed upon all humanity, even in the wake of its corruption, still cannot avoid sharing a common sorrow and fate.

Third, despite our fallen state, the image of God, remains intact. While we may lose our esteem for the "image of God" in others, God has not. Whether it is the words we use or the acts of violence taken, these are "image-of-God bearers" we are mistreating. While no one has ever seen God, there is a sense that we behold His image every day in the women, men, youth, and children we meet. Our compassion, care, and concern should be awakened when we see "us" suffering, faltering, dying, grieving. Our lament should arise to God when we see "us" dividing, warring, harming, stealing. We should be alarmed when our hearts grow cold, indifferent, rationalizing, and isolating... This is the "image of God" under siege by a trilateral axis of power which Scripture calls the world, the flesh, and the devil... and their intent is to refute and erase the dignity stamped upon humanity at creation -- that we are all made in the image of God. You have never met a person who was not!

No one captures this better than C.S. Lewis in his essay, "The Weight of Glory":

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

Fourth, our very creation is an act of grace. God did not need to make us. The fact that He did and decided to make us in His image is a wonderment beyond words. However, once we lose sight of this, we devolve into a society where all human life is not valued because there is no image of God to regard. In that society, alarmed by diminishing resources, what do we do with the chronically infirm, the senile, the hardened criminal, the unborn, the unproductive, the starving? Would it not be to society's advantage to put them to sleep like a well-loved dog, lest they hinder progress and bleed our resources? The truth is the higher our regard for humanity, the more we will be inclined to care. What could be higher than regarding one another as made in God's image?

The image of God compels us to care for the simple reason of who humanity already is in light of God's pronouncement at creation. Dr. James Houston (I Believe in the Creator):

For these human but godlike creatures are not just souls (that we should be concerned exclusively for their eternal salvation), nor just bodies (that we should care only for their food, clothing, shelter and health, nor just social beings (that we should become entirely preoccupied with their community problems). They are all three. A human being might be defined from a biblical perspective as a body-soul-in-community. For that is how God has made us. So if we truly love our neighbors, and because of their worth, our desire will be to care well for them. We shall be concerned for their total welfare, the well-being of their soul, body and community.

Fifth, our history as a Christ-following people commends our social intervention. The early Christians went everywhere preaching the transforming power of the Gospel, fully believing that there is nothing so fully transformative as the Gospel. Across time and nations, they founded schools, hospitals, and shelters, abolished the slave trade, improved working conditions for mill and mine workers, cared for prisoners, started orphanages, and protected children from labor and sexual exploitation... shall we stop there?! No! Christ's followers have also cared for the blind, the deaf, the widowed, the sick, the dying, the starving and the addict.

I am not claiming that all Christians have always and in all places given their lives in this manner, but a sufficiently large number have to make our record noteworthy and undeniable. Why have Christ-followers done it? We have endeavored to care because we confess that all humanity, male and female, although fallen is made in the image of God.

Finally, because God became fully human -- a perfect image-bearer-- to save and care for humans who are not. Our confession of Christ and our distinct understanding of salvation have everything to do with social concern. and to that we will turn next week!

Let me close with a true story... In 1884, Dr Frederick Treves, a young surgeon and lecturer in anatomy at a London Hospital, met Joseph Merrick. When he first met him, living across the street in a rented shop, he thought him "the embodiment of loneliness." Treves later described him as: "the most disgusting specimen of humanity I had ever seen. He had an enormous misshapen head, with a huge bony mass projecting from his brow and another from his upper jaw, which gave him an elephantine appearance. Spongy, evil-smelling skin, like fungus or brown cauliflower, hung in bags from his back, chest, the back of his head and his right arm. His legs were deformed, his feet bulbous, and he had hip disease. His face was expressionless, and his speech spluttering, almost unintelligible. His left arm and hand, however, were as shapely and delicate as a young woman's." Merrick's suffering was unimaginable -- beaten, treated like an animal, pimped from carnival to carnival to be displayed as a freak for 2 pence a viewing. Traves recalled, "he was shunned like a leper, housed like a wild beast, and got his only view of the world from a peephole in a showman's cart. He received less kindness than a dog, and, terrified of staring eyes, he would creep into a dark corner to hide." It was in a dark corner in a shop across the street that Treves met a beaten and abandoned Merrick.

Treves would host and care for him for the next 3 ½ years in a little apartment in the back of the hospital, where he would die in his sleep a few days after he received Easter Day Communion.

Treves had imagined, when he first met Joseph Merrick, that he was also severely mentally disabled from birth. Actually, Merrick was quite the opposite. Treves discovered that he was "a man in his early twenties, highly intelligent, a voracious reader, with a passion for conversation, an acute sensibility and a romantic imagination. He was also a gentle, affectionate and lovable man."

The first woman to visit Merrick paid him the common courtesy of a smile, a greeting, and a handshake. Merrick, in turn, broke down into uncontrollable sobbing because it was the first time he had ever been regarded as human. From that day on, his transformation began with many notable people visiting him to discuss poetry, music, and literature. Treves records, "Gradually he changed from a hunted thing into a man." But the actual truth is this: Joseph Merrick had always been a man. [1]

... in the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them.

Remember, we have never met a mere mortal...

... to be continued!

[1] Summarized from The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves (Cassell, 1923). For a thoroughly researched account of the whole affair, see The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell and Peter Ford (Penguin, 1980).

our God is socially concerned…

NOTE: This is part 3 in a series -- which I did *not* intend on "politics and social concern." Last week, I ended the post by saying:

I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning 


1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church


that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

This week, I am focusing on the first item on that list, "our confessional understanding of God."

We tend to take our confession of God for granted. After all, we are Christians -- of course, we believe in God—this is a no-brainer! But actually, it is a "brainer." The God we worship and confess before the world is neither generic nor limited by His prior designation as the God of Israel. While we share Israel's confession (The Shema):

Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6.4),

we must not let our confession of God be limited to it alone. Our confession of God is distinct because we confess one God:, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15.6; 2 Corinthians 1.3; Ephesians 1.3; 1 Peter 1.3). In a world of "little g" gods, the first Christians were making the radical appeal that this God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the "big G" God over all the nations, not simply Israel alone.

The God we worship and testify to is concerned for everyone regardless of nation, tribe or tongue and for the entirety of every human life—our brokenness, our joys, our concerns, and our yearnings. This God is passionately committed to our reconciliation with Himself and with one another, our restoration to the likeness He has always intended for us to enjoy, and the renewal of all Creation. If this is true, then I believe it has important consequences for how we think about engaging in social issues.

First, God is comprehensively God! He is the God over all Creation, not just the "spiritual." In Him, there is no division between secular and sacred, marketplace and sacred space, mind and heart, justice and love, spirit and flesh, creation care and soul care. Creation is a beautiful, inexpressible, and unimaginable connection of the organic and inorganic, the liquid and solid, and the imperceptibly minute and the immeasurably grand. Life teams with life. There is interdependency and yet perceptible independence. This is all the handiwork of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom everything was created and now holds together (Colossians 1.15-18). Everything and everyone comes under His care. In fact, I suggest that the more we may limit Him solely to the realm of the spiritual and "sacred space," the smaller He becomes. Someone once said, "If our God is too small, it is because we have made Him too religious." No wonder James spoke of a true religion that was consistent with God's care for everyone: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1.27) Can we truly think for a moment that the God described, for example, in Psalm 104, could remain indifferent to our neglect and poor stewardship over His creation?

Secondly, the God who creates is the God who initiates Covenant. As Christians, we uniquely believe that God has supremely expressed His covenant intent through Jesus on behalf of all humanity, not a single people or nation. Consider this passage from 2 Corinthians 5.16-21, where themes of creation and covenant present:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Covenant is a major theme in Scripture, and we cannot understand God or God's revelation without it. Yet we must be careful not to make the same mistake Israel did and reduce Him to "our God" in a way that dethrones Him as the Lord God over all creation. While the Church is a covenant people, God remains committed to rolling back the brokenness and corruption that sin has polluted creation with. Everything that reflects sin's defilement whether that be individual sin and shame, poverty or injustice, war or oppression, barren wombs or divorce, deforestation or extinction -- all come under His watchful gaze.

Consider this passage from Psalm 33:

The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all humankind. 14 From where he sits enthroned, He watches all the inhabitants of the earth— 15 He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Thirdly, our God is the God of justice and justification. Our God is equally concerned with atonement and with human equity.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind,
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. (Ps. 146.7-9)

God's concern for justice, while expected to be expressed among us, is expected to be expressed through us to all people. Here, the prophet Amos is particularly insightful. In the first 2 chapters of Amos, he rebukes Judah for rejecting God's law and turning to idols and Israel for crushing the poor and denying justice to the oppressed (2.4-8). He also prophesies God's judgment on the nations -- on Syria for their cold-blooded cruelty; on the Philistines for capturing whole communities and selling them into bondage; on Tyre for treaty violations; and on Ammon for crimes against humanity in the waging of their warfare (1.3-2.3). Consider God's rhetorical question posed to Assyria: "Who has not felt your endless cruelty? (Nahum 3.19).

Finally, the ministry of Jesus is the anointed expression of God’s redemptive and social concern. Consider the narrative Luke employs to be the lens through which we are to see Jesus' messianic ministry:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

4:18    “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20   And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Here, then, is the God we confess. His concern is comprehensive, and His love is all-pervasive. But these do not assuage His passion for justice, liberty, and generosity for the poor and the oppressed. We must not let our Gospel appear to limit God's interests, restrain His compassion, or impede His pursuit of justice. Our Gospel and our expression of it should be as broad-hearted as He has revealed His to be.

Let me close this week with these words from John Gladwin

"It is because this is God's world, and he cared for it to the point of incarnation and crucifixion, that we are inevitably committed to work for God's justice in the face of oppression, for God's truth in the face of lies and deceits, for service in the face of the abuse of power, for love in the face of selfishness, for cooperation in the face of destructive antagonism, and for reconciliation in the face of division and hostility. (John Gladwin, God's People in God's World (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity Press, 1979), p. 125.)

(Next week: our confessional understanding regarding humanity.)

on social concern…

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1.14)

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper. (Jeremiah 29.7)

Last week, I suggested a framework for thinking about politics… If you didn’t read that entry, I strongly recommend you do so before continuing. This week is a sequel to what I presented.

The challenge of “politics” really begs the larger question: is there a biblical basis for “social concern and cultural engagement?” Should Christians get involved in social issues?

Historically, the Church has responded in 5 different ways. These are outlined in H.R. Niebuhr’s classic book, Christ and Culture. Here is a quick summary:

1. Christ against Culture: Christians view culture with suspicion and separate from cultural engagement. Social issues are irreparable because all of culture is fatally corrupted by sin. Therefore, the Church withdraws, cares for her own, and awaits the return of our Savior.

2. Christ of Culture: This is the other extreme. The Church wholly and uncritically identifies with culture. An indiscriminating Church ratifies the aspirations of the culture, and, therefore, what culture defines as a problem, the Church defines as a problem. There is little or no conflict between culture and what the Church understands as true, good, and beautiful.

3. Christ above Culture: Culture is regarded as fundamentally good but needs tweaks and tune-ups that the Church can augment through the application of Christian revelation. The Church is the "friend" of culture—that is, we help culture achieve what she longs for but will remain unsuccessful in securing without our assistance.

4. Christ and Culture in Paradox: This shares similarities with #3 above. Here, the Church sees culture as originally good, but it has now been compromised by sin. The Church’s relationship is paradoxical because we simultaneously embrace parts of culture while rejecting certain aspects of it.

While Niebuhr’s book has been critiqued over the years and iterated upon, it still provides a good starting point for our discussion. It provides a starting point for how we will answer the question above: "Is there a biblical basis for social concern and cultural engagement?”

Ultimately, I think there are only 2 possible answers to this question. One is that we escape the world, and the other is that we fully inhabit the world. If we escape, then we reject, abandon, and turn our backs on the world around us. We will create a parallel society and hunker in our Christian bunker. There, we will await the return of Christ and His impending judgment, which will satisfy His wrath against all sin. Addressing social issues and cultural engagement, given the imminent return of Christ, is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

In contrast, to fully inhabit our world will mean that we intentionally turn our faces towards the world in compassion because we feel deep within our hearts the love of God, which cannot be quenched or contained. Social concern and cultural engagement, from this perspective, is our response to the Great Commission — to teach us to obey everything God has commanded us to do (Matthew 28.19-20). The Incarnation becomes the prominent expression of this perspective. Like Jesus, the Church is given to the world as Jesus was given to the world — to live, serve, and, if necessary, suffer and/or die. Instead of escaping from the world, the Church is called to open her eyes and see the harvest of souls and needs, to open her ears to hear His call to go out to the lost and lonely as they bring the Kingdom — in word and deed— to a world polluted by sin and corrupted by need.

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to you, dear reader, that I think we are to fully inhabit our world — to be God’s incarnate presence, extending the Kingdom and the King so that all the benefits of His gracious presence, incarnate in Jesus, may be expressed today.

Still, I realize that I have rambled and still have not answered my original question: “is there a biblical basis for social concern and cultural engagement?” I believe there are 5 great confessional understandings of the Church concerning

1. God

2. Humanity

3. Jesus Christ

4. Salvation and

5. The People of God -- The Church

that will ground, inspire, shape, and commission us. Together, these 5 will provide us with a compelling framework for multiplying God’s Kingdom presence in our world today. While I think any one of the above is reason enough, I think holding all 5 together will compel us to engage our world as an act of worship, gratitude, and love.

More to come...

on politics…

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2.1-4)

Choosing to blog on politics may be an exercise in self-sabotage… I was sharing with a friend that I was going to write on politics this week and he asked, with incredulity, “Why?! It’s like intentionally sticking your finger in a light socket!” Well, I am a little more optimistic. My “why” in writing is that I hope this might create a framework for understanding that might lead to discussion, not division, community, not polarization, encouragement, not incitement. I guess only time will tell… Here we go!

The word “politics” in today’s context of the Church, her mission, and our culture is incendiary. In most of our churches, any political discussion threatens to divide friendships and fellowships. We have become so binary in our perspectives that any differences breed contempt and mistrust in our leadership and relationships. Differing political perspectives cause us to feel indignant, making dialogue nearly impossible. Unity appears to be one conversation away from disunity—not to mention the anxiety that many pastors feel that they are one sermon away from causing a split or emptying the congregation they love and serve. 

The reality is that “politics” are unavoidable for a biblical pastor if for no other reason than the Gospel is the Good News heralding the arrival and future consummation of the Kingdom of God. If that is not political, what is?! I think there are 4 fundamental questions we need to answer to diffuse our dread, avoid division, and distract us from the Kingdom mission we are called to engage. In answering these 4 questions, I hope to provide you with a framework, not an agenda and to de-escalate our polarizing instincts…

1.     What do we mean by the words “politic” and “political?”
2.     What is the relationship between the “social” and the “political?”
3.     What cautions must we be aware of if we consider political engagement?
4.     Who is responsible for engaging politically?

What do we mean by the words “politic” and “political?” My understanding is rooted in the origin of the words themselves. These words originate from the Greek word polis, referring to the life of a city/community and polites, referring to the responsibilities of a citizen (politeuma). These words are used broadly to address and describe the entirety of our lives within the society we inhabit. In other words, they describe the art of flourishing together in a community that scales in experience from the “local” to the “national.” The challenge in our day is that these words are narrowly understood to describe the science of government— the parties, elections, platforms, policies, and laws that are codified and deployed through advocacy and legislation. More crassly, they describe “the will to power” and control. The goal is to be the “party on top.”

In light of this, it is fair to ask: was Jesus involved in politics? If we define “politic” and “political” narrowly as the “science of government,” the answer is clearly “no.” Jesus never aligned with the political “parties” of his day, adopted a political program, or participated in a political protest. He showed no interest in advancing or influencing the political agendas of Caesar, Pilate, Herod, or the Zealots. Quite the contrary – He renounced a political career when he knew the people wanted to make him king (John 6.15). However, in the broader sense of these words, His entire ministry was political. The Incarnation we preach testifies that God was in Christ, reconciling the world (people and nations) to Himself. The Kingdom of God he inaugurated and proclaimed was a fundamentally different and radically new rule that challenged the rulers and realms of his day – and every kingdom since. His message, promise, justice, love, and law challenged every religious and political order. Ultimately, He was crucified for sedition because there can only be one King and in Jesus’ day, “we have no king but Caesar” (John 19.15).

What is the relationship between the “social” and the “political?” Historically, the Church has always engaged in social service. We have always endeavored to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal/care for the sick, provide for the widow and orphan, etc. However, across the centuries, the Church also discovered that she could not socially care without engaging in social action. So, for example, we want to provide for the poor, but would it not ultimately be more beneficial to address the cause(s) of poverty if we could? I had a friend who, as an attorney, sued his city to put in a stop light at an intersection that had the highest number of vehicle and pedestrian accidents. While the city cared for the community by sending ambulances, why not take preventative “action” that might prevent the need in the first place? Or consider slavery; the Church could care for those harshly treated, but slavery had to be abolished for the harsh treatment to cease. In fact, in some cases, continuing to simply care without confronting the cause through social action may actually appear to condone the injustice itself. If we truly love our neighbors and want to serve them, our service may obligate us to engage in social action on their behalf – this would be “politics” in the narrower sense. (Hold this thought… I will return to it later.) Love, a deep, compassionate, and compelling love, is what inspires our activity. Anger, hostility, judgementalism, bias, xenophobia, wealth, slander, and violence are not options for those endeavoring to fulfill the second great commandment through social action (Matthew 22.39).

What cautions must we be aware of if we consider political engagement? I think there are mainly three. First, we must be cautious that any political emphasis will eclipse our central emphasis. We preach the Gospel of the Kingdom – the incarnation announces it; the crucifixion secures it; the resurrection testifies to it; and the Church extends it by multiplying God’s Kingdom presence through the apostolic preaching of the Cross. History is filled with the lamentable, tragic, and destructive political engagements of the Church who allowed her political engagement to eclipse her mission and corrupt her message. Our mission and message cannot be relegated to our worship services and small group gatherings. This mission and message is our 24/7 passion and preoccupation. It must not be compromised, confused, or contaminated.

Second, history teaches the consequences of what Scripture warns when Israel wanted a King so she could be like the other nations (1 Samuel 8.19-20). This usually means that every iteration of the “contemporary Church” historically and culturally frequently (normally?) aspires to preserve, protect, or propagate the moral and political idealism or status quo of the surrounding culture she finds meaning in or support from. So, the 19th-century Southern Church justified slavery, the German Church justified Naziism, the American Church justified many things in the name of “manifest destiny,” and the Russian Orthodox Church justifies Putin today.

Third, we must remain cautious because political engagement frequently reflects the delusion that we are co-workers with God in His sovereign capacity rather than solely co-workers with Christ in His redemptive activity. We, like the disciples, are quick to exercise (with certainty) God’s sovereign right to call down fire from heaven (Luke 9.54) rather than lean into our redemptive calling to which we have been called co-workers with Christ (1 Corinthians 3.9). This “sovereign certainty” on our part blinds us to our own fallibility and slowly disintegrates the humility that is meant to mark our lives. The Incarnation and the Cross obligate us to live perpendicular lives that redemptively collide with our world with a message and a means that will be deemed folly in the eyes of every culture (1 Corinthians 1.18). We must be wary of any (every?) political engagement that renders us crossless.

Finally,, Who is responsible for engaging politically? I think that avoiding this question contributes to the current confusion over Christian political involvement. First, within a participatory democracy, every follower of Jesus should be politically active in the broader sense, briefly discussed above. In the broader sense of being political, we are to endeavor to seek the redemptive flourishing of the city/community in which we live as exiles (2 Peter 2.11-25; Jeremiah 29.4-9)— live honorably, do good works, seek the peace and prosperity of the city you live in, and pray for it. Within this broader sense, we might also consider that, as a conscientious “exile,” we will vote, stay informed, write letters, etc. However, this broader sense of engagement is never at the expense of God’s Kingdom; it is the local expression of God’s Kingdom.

Furthermore, I think some individuals, in the narrower sense, are called by God to give their lives to political service. Those who share particular moral, social, and environmental concerns should be encouraged to form or join together with others (Christian or not) who will consider issues more deeply and consider strategic engagement. My one caution here is that these individuals must not expect or demand that everyone shares, mimics, or endorses their passion any more than every pastor should expect and pressure everyone in a congregation to be a pastor! No church or individual can be passionate about every cause and issue. Our beauty is in our diversity and the relational recognition that values this. I think what Paul says about gifts is true for those whose callings extend into political arenas – “if the whole body was an eye, where would the hearing be?!” (1 Corinthians 12.17) Our diversity would suggest that individuals will differ in their passions, policies, and proposed solutions. Being united in Christ will not spare us from disagreement, but it also should not threaten our unity or affection for one another.

However, whether our engagement is in the broader sense of the narrower understanding, I do not believe we can “toss our crosses” aside and adopt means that are antithetical to the cross we are called to carry and the manner in which we are commissioned to carry it. We are all under the same call, we all stand under the same cross, and we are all expected to express the same fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Dear ones, in Christ, we have a different King, and we are citizens of a different Kingdom. We must be on our guard to not let culture, corporations, or nations coopt our citizenship with their brand or hide us in their flag and think that they can own and/or represent us.

Ultimately, the question is not whether we should engage; it is how we should engage. If that engagement comes at the price of obscuring or hiding the love of Christ and His cross, comes at the cost of casting aside a cruciform life, dividing Christian communities, or requires me to “buy in” by engaging and/or tolerating methods and behaviors that express the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit-filled life, then that is an engagement I cannot commend or embrace.

I want to live a life that
confesses Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended and returning;
I want to embrace His call to follow, surrender, obey, and carry the cross he gives me;

I want to be a person who grows to count gain as loss;
considers my weaknesses as space for his strength to prevail;
      and truly believes that by losing my life, I will find the key to the new life He promises. 

Therefore, I pray I will find the courage to confess before the powers clearly, compellingly, and without compromise 

Jesus Christ
   Savior and Lord
      Son of God and Son of Man
         Lamb of God and Good Shepherd
            King of Kings and Prince of Peace
               Our Ransom and Redeemer
                  Healer and Deliverer
                     Suffering Servant and Mighty God. 

Dear ones, I pray that during this election cycle, we might worship our God, rediscover our unity, and celebrate our community in Christ. Then, let us scatter into the world with the redemptive love and presence of Jesus Christ… I believe in God… I believe in the Church…, and I believe we can and must live and love better…

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever
— Hebrews 13.8 —