Remembering Death

"In the year that King Uzziah died..." (Is. 6:1)

King Uzziah, as Jewish kings go, was a good king, up until he went into the Temple and usurped the priest's role. Then he became a leprous recluse until he died. 

Death has a way of shaking things up. It leaves a void, a vacuum. You can imagine what death does when it claims the life of your political ruler. 

Much like our presidential elections, the people wait and wonder what will come with the new. But they must wait. They must wonder. There is nothing they can do to hurry the process or to change its ultimate outcome. 

I was thinking about death this week, especially today as we remember the death of Jesus. What a roller coaster of emotions it must of been for his disciples. Feasting, then hours later fleeing for their lives. Feasting, and then falling back into a new normal as Jesus' life changed them and Jesus' death held them captive. 

I liken it to pastoring for over twenty years, seeing God work first hand in the lives of his people, and then without notice being called back to the farm. I loved the farm but I loved being a vocational servant of God more. I could go back to farming but I would also have, lingering in my spirit, a hope again of something lost. This is what death does. It robs us of something and stays around as illusive hope. It produces a new normal with a lingering spirit of loss that does not go away. Death steals and reminds you each day that it has taken. 

Tonight we remember Death. We must. 

O Wheaton O Wheaton

"I am the LORD [Yahweh]. That is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols." 

Many have been asking me my thoughts on the Wheaton professor fiasco that has put the evangelical college in the center of yet another politically incorrect headline. 

For those who may not know the story I refer you to the following site:  

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/22/wheaton-professors-ask-college-drop-case-against-colleague?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=2bec496f31-DNU20160122&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-2bec496f31-197741561

To summarize, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, Associate Professor of Political Science, chose to wear a hajib (Muslim headscarf) and posted the following message on her Facebook page: "I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book." "And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God." 

She is on probation and will be going through the process of termination for violating Wheaton's statement of faith. 

I want to make several observations. 

1.  It first and foremost gives warning to any employer (university, college, ministry, church organization). Just because you check off the box "Christian" or "I agree" doesn't mean anything. If a person tells me that they are a Christian my first responsibility is to ask, "What do you mean by that?" Chances are their definition does not follow the historical, orthodox position. We are in a post-Christian, neo-Christian America. 

2.  It also tells us that at the highest levels of education people can be spiritually ignorant, even in a Christian academic setting. Dr. Hawkins may be a great poli sci teacher but perhaps she should take a few theology classes and especially a comparative religions class. 

3.  If Dr. Hawkins would have had a cursory understanding of the Koran she would have known that the "People of the book" are the Jews. And subsequently the "Book" that she clings to has been "supposedly" corrupted by both Jews and Christians. The Koran is the only true word of "God." See Surah 5 of the Koran. So if you truly want to hold theological hands with a Muslim you are going to have to ditch the Bible and start memorizing the Koran...and it needs to be in Arabic. 

4.  It probably isn't wise to quote a Roman Catholic pope as your source of theological witness in an evangelical Protestant college. There are enormous doctrinal differences. I am not saying that we cannot learn from Romanist writings. I have been blessed to read incredibly insightful and deep theological writings from those who have a genuine and true faith but have remained in the Catholic faith system. 

5.  WE DO NOT SERVE THE SAME GOD! Please take a moment Dr. Hawkins and read the Koran. I'll make it easy for you and keep you in the same surah as used above. The Koran, without fail, denies that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is God. It, without fail, denies the trinity. It denies his substitutionary atonement on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. I don't know how else to say this. WE DO NOT SERVE THE SAME GOD! Allah is a false God and Mohammad is a false prophet. 

6.  Tolerance is not the act of being nice and believing that if you sincerely believe it, it must be true. Tolerance is not the act of believing that all roads lead to heaven. True biblical teaching says that there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. In other words, all roads do not lead to the same top of the mountain. Some roads lead you off of a cliff. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through me" (Jn. 14:6). He is not a way; he is the only way. And any faith system that denies that biblical truth is a false system of belief - no matter how sincere someone believes it. If Dr. Hawkins believes that we have the same God, she is not a Christian. 

7.  Stand strong Wheaton theology department. Do not let the donor or non-theological threat sway you from biblical convictions. God will bless you financially with other donors if others fall away. God will replace other faculty members. Fire those who continue to support a wrong theology. Perhaps a re-interview is necessary to actually see where some of these non-theo department profs really stand on the issue of Jesus' uniqueness and divinity. One might say that I am too strong on this issue. After all...its poli sci.  The point is that if...I were to recommend a student to Wheaton...it would not matter the discipline. I am recommending Wheaton, not because of their theology department but rather because of their world view that understands the centrality of Jesus in every discipline. And...if that centrality ceases to be central then the discipline fails in its divine course. You might as well attend a secular university. At least you know its not going to pretend it is something that it is not. 

8. We should pray for our Christian colleges and universities. How we need to get back to the basics of our orthodox faith in every discipline. We are called to be set apart from the world. In it, but not of it. Let us educate to that end. 

9. We should pray for Dr. Hawkins. I cannot tell from her writings if she is spiritually lost, spiritually ignorant, or ignorant of Islamic teachings. Perhaps all three. 

10.  To every person in my church family, especially teens that will be heading off to university...know what you believe, especially about Jesus and be able to defend it. There is nothing more intimidating than a professor who does not hold to an orthodox position on the person of Jesus and who seeks to undermine your faith. 

Strangers in the World

"Peter, and apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world..."

I am starting a new series in my English adult Sunday school class called, "Prepared to Suffer:  Studies in First and Second Peter." I am also trying to do something that I have never done before - memorize the whole letter. I just started this week and by God's grace, I have half of the first chapter memorized. I find that it is forcing me to slow down and, as best as can be discerned, has allowed me to enter into Peter's thinking toward the believers scattered across Asian Minor. 

Scripture, per Paul's letter to Timothy, is profitable for teaching, rebuke, correcting, and training in righteousness. In other words, it is transgenerational. Even though Peter is writing to his generation, the word of God is so powerful and insightful that it is equally applicable to my generation and the generations to come. It simply takes on different emphasis. 

For example, twenty years ago I would have read this letter about suffering and would have had to find a copy of Voice of the Martyrs to really grasp the significance. I had never suffered for Christ nor did I anticipate suffering for Christ - at least not like these "other" Christians were doing. 

Fast forward twenty years and now I am having to be careful about my public opinion on gay marriage, on abortion, on cohabitation, on pornography, and even on the inerrancy of  the Bible - and this within the church itself. I am getting a real-time sense of what it must have been like for the early Christians. They were strangers in their own world. Their new belief system was going to be at odds with the existing culture.They were new believers heading into a thoroughly pagan world. 

I, on the other hand, was reared in a "Christian nation" that is now becoming increasingly secular (pagan). I, too, am finding that I am a stranger in this world. The "Christian" values that, in general, governed this nation are slowly transforming into an anti-god or at least into a neo-Christian environment. By "neo-Christian" I mean that the very essence of what it means to be a "Christian" - a follower of the biblical Jesus - is being reinterpreted to mean something new that is unrecognizable to historical, orthodox believers. For example, Jesus is no longer the way but a way to get to God. In evangelical circles we used to be concerned about ecumenicism but now we battle a greater evil - universalism. We have left the battle over inter-Church doctrinal separation and now are fighting the idea that all faiths and philosophies are of equal truth. 

I have taken great interest in the mass migration to Europe from Islamic countries and the refugee problems that have incurred because of such migration. The Bible is full of consideration for the foreigner and the alien and yet there were expectations for their assimilation. Part of the outcry of Americans is that those coming to this country do not assimilate - they do not learn English, they do not bridge to other cultures, they isolate into smaller national communities, and become, "little Italys," "China towns," "Hispanic burrows," or "Muslim sectors." Our "melting pot" is more like a segregated luncheon tray. It's all on the same plate but nothing is touching.

I wonder what this will mean for true followers of Christ in the future. Peter would go on to say, "...live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." 

What does it mean to live as a "stranger" in my world? Perhaps it means that I am not to be familiar with its customs. Perhaps it means that I am to have a different way of thinking. It may mean that I am unfamiliar with its pleasures or its philosophies. It may mean that my language or manner of speech will always be different. It may mean that my view of the sacred and how I practice that sacredness will be different. How I dress may set me apart or how I voice my opinion or engage in confrontation. 

I was in the airport in L.A. waiting for a delayed flight back to Portland when I sat down next to an orthodox Jew and a bunch of girls he was chaperoning. It was easy for me to recognize the beard, the plain clothes, and the hat. Others took notice when at the time of prayer he removed his left arm from his jacket, rolled up his sleeve, wound the tefillin straps around his arm, and fastened the small phylactery box upon his forehead.  In a quiet voice he recited the afternoon prayers in Hebrew while motioning back and forth with his upper body. He was a stranger in the midst of strangers. 

The question that I must pose to myself is, "Am I a stranger in the world? or is Peter calling me to be a stranger because I look too much like the world?" I am not sure of all of the applications of this to my life yet but I do know this, I am feeling more and more like I do not belong here. 

In the world but not of it....

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

"How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame.  How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? ...Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?' Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make we dwell in safety."  (Ps. 4:2, 6-8). 

Given the attacks by ISIS in Paris and now the attacks in San Bernardino, I have had brothers and sisters in Christ tell me that there is a sense of fear creeping into heir hearts. Psalm 4 is an answer to that terror. 

Verse 2 does not dispel the anguish of feeling like someone has just taken control of your life but it does explain it. Those who follow Mohammed and worship Allah "love delusions and seek false gods." There is, therefore, a true spiritual battle waging. 

It is also the reason that our fear should turn into a deep sadness that reflects the heart of God. This verse does not say, "How long, O LORD..." as if man is looking up at the heavens and saying, "When is enough enough?" This verse reflects the heart of God and the heart of the prophet, David.  God is looking down at us, at humanity, and saying, "When is enough enough?" "When will my creation stop exchanging my glory for the glory of another?"

Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" This is a question and at the same time a comment on the social predicament of the psalmist. It seems like the nightly news is filled with murders, terrorism, political corruption, racial demonstrations, the plight of the refugee, and a whole host of other things that demonstrate humanities inhumanity. 

David says, "I have an answer to the question!" It is found in the God who in his very being is Good. The God who is Light will reveal the false beliefs. The God who is Light will illuminate the darkness of our world and reveal the dangers. The God of Light will be our night light, our security light. Because of this we will lie down and sleep in heavenly peace. Will you come to Him?

So when your heart begins to fear, realize that you are in a war. And war is dangerous and scary. Most of us have never had to encounter this on the shores of this blessed land. For millions of others, they know that terror is a normal tactic of the enemy. 

When your heart begins to fear know and understand that the war has already been won by your strong and mighty God. 

When your heart begins to fear turn it into a divine sadness, a grieving heart for those who have been misled and deceived. 

How long, O men...will you exchange the glory of God for a lie?

Come...holy night, silent night...and sleep in heavenly peace. 

Legal and/or Moral

I would like to look at a couple of verses today that I have been meditating upon in light of a full gambit of social issues. From the Supreme Court's decision to allow due process in gay marriage to Tom Brady and "inflate gate," to MTV's soft-porn music award show, the morality war is fighting battles on all fronts. I've noted a distinct pattern in two passages that I've color coated for visual clarity.  

Psalm 51:4, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge."

Isaiah 5:20-23, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent." 

In Psalm 51 we have the repentant song of David. He had committed adultery against his other wives (that was kind of weird writing that statement), manipulated Bathsheba's then husband into coming home and sleeping with her so he wouldn't find out she was pregnant by another man, and eventually David (passively) killed him by putting him on the front lines of a war.

When David was confronted by the prophet Nathan he didn't deny it. He didn't point to the culture and try and justify it. He didn't point to his own authority and challenge it. He understood where the definition of morality - right and wrong - comes from. 

Isaiah writes another song that demonstrates how far the people had left the spiritual moorings of their faith. It was a call to come back to the God who determines those moral foundations. 

When society becomes its own god determining what is right and what is wrong it will disintegrate. It is not a society that evolves into what is best for all humanity; it devolves into a base planet where everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes. Laws mean nothing.

I watched a movie where a seminary professor in the late 1800's traveled by time machine into the modern day era. (Yes, it was a bit corny but it had a good message). He was about to pay for a hot dog and a little girl came up behind him and stole it. He finally caught her in a park and said, "Little girl, don't you know its wrong to steal." She said, "Who says!" Point made. In a world where their is no god who makes up the rules? Every changing society?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that you cannot legislate morality but it sure is a good way to keep an man from being hung. This works as long as the law reflects the heart of God. What is moral at the moment is the subjective preference of the majority. What happens when the laws do not reflect the morals of the secular majority or even the secular vocal minority? They will keep changing. We have laws that are becoming reflective of an anti-God world. Often these are done for the sake of "love" or "fairness" or "equality" - all the things that find their true bearing in the person of God, not a devolving society. 

I was listening to a couple of sports commentators talking about Tom Brady and "inflate gate." One of them said, "Just because something is legally justified doesn't make it morally right." Wow! What a statement! What a clarification of the real issue. 

We are increasingly living in a society that is calling what God has defined as good evil, and what God has defined as evil as good. This is taking place from the chief justices of the Supreme Court all the way down to the local pastors in God's churches. They are replacing light with darkness. They are convincing people that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter, up is down, down is up, right is left and left is right, the sky is green and the grass is blue. 

The world will keep moving to a place of utter self-absorption and selfishness. Many have tried the "utopian" ideal but they are left with the sinfulness of man to contend with. There is a way that seems right to a man but the end leads to death (Proverbs 14:12).

My exhortation is to the Church. Have we asked the question, "Why do I believe in a specific moral position?" Is it because it is stated in the Scriptures and modeled by Jesus or is it simply a religious preference?  Sometimes it is hard to cut away our own cultural preference from what we believe is the moral way of God. Let us pray for the conviction of the truth found in the Scriptures and ask for wisdom to navigate the coming moral storms.

To a Dear Friend

"STEWART WU, M.D. Stewart Wu, M. D. was born in Guangzhou Province, China, on December 8, 1928 and passed away in Chicago, IL, on June 21, 2015. He grew up in China, where he attended Pui-Ching Boys School and Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He came to the U.S. in 1949 to attend Oklahoma Baptist University followed by the Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Wu and his wife, Fannie, settled in Valparaiso, where he practiced as a surgeon.He served on the board of several Christian mission organizations, many of them focused on evangelism or aid to China, and offered free medical clinics at churches in both Valparaiso and Chicago's Chinatown. Following his retirement in 1996, he devoted his time and energy to mission work. At home in Valparaiso, he hosted Bible studies in his home every Sunday afternoon for international students attending Valparaiso University, becoming a beloved mentor and surrogate uncle for many students and university faculty and staff. In China, Dr. Wu traveled, often with recruits from Chicago, to remote villages where people living in primitive conditions had little or no access to medical care. There he offered both healthcare and soul care, explaining the story and sacrifice of Jesus Christ to a people he dearly loved.  He is remembered as a kind and gentle, self-effacing and generous man, who was devoted to God and family. All his life, he obeyed the Great Commission given by Jesus to his followers in Matthew 28:19: "…go and make disciples of all nations…" He will be sorely missed." 

As a young man in ministry, Dr. Wu took me under his wing. He was at least thirty years my senior and I found it a bit weird that he would take a liking to a white farm kid new to the ministry. I wasn't the one who initiated the relationship. He sought me out. I had no interest in the Asian community at that time and it was all quite foreign to me. But...who wouldn't love a trip into Chicago to visit the non-tourist side of China town. He always told me that it was to get some Chinese spices for his wife but I knew better. He liked the food. I told him on one of our forays into town that he better not have a heart attack and die because I would never find my way out. I also remember the first time we did go into one of those back alley grocery stores...the one's where the ducks were freshly killed right out front and hung in the store window - the clerk hosing down the blood into the street sewers. Talk about culture shock! Then came lunch with food I could never pronounce - food I had never eaten before nor I think, since then. Shark fin soup and barbecued rooster feet were not on the main menu in my mother's kitchen. 

I often wonder if Dr. Wu had a divine secret from God regarding my life's journey. He ended up introducing me to the three most preeminent Chinese leaders in North America and to author and apologist Dr. Samuel Ling who gave me a four volume commentary on ministering to Chinese in America. Boy did that come in handy about 16 year later. Lesson:  Never give away your books and take note of important people that you "randomly" meet. Almost three years into serving the people at Chinese Faith Baptist Church and I am thankful for the divine humor of it all. 

Looking forward to seeing you at the trumpet call of God and the return of our Savior, Dr. Wu. For old times sake I'll have to go to a good Chinese bakery in honor of you sometime soon. I'd go for some dim sum but I still wouldn't know how to order. 

Grace and Truth

John 1:14,  "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." 

I don't think anyone was surprised by the Supreme Court's decision last week. When a secular system is set to redefine a sacred institution it will most likely be in favor of the secular populace. I am not upset about the ruling. I am upset with the Church in America (myself included) who for the last one hundred years has sat silently by and watched our country slide into a secular state and a redefined Christianity.  

I vividly remember back in the early 1990's Answers in Genesis founder, Ken Hamm, coming to our church in Indiana. He expressed then the idea that the Church in America was failing in its mission. He said that the Church is fighting the wrong battles then and I concur now.  

Is marriage an important matter? Clearly it is. But its not as important as telling people that God loves them, they have been created in His image for a divine purpose, and that they can be forgiven and at peace through Jesus Christ. It's not as important as defending the divine inspiration and truth of the Bible (where our morality finds it record of origin and is practically defined). 

People get married at the Justice of the Peace/Courthouse all the time. I don't care. Truth be told more people are simply living together than getting married anymore. Quite frankly, I wonder if the institution itself is on a road to extinction. I do care if it is someone who professes to know Christ because what we do in life is sacred and set apart for God's glory and as a witness to our world. 

In a church that I pastored years ago I had a young couple who just started attending and then suddenly left. They were not married and claimed to be believers.  But...sin entered into their relationship and she became pregnant. They were too ashamed to tell anyone and decided to leave the church and get married at the courthouse. I called on them on a Friday and learned of their decision to get married that day. I told them to meet me at the church. I asked my church secretary to round up some flowers and a few more witnesses (those in the building at the time) and we had ourselves a wedding - a proper wedding. 

It was proper not because we were in a church or that they were standing before a pastor agreeing to some pre-written wedding vows with a pronouncement of "by the authority given to me by the state of...". It was proper because they were able to know forgiveness from each other and forgiveness from God through the Word of God. It was proper because it became sacred - a testimony to the creative act of oneness divinely flowing from the heart of God. Proper because the Creator God was not only the true officiant but the witness and welcomed guest. Proper because they understood that their union was more that a social contract; it was a picture of the God-head. They started their life together with God's blessings instead of the well-wishes of a county clerk or judge. 

As followers of Christ we have to be people of grace...and truth. I believe that it has to be in that order. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well he offered her the gift of life - grace - before he revealed the truth about her sinful relationships. Grace and truth...

Grace draws people to the cross and the cross is where the Holy Spirit heightens the process of spiritual diagnosis. What did Jesus actually die for? Sin. What sin?  My sin. What sin? Stop speaking in generalities. Jesus died for my sinful pride. Jesus died for my lying tongue. Jesus died for my adulterous eyes.  Jesus died for my love of money. Jesus died for my...[put in every violation of God's law you can think of].  I have come to the cross and with tears have humbly fallen at his feet clinging to my dead Savior, my sin bearer. And yet, I have only touched the surface of my unholiness, of the depth of depravity that Jesus absorbed into his body and soul on my behalf. I have come knowing in my spirit that there is something intensely wrong between God and myself. I do not fully understand the magnitude of that truth but I know enough to plead for his mercy and grace. I have only started to understand the restorative work of righteousness connecting me to new life. 

But now something wonderful and equally difficult begins to happen. The Holy Spirit of God is set on making me holy. And so he begins to reveal things about my life, habits, practices, beliefs, relationships...that are not in keeping with holiness. He is convicting me of truths that I have been ignorant of or rebellious to. Grace....truth.  

I used to be disgusted by gay men...until I met one. I found out that he had the same universal dreams that I had. He wanted to be loved. He wanted a family. He wanted to be accepted in the church like every other broken sinner. He wanted me to know that he was struggling with his sexuality, his same-sex attraction, and had doubts about God's love in the midst of that struggle. We were both sinners saved by grace, wrestling with revealed truth, hoping that God's love was still extended in the midst of our personal failures. We didn't debate about whether this was genetic or chemical or social or freewill. We both just wanted to experience Jesus and acceptance. 

I didn't have to convince him that homosexuality was a sin. I didn't have to convince him that this world is broken on multiple fronts and in multiple layers. It is the complexity of the problem. We are trying to convince people of the truth before they can experience God's grace. We are trying to convince them of an ideal when they have no concept of what that is and why that is. Those issues are all grace and truth related. The problem, however, is that this "truth" is not a "truth" in our world and is an "inconsistent truth" in the Church. There is confusion about grace and truth. 

In my spirit, I can offer him grace because the most important subject is not homosexuality; it is Jesus and a person's relationship with him. I can offer him grace because I have Christian heterosexual brothers and sisters who are divorcing at alarming rates and often for unbiblical reasons. We can't even agree on this matter with unity. I can offer grace because I have confidence in the convicting, cleansing, guiding role of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, in this matter. 

Do I believe that homosexuality is a sin? I believe that any covenant marriage relationship or sexual relationship outside of the one God designed in paradise between a man and woman falls short of that ideal. This is not an issue of hate and denying the right to love. This is not a homophobic reaction to my personal preference. It is an attempt to follow the divine design that most effectively portrays and witnesses to the Creator God. It is about pointing people to Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict and guide in these difficult issues. It is about floundering and often failing to figure out how to do both grace and truth when grace is welcomed and truth is painful, even truth said in love. 

Unfortunately we don't live in paradise. Unfortunately we have to figure out how to live in a fallen world where truth and grace seem to some a bit obscure and open for interpretation. Fortunately, our Savior died to restore that ideal and someday....we won't have to struggle with grace and truth. We shall see Him face to face. 

For a strong apologetic and biblical approach to the subject of homosexuality see Homosexuality:  Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law by Dr. James B. DeYoung.  Published by Kregel, 2000. See also The Truth About Same-Sex Marriage:  Six Things You Need to Know About What's Really at Stake by Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Moody Publishers, 2004.