Monday, May 24, 2010

What to do when you get offended . . .

An unfortunate position to be in is having someone wrongfully offend or abuse you. (I think I heard someone say, “No duh!”). Of course it’s not good when someone wrongfully hurts or abuses you. But I’m talking about the difficulty in dealing with the relationship afterwards.

Think about this scenario: Someone takes advantage of you, does you wrong, etc. If you operate according to Scripture you have to forgive that person. You also have to make efforts to deal with the anger and frustration in order to avoid bitterness.

No matter how you decide to handle it you are in a difficult situation, at least in most cases. If you DON’T go to the person, confront them and work toward reconciliation, you run the risk of becoming bitter and holding a grudge. If you DO go to that person, there is a very good chance that the person will resent you, talk bad about you, etc. Then the relationship is even worse. As New Yorkers are fond of saying, “What are ya gonna do?”

Well, let’s be clear about the demands of Scripture in these circumstances. Matthew 5:23 says:

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

It is clear from this Scripture that the offending person should seek out the person who was offended and seek reconciliation. Now, consider Matthew 18:15-17:

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

It is clear from this passage that the offended person is to seek out the offender and attempt to be reconciled. When taken together, these two passages make it clear that, when offenses come, both sides are to actively seek reconciliation.

In a perfect world, everyone would operate according to these two Scriptures and we would live in reconciliation. Sadly, this is not the case. Unfortunately, things can be made "worse" by doing what is right. So, what is the answer?

Well, of course we should do right and live according to Scripture. However, there is another verse that can work as a preventative approach. In 1 Corinthians 6:7, Paul says:

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

In a nutshell, Paul is advocating that, instead of going to the secular courts for arbitration between two Christians in order to settle offenses, go instead to the church. OK. That’s a point well taken. But then he says, “Why not rather be wronged?” Essentially he is saying, “Why go to anyone? Just be wronged.”

Now that’s interesting. Instead of being offended and taking that offense to the church or even to the person, just don’t be offended.

Now there is more to say about this, but I’m going to let it simmer for a bit.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Letting Jesus Wash Your Feet

When you walk a dusty road you get dust on your feet. The solution? Wash your feet. When you live in a fallen world, you can’t help but come into contact with the dust of the world. The solution? Enter into the Presence of the Lord and be washed.

Entering into the Presence of God can take time: Time to allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate the hard shell that forms over our hearts as the result of living in this fallen world; time to allow the Spirit of God to adjust our thinking and transform us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12).

That’s the reason the worship service needs to be open-ended. That is, when we come before the Lord in worship, the Holy Spirit must be allowed to take us where He wants us to go without being limited by our time constraints. That’s why, at least in the tradition I came up in, we sing a song until we are done, or until the Holy Spirit is done. We repeat the chorus; we focus on a particular phrase and sing it over and over again as the Spirit of God leads us; we stop for awhile and respond from our hearts and then sing it again; WE PRESS IN UNTIL WE PRESS THROUGH! We allow Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to wash our feet. This is the value of taking our time in worship.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

This is how it's going to happen . . .

In deliberations at the U.N. today, the Security Council voted unanimously to urge member countries to replace or at least de-emphasize national pride, and the flying of individual national flags, in favor of the new global flag . . .

Sound far-fethced? I don't think so. I'll tell you how I arrived at such a thought.

Last Saturday evening, I was coming back from Manhattan on a train and, as we drove through one of the stops, I noticed an American Flag. My immediate reaction was to be surprized. I don't know why. It's not like I don't see flags. In fact, New Yorkers seem to me to be very patriotic and prone to proudly displaying the flag.

I have a tendency to try and anticipate how other people will react to things, so as I looked at this common, yet profound act of patriotism, it dawned on me that flying the flag is a flagrant, "in-your-face" act of national pride. Suddenly I realized that one of the next things we will see (if it isn't already in the works) is an effort to move nations to forego national pride in favor of global pride. What better way to do that than to fly a common flag.

I researched it a little and found the following statement at http://www.powerofpeace.com/initiatives/global-flag-contest


Never before has the world had a flag that stands for global patriotism, hope without borders and respect for diversity.

National flags, while a symbol of a nation or country, divide us as citizens of the world. Participating as part of a worldwide democracy changes your perspective from thinking locally to acting globally.

Having a flag that unites the world, joins continents and is a symbol of peace empowers us to connect, act and change the current status quo
.


These are the times we are living in. The idea that flying our nation's flag would be offensive is crazy, I know. But this is where we are headed. We are living at a time in history when foundations that we thought were sure are ready to fail. THERE'S NEVER BEEN A MORE IMPORTANT TIME TO STAND AND BE COUNTED ON BEHALF OF THE THINGS THAT ARE RIGHT!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Calvin's TULIP: Not My Favorite Flower

So, I may regret opening this can of worms but I can’t resist. Let’s talk about a very well known flower: Calvin’s T.U.L.I.P. If you are unfamiliar with this I will give a little definition, at least of the acronym.

T.U.L.I.P. means:

T= TOTAL DEPRAVITY
U= UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
L= LIMITED ATONEMENT
I= IRRESISTABLE GRACE
P= PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

So, for now, let’s talk about Total Depravity. I will use some material by Matthew J. Slick, apparently a Calvinist, and respond to his words http://www.calvinist corner.com/tulip.htm

First, Matthew says:

SIN HAS AFFECTED ALL PARTS OF MAN. THE HEART, EMOTIONS, WILL, MIND, AND BODY ARE ALL AFFECTED BY SIN. WE ARE COMPLETELY SINFUL. WE ARE NOT AS SINFUL AS WE COULD BE, BUT WE ARE COMPLETELY AFFECTED BY SIN.

Well, first of all it’s hard to reconcile the idea that we are completely sinful and yet not as sinful as we could be, but let’s plant a little peace. I understand what he’s saying. Romans 3:10: No one is righteous.

Matthew goes on to say that MAN’S HEART IS EVIL AND SICK. HE’S A SLAVE OF SIN, DOES NOT SEEK FOR GOD, CAN’T UNDERSTAND SPIRITUAL THINGS, IS AT ENMITY WITH GOD, AND BY NATURE A CHILD OF WRATH.

OK, Matthew. I don’t know Matthew, so let’s not make this personal. He is expressing Calvinism, and as far as I can tell, doing it adequately. Anyway, I am in agreement so far. But here’s where, as was wont to be said in Abraham Lincoln’s time, “the bottom falls out of the tub.”

Mike says: THE CALVINIST ASKS THE QUESTION, "IN LIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURES THAT DECLARE MAN’S TRUE NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY LOST AND INCAPABLE, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO CHOOSE OR DESIRE GOD?" THE ANSWER IS, "HE CANNOT. THEREFORE GOD MUST PREDESTINE."

So, since man is evil, the only way God could ever get us to accept Him was to program us to accept Him, bypassing any ability to choose on our part. That’s interesting, but of course I completely disagree.

The whole point behind the inspired Word of God is that it is powerful. Powerful enough to break through our sinful nature. To say otherwise is to denigrate the Word of God.

“The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12-13).”

Further, God wants REAL relationship: not robotic acceptance that cannot be resisted. The call of God in the prophets is "Return to me and I will return to you."

Now, the Calvinist will read my words and say that I am claiming that we have some part in saving ourselves. I have not said that at all. I am saying that the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is powerful to save. Paul wrote:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:16).”

Of course, the Calvinist will say that the word “everyone” doesn’t really mean everyone. We’ll discuss that chestnut some other time.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Help Me! I Can't Feel God!

Over the years, I have had numerous conversations with people deeply concerned that they had drifted away from God, or that they couldn’t feel God like they should. This kind of thought usually manifests itself with thoughts that say, “I can’t feel God anymore therefore, He must have left me!”

There is actually good news for those who are concerned about these things, and it isn’t simply advice that says, “Do better and He will come back to you.” Perhaps there are times when that is the best advice. It’s also good to remember that our feelings are not always reliable indicators of our spiritual condition.

I used to get hurt and frustrated when I would hear preachers say from the pulpit, “If you don’t feel God in this place tonight something must be wrong!” (I grew up in a classical Pentecostal denomination in Texas where Pentecostals are a lot more expressive.) As a young Christian, that kind of statement would send me reeling, questioning my salvation because I didn’t “feel” what I should feel. But as I matured in the Lord, I learned some things about the Christian walk, and some things about myself. I learned that it isn’t about our feelings. I learned that feelings can be greatly affected by the kind of week we have had or the argument we had on the way to church. I also learned that if you are an analytical person, you can over-think everything and become so distraught that it becomes difficult to feel anything but worry!

The painful reality is that we can drift away from God. We can put distance between ourselves and God. But the good news is that, if you are concerned about these things, guess what: It’s the Holy Spirit who is calling you and drawing you back to Himself! And if you can still hear the Holy Spirit and sense the alarm that comes when we drift too far away from God, then you are not as far away as you think!

So, what should you do if you are concerned that you are not where you should be with God? One of my favorite passages of Scripture comes from Hebrews 3:12-15:

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

The fact that you are concerned is the reality that the Holy Spirit is drawing you, therefore you can still hear His voice so: RESPOND TO HIM! Right where you are just respond to Him! Ask Him for His help. Do something to move closer to him. Acts 17:24-27 says,

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

If Paul could tell pagan idol worshippers that God is not very far from them, how much more is this true for those who are already His children?