Find more pictures here.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
How Do You Know If You Are Too Clean - A follow up.
After yesterday's post, I feel it may be appropriate to offer some ways of assessing whether we are "too clean" or not. These two posts are based on Christ's indictments against the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."
The Pharisees were very good at diagnosing the world, but they were very poor at identifying with the world - with "sinful" Gentiles. Because of their ethnicity and their facade of moral superiority, these men brought a condemning curse to a world that was supposed to be blessed through them (Gen 12).
We must fight to avoid doing the same. Here are some symptoms to be watching out for.
We may be too clean if we spend more time fighting for our innocence than confessing our sin. What do you do when confronted by someone concerning your sin? Do you immediately disregard their concern and fight for your innocence? I am not saying that we must always be guilty; but I am saying that it is dangerous to think we are always innocent when confronted about how we may be guilty.
Be careful to insist that you are not a sinner. Christ died for sinners.
We may be too clean if we don't have friends who are willing to confront our uncleanliness. Sin makes us hide. Be weary of only having acquaintances (who only affirm your cleanliness), and not having any true friends. True friends will confront uncleanliness in a godly way. Do you have anyone who loves you enough to confront you? Did you have someone in your life like this? Did you push them away by wrongly fighting for your innocence (see #1)?
We may be too clean if we distance ourselves from those who are "too dirty." We can either do this geographically, verbally, or morally. For example, we may say something like, "I don't like to be around (geographically) fags (verbally) because they are sinful (morally)."
We may be too clean if we spend more time, money and effort on the "outside of our cup" than the inside. Do you spend more time assessing how you look on the outside rather than how you are on the inside? This should not be.
We may be too clean if the problem with life is everybody but us. We must pay attention to our language when we enter or assess conflict. Do we use more third person pronouns (he, she, they, them, their) or first person pronouns (I, me, we, us, our)?
We may be too clean if we have reduced Christianity to merely following a set of rules in order to be perfect. We often think we are a good Christian if we can assess whether or not someone is right or not. Christianity is not about being perfect, but about being united to the Perfect One. Those with the truth must always be confessing the truth that we are sinners saved by grace. When we confess our uncleanliness, God is faithful to robe us in the Cleanliness of Another.
This is our Gospel that we must humbly proclaim to a fallen world.
The Pharisees were very good at diagnosing the world, but they were very poor at identifying with the world - with "sinful" Gentiles. Because of their ethnicity and their facade of moral superiority, these men brought a condemning curse to a world that was supposed to be blessed through them (Gen 12).
We must fight to avoid doing the same. Here are some symptoms to be watching out for.
We may be too clean if we spend more time fighting for our innocence than confessing our sin. What do you do when confronted by someone concerning your sin? Do you immediately disregard their concern and fight for your innocence? I am not saying that we must always be guilty; but I am saying that it is dangerous to think we are always innocent when confronted about how we may be guilty.
Be careful to insist that you are not a sinner. Christ died for sinners.
We may be too clean if we don't have friends who are willing to confront our uncleanliness. Sin makes us hide. Be weary of only having acquaintances (who only affirm your cleanliness), and not having any true friends. True friends will confront uncleanliness in a godly way. Do you have anyone who loves you enough to confront you? Did you have someone in your life like this? Did you push them away by wrongly fighting for your innocence (see #1)?
We may be too clean if we distance ourselves from those who are "too dirty." We can either do this geographically, verbally, or morally. For example, we may say something like, "I don't like to be around (geographically) fags (verbally) because they are sinful (morally)."
We may be too clean if we spend more time, money and effort on the "outside of our cup" than the inside. Do you spend more time assessing how you look on the outside rather than how you are on the inside? This should not be.
We may be too clean if the problem with life is everybody but us. We must pay attention to our language when we enter or assess conflict. Do we use more third person pronouns (he, she, they, them, their) or first person pronouns (I, me, we, us, our)?
We may be too clean if we have reduced Christianity to merely following a set of rules in order to be perfect. We often think we are a good Christian if we can assess whether or not someone is right or not. Christianity is not about being perfect, but about being united to the Perfect One. Those with the truth must always be confessing the truth that we are sinners saved by grace. When we confess our uncleanliness, God is faithful to robe us in the Cleanliness of Another.
This is our Gospel that we must humbly proclaim to a fallen world.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
We are Way Too Clean
Eminem begins his song Love the Way You Lie with these words: "I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like." This line, for some reason, is constantly on my mind. Over the past year or so, I have started listening to the popular artists with a new focus, through a new lens - the lens of redemption.
As Christians, we have a responsibility to understand the world in which we live. Music is a very good way to gain this understanding. There is a reason why the songs are on the radio. There is a reason why Eminem is so popular. Music is a common medium for people to express, however illogical or immoral, how they feel and what they desire. Dave Matthews is a case in point.
Many are listening to these songs with a deep sense that someone has finally articulated with words what they are feeling inside. Someone has identified with them. Love the Way You Lie is a remarkable depiction of a common (idolatrous) relationship; the kind in which undoubtedly millions are enslaved.
Yes, the little white, blonde-headed rapper can tell us what it feels like; but he is at a loss to tell us what is actually going on. Eminem only has half of the truth. But a large portion of Christian music doesn't bring much more to the table - nor, for that matter, does the church from which the music flows.
Rarely do you hear Christians, or Christian songs say, "I can tell you what it feels like (because I have been there too)." Rather, we say things like, "But I sure can tell you what it is" or, "I can tell you what you are supposed to feel like." The pendulum has only swung to the other side. The listening masses remain in the dark.
It has been my experience that struggling people would rather live among those who identify with them, and not with those who merely diagnose them. In a sense, our lives are way too clean. We desire to diagnose, but we don't want to identify. We can help you, but let's be clear that we are not like you.
As a result of this, we live among people in this world who do not trust a word that we say. The Scriptures are pretty clear: If we say we have no sin, we are a liar, and the truth is not in us. We can only put on the facade so long before the watching world says, "Liar."
We have to be careful not to communicate to a sinful world that Jesus only saves really clean people. I'm not saying that we should go get dirty; but rather that we should confess that we are dirty and that Christ alone makes us whiter than snow. By doing so we can identify with sinners (because we are sinners as well); and we can also help in diagnosing their sickness (because we know the One who washes sin away).
As Christians, we have a responsibility to understand the world in which we live. Music is a very good way to gain this understanding. There is a reason why the songs are on the radio. There is a reason why Eminem is so popular. Music is a common medium for people to express, however illogical or immoral, how they feel and what they desire. Dave Matthews is a case in point.
Many are listening to these songs with a deep sense that someone has finally articulated with words what they are feeling inside. Someone has identified with them. Love the Way You Lie is a remarkable depiction of a common (idolatrous) relationship; the kind in which undoubtedly millions are enslaved.
Yes, the little white, blonde-headed rapper can tell us what it feels like; but he is at a loss to tell us what is actually going on. Eminem only has half of the truth. But a large portion of Christian music doesn't bring much more to the table - nor, for that matter, does the church from which the music flows.
Rarely do you hear Christians, or Christian songs say, "I can tell you what it feels like (because I have been there too)." Rather, we say things like, "But I sure can tell you what it is" or, "I can tell you what you are supposed to feel like." The pendulum has only swung to the other side. The listening masses remain in the dark.
It has been my experience that struggling people would rather live among those who identify with them, and not with those who merely diagnose them. In a sense, our lives are way too clean. We desire to diagnose, but we don't want to identify. We can help you, but let's be clear that we are not like you.
As a result of this, we live among people in this world who do not trust a word that we say. The Scriptures are pretty clear: If we say we have no sin, we are a liar, and the truth is not in us. We can only put on the facade so long before the watching world says, "Liar."
We have to be careful not to communicate to a sinful world that Jesus only saves really clean people. I'm not saying that we should go get dirty; but rather that we should confess that we are dirty and that Christ alone makes us whiter than snow. By doing so we can identify with sinners (because we are sinners as well); and we can also help in diagnosing their sickness (because we know the One who washes sin away).
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Great Story Against All Odds
This is a great story of a young man who has fought the odds. His mother was an addict. His father committed suicide. He's on his way to being an astronaut.
Thanks Terry for sharing this.
Thanks Terry for sharing this.
On Preaching.
There are times when what we say, we find only in our hearts.
There are times when what we say, we find only in the Text.
But there are times when what we say, we find in both our hearts and in the Text.
This is what I call preaching.
There are times when what we say, we find only in the Text.
But there are times when what we say, we find in both our hearts and in the Text.
This is what I call preaching.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Resurrecting Easter - Supremacy: Jesus is the King
The resurrection is the culmination of redemption. The bedrock of the Christian
faith rises and falls on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. No resurrection
means: no savior, no forgiveness, and no hope of a resurrected eternal life. Simply
put, if Jesus is dead, there are billions of people alive today who worship Jesus as
God who should be considered gullible and foolish. If the resurrection is not true,
Jesus is the best scam artist who ever lived! He claimed to be someone he wasn’t and
fooled the course of human history by doing so.
Although the veracity of the doctrine of the resurrection is beyond the scope of
this post, I want to ponder some broad generalities for the significance of the
resurrection.
First, everybody is religious. Whether you describe yourself as a Christian, non-
Christian, atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, etc. the truth is you are religious. The reason
there are so many religions and anti-religions in the world today is because we were
created to worship. Committed and zealous atheists are “religious” about not being
religious! They have such an unwavering devotion to disprove everything that they
prove too much, to the demise of their own worldview. The good news is that Jesus,
by his resurrection, replaced religion with himself.
Second, everybody wants the resurrection to be true. Regardless of worldview, if the
resurrection is true, it makes a lot of sense of the world. Apart from the resurrection,
apart from God’s work of restoration and redemption in Jesus, the world is cruel
and bizarre. Whether you believe in the overwhelming evidence in favor of the
resurrection or not, you have to admit, you want the resurrection to be true.
Third, the resurrection changes everything. The resurrection of Jesus had a clear
impact on the immediate context in first-century Jerusalem. People were selling
their goods, sacrificing their lives and changing the way they viewed everything.
Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just for the good of a few people, it changed the course of
human history, and it also had eternal implications.
Finally, the resurrection changes everybody. When it is said that Jesus “rose from the
dead,” the reference is to a bodily resurrection. Jesus is not just alive in our hearts,
minds or in some spiritual resurrection; the physical body of Jesus was raised from
death to life by the power of God. The very body the Roman soldiers battered and
bloodied is the very body Jesus rules and reigns over the earth in as King. There is
an objectivity and physicality to Jesus’ resurrection. Not simply the resuscitation
of a mortal body that could die again, but a physical resurrection to the immortal
splendor of a body that would never die again. Jesus’ bodily resurrection declares
that he is the King of everything and everybody. Everybody has something or
someone functioning as the King of their life but Jesus declared himself as the only legitimate King worth serving.
faith rises and falls on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. No resurrection
means: no savior, no forgiveness, and no hope of a resurrected eternal life. Simply
put, if Jesus is dead, there are billions of people alive today who worship Jesus as
God who should be considered gullible and foolish. If the resurrection is not true,
Jesus is the best scam artist who ever lived! He claimed to be someone he wasn’t and
fooled the course of human history by doing so.
Although the veracity of the doctrine of the resurrection is beyond the scope of
this post, I want to ponder some broad generalities for the significance of the
resurrection.
First, everybody is religious. Whether you describe yourself as a Christian, non-
Christian, atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, etc. the truth is you are religious. The reason
there are so many religions and anti-religions in the world today is because we were
created to worship. Committed and zealous atheists are “religious” about not being
religious! They have such an unwavering devotion to disprove everything that they
prove too much, to the demise of their own worldview. The good news is that Jesus,
by his resurrection, replaced religion with himself.
Second, everybody wants the resurrection to be true. Regardless of worldview, if the
resurrection is true, it makes a lot of sense of the world. Apart from the resurrection,
apart from God’s work of restoration and redemption in Jesus, the world is cruel
and bizarre. Whether you believe in the overwhelming evidence in favor of the
resurrection or not, you have to admit, you want the resurrection to be true.
Third, the resurrection changes everything. The resurrection of Jesus had a clear
impact on the immediate context in first-century Jerusalem. People were selling
their goods, sacrificing their lives and changing the way they viewed everything.
Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just for the good of a few people, it changed the course of
human history, and it also had eternal implications.
Finally, the resurrection changes everybody. When it is said that Jesus “rose from the
dead,” the reference is to a bodily resurrection. Jesus is not just alive in our hearts,
minds or in some spiritual resurrection; the physical body of Jesus was raised from
death to life by the power of God. The very body the Roman soldiers battered and
bloodied is the very body Jesus rules and reigns over the earth in as King. There is
an objectivity and physicality to Jesus’ resurrection. Not simply the resuscitation
of a mortal body that could die again, but a physical resurrection to the immortal
splendor of a body that would never die again. Jesus’ bodily resurrection declares
that he is the King of everything and everybody. Everybody has something or
someone functioning as the King of their life but Jesus declared himself as the only legitimate King worth serving.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
--John 11:25-26--
by Adam Viramontes
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Resurrecting Easter - Sabbath: The Silence of Saturday
Saturday was quiet and likely a somber Sabbath for many of Jesus' disciples. The gospel accounts surround Saturday with busyness including: requests for Jesus’ body, burial preparations, and an early morning to continue their mourning. However, the silence of Saturday declares several theological and practical implications for us to consider.
1. Jesus was a man. The reason Saturday was so quiet was primarily because Jesus took on flesh. God declared death to be the punishment for sin (Romans 6:23). And though Jesus was perfect and without sin, he took our sin upon himself and was buried in a tomb as the consequence. Jesus was the only legitimate substitute for us, simply because he was the God-man, fully God and fully man.
2. Jesus had to be buried in order to be raised. In order for the victory of Sunday to come, the demise of Saturday was necessary. Jesus paid the full requirement for us to be reconciled with God. This required death and burial. In order for us to understand why one day in the grave was sufficient for Jesus, yet an eternity of punishment is required of those apart from Christ, we must understand the relationship of the buried One to the Judge.
Jesus is eternal and had forever experienced perfect relationship with his Father and the Spirit. At the cross and in the grave, Jesus was abandoned and forsaken by his Father. Jesus suffered more in this abandonment than any single person could ever possibly suffer in the torments of hell. Jesus experienced hell in its fullness for us.
3. Jesus silenced the sting of death. Death is the inevitable doom of humanity. Believers and unbelievers experience physical death as a result of sin. However, the difference between the two is astounding. Jesus remained in the tomb on Saturday to silence the demands of death and the sting that comes from death. This is an obvious implication of knowing the end of the story—Jesus conquers the tomb, death and sin. Though death is still imminent, those united to Christ have no fear or ultimate demise in embracing physical death.
4. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath. This was the last “Sabbath” held on a Saturday. The direct implications of Sunday changed the course of church history and the Sabbath was fulfilled and declared every Sunday from here forward. Nothing special takes place on Easter Sunday that does not occur on every Sunday. The shift to Sunday in worshipping the Resurrected Jesus has transpired—Sabbath finds meaning and fulfillment in the silence of Saturday.
Saturday is silent, yet successful. Sunday is fast approaching…supremacy will be on full display!
by Adam Viramontes
1. Jesus was a man. The reason Saturday was so quiet was primarily because Jesus took on flesh. God declared death to be the punishment for sin (Romans 6:23). And though Jesus was perfect and without sin, he took our sin upon himself and was buried in a tomb as the consequence. Jesus was the only legitimate substitute for us, simply because he was the God-man, fully God and fully man.
2. Jesus had to be buried in order to be raised. In order for the victory of Sunday to come, the demise of Saturday was necessary. Jesus paid the full requirement for us to be reconciled with God. This required death and burial. In order for us to understand why one day in the grave was sufficient for Jesus, yet an eternity of punishment is required of those apart from Christ, we must understand the relationship of the buried One to the Judge.
Jesus is eternal and had forever experienced perfect relationship with his Father and the Spirit. At the cross and in the grave, Jesus was abandoned and forsaken by his Father. Jesus suffered more in this abandonment than any single person could ever possibly suffer in the torments of hell. Jesus experienced hell in its fullness for us.
3. Jesus silenced the sting of death. Death is the inevitable doom of humanity. Believers and unbelievers experience physical death as a result of sin. However, the difference between the two is astounding. Jesus remained in the tomb on Saturday to silence the demands of death and the sting that comes from death. This is an obvious implication of knowing the end of the story—Jesus conquers the tomb, death and sin. Though death is still imminent, those united to Christ have no fear or ultimate demise in embracing physical death.
4. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath. This was the last “Sabbath” held on a Saturday. The direct implications of Sunday changed the course of church history and the Sabbath was fulfilled and declared every Sunday from here forward. Nothing special takes place on Easter Sunday that does not occur on every Sunday. The shift to Sunday in worshipping the Resurrected Jesus has transpired—Sabbath finds meaning and fulfillment in the silence of Saturday.
Saturday is silent, yet successful. Sunday is fast approaching…supremacy will be on full display!
by Adam Viramontes
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