To all those who wonder how I feel about national politics I will tell that I am much more fearful about what goes on inside Christianity than what goes on without. The greater threat to Christian witness is the loss of the true gospel.
In my opinion there are few things more potentially destructive than religious legalism. I see it as a growing threat within our denomination as well as within evangelicalism. I believe it is a threat to the gospel and should be battled as defiantly as Paul to the Galatians. The legalist teaches religiosity over Christianity. True Christianity centered on His grace is the difference between a morally restrained heart (as in religion) and a spiritually transformed heart (as in genuine Christianity). Lawrence Crabb once wrote:
Religion is the invention of the devil. The world has taken out the patent. We humans have mortgaged our souls to the product and think we have gotten a good deal. Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind.
The longer I am a pastor, the more I see this truth. The most joyful and pleasant people I know are those who have an ever expanding awareness of the incredible forgiveness and deep grace afforded them by the substitutionary work of the cross. By contrast, the most miserable and hateful people I ever encounter are those who believe that it is by their religious works that they have been accepted and forgiven.
The legalist spins hard to justify his acceptance- and must constantly point out the sin of others in order to justify and demonstrate his own piety. He sees himself as saved by his own righteousness. He has reversed the gospel. There is no one on earth more pitiful and unattractive than a religious legalist. Consider the words of Richard Lovelace:
In the New Testament justification- the acceptance of believers as righteous in the sight of God- and sanctification, which is progress and actual holiness, are closely intertwined. Justification is God’s acceptance of us. Sanctification is our actual holy life. The gospel is in that order. The order in the gospel is that because you are justified, the affect is you are sanctified. However this is not how it works in a lot of churches. Not at all. In their day to day existence, many fundamentalist Christians rely on their sanctification for their justification. Drawing their assurance of their acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or their relative infrequency of conscious willful disobedience. Christians who are no longer sure if God loves and accepts them in Jesus apart from their willful obedience are constantly and radically insecure- much less secure than non-Christians. Because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have, their insecurity then shows itself in pride, a fierce defense of assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger. They cling desperately to legalistic pharisaical righteousness; envy, jealousy, and all other branches of that tree of sin grow out of that fundamental insecurity.
One of the best tests of whether you have accepted the gospel into your heart is when you find yourself in disagreement. Someone who has experienced his grace is humbly aware of their own condition and that it was only by God's grace that they are even aware of their sin. This kind of person is able to disagree without taking it personally- as they have no stake in their own righteousness. True Christianity therefore does not gloat in the face of disagreement. The result of grace is a love that points out truth but never points down.
Consider what Paul wrote in Galatians 4:28-31:
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
To unlock the mystery of the passage, think about who Paul was before he became a Christian. He was a persecutor of Christians. He was a legalist. He was Ishmael persecuting Isaac. He was a follower of the law who had not yet received the gospel. When he was transformed by Christ's grace, he became a son of promise and was removed from the bondage of the law. His nature was changed to the degree that as a former racist Jewish prosecutor of Christians, he becoming the compassionate evangelist who would continually risk his life to bring that gospel to the non-Jew.
He was set free from the bondage of legalism.
The meaning of this passage must then be that when you are set free by the gospel, you are no longer a persecutor. Paul is saying that you know you have the gospel when you have reached a point in your life when you can passionately love people even when you do not agree with them. He is saying that the result of the gospel is that we cast off the bondage of legalism.
This is why in genuine Christian community we may not always agree, but we always show love and acceptance and forgiveness. The gospel has set us free. The contrast to this is the bondage of legalism that threatens the joy of fellowship.
And this is why we should see it as our greatest threat- as it comes from within and not from without. This is why Paul teaches very directly and succinctly, perhaps drawing from his own memory of the affliction, to cast out the slave woman and her son.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
the good sense of kindness
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-31)
I was talking to a new waitress friend the other day. She told me how she hates Sundays. "Lousy tips and rude people" she told me. I tried to explain to her the difference between the religious types and the true Christ followers. It's a conversation I've had a lot through the years.
Rick Warren says most people are not Christians because 1. They don't know Christians or 2. They do know Christians.
John Ortberg tells about the time he went to a church and was impressed with the sweet little old lady who sat behind him and greeted him during the welcome. After the service, he accidentally cut someone off in the parking lot.
He was shocked when that person "shot him the bird".
He looked closer and was further shocked to see that it was the same little old lady who had treated him so kindly inside the building.
"How did Mother Teresa inside the building become Leona Helmsly outside the building?" Ortberg rhetorically asked.
I am not just arguing here for bigger tips or better parking lot manners - what is needed is a primer in the spiritual quality of Christian kindness.
It is interesting that in the passage above kindness is so closely tied to forgiveness. “Be kind and compassionate, forgiving…” the Bible says. To be kind is to be forgiving. To be kind is to emulate Christ in that in His kindness He forgave us and gave His life for us by His grace. It is important to understand that the opposite of kindness is not meanness, but rather it’s contrast is selfishness.
To be kind is to lay aside your own selfish desire and to offer yourself and to want the best and to meet the needs and forgive others. That puts kindness it in a totally different perspective, does it not?
Most people don’t realize how closely kindness is tied to forgiveness in scripture. If you were to ask, most people would tell you that they consider themselves to be kind. But on the other hand, studies have shown that people will also say that they don’t consider themselves to be particularly forgiving. But how ironic that in scripture these two qualities are inseparable.
More specifically, kindness is “befriending grace”. By this I mean that kindness is the regular expression of the basic attributes of Christian friendship. Basic Christian friendship is characterized by two things-accessibility and consistency. A true friend, in other words, allows you in and never lets you go. A true friend is someone who will accept you for who you are (forgiveness) and will never let you down (faithfulness).
Someone has aptly said that a true friend is one who is moving in when everyone else is moving out.
So these two are the absolute qualities of genuine Christian friendship. Kindness then is the continual offering of these two qualities of friendship. Although we cannot possibly befriend everyone we meet, we can at the very least offer these qualities in all of our casual relationships. Someone who is kind in this way is someone who is “safe” to be around and is seen as consistent and dependable. We all know people who are one or the other, but an exceptional friend is one who is both.
What we must understand is that this kind of befriending grace really is the result of the Spirit of Christ working in us. We are not by our nature the kind of people who offer this sort of kindness. C.S. Lewis once observed that “all natural affections are idolatrous”. By this I believe he meant that because of our sin nature, none of us are purely and naturally “loving” or “affectionate’. Because of our selfishness, which is at the core of our sinful nature, we are only kind to others because of what our kindness will provide for us in return. We are kind, in other words, because to be kind affords us certain returns that we find beneficial in our idolatry of self.
It is also important to see here that this kind of befriending grace plays out in a very practical way in that even in our conversations and relating with each other we are asking, “what is it that this person needs and how can I meet that need?” “How can I speak wholesomely to this person so that I build him or her up?” It is not a question of whether or not I always tell people what I think they want to hear (which is just another way of pleasing self by hoping to make others pleased with me), but rather true kindness is looking for ways to meet needs in others regardless of what it might mean for me.
To be kind to others is to see the incredible opportunities that God has instilled in that person’s heart. To be kind is to lift up my eyes to the future potential of each person I meet. Think of it this way- when you hold an acorn in your hand, you are holding within your grasp all the potential for a huge oak tree. That tiny seed in your hand holds all the chemistry necessary for a huge oak that can live for many years and grow to enormous size.
In a similar way, we should understand the incredible potential in every person we encounter.
C.S. Lewis put it this way in “Weight of Glory”:
"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you 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 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 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, civilisations -- 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 splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment."
Consider for a moment how just this one truth could change things on Sundays. Not just in sanctuaries and Sunday School classes- but perhaps more importantly in parking lots and at restaurants.
I was talking to a new waitress friend the other day. She told me how she hates Sundays. "Lousy tips and rude people" she told me. I tried to explain to her the difference between the religious types and the true Christ followers. It's a conversation I've had a lot through the years.
Rick Warren says most people are not Christians because 1. They don't know Christians or 2. They do know Christians.
John Ortberg tells about the time he went to a church and was impressed with the sweet little old lady who sat behind him and greeted him during the welcome. After the service, he accidentally cut someone off in the parking lot.
He was shocked when that person "shot him the bird".
He looked closer and was further shocked to see that it was the same little old lady who had treated him so kindly inside the building.
"How did Mother Teresa inside the building become Leona Helmsly outside the building?" Ortberg rhetorically asked.
I am not just arguing here for bigger tips or better parking lot manners - what is needed is a primer in the spiritual quality of Christian kindness.
It is interesting that in the passage above kindness is so closely tied to forgiveness. “Be kind and compassionate, forgiving…” the Bible says. To be kind is to be forgiving. To be kind is to emulate Christ in that in His kindness He forgave us and gave His life for us by His grace. It is important to understand that the opposite of kindness is not meanness, but rather it’s contrast is selfishness.
To be kind is to lay aside your own selfish desire and to offer yourself and to want the best and to meet the needs and forgive others. That puts kindness it in a totally different perspective, does it not?
Most people don’t realize how closely kindness is tied to forgiveness in scripture. If you were to ask, most people would tell you that they consider themselves to be kind. But on the other hand, studies have shown that people will also say that they don’t consider themselves to be particularly forgiving. But how ironic that in scripture these two qualities are inseparable.
More specifically, kindness is “befriending grace”. By this I mean that kindness is the regular expression of the basic attributes of Christian friendship. Basic Christian friendship is characterized by two things-accessibility and consistency. A true friend, in other words, allows you in and never lets you go. A true friend is someone who will accept you for who you are (forgiveness) and will never let you down (faithfulness).
Someone has aptly said that a true friend is one who is moving in when everyone else is moving out.
So these two are the absolute qualities of genuine Christian friendship. Kindness then is the continual offering of these two qualities of friendship. Although we cannot possibly befriend everyone we meet, we can at the very least offer these qualities in all of our casual relationships. Someone who is kind in this way is someone who is “safe” to be around and is seen as consistent and dependable. We all know people who are one or the other, but an exceptional friend is one who is both.
What we must understand is that this kind of befriending grace really is the result of the Spirit of Christ working in us. We are not by our nature the kind of people who offer this sort of kindness. C.S. Lewis once observed that “all natural affections are idolatrous”. By this I believe he meant that because of our sin nature, none of us are purely and naturally “loving” or “affectionate’. Because of our selfishness, which is at the core of our sinful nature, we are only kind to others because of what our kindness will provide for us in return. We are kind, in other words, because to be kind affords us certain returns that we find beneficial in our idolatry of self.
It is also important to see here that this kind of befriending grace plays out in a very practical way in that even in our conversations and relating with each other we are asking, “what is it that this person needs and how can I meet that need?” “How can I speak wholesomely to this person so that I build him or her up?” It is not a question of whether or not I always tell people what I think they want to hear (which is just another way of pleasing self by hoping to make others pleased with me), but rather true kindness is looking for ways to meet needs in others regardless of what it might mean for me.
To be kind to others is to see the incredible opportunities that God has instilled in that person’s heart. To be kind is to lift up my eyes to the future potential of each person I meet. Think of it this way- when you hold an acorn in your hand, you are holding within your grasp all the potential for a huge oak tree. That tiny seed in your hand holds all the chemistry necessary for a huge oak that can live for many years and grow to enormous size.
In a similar way, we should understand the incredible potential in every person we encounter.
C.S. Lewis put it this way in “Weight of Glory”:
"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you 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 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 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, civilisations -- 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 splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment."
Consider for a moment how just this one truth could change things on Sundays. Not just in sanctuaries and Sunday School classes- but perhaps more importantly in parking lots and at restaurants.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
not a gospel at all
I'm having a lot of trouble honing down my sermon this week. I think so far I've chopped it down to about 220 minutes. The first chapter in Galatians reminds me of Chinese noodles. The more I dig into it the bigger it gets- just when I think I might have made a dent, I look at my plate and more noodles are falling off the side.
It's in this chapter that Paul teaches the Galatians that if someone teaches another gospel other than the one they have been taught, then that person who teaches it should be eternally condemned. Which is a nice way of saying something else that no Bible translator would actually want to say.
Paul wasn't much on mincing words.
One of the things that cracks me up about the structure of the introduction in this letter, is that Paul goes right from a salutation to this:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel."
No "How ya doin?" or "I am thankful for you Galatians" or "I thank God every time I think of you..." No"Tell brother so and so or sister so and so I said 'Hi'".
None of that. Just, "you guys are killing me!"
In every other letter he wrote in the New Testament, Paul spends time buttering up the recipient before he plunges into the real subject. But not for these Galatians.
He gets right to the point. It is kind of our equivalent of,
Dear Galatians,
I can't believe you are so clueless!
So... what is it that Paul is so upset about? He is upset that they have so quickly been hooked into something that is so obviously NOT the gospel. He is upset that after they have been so clearly and forcefully taught the truth of the gospel- that Christ has come to them and rescued them by His grace according to the will of the Father. He just can't believe that they have so quickly latched on to something that is so obviously a perversion of the gospel. He just can't believe how easy it is for people to buy into something that is so clearly not the gospel at all.
And that is the problem that I am having in honing down this Bible study. The problem is not that we don't have enough application here in American Christianity, the problem is that we have so much.
Let me give you two quick examples (and these were just the first two that came into mind):
Example 1: What if I told you that a very popular and influential celebrity in America today was encouraging people to do a daily devotional with her that includes some of the following teaching:
"There is no sin. . . "
A "slain Christ has no meaning."
"The journey to the cross should be the last 'useless journey."
"Do not make the pathetic error of 'clinging to the old rugged cross."
"The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. . . . It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray."
"God is in everything I see."
"The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself."
"The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power."
"The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation."
I am sure you would be surprised by this - and would probably think that such a person must be a nut-case and not have much influence. What if I told you that this person calls herself a Christian and has the largest television audience BY FAR in America among women and has endlessly more influence than any pastor- her name is Oprah Winfrey and the book she is promoting is “A Course in Miracles” written by Helen Schucman. She likes it so much she is encouraging people to do the devotions with her each day for 365 lessons in 2008.
Example 2: What if I told you that the pastor of the largest evangelical church in America and one of the most popular television evangelists in the world recently said this about Mormonism to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday:
Chris Wallace: Is a Mormon a true Christian?
Joel Olsteen: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are.
In case you are wondering- Mormonism teaches that God is only one of many gods and that Jesus is NOT God, but a manifestation of God and salvation does not come through the substitutionary sacrificial work of the cross but by following the teaching of the book of Mormon.
These are only two of the most obvious examples.
If the Apostle Paul was astonished by the Galatians- imagine what kind of surprise he might have with American Christianity.
Do you see my problem? I haven't even gotten out of the first half of his first sentence yet- and the plate just keeps getting bigger.
It's in this chapter that Paul teaches the Galatians that if someone teaches another gospel other than the one they have been taught, then that person who teaches it should be eternally condemned. Which is a nice way of saying something else that no Bible translator would actually want to say.
Paul wasn't much on mincing words.
One of the things that cracks me up about the structure of the introduction in this letter, is that Paul goes right from a salutation to this:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel."
No "How ya doin?" or "I am thankful for you Galatians" or "I thank God every time I think of you..." No"Tell brother so and so or sister so and so I said 'Hi'".
None of that. Just, "you guys are killing me!"
In every other letter he wrote in the New Testament, Paul spends time buttering up the recipient before he plunges into the real subject. But not for these Galatians.
He gets right to the point. It is kind of our equivalent of,
Dear Galatians,
I can't believe you are so clueless!
So... what is it that Paul is so upset about? He is upset that they have so quickly been hooked into something that is so obviously NOT the gospel. He is upset that after they have been so clearly and forcefully taught the truth of the gospel- that Christ has come to them and rescued them by His grace according to the will of the Father. He just can't believe that they have so quickly latched on to something that is so obviously a perversion of the gospel. He just can't believe how easy it is for people to buy into something that is so clearly not the gospel at all.
And that is the problem that I am having in honing down this Bible study. The problem is not that we don't have enough application here in American Christianity, the problem is that we have so much.
Let me give you two quick examples (and these were just the first two that came into mind):
Example 1: What if I told you that a very popular and influential celebrity in America today was encouraging people to do a daily devotional with her that includes some of the following teaching:
"There is no sin. . . "
A "slain Christ has no meaning."
"The journey to the cross should be the last 'useless journey."
"Do not make the pathetic error of 'clinging to the old rugged cross."
"The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. . . . It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray."
"God is in everything I see."
"The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself."
"The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power."
"The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation."
I am sure you would be surprised by this - and would probably think that such a person must be a nut-case and not have much influence. What if I told you that this person calls herself a Christian and has the largest television audience BY FAR in America among women and has endlessly more influence than any pastor- her name is Oprah Winfrey and the book she is promoting is “A Course in Miracles” written by Helen Schucman. She likes it so much she is encouraging people to do the devotions with her each day for 365 lessons in 2008.
Example 2: What if I told you that the pastor of the largest evangelical church in America and one of the most popular television evangelists in the world recently said this about Mormonism to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday:
Chris Wallace: Is a Mormon a true Christian?
Joel Olsteen: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are.
In case you are wondering- Mormonism teaches that God is only one of many gods and that Jesus is NOT God, but a manifestation of God and salvation does not come through the substitutionary sacrificial work of the cross but by following the teaching of the book of Mormon.
These are only two of the most obvious examples.
If the Apostle Paul was astonished by the Galatians- imagine what kind of surprise he might have with American Christianity.
Do you see my problem? I haven't even gotten out of the first half of his first sentence yet- and the plate just keeps getting bigger.
Friday, January 11, 2008
hope center
A few weeks ago my friend Lars Dunsberg was in town. Many of you will remember that Lars is the head of "Global Action"- an organization that specializes in mobilizing Christian evangelicals internationally to meet the desperate needs of poverty, hunger and AIDs awareness in some of the most marginalized and forgotten parts of the earth.
One of my friends asked him, "Where are your greatest frustrations right now?"
"The American church" Lars said without hesitation.
"Explain", my friend said.
"The church in America has so much and yet it is very difficult to help them to see how desperate the need is around the world." Lars continued, "As an example, for the price of a Starbucks coffee, a person could save a life."
He says it with just a touch of irritation.
Lars is one of those guys who commands your attention. For one thing- he stands about 6 foot 6 inches- for another, he has a deep thick Swedish accent that gives him an added air of importance when he speaks. As the former head of the International Bible Society, he is on a first name basis with some of the most recognized leaders in American Christianity. Years of sneaking Bibles under the iron curtain have hammered away any sense of apprehensive fear. "I don't have any more time to be nice" he told me one time. Lars has put literally hundreds of thousands of Bibles in the hands of people around the world. He could have retired to the comfort of his native Sweden many years ago- and yet he is a man on a mission.
This is one of the reasons I like Lars so much. He is a guy who knows how to get things done- and for all the right reasons. He's the guy who talked me into going to India last October. I remember praying the day before Michael Butler and I left on that trip, "God, I don't know why on earth I'm doing this. I have no business in India. I can think of at least a hundred reasons I should stay home."
The results are well documented in my October blogs- so I won't go into it. Suffice it to say it changed things for me. India has gotten under my skin. I can't get the orphaned children of India out of my head- or heart.
On the way home from the trip I told Michael, "I know why we came here. It was because of the orphanage- the Hope Center in Motipur. I think God wants our church to help build it."
I don't know how it will happen. I am not sure what God has in mind, but I believe God will use us there. I believe God wants to use a group of Christians from Oklahoma City to build an orphanage on the edge of the Napal rain forest so that children can be taken off the streets of Delhi and Lucknow and Calcutta and given a new life.
I think about it now every time I drive by a Starbucks.
One of my friends asked him, "Where are your greatest frustrations right now?"
"The American church" Lars said without hesitation.
"Explain", my friend said.
"The church in America has so much and yet it is very difficult to help them to see how desperate the need is around the world." Lars continued, "As an example, for the price of a Starbucks coffee, a person could save a life."
He says it with just a touch of irritation.
Lars is one of those guys who commands your attention. For one thing- he stands about 6 foot 6 inches- for another, he has a deep thick Swedish accent that gives him an added air of importance when he speaks. As the former head of the International Bible Society, he is on a first name basis with some of the most recognized leaders in American Christianity. Years of sneaking Bibles under the iron curtain have hammered away any sense of apprehensive fear. "I don't have any more time to be nice" he told me one time. Lars has put literally hundreds of thousands of Bibles in the hands of people around the world. He could have retired to the comfort of his native Sweden many years ago- and yet he is a man on a mission.
This is one of the reasons I like Lars so much. He is a guy who knows how to get things done- and for all the right reasons. He's the guy who talked me into going to India last October. I remember praying the day before Michael Butler and I left on that trip, "God, I don't know why on earth I'm doing this. I have no business in India. I can think of at least a hundred reasons I should stay home."
The results are well documented in my October blogs- so I won't go into it. Suffice it to say it changed things for me. India has gotten under my skin. I can't get the orphaned children of India out of my head- or heart.
On the way home from the trip I told Michael, "I know why we came here. It was because of the orphanage- the Hope Center in Motipur. I think God wants our church to help build it."
I don't know how it will happen. I am not sure what God has in mind, but I believe God will use us there. I believe God wants to use a group of Christians from Oklahoma City to build an orphanage on the edge of the Napal rain forest so that children can be taken off the streets of Delhi and Lucknow and Calcutta and given a new life.
I think about it now every time I drive by a Starbucks.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
a book a month
The new year is always a good time to start some new habits and make some new (or renewed) commitments. At the bare minimum, I think it is a good resolution to continue to broaden the world you live in this year.
I agree with G.K. Chesterton who said "the lunatics mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle. A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle, but though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large".
The smaller and tighter the circle we live in, the less healthy we are. A believer who has a global perspective and lives in a big world has more compassion and is more energized for the gospel. I know I don't have to tell you that the next few years will bring about rapid change that will alter all of our lives at a staggering pace. We honor God by the way we move into that expanding world.
A great way to broaden the circle in your world is to become a prolific reader. It is an increasingly important discipline especially in a media driven world to take your eyes and mind off of a computer or television screen and put them on to the pages of a book.
So, as a kind of encouragement to all of us to read at least one book a month this next year, I want to share with you 12 books I have read recently that I particularly enjoyed:
1. What's So Great About Christianity by Dnish Dsouza. Dsouza is a brilliant philosopher and apologist who writes and thinks with great clarity. I'm glad he's on our side.
2. The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. There are more honor students in China than there are students in the United States. Imagine what will happen when they all get internet access. Friedman has an effective way of helping us understand how the world is changing.
3. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. This is one of the classics that every Christian should read. His criticism of the materialist is especially current.
4. The Rise of Christianity by Robert Stark. One of the best books I have read on the reason Christianity took over the Roman Empire. Written from the perspective of a non-Christian socioligist -it is objective, concise and inspiring.
5. From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. Although this book was written about 25 years ago, this is a very good explanation of the political issues at play in the Middle East.
6. Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton. This is an important book for a better understanding of the theology of salvation and grace.
7. Presidential Courage by Michael R. Beschloss. An inspiring look into the inner workings of the White house throughout history and how many of our presidents made unpopular decisions at crucial times in order to bring about positive change.
8. The River of Doubt by Candice Miller. The incredible story of how a retired and aging Theodore Roosevelt came to terms with his mortality in the Amazon.
9. The Bible and the Future by Anthony A. Hoekema. By far the best book I have read on the subject of eschatology. Whenever someone asks me what I think about future times, I just want to hand them this book. I don't see how anyone can say it better.
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. A powerful insight into one families tragic journey from Afghanistan to the United States. The movie is also very good.
11. Aristotles Children by Richard E. Rubenstein. The fascinating story of how Greek philosophy was rediscovered after the crusades.
12. God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis. A list like this wouldn't be complete without at least one book by Uncle Clive.
I agree with G.K. Chesterton who said "the lunatics mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle. A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle, but though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large".
The smaller and tighter the circle we live in, the less healthy we are. A believer who has a global perspective and lives in a big world has more compassion and is more energized for the gospel. I know I don't have to tell you that the next few years will bring about rapid change that will alter all of our lives at a staggering pace. We honor God by the way we move into that expanding world.
A great way to broaden the circle in your world is to become a prolific reader. It is an increasingly important discipline especially in a media driven world to take your eyes and mind off of a computer or television screen and put them on to the pages of a book.
So, as a kind of encouragement to all of us to read at least one book a month this next year, I want to share with you 12 books I have read recently that I particularly enjoyed:
1. What's So Great About Christianity by Dnish Dsouza. Dsouza is a brilliant philosopher and apologist who writes and thinks with great clarity. I'm glad he's on our side.
2. The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. There are more honor students in China than there are students in the United States. Imagine what will happen when they all get internet access. Friedman has an effective way of helping us understand how the world is changing.
3. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. This is one of the classics that every Christian should read. His criticism of the materialist is especially current.
4. The Rise of Christianity by Robert Stark. One of the best books I have read on the reason Christianity took over the Roman Empire. Written from the perspective of a non-Christian socioligist -it is objective, concise and inspiring.
5. From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. Although this book was written about 25 years ago, this is a very good explanation of the political issues at play in the Middle East.
6. Putting Amazing Back into Grace by Michael Horton. This is an important book for a better understanding of the theology of salvation and grace.
7. Presidential Courage by Michael R. Beschloss. An inspiring look into the inner workings of the White house throughout history and how many of our presidents made unpopular decisions at crucial times in order to bring about positive change.
8. The River of Doubt by Candice Miller. The incredible story of how a retired and aging Theodore Roosevelt came to terms with his mortality in the Amazon.
9. The Bible and the Future by Anthony A. Hoekema. By far the best book I have read on the subject of eschatology. Whenever someone asks me what I think about future times, I just want to hand them this book. I don't see how anyone can say it better.
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. A powerful insight into one families tragic journey from Afghanistan to the United States. The movie is also very good.
11. Aristotles Children by Richard E. Rubenstein. The fascinating story of how Greek philosophy was rediscovered after the crusades.
12. God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis. A list like this wouldn't be complete without at least one book by Uncle Clive.
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