Cultural Christianity, could you have it?

What does it really mean to "put God first in your life?" What does it mean when we say I'm a "follower of Jesus?" What is the reality of "loving God?" what does all this Christian Talk mean?

The Church has been influenced by both the secular culture and in my opinion even more insidiously by Christian culture.What do I mean by christian Culture? and why use the word insidious to describe christian culture, is christian culture really that bad?

First, let me say that when I use the term christian culture I'm not referring to our rich Christian traditions. I'm not disparaging the great confessions of the faith, the creeds, or all of the rich history of the orthodox Christian church, but what I mean to zero in on is the American version of Christianity that has griped the church in the United States.

Let's us look at Cultural Christianity form Paul's letter to Timothy in 2 Tim 3:5. I'll provide a few different versions so you can get the idea for the different words used to describe cultural Christianity:

 having a form of godliness...(NIV)
 They will act religious...(NLT)
 having the appearance of godliness...(ESV)
 Who have a form of God-worship...(Aramiac Bible in Plain English)
 They will appear to have a godly life...(God's Word Translation)

We get an even clearer picture of cultural Christianity form the denunciations of Jesus against the religious leaders of His day; in  Matthew 23: 25-28 the Pharisee's external religiosity is severely condemned and rebuked by Jesus.

The Pharisee's religion merely consisted of obeying and conforming to a religious system, a set of rules and ceremonies to be observed and followed. Now, I'm sure to those on the outside these Pharisee's seemed to be a holy and pious group of people---but it is to these religious people Jesus reserved his harshest criticisms.



The picture that I'm trying to create is that it is possible to have a form of religion on the outside, but not have a changed heart.

True conversion must take place on the inside first--- this is why Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again (John 3:3). Throughout both the Old and New Testaments we are told that we need a new heart, and that the Holy Spirit must make us alive to God through true spiritual conversion (cf Titus 3:5).

This change on the inside comes when God makes us alive by His grace, through faith in the sacrifice of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ (cf Ephesians 2:8-9).




Warning: See Matthew 7:23, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' We need to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10). We need to examine our lives to make sure that we are not merely religious; having an appearance of Godliness, but we need to know that we have been changed by the Holy Spirit from the inside out.



 

The Perseverance of the Saints

 The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is not some old stuffy theological ethereal doctrine given to us from a an ivy tower by some stodgy theologian. No, it is the engine, the fuel, that fires the Christian up and helps him to run on all cylinders. 

Just what does it mean to persevere?  Actually it is part of our sanctification---we as God's people have been declared holy (Eph. 1:4). In short, the word holy means to be set apart, sacred, used by God for his purposes. So, to persevere is to be kept by the power of God, through the faith that He has given His people.

When the believer realizes that his salvation is of the Lord---he can live with confidence that God will keep him until he reaches heaven (1 Peter. 1:3-5). We will persevere and therefore we are secure, because we will persevere.

Christian live each day in the reality that it is God, the creator, king, and supreme ruler of heaven and earth who has committed Himself to keep each and everyone who are in His family.

 

Lectio Devina-should we be concerned?

As a christian one can't help but come across the term lectio divina (pronounced lex-ee-o di-veen-a). Many of our churches are introducing this ancient practice along with scores of books that tell us that we have been "missing something" in our christian experience.

Many evangelical writers and leaders have been endorsing and teaching this ancient practice. At first sight, this seems to be a "good thing," who would have any concerns with reading the Scriptures slowly and deliberately? Who would have a concern with praying the Scriptures? who would have a concern with pondering and thinking on a passage of Scripture? Well, if that is all that is being taught there would be no problem. However, there is more to this practice than "thinking on the Scriptures."

Lighthouse Trails gives us this piece of advice:

 But if you ask mystics or contemplatives what it entails (And who would know better than they?), they will tell you that lectio divina  always includes taking a passage of Scripture (or other writings), reading it slowly, then working your way down until you have just a word or small phrase from the passage that you are meditating on (repeating over and over). Basically, you are coming up with a mantra-like word or phrase that has been extracted from a passage of Scripture, which, according to contemplatives, if repeated for several minutes will help you get rid of thoughts and distractions, so then, they say, you can hear the voice of God and feel His presence http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2012/newsletters20120910.htm.

 Lighthouse Trails continues with this---

Contemplative mysticism pioneer Thomas Keating explains what lectio divina is not. It is not traditional Bible study, not reading the Scriptures for understanding and edification, and not praying the Scriptures (though praying the Scriptures can be a form of lectio divina when a word or phrase is taken from the Scriptures to focus on for the purpose of going into “God’s presence.”). Keating says that lectio divina is an introduction into the more intense practices – contemplative prayer and centering prayer http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2012/newsletters20120910.htm

And the article continues:

While some people think lectio divina is just reading Scripture slowly, and what’s wrong with that, it is the focusing on and repeating a word or small phrase to facilitate going into the “silence” that is the real danger. There is certainly nothing wrong with reading Scripture carefully and thoughtfully. Thoughtfully, we say. In eastern-style meditation (and in contemplative prayer) thoughts are the enemy. Eastern-style mystic Anthony De Mello describes this problem with thoughts in his book Sadhana: A Way to God:

To silence the mind is an extremely difficult task. How hard it is to keep the mind from thinking, thinking, thinking, forever thinking, forever producing thoughts in a never ending stream. Our Hindu masters in India have a saying: one thorn is removed by another. By this they mean that you will be wise to use one thought to rid yourself of all the other thoughts that crowd into your mind. One thought, one image, one phrase or sentence or word that your mind can be made to fasten on. (p. 28)

To sum it up, the Bible tells us to "examine all things carefully" ( 1 Thess. 5:21). We are to use spiritual discernment, as Greg Koukl points out in his book Discernment: head or heart?


  When the Bible talks about discernment — when it talks about assessing spiritual things — it's talking about a rational assessment based on objective criterion. You can't be "too much in your head" when it comes to spiritual discernment. Using your head is spiritual discernment, if you're using the truth properly

Also writing on the subject of spiritual discernment John MacAuthur in his book Reckless Faith,  notes:

 Biblical faith ... is rational. It is reasonable. It is intelligent. It makes good sense. And spiritual truth is meant to be rationally contemplated, examined logically, studied, analyzed, and employed as the only reliable basis for making wise judgments. That process is precisely what Scripture calls discernment

We as the church must be very diligent in putting all things to the test--- "Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world' (1 John 4:1).

For a good reference see Ray Yungen's book, The New Face of Mystical Spirituality-Contemplative Prayer. http://www.amazon.com/The-Face-Mystical-Spirituality-Contemplative-Prayer/dp/0982488122

Bonhoeffer man of God!

Thoughts on Bonhoeffer. After reading half of Eric Metaxas' 500 page book on Bonhoeffer, I'm putting Bonhoeffer on the top of my hero list.

Bonhoeffer was seeing and understanding the zeitgeist of his culture in such a way that most people even his closest friends at times did not understand what he was saying and looked at him as an oddity. However, Bonhoeffer was acting as one who was following the voice of God in his life.

It seems that we as individuals and the Church at large are truly an oddity when we become hard followers of Messiah. We are certainly a peculiar people---which really means we are the unique possession of God (cf. 1 Peter 2:9).

Bonhoeffer increasingly was feeling that he was God's captive. There was a feeling that Bonhoeffer had that he was going to be used of God in a unique and particular way. God had indeed called this young German Christian to reform the church of Germany and to stand-up to a brutal dictator that would eventually lead to his execution.

Through His prophet God called the church to "be the Church" to "act like the Church" and become in essence and in reality true disciples of the Son of God. This message was delivered in a church culture that was just the church in name only, but not the true Church of Jesus Christ. The German Lutheran Church of Martin Luther had turned into brick and mortar. The Holy Spirit had long since departed, and the Church in Germany was de facto apostate.

Bonhoeffer's legacy was that he was a man of action. Metaxas notes on (p. 240) :

This was likely Bonhoeffer's most important contributions a Fano, [a conference] and in many other circumstances, rousing others to action, away from mere theologizing. His thoughts on this would be expressed in his book Discipleship, in which anything short of obedience to God smacked of "cheap grace." Actions must follow what one believed, else one could not claim to believe it.

"Be ye therefore followers followers of God, as dear children (Ephesians. 5:1).

How should the Christian Community Respond to the Chic-Fil-A controversy?

How are Christians to respond to the Chick-Fil-A controversy?

The controversy all stared Earlier this week in a radio interview on the “Ken Colemen Show,“ Dan Cathy, president of Chick-Fil-A stated that he believed “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation” when it comes to the discussion in our nation regarding what constitutes marriage.

Cathy went on to say in the radio interview “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”

Cathy concluded his remarks with: “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that.”  

Of course any position on same-sex marriage is going to bring about strong opposition in  in our current culture. One such response came from Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign which supports same-sex-marriage, he said in a statement that Chick-fil-A “has finally come clean” after keeping it’s official position hidden for many years.

 

Griffin continued, “While they may have been in neutral, kicking this fight into overdrive now allows fair-minded consumers to make up their own minds whether they want to support an openly discriminatory company.”

On the other side of the controversy the  Rev. William Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors said that ,“Some people are saying that because of the position that Chick-fil-A is taking, they don’t want them in their cities. It is a disgrace. It is the same thing that happened when I was marching for civil rights, when they didn’t want a black to come into their restaurant," he told a press conference in Washington, DC.

In addition Mike Huckabee made a nationwide call — not to protest or picket — but for people to eat at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. 

So as I thought about this culture crises I pondered; how should followers of Christ "think" and "act" concerning cultural hot topics? Should we ignore cultural hot topics? blog about them? write op-eds? protest? show support for our side, as in the case with Chic-Fil-A and follow the advice of the former Governor of Arkansas and eat at Chic-Fil-A ? 

Should we engage the opposition with dialog? Should we pray and stay inside the walls of our churches? Should we resurrect Jerry Falwell and remake the moral majority---to save our culture? Are we as the body of Christ even called to save our culture?

Many in the Christian Community would say right on to a quote that is often attributed to Martin Luther:

 “If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.”

We live in a culture that is dark and depraved; Ephesians chapter two verse two tell us, "Satan is the "prince of the power of the air."We are admonished by John in his Epistle not to love the world (1 John 2:15). 

The Scriptures admonish the Church to walk in "wisdom" toward those outside of the body of Christ; making the most of every opportunity ( Colossians 4:5). 

Peter tells his readers, "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

Blog readers, here is my answer to the question how the Church to respond to the Chic-Fil-A controversy.

First, we as the Church should respond. We should respond with wisdom, which means thinking hard through the issue without reacting form the gut. Making the most of every opportunity means that we use the present controversy to share the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. 

As followers of Christ we should be marked with gentleness and respect. No, no, no, not being spineless; but proclaiming the "truth" with boldness that is mixed with humility.

May God be glorified as we seek to bring His gospel to our culture!

YAHWEH IS NEAR

Here is something to get excited about:

 Psalm 145: 18 tells us that "the LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

Do you notice that LORD is in all caps? The “LORD” is in all capital letters  more than 6000 times in the Old Testament.

Why is this important?

To find the beginning of the answer we have to travel back to Moses and the Burning Bush.  (Exodus 3:1-4:17).   God speaks to Moses. God tells Moses he is to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses asks God for God’s name:  God says his name is “I am.”  In Hebrew this is “Yahweh.”

 Moses was probably thinking, “I am what?”  Moses might have been waiting on God to finish the sentence.  He might have thought, “Is that the best God can do?  I am?  What kind of name is that?”  But what was God trying to show with that name?  Try this:  make a sentence with action without using the verb “to be.”  Examples:  I am running, we are eating, they are reading.  The verb “to be” is foundational to language.  What God was showing was that He is foundational to existence.  God is not a name, He Is and that is all.  Nothing else needs to be added.(©2007 Mark Nickens)

 It is this LORD, this I am, YAHWEH; who is near to all who call on him. The source of all life. The foundation to all that is. The creator of all things, yes, it is this God who is near to the humble believer who calls on him in truth.

WOW! tell me that isn't exciting? It makes me want to call on God and trust him more than I feebly do now. 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I know that at times God seems so very far away, all mature Christians relate to this experience. Read any of the autobiographies of the giants of the faith and you'll hear that at times in their journey with God, God to them seemed very distant.

The other day, (the last day of July 2012), I was sitting outside under a beautiful blue sky with big puffy white clouds. From time to time the wind would blow one of those huge white clouds in front of the sun, and for a short time the sun would be hidden. 

This reminded me that God is still near us even when we do not experience his presence. Remember Christian, we walk by faith, not by sight or feelings (11 Cor. 5:7).

So be excited today that Yahweh is close to you, and be encouraged!

How we inform our minds to God is important

Take the time to read as short excerpt from J.R. Miller. From time to time I'll post thoughts from others that to me really standout, and this jumped up and hit me right between the eyes.

James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 – July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

"Avoid every kind of evil!" 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Much is said in commendation of books. But, as in other matters, there is need for wise discrimination in what one reads. Not all books are worth reading.

There are many which are utterly empty of anything that is noble or worthy. One might read them continually all one's life--and yet be no wiser and no better. A hundred of them do not contain a dozen sentences that it is worthwhile to keep in one's memory, or that can be of any help or cheer or strength in one's life.

Then, there are books which are most pernicious in their influence. There are all grades and degrees of evil in this class. Some of them carry a subtle poison in their atmosphere which is noxious to those who breathe it. We need to keep most careful watch over our heart, so that nothing shall ever tarnish its purity. Any corrupt thought, dallied with even for a moment, leaves a stain upon the mind which may never be effaced.

If we would keep the tender joy of our heart experiences unbroken, we must hold rigid watch over our reading, conscientiously excluding not only whatever is obviously impure--but all in which lurks even a suggestion of evil.

A writer says: "Never read a book which is not worth reading, for some noble end, beyond the short-lived pleasure of a little excitement."

When we think of the influence which our reading has upon our lives, we see at once the importance of selecting only books that are worthwhile. At the best, none of us can read one book in a thousand of those which are within our reach. Surely then, this one book ought to be the best in all the thousand.

Every year, a flood of really worthless publications is poured over the country. People go into ecstasies over trivial works which please or excite them for a day--and are then old and forgotten; while books in every way admirable, are passed by unnoticed.

No book is really worth reading, which does not either impart valuable knowledge; or set before us some ideal of beauty, strength, or nobility of character.

There are enough great books to occupy us during all our short and busy years. If we are wise, we will resolutely avoid all but the richest and the best.

(Editor's note: Reading was the primary media in J.R. Miller's day. The above standards apply to all media today--TV, internet, etc.)