God and Injustice

It has been a while since I have written anything here (having a 3rd child changes things just a bit.) Also, with the added responsibility of being the interim preaching minister at Round Lake, I am finding that I have to be even more devoted in "making time". I actually intend to step up my blogging from once a week to twice a week now. Early in the week (usually Tuesday) I will post something ministry related, things that are coming out of my sermon preparation or that we as a leadership are dealing with. This is a way for anyone who reads to stay up to date with what is going on at Round Lake.

Later in the week (usually Friday) I will return to posting thoughts that come out of my thesis work. This has been a long journey and I find myself now faced with the task of writing the first chapter. The focus of this chapter is on how the Trinity is expressed through preaching and why God is the one responsible for preaching. It should provide for some interesting material over the coming months.

As I have been preparing for our new sermon series, Habakkuk: God and Injustice, I find myself wrapped up in a concept that Charles Spurgeon and John Piper brought to my attention. It has to do with sailing. If you have ever known the joy of having a moving religious experience, you know the momentum that this can give to your spiritual life. Maybe it was a conference where you first realized your need for the salvation that Jesus has to offer. Maybe it was alone in your room studying the word and having a moment where the lightbulb came on. Or maybe in a church service, God moved in such a way that you were brought to tears. When we have these moments, we often mark our lives by them. This is like the sails of a sailboat. These experiences puff us up and give us the opportunity to catch the "wind" also known as the Holy Spirit (see John 3). As these experiences prepare us for God's work, the Holy Spirit swoops in and moves us in God's direction.

I am not a nautical man (meaning I don't know much about boats) so this next part has been interesting for me. When sailing, it is important that the ballast of the boat is equivalent to the amount of force that the wind will apply through the sails. The ballast is the weight needed to keep the boat upright. Too much and you sink, too little and the boat goes tipping forward. When we have these moving religious experiences, it is critical that the weight of the glory of God helps keep our "experiences" in check. We need the ballast of God's glory. And this is where the sin of the world comes in.

Habakkuk 1:3a says, "why do you make me see iniquity?" There are many answers and God's answer is "because if I explained it to you, you wouldn't understand," (see Habakkuk 1:5). But let us consider something. Why does God allow us to see so much iniquity in the world? The answer is so that we are reminded of the weight of what God has done and is doing. Things like cancer, earthquakes in Haiti, lying politicians, murder, rape, abortion, and suffering of all kinds exist for the glory of God. They exist to remind us of our need and this world's need for a savior. They exist to bring some weight into our otherwise weightless lives. How much time have you spent today contemplating the sovereignty of God? How much time have you spent contemplating the new season of "Lost"? Or how your favorite sports team is doing? Or how much time have you spent watching the clock to see when work ends? We need to contemplate injustice in this world more, so that we might be reminded of how Glorious our God is.

Striped Candy Worship

It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God's professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments.

This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture designed to house the golden calf.

So we have the strange anomaly of orthodoxy in creed and heterodoxy in practice. The striped candy technique has been so fully integrated into our present religious thinking that it is simply taken for granted. Its victims never dream that it is not a part of the teachings of Christ and His apostles.

Any objections to the carryings-on of our present golden calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, "But we are winning them!" And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross carrying? To self denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world's treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total commital to Christ? Of course, the answer to all these questions is "no."

Quote from "Man: The Dwelling Place of God." by A.W. Tozer

When were these words written? Take a guess. I can't be exactly sure, but sometime during the 50's or early 60's when A.W. Tozer was editor of The Alliance. I'm sure the talk about striped candy tipped you off that they may have been written a while ago, but the part about how the church looks sounds eerily familiar.

I especially am drawn to the response of some when we confront them with talk of "golden calf Christianity." "But we are winning them," they say. And Tozer replies winning them to what? If anything makes my heart burn it is this. What are our churches winning people to? We see baptisms and memberships, but are these things our mission? Is that what we are here for?

Lately I've been listening to John Piper's sermon series on John. A thought from John, (the Gospel, not Piper) is pounding in my head. That there were a group of people who believed in the signs and wonders of Jesus, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them. What is that all about? People were showing up in crowds and really believed that He could do miracles, but He was rejecting them. Why? Doesn't Jesus want everybody? Why would He reject those who come believing?

Because, it says in John 3, He knew their hearts. He knew that they were coming for the striped candy, for the miracles. And Jesus is no candy man. He is not a peddler of sweet satisfaction, but the Savior of sinners. We love to quote II Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." We focus on the wishing part and not the repentance. But what does Peter go on to say?

II Peter 3:10-11, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!"

We are not attracting people with striped candy. Our worship is not for them. Our small groups are not for them. Our churches are not for them. Our worship is backwards because our theology is backwards, and our theology is backwards because our worship is backwards. It begins, is sustained, and ends with the glory of God. Let us stop making our striped candy and start proclaiming the saving power and riches of Jesus Christ!