How Does Our Culture See the Christian Faith?-Part 2

A few days ago, I mentioned a couple of questions the Denis Haack regularly poses to those he meets:

“If you converted to Christianity today, do you think your life would be larger, fuller, richer, more attractive and creative, more involved with the people, circumstances, art, and culture around you? Or do you think your life would be smaller, narrower, more withdrawn, judgmental and negative, less winsome and creative, less involved with the people, art, circumstances, and culture around you?”

As I stated earlier, I find questions like these to be both interesting and important in that they reveal something of the way people in our culture perceive the Christian faith. But if that is indeed the case, then you and I need to grapple with a sobering and saddening reality. Why? Because Haack notes that he has never received the answer for which a Christian should hope, i.e., not one person has told him that, upon converting to Christianity, his or her life would be fuller, more attractive, more creative, and more involved ,etc. Not one.

That this is bitter pill to swallow is better understood when one starts to ask why his informal survey has yielded this unanimous response. Could it be that Christian belief, by its very nature, inevitably leads to a life that is less attractive, less engaged, and less enjoyable?

No doubt many (including many Christians, if they were honest) would suggest exactly that. But that argument simply doesn’t square with the biblical picture of what the Christian life is intended look like.

While the evidence to support the previous statement could easily fill any number of book-length treatments, I’ll mention just a few brief points. Consider, for example, how often Jesus—whose righteousness and holiness dwarfs our own—rubbed shoulders with the acknowledged “sinners” (to use the biblical language) of his day. Does that square with judgmentalism or a life unengaged with others? Or how about the fact that the Bible reveals man to be created in the image of a God who not only exhibits creativity/artistry that is staggering in its scope and brilliance, but also enjoys what he has made (a fact supported by his repeated declarations of “it is good” in Genesis 1, as well as other passages like Psalm 104:31). Is there any reason to think that man is not called to imitate his Maker in these ways? Finally, take the psalmist’s declaration that a day in the Lord’s courts “is better than a thousand elsewhere” (84:10). That doesn’t exactly sound like a drab and stifled existence.

So the nature of the Christian life itself is not the problem. The culprit is more likely that there is not nearly enough similarity between the biblical blueprint and the way we actually lead our lives. My fear is that all too often we present a tragic distortion, rather than a clear picture of the richly engaging life available to those who trust in and follow Christ. And that’s a possibility that should drive us to seek a more biblical understanding of who God calls us to be, as well as the grace to live out that calling faithfully.

Words Every Christian Should Know-General Revelation

The American Heritage Dictionary published 100 words that every High School student should know upon graduation. The idea behind the list is that vocabulary is an important aspect of engaging with the world we live in. A person who doesn't understand the words they come across in books or conversations is at a distinct disadvantage and is unable to fully participate in the exchange of ideas.

Much of the same could be said of the Christian who doesn't understand the words used in either the Bible or theological conversations. Their ignorance hinders them from grasping who God is and what he is doing in our lives and in the world we live in.

The point of these posts is to help us improve our Christian vocabulary--not so we can sound smarter and impress the people in our small group, but so we can better understand what God is teaching us in the Scriptures. With that in mind, today's word is General Revelation.

Theologians speak of God revealing himself in two ways: Special Revelation and General Revelation. Special Revelation refers to the words recorded in the Bible that are addressed to specific people. General Revelation refers to the truths about God that are known to all people. These are truths that a person can know apart from the Bible.

1. God reveals himself to all people through creation.

Romans 1:18-21 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Notice here that through creation God has made his eternal power and divine nature plain to all people. That's why they are without excuse when they sin against him.

2. God reveals himself to all people through his goodness.

Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."

Instead of taking the "acts of nature" for granted, we should see them as signs of God's goodness, love, and provision.

3. God reveals himself to all people through their own conscience.

Romans 2:14-15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

God has written his law on the hearts of all people so that their conscience bears witness to him and his law by accusing them when they violate its standards.

General Revelation teaches us that apart from the Bible every person can know the following about God:

1. He is the all-powerful creator.
2. He is good.
3. We stand guilty before him.

Ideas for Spending Time with God

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my goals this New Year is to enjoy God more by getting up early each morning, making my favorite coffee, and spending some uninterrupted (hopefully) time with Him. I find when I have time to pray, read His Word, and reflect on it and my life--even it’s only for 20 minutes--I have a different perspective on my day. At least for a while, anxiousness and selfishness melts away, temptations lose their allure, I find myself longing for heaven, I want to serve others willingly, etc. And, then I wonder, why don’t I do this more often? Why would I ever not spend this time with God?

It’s no wonder that we experience a changed heart, mind, and attitude when we meet with God. The author of Hebrews writes, “For 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.” The psalmist writes, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105), and it is “more precious than gold, 
than much pure gold” and “sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb” (Psalm 19:10.) Clearly, it’s worth spending time reading, contemplating, and applying God’s Word to my life.

Part of my dilemma at times, though, is that I can get paralyzed when trying to figure out what to do in my time with God. There are days when I just don’t know where to start. So, in an attempt to find some more tracks to run on, I asked around our staff team to see what different people are doing during their “quiet times.” Here are some of the ideas I got. Note: Please keep in mind that these are just ideas. Whatever you can do to spend time with God, even if it is only a few minutes a day at first, is great. I hope this will only be an encouragement and resource to you.

“I have recently been using the Valley of Vision book to help me pray. Specifically, the prayer, "Morning" is great to start the day off with.”
- Polly Drover, Student Ministries

“I spend my time with God reading Scripture, meditating on a verse or two, and praying. At the beginning of the year, I started a reading program that will take me through the entire Bible in one year. After I read, I spend time praying. Sometimes I pray through one of the passages that I just read. Often I use the prayers found in Valley of Vision. Either way, I pray for myself, my family, and the church.”
- Keith Simon, Pastor

“Currently, I’m reading Genesis. Also, I use Praying the Bible for your Children most mornings and read a chapter of What Jesus Demands of the World by John Piper every week or two. My main goal is to always be marrying the Word of God to my life. This is usually happening during my journaling time as I am pouring out an issue, circumstance, or sin/sins in my life to God. I write out prayers to God about what I want to see him do or I thank him for his promises. This helps give me perspective and affects the way I view and approach my life.”
- Kelley Wampler, Women’s Ministry

“I do different things from day to day. I'm currently reading in Isaiah.  I'll read about four chapters and then pray. At other times, I'll use the Handbook to Prayer by Kenneth Boa. Or I’ll pray through a few Psalms, pausing intermittently and using them to guide my prayers. Psalms 86, 84, 34, 25, and 103 are a few that I have turned to regularly.  But of course any psalm is great to read, meditate on, and pray through.”
- Nathan Tiemeyer, Pastor

“Just like everyone else my days are busy. Something that is frustrating to me is that by mid-afternoon, in the busyness of the day, I sometimes forget what I read during my QT and therefore don’t apply it to living my daily life. So when my QTs are going well, I try to work in reading a Psalm. I pick out a verse or phrase from that Psalm that is meaningful to me and just quickly repeat it to myself at different times during the day.”
- Jim Beaty, Operations Director

“ Keith suggested reading through the Bible in 2008...I’ve really enjoyed it, as I am reading one of the gospels, part of the NT, part of the OT, and a Psalm each day. This fits with my plan of prayer, read a section, pray again, read a section, pray, etc. It usually takes about 30 minutes and gives me the freedom to read more or less as I choose.”
- Rachel Johnson, Children’s Ministry

Let the psalmists' prayers be our prayer this week, as we seek to spend time with God: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18), and “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight” (Psalm 119:35.)

How Does Our Culture See the Christian Faith?

Denis Haack, who heads a culturally savvy ministry called Ransom Fellowship, often asks people some form of the following questions:

“If you converted to Christianity today, do you think your life would be larger, fuller, richer, more attractive and creative, more involved with the people, circumstances, art, and culture around you? Or do you think your life would be smaller, narrower, more withdrawn, judgmental and negative, less winsome and creative, less involved with the people, art, circumstances, and culture around you?”

The answers given to questions like these are important in that they reveal something of how our culture perceives the Christian faith. With that in mind, I’d like to ask you to be thinking about how people you know would respond to them. You might even post your thoughts in response.

I’ll be back soon to offer a few further comments on the subject.

Warnings

In a previous post I discussed Tom Brady's statement on 60 Minutes saying that he hadn't found deep, lasting satisfaction in three Super Bowl titles. As Shay said this morning in the message, "If Tom Brady can't find satisfaction in his career, his dating life, and his money, then why do you think that you will find it in the same kinds of things?" I doubt you'll do better than him in any of those areas.

When I read quotes from people who have attained great worldly success, they confirm to me that Jesus is the only one who can truly satisfy my soul. Here are a few more to chew on...

"The care of $200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it."

W. H. Vanderbilt, Railroad Magnate

"I am the most miserable man on earth."

J. J. Astor, America's first millionaire

"I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness."

John D. Rockefeller, Founder of Standard Oil and America's first billionaire

"Millionaires seldom smile."

Andrew Carnegie, Founder of Carnegie Steel that later became U. S. Steel

"I was happier when doing a mechanic's job."

Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

These quotes are good reminders that "stuff" doesn't satisfy. It's interesting that many people (maybe all of us) don't seem to learn that truth until they attain their dream. It's when they get what they've been striving for that they realize how empty it truly is.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Temptation

Several years from now, if you were to discover that you had wandered from Christ, what sin do you think will most likely have caused you to drift away spiritually? That's a question that I've been asking myself and others close to me lately after having recently re-read Matthew 4:1-11. In this passage we read about a famous encounter between Jesus and Satan in the desert. If you remember the story, you know that Satan appeared to Jesus after he had gone through 40 days of fasting. In this weak moment, Satan tempted Jesus to turn stone to bread, jump off the highest point of the temple, and bow down and worship him. Of course there are many lessons to be learned from this encounter, but what struck me this last time that I read it is that I doubt that I will ever be tempted in quite the same way Jesus was. In other words, I never struggle with the temptation to turn a pile of rocks into my dinner. My point is that all three of those temptations were specific to Jesus. The specific temptations that he faced are different than the ones that I face.

When Satan tempts us, he does it in a way that is specific to our weaknesses. What is a temptation for you may or may not be a temptation for your spouse, friend, or roommate. Satan aims at our soft spots. He targets areas in our life in which we are particularly susceptible.

So that's why I think that we should ask ourselves what areas of our life are most open to attack? What issues do we struggle with? What sin(s) do we find most enticing? Because we can be sure that Satan and his demonic forces know the answer to that question and are plotting against us.

Think about it like this. A great football coach knows not only his team's strengths but also its weaknesses. More than just knowing the team's weaknesses, the coach works relentlessly to make sure that those weaknesses aren't left exposed to the opponent. A coach wouldn't last long in any league if he wasn't aware of where his team was most susceptible to being defeated. Once you know the weaknesses then you can prepare the team in the best way possible. In a similar way, we must know our spiritual weaknesses-the areas of our life that we are most spiritually vulnerable. It's only then that we can be spiritually prepared.

And if we think a coach would be irresponsible for not knowing his team's weaknesses, how much more irresponsible would we be for not knowing our spiritual weaknesses. A verse that I'm finding helpful is...

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

You might consider joining me in using these verses as a way to ask God to show you where you are most vulnerable to spiritual attack. It's the first step to being spiritually prepared to face the schemes of your spiritual enemy.

Thoughts on No Country for Old Men

With the Golden Globes having been handed out recently and Oscar nominations announced this morning, we’re right in the midst of the Hollywood award season. And if you’re the kind of person who pays attention to these things, you might have heard a large amount of buzz surrounding No Country for Old Men, the latest film by the writer/director tandem of Ethan and Joel Cohen.

If you’ve already seen No Country, you’ll likely agree with me that it’s an extremely well crafted piece of filmmaking. On the other hand, you’d also probably acknowledge that it is not an easy film to watch. Movies that feature psychopathic hired killers rarely are (though Javier Bardem gives a superior performance as the chilling Anton Chigurh). In fact, immediately after viewing the film I wondered if the unsettling experience was worth it. Even now, if asked whether or not I enjoyed the movie, my reply would be something like, “No, not exactly.”

Upon reflection, however, I’ve come to appreciate the opportunity to see the film for at least three reasons (though I hope no one sees this as a blanket endorsement; each Christian should be aware of his or her personal sensibilities and weaknesses when engaging a particular film):

1. The aforementioned artistic excellence. Among the film’s many virtues in this regard: several noteworthy acting performances and an aesthetic feel that consistently matches the film’s overarching point of view.

2. It takes evil and its effects quite seriously. The film’s unsettling (and graphic) violence is wedded with moments of quiet terror to portray evil in a manner that does a large amount of justice to a biblical view of evil's reality and nature.

3. It provides one of the most honest and vivid portrayals of a worldview without God that I’ve seen in some time. I won’t get into specific plot points here, but the entire film appears to be crafted to express the idea that life is essentially random, cruel, and ultimately without hope. When the closing credits began to roll, I was genuinely surprised, if only for the fact that I hadn’t expected the film to end as it did, with nothing approaching a typical plot resolution and/or some sort of redemptive element.

Why is this last point a reason to appreciate the film? Francis Schaeffer often sought opportunities to show people the logical conclusions of their worldviews in order to judge their consistency with reality. To that end, No Country for Old Men is an excellent dramatic illustration of what one must be prepared to accept if God does not exist.

To comment only briefly concerning such an exercise: it’s one thing to propose that life consists of little more than a random series of events punctuated by cruelty and death, but quite another to live consistently as if that belief where actually true. My guess is that the filmmakers do not wake up and consider their day's activities as if none of them really matter. Nor would I bet that, if faced with a violent crime against a family member, they would be content with someone offering, “There is no hope or remedy in the face of life’s random cruelty.”

No, something within us cries out that such perspectives somehow don’t quite “fit” with who we are as human beings and the world in which we live. And that is the first step toward embracing a worldview that can account for those realities.

MLK Jr.

Today is a nationally recognized holiday celebrating the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps Dr. King's most moving words are found in Letter From a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963). The letter was written as a response to eight white pastors who suggested that patience was needed more than protest. They thought that the problem of racial segregation and inequality should be handled exclusively in the courts and not in the streets. Here is an excerpt.

"Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience."

Over on the Desiring God Blog, John Piper encourages Christians to not waste the MLK Jr. Holiday. He writes: "You need not have all the answers. You need not be democrat or republican. You need not think things are as bad as they were or as good as they could be. What you need to do is press the issue of ethnic ill-will on the consciences of your people in the name of Jesus, who came to us when we were more alien to him than anyone has ever been to us."

Review: The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

When I first heard of A. J. Jacobs yearlong quest to live the Bible as literally as possible, I admit to being a bit suspicious. A Jewish agnostic (his self description: I’m “Jewish in the way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant”), who makes his living writing for Esquire, didn’t sound to me like a reliable guide to the Bible. But having received it as a Christmas gift, I thought that I’d give it a try.

The book is a day by day account of how Jacobs attempt to obey every command found in the Bible. Overall I found it to be well written, often funny, and when it dealt with the lives of orthodox Jews living in New York, even enlightening. Here are some of the highlights of his journey:

Jacobs enlists the service of a shatnez tester, Mr. Berkowitz, to ensure that his clothing doesn’t have any mixed fibers and therefore violate Leviticus 19:19.

He refuses to utter the words “Wednesday” or “Thursday” out of respect to Exodus 23:13 and its command to not speak the names of false gods. (In case you didn’t know their etymology links them to the gods Woden and Thor.)

In one of the funnier sections, Jacobs shares how obeying Leviticus 15:19 prevented him from touching his wife Julie (or anything she had touched) while she was on her period. Understandably, she found being labeled “unclean” less than amusing. One evening Julie extracts revenge by sitting on every chair in their New York apartment so that her husband will be consigned to the floor. All of this leads Jacobs to purchase a portable “Handy Seat” to use both inside and outside his home.

Over the course of the year Jacobs is confronted with how frequently he tells what he deems to be harmless “white lies.” His determination to tell the truth regardless of the cost puts him in some awkward situations. One such occasion occurred when he and his wife bumped into one of her old college friends. When the friend suggests that the two couples get their kids together for a play date some time in the future, Jacobs feels obligated to tell her that he’ll “take a pass” because he doesn’t “really want new friends right now.” Again, his wife wasn’t amused.

A Few Personal Observations…

1. Jacobs says that one of the reasons he wrote the book was “to take legalism to its logical extreme and show that it leads to righteous idiocy. What better way to demonstrate the absurdity of Jewish and Christian fundamentalism? If you actually follow all the rules, you’ll spend your days acting like a crazy person.”

But what he exposes in this comment and other places throughout the book is that he often misses the point of the Bible. The central theme of the Scriptures is to know God not to follow a list of commands. Of course the two are related because it is through the commands of God that we gain a clearer view of who God is. But to separate the commands from their purpose is to render them useless and a bit silly.

2. It’s also clear that Jacobs focuses on following the commands of the Old Testament more than the New. Perhaps that’s due to his Jewish background or because going a year without a haircut and a shave makes for a more entertaining book. Whatever the motivation, he never wrestles with commands such as:

Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

John 6:29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

3. Near the end of the book Jacobs speaks of “Cafeteria Christianity” as an accusation that “fundamentalist Christians” level against “moderate Christians.” The criticism insinuated in the label is that people inappropriately pick and choose which commands they will follow and which ones they will ignore. Jacobs thinks that his experience has shown that since no one follows all the Bible’s laws, everyone is a “Cafeteria Christian” and that there is nothing wrong with that. But I think that all he’s done is proven that he has no idea how to read the Bible. He seems to be completely unaware of how genre or the coming of the Messiah affects the interpretation and the purpose of the law. A more educated reading of the Scriptures won’t lead anyone to believe that every law in the Bible has the same weight nor that they are all in the same way binding on all people for all time.

A person at The Crossing who had just finished reading this book recently emailed and asked me if I thought that Christians are supposed to obey the entire Old Testament law. That’s a difficult question to answer briefly, but here is a simple overview.

1. The ceremonial laws found in the Old Testament (think dietary laws or laws concerning ritual purification) were abolished with the coming of Christ (see Mark 7:14-23). Their role was to teach Israel (and us) their need for a Savior.

2. The Old Testament civil laws were designed to govern the nation of Israel. But since God no longer identifies himself exclusively with an earthly country and since we don’t live in a theocracy, the civil laws are no longer binding on Christians.

3. The moral law (think Ten Commandments) expresses the heart and will of God and because of that it is binding on all people.

By the end of the book Jacobs acknowledges that he’s been changed in some way. He’s still an agnostic but more of a “reverent agnostic.” In addition, he’s pretty sure that he’s more tolerant, sensitive and thankful. I doubt this book will change you but I do think that you will find it an enjoyable read.

A Rare Introspective Moment about Enjoying God

Those who know me know that I’m not the most introspective person around. Writing for this blog has actually been good for me in this regard. Unlike my husband, I don’t naturally take time to think hard about and reflect on my life or other subjects. I like to move, get stuff done, be busy, and check off items on my to-do list each day. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to think and reflect.

Recently, I read Keith’s post with a link to some New Year’s reflection questions, though. The first one on the list was, “What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?”

Ever since I read that question about a week ago, I’ve been rolling it around in my head. Here was my thought process when I initially read it. Do I love God? Yes. Do I like serving God? Yes. Do I spend intentional time with him daily? I try (sometimes unsuccessfully.) Do I enjoy Him? Hmmm. I just don’t think about my relationship with God in that way very often.

John Piper--putting a little twist on the Westminster Catechism’s answer to the first question, “what’s the chief end of man?”--says that, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” Well, if that is the case…if my purpose in life is to glorify God by enjoying Him…then, I better start thinking about God in this way more often.

With all of this in mind, I did a little investigation into the biblical idea of enjoying God. There are several places throughout the Bible where we see an overt invitation to enjoy Him. I've just scraped the surface, but here are a few (emphases are my own):

Psalm 34:8,
”Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

John 15:9-11, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

So, I asked myself, “when do I enjoy God the most and how can I do that more?” Here are a few rare introspective thoughts I’ve had about this topic:

- I enjoy God most when I truly see my need for God--when I’m honest about who I am and when I take the time to reflect on my sin. This may seem counterintuitive at first, but it’s not. How can I enjoy God unless I recognize my dependence on him and His grace? The Valley of Vision prayers have been helpful to me recently in this regard.

- I enjoy God most when I have uninterrupted time with Him. For me, that’s in the early morning with a great cup of coffee and my Bible. I love the stillness of morning. My mind is sharper, my body is rested, and my soul feels ready to soak up God’s truth. For that to happen, I’m working on going to bed earlier at night.

- I enjoy God most when I hear and see what God is doing in other people’s lives. It’s a reminder to me that He is at work in this broken world and in our broken lives. Dan Hanneken, a member of our church, shared his life story in church on Sunday, Dec. 30th. It was incredibly encouraging to hear about the redeeming work of Christ in his life. You can listen to it here.

- I enjoy God most when my life isn’t frantic—when I have time on most days to spend time with Him, relax at least for a little bit, spend time with my family, and exercise (i.e. take care of my body.) It’s hard to enjoy God when I feel like I’m hurrying around from one thing to the next. So, I'm trying to balance my life in such a way in which I'm not overly busy each day. (Note: This isn't easy, but it's something I know I've got to make a priority for the sake of my relationship with God and my family.)

So, how will you seek to enjoy God more this year? I’d be interested to know any of your thoughts. Please feel free to comment.

Broadening the Horizon of Our Prayers

In my last post, I mentioned Paul's account of his prayer for the Colossian believers, an account found in chapter one of the letter that bears their name. I'd like to look at that passage once more, but for a somewhat different purpose. Here it is again in full:

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

When studying this passage a couple of years ago, I was struck by the content of Paul's petition. What I mean is that it's significantly different from the commonly heard prayer for help in dealing with a sickness, a problem at work, or an upcoming test--all prayers that I've heard often enough, including from my own lips. Please understand me, it's not that I think we shouldn't offer those kinds of prayers to God. That Jesus expressly included "give us our daily bread" in his own tutorial on prayer should disabuse us of the notion that prayers for common, everyday needs and struggles are somehow inappropriate.

But what I am saying is that Paul's words should help to broaden our prayer horizon, so to speak. Here the apostle demonstrates a regular practice ("we have not stopped praying...and asking God") of praying for genuine spiritual growth, growth that that includes the fruit of good works, increasing in the knowledge of God, empowerment for endurance and patience, and the joyful expression of thanks.

How often do you and I pray for those things?

The passage is all the more challenging when we realize that Paul isn't referring to prayers that he's offered for this growth to occur in his own life (though presumably he often did). Rather, he's praying such prayers for people he's never even met personally (see 2:1)!

This leads me to a few questions. If Paul saw fit to pray regularly for the Colossians, how much more should we pray for those people we worship with every week? What kind of powerful, gracious change do you think we'd see at The Crossing if those of us involved in this community were to pray regularly for the spiritual growth of one another? Who can you personally pray for in the church along these lines (people in your small group, men's or women's group, your family, church staff, friends, etc.)? And finally, following Paul, who can you pray for in the larger body of Christ, asking that they would grow in a life worthy of and pleasing to the Lord?

Good Doctrine or a Good Life?

Not that I’ve done any hard and fast research on this, but at least anecdotally it seems to me that one particular approach to the Christian faith has become more common recently. It’s a perspective that can roughly be summed up by the following statements: “My goal is not to be an expert in the Bible. And I don’t want to get caught up in a bunch of complicated theology that doesn’t have much practical use. What I really care about is following Jesus. I just want to love God and love my neighbor.”

To put it another way, those expressing such thoughts would seemingly be happy to choose orthopraxy (i.e., right living/practice) over orthodoxy (right belief/doctrine).

Now let me say at the outset that I have no doubt that many people with this viewpoint have a very real desire to do exactly what they’re saying: faithfully follow Christ. My problem, however, is that the issue is often framed as some kind of either/or proposition, i.e., your priority is either theology—a concern often characterized as tedious head knowledge devoid of everyday significance—or it’s actually following Christ and being of some benefit to those around you.

But this is very plainly a false dichotomy, one that the Bible itself refuses to acknowledge. While there are many passages that could illustrate the point, I’ll point out just one, a portion of Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Note that Paul is praying for the Colossians to be filled with knowledge of God’s will in order that they may live a life worthy of the Lord. In other words, a right understanding/belief, according to the apostle, is instrumental for living in a manner that pleases God. And where do we find true, reliable knowledge of God’s will? According to God himself, we find it in his word (see, for example, 1 Peter 1:20-21).

To put it another way: I couldn’t agree more that Christians are called to love their neighbors. But when we actually have to go and do it, what pattern are we to follow? Do we form our own ideas (translation: allow various cultural influences that we find compelling in some way to shape our viewpoint and our actions)? Or are we to take our cue from thoughtfully considering the scriptural accounts of Christ’s own concrete expressions of love, or plumbing the depths of Paul’s vibrant commentary in 1 Corinthians 13, or wrestling to understand John’s simply profound “God is love” in a way that does justice to the entirety of what the Bible reveals regarding God’s character, actions, and purposes?

My hunch is that if we were to spend a bit of time in these pursuits, our picture of what it means to love someone actively, tangibly, and faithfully might be radically altered from what it otherwise might have been. And that, in turn, might drive us to our knees to ask God for the grace to live out that truth in increasing measure.

It’s only incomplete or fundamentally faulty theology that has little or no positive impact on how one lives his or her life. Show me a Christian whose life is predominantly characterized by God pleasing action and I’ll show you someone who—whether that person realizes it or not—has a good grasp of some significant biblical truth.

But that must be the theologian in me talking…

Even Tom Brady Isn't Satisfied

Tom Brady has everything going for him. He's living the life that most guys dream of. For starters he's the quarterback of the New England Patriots and this year led them to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the AFC Championship Game. But he's not knew to success having won three Super Bowls, twice being named the Super Bowl MVP, and having been selected to the Pro Bowl 4 times. He is currently in a contract that pays him $60 million over 10 years. Not only that but he dates actresses and super models with the latest being the Brazilian Gisele Bundchen.

So I guess that's what makes this quote from Brady's interview on 60 Minutes last December all the more surprising:

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”

What's the answer?

“I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady.

Blaise Pascal said that every human being was created with a God-shaped vacuum in their heart that can only be filled by the Creator made known through Jesus Christ. You can fill your heart with fame and wealth and good looks and success galore, but it won't satisfy you. Only Jesus can do that.

John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

Weekend Reading

Here are a few articles that I enjoyed reading this week...

1. Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales, shares some lessons he learned through the hard process of watching his dream die.

2. Over at Parchment and Pen, Michael Patton answers the question, "Are all sins really equal in God's sight?"

3. On the CT site, a Narnia expert offers some excellent suggestions for the director of Prince Caspian.

4. I've read many reviews about “The Bible Experience”: Zondervan’s TNIV Audio Bible. All of them give the product very high marks. Here's one review that you might find helpful. Note: The OT and NT can be purchased separately. I might have to buy it for myself.

A Word About Eyes Wide Open

Just a comment on Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture, the book we've promoted in the worship service recently and the topic of The Crossing Book Discussion on January 28:

I originally chose this book because I had read and appreciated the first edition a couple of years ago. My thinking was that the revised and expanded edition (the one we've offered in The Crossing’s Bookstore) simply included updated examples and further developed the previous work in a few helpful ways.

However, now that I’ve read a large portion of the new edition, my impression is that the author has made some really substantial changes/additions to the book, making the finished product a good deal more academic and, as a result, less readable on the whole.

So I wouldn’t blame you if you bought the book and found it more work to read than you might have liked. If you do find yourself getting bogged down (i.e., "I'm going to stop reading this book") I'd encourage you to feel the freedom not to fully digest everything you read and to keep plugging away.

Having said that, there certainly is value in stretching yourself on occasion, and I think the book is still well worth reading. So I hope you’ll forge ahead as much as you can. If you haven't already, you might even sign up to participate in the discussion on the 28th (which you can do at the Bookstore on Sunday mornings). That should be a good opportunity to get a better handle on some of the book's material.

"The Lord Gives, The Lord Takes Away. Blessed Be the Name of the Lord."

Recently I’ve been both greatly challenged and profoundly encouraged by the story of Jesse and Shanee, friends of a friend who serve as missionaries in Nepal. Through a forwarded email, I learned of their serious need for prayer regarding their then-unborn daughter, Priya. In for a checkup, Jesse and Shanee learned that Priya suffered from a rare condition called fetal hydrops. Told that their daughter had a 20-30% chance to survive, they prepared to fly to Bangkok for further medical care. As they did so, however, they passed on the following thoughts:

At this point, we know that it’s in God’s hands and whatever good comes will be from His direct involvement. He is good, and his will is sufficient for us. Whether things are good or bad, we want to proclaim that his grace is sufficient and that He is worthy of our praise.

Unable to make it to Bangkok, they flew to New Dehli, the next best medical option. While receiving some encouraging news, Priya’s situation remained serious. At that time, Jesse and Shanee offered this:

We know our daughter is in the Lord's hands. We trust Him. He is and has been so gracious to us. Priya has been an undeserved gift to us from the very beginning. It is in His hands whether she leaves us or not. Either way we will praise Him, because He is worthy of it. His steadfast love is good and never-ending.

While Priya’s condition certainly remained precarious up to that point, I was still jolted by the news contained in the next forwarded email I received:

Priya Jean Snodgrass was born by C-section at about 4:30 on the evening of Dec. 31st. After struggling through the night she went to be with the Lord around 6 am on New Year’s morning. She weighed about 5.5 pounds (1 pound of which was fluid), and she was unable to overcome the fluid that had built up in her chest and abdomen. She struggled throughout the night as her blood pressure kept dropping and the doctors tried everything to overcome it. Shanee and I were able to hold her and say goodbye to her with our mothers there by our side.

Though I don’t know Jesse and Shanee personally, the news hit me in a particularly strong way—probably because I’m a new parent myself, and I reflexively thought of what it would be like if Rachel and I were to lose our own son. Though I’m sure I can’t even begin to imagine the numbing pain and grief one must feel in losing a child, the bare possibility was enough to engender within me a palpable ache.

I was therefore more than a bit surprised to find the following paragraph as I read further into Jesse’s email:

This has been, without a doubt, the most difficult thing we’ve ever been though. We are pleased that our daughter is through with the troubles of this world and in the arms of her Lord. And we praise Him. We praise Him. Job said it best in the wake of losing all he valued on earth: “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” That conveys our feelings better than anything we could say. The Lord gave us Priya, and He has chosen by His gracious will to take her away. Blessed be his Name. Her life was an undeserved gift to us. We wouldn’t trade one moment of the seven months we had with her. And we praise God for it from beginning to end. We don’t know the reason why she was taken, but we know the God who made the decision. And he is enough for us. He is our glory and strength. We want to praise Him right now as the God of all grace and comfort. He has been our truest and most constant companion in the midst of all this.

Perhaps the better part of wisdom would be to let those words speak for themselves, but I’ll hazard two brief thoughts. First, I’m grateful for such a powerful example of someone living out a biblically tempered faith in the midst of such crushing sorrow. It is another, particularly vivid instance of God preserving his people with his comforting and satisfying grace. Secondly, I’m driven to pray that God would work in all us such persevering faith in his character and promises.

If you would, please pray for Jesse and Shanee as they deal with the difficult days ahead. And pray that the Lord would hasten the day when “the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’” (1 Cor. 15:54).

What I learned at the Cotton Bowl

Christine and I went to Dallas to see the Tigers play in the Cotton Bowl against Arkansas, and in the process I learned something very important but unexpected. It didn’t have anything to do with football. When I left Columbia, I knew that the Tigers were a better team than the Razorbacks and the game just confirmed that. I went all the way to Dallas to learn something about church. Let me set it up for you. Whenever we go out of town as a family (which is about 3 or 4 Sundays a year), we NEVER go to church. That’s usually because we are in the car driving, or just to be frank, taking the opportunity to sleep in. There’s just something about going to a church that you know that you will never return to, that doesn’t interest me.

Well somehow this trip turned out differently. Christine had heard of a church in Dallas called Watermark that she wanted to attend. I was ready to resist but she never let me get that far. So in a miracle right up there with the parting of the Red Sea and the tumbling of the walls of Jericho, I went to church in Dallas, Texas. I almost called back to Dave who was here at The Crossing and told him to set out extra seats. If I was at church while on vacation, revival must be breaking out everywhere.

I sure am glad that I listened to my wife and visited Watermark. Here’s why: this was the first time that I had been a visitor at a church since The Crossing started 7 years ago. Every week at The Crossing, I try to “see” things from the perspective of a new person but it isn’t the same thing as actually living it.

So I went all the way to Dallas and went to church in order to find out that it is hard to go to a new church. First, you aren’t sure where it is or exactly how to get there. Imagine new people seeing our building but not seeing an entrance off of Grindstone leaving them unsure of where to go. Plus since we don’t have a sign that identifies the building as The Crossing, many new people are probably wondering if that building really is a church at all. Then when you finally fight through the traffic, find a parking spot, and enter the building, you aren’t sure where to go. Where do you take the kids? Are the doughnuts sitting on the table available to everyone? Do you have to pay for coffee? Can you go into the auditorium early?

If you are a guy, you have to navigate this new terrain without asking questions. Men don’t like to ask questions because they don’t want to admit that they don’t know things.

Somehow you make it into a seat and the service starts. Chances are a new person doesn’t know the words to any of the songs. At Watermark in Dallas, I had only heard of one of the songs that were sung that morning. And I’m a pastor!

Then someone stands up to give a message and you aren’t sure who it is. Is that the pastor or is the pastor coming up later? A person could come to The Crossing for three consecutive Sundays and hear a different pastor speak at each one. They must wonder who is in charge.

My trip to Dallas taught me that as a church we need to be very aware of the obstacles that get in the way of new people attending and then try to help them overcome those obstacles. There are several things that we as pastors and staff are doing to aid in the process (like continually changing the service times…just kidding), but no matter how much we do, it won’t be enough. The church is just too big. If The Crossing is going to continue to grow and be welcoming to new people, then you will have to pitch in and help. Maybe for you helping means serving as a Greeter or on the Parking Team or in Crossing Kids. It might mean taking the initiative to introduce yourself to people that you don’t know, or sitting in the middle sections so that the seats on the aisle are available to new people who might be arriving late. Perhaps you could help out by parking on the outer edges of the parking lot and leaving the closer spots for the new person.

Maybe the best advice is just to remember what it was like when you were new and help another person get over that uncomfortable feeling.

Joel Osteen

Slate's take on America's most well-known pastor.

How Will 2008 Be Different For You?

Here are some great, thought provoking questions from Donald Whitney to help you think through the upcoming year.

Postmodernism and Christianity (Part 11)

For those who've kept up this far and want to hear a little bit more about postmodern Christianity and one of its present day incarnations, the Emergent Church, I recommend lectures from two people.

1. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill in Seattle, gave a talk about the Emergent church at the convergent conference. In the Q&A he said that he had been planning on giving an entirely different talk coming into the conference, but after a talk with some of the people in the seminary he switched to this one. He also said that this was a talk he had been waiting several years to give because he felt he could not give it with the proper tone (without getting angry and saying things that he'll regret) until now. Whatever your stance on the Emergent church Driscoll's words have to be heard. He is an insider in both the worlds of Evangelical Christianity and the Emergent church, and he has a very interesting story, which he relates in this talk. Listen.

2. Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, gave a series of lectures on the Emergent church at Covenant Seminary this fall which act as a companion to the Driscoll talk. Patrick gives a comprehensive analysis of the history of the Emergent church as well as his thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses. To listen to the lectures click here then search for "Emergent" under the topic category.

Prayer for Kenya, Crossing Partnerships

Thought I'd pass on this important information about the current upheaval in Kenya and it's relevance for The Crossing's ministry partnerships there. I'm reminded that the body of Christ is truly a global reality, one that we're called to actively participate in and support. I'd encourage everyone to engage the situation through prayer.

My thanks to Cami Wheeler, who wrote what follows:

Kenya urgently needs restoration of peace and order as tribal violence sweeps the nation in the wake of last week’s highly contested presidential election. Food and water are scarce in areas blocked off by the violence.

This crisis is of particular concern for The Crossing. For over three years, we have been building ministry partnerships in Kenya , including New City Fellowship-Nairobi, where we provide direct support to Erick and his four orphaned siblings; Pistis School in Nairobi, which is full of kids from all over Africa and beyond; and Pamoja Orphanage in Meru and Racefield School in Mwingi, both of which feed, educate and care for destitute children. So far, we have had no direct contact with these partners. But we have heard through mission friends that the members of New City Fellowship and the children at Pistis School are safe, though quite fearful. Pamoja Orphanage and Racefield School are in rural areas that for now are mostly stable. However, Erick and his siblings are stranded in Western Kenya, one of the worst areas of inter-tribal violence. Erick, a Luo, has repeatedly risked himself to feed and care for his Kikuyu neighbors who are the targets of ethnic hatred. He is doing all he can to live out the love of Christ by helping his neighbors survive.

Our friends in Kenya ask that we plead for God to humble the hearts of their political leaders, as well as for an end to the violence and threat of civil war. Pray also for protection of the innocent, perseverance of the faithful, and that God’s mercy and grace would be poured out, making his glory known. Pray especially for those who are suffering greatly, including those who are elderly, displaced, physically unwell, or have lost a family member. Finally, pray for God to open our eyes and tenderize our hearts, allowing us to respond with humility, compassion, and generosity.

The following summary provides more background information and the links below are included for you to access further news:

Leaders in Africa and The West urge peace, a return to order, and diplomatic solutions while each side accuses the other of promoting violence and tribal hatred. Charges of election fraud and inciting genocide are being hurled between the incumbent President, Mwai Kibaki, and the opposition presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, following the Kenyan presidential election held Dec. 27, 2007. Rioting has raged across the nation, particularly in Nairobi’s impoverished slums, the Coast, and Western Kenya, all strongholds of Odinga support. While the world looks on, police in riot gear turn back angry mobs with water cannons and teargas, men cut each other down with machetes, and hooligans loot and burn slums, shops and churches. The official death toll, now over 300, is said to fall far short of the actual numbers. Many fear escalation to the sort of genocide and civil war seen in Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Congo, and other African states in recent decades. Those who can are leaving, those who can’t cower in their homes or are crowding into churches and other places of refuge hoping for protection and peace.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/16ED2681-04F1-4E20-987D-441249318394.htm

Heart-Melting Prayers for the New Year

Do you ever feel like your prayers are lifeless and redundant? Do you find yourself praying for the same things each New Year—and then somehow forgetting them after a few days or weeks? (I ask that because I certainly do!) What if this year, instead of praying to lose weight or make more money or to be “blessed more” (not that those things are always wrong or bad), we asked God for something even more satisfying and lasting?

Join with me this New Year in praying some of the most theologically rich and moving prayers I’ve ever encountered. You can find them in the Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions or online here. Every time I read one of these hundreds of years old Puritan prayers my heart just melts. I hope they do the same for you. Here is a sample of two that I’m asking God to do in my life this year:

"Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and suffering."

“Strengthen me to give Thee no rest until Christ shall reign supreme within me in every thought, word, and deed, in a faith that purifies the heart, overcomes the world, works by love, fastens me to Thee, and ever clings to the cross.”

Postmodernism and Christianity (Part 10)

In the last post we looked at the Bible’s challenge to those who would hold both timeless truth and ministry methods in closed hands, allowing neither to change in the name of relevancy. This post is about the Bible’s challenge to the approach which opens both hands and allows both the way the message is communicated AND the content of the Christian message to change. It is done in the name of relevancy – running from the error of the two closed hands, isolation of the church, but it doing so it commits the opposite error.
The first question to ask when both hands are opened is: who gets to determine what truths stay and what truths go? The answer is the culture. When both hands are opened relevancy is raised to the highest priority and the gospel is effectively anchored to the culture. If this happens, then the culture calls the tune of the gospel a wolf has entered wearing sheep’s clothing.
The danger is this: the gospel is now a thing that must be adapted to fit the hearers, and the ever-shifting culture sits over the Bible as judge and becomes the final authority in determining what truths remain and which must be discarded. Is there something in the Bible that the culture doesn’t understand, approve of, find helpful or progressive? It can go. Does the idea of a just and holy God who has wrath toward sin offend the culture’s sensibilities? Then portray a Jesus who is nothing but love and who shares the culture’s understanding of tolerance and acceptance and moral relativity. Does what the Bible has to say about controversial issues such as gender, sexuality, and marriage seem archaic and backward? Then preach about other things and omit the God’s words on that part of the human condition. Has the culture learned a distrust of absolute truth and authority? Then reduce the Bible to “a member of the congregation” whose voice must be heard just the same as any other voice in the congregation.
It’s not hard to spot the things that would be the first to go. Postmodernism is not unique in this, every culture humans have ever created has no shortage of areas where the Bible’s truths will rub against the grain of its preferences. But why should those preferences be given the power to determine what things the Bible teaches are retained? We can look at other cultures across the history of the world and do not find it difficult to spot things we judge to be blind spots or backward thinking. We modern people look down on the gladiatorial contests of the Romans or the propriety of Elizabethan England, and feel that we have advanced beyond such things. There are as many examples of this as there are cultures in the history of the world. If we would deny any culture in history has ever had a perfect understanding of truth, why give our own that credit? Why entrust the gospel to our postmodern sensibilities? Human culture is fickle and fallen and will fail if given such a precious task as the final stewardship of the gospel. Because of this if the hand which should grip the timeless truths of the gospel is opened and the culture is given the authority over it then the seeds of error have been sown into the church.
This truth is that we become more like what we orbit around. Opening both hands sets Christianity on a course to be conformed to the culture. In that case it will cease to be Christianity at all, but will just become “paganism in Christian language.” Yes, Christianity is, in a sense, changeable, but it is also possible to change the gospel until the gospel is lost. The approach of closing both hands errs in that it produces a church that isolates itself from the world so the world doesn’t get to see the gospel. Opening both hands ends in the exact same destination; it only takes a different path to get there. This sets Christianity on a course of assimilation. The values of the culture so influence and infiltrate the church that Christianity begins to preach only those things the culture already approves. Either way the world still doesn’t get to see the gospel
The ironic thing is that it is the very impulse of compassion, to give the world a message it can understand, which tempts the church to open the second hand. But the charge before the church is not only to be understandable. The second half must not be lost: to preach the gospel. It is not compassion which enters the hurt, broken places of this world, but fails to call them to the only place there is healing. It is not love that gives the world a message it understands, but that message does not help it to understand what God has done for it in Christ. Nor is it faithfulness to be unclear where the Bible is clear, and to seek not to wound where the gospel calls us to make wounds in love. In failing to do so the church might not anger men, but it will betray God.

Postmodernism and Christianity (Part 9)

In the last post I talked about the central question in talking about postmodern Christianity is how to discern the line between what is changeable and unchangeable in Christianity.
To borrow an analogy from Mark Driscoll, a model that might help guide us in discerning that line is to think about it in terms of what parts of Christianity do you hold in an open hand and what parts do you hold in a closed fist. In one hand you have timeless truths of Christianity (Who created man, what is the fall, who is Jesus, what happened on the cross, to name a few examples) and in the other hand you have the way that you communicate those truths.

There are three options:
1. Two closed fists. Neither the timeless truths nor the methods of communication change.
2. Two open hands. Both sides are flexible. Both the truths themselves and the ministry of them are things subject to change with the changing winds of culture, time, geography, demography, etc.
3. One open hand, one closed fist. Here the timeless truths go in the closed fist and the timely ministry methods go in the open hand.

I am convinced that the third option is the calling of the Bible. It is also the most difficult, as John Stott said, “…it is comparatively easy to be faithful if we do not care about being contemporary, and it is easy to be contemporary if we do not bother to be faithful. It is the search for a combination of truth and relevance that is exacting.” This is our challenge: to faithfully preach an unchanging gospel to a changing culture. The first two options only lead to different errors, and the Bible has sharp critiques for both of them. I want to address the Biblical challenge to the first and second option, beginning with number one.

To those who live with two closed hands the challenge of the Bible is to open the hand of timely methods and truly endeavor to speak the gospel to our generation in forms it will understand. Jesus did not live with two closed hands. He held onto the timeless truths more truly than anyone ever has, but he lived with the other hand open. The most obvious evidence of this is the incarnation. As Jerram Barrs said in his class Apologetics and Outreach, “Jesus did not shout from heaven.” Christ became a man and entered into our fallen, broken world. He entered into a culture and spoke its language, learned its values and customs. He came and dwelt among the people he was sent to. He knew the hearts of his hearers and spoke to the unique stories of every individual he came in contact with. We see the same philosophy of incarnation in the ministry of Paul, who wrote “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22) Paul was an educated Jew and when he was among educated Jews his deep knowledge of their culture was apparent. His sermons are filled with quotations of the scriptures they had spent hours memorizing and praying over. His appeal to Christ was founded in the prophecies and promises they knew and he showed how the hope for a Messiah which their culture was built around was fulfilled in Jesus. In different audiences his messages change. The gospel he preaches does not change, but the way he preaches does. In Acts 17 we see him in Athens speaking to educated Pagans after a long day of walking in the marketplace in Athens and looking at their objects of worship. You can’t find a quotation of scripture in the sermon he gives to them. But he does quote the poets they loved. He references their local folklore. He shows his familiarity with their philosophical debates. He builds a bridge to Christ from the things that they hold dear. Paul was not selling out by preaching in this way; he was being a good missionary.
Why is it that if we send a missionary overseas and he or she adopts the culture of the mission field in order to communicate, we applaud, but we are not willing to do so at home? What is the difference between missionaries overseas and those at home? There is no difference. We must send missionaries into postmodern culture and teach them to be good missionaries in the same way that Jesus and Paul were. The alternative is irrelevancy. The world will not stop changing, and because of that it is silliness to expect to continue to be able to communicate if we live with two closed hands. It is not enough to be “not of” the world, for Christ also called the Church to be "in" the world. Christ has not left us freedom to close ranks and close the second hand and withdraw from the world. We are to be salt and light. The Church must send missionaries into our postmodern culture. Wherever those missionaries go they must learn the unique landscape of the culture they are in, learn its sins and what parts of the truth it retains, and preach the gospel in the areas where it is under attack. They must, as Christ and Paul did, seek to remove every unnecessary barrier to the gospel. There are enough barriers to the gospel when preaching in a fallen world already without us adding our own.
It is a matter of compassion. There are real people out there in that changing world who are carried along in the current of the culture like sheep without a shepherd. These are people God made and loves and cares for. They desperately need the gospel and the Church must find them and enter their world. The Church must know them and tell them the truth in a language they understand.
Adoniram Judson was a missionary in Burma and faithfully worked for long, hard years to translate the Bible into Burmese. He experienced a higher cost for that faithfulness than most of us will ever be asked to pay. When the work was done people began to come to him from all over Burma and the neighboring countries because they had heard that there was a man who “had the words of God.” If we want our culture to come to the Church seeking the words of God then we also must be translators.
The Church must become a people with one hand firmly grasping the timeless truths of the gospel and the other hand reaching out to take hold of a culture which so desperately needs those truths.