Engaging Scripture

Are you a Christian Atheist?

I need to make a confession: I have been weak in prayer lately. Does that make me a Christian atheist? What I mean is that for the past number of years, five or so, I haven’t prayed much. I lead Faith Church’s weekly prayer meeting, we pray before Serve Team and Leadership Team meetings, and I go to my local ministerium’s monthly prayer meeting. My family prays before meals and bedtimes, but personally, privately, I don’t pray much. Some people would say Christians who don’t pray much are Christian atheists.

It wasn’t always that way for me.

I really had my eyes opened to the importance of prayer in college. I took a course on prayer, taught by my wife’s father, though he wasn’t my father-in-law at the time. We not only read great books about prayer and studied what the Bible says about prayer, including the great prayers in the Bible, but we were also required to pray. It was right there in the syllabus. This course that I was paying a lot of money for was requiring me to pray. And if I didn’t pray, I would get a bad grade. When have you ever taken a course like that? What’s more, in class we often spent time in prayer. And my eventual father-in-law held prayer retreats that students could volunteer to attend. They were not part of the class requirements, but we were encouraged to go. Over those weekends, we would spend long sessions in intercessory prayer.

For the class, our daily prayer requirement was 30 minutes. We would then have to record our time and turn in our records for a grade. This was based on the honor system, of course, but can you imagine lying about how much you prayed? That was an irony I didn’t want to touch. So with money and a grade on the line, I endeavored to pray. I will never forget that first day attempting to hit the 30 minute mark in prayer.

I was taking the course during the fall semester, so after soccer practice, I ate dinner, got a shower, and collected my gear. I brought my Bible, a notebook, pen…and my watch. It was a gorgeous late summer evening, so I wandered outside my dorm to find a secluded spot on campus behind the library. I decided that I would try to employ some prayer methods that I had learned, such as ACTS, which is an acronym for Adoration – Confession – Thanksgiving – Supplication (a fancy word for prayer requests). I began praying, “Dear Lord, you are an awesome God…” and off I went, praying through each section of ACTS. I confessed my sins, I thought of ways to be grateful to God, and I prayed for everyone and everything I knew. I was doing it. I was praying more than I had ever prayed in my life. And it was great. I have to admit that I was really intimidated by this assignment. Thirty minutes seemed like an eternity to pray, and to think that I had to pray that long every day for an entire semester was daunting. But after this first day, maybe I was wrong. This might not be so bad. That is until I looked at my watch.

Five measly minutes had gone by.

I was in shock. I thought I had been talking with God for at least 15 or 20 minutes. But only five? That was a dose of reality. I was totally prayed out. What more could I possibly pray for? In class we were studying people that prayed for 3 hours nonstop every day. And there I was emptied of prayer in five minutes. I had a moment of frustration.

But then some people came to mind. I had forgotten to pray for some friends from high school. So I prayed for them. One thought sparked another, and more people to pray for entered my mind. I then got out my Bible and started praying about Scripture that I read.

I admit to glancing down at my watch a good bit too. I don’t think I prayed 30 minutes that day, but as the semester wore on, I was amazed at how I eventually hit 30 with regularity, and soon 30 was not enough!

So why am I having such a weak prayer life now? And what about you? How would you rate your practice of prayer? Christians who don’t pray are like atheists, it is reasoned, because they don’t show faith in God through a vibrant practice of prayer. In college I distinctly remember how deep my faith in God was, in large part because I prayed so much.

I maintained that practice of 30+ minutes in prayer daily almost my entire college career. I even prayed a good bit after graduating from college, getting married, and starting full-time work. But ever so slowly, my practice of prayer dwindled. I had read and really believed in the message of the book, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. I think he is onto something, a method for following Paul’s teaching in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, where Paul says “pray without ceasing.” Brother Lawrence had a nonstop conversation with God all day long in the monastery where he served in the kitchen. In fact he stopped attending set prayer times because he felt they interrupted his conversation with God! So I thought that I could be like Brother Lawrence. I didn’t need set prayer times, as I could just learn to converse with God all day long too. Except that I didn’t. I might have periods of weeks or months where I returned to a healthy practice of prayer. But never for long. Never like those college days. And much more often than not, I have long periods of prayerlessness. I’m not happy about this, and I want to change. I believe that both set prayer times and a continual conversation with God can be very healthy practices to avoid Christian atheism.

This coming Sunday as we continue studying Jesus’ Words, Works and Way in Luke, he is going to tell some stories about prayer. He was a great example of a healthy practice of prayer, as we have seen many times in Luke. Now he teaches about prayer. And he has some really important instructions for how we can grow our practice of prayer.

Join us at Faith Church Sunday as we talk more about Luke 1:1-17 so that we can learn how to avoid being Christian atheists.

Does Jesus want us to be Apocalypse Preppers? – Luke 17:20-37

Last week, I mentioned that we can feel fine if in fact we are living in the end of the world. Here’s why.

Some people are fine because they are ready for the end of the world. They are prepared. We call them Preppers. The family in the picture above is an example. Look at all the stuff they have stockpiled. National Geographic has a TV show about this phenomenon, and it is amazing. If an apocalypse happens, these people think they will be ready. But is that how we can feel fine at the end of the world? Build a bunker and fill it with survival gear, food and water?

In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus teaches two important things about the coming of the Kingdom of God, First, the Kingdom has already come. It is among those who believe in and follow Jesus, becoming his disciples. Second, the Kingdom has not fully come, but one day it will, and we should be ready for that day. This idea that the Kingdom has come, but not in its fullness is often described as the “Already, Not Yet” view of the end of the world. The Kingdom of God has already come, but not yet fully. We live in the already. As Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is among you.” But he will return, to usher his Kingdom fully in one day we know not when. But we can be ready.

We can be fine living in this already, not yet. We can be fine because we have him now and we can be ready for his return.

Accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord is where readiness begins. What I’m talking about is becoming his disciple. It makes us think of the moment when he said to those first disciples “Follow me”, and they followed him. They didn’t know exactly who they were following or what they were getting themselves into. But they followed. Their relationship with him and the knowledge of who he was and what his Kingdom was all about would grow in time.

It’s a lot like marriage. Remember your wedding day? Remember how you were so in love with your spouse? When you said “I love you” that day, you meant it. But has your understanding of love grown since then? When you say “I love you” now, does it mean something deeper now?

For us it is the same. Readiness starts with making the decision to believe in him, follow him, and make his way of life our way of life, but understanding of who Jesus is and what his Kingdom is all about grows in time. This is how we live in the Already. Allowing him to have more and more leadership of our lives, allowing him to transform us so that we act more and more like him.

But there is also the Not Yet. One day he will return, as he said he would, and the principle he asked us to follow was to be ready for his return. We need to have that ongoing awareness in our minds that Jesus could come today. Allow that very real possibility to be the concept by which we evaluate our lives. Are we ready today? “Lord, am I ready to meet you, either by your coming which could be today, tomorrow, decades away, or not in my lifetime, in which case am I ready to meet you as a result of my own death?”

Make this a proactive part of your life. It is a habit that we can get into. Always ready.

I find this principle to be true when it comes to exercise. When I train for a long run like a half-marathon or a marathon, I gradually get my body ready to run those long distances. At the beginning of the training plan it seems impossible that I could get to the point where I can run 13 let alone 26 miles at one shot. But day by day following that plan, my body adapts, grows, strengthens, changes. And you get to the point where you can run 13 or 26 miles. You start off looking at the 18 week training plan which finishes with a really long run thinking, “No Way, I’ll never be able to do that.” But you can. Little by little following the training plan, your body changes and strengthens. When the big race comes, you are ready.

From that race day forward, if I wanted, I could maintain that readiness. Some people do that. They run long races every weekend or every other weekend. Once you’ve achieved readiness, it is easier to maintain it now that you are there.

But I have a confession. I have never maintained that readiness. After the long run is over, I am worn out from 18 weeks of training. I go back to short runs, so that when the next summer rolls around I have to start the training plan all over again.

So how can you maintain readiness for Jesus’ coming?

First, begin a relationship with Jesus by placing your faith in him. Second, go back to the basics of spiritual disciplines, such as the core ones of reading and studying your Bible to learn more about what God’s Kingdom is all about. Pray regularly for God to fill you with his Spirit and transform you. Third, be deeply committed to your local church family. We need each other. Look at the disciples in Acts; they formed a community that was deeply committed to one another. Fourth, we should all have people that we are regularly investing in spiritually, and we should all have people that are regularly investing in us spiritually.

Do you need to apply any of these four ideas to your life?

Feeling fine about the end of the world

The end is near! Remember the predictions of the end of the world that we’ve had in recent years?

There was the mayhem of January 31^st, 1999. Even if the apocalypse didn’t hit the earth when the clock struck midnight (and of course that was going to be in the Eastern time zone!), remember the widespread fear that the computers were going to get screwed up because of the change-over from the 1900s to the 2000s, and the planet was going to shut down? But it didn’t happen.

Then it was Harold Camping saying May 21, 2011 was the day Jesus would return. Remember that? People went pretty wild about this. Some of Camping’s followers dumped their whole life savings to go around the country in mobile homes plastered with doomsday messages. Camping’s ministry bought billboards all over the country. “The Bible guarantees it,” the signs said. When May 21 came and went, he admitted he made a mistake, but now he had it right. The big day was now going to be October 21, 2011. But 10/21 came and went with no end of the world. One of Camping’s employees estimates Camping spent $100 million (mostly from the sale of property) on advertising the end of the world. Throughout his life, Camping actually made 10 different predictions. All wrong.

Then the end was supposed to be Dec 12, 2012! Remember the Mayan Calendar, which supposedly predicted this? But, nope, we got that wrong.

Or maybe the end would come in 2014? Ancient Norsemen predicted Ragnarok, which translates into “doom of the gods,” would take place on February 22, 2014. Nope.

Then some scholars said that all the hubbub about Mayan calendar in 2012 was wrong because of a misinterpretation. Now they said, the correct interpretation of the Mayan calendar reports that the world would end on May 15, 2015. Uh, no.

That brings us to 2016. Did you hear the most recent prediction? The world was supposed to end on Valentine’s Day 2016. That’s last week! Take a look and listen closely:

Wrong again. Ok, so that was kind of a joke, as it was part of a fictional movie. The point of all this is that there have been a lot of end of the world predictions lately, and they can leave you feeling stressed or anxious.

I am a fan of the band REM, and one of their songs gets played often around these end of the world predictions. Remember this song? It’s the end of the world as we know it, and what? I feel fine!

If we’re honest, while we laugh at the predictions, many of us do not feel fine about the end of the world. I was talking with a guy at the gym this week, and he knows that I am a pastor, so he randomly started asked about the end times. He listens to TV preachers who have him convinced we are living in the end times. Are we? What do you think? Actually, the most important question, I think, is “What did Jesus teach about the end times?”

Before we read what Jesus has to say, is it possible that not one of us knows with certainty if we are living in the end times? We look at what is happening in the world, and the news from around the world sure makes us wonder. We get iffy when we hear about Russia invading Ukraine. When we hear about ISIS beheading Christians. Recent bombings in Syria. The internet, talk of people being implanted with computer chips, drones in the sky and so on. I could go on and on. Despite all that, though, we do not know if we are living in the end times.

It would be much better for us to say “It might be the end of the world as we know it, then again, it might not, but either way…I feel fine.”

That’s right, it is possible to feel fine even if it is the end of the world. I think REM was actually on to something. You might be thinking, “How could we feel fine if it is the end of the world? That’s an awful thought!” Well, that’s a good question. I agree that the end of the world is a terrible idea. But maybe it is possible to feel fine about it.

Join us at Faith Church on Sunday morning to find out why. We’ll look at what Jesus has to say about feeling fine at the end of the world in Luke 17:20-37.

Does Michael Phelps have an unfair advantage? (and why it matters for followers of Jesus!) Luke 17:1-19

Quick trivia question: which Olympian is the record holder for the most Olympic medals of all time?

Michael Phelps is the correct answer, which if you didn’t know already, you probably guessed by the title!

But this picture only shows his medals from one Olympics. Guess how many total medals he has won? Total of 22! See the chart below. (Update 8/13/16 – Phelps is adding to his record total in the Rio games! So this info is out of date. The guy just keeps winning!)

When I watched Phelps swim in previous summer Olympics, I thought, he has a freakishly long torso. And he’s not this huge body-builder type. Instead he seems like he has a God-given body for swimming superiority. Anyone else every notice that? Well, it has made the news. And because he has done so well, scientists have taken notice.

Does Michael Phelps have an unfair advantage? Scientists studied Phelps, took measurements, and they found that he does have some unique physical characteristics. The long torso, double-jointed ankles, long arm span. The scientists noted all these things, and found that compared to the average human, these characteristics are really helpful for swimming

It got me thinking about how perfect it is for Phelps that he got into swimming then. How many other people with bodies suited for swimming or some other sport never got into swimming? Maybe there are people with better-suited bodies than Phelps? It is amazing that not only does he have an amazing body for swimming, but that he got into swimming! It’s almost not fair for the other swimmers.

My thoughts were dashed by the scientists. You know what they said? Sure his body might be better suited for swimming, but the actual advantage would be so minute as to be negligible. In fact, they suggested that his double-jointed ankles could be a disadvantage, when it comes to force and power in his kick.

You know what they said is Michael Phelps’ reason for success? Almost entirely his training. His insane training regimen is also the stuff of legends.

If you want to get your body operating at premium athletic levels, you have to fine-tune it with a commitment to daily habits.

Just like Olympic athletes, are there habits or practices that disciples of Jesus should be known for?

The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Jesus gave us habits, practices that he wanted us, his disciples, to follow. Some of them we learn by just watching him. Then we do what he did. What did he do? In Luke we have seen him regularly getting away from the crowds, spending time alone in prayer. We have seen him make disciples. So prayer and making disciples are two things he did, and thus they are two practices that we must do. How are you doing in those areas?

But there are other important practices that we disciples of Jesus should learn. He specifically teaches a number of them. In Luke 17:1-19 he teaches that disciples should have a regular habit of the following practices:

Don’t cause people to sin, confront sin, be forgiving, have great faith, serve dutifully, be grateful.

How Jesus invites us to be like Olympic athletes

Are you excited for the Olympics in Rio this summer? Already you have probably been hearing about athletes who are training for the summer Olympics in Rio. I am really looking forward to the Olympics, as I always enjoy watching the competition. It is awesome to see what these athletes can accomplish, and it is a blast cheering for them. To get to that high level of performance, Olympians train, and train and train. They have many practices, many habits they follow in order to perform athletic feats at a world-class level. Olympians have habits that regulate their eating, drinking, sleeping, free time, not to mention the cardio training, weight training, and training for specific athletic events.

If you want to get your body operating at premium athletic levels, you have to fine-tune it with a commitment to daily habits.

We’ve talked a lot lately about being disciples and making disciples. Disciples make more disciples. But whether you are thinking about yourself, how you can grow more as a disciple of Jesus, or whether you are thinking about how to help other people grow as disciples of Jesus, we need to ask “What should a disciple of Jesus do?” Just like Olympic athletes, are there habits or practices that we should be known for?

The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Jesus gave us habits, practices that he wanted us, his disciples to follow. Some of them we learn by just watching him. Then we do what he did. What did he do? In Luke we have seen him regularly get alone for times of prayer. We have seen him make disciples. So prayer and making disciples are two things he did, and thus they are two practices that we must do. How are you doing in those areas?

But there are other important practices that we disciples of Jesus should learn. He specifically teaches a number of them. As we continue our teaching series through the story of Jesus’ life in the book of Luke, we come to Luke chapter 17, verses 1-19. In this passage, Jesus teaches his disciples six practices that they should incorporate into their daily lives.

So what are these six practices? Read ahead, and you are welcome to join us at Faith Church this coming Sunday to learn more!

Jesus’ bizarre depiction of heaven and hell – Luke 16:19-31

Do pastors lie at funerals? Though we sound confident, usually that the deceased is in heaven, do we really know that? You can read my thoughts on that in the intro post. The question I asked in that post is: “So, what happens when we die? Is it possible that we can know now what our eternal destiny will be? It sure would be nice!”

My sermon yesterday tried to address that question. We have been studying the life of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Luke, and the sermon was about a really bizarre parable he told in Luke 16:19-31. Before you read any further, I urge you to read the parable and see if you can discover any details that depict heaven and hell in surprising ways.

So now that you’ve read the story, did you see what I mean? Did you find anything odd? Here’s what I found that was surprising:

There is a wide chasm between heaven and hell that is so huge you can’t cross it, but it is not so big that you can’t see across it or have a conversation across it. And people in heaven and hell can see each other and talk with one another.
When the die, people are carried by angels into heaven.
People in heaven could possibly go back (be raised from the dead) and influence people on earth.

Is he for real? Is Jesus using a literal approach to his teaching? Did we just get a lesson in how heaven and hell/Hades work? I highly doubt it. Actually, it seems much more feasible to understand Jesus teaching a larger principle that is based in this metaphorical story. It is possible, scholars tell us, that Jesus is a story form that was commonplace in his day.

What do I mean by a story form? Well, it is like the stories we tell in our day about going to see St. Peter at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter stories are fabled versions of what will happen when we die. And there are plenty of them. Here’s a good one I found:

A man died and approached the Pearly Gates. St. Peter told him heaven was getting crowded so he had to test people with the point system. If he got to 100 points he could enter. The man told Peter that he gave to the poor. Peter marked him down for 3 points. The man thought again, then said that he gave to the church. Peter added one point. The man, desperately searching his memory, finally said that he never cussed. Peter added 1/2 a point. By now the man got very frustrated and said that at this rate he could only get in by the grace of God. Peter replied, “Come on in!”

It seems Jesus is using a familiar story form like that, adapting it to his purposes. And what does he teach us through this metaphorical vision of heaven and hell?

First, Jesus is once again trying to address heart attitude. Compassion for the poor. Being concerned for the position of others. Not following the letter of the law, but the heart of the Law. Having eyes that see the neighbor who needs help shoveling snow.

Getting involved in community efforts to alleviate poverty in our school district. I continue to be so proud of Faith Church in this regard. Not only do we collect food in our lobby for the food bank at Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services, but we have people who volunteer there every single week. Some are loading food bank shelves, some are working with food bank clients, helping them select groceries. Some are preparing Weekend Blessing bags of food that go out to over 150 children in our school district. Some are delivering food from Faith Church to the food bank. Some are delivering boxes of weekend blessings bags to our schools.

Remember what Jesus says in Luke 14:11? “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” I see that in action in the people of Faith Church so often! It’s a beautiful thing.

One scholar says that this parable: “…is mainly a call to the rich to examine how they use their wealth. They should know that God is not pleased with a self-indulgent lifestyle that has little care and compassion for those in need. As such, the parable is a call to the rich to repent of their inappropriate use of wealth.”

Next, the parable teaches about the finality of life. The men in the story made choices in their lives, and they were sealed in eternity. I wish I could tell you exactly how this works. The Bible is not precise. You might respond by thinking “Well, maybe it happens exactly like this parable suggests?” Maybe, but I would say unlikely. There are too many other passages that speak about eternity differently.

What does happen then? Well, one day after we die we each will find out. But I don’t want to leave you in the dark. The Bible teaches that we can be ready for eternity.

One thing I can say for certain is this: Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Or as Paul says in Romans 10:9,10 “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.”

Putting them both together, we must surrender our lives to be disciples of Jesus. It is a combination of head, heart and hands that all live for Jesus. Then we can be assured, then, as John tells us in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

So I urge you, choose the way of life, which is the way of Jesus. If you are not as certain as what John writes, then I would love to talk with you.

Likewise, eternity is not something that just randomly happens after death. What this parable teaches is that eternity happens now. Did you see how the life choices of the rich man and the beggar impacted their life after death? Eternity starts now. Our life choices now impact life after death.

This seems to be the heart of what Jesus said in the Lord’s prayer when he prayed “Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that they could live out the Kingdom of God in the here and now. Maybe not perfectly as it is in heaven, but they could strive for ushering God’s Kingdom into the here and now.

Disciples of Jesus are people who have the privilege of ushering God’s Kingdom into their lives now. As you move and live and breathe in your world, you have the wonderful privilege of taking God’s Kingdom with you. At work, in your neighborhood, in your school, in your homes, wherever you are, you are an agent of the Kingdom of God. You are seeking to infect all of your surroundings, all the people you come in contact with, with the gracious, joyful, abundant life of the Kingdom of God.

Thirdly, then, this parable is an illustration of how to bring the Kingdom of God into the world we live in now. Last week we saw that in verses 16-17 that Jesus is talking about the Law and Prophets. They come up again here in the Parable as Abraham says that the rich man’s brothers can learn about what to do in the Old Testament, the Law or Moses, as he says it, and the prophets. Jesus is giving a bit of indication, as he did in verses 16-17, that saw within the Old Testament something of great value.

In this case, the OT has plenty of important things to say about human relationships, about what it means to pursue righteousness in relationships, especially in loving one another. Remember what Jesus would say in another place about the most important commands in the OT? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself.

This is why the mission statement of Faith Church is Loving God, Loving People. If you could summarize the teaching of the Bible into four words, Jesus tells us that is it.

But there is a problem.

The brothers, the rich man tells us, would not listen to the Word of God. They have major issues. He thinks, however, that they will respond to a radical sign, a resurrection. But Abraham’s response in verse 31 gets us to Jesus’ fourth main idea in the parable. If their heart is hard, they won’t even respond to a resurrection.

The issue is the heart, and that is the fourth teaching in the parable.

One scholar says this: “Only a responsive heart will listen to God’s message and respond to his great works. No amount of wonder-working can change a heart that is unwilling to be challenged by God’s demand for righteousness. A lack of signs is not why people reject Jesus. Rather, people willfully reject him. The heart cannot see what it is not looking for. Jesus’ message is a call to recognize the need to repent.”

I want to ask you, then, who is your Lazarus? Put yourself in the role of the rich man? Not that you are rich. But put yourself in a position to serve, to give, to love. Who is need around you?

I heard again this past week how Sunday morning is the most ethnically segregated place in America. My school district is at least 25% populated by ethnic minority, why do we not see that here in my congregation? Perhaps we need to do more to be at a place of readiness to see needs. Eyes wide open. Ready to serve in a moment’s notice.

I recently heard a story from someone at our church who was recovering from surgery in the hospital. A guy walked into the room and introduced himself as cleaning staff. But this guy saw his life as much more than cleaning staff. He struck up a congregation with our church member. They had great conversation, and finally guy said “can I pray with you”, and it was a great encouragement to our church member.

Can you remember a time when someone reached out to you when you were desperately in need? When the Lord put someone in your life to show interest in you, to encourage you? Didn’t that feel awesome? What could it look like for you to supply another’s need?

Be willing to provide childcare for free. Mothers with young children could really use the help.

A family from Faith Church who has an elderly neighbor lady, and she lives alone. A widow. Our church friends will have some extra dessert, which their neighbor lady loves, so they will take it over to her. Their loves are busy, so they want to drop the dessert off and get back to their tasks at home. But what the neighbor lady really wants is not dessert. She loves the dessert. But what she really wants to do is talk, and talk, and talk. So my church friends will often say to each other, “You give her the dessert this time,” knowing that the person who gives the dessert could be stuck there for a long time.

Sometimes we need to give ourselves in what has been called ministry of presence. The way to care is to be there. To give of yourself. Give of your ears, your eyes, not thinking about what you are going to say next, think next, or eat for lunch. Just being there for people, to listen to them can be so powerful. I learned of a counselor who said “I think people pay me to be their friend.” Lots of people come in and sit there expecting her to fix their problems. But she waits. Eventually they start talking. And they realize that in her they have a found a person who will truly listen.

So I ask, where is your heart? Are you sensitive to the signs of how God can you use you? Will you ask him to make you humble, teachable and ready to follow his leading? Will you say, “Lord, examine me. Change me. I want you to use me.”

Finally, are you ready for eternity?

Why pastors lie at funerals

Funerals are a place where we pastors can be guilty of lying…a lot.

Maybe I’m just speaking for myself. So this is my confession: how to do I lie at funerals? I almost always talk about the person who passed away as definitely being in heaven. As if there is no question about their eternal destiny.

Should I say that the person who passed away is in heaven? Do I really know this? No, I don’t. I am not the judge. Only God knows for sure. So why do I say that the person is in heaven?

I know why I say it. Oftentimes the family has beat me to it. After the person draws their last breath, almost immediately family members start saying their loved one is in heaven. So it can be very daunting and even offensive for me to say at that moment, or anytime in the coming days, “Well, I know your loved one just died, but you don’t really know for certain that they’re in heaven. So let’s talk about that.”

I don’t do that. Instead I just go along with it. But should I? Am I promoting a lie?

For many of them, based on the life the deceased lived, it is almost certain that their loved one was a true disciple of Jesus, and we can say with confidence that they are in heaven. Some of them when they were living may have been very vocal about their faith in Christ, some were obviously committed disciples of Jesus. But for others we are not so certain. We wrestle with how much theological hairsplitting we should get into with a grieving family.

My thought is that in their moment of crisis and tragedy, I’m not going to make things worse by trying to suggest that maybe their loved one is not in heaven. Instead I have a strong desire to comfort them as they mourn. I want to help them walk through sadness in a healthy way. So I choose not to quibble with them about whether their loved one is in heaven or hell.

I’d like to believe that my choice to avoid the discussion is not actually lying. Instead I look at it as withholding the conversation for a different time. In fact, that different time is usually during the funeral, though indirectly. I don’t address the family of the deceased, in the middle of the funeral, asking them pointed questions about their loved one’s eternal destiny. But I do share with the entire audience about what the Bible teaches about eternal matters. From there the family can decide for themselves if they want to engage a further discussion. And you know, while it has been rare, a few courageous ones have had that discussion with me. They usually ask “I loved my relative, but I don’t know if they are in heaven or hell.”

So, what happens when we die? Is it possible that we can know now what our eternal destiny will be? It sure would be nice!

This week in our study of Luke, Jesus tells us a parable set in eternity. Check it out at Luke 16:19-31. Perhaps this parable will help us? Or maybe not? If you haven’t clicked on the link and read the parable, let me warn you, Jesus teaches some rather bizarre details about heaven and hell. Is he serious?

Join us at Faith Church this coming Sunday, as we’ll talk about this further!

How to have a healthy marriage

I couldn’t really be honest and call this post “How to have a healthy marriage” and then tack on the scripture from our series in Luke on the end of the title like I normally do. The reason is that Jesus doesn’t really teach how to have a healthy marriage. He basically says that we should not divorce.

He only brings up marriage because he is talking about the OT Law. So I didn’t think a title about the OT Law would be as interesting. Sorry to all of you OT Law enthusiasts.

I did, however, preach a good bit about the OT Law. And I also preached about how to have a healthy marriage. It’s not enough to just say “don’t divorce.”

The organizations I mention at the end of the sermon are:

House On the Rock Family Ministries

The Marriage & Family Centers

Please contact them, as they offer amazing services for couples in need of help.

Law & Marriage…go together like a horse and carriage?

I am finding Luke 16 to be exceedingly confusing. As if verses 1-15 and the Parable of the Shrewd Steward weren’t difficult enough (I preached on them this past Sunday…you can read about that sermon here and here), this coming Sunday I’m focusing on verses 14-18 which put Law and Marriage together, and I’m not sure they go together very well! Last week I had a lot of help from Kenneth Bailey’s studies on the parables of Luke. Bailey’s awesome study makes great sense of the Shrewd Steward. This week, well, the scholars are not as helpful.

Let me explain. My first question is about the placement of verses 16-18 in the passage. I’ve been reading a number of commentaries, and they have many theories about these verses, most of which don’t even try to see a flow of thought. They see verses 1-15 and 19-31 as two sections primarily about how to use money. I get that. Here’s the strange part: they suggest that the verses sandwiched in between, verses 16-18 about Law and Marriage, are somewhat random. One scholar, Bock (in the IVP Commentary series), has a theory for the unity of the passage, but I found it unconvincing.

I wonder what you think when you read chapter 16!

Here is a bit more explanation about Law and Marriage, the two topics that we’re going to look at on Sunday:

How Christians should use the OT Law
Marriage and Divorce

They seem like an odd couple of themes to place together, but that is exactly what Jesus does. Why, though? What is it about marriage that might relate to the OT Law? What do we need to know about the OT Law that could help us with marriage?

There is no doubt in my mind that we need to talk about both of these subjects. There is perhaps just as much confusion about how Christians should use the OT Law, as there is about marriage and divorce. Randall Balmer points out in his book, Thy Kingdom Come, that decades ago the religious right stopped talking about divorce and marriage because so many of their leaders had gotten divorces. They needed a new issue to galvanize support for their causes, so they picked abortion. Balmer suggests that they never should have stopped talking about marriage. I agree. Most of us are married or will be one day, but many marriages fail or are painful. People are hungry for help in their marriages.

Thankfully the pursuit of healthy marriage is something that God loves and encourages, and many people, pastors, churches, and organizations are talking about it a lot. So will we this coming Sunday.

As I write this on Thursday afternoon, I have to admit that I don’t have this passage all figured out. I’ve got study to do! There’s a potential for a big snowstorm to cover our area, so we may need to cancel worship. But even if that happens, I won’t be off the hook! I’ll either record a podcast on Monday or upload the manuscript of the sermon for you. For now, I encourage you to prepare yourself for worship. Read Luke 16, thinking about that question of the OT Law. Are we bound to follow it? And think about marriage? What does it mean to have a healthy one so that divorce is not even in the realm of possibility?

And weather permitting, we’d love to have you join us at Faith Church on Sunday as we’ll talk about this further.

Unraveling Jesus’ most confusing parable (the Shrewd Steward…and how it matters) – Luke 16:1-15

Would Jesus teach his disciples to do something evil? Specifically, did he say “Use your money to buy friends?” It seems so, as I mentioned last week. Yet, we know Jesus, and it’s pretty clear that he wouldn’t teach his disciples to do something so wrong. So it is surprising when we read this in Luke 16:9: “Use your worldly wealth to gain friends.” And that comes after he has told a parable that seems to make a hero out of a wasteful, dishonest, sneaky guy, telling his disciples to be like that guy. What is going on here? We have to do a little digging. That means we need to try to discover the background of this story. We’ll try to unravel what some have called the most confusing and problematic of Jesus’ parables.

Scholar Kenneth Bailey tells us that “the most probable cultural setting for the parable is that of a landed estate with a steward who had authority to carry out the business of the estate. The debtors were most likely renters who had agreed to pay a fixed amount of produce for the yearly rent. The steward was a salaried official who managed the accounts. The master was a man of noble character respected in the community who cared enough about his own wealth to fire a wasteful steward.”

Now that we know the setting, let’s take a look at the story itself:

The rich landowner has been hearing bad reports about his steward, so he calls him in and tells him this.

The steward is silent. No response. How much does the master know? The steward manger figures silence is best.

Then the master fires the steward on the spot saying: “You cannot be steward any longer. Hand over the books.” What is amazingly missing here is that there is no argument, no backtalk, nothing from the steward. He still remains silent. He knows he is caught. There is nothing to say.

Scholars tell us, though, that while his legal authority as his master’s agent is canceled, at the same time his dismissal is in progress. He still has some time to cook the books because word of his dismissal has not gotten around to the renters.

As he is on his way getting the books, he converses to himself, and he concocts a plan. He knows he is guilty, he knows his master knows he is guilty, but he also realizes something very important that is lost on us culturally. Or maybe not, if you think about it: the steward realizes that his master is NOT throwing him in jail.

That’s huge. He is fired. But the master is not bringing up charges against him, and the steward knows that master could do so if he wanted. The master is gracious though. The master doesn’t even scold the unjust steward! The master is merciful in his firing.

The crowd listening to Jesus that day, says Bailey, would have intuitively picked up on some things that were culturally significant about the master. First, the master expected obedience and he acts in judgment on the disobedient servant. That was normal. Second, and this is what is astounding in the parable, the master is incredibly gracious and merciful to the servant, though the servant was dishonest.

So the steward starts thinking to himself, what should he do? Digging (manual labor) or begging are both socially unacceptable for an educated man in authority like he was, and culturally we would expect him to reject both options out of hand. Surprisingly he actually considers digging, but feels he is not strong enough.

There’s more here, Bailey tells us, than the steward trying to line up his next meal. The people in the crowd that day would have realized that the steward is in a terrible cultural predicament. To be fired for wasting his master’s property would be shameful, it would give him an awful public image in the community.

Here’s where Bailey’s observations get really interesting. He says “The steward’s plan is to risk everything on the quality of mercy he has already experienced from his master. If he fails, the steward will certainly go to jail. If he succeeds, he will be a hero in the community….and the key to his plan is that no one in the community yet knows that he has been fired. They will find out soon enough, so he has to act quickly.”

In verse 5 we see that the word of his firing has not spread because this steward still has authority to summon the debtors to come see him. If they knew the steward had been fired, they would not have come. They would say “You’ve been fired, buddy; I’m not doing business with you anymore. You have no authority.”

But they do come in. And take notice of the word “quickly” in verse 6. The steward wants this process to move along fast. He knows he has only a short amount of time before his master or the renters find out what is going on. He knows that he has already been fired, he has already lost his authority, and what he is doing is wrong. But the renters have no idea.

The steward is really taking pains to lead them on in verse 5 when he asks the renter, “How much do you owe MY master?” Since the steward has been fired, the master is no longer HIS master. The steward is being dishonest to the renters.

Also, because of the cultural significance of community, the relationship between the master and his renters would have been a very close one. If those renters suspected that the steward was doing something illegal, they would never have risked getting in bad blood with the master landowner. So the result is that the renters believed what was going on here was an arrangement that the master was fully aware and approving of.

One more cultural point about this: the bills are not due, that is clear. The reductions are coming out of the blue, before the bills are due. Bailey notes that a steward like this would have been in the fields regularly, seeing the conditions which could have included lack of rain, insects, or hot sun, which would adversely affect production. So he could easily tell the debtors that he talked with the owner and got their bills reduced. He is like a factory foreman that arranges a Christmas bonus for his workers, and gets praised.

Bailey summarizes the cultural situation by saying: “the steward openly asserts that he still has authority. The debtors assume that the reductions are authorized; otherwise they would not cooperate. The steward quietly lets the debtors know that he has arranged for the reductions. With these assumptions all the cultural elements fall easily into place.”

The debtors each get huge reductions. With the bills adjusted, he now delivers the books to his master as requested in verse 2.

Do you know what the master is thinking when he reads these adjusted numbers? Is he angry? It seems he would be. He just lost loads of income on these contracts. How do you think your boss would react if he lost 50% on one contract and 20% on another? But amazingly, this master is not angry.

He is thinking “Well played, steward, well played.”

You know why? Bailey tells us that we need to think about the community. Again, this is why community and the social ramifications are so important to understanding this story. Imagine the reaction in the community that by this time has already started as the word of what just happened spreads. One renter just got 50% off, and the other 20% off. We’re talking huge amounts. Their personal profits this year are going to be 50% and 20% more. Imagine getting that kind of raise! You would be on the phone to your wife in a flash.

And remember that it was almost certain that the steward led the renters to believe he had authority from the master to dole out these raises. The renters would be applauding this landowner like you would not believe. Their wives would be ecstatic. Their kids would be rejoicing. Christmas was going to be awesome this year. These are peasants who were struggling all the time to make ends meet, and they just got what might have been the best financial news of their lives. The whole community would be in party mode, and they all would be thinking their master’s generosity was wonderful.

Let’s imagine the two main options the master has at this point:

First, he could stop the party and say “This was all an unfortunate mistake,” explain that the steward was actually fired, that he had no authority to make the reductions, and revert the bills back to their full amounts. But you and I know exactly how the community would respond if he did that.

There was an episode of The Office where that very thing happened. The boss, Michael, led the whole office to believe that they were getting $1000 bonuses. The place erupted. People got on the phone. Told their wives. Started planning vacations. Made purchases. Michael was the hero. But it was all a lie. He lets some time go by and tells them he was just teaching Dwight how to give an influential speech, and once they get over their disbelief, their loathing of him runs deep.

In other words, the master would be stupid to choose this option.

Second, he could accept the losses, and receive the praise that is being given to him. He has already shown his generosity in how he treated the wasteful steward, by not jailing him, and so he chooses this option, and says to the steward “you were shrewd.”

Do you see what happened? The steward risked everything on the master’s generous reputation, and his risk paid off!

To the Eastern listener and reader, Bailey tells us, the steward is a hero. This is a David vs. Goliath kind of story. We love that. What would have been strange to the Eastern listener, to the people in the crowd that day, was that Jesus calls the steward dishonest. In verse 8 he also contrasts the actions of the steward with the people of light, thus equating the steward’s actions with darkness! We Westerners are surprised at Jesus for putting a dishonest man in the role of hero. But Easterners are surprised at Jesus for calling him dishonest at all!

Bailey says this is very much like one of Jesus’ “How much more” parables. In this case it could be said that his teaching in this parable is “if this dishonest steward solved his problem by relying on the mercy of his master to solve his crisis, how much more will God help you in your crisis when you trust his mercy.”

Before we get too far in the meaning of the parable, though, there is a word in verse 8 we really need to look closely at: shrewd.

We tend to look at shrewd with a negative bent. But this word could be understood more positively, using the word wisdom. So we could understand Jesus as teaching that the steward is praised for his wisdom, Bailey tells us. The steward is sensitive to the hopelessness of his own situation. He is aware of the one source of his salvation, namely, the generosity of his master. He is praised for his wisdom in knowing where his salvation lay, not for his dishonesty.

This brings us to the second half of verse 8 and the verses following.

In verse 8b Jesus uses shrewd again. If we take the meaning of the parable, that of praising the steward for knowing where his salvation lay, then Jesus is saying that we, the people who he calls the people of the light, should be so shrewd, so wise. Jesus is saying that we should use our earthly means wisely for eternal purposes. We’ve heard him talk like this before. Store up treasure in heaven.

In verse 10 his comments about being trusted with money, about being dishonest, are reflected in the steward who was dishonest and untrustworthy to start off with, but in the end does something quite wise with his master’s wealth.

So we need to see ourselves as stewards of God’s possessions. Of course Jesus is not condoning wastefulness and dishonesty. Instead he is condoning the wisdom of the steward and the mercy of God.

That causes us to think, then, as we review what Jesus taught in verses 11-13: How am I doing as God’s steward? Am I trustworthy in handling the true riches of God? Which master am I serving? God or Mammon? Mammon is a word that means worldly wealth. Do our lives give evidence that we are serving or pursuing worldly wealth? Instead, we should see God as the owner of all wealth, and use it to serve his interests.

While Jesus focuses on money throughout this entire section, there is more than just money in view here. Jesus is not just talking about writing a check, putting money in the basket at worship services.

It takes more than just money to make friends. Our generosity to people can really help, of course. It might open a door. But we also know that we cannot buy friendships. We must give of ourselves. Making friends takes an investment of our lives.

I’ve long admired the lead singer of the rock band U2, Bono, for using his star power for good. He talks about it openly. He knows he has influence and he wants to use it for God’s Kingdom.

We might not have the money and influence of a world-renowned rock star, but we do all have gifts and abilities, money and influence in our families, in our neighborhoods, in or schools. So let us spend our lives using our influence to promote God’s Kingdom, to make disciples. If we do that, just as the renters and their families would have been praising the master for his mercy, more people in our lives will be praising God for his mercy to them.

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash