Questions

I have had many conversations in my life where people are asking questions which I find ridiculous.   The old saying that there is no such thing as a stupid question may be true, but some questions do show some insight into the person asking them.  And in the case of questions about the faith tend to really show a lack of understanding and a lack of knowledge.  This is not to say that the person asking the questions is stupid or somehow inferior to someone who has the knowledge and understanding.  It just means that they have not been invested in like they should have been.  It means that someone failed them. 

 

            I really think that we should strive to understand our own faith.  Not just so we can look smart or look like we have all the answers, but so that we can answer questions when asked and also so we can just know the basics of what we believe.  How can we believe something that we don’t even know? So ask questions, you have to start somewhere.    

Check this out.  It is by Dr. Tim Keller and it a great short read.  

http://www.monergism.com/acidtest.html

Look into it

"God's control is absolute in the sense that men do only that which he has ordained that they should do; yet they are truly free agents in the sense hat they decisions are their own, and they are morally responsible for them." ~ J.I. Packer

I came across this quote in some of my reading and really thought it summed up nicely the reformed view of God's sovereignty and Human responsibility. This is one of those big theological questions that can rattle around in your mind and tend to drive a person crazy or at the very least keep sleep away. While I don't hold that you have to stand where I stand on topics such as this, it being non-essential for salvation, I do think that we all need to look into these deeper things.

Love of the Mind

I was driving by a Junior HIgh school today and noticed that the track was packed with students.  They were slowly walking around the football field, in groups and pairings.  As I watched them lifelessly drift through the motion of walking, I was struck that the scene looked an awful lot alike another.  It looked like a scene mostly viewed in movies, the scene of the workout yard in a prison.  I could not help but laugh when this comparison hit me.  I remember always thinking that Jr. High was a prison and here was another reminder of why.  It was perfect, the track and filed were surrounded by high fencing, the students were all under close supervision, and all the trapped personal wanted to be free.  

The sad part of this story is that is how the majority of students feel about their education.  They are there because they have to be there.  If it wasn't law that they attend, they would have been staying home and doing more enjoyable activities.  And with that mentality they go into learning, or at least going through the motions of learning.  It ingrains in them as sense that learning has to be forced upon them, or it instills the attitude of requiring someone to make them learn.  What does this do to us as a people?  

When we stop learning we stop growing.  It is a simple fact.  So many people don't know how to learn, or go about trying to learn on their own.  They have always had someone to spoon feed them what was required.  I have seen this so often in areas of the faith.  People don't know how to go about learning about God, Jesus, the Bible, the world through a Christian world view of anything like that.  They don't know how to learn.     

But if we take seriously the commands of Jesus and the commands of God than this is not an option.  Jesus says in Matthew 22: 37 "... You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  It is the last object of the preposition phrase that we forget.  We claim to love God with all our hearts and souls, but we fail miserably with loving God with our minds.  We have been trained since little kids to be taught, so much so that we have not learned how to teach ourselves.  What would happen if a generation of Christ followers took it upon themselves to really love God with all of their minds?  I think the world would be changed.  Apologetics would be a natural move for Christians.  Church members would feel confident in sharing their faith.  Parents could explain some of the deeper things in their beliefs to their own sons and daughters.  

Do you love God with your mind?  

The train game

Have you ever trained for something?  I used to swim and we would train for meets and train to get as fast as we could get.  This would take serious time, many hours at the pool, in the weight room, working on technique.  Granted I did not put in as much effort or training as some, and there is one reason for that.  Training is hard.  You work yourself hard and push yourself to the limit.  This is not easy, it is not a cake walk.  Many people when faced with training will go the other way, they will seek a path of less resistance. 

            But training is a way of life.  We train all the time, we train in our jobs, we train for education, we train to do some skill or task better or faster.  We are a people that are in constant training.  So why is it that we break from that when it comes to what we believe?  So many people will move away from this training mentality when it comes to matters of the faith.  For some reason they will see faith or matters of the faith as something which requires no training.  How further from the truth could they be!  Logic compels us to think that if everything else requires training, should not what we believe and how we live it out require training as well? 

            1 Timothy 4: 7-8 states “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.  Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

            Paul stresses here that training does not stop just with our body, or even with school, but that it extends into our faith.  We are to train ourselves in godliness, we are to train ourselves in the ways of our faith.  We can see the value of training in every other realm of our lives.  We see training helping athletes win medals, helping the military perform missions well, helping students pass courses and earn good grades.  That same benefit can also be applied to our faith. 

            The sad thing is that so many people don’t see the benefit or don’t realize what training can mean for their faith.  They don’t take the time and the effort to really train themselves in what they believe.  This leads to people not understanding what they believe, not knowing how to apply it to their lives, not living it out, and not being able to articulate it to others.  These people find it hard to impact the world without that training.  God can use them and does use them to reach people, but they are not good stewards of what God has given them. 

            Take apologetics for example.  This is just a big word for talking to people about what you believe and what they believe.  So many well wishing Christians will set out to open a dialogue with a non-believer and to try to give them reasons and arguments for why Christianity is true.  Well, if these Christians don’t have the training in what they believe, if they have not spent the time they will not be able to articulate the Christian faith.  And when someone that believes something different and has studied and trained argues with them, they can be shaken in their own beliefs, because they will not know how to respond.  The fact of the matter is that more non-believers have trained for what they believe than Christians.  Non-believers had to fight and figure out what it was they believed and so can articulate it.  This doesn’t make it right, it just makes them trained in a way of thinking.  But it is the Christians that should be in constant training.  We should be constantly seeking to edify ourselves in the way of the Lord. 

            How has your training been going?    

Get off our Butts

1 Timothy 6:11-16

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

 

            I have been reading through 1 Timothy for the last couple of days and this passage really stuck out to me.  This is one of the charges that Paul is giving Timothy and it stood out to me because of how active it is.  If you take a look at this passage you can see many actions.  Paul tells timothy to flee, to pursue, to fight, to take hold of, to make a good confession, and to keep.  Bam bam bam, it list action after action.  Our faith is not one of sitting back, it is not one of idle hoping that we will grow or be transformed.  Our faith is one of action. 

            Let’s look at these actions that Timothy and we are charged to do.  Paul commands Timothy to flee from all this, referring to false teaching and greed.  Timothy can’t be a devote man of God and have a life filled with things not of God.  This is not saying that a person desiring to serve God can’t sin, we all sin, but it is saying that those who desire to be teachers and leaders can’t have a life filled with that which is contrary to God.  We flee from this to create a space to be filled with godliness.  Without clearing sin away we won’t have the room for godliness.  It can be looked at from the point of view of the wilderness for the Israelites.  One of theories for why God brought the Israelites to Mount Sinai was that He wanted to strip away the culture and the way of life of Egypt before he introduce the way they were to live for Him from there on out.  So we clear our lives out to be ready to accept the things of God. 

            After we flee we are to pursue.  We flee from that which is not of God only to turn around and pursue that which is from God.  We pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness or endurance, and gentleness.  We are to pursue that which characterizes the people of God.  What does it mean to pursue?  In my mind it means to set out after something, it might take awhile and in fact we know that in this case it will take awhile, but we keep after it.  To pursue means that it is a journey, a quest, a mission.  We are told to give our life to this pursuit.  It is the pursuit to conform our lives to God.  To be a people of God we have to be a people of pursuit. 

            And this is not always easy, which is why the next command is to fight.  We are told to fight the good fight of the faith.  When we seek to live for God we will come against opposition.  The world and the enemy don’t want us to live for God and so we will face persecution.  2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  The Christian life was never promised to be easy, but we are called to fight the good fight, to endure, to combat and battle that which is contrary to God. 

            We are then commanded to take hold of the eternal life.  We are to truly take firm grasp of this.  What does it mean to take hold of something.  I have to think that in this passage Paul is saying to make this faith your own so much so that it characterizes your whole being.  To take hold of the eternal life means that your whole life will be ordered around it and that it is the central part of who you are.  We take hold of this and never let go.  We take hold. 

            And lastly we are called to keep the commandment.  We are to stay strong, steadfast until Christ returns.  Until we die of Christ comes back we stand.  No matter what the world or the enemy throws at us we stand.  The world could come crashing down around us, our lives could unravel, loved ones could perish, illness could befall us, poverty could strike us and we will stand, we will keep the commandment given us.  It will not be stained and it will be above reproach.  That is what is means to be a Christ follower; that we stand and keep the commandment. 

            As I read this passage I am struck by the power of these actions.  We are called to give it all for Christ and this means getting off our butts, both physically and mentally.

 

Let’s get off our butts.       

Slave

I am sinner, unclean.  I am a man of unclean lips, unclean heart, wrapped in the filth of my life.  It amazes me that you would use me, it amazes me that you can redeem me.  You don’t balk at the sight I present, you don’t condemn me for my sins for they have been paid, they have been cleansed.  On my own I suffer, on my own I would languish in the pit.  But you have come down; you reach in to my filth to pull me to you.  You wash me, not with water where I would dirty myself once again, but with your blood, which now coats me.  What is my response?  It has to be my whole life.  Not just a little bit, not just some time or some actions of my life, but my whole life.  All that I am is the response.  You have saved me, you own me, I am not my own.  I am a slave, I am a bond servant, I am yours.  

1 Timothy 4:12

I have been reading through 1 Timothy. For some reason this one letter of Paul’s draws me.  It is easy for me to take the charges that Paul gives Timothy and apply them to my own life.  That makes this letter so much more personal and meaningful.  Now some people might think that it is a little weird to put myself in the place of Timothy, but I think it is only natural. 

            Timothy was a co-worker with Paul.  He was a young man that Paul picked up to help continue the mission of spreading the word of God and in many ways was Paul’s spiritual son.  Paul placed Timothy in charge of the church of Ephesus where he would no doubt face many challenges.  If we can’t relate to this how can we claim to be Christ followers?  We were all “picked up” by someone that invested in us to show us the truth.  It might have been a mother or father, it might have been a friend or co-worker.  But we all had someone invest in us and really show us the truth.  Even those of us that didn’t have someone overtly invest in us had people that encouraged us along the way.  And then most likely along the way we attached ourselves to other more mature believers to learn from and to emulate.  The point is that we all have fathers and mothers of the faith, people who have lead us and guided us, people who have shown us the way. 

            And we all have been placed in a ministry and face challenges.  “Hey wait!” you yell, “I don’t have a ministry. And I have not been placed in one.”  The fact of the matter is that if you claim to be a Christian, a Christ follower, than yes you have a ministry and you have been placed in one.  What is your ministry?  Look around you.  God has placed you where you are and you are called to make the most of it for his glory.  Some of us have a more clear cut idea and vision of what God has called us to, others have to struggle a little to see how their “normal” life can be ministry.  Though while for some it may be hard and some it may be clearer that doesn’t change that we are all called and placed in ministry. 

            One of the favorite verses from 1 Timothy is 1 Timothy 4:12 “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”  So many of us are young.  We are young in age, young in experience, young in our faith, or young in service.  But just because in might be young in this way or so many other ways doesn’t mean that we should feel like we have to take a back sit.  To the contrary, we are called to be the ones setting the example.

            I love this verse because I have always felt young, I might be getting older but I have always had a self-image of being very young.  And because of this I have felt like I have no “right” or “authority” to speak out or lead.  But this could not be further from the truth.  So when students look upon a ministry and think, “I can’t do this, I am too young.”  I have to say, if not you than who.  

The Church

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how you ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth.” 

 

            I was reading this recently and was really struck by the description of the church.  So often when people talk about church it can be in vague terms or mean their building or something along those lines.  But what is the church?  At the very simplest, ecclesia, the Greek word used for church means gathering or assembly.  So at the very lowest form of description the church is a gathering of believers or a assembly of people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.  But we also know that while this might be the make up, there is more to a church than just this base description. 

            The church is the household of God.  It is the home of God.  This brings to mind the loving images of our relationship with God.  God is our Father in heaven, he cares for us as his children, we are his sons and daughters, coheirs with Christ.  And while this conjures up the loving picture of a caring Father it also means that we are under someone else’s rules.  All Fathers have rules for their homes that they expect to be obeyed, and God is no different.  This is why Paul is instructing Timothy how people should behave if they are a part of God’s household, the church. 

            The church is also the church of the living God.  This is important.  We don’t worship some impotent, weak, cognitive exercise.  We worship the living God.  God is alive and He is active.  God moves in this world, his creation, he moves with purpose and intent.  God is alive.  Nietzche stated that God is dead, and there are many that operate under that belief.  But how wrong they are.  For Nietzche has since passed away, his body decomposing as we sit here, but God is very much alive.

            The church is also described as a pillar and buttress of truth.  The church is where the truth is celebrated and upheld.  The church is where the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ is proclaimed.  Jesus stated that he was the truth in John 14:6.  He is what is true in this world.  And the church is the organization, the organism that seeks to spread this truth, the truth throughout the whole of the world.  But what is truth?  Take a moment and define truth in your head.  It is one of those words that are so simple, so fundamental for our lives that it can be hard to define.  One of my professors once asked this question and no one could answer it.  Ina  room full of graduate students no one answered.  Truth is what corresponds to reality.  Jesus is truth because his claims and who he is corresponds to what is real, it fits the reality in which we live, it is the reality in which we live. 

            This is what the church is.  This is just one of the many passages that describes the church and what it is to this world.  But what does this verse mean to us?  It firstly means that when we claim to be believers, we are claiming to be part of the church and not only just the church, we are claiming to part of God’s household, part of God’s family.  As part of God’s family we have the comfort and security of knowing that God is our Father and takes care of us.  Our heavenly Father, Lord of the Universe, cares for us and takes care of us.  We rest in that comfort.  But also being a part of God’s family means that we have responsibilities.  All families have responsibilities, be it from taking out the garbage to taking care of the other family members.  God gives his family responsibilities as well. 

            The church is called a pillar and buttress of truth, and I think that the church needs to rediscover what that means.  We are the place where the truth of this world and how Jesus came to save us is proclaimed.  We need to be the place that is able to tell the world why it is the why it is.  That is the power of the church.  We have been given a sacred deposit, the gospel is the truth of this world and those in it.  People are searching for answers.  People are looking everywhere for what fits with what they know of this world.  And the church should be the place they find it.  This means that the church can’t be filled with fakers, it can’t be filled with posers.  This means that the church has to be filled with people that are willing to share their lives, the truth of their lives. 

 

            Does this describe the church as you know it?  I have to think that it should.  The bible has many verses and passages that outline what the church should be.  While we on our own can’t make this happen, we are called to be instruments in God’s plan to make the church into what He designed it to be.  Through Christ working in us, as individuals and as a group, we will be able to contribute to God’s kingdom by building his church.     

Things are not always what they appear to be

I just watched one of my all time favorite childhood movies the other day.  Yes that is right, the movie Labyrinth.  This movie really has it all.  It stars David Bowie, which in itself should make any movie no matter the plot line a blockbuster.  It has puppets a plenty, and not this any old puppets, but Jim Henson puppets which really are the best.  All the elements for a great movie are there, a modern mixed family with a semi-wicked step mother and the new baby.  It is not only a great movie it is the modern fairy tale.  

That for example this little guy in the picture.  It might have been one of the smallest parts in the movie, yet it is a part that sticks with you.  It is almost enough to make you start greeting people with 'allo.  

So why is this brought to my mind?  Well I was looking at some people's pictures of the book of the face and saw one of my "friends" picture of a brick wall.  As soon as I saw that wall I started to have a movie flashback.  It happened so fast I didn't know what was happening.  I was transported back to the scene in the movie Labyrinth where the girl just begins her journey.  He is running down an seemly endless path and happens to stop and lend against the wall... a brick wall.  A small voice pipes up 'allo.  She responds "Did you say hello?" and of course little worm man replies, "No, I said 'allo, but close enough."   He then precedes to give her a bit of wisdom, that in the labyrinth things are not always what they appear to be.  It is at this point that she realizes that there are ways that she hadn't been seeing.  

The worm's advice to the girl was true for the labyrinth, but I also think that it is true for us and our world as well.  Things are not always what they appear to be.  We can look around and think that things are in way when in fact they are completely different.  It seems like almost everyone puts on masks, that the motives for certain things are different than how they are expressed.  

It is our job to try to see things for how they really are.  We need to shed light on the reality.  "But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible." Ephesians 5:13.  

What would this mean in your life?  How do we go about shedding light on the reality of what is around us?  

Dying Men to Dying Men

So often it is easy to waste away time, to think that you can do that tomorrow or that the next day will be soon enough.  Many times this is okay, it doesn’t negatively affect your life and problems don’t result from it.  But what happens if we let this way of thinking ooze over into our whole life and mind?  What if when we start thinking about doing what we know we should do and acting and living how we know we should in this fashion, that tomorrow is soon enough or that when we get to it will be soon enough?  What happens if we start to view the sharing of the Gospel in this fashion? 

 

            This happens to us all.  We walk to life committed to share what we believe with everyone.  We honestly take scripture to heart when it says “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” (2 Tim. 4:2) and “…always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)  We say this is how we should live.  We proclaim that this is how we are going to live.  And then we hit the world and somehow all that passion, all that conviction, all that desire to follow through melts away.  The idea of actually standing up for what we believe and being vocal about our God and Savior all of the sudden doesn’t seem so important in the face of possible ridicule and harassment.  How can the very center of who we are and our very lives all of the sudden become not as important to us as what people think about us and how they treat us? 

 

                        This happens to all of us.  I can be feeling bad or tired and not want to talk to people about the greatest single thing in this whole universe.  How messed up is that?  How can we ever claim to be too tired or too distracted from talking about the single greatest person, event, belief that we can possibly have?  I don’t know, but it happens.  In fact, if I am honest, which is something I like to do every now and then, I would have to say that I don’t have to be tired or feeling bad.  Sometimes I am just too lazy, or just don’t care enough to share.  When I think about that I cannot help but think how messed up and sad that is.  I, who claim to be a Christ follower, a person who lives and breaths because of Christ, who has salvation and hope and joy and peace because of Jesus, I who has dedicated my whole life to service to the Lord, sometimes can’t seem to find the motivation to share the Gospel with those around me. It is enough to make a person cry.  And the fact of the matter is that we all should be crying. 

 

            I don’t say this to make people feel bad.  I don’t say this to show how we all still need Christ and that we need to have a fire set under our butts.  I say this because it is a fact that we need to reorganize what we value in this life.  Which do we value more… sharing who Jesus is with people or what they think of us and how they treat us?  Answering that question will determine how you respond to this whole note. 

 

            What got me thinking along these lines was a book called “Words to Winners of Souls” by Horatius Bonar.  (which is one of my favorite names)   In this book he talks about a revival breaking out in Scotland.  This happened during a time of plague where many people were dying and the clergy had fled the cities.  Because the clergy had run away, lay people stepped up to preach.  “Then did they stand up in the midst of the dying and the dead, to proclaim eternal life to men who were expecting death before the morrow… Every sermon might be their last.” And then one of the best lines and questions ever.. “Truly they preached as dying men to dying men.  But the question is, Should it ever be otherwise?”  All of us, all of humanity is dying.  Why are we arrogant and think that there is going to be a tomorrow.  If we truly cared about spreading the Gospel and sharing whom Christ is, we have to have this mindset.  We have to think of ourselves as dying men preaching to dying men. 

 

So what is your mindset?      

Saved By the Bell

I ran across this article online... and as Saved By the Bell is one of my favorite shows from my childhood I just had to share this.  

"Three Stories from Saved By the Bell  by Mike Krumboltz:  

Few TV shows enjoy such fantastic devotion as "Saved by the Bell." Never mind that it's full of horrible jokes, horrendous fashion, and the hardest working laugh track in show business. "SBTB" still inspires big searches... and big controversies. Here's a rundown of three scandals currently gripping the alumni of Bayside High.

The Screech's Book
Dustin Diamond, who played Screech, has had a tough go since leaving his hit TV show. There have been money problems, a fight to keep his home from foreclosure, and even (ew!) a sex tape. A tell-all book seems like a natural, and that's what Mr. Diamond set out to write. However his memoir about his time on "SBTB" has been dropped by publisher Gotham Books. Some say that it was because many of the salacious details were "unverifiable," a charge that Diamond's reps refute. Regardless, the book has since been picked up by a smaller publisher. Good thing, as Diamond owes some serious back taxes.

Belding Betrayed!
As played by Dennis Haskins, Mr. Belding was the clueless if lovable principal on "Saved by the Bell." He was no A.C. Slater, but he was still a key member of the cast. So, you can imagine that ol' Belding was a wee bit perturbed that he'd been left out of the recent People magazine reunion.New York Magazine reports that Mr. Haskins called into a Detroit radio show to "voice his displeasure." In the interview, Haskins referred to himself in the third person saying, "If anybody deserved to be on that cover, it was Dennis Haskins." While his feelings were hurt by the slight, Haskins wants his fans to know that Dennis Haskins will live.

Where's Screech?
Mr. Belding wasn't the only "SBTB" cast member to miss out on the People reunion. Diamond was doubly dissed. Not only did Screech not appear in the 2009 photo, he was also photoshopped out of the 1989 inset. New York Magazine, which is clearly all over the "SBTB" beat, dug up the original photo and discovered that Screech had been "erased" and cropped out of People's version.  It's enough to make you almost feel sorry for the most annoying character in the history of TV.  Almost."  

Now Saved By the Bell has a very special place in my heart.  I used to go over to a friends house after school in elementary school and watch Saved By the Bell.  One of my room mates in college and I used to record it and then watch it all day long... in fact this addiction almost made me flunk out of college because so many classes were skipped in pursuit of this watching pleasure.  That same room mate bought be a Saved By the Bell T-shirt for graduation.  (ahhh friends, always there to help you mess up and then buy you a T-shirt to remember it by)  Saved By the Bell is so dear to me that i still watch the two episodes that are on TBS in the morning.  

I do believe that I remember all the episodes, and maybe could quote the lines to you.  I remember how the class had about 5 senior years... and were always on the verge of graduating.  I also remember how they went and college and why of course it wasn't the same and many will claim that it ruined the series... it is a guilty pleasure of mine.  And oh the joy when Zack and Kelly finally ended up together.  It is enough to almost make one cry... almost.  

It is funny how things stick with you from childhood.  Like nothing else the things from our childhood stay around, we love them, we hate them, we think about them and wish that we could still enjoy them to this day.  

What from your childhood sticks with you? TV, Movie, Book... anything  

Getting Started

Let's get it started.  

Community Bible Church has started a college ministry for the UA Fort Smith campus.  This is geared for students that attend UA Fort Smith and are interested in having a place to hang out with other students, growing deeper in their faith, and also reaching the whole of the campus for Christ.  This is a very exciting time as the ministry is getting launched.  We are looking for anyone that is interested to be involved however much they want to.  

There is going to be a College home group, which will be a great time for people to get together and hang out and also talk about some of the issues and challenges of life.  All are welcome at the home group and we encourage everyone to invite their friends. This will take place every other week on Thursday night at 7:30 until whenever.  

On the Thursdays when we will not be having home group there will be worship nights.  These will be low key nights where we can get together for a few songs and a small message.  These are open for anyone and are a great way to invite new friends to check it out.  

Hopefully there will be other events and activities as the semester progresses and the ministry grows.  

This is a very general lay out for what might happen with the community college group.  If people have ideas and thoughts they want to share, we would love to get feedback and work with your ideas.  

I want to leave this first informative blog post with a final question.  What do the students at UA FS need?