Stoplight Christianity

Imagine with me for a moment. You are driving across town. As you approach an intersection, you notice a man wearing worn camouflage pants, a torn t-shirt, and a beard that, if it were to be washed, would most likely resemble that of Santa Claus. He's holding a cardboard sign which reads "Disabled and homeless, please help." As you get closer to the intersection, you start pleading with the light to stay green so that you can just zip by this man. But, the light turns yellow; you think about stomping the gas, but it's too dangerous. You're stuck there as the traffic light cycles. You keep your eyes zeroed in on that traffic light, trying not to make eye contact with the man who is literally holding his plight on a sign for the world to see. You tap your fingers on the steering wheel anxiously as you think "He'll probably just spend any money I give him on drugs or alcohol." What you don't know, is he is avoiding eye contact too. Out of shame this man is staring new holes into his already patched shoes. Finally, the light turns green, and you immediately step on the gas and flee the awkward situation.

We've all been faced with this situation. I have sat at a traffic light and gotten irritated because a slow light forced me to acknowledge the raw suffering of humanity. It's something that we would much rather not be faced with. We would much rather live our important busy lives with out having to be bothered by the "charity cases". I speak as one who is also guilty.

Peter and John were in a similar predicament when they were following Jesus. Matthew 19:13 says "Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them." (NASB) Jesus rebukes them and shows them how a Christian is supposed to respond to the "charity cases", and it's a lesson we know they took to heart.

Let's fast forward to Acts chapter 3. Peter and John are going to worship in the temple, and there is a lame beggar sitting there. As this beggar sees Peter and John approaching the gate of the temple, he begins to plead for coins. Rather than trying to speed up or pretend that they don't see him, we're told in verse 4 "But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, 'Look at us!'" (NASB) Peter and John lock eyes on this beggar and tell him to look at them. Verse 5 says that he looked up at them. This simple act of locking eyes with this beggar communicated to this unfortunate child of God the deepness of the love of the Creator for him.

In the three years that Peter and John had spent with Jesus, they had learned to not avoid certain people only because it might make them feel uncomfortable or look bad. They had learned what it meant to be in the Creator's image.

A Gospel for the Nations

Not only are we made in the image of our Creator, but He has put a knowledge of Himself in each one of us regardless of culture, education, or geographical location. I have long understood this as a result of my belief that the God I serve is a just and loving God. I mean, how could a God who claims to be just and loving make His salvation dependent on acceptance of a gospel that is spread by humans limited by the current means of transportation; what about all the natives who have never heard the name of Jesus?  But, it wasn't until this morning during my morning Bible study that I found the Scriptural evidence for that which I had for so long believed in my heart.

It's found in the book of Romans chapter one.  Verses sixteen through twenty read: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'but the righteous man shall live by faith.' For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

This revelation of God through His created work has been referred to in Spirit of Prophecy as God's second book, and is the method through which God reveals Himself, His divinity, and His power to those who have never been exposed to the Judeo-Christian gospel. It's only the natural action of a God who is by nature just and loving.

It's Not the Hammer That Builds the House

What happened to Moses between Exodus chapter 2 and the very next chapter? What happened to the self-confident prince of Egypt who beat the task master to death for striking a Hebrew? Why do we have in chapter 3 a man claiming to be incapable of delivering God's people from bondage when, according to all human reason, he is the clear choice for the job?

Moses was miraculously spared from Pharoah's decree to kill every male baby. I'm sure that as a good Hebrew mother, Jochebed continually reminded him of this fact and told him that God had spared his life for a reason. I can even imagine her using words similar to those used by Mordecai when talking to Esther centuries later: "And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" Having grown as a Hebrew for the first twelve years and then suddenly finding himself in the Egyptian court had to cause him to go looking for answers as to what his purpose might be. I think that it is for this reason that Moses killed the Egyptian. I think that even at this early stage in his life, he recognized that God drew him out of the Nile to lead God's people from captivity.

The only problem is that failed to understand that he was not the entire plan. He approaches the issue from the perspective of "I'm going to do this great thing for God" rather than the perspective of " I'm going to humbly allow myself to be the instrument through which God accomplishes HIS plan."

We all know the story. After having to flee Egypt as a result this incident, Moses ended up in Midian.  While in Midian, he took up the most lowly job an Egyptian could ever take up: watching sheep. This served two purposes. First, it served to humble  him. Second, it served to put Moses in a still and quiet environment in which God could speak to him. And Moses listened. This is evident by the fact that when God spoke to him from the burning bush, Moses recognized the voice for what it was.

When God informed Moses that he was to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses responded not out of self-importance, but with recognition that he was incapable of the task. He essentially responded "God, You remember what happened when I tried this forty years ago." God says "you're not going to deliver my people. That's my job. You're just the instrument through which I'm going to work." It was only when Moses understood this that he agreed to go.

I am a lot like Moses. I have often had grand plans of what I was going to do for God. In my pride I thought that He couldn't accomplish these things without me, when instead, the only reason that He chooses to use me as His instrument is so that I can grow closer to Him in the process.  

More Than a Foundation

(These are my thoughts over the past couple days.  While they are not worded in the best way, I felt that I needed to share them.)

Ask any builder, and he will tell you that the most important part of a building is its foundation.  However, there are so many different building styles and materials when it comes to the foundation.  When one travels to the plains states, he would see a very unique style.  In that part of the country, every building has a cellar.  The builder digs out the cellar, builds formations inside the hole and pours concrete between the dirt and the formations, creating concrete walls around the perimeter of the cellar.

When the twisters come in the spring and summer, that foundation provides the family with protection from the violent attacks of the storm.  Even if the home is blown away, the foundation remains.

We are called to build foundations for our families.  I'm not just referring to the physical foundations upon which our homes are built, but also the spiritual foundations upon which we need to build our homes.  Many people see the foundation as something that you build one time and forget about, but one must continually inspect and repair his home's spiritual foundation.  He must also keep in mind that the foundation is not just what he builds the rest of his home on, but also the source of protection for his family in the time of storm.  He must make that foundation the only One who can calm the storm.

How Amazing!

As a young child, I took part in a Christmas musical about the nativity from the angel’s perspective.  One of the songs that we sang went, “How amazing; how confusing! How can God the Son become a man?”  At that time, I just took the statements of my parents and Sabbath school leaders regarding the plan of salvation in blind childhood faith.  I never really tried to wrap my head around what it all meant; so, it took me a while to really understand just how amazing it is that Christ died for me.

Romans 5:7,8 reads, “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Everything that we as a human race do comes after what is known in the economic world as a cost/benefit analysis.  We examine how much we are going to sacrifice and we compare it to how much we are going to gain.  And it is here in Romans that we see God’s cost/benefit analysis, and it boggles our minds.  God says that he is willing to sacrifice everything for a chance to save someone who has made no indication that he is going to accept the gift that he is being offered.  Paul compares this analysis to those that we perform.  He reminds us that we as humans are reluctant to even lay down our life for our heroes, and yet God was willing to die for the yet unrepentant scum.  And, all of this, not because He was going to gain anything, but because He loves us.

In examining this seemingly twisted line of heavenly logic, God has been called by many “crazy,” or “underhanded;” crazy because He seems to have sacrificed everything for nothing, and underhanded because no one would really give up all that for nothing; he must have some other motive, right?  But God is neither crazy nor underhanded.  I have experienced first hand the results of this “illogical” plan and the immense freedom that it brings when we accept it.  While I regret the choices that I have made and the pain that I have caused my Savior, I am more thankful than I could ever express to have been the subject of God’s immense love, a love that even the angels have not experienced, a love that makes everything alright.

So now, eleven years later, I am beginning to better understand just how amazing, just how confusing the plan of salvation really is to us in our limited understanding.  So as we ask ourselves the question: how amazing, how confusing; why would God the Son become a man, we realize that perhaps the only answer we will find for now is: love. 

Closing the Back Door

Our church is currently facing a crisis.  It is as if someone has yelled “fire,” and now our young people are jumping ship.  It has been estimated that eighty percent of young people age sixteen or older will leave the church, and only thirty percent of those will one day return.  What is happening, and why aren’t our efforts in youth ministry more effective?

I believe that the cause of this crisis is itself rooted in our youth ministries methods.  During the industrial revolution, children were working in the factories every day of the week except for Sundays.  Robert Raikes felt that these children deserved an education and so he began what became known as the Sunday school movement.  These “Sunday schools” taught the little factory workers to read, write, and do simple arithmetic and also gave them basic religious instruction.  It was not long before religious leaders began to see a fundamental danger in these institutions.  The Reverend Thomas Burns wrote, “Be that as it will, I repeat it again, my great objection to Sunday schools is that I am afraid they will in the end destroy all family religion…”  His fear was that the parents would leave the religious training of their children to the Sunday schools rather than training them and mentoring them at home.

Since then, the education field has been transformed by the work of men like John Dewey (an American psychologist and the “Father of Modern Education) who were influenced by evolutionary theory.  They theorized that just as man had "evolved over time," students evolved through their education, and that the “less-evolved” lower grades should not jeopardize the evolution of the more advanced students.  And so began the reign of the age-segregated classroom.  These methods of education began to creep into the church to the point that children are no longer worshiping with their parents in the worship service but are again separated from their parents and stuck with a group of youth their own age and maturity level, thus continuing a pattern that has perpetuated itself all week and the week before that.

Yet, when we look for youth groups and age-segregated ministries in Scripture, we find a very different pattern.  Instead, we find parents taking responsibility for the training and shepherding of their children; we see the children under the constant mentorship of their parents.  Deuteronomy 6:6,7 reads, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” (Italics added)  Furthermore, Scripture puts the burden of religious training even more specifically on the shoulders of fathers when it says, “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4)  We are even told in Spirit of Prophecy that it was only because the parents in Israel were neglecting their duty to God and to their children that God commanded Samuel to institute the schools of the prophets (Education 45,46).  Had parents discipled their children as God had commanded them, there would have been no need for such schools.  

Could it be that the ministries that were designed to keep our young people in the church are the very reason that they are leaving?  Could it be that because our church has all these fancy programs, parents no longer feel the need to take personal responsibility for the spiritual development for their children?  Why is it that rather than follow the plan that God himself gave for the spiritual training of our young people, we have taken up the methods of men who gave no consideration to the ways of God?  When Israel asked for a king it was because they wanted to be like all the nations around them instead of being God’s “peculiar people,” and as a result, they faced the same hardships that the nations around them were facing.  Let us as a church not make the same mistake.  Let us follow the pattern that He has given us and not follow after the world’s methods. 

A Father's Good Gifts

As I think over this past year, and all that Christ has done with it, I am overwhelmed.  Who am I that He should bless me so abundantly in spite of all the detours that I have taken from His plan?  Yet like any good father, He enjoys giving His children good gifts.

Christ has used A.D. two thousand eleven to heal relationships and to continue to show me the man that He wants me to be.  One of the most profound methods of these revelations is also one of the most fabulous blessings that He has showered upon me.  In June of this year, through a series of miraculous happenings, I took the position of math teacher/assistant chaplain at Advent Home Learning Center.  Advent Home, located in the beautiful Hiwassee River Valley, is a boarding school/group home for troubled boys, many of whom have learning challenges.  Through this experience, I have, in many instances, been the student and not the teacher.  Many of the character defects that irk me the most are those that I myself have overcome or am still overcoming.  I have also been blessed enough to witness the Holy Spirit lead a couple students to repentance through discussions that I have had with them.  I daily thank God for giving me the opportunity to help prepare these precious boys for not only their earthly lives, but, more importantly, their eternal lives.  Two thousand, eleven has truly been an "Anno Domini": Year of Our Lord!

When I look back over the way that God has blessed me through this year, I naturally ask the question: "What does He want in return?"  The answer is really quite simple.  He wants me.  He has blessed me not because He wants something in return, but because He is love, and He loves me as His son.  But, as any father, He would like me to love Him as well, and so out of deep gratitude for His self-sacrificial love for a sinful wretch like myself, I commit myself, my passions, and my desires to Him.  I ask that He replace them with His passions and desires, and as a result, I have been given a passion for the lost.  And this brings me to my final thought: as much as I am looking forward to this New Year, I pray that it will be our last, and that God will continue to use me to to hasten His Son's coming.  I hope that He has blessed you as richly as He has me, that you will have a blessed New Year, and that we will celebrate the next one on the sea of glass.