A Review of Andy Stanley's "How Good is Good Enough"

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/5767

            The first time I read How Good is Good Enough? by Andy Stanley was about seven years ago. I, like many others, was given a copy of it from a friend with the following comment, “You really need to read this.” So I read it. I had about two hours to kill in a snow storm, and almost knocked out the entire book. To understand why I didn’t read the whole thing in two hours you have to understand how I read a book as captivating as How Good is Good Enough? I basically have to read the book twice as I go back and highlight all of the “good stuff.” In hindsight, I would have saved time (and a highlighter) had I just highlighted the passages that meant nothing to me.

            In my Christian experience I have heard one answer more than any other to the following question, “What must you do in order to go to heaven?” That answer is, “You have to be good enough.” Andy Stanley then takes the next step that so many of us have failed to take and asks, “How good is good enough?” Stanley walks us through the next several chapters answering and combating some of the most common fallacies of what it takes to earn a spot in heaven in a writing style almost as if it is just you and him over a cup of coffee. Stanley’s arguments are very thought out, extremely logical, and come accompanied with anecdotal examples to illustrate his points. He uses so much common sense that his arguments are impossible to defend.

            Christians and non-Christians alike will benefit from reading this book. The gospel of grace is clearly presented, while the gospel of works is very logically refuted. Unfortunately, many born again Christians have bought into the lie, that even if they have a right relationship with Jesus Christ they still need to score high enough on the report card of their life to make it in to Heaven. Stanley answers the spiritual question of both of these groups.

            This book is a must read. Witnessing to someone is as easy as handing them a copy of this book. There is a reason why many Christian bookstores sell this book in a multi-pack, and why they can be found in almost every pastor’s office. This is a book you will want to read again and again, as well a hand out. So I suggest you buy multiple copies.   

A Review of Brennan Manning's "The Ragamuffin Gospel"

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/4380
The 2005 re-print of the 1990 classic best seller, The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, comes complete with a foreword by Michael W. Smith, a testimony by the late Rich Mullins,  nineteen meditations for a personal spiritual retreat, and an updated chapter chronicling some of the opposition the author has received from his critics. Loaded with scripture, cited quotations, and anecdotes that will make you laugh, cry, and retreat into deep contemplation, The Ragamuffin Gospel is written like a well researched sermon intended for an audience of a handful of friends gathered at your house. 

            Grace—a word I thought I understood after walking with the Lord for over half of my life, three years of seminary, private study, and a career in the ministry, but Manning stretches all of our understanding of what it means to experience it. Manning writes the book from the dichotomous perspective of a former Franciscan priest and an alcoholic—someone who understands and can explain the most complex theological positions and make them understandable, and has experienced the depth of his own depravity with his addiction to alcohol. Manning argues that we each must come to grips with our own depravity before we can move on in much the same way an alcoholic cannot begin recovery until he or she admits the seriousness of their problem.

            Manning has received harsh criticism for his views on grace, and God’s love for us despite our depravity. One can understand his critic’s point of view if they only listen to half of his message. Their criticism is rooted in the fear that if God loves us exactly where we are (something we all teach the youngest of Sunday school students) what motivation do we have to grow and mature as a Christian, and what is the role of the pastor or other spiritual leader? Should we not be encouraging our flocks to live a godly life? Manning would say, “Yes, of course, but pretending to be something we are not isn’t helping anybody including yourself.” Once you understand the depth of your depravity, that God is still head over heels in love with you, and that you have done nothing to earn it and, therefore, can do nothing to maintain it, then and only then do you have the freedom to grow in Christ. Failures are no longer detrimental to your life, but mere stepping stones.

            So pastor, parishioner, or unbeliever, if you are feeling “bedraggled, beat-up, or burnt out;” if you sought Your Best Life Now but felt like you were left with nothing but hollow theology; if you truly want to grow your relationship with Christ, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Ragamuffin Gospel. If the Lord tarries, it is my belief that this book will go down in history as one of the great classics. Manning rises above the crowd of weak-kneed, ear tickling, applause loving preachers, with a self-deprecating humility that is much needed in today’s world. Thank you, Mr. Manning.           

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Why Does Fasting Take Forever?

Why Does Fasting Take Forever?

Sermon on the Mount Series: Matt. 6:16-18

            What’s the first thing you think of when you think of fasting? Most of you probably think of going all day, or even days at a time without eating. That is one type of fast. In fact, what’s the first meal of the day? Breakfast—break-fast. You are breaking your fast—not eating since dinner the day before.

            A fast is an avoidance of doing something for a specific period of time for spiritual reasons. There is really an infinite amount of ways that you can fast. The only thing that limits you is what you can think of. The common traditional Jewish fast was from sun up to sun down. Someone keeping this fast could rise early and eat breakfast, and then eat a late supper and still keep the guidelines of that particular fast. When Jesus went into the desert to fast, He did not keep the typical fast because He didn’t eat anything for forty days or forty nights.

            Who sets up the guidelines? That is between you and God. Two people might be fasting on the same day. One person might be fasting from midnight to midnight. Another might be only doing sun up to sun down. One might only drink water. Another might drink Gatorade or fruit juice. It all just depends on the restrictions you set on yourself. Now if you make a vow between you and God to only drink water, and you breakdown and drink a Powerade late in the afternoon, what have you just done? You broke your fast. Is it a sin to break your fast? I hope not, but in James 4:17 it says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” But in Romans 3:23 it says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Everybody has messed up. Shake yourself off and get back up and try it again. If you try to do something great and mess up, you are better off than the person who has never tried to do anything.

            What’s the purpose of a fast? The purpose of a fast is to get your mind focused on God and not on yourself. We cater to the wants, desires, and needs of our bodies so much and many times ignore our mind and soul. This becomes glaringly obvious when you do a food fast. Here’s a tip: I’m not a doctor but your body doesn’t need about 90% of the junk we are putting into it. There are special fasts called cleansing fasts where you only drink water allowing your body to get rid of all of the sugars and other junk stored in us. So going without food for a day won’t kill us, (Jesus managed to hold off for forty days somehow. It’s says He was hungry afterwards so it must not have been his divinity side taking over.) but when we miss a meal we’re like, “I’m going to die!” How many of you have ever said, “I’m starving to death”? For a designated period of time, you deny your body and feed your mind and soul.

            Now that’s just a food fast. There are other fasts designed to clear the junk out, too, but they’re designed to cleanse the junk out of your head. In January, K-Love was promoting listening to nothing but Christian music for a month. Barbara Unruh, the worship leader here, and I had a discussion before about listening to talk radio. We both like to listen to politically conservative talk radio shows like Glenn Beck, but we both agreed that after listening to it for a couple of hours we feel like throwing something, and that we have no hope, whereas, a couple of hours listening to Christian music puts us in a positive, lighter mood. Why is that? It’s because there’s trash, just like the sugars, and the fats going into our bodies, going into our brains and it affects us negatively. The reason why pornography is so dangerous and so addictive is because when it is viewed the brain releases a chemical into the body which is as addictive as heroin. That chemical is affecting the body, but the images you viewed are now stored in your brain forever. How do you beat your addiction to pornography? You have a pornography fast. Stop viewing it, which will stop the chemical flow. The problem is that the images stored in your brain occasionally are recalled which releases that chemical again. You can’t get rid of the images, but you can delude them with positive images until they’re hardly ever recalled again.

            Here are some other fasts that you can participate in.

Sex Fast: Every one of you non-married students listening to me should be participating in a sex fast right now. Remember a fast is the avoidance of something for a specific period of time, for a spiritual purpose. That specific period of time should be until your wedding night, and the spiritual purpose is to focus on God’s calling on your life, and keeping yourself and your future spouse pure. Men, you will be held accountable for how well you do at keeping your spouse pure (Eph 5). You could be feeding your spiritual lives with each other, rather than feeding your physical side, sinning against God in the process. It’s good to not have pre-marital sex for secular reasons (like not getting pregnant or diseases) but it is better to not have pre-marital sex for spiritual reasons. It’s not a fast, and you don’t get any “spiritual credit” if you are out looking to have sex but just haven’t stumbled upon it yet.

Media Fast: There have been people who stopped watching, and reading the newspapers didn’t get on the internet, listen to the radio, or watch TV. What did they do instead? Read the Bible, prayed, and spent time with their families.

Cell Phone Fast: Turn off your cell phone for a specific period of time. Pastor Brian says the silence of the cell phone is a spiritual discipline.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Fast: Take whatever R-PB Cups you have and give them to your youth pastor.

Soda Fast: I was inspired by Josh to cut down my soda intake. He didn’t drink soda for over a year and lost like 30 pounds. I was in the process of drinking way to much soda everyday and gaining weight every time I stepped on a scale. So after a few months of trying to quit drinking, and failing miserably I finally stopped the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and have lost around 5 pounds since Christmas.

Reading Fast: I failed miserably at this for reasons beyond my control, but I found myself finding time to read everything but the Bible. If I was sitting at the table for five minutes I would read the newspaper but not the Bible. I vowed to read nothing but the Bible for a few months.

Shower Fast: Don’t bathe for a month or two. Sitting by yourself at lunch and on the bus will give you all kinds of free time.

Beauty Fast: Pick out some hair or beauty products that you use, stop using it for a period of time, and take the money you would have spent on it and put it towards a mission project. Do you think God would ignore that?

            Let’s get into what Jesus had to say about fasting: Matt 6:16-18, “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

            I was going to wear some old clothes to make a visual image for you and act like I was fasting, but all of my old clothes that I would wear to make myself look disheveled would be clothes that I would normally wear anyways. I was concerned that no one would even notice. Then I became frustrated that you all think I dress like a disheveled slob.

            The point Jesus was making is to have your fast between you and God. Don’t go around telling everyone, or displaying how miserable you are about it. If you do, you are already getting your reward you were seeking—the attention of man. But if you want to be blessed by God, fast in accordance to the vow you set with Him, and use your free time to focus on Him. My rule of thumb with food fasting is that every time my stomach growls I say a prayer, and the half hour set aside for meals is used for prayer and Bible reading.

            All fasting is meaningless unless it is accompanied by prayer, and Bible reading. Prayer is useless unless you have someone to pray to. Praying to anything other than the creator God of this universe is useless. And for those prayers to be effective, you need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God loves you very much, but when you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you are now considered a child of God. And as children of God, He has a greater desire to answer our prayers than people he doesn’t have a relationship with. In the same way that I am more willing to grant a request made by Carrie, Juliette, and Caleb, than I am by some stranger. 

                   

              

The Model Prayer

The Model Prayer

Sermon on the Mount Series: Matt 6:5-15

            We are continuing in our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, asking the question, “Can anyone live out the requirements Jesus laid out in today’s society?” The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ longest continual teaching recorded in scripture, and is found in Matthew chapters 5-7. Matthew was a Jew writing to Jews with the goal of presenting Jesus as the Messiah. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, as the King of kings, is laying out the rules of His kingdom—not only for life in Heaven, but for life on earth. In particular Jesus was calling out the Pharisees, who were a group of people that were very religious and very legalistic. He was saying, “You think you’re all that, but you ain’t.” In chapter 5, Jesus said “Your view of theology isn’t right.” Later in chapter 6 He says, “Your view of the material world isn’t right.” And right now in He is saying, “Your religious practices aren’t right.” In particular Jesus focuses on three religious practices: giving; fasting; and praying. Last time we discussed how we are to give in such a way that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing.

            Of these three prayer is the most important. Prayer is communion with God. Paul said to pray without stopping. That’s a long prayer. How many of you would run out of things to say after a few minutes. Some of us would run out faster than others. I’ve seen people talk on the phone without ceasing. Every time I drive now I watch the other drivers and see who is talking on their phones. Women are always on the phone. I’m convinced that some people think their cars won’t run if they aren’t talking on their phones—like the batteries are somehow connected and feeding off of each other. I had two friends in Atlanta who both had really long commutes at the same time. They would talk with each other on the way, but as soon as it hit 6:59 they’d hang up, because that’s when the free minutes were over. They were communing with each other—building each other up in a godly way before heading off into their secular jobs.

            I’m probably like most of you. I’m going to run out of things to say really quick. But Paul says to pray without ceasing. He must have meant something else. When I first met Rebekah, she’s all I thought about. I thought about her night and day. She was the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing I thought about at night. I even dreamed about her. I couldn’t wait to get home from work so I could call her, because she wouldn’t call me. That’s what she said, “I don’t call guys.” Hmmm. And then one day my phone rang, and it was her. My heart skipped several beats because it showed me that she also was thinking about me. But guess what? I still remember the first time God spoke back to me in prayer. My heart skipped several beats then, too. For the same reason—He thought enough of me to talk to me.

            Maybe that is what Paul meant when he said to pray without ceasing. Get your mind focused on one thing—God, and concentrate on Him and His attributes all day long. That’s why memorizing Bible passages has been so effective for me, it forces me to focus on God and His word all day and not on whether the Indians will have a bullpen this year, or what a politician said the day before. Focus on God. Concentrate on Him. Tell Him how your day is going and the things that are concerning you. Even if He knows what you are going to say, He still would like to hear it. Don’t be like the old married man—his wife said, “You don’t say I love you anymore.” He replied, “I told you I loved you on our wedding day. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.”

            Giving, fasting, and praying. Of those three, prayer is the most important because it is constant communion with God. We can’t give like we are supposed to if we aren’t praying. And fasting is totally useless without prayer. The whole idea of fasting is to gather your focus on God and pray for specific concerns in your life. Fasting without prayer is like taking a shower with a raincoat on. Of those three, giving, fasting, and praying, praying is the only one where Jesus gives us instructions on how to pray. In giving: “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” In fasting: “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” In praying: “Don’t do this, don’t do that, instead do this.”

            Let’s read today’s passage: “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
      may your name be kept holy.
   May your Kingdom come soon.
   May your will be done on earth,
      as it is in heaven.
   Give us today the food we need,
   and forgive us our sins,
      as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
   And don’t let us yield to temptation,
      but rescue us from the evil one.

 If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

            The prayer Jesus taught is sometimes referred to as The Lord’s Prayer, or even The Disciples’ Prayer because in the Gospel of Luke it was the disciples who asked to be taught how to pray. Many of you probably have it memorized. I had to memorize it growing up as a Methodist because we said it every service. And then I had to memorize it in German when I was in seminary. The problem is that for many of us, it is just that—a memorized prayer, something Jesus had warned about in verse 7, “do not use vain repetitions….” It is just something we say that no longer has meaning behind it.

            The Lord’s Prayer was never meant to be something we memorize and utter every once in a while. It was meant to be a model. It was meant to be a basic outline, to help you commune with God in a more fruitful manner. It is a skeleton that we are to flesh out into a real conversation with a real God. Imagine if you had a boyfriend or a girlfriend who would speak to you only once a week (if you were lucky) and only said the same memorized 60 word paragraph week after week. “Hey Becky, who lives on

Stewart St

. Amazing is your smile. I liked it when we went out and got some food, and or watched a movie. Please forgive me if I said or did anything wrong. I think you are neat.” How many of you would be excited about that conversation? Jesus, in a display of divinity was able to boil down every perfect prayer, and every aspect of a perfect prayer into a 60+ word model.

            Let’s break it down. “Our Father in Heaven” We have a Father/ son or a Father/ daughter relationship with God. That right there is awesome. Some of you might be thinking, “Big deal. My dad’s a jack-wagon.” Yeah, but everything that is wrong with your earthly father is more than made up for by your heavenly Father who is perfect in every way. “may your name be kept holy.” We have a deity/ worshiper relationship with God and there needs to be a level of reverence that is maintained. “May Your kingdom come soon.” We have a sovereign/ subject relationship with God. He is our king and we should desire that His kingdom be established soon. “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We have a master/ servant relationship with God. He is like our boss, and we are his employees. We do His bidding. Our response should be “Yes, Lord” before we even hear His request. “Give us today the food we need,” We have a benefactor/ beneficiary relationship with God. He supplies us with everything we need to survive. He wants us to depend on Him for everything. The apostle Paul said in Philippians, “I have learned to be content in all circumstances.” Don’t worry about tomorrow. God will give you enough to get through today. “And forgive us our sins,” We have a savior/ sinner relationship. Only God can cleanse us from our sin. “As we have forgiven those who sin against us” We have a teacher/ apprentice relationship. God wants us to do to others what He has done for us, to us, and in us. In case you missed His point, He says it again in verses 14 and 15, “If you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you. “And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” Another common translation is “Lead us not into temptation….” We have a guide/ follower relationship. Just like if we all were taking a guided tour of an active volcano, we would be sure to follow the path of our tour guide.      

            But this is only a model. Once you understand the parts of the prayer you have to fill in the particular details of your life into the conversation. That’s how you make it a living prayer instead of a memorized passage. You can’t have a growing relationship without meaningful dialogue. You can’t have meaningful dialogue if you never say anything, or when you do it is something some else wrote for you.              

Love Your Enemies: Sermon on the Mount Series

Love Your Enemies

Sermon on the Mount Series: Matt. 5:43-48

            We are continuing on in our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, asking the question, “Can anyone live out the requirements Jesus laid out in that sermon in today’s world?” Last week we discussed turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and what you should do if someone demands or asks something of you. We finished off with a story from Matthew 15 where a gentile woman had the opportunity to be offended and fight back when she requested help from Jesus to heal her daughter. Remember Jesus first ignored her, His disciples asked Him to send her away, He separated himself from her due to her race, and finally He called her a dog. She took all of those insults and pressed on, because if she got mad at Jesus, mumbled something under her breath about how Jesus is all uppity, or how he ain’t all that and a bag of chips, she would have went home and her daughter would still have been demon possessed, and she would have lost all hope. What would she have lost if she did not turn the other cheek? She would have lost everything.

            Today we’re going to talk about loving our enemies. We won’t ask what will we lose if we don’t love our enemies, we’ll ask what will we gain if we do.

            Matthew 5:43-48 says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you: Love your enemies^[b] and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

            In the 1950’s there were five men and their families who set out to bring the gospel to a primitive, stone-age Amazon tribe. The five men were Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian. There main problems were that nobody knew where they were and that they were extremely violent. They were a nomadic tribe, which means they roam around depending on their need, in the rainforest of Ecuador. They were so violent that nobody wanted anything to do with them. So violent that nobody got close enough to them to know their real name. They were known as the Aucas, but their real name was Waodani. It would be like the boogey man’s real name was Walter but everybody avoided him and didn’t know that.

            They were so violent that it was unheard of to live long enough to be a grandparent. When scientists eventually were able to study them, they were able to go back five generations in their research and killings and revenge killings were everywhere. Six out of every ten deaths were homicide. That is extremely high, when you realize that they had no hospitals, doctors, or basic medical supplies. A lack of basic healthcare should have resulted in six out of ten people dying.  Everyone had a story about how a loved one was killed, and how they got revenge by killing someone else. It was a part of their lives. In fact, they had a motto, “Spear and live, or be speared and die.”

            In 1937, the Dutch Shell Oil Company cleared out a landing strip and set up business to drill for oil. A few years later, they abandoned the project because too many people were getting killed by the Waodani. When they left, an opportunity arose for missionaries to use the landing strip as a base for flying in supplies, and missionaries. A plane had crashed and Nate Saint became the new pilot/ mechanic for the base. He talked a few others into joining him, and eventually he had his group that would change the world.

            Around this same time, a young Waodani women named Dayumae, escaped from her tribe when she saw a canoe with foreigners in it. She ran to them. They obviously were frightened of the Waodani tribe and raised their gun at her. She still ran to them. She got in their boat and they took her to a missionary base. She learned English, but the missionaries learned the Waodani language.

            One day when, Nate was flying Dayumae over the rainforest, she spotted a Waodani village. They marked it on their map and made plans to make contact. They adapted a plan that one of them came up with years earlier. When he was in school, he tied a pencil on the end of a string. He noticed that if he made wide circles, that the pencil also made wide circles. But if he made tight circles, the pencil would barely move. He even said, “Someday, I’m going to use this method to deliver supplies to missionaries.” They flew over the village with a bucket tied to a string, and slowly dropped it as they made tight circles. The Waodani took the gifts from the bucket. After a few weeks, they began to put gifts back into the bucket. After 13 weeks, they decided it was time to make contact. They found a sandbar in a river that they thought they could land on.

            They made contact with three Waodanis and set up camp. The initial contact went really well, until the next day when some of the tribe became very angry that one young man was walking alone with a young woman. The young man lied and said they had to be alone because they ran away from the foreigners who were trying to kill them. It wasn’t more than a few hours later that all five of the missionaries were dead.

            It seems like such a waste of life. Why would God send five of the brightest missionary minds to a remote part of the rainforest and have them killed within a day of making contact? All of them had wives, a few of them had children.

            Elizabeth Elliot, wife of Jim Elliot, was invited by her parents to come back home to the states, and they would help her raise her two children. She said it sounded good at first but she turned them down, because she was a missionary before this tragedy happened and she would be a missionary afterwards. So she went to a missionary medical clinic where Nate Saint’s sister Rachael was working. Around that time two more Waodani women showed up. Elizabeth and Rachael made quick friends with them. Eventually the Waodani women said that they wanted to return to their village and that they wanted Rachael, Elizabeth, and her family to come and live with them. Elizabeth asked, “Do you think they will spear me like they speared my husband?” The two women laughed and said, “Of course not! You are our friends.”

            Dayumae became the preacher and gathered everyone around her on Sundays to hear about God, and all throughout the week, Rachael was teaching Dayumae. In a few short years the village became a Christian village. The homicide rate was reduced by around 90%. One tribe decided to stop killing and revenge killing, and so the other tribe did as well. Revenge killings documented for five generations disappeared completely.

            Steve Saint, and Valerie Elliot, two children who lost their fathers, both had a strong connection to the Waodani. Steve said he felt an immediate bond because everyone in the tribe had lost someone close them. And Valerie, when she decided to get baptized, she wanted it to be significant, so she was baptized in the river where her father’s body was dumped, and standing on both sides of her were the men who killed him.

            Their entire village was changed by the power of the gospel. What would have happened if the missionaries, who had a gun but refused to shoot at the Waodanis because “They aren’t ready for heaven but we are.”? Could they have made peaceful contact after killing off a few of them? No. What would have happened if the families would have turned their backs on the tribe that killed their loved ones? They would have kept on killing each other and when they were all killed off, they would ultimately spend an eternity in hell, separated from God. But these men and women loved their enemies, they blessed those who cursed them, and did good to those who hurt them.         

            Who are your enemies? How can we love them? Well, we can pray for them—that they receive Christ and that they might be blessed. Here are three more ways we can love our enemy: 1) Respond to the harm done to us in a non-violent way, just as the missionaries responded to their loved ones being killed, by teaching them how to live according to Christ’s commandments. 2) We must completely and unconditionally forgive them for the wrongs they have committed. This is easy to say from the pulpit, but much harder to do if you were the one who was raped, abandoned, or had your family member murdered. 3) Serve them. Just as Jesus washed Judas’ feet after the last supper, we can serve them by providing for a need. We can give them food, clothing, shelter, money, and help them during a time of distress.

            But to be quite honest, loving your enemy is an impossible task if you do not have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. And the only way to have the Holy Spirit alive inside of you is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.  

Turn the Other Cheek: Sermon on the Mount Series

Turn the Other Cheek

Sermon on the Mount Series:

Matt 5:38-42

            One of my favorite movies is The Last of the Mohicans, a movie about the French and Indian War. There is a scene where Nathaniel, the adopted son of the last living Mohican, walked bravely into the enemies camp with a Wampum belt held out to his side, which was a sign of peace. As soon as he was seen, he immediately started an uproar. People clamored to him, he was surrounded and yelled at in their native tongue. A man approached him, hit him and pushed him over, but Nathaniel calmly got up. Another man stood in front of him, blocked his way, and cut him with a knife. In pain, he moved forward. A third man clubbed him in the back of the head. This dropped him to his knees, while he grimaced in pain. All the while, he calmly walked forward, never raising his hands to defend himself or strike back. He was on a mission, and that mission could not be compromised.

            His mission was to rescue a British officer, and two daughters of a British general—one of whom was his girlfriend. Nathaniel knew that if him, his father, and his brother would to attack the camp all six of them would be killed. He had too much to lose if chose to fight back.

            There is an Old Testament law known in the Greek as, lex talionis, “the law of retaliation.” This law determined what amount of retribution an offender would have to endure if he harmed someone. Does anybody know what that law is? “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Quite simply, if you knock someone’s tooth out, you have to endure your tooth being knocked out. If you cause someone to lose an eye, you will lose an eye.

            But as we have observed over the last few months as we studied Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, that He may not have changed the law, but He change how we apply the law. For instance, the law says not to murder, but Jesus said, if you hated someone murder has already begun in your heart. The law said do not commit adultery, but Jesus said if you look at someone with lust in your heart you have already committed adultery. Here we have an old law and a new application. The law states how you are allowed to retaliate, but let us see how Jesus said we should apply it.

            Matthew 5:38-42 ³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰ If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. ⁴¹ And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴² Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”   

            Quite clearly, Jesus laid out the situation: “Here is what you are allowed to do, but here is what I suggest you do; Here is what you are obligated to do, but here is what I suggest you do. These are just suggestions but, if you are going to called one of my followers, I’m going to have some expectations of you.”

            There are four mandates Jesus laid out for His followers.

1) Physical Attacks: Has anyone here everybody maliciously hit by someone? How did you react? Did you fight back? Did you turn the other cheek, and allow him or her to strike you again? What is gained if you fight back? What is gained if you don’t?

2) Legal Suits: Here is an example of what to do in a legal situation. A tunic was like a shirt, but a cloak was an outer garment like a coat, that could be used as a blanket. A man could take your tunic in a lawsuit but he could only keep your cloak until sundown. Jesus said if someone takes what he is legally allowed to take, give him what he is not legally allowed to take, too.

3) Government Demands: The Roman soldiers could make any citizen carry their heavy bags for exactly one mile, but not a step further. Every Jew of the day knew exactly how far one mile was. Jesus again said do more, go farther than what you are obligated to do and go.

4) Financial Requests: Give to those who ask.

            But let us look more closely, at the physical attacks. There’s more than one way to be attacked. You can be physically attacked, verbally attacked, and emotionally attacked. Just like in the scene from The Last of the Mohicans, there’s a story in the Bible of a woman who was attacked four different times, but the mission was to important for her to fight back. She had to turn the other cheek.

            Matt 15:21-28 “Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
²³ But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
²⁵ Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
²⁶ But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
²⁷ And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

            She was attacked when they ignored her, wanted her sent away, put her down because of her nationality, and called her a dog. What would she have gained if she fought back? What would she have lost?

What's in a Name?

What’s in a Name?

            My name is Adam and after doing a little bit of research, I found that my name means, “Mankind.” Pretty boring, unless you are talking about the wrestler. My wife Rebekah, on the other hand, her name means, “Bound, Trap, or Snare.” The name implies that she is so beautiful that she will be a snare or a trap for her man. Carrie’s name means “melody,” or “song.” Juliette’s name means “soft haired.” And finally, there’s Caleb. Caleb means, “faithful,” or “bold.” It comes from the Hebrew word for dog. Dogs are awesome now. They are part of or families, but back then they were scavengers. Whoever named the Biblical character Caleb was not doing him a favor. It’s almost like that song made famous by Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue.”

            What’s the name of that guy I talk about every week? That’s right Jesus. I talk about Him every week. God help me if I don’t. Jesus’ name is very important. There was an old woman who lived in Alaska. A missionary visited her and told her about Jesus when she was about 90. She was illiterate, but asked that man to teach her how to spell the name of Jesus. When he came back to visit her, she had written the name of Jesus on everything she owned—tabletops, countertops, oatmeal containers, scrap paper, everything. She couldn’t stop writing the name of Jesus.

            The Bible is pretty clear about its importance, too. In Acts 4:12 it says, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And later in Philippians 2:9-10 “Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

            So let us start with His name. Jesus Christ. Jesus is His first name. Christ is not His last name. And His middle initial is not “H.” Jesus’ earthly father was named Joseph. Both Jesus and Joseph’s name mean “God will help.” What a perfect name. When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating the fact that God, bankrupted heaven and took on flesh to save humanity from its sin. “God will help.” God did help.

            So if Jesus is His first name, what is “Christ”? Christ is His title. It’s like Pastor Brian. Brian is his name. Pastor is his title. Christ comes from the Greek work cristo, which means “anointed one.” Anointed means “dedicated to the service of God.” Generally, there would be a service or a ceremony where a priest would rub oil on a person’s forehead and dedicate them. Jesus—God will help, and Christ--He was dedicated to God’s service.

            When I was a kid, I would watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special, other school and church plays, and I would listen to preachers tell the Christmas story and they would always quote this prophetic verse from the Old Testament. Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us.” I used to get so confused, why didn’t they name Jesus “Immanuel”? Just because He would be called Immanuel (which He was literally God with us) doesn’t mean He had to be named that. I’ve been called many things in my life, but that doesn’t mean that any of those should be my name. I’ve been called, “awesome,” “amazing,” “super cool,” but none of those are my name. The Dallas Cowboys, as much as I disagree with it are called what? “America’s Team.” Green Bay, Wisconsin is called “Title Town” but they haven’t officially changed the name, and most likely never will. There’s a difference between being named and being called.

            We could look a few chapters later in Isaiah to see a few more names that our Lord will be called. Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; (What’s the difference between a Child and a Son? Child speaks of His humanity, Son speaks of His divinity) and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace.” That’s the Jesus we can get with, right? Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, taking care of the government for us? We can move deeper into Isaiah and read all about how God would redeem His people and give us all kind of warm feelings inside, but lets talk about something that doesn’t give us warm feelings. Let’s read a passage that the High Priests in Jewish synagogues have removed from their yearly calendar for readings. The reason they removed it from their reading schedule is because it obviously pointed to one person, and they didn’t want to deal with that reality. In fact, there was a young Jewish man that talked his father into letting him attend a Christian college. Part of his required classes was to take Biblical classes. He was required to read Isaiah. When he read Isaiah 53, he was sure that the Christians wrote their own version of that passage, and went and looked it up in his Jewish version of the Old Testament. It was exactly the same. He then had to come to a decision. Would he ignore what he found? Or would he embrace it? He had to embrace it. That young man is Jay Sekulow, founder of American Center for Law and Justice, one of the principle opponents to the ACLU.

Let’s look at Is 52:14, “Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage (appearance) was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Isaiah 53

Who has believed our report?
      And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
       ² For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
      And as a root out of dry ground.
      He has no form or comeliness;
      And when we see Him,
      There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
       ³ He is despised and rejected by men,
      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
       ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs
      And carried our sorrows;
      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
      Smitten by God, and afflicted.
       ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
      He was bruised for our iniquities;
      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
      And by His stripes we are healed.
       ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
      We have turned, every one, to his own way;
      And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
       ⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
      Yet He opened not His mouth;
      He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
      And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
      So He opened not His mouth.
       ⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment,
      And who will declare His generation?
      For He was cut off from the land of the living;
      For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
       ⁹ And they^[a] made His grave with the wicked—
      But with the rich at His death,
      Because He had done no violence,
      Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
       ¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
      He has put Him to grief.
      When You make His soul an offering for sin,
      He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
      And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
       ¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul,^[b]and be satisfied.
      By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
      For He shall bear their iniquities.
       ¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
      And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
      Because He poured out His soul unto death,
      And He was numbered with the transgressors,
      And He bore the sin of many,
      And made intercession for the transgressors.

            I believe we are all here for a specific reason. I believe we were all born for a specific purpose. Nobody has ever been born by mistake. God knew you, made plans for you, and formed you. We may not know what our purpose in this life is, but God does. And as weird as it may seem, we celebrate the birth of a little baby boy, who was born to die. He was born to be humiliated, tortured, and eventually killed to take away our sins.

            We talked about the name of Jesus, and what He would be called, but one question remains, what are you going to call Him? Good teacher? Prophet? Lunatic? Some guy who died a long time ago? Savior? Lord? Jesus asked Peter 2000 years ago, “Who do you say I am?”