In the long-haul walls built by fear don’t work. The Great Wall of China in spite of being one of the Seven Wonders of the World never did do its job. The walls of Jericho offered no real protection. The wall Nehemiah rebuilt around Jerusalem boosted morale but did nothing to stop the tug of war carried out the great world powers in that territory. The Maginot line of defense didn’t stop Hitler for even a moment, he simply Blitzkrieged around it. The Berlin wall and the border fence separating East from West Germany failed to quench East Germans’ thirst for freedom, so they tore it down at the first real opportunity. Walls build by fear don’t work and it doesn’t matter whether or not they are made of concrete, or words of fear and hate, or usually both.I am surprised how many Christians are answering the siren call for more walls, be it more prison walls, border fences, or rhetoric that keeps repeating the refrain of “let’s keep them out so we can be safe within.” But how much Concertina wire do we want, how high and thick do the walls need to be, and at what point do we end up imprisoned ourselves, both actually and in our mentality?Christmas is just weeks away. Maybe we need to remember that God himself took on flesh to break down walls. Wall-building is the very antithesis of the reality of Christmas. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to liberate, to tear down walls that separate, to not be ruled by fear but by faith rooted in love, to help us escape from the inescapable walls our sins create, and to help us across the wall no one can leap over, death. Jesus came to reconcile and has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). As stewards of the Good News he has called us to concern ourselves not with how many we can keep out, but about how many we can bring in through the door of the cross.Do we as Christians have to be afraid that our Heavenly Father is no longer capable of feeding us, the immigrants (both legal and illegal), and the refugees (for whose plight we are partially responsible) knocking at our door? Have we forgotten that, “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NLT); that, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19 (NLT); and that, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” Matthew 25:40 (HCSB)?Before we give credence to the rhetoric of the those who constantly cry for more walls, before we attach ourselves to the political bandwagon of anyone who thinks wall building is a good idea, and before we repeat carefully crafted arguments for wall building rooted in patriotism or any other human rationale I am asking you to thoroughly examine the scriptures and let the word of God (the Bible, and specifically the New Testament) inform your opinions, your conversations, and your actions. “For he himself (Christ) is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household” Ephesians 2:14-19 (NIV, parenthesis mine).To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
And So - The Importance of What Comes After
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)Getting married is easy, declare your love, pop the question, set the date, get the license, plan the party, and say, “I Do.” But what comes after is a lifetime of being married, of being a spouse. Making a baby is easy and fun (If you are wondering how? Have your Dad, Mom, Grandpa, or Grandma explain it to you). But what comes after is a lifetime of being a parent. Getting saved, being reconciled to God, and having your sins forgiven is easy. You simply have to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the one who can save you, reconcile you, and forgive you. But what comes after is a lifetime of being a believer.Once you get married, once you put a baby into this world, and once you become a Christian the question is, “And so what kind of spouse and lover, what kind of Mom or Dad, what kind of follower of Jesus are going to be?” Of course that doesn’t depend on what has already transpired but on what you do, what you value, how you think, and how you live in the present. And the present is continual, ongoing.What are the chances of having a great marriage after a beautiful wedding if you don’t spend any time together, if you are disengaged, if you don’t maintain trust, if you don’t share values, and if you make lousy decisions? What kind of parent are you if the words sporadic, inconsistent, immature, and self-centered describe you? What kind of believer, disciple of Christ are you going to be if what happened when you were mercifully, graciously, and gloriously saved does not show itself in the ongoing present of the rest of your life?In the letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul spends 11 chapters (I would love for you to get out Bible and read those chapters) explaining salvation: That all have sinned, that all have a need to be saved, that sinner can be forgiven and be saved from the judgment of God and the ultimate penalty of sin, death and hell through the atoning work and power of Jesus Christ. But once you have believed in and have called on Christ to save you, once you are saved, what then? That is what the rest of the Paul’s letter is about.“And so” now that you are professing believer (brother and sister is a way believers see each other and often refer to each other, because through Christ they have become members of God’s family, John 1:12-13) this is how you become a good one, a life-long one, one worth emulating. There are two absolute essentials:
- You daily, continually offer yourself to God out of sheer gratitude. You see everything you involve yourself in as an opportunity to please, glorify, and worship God. Bringing yourself day after day as an “acceptable” sacrifice is above all an act of worship.
- You let God change the way you think by learning what he thinks, what he values, and what he loves. You let him teach you through his word (the Bible) how he looks at things and the ways he does things. And as you do you incorporate that back into point #1.
Here is an incredible reality, anyone who dares to live out his/her salvation in Christ based on the two core principles found in Romans 12:1-2 will end up being a better husband, better wife, better Mom, better Dad, better son, better daughter, better friend, better neighbor, and better human being. Oh I am for that!And so, by all means make sure you are saved, and then live like you are saved.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
“Do not go beyond what was written.” (1 Cor. 4:6, NIV) - Christian maturity and church health
Personality cults, immoral behavior and its acceptance, civil lawsuits, wild church services, making a mess out of communion, not grasping what church is, spiritual gifts misunderstanding and abuse, reliance on human wisdom above Gods’ word, a me first mentality, and major doctrinal confusion is what you would have found in the church of Corinth. The Apostle Paul wrote a lengthy letter to address and correct this collective ball of worms of Christian error and misbehavior eating holes all through the fabric of the Corinthian church, and continues to do so to the body of Christ even today.There are four root causes to church messes:#1. Sign seeking (1 Cor. 1:22-25) – Every church has sign seekers, those who think a powerful and hopefully miraculous experience will bring about strong and devotion to Christ, and at the same time prove their spiritual superiority. It’s a dead end. It has never worked, if it had then the Israelites who walked through the parted Red Sea would have been one of the most devoted and spiritual people who ever lived. But just week’s later the thrill had worn off and they danced and partied away from the God of the ten plagues, of the parted sea, of marvelous provision, and of fearsome glory, and exchanged him for a molten calf crafted from their own earrings.#2. Human wisdom enthusiasm (1 Cor. 1:22, 30, 2:1-13) – Every church has them as well, those who overestimate our immense capacity for reason, for science, for rationality. Unchecked this capacity coupled with human depravity leads to the kind of pride that dismisses the supernatural, doubts the wisdom and promises of God’s word, and dares to dismantle God himself. There is no less pride to be found here than in sign seeking, it simply exchanges pride in a portfolio of experiences for walls lined with books. Ultimate, eternal, and saving wisdom cannot be found even in the best and most brilliant efforts of the depraved human mind and spirit but only through God revealing himself, supremely through Christ, and our submission to his revelation.#3. Living according what is “Natural,” according to the “Flesh” (1 Cor. 2:14-16) – This is a temptation to all believers; it assumes that one can believe in Christ and not change. It believes that Christ is good for salvation but we are sufficient for Christian ethics, Christian morality, and Christian behavior in and of ourselves. This discounts the depth of human depravity, overestimates our capacity for goodness, orients itself too much on what we are accustomed to and what our culture deems right, and leads to constant conflict because everyone needs to agree with me or else they are wrong.#4. Spiritual Immaturity (1 Cor. 3:1-20) – In some ways this is an outgrowth of #1, 2, and 3, but it is root of its own. Maturity is never automatic, if it was then parenting is a waste of time, as would be books about character building, seminars on values, and the study of history. Maturity is acquired, learned, and practiced, it doesn’t show up overnight. Maturity submits itself to wisdom, knowledge, values, habits, thinking, and ways that are mature. Christian maturity does not form itself through extraordinary experience, or through great human wisdom and intelligence, or through innate humanness or cultural superiority, no Christian maturity is based on a faith submission to the written revelation of God, the Scriptures, the Bible. In doing so the spiritual maturity Paul speaks of does not discount the power of God to do the miraculous, neither does it put the mind out of gear, nor does it diminish our capacity to find wisdom, but it does not trust any on their own and so submits all of them to the eternal counsel of God’s word.However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
Grow Up
Our dogs have it made, at the productivity level of around 0%, they still get full benefits, tenure, unlimited time off, plus free food, free rent, free just about everything, all for occasionally looking cute, doing something dogish we can laugh about, going for an occasional walk, and welcoming/harassing the UPS man or whoever happens to drive up. They even get a free burial at the end of their days. I have to hand it to them though, they do know how not to mess up a good thing.What’s cute and acceptable among dogs does not, and should not translate to people. We are meant to grow up, to contribute, to take on responsibilities, to be productive. Being a baby when you are baby is very cute, but being a baby at 15, 25, 35, 45 is anything but cute. A toddler is supposed to be a toddler and it is okay for them to do toddlerish things and have a productivity level of around 0%, but it is ridiculous for an adult. You expect for kids to do the kind of things where you say, “What in the world were you thinking?” to which they will reply, “I don’t know,” and it will be true because they were absolutely not thinking (and many times you have to keep yourself from busting up laughing). This, however, does not fly for an adult, not thinking is inexcusable, as is being stupid and doing stupid things. For a young teenager to continually test the limits and to come up with half-baked excuses is halfway normal, but if he or she doesn’t grow out of it, it is anything but normal, but growing up is, becoming responsible is. There is a time to be baby, to be a toddler, to be a kid, to be a teenager, but then there is a time to be grown up, to be mature.I admit, being grown up is not all it is cracked up to be, it entails a whole lot of hard work, it has just about 0% of room to live a dog’s life or any other kind of life. But if you have kids they will appreciate it, so will your coworkers, your bosses, your neighbors, your parents, your friends, and your community.God’s word, the Bible, never encourages immaturity, irresponsibility, and laziness, no matter how it tries to excuse itself or how cute and funny it tries to present itself. Even to the church, the family of God, which has a responsibility to love and care for the needy, God through the Apostle wrote, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: ‘Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.’ Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good”2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 (NLT). To the Ephesians church he wrote, “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love” Ephesians 4:15-16 (MSG).Can you be mature, responsible, productive, and be young at heart, not lose your sense of humor, not act old and grumpy, be full of love, and be a source of delight to others? The answer is, absolutely, just imitate God.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans