Hairy Legs and the Kingdom of God

I was at an event this past weekend called, Jesus in the Quran, and was caught off guard when I heard one verse read from the gospel of Luke. I actually looked it up to make sure he wasn't making it up. Check this out:

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
Luke 16:16

This is Jesus speaking here, and he is speaking to the Pharisees. Think about this...the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. This is quite amazing. This idea of "forces" is also seen as someone pushing themselves into the kingdom in a forceful manner...like they can't wait to enter because of what they have heard preached. Now, I am not denying God's sovereign rule here, so don't read that. But, the question has to come, "Why aren't people around you (me) forcing their way into the kingdom?"

Some will say that is because they are like Jeremiah, who brought the oracles of God and it was just God's will for him to be "unsuccesful" in the eyes of the world. But what if it isn't? What if what we are preaching is causing people to be turned off to the gospel? What if we have created our own Gospel, that isn't good news at all? Think of this. Just after this Jesus brings up that not one jot of the law will be destroyed, yet people will force their way into the kingdom. Meaning, the only way the Pharisees were going to keep people out of the kingdom is if they ADD to the law and the prophets, which they did plenty of.


I remember when I was in middle school, or somewhere around there, and I learned that some women around the world didn't shave their legs or arm pits. I was honestly disgusted. I couldn't believe it. How could women not understand that in order to be beautiful, they needed to shave? Not only that, but the dudes didn't mind if their women had hair all over their bodies...seriously?

Throughout my life, the more I learn about other cultures, the more I learn what is truly Western, or cultural, and what is actual truth. As I read something like this in Luke's gospel, I wonder if people aren't pushing, or forcing their way into the kingdom of God because we aren't making Jesus look as glorious as he should be? What if we have created such a Western, consumeristic Jesus that he looks disgusting instead? What if it is more about accepting a certian cultural standard than what the gospels actually speak about?

Not only that, but what if what we preach, we don't live? So, not only do we preach a Western Jesus, but we aren't even willing to follow that Western Jesus? How much of the gospel do we need to bastardize before we wake up and see the lives we are ruining?

Jesus said this:

My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

Seems like we are creating some sort of quasi secret club, where you need to climb the levels of understanding and culture to be redeemed.

What is amazing about this, is that the gospel is so simple that the theif on the cross merely believed and was said that he would see Jesus in paradise.

We have lost our first love...belief in Jesus and his power. Not only that, but we refuse to live like he calls us to. We don't love our neighbors, we don't love, pray for or bless our enemies, we aren't peacemakers, we aren't humble, etc. etc. etc.

Return to the gospel and look to see where you have Westernized the good news and get rid of that as a requirement to enter the kingdom. If it is your conviction, that is fine, but don't put your conviction onto others, or they might never force their way into the kingdom.

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Atheists Know More About Religion? Not Surprising

In a new survey it has shown that Atheists and Agnostics know more about religion than the average Protestant. If you want to read a short story on this, check out this news story here. But, if you think about it, they probably should. The reason I say this is that those who have a deep knowledge of religion and see its affects, no doubt will they become unbelievers of religion itself. This isn't surprising, nor is it troubling. When one looks at religion, specifically Christianity as a whole (putting both Catholicism and Protestantism in the same breath), it is pretty grotesque to look at and see any resemblance of Jesus. Why wouldn't those who have done a ton of study on religion become unbelievers? I honestly don't believe that many who call themselves atheists or agnostics have heard the true story of Jesus or those who actually follow him. What they have received is a look at what religion does to a people, instead of seeing those who are actually transformed by the good news of Jesus. One could call me an atheist to this kind of religion as well.

In the movie, The Book of Eli (a movie about a post apocalyptic world), one of the villains desperately wants a copy of the Bible because he desires to control the minds of others. He said, "it's happened once, it can happen again." What we see is that it has nothing to do with the Bible that causes people to sin and reign over people, but the person who uses it for their own gain. It's like a knife. It can either be used for open heart surgery to save a life, or used by a murderer to kill someone. The knife isn't the problem, the person is.

The main character in The Book of Eli, played by Denzel Washington, states this (talking about the Bible):

In all these years I've been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it.

If you have seen this movie, you will notice this is a very profound and timely quote.

When one then reads that atheists know more facts about the Bible than a lot of Protestants, many pastors will use this as sermon material to challenge their people. But, is this the point of the good news? Are we supposed to know facts about the Bible, or are we to be living examples of the Bible and point people to Jesus? The survey shows that some Protestants didn't know basic things like who Martin Luther was, or about what transubstantiation is truly about. Although these things might add to someone's faith, is this the most important things about our faith? Not at all. Our faith in Jesus shouldn't be about merely knowing facts about Jesus (which is important), or facts about the Bible (which is important), but our faith should be in the understanding that no matter how smart or how dumb we are, we are all in the same position of wrath because of our sin. We are in need of a Saviour. We are in need of Jesus.

I would rather see us, who believe in Jesus, show who the real Jesus is by loving our neighbors, by loving, praying for and blessing our enemies, instead of going to war with them. I would rather someone say to me, "your the dumbest person I have ever met, but one thing I know, you are a lot like Jesus." This isn't to show that I am some great person, but that I merely serve the greatest person to ever live, die and live again...the God/Man...Jesus.

This is exactly what the people said of some of the disciples in the days after Jesus ascended to heaven:

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus
Acts 4:15

Maybe instead of trying to be the smartest guys in the room, we should desire to merely serve the smartest guys in the room. Maybe instead of trying to do good on a test about facts about Jesus, we could show people up close who Jesus is and what he is about. Maybe instead of being a functional atheist, living like there is no god, we could live like we actually believe what was written to us by our God.

Maybe.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35

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The Incomparable Christ

This comes from John Piper's book, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.

THE INCOMPARABLE CHRIST

Let me try to illustrate what I mean by the self-authenticating message of Christ and His witnesses. The biblical accounts present Jesus as a man of incomparable love for God and man. He became angry when God was dishonored by irreligion (Mark 11:15–17) and when man was destroyed by religion (Mark 3:4–5). He taught us to be poor in spirit, meek, hungry for righteousness, pure in heart, merciful, and peaceable (Matthew 5:3–9). He urged us to honor God from the heart (Matthew 15:8) and to put away all hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). And He practiced what He preached. His life was summed up as “doing good and healing” (Acts 10:38).

He took time for little children and blessed them (Mark 10:13–16). He crossed social barriers to help women (John 4), foreigners (Mark 7:24–30), lepers (Luke 17:11–19), harlots (Luke 7:36–50), tax collectors (Matthew 9:9–13), and beggars (Mark 10:46–52). He washed disciples’ feet like a slave and taught them to serve rather than be served (John 13:1–17). Even when He was exhausted, His heart went out in compassion to the pressing crowds (Mark 6:31–34). Even when His own disciples were fickle and ready to deny Him and forsake Him, He wanted to be with them (Luke 22:15), and He prayed for them (Luke 22:32). He said His life was a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), and as He was being executed at age thirty-three, He prayed for the forgiveness of His murderers (Luke 23:34).

Not only is Jesus portrayed as full of love for God and man; He is also presented as utterly truthful and authentic. He did not act on His own authority to gain worldly praise. He directed men to His Father in heaven: “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood” (John 7:18). He does not have the spirit of an egomaniac or a charlatan. He seems utterly at peace with Himself and God. He is authentic.

This is evident in the way He saw through people’s sham (Matthew 22:18). He was so pure and so perceptive that He could not be tripped up or cornered in debate (Matthew 22:15–22). He was amazingly unsentimental in His demands, even toward those for whom He had a special affection (Mark 10:21). He never softened the message of righteousness to increase His following or curry favor. Even His opponents were stunned by His indifference to human praise: “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God” (Mark 12:14). He never had to back down from a claim and could be convicted of no wrong (John 8:46). He was meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29).

But what made all this so amazing was the unobtrusive yet unmistakable authority that rang through all He did and said. The officers of the Pharisees speak for all of us when they say, “No man ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). There was something unmistakably different about Him: “He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29).

His claims were not the open declaration of worldly power that the Jews expected from the Messiah. But they were unmistakable nonetheless. Though no one understood it at the time, there was no doubt that He had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19; Matthew 26:61). They thought it was an absurd claim that He would singlehandedly rebuild an edifice that had been forty-six years in the making. But He was claiming in His typically veiled way that He would rise from the dead—and by His own power.

In His last debate with the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41–45), Jesus silenced them with this question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They answered, “The son of David.” In response, Jesus quoted David from Psalm 110:1: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ” Then, with only slightly veiled authority, Jesus asked, “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” In other words, for those who have eyes to see, the son of David—and far more than the son—is here.
“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41–42). This kind of veiled claim runs through all Jesus said and did.

Besides that, He commanded evil spirits and they obeyed Him (Mark 1:27). He issued forgiveness for sins (Mark 2:5). He summoned people to leave all and follow Him to have eternal life and treasure in heaven (Mark 10:17–22; Luke 14:26–33). And He made the astonishing claim that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33).

Piper, John: Desiring God. Sisters, Or. : Multnomah Publishers, 2003, S. 324

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Best Sermon Ever Preached

I believe this is the best sermon ever preached and one that we should truly model our own preaching from. The centrality of the good news and Messiah and the penetration of the hearts of those hearing is quite astonishing...especially since it was about half a minute in length.

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”

And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

“But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;

and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

“And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

But passing through their midst, He went His way.

Luke 4:16-30

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Why People Hate Christians.

I know this is a bit odd to put up this kind of post, especially since I am one that is a Christian, or what I would rather be known for, which is a follower of Jesus. My intent is not to merely beat up those who are my brothers and sisters, but to call them, and myself, to repentance. This post isn't exhaustive as there are many reasons historically and currently why people hate Christians. There are some solid reasons for hating us as a group, and there are some nonsense ones as well. My reason for writing this post is simply for those who call themselves Christians to contemplate what I have to say, pray on it and seek to see if there are some changes that need to take place within each of our hearts.

I believe that one of the main reasons that people hate Christians is simply found in our pride of self and lack of concern to hear other's speak. We love to hear ourselves speak, and we love to be right. We cover this with a facade of "there are absolutes and I am God's messenger." While there are absolutes, let me remind you...your knowledge isn't one. You, and I, are finite in both life span and wisdom. God is the one who is infinite in both time and wisdom. It becomes so bad that when speaking to people about honest concerns over how we show people Jesus, my own brothers and sisters would rather make "sound bytes" and "be right" than try and learn from one another and truly glorify God in our humility. Humbleness and meekness have lost it's luster in the Christian walk and have been hijacked by American pride and self promotion.

Yesterday, I put up a quote that most Christians have heard before and one that always gets a reaction. This time, instead of making any commentary on the quote, I simply put it up to see what kind of reaction I would get.

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." -- Mahatma Gandhi

The reactions were mixed, but I knew I would get some of the reactions that we are known for. Instead of being torn up to see that maybe we need to follow Jesus more and love others more than ourselves, people decided to attack the beliefs of Gandhi. What Gandhi had to say about us should make us stumble, should make us a repentant people ready to show of Jesus. Instead, we point the finger back at the accuser. Poorly done friends.

The reality of the quote from Gandhi is just that...it is reality. We, those who follow Jesus, do a poor job of it. We should OWN this, not dismiss this. I, personally, fail so many times it is ridiculous and that is the very reason I should be the most humble, repentant person on this planet crying out for the perfection of Jesus, not the perfection or accusation of the one accusing me. We need to understand that "making a point" or "trying to find loopholes in an argument" or "being right" is not what is important. The important thing is that we need to show off more and more of the one who saved us and is continually saving us, which should cause humility, not boasting or pride.

I also wonder what right we feel like we have in the West to have these thoughts of pride and entitlement. I heard from a missiologist that out of everyone in the world, there are two places where the gospel is not growing among the people...

United States and Europe

Is this really a surprise with our pride and the love of self promotion? People are seeing right through it. One pastor put it like this:

“The Gospel came to the Greeks and the Greeks turned it into a philosophy. The Gospel came to the Romans and the Romans turned it into a system. The Gospel came to the Europeans and the Europeans turned it into a culture. The Gospel came to America and the Americans turned it into a business.”

Even Madonna is seeing through the facade...she is known for saying:

Christianity is becoming more of a currency than a belief

For those of us in business it is very easy to spot the marketing techniques churches use to promote their name, to promote who they are, to build up their followers. I continue to hear pastors brag about how much they are giving away, how much they are serving the community, how much their church is growing, etc. Then during their sermons, they rip other churches apart as though they were trying to put together a trashy political ad campaign.

Why don't we go ahead and promote Jesus, live like he did, be ready to listen first, and when we screw up admit it and ask for forgiveness from those around us?

When Gandhi tells us that he doesn't like Christians because we are nothing like Jesus, we should really take that in. We should contemplate ways in which we can change. We should look for ways in our lives that we are not living more like Jesus, instead of ripping someone else apart. When I read what Gandhi says, I should hear it like this:

I love your Christ, it's you I don't like, you are so unlike your Jesus

Then...I should first repent and look for ways to be more like Jesus and then point people to Him, not me.

When we speak first and don't care to hear the rest of the world, we are a prideful people who doesn't think we need learning. We are to be humble.

So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,
The eyes of the proud also will be abased.
Isaiah 5:15

For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. Isaiah 66:2

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23:12

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
1 Peter 5:5

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
James 4:6

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Pursuing Holiness Will Destroy You

I came from a church that preached personal holiness. They used Scripture to speak of ways to become holy in our actions, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. What they meant was here are some things you should do, some things you should refrain from so that you can be holy in conduct. My pursuit for holiness was caught up in my actions and what I was either pursuing or abstaining from each day. I thought I was pursuing holiness as I didn't watch certain movies, didn't listen to certain music, refrained from using certain words, didn't drink certain drinks, didn't smoke, didn't go to certain places, read my Bible, prayed, was involved in "church", memorized Scripture, etc. If I could just do these things, I was pursuing holiness. The issue was that I kept screwing up and could never pursue these things perfectly. On top of that, as I pursued these things, or abstained from these things, I found myself falling into the worst trap of them all...pride. I was very proud of what I was accomplishing, and it was becoming evident that I didn't need Jesus, because I was becoming such a good saviour for myself.

Here's the real issue in all of this. Every time I pursued my own holiness, I heard from Isaiah saying,

For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isaiah 64:6

Not only this, but I also found other commands to be pretty empty and I truly didn't believe them. Jesus told us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. I used to laugh at this verse. How was this easy? How was this burden light? I felt like a Jew, hoping my righteous deeds were good enough for, not only my salvation, but also my assurance of salvation. I was hoping my fruit was ripe enough so that Jesus would say, "well done good and faithful servant." I thought that John was full of it when he said, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). His commands are not burdensome? Yeah, right. What I found as I was pursuing holiness, like it was something to be obtained, was that Jesus' commands were hard, heavy and burdensome...just the opposite of what I was reading in the Bible. Then I thought...maybe it wasn't Jesus that was wrong, but the teachers I was listening to, this fake Gospel I was listening to.

Since leaving this church and pursuing Jesus, every time I hear "pursue holiness" it freaks me out some. Not because I want to "pursue licentiousness" but because I automatically revert back to this idea of sanctification, both positionally and progressive, come by my works for God, as though he needs them.

Yesterday I saw a quote by J.I. Packer that nailed it:

The holiest Christians are those who are fully focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, not on holiness.

This couldn't ring more true. If one pursues holiness, and sees holiness as a thing, instead of a Person, namely Jesus Christ, they will be destroyed, both in this life and the next. Pursuing holiness is a Person. We should be pursuing Jesus, pursuing God, through the work of the Spirit. As we pursue the Messiah, we will be pursuing holiness. As Jesus said, "you can do nothing apart from me," this includes holiness. Holiness isn't found in how much time you spend in the Bible, how much time you spend in prayer, how much time you spend in ministry, how much you abstain from sin, but it is found in how much you pursue the Person and work of Christ and understand that he has already done it for you...he wasn't joking when he said, "it is finished." He is our holiness, both now and forever.

This doesn't mean that we don't pray, read our bibles, minister to others, love our neighbors, etc., this means just the opposite. Because as we pursue more of our Saviour, the more these other things will naturally flow from us and not be a burden. It isn't a burden for me to love my wife, it is natural, because I love her.

Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
Matthew 15:16-20

This is why Jesus spends so much time on the heart. The only thing that can turn us from a sinful people is to circumcise our hearts and replace them from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, which only God can do.

We must trust in his work, not our own. No matter how much we work for holiness, we cannot obtain it. Only God can clothe us in righteousness through replacing our sin, with the righteousness of Jesus. This is why grace is so amazing. This is why the gospel is so simple. This is why Jesus continues to point to the faith of children. Because the harder you try to obtain righteousness through what you do, the farther you are separating yourself from the perfected work on the cross by the Christ. Do you hear that? You aren't getting closer to Jesus the harder you work for righteousness...you actually are growing farther apart. I can't stress this enough.

Don't pursue holiness as though it is a thing to be obtained, but pursue holiness as a Person...Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 6:35

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Church isn't What You Do On Sunday, or a Building You Go To

It is amazing how much you have to keep saying this. It is amazing how much you have to remind people who claim to follow Jesus that the church isn't an organization, but a people. I have once again been emailed by someone saying that I am spiritually confused because I allowed Muslims to come and pray in our church. Huh? If you actually broke that down, that would mean that I allowed a Muslim to enter into my body and pray inside of me. The term "church" literally means, a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly.

I still remember something that Ravi Zacharias said years ago. He said,

We can thank God, because we are no longer a people who come together at the temple to pray, but, we come as the temples of God to gather together to pray.

Huge difference. There is nothing sacred about the building you go to on Sunday, at least no more than the bedside you pray at before you go to bed. The only thing that makes that place holy is that you are a temple of the living God lifting your voice to the one who created you. You, because of the imputed righteousness of God, are holy, not a place. The only reason that the ground around the burning bush was holy was because God's presence was there.


Church is an interesting cultural term that has been hijacked. If those who followed Jesus understood that church is who you are, not what you go to, our lives would be more of the radiance of the glory of God everyday. The problem is that because the Roman Catholics took the term to mean a religion instead of a people, it has forever confused people and caused people to stumble.

People now, see church as something you go to, a building, a service, a once a week encounter with the living God. Why don't we just be honest...if you believe that, you might as well be Jewish and live in the Old Testament. I am not trying to slight the Jews, I am just saying that they go to the temple, they are awaiting the rebuilding of the temple, they sacrifice at the temple, they worship at the temple, etc. That is a different paradigm altogether than what a follower of Jesus believes, or should believe.

Because of this confusion, Christians have a bad rap for a very good reason. Historically, and today, Christians do what they want 6 days and 22 hours of the week and then they come to worship God and "be holy" for two hours out of the week when they go to church or to Mass. If we believed that Jesus came to live within us, that he sent his Spirit to commune with us and to guide us, then we would understand that our whole life is a life of worship, all the time. If we understood this, we would love people everyday, we would love our families everyday, we would have communion with God everyday, we would seek to worship God everyday.

We wouldn't make bad business deals on Tuesday and then come to worship on Sunday. Instead, we would worship God through that business deal and then come to worship God on Sunday as well as the gathered church.

We wouldn't yell at our wife and kids on Wednesday, and then act like everything is fine when we come to encounter God at church. Instead, we would be repentant when we yelled at our wife and kids and seek to love God through loving them everyday and then come together as the church gathered and seek forgiveness, guidance and truth from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

I know this sounds pretty basic, but I believe we often look the basic tenets of the faith to try and pursue the "more difficult ones." When in reality, if we focused our efforts on the basic tenets, the more difficult ones would work themselves out.

We will continue to ask our Muslim friends, and any other person seeking to understand Jesus more into our Sunday gatherings or into our building where we meet. We do this because we love our neighbors and seek to bless them. We don't desire to be separated from the world physically, but we seek to infuse the gospel into the world as we await our coming King.

Please know.

You don't go to church, but you are the church if you trust in the work and seek the forgiveness of Jesus.

I just wonder how much people would truly see Jesus if we took our calling to be the church more seriously with our culture. Maybe they aren't denying Jesus, maybe they are denying cultural Christianity that we have so badly misrepresented over the years...To be honest...I desire to deny that as well.

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Is Jesus the Eternal Son?

This is actually a very honest question. I have always thought of Jesus as being the eternal Son of God, but I am just looking to see what this means. I am not doubting that Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity is eternal, or that he is the eternal Word of God, the Logos. What my question comes down to is sonship. I know MacArthur got in some trouble in the 1980's for believing Jesus was only God's Son at the incarnation. My question to anyone who wants to chime in is, "Where can we show that he is the eternal "Son"?" And...Is this heresy if people don't believe in eternal sonship? When I say eternal...I am not speaking of current to future eternal, but eternity past before the incarnation.

I am asking based on some verses such as:

For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again,
“I will be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me”?
Hebrews 1:5

I guess I mean...what does this verse mean if he is saying that "today I have begotten you"? And then speaking in future sense of the incarnation of "he shall be a Son to Me"?

Please play nice...these are just questions.

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Love Your Enemies: Video

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What Is Faith? Stripping the Christianese From the Term

There are certain terms that we use so often in our cultures that they have either been stripped of their meaning or no one really knows how to define the actual term. What usually happens with these terms when someone is asked to define them, they'll either say, "I don't know?" or will try to make up some odd explanation that forces them to talk in circles and making as much sense as Sarah Palin explaining foreign policy.

One of these terms is "faith." In the Christian world we have done a poor job explaining what this term means and have used such terms as "belief" to equate it with faith. People will say, "faith means to believe". What does believe mean? I don't know. So the spiral of confusion continues. Some say we have to just "take a blind leap of faith." What does that mean? And does anyone actually ever take a blind leap of faith?

Hebrews 11:1 gives us a great explanation of faith that tells us what we should expect from God when he tells us to have faith. I am not going to be a complete apologetical theologian and explain in this post who God is, or prove he exists. I am going to assume you believe in some sort of greater power than you that created all things. If God created all things, we should probably take his definition of faith while trying to explain it...especially those who claim to follow Jesus.

Here is how Hebrews 11 defines faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

What this one verse doesn't tell us is what the term meant in all of the Scriptures when spelled out in Greek. The term always related to Jesus or God and their work. So, when we see assurance, or sometimes translated as substance, of things hoped for, what things is it speaking of? The "things" hoped for has to do with the work of Jesus Christ. That because of the work of God in this world that is evidence of who he is we can have hope that what he said will happen in the future will happen. Maybe this doesn't help practically. Let me explain. Everyday, we have faith in other things that we don't feel have anything to do with God. This faith is assurance or substance of things hoped for. Example. We believe that when a woman is pregnant that she'll have a healthy baby. Why? The reason is that based on other experiences of seeing people have babies and the stats we see, the probability of that woman having a healthy baby is really good. Even more so, our faith in this goes way up when the doctor tells us that everything is going as planned in the pregnancy.

So, is this faith blind? Not at all. It is based on something. It is based on other actions and evidence that we have seen to have made our minds up that having a healthy baby is pretty common. Is this a blind jump of faith? No. Is it faith? Yes. You don't know what's going to happen. The doctor has no clue, he's just playing probabilities.

The second part of Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the conviction, or assurance of things not seen. This definitely plays into the last example I gave. But this has to deal with why we can have so much assurance or conviction today for things that have happened in the past. Think about sitting in a chair. You have no idea, usually, who made the chair, where it was made, or if it will hold you up this time. But, based on your knowledge of seeing others sitting in the chair, your experience sitting in chairs without them busting underneath you, your faith is built up that it is okay to sit in chairs even though you never saw it being built. You have a conviction and assurance of something not seen, namely the carpenter building it and the time he put into it to make it sturdy.

Is this faith? Yes. You have faith that the chair will hold you up. The two part process of faith in Hebrews 11 is very hard to separate as they go so much together. So, what do followers of Jesus mean when we speak of faith?

Basically, based on seeing God's providence, power, creation, historical evidences and scientific evidences throughout our lives, the lives of others and through nature we have the assurance that our hope is in the right place (namely the work of God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit) and that we have a true conviction that where we are presently in our faith is the outcome of knowing that we have not seen truly happened and happens.

Our faith in Jesus is not a blind leap of faith. It's based on substance, assurance, conviction and evidence, all given to us by God through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

For those who are Christians who want to know a very practical way to think of your faith, it was spelled out very well in a book I am reading.

A translator was trying to translate a Bible for a tribe, but the tribe had no actual word for the term faith. As I speak to translators, this happens all the time, but what they look for is evidences of a certain word in that culture and then attach biblical terms with those local understandings. This translator went out with the local chief to hunt for the day. They were out all day and were very tired from all the hiking through the forest. As they got back to the village, they both sat down and just rested in the chairs in the front of the chief's home. At that point, it hit the translator clear as day. He asked the chief, what is the term for what we are doing right now? You know resting after working so hard and being tired? The chief told him and that was the term he used for faith.

Faith is resting in Christ and His work.

Jesus said,

My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:30

If, as a follower of Jesus it is hard for you to understand this, your faith is probably not on resting in Jesus, but probably toiling in your own works. We are to believe that the works of Jesus are enough and that our work is merely sprung from the love we have in our Saviour who bore our sin on the cross and rose again to show us the victory was won in Him, and nothing about us.

I hope this post helps explain faith in a clearer way to those who ask you.

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Giving to the Poor is Cross and Christ Centered

I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller called, Blueprint for Survival: Social Concern, and he quoted the great Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McCheyne on giving to the poor and the needy. It is quite Christ and cross centered and I thought I would share it here.

Dear Christians:

Some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ

If so, you must be like him in giving. Though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor.

Objection: My money is my own.

Answer: Hmmm, well, Christ might have said: My blood is my own, my life is my own. Then where should you have been?

Objection: The poor are undeserving

Answer: Well, Christ might have said these are wicked rebels, shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels, the deserving poor. But no, he left the 99 and came after the lost; he gave his blood for the undeserving.

Objection: Well, but, If I give my charity the poor may abuse it!

Answer: Christ might have said the same thing, yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet, that most would despise it, that many would make it an excuse for sinning more and yet he gave his own blood.

My dear Christians, if you would be like Christ: give much, give often, give freely to the vile and the poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word; it’s more happy, it’s more blessed to give than to receive.

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Why I love my Muslim neighbors - Part One

"25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”"
Luke 10:25-34

Now we all understand that Jesus basically raises the bar on what it means to be ones neighbor. I want to look at the second part of the Great commandment in verse 27. Jesus said:

• "Love your neighbor" - I have thousands of neighbors in my city that are American citizens, international students or refugees. They also happen to be Muslims. They pay taxes (even international students pay sales tax when they buy good and services in America), take the bus, work normal jobs, drive cars, have families, and watch television...just to name a few every day things. The same types of things I do on a regular basis. They are my neighbors. Just like the retired couples that live on my street, my coworkers, the grocery store clerk, and the waitress at my favorite restaurant. Muslims are my neighbors. And because they are my neighbors, Jesus commands me to love them.

• "As yourself" - This is the part that gets me every time. I definitely love myself, no doubts about that. That comes natural. I wake up every morning, wash myself for the day, eat a good breakfast, drive my comfortable car to my wonderful job, make sure I eat a good lunch, come home to have dinner with my family, spend time throwing my son on the couch and tickling him, and stay up with my wife after we put him to bed...to name a few things I do on a regular basis. Basically, most of these things I mentioned are natural ways I love myself. So Jesus commands that I have this same type of love for my neighbors (including my Muslim neighbors). So this would mean, I actually care for their natural well being. I care about whether or not my neighbor has something to eat or not. Can he/she get to work. Are they happy in general and can I add to that happiness in any way, shape or form. Etc. Etc. Great examples of being a neighbor are my neighbors John and Lois (who are normal, homegrown, Caucasian Americans). John is a delivery driver and drives all day long. We have been their neighbors for about a year now. Every once in a while, John stops by our house with some extra goodies to fill our fridge...things like juice, cheese, tortillas, etc. We are never out of extras in our fridge because of John. One day before winter, John came and dropped off wood for our fireplace. We never asked him to do this, he just did it. He did it because the last winter was rough here in the Seattle area, so John wanted to make sure me, my wife and our young son would have a warm home. WOW! This is one of the very few ways John and Lois has loved us just like they love themselves.

So, before I elaborate on why a specific, focused love for my Muslim neighbors, let me ask you:

1) Who are your neighbors? Focus on a few for the sake of these questions.
2) Are you going out of your way to love them as you love yourself?
3) Why is this so unnatural for us, especially if Jesus commanded it?
4) Who/what can give you the power and ability to accomplish this task?
5) What next steps can you take to love your specific neighbors as yourself?

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Loving Osama Bin Laden is For Wimps

I have been seeing a lot of people speaking about, posting stuff, etc. on loving Osama Bin Laden as an example of who we should love, because he is our enemy. But, when you think of it, if Bin Laden hasn't killed anyone you know, how much do you actually see him as your personal enemy? I understand that the things he does are very evil and he does them on a mass scale. I am not trying to diminish his inexcusable acts of terrorism (nor am I trying to speak to those who have been personally attacked by this glutton for terror), but I just think it's too easy for most of us to talk about loving him. I mean think about it. How many times has he knocked on your door? How many times have you spoken to him? How many times have you had the chance to bless him personally?

We are told many times in the Scriptures to love our enemies, and to love our neighbors. Although I think it is helpful to point to guys like Hitler and Bin Laden to show that we should even love them, we must then take that example and apply it in our personal lives.

Who in your life is your personal enemy? Who in your life "gets under your skin"? Who in your life has hurt you, either physically or spiritually? Who treats you or has treated you wrongly?

When Jesus was dying for our sins on the cross, he was staring the dudes in the eyes who nailed him to the cross. Although he would have, no doubtingly loved those enemies who were far from him, but it's a huge deal that he would say this as he is being mocked and spit upon:

Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:32-43

It's easy to love some guy living in a cave half way around the world, but what about the enemy that lives in your own neighborhood or works with you every day? How do you show that you love them? How much do you pray for them? How much do you bless them? Maybe we shouldn't stop at loving the caveman terrorist, but continue that thought with the guy that is a thorn in our side.

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Church Programs Suck

Alright, not all church programs suck, but a church that is all about programs ends up usually focusing on the wrong thing, or the wrong people. This post comes off the heals of meeting with one of my pastors and speaking about this. What I found is that our thoughts were right in line with each other as we have both seen programs strangle the spirituality from people within the church. Not only this, but I read an article by Dave Patty called, "Raising Up Disciples." This was some prework for the Missional Community Group Leadership training that happens once a month from my church gathering, Soma/Harambee. I have been thinking a lot about these things since being a youth pastor for close to 6 years and seeing what this kind of program did with the relationships of kids and their parents and also being a part of a church that had more programs than people to lead them. Not only have I seen that part of programming, but since being part of Harambee for almost a year now, I am seeing the benefits of a church that focuses more on organic ministry, instead of forced programming.

Now, this post will focus in on why I have, and am, turning against programming, and have for about 3 years now. With this in mind, I do want to put this disclaimer before you continue to read. I am not saying that all programming is wrong or a sin. I am not saying that all programs are bad for the church. What I am trying to get through is the dangers of programming in the church and how it can become a crutch, instead of a help.

1. Organic Ministry Gets Squashed

Me saying "organic" sounds like I am carrying around a purse and saying that it is a European carry all while drinking an appletini. Let me continue before you beat me up and take my lunch money. When I say organic, I mean that God has given us all personalities that are both similar, yet different than those around us. He has given us desires and traits that are neutral to holiness or sin (different topic than total depravity, which I adhere to), yet definitely show off the Imago Dei. God is very diverse in his traits (i.e. just and gracious), and has created his creation to show off his diversity and glory.

Historically, programming has taken these personalities and tried to force them all together, instead of allowing us to live our lives how God has created us. Meaning. Churches love to have discipleship programs, men's breakfasts, women's bible studies, prayer meetings, etc. All these are usually done in the same way, and leadership has historically asked the membership to show up to these things, on a set day, set time with a set schedule. When members don't show up, or are disenchanted with the program, leadership becomes frustrated. What has happened is that the leadership has told the members how they are to worship God, how they are to study who God is and when to do so. They have taken a diversity of personalities and pushed them into a preconceived setting that leadership has determined as the best one.

This squashes a lot of people who just don't have the personalities to sit in a room for 2 hours in an uncomfortable chair listening to a boring speaker tell them why they suck. This type of programming squashes organic ministry. Why not preach to the heart of your people on Sundays to live out the gospel and allow them to do it in the ways that seem right in their lives and play in the hands of how God has made them? Why not allow them to do this through going to their art class, participating in community efforts, playing sports, taking their kids to sports games, having dinner with neighbors, etc.? This allows the leadership to not get frustrated with having the same four people showing up at every event and complaining about all those other people who aren't mature in the faith. Organic ministry allows for people to do ministry in every part of their lives and not see it as only on Wednesday nights. Organic ministry allows people to get together for Bible study and prayer, or allows them to go out in nature and experience the glory of God. Organic ministry allows leadership to not stress about how much time they have to be in some group, instead of being the pastor to their family first. Organic ministry allows families to give their first fruits to God and their family, instead of the left overs. Organic ministry says, "live your life for the glory of God!" Programming says, "We know how you should live your life for the glory of God: Every Wednesday from 6-8pm."

2. False Worship Can Take Root

Programs, for the most part, usually start to figure out how to worship God and allow others to do so. This can be based on age, sex, marital status, or just similarity in where one lives. What I have seen over and over again is that instead of the worship being focused on Jesus, the program takes over and becomes worshiped. Not only this, but the leadership within this program can be not only worshiped, but can replace the duties of the family. The easiest example is youth groups. I led a youth group for almost 6 years. Honestly, I replaced a lot of dads as the pastor of their family. When the youth had an issue, the kid came to me. When the family was struggling, the whole family came to me. When the kid had an issue, the mom would come to me. I became not only the father figure in homes that had both parents that loved Jesus, but for a lot of people, without them or me noticing, I became their functional saviour. Not only this, but the youth group became my functional saivour. If I failed, or the youth group failed, our joy was stolen and our hope was removed. Now, this wasn't some long lasting thing, but was quite obvious when it did.

Not only can the people themselves become worshiped, but the program itself can become worshiped. In my last church, there was a program in the church that was obviously taking up too many resources, was jacked in the gospel presentation and the people were getting too tied up in it. Plain and simple, the pastor said, "We'll never get rid of (said program) because it has just been here too long and we have nothing to replace it with." That's jacked. The program started to be worshiped. If we were to get rid of it, the pastor mentioned that people would leave and would demand something else. Again, jacked. This isn't this pastor's fault alone, but it is also the congregants as well. The program was seen as so important that if it was to leave, so would many people. The people, and leadership, didn't understand how we could get rid of something that had been in the church for so long. As if Jesus wasn't good enough. And actually, the gospel wasn't even being presented correctly within the functions of this program, yet these issues were put to the side, for the glory of the program.

Church programs become so much a part of the church that they become worshiped and so do the leaders within them. If you change or get rid of these programs, the people don't know what to do. They act as if there is no way to worship God correctly. They believe their children will grow up as drug dealers and prostitutes and that God isn't smart enough when he said that the parents are to be the primary ones that teach about the statutes and glory of God (Deut 6).

3. Programs Take Us Out of the World

This is the most messed up thing of it all. When you add up all the programs in your church that you go to, or expected to go to, when do you have time to serve your family and live life for the glory of God to those around you? If someone has kids, it gets even crazier. You have youth group, community groups, men's group, women's group, discipleship groups, Awanas, and then special church events. When does one have time to just live life? What if this isn't what God wanted? What if he didn't want us to continually live closed off to the world with an "Open" sign on the front door of the church. Basically, if you look at a church bulletin, what it is really saying is, "these are the times we are open for business."

What if instead, we lived our lives in the world with the view of glorifying God in it? What if instead of having our kids go to youth group or Awanas, we had them in swimming classes, art classes, karate, sports, dance, etc. living their lives with a Godward perspective? What if afterwards and beforehand, we talked to our kids about how to live and participate in these activities while worshiping God? What if we had neighbors over for dinner, had BBQ's, fun events in our neighborhood, etc. to show that we aren't closed off to those who aren't like us? What if we just lived normal lives radically for Jesus? What if the teaching of our kids and our families didn't happen in programs, but in every day life? What if our neighbors saw us as just normal people who loved Jesus? What if it wasn't about inviting people to your church event, but instead, invited your neighbor to just live life with you while you show off Jesus?

The clincher is just asking, "How did Jesus do this?" What is funny is that when we look to how Jesus did this, is that he did this with his apostles just by being with them and living life with them and the world. Jesus understood that worship, discipleship and learning didn't happen at a scheduled time on a Wednesday evening, but happened by living life and living life for the glory of God.

Here is an excerpt from Dave Patty's article on discipleship

(Dave's wife is speaking to him about the term discipleship)

“Dave, do you think a lot of people feel pressure when they hear that word?” “What do you mean?”I asked. “It just seems to me that people think Discipleship is some special formula, some program, some kind of neatpackage. If someone takes you through the right steps you can say you have ‘been discipled’ and if you do it to others youcan say you are ‘discipling them’. I just think it has a lot more to do with following Jesus, and pulling some people close to you so they can follow Jesus too.”

In Mark 3:14 Christ appointed twelve—“designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” We see here Christ’s initiative in challenging men and calling them to who they would become. We see his vision, that they would touch others and preach the good news of the kingdom. But before this vision could be realized, we see him calling them to “be with him”. As we follow the disciples from this point on, their training appears a bit chaotic. Christ’s teaching and preparation is intensive, but it often seems to be haphazard, designed to shape and mold whatever raw materials life had thrown at them in a given day. What remains consistent, however, is the characteristic of Christ’s presence in their lives, and their presence in his. They were “with him”, and he “with them.”

Raising Up Disciples by Dave Patty

Maybe we should just see how God has called us to be as the church, instead of trying to make the church an organization that is open for business and we go there to be taught and trained. Maybe we only go as the gathered church once a week to hear the great news of the gospel of grace and the rest of the week we live that out. Maybe this is exactly how Jesus did this and exactly how the apostles did it. Maybe this is why they had so much time to focus in on making disciples instead of memorizing the correct answer that the group leader will ask from the handout he emailed to us. Maybe this is why the church in America is so stagnant. Maybe this is why people hate the church. Maybe we should stop calling the building the church and understand that we are the church. Maybe we should understand that worship doesn't only happen when at that ugly building, but happens all throughout the week as we live our lives.

Maybe church programs suck, because they suck the life right out of us instead of filling us up with joy.

Maybe Jesus had it right and what he did wasn't cultural, but something that could be repeated until he returns. Maybe. Just maybe.

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Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

Innocent until proven guilty is the law in the United States Judicial system, but it is not the law found in the word of God. We are told that we are guilty as we are born into this world by a sinful woman. There is no doubt in this. So much so, that the Revelations tells us what the devil is doing:

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

Revelation 12:10

We are guilty. We are not innocent. There is no argument. There is no evidence needed and the devil knows this. How frustrating must it be for him to show us all our sin to our holy God, and yet come up short. Why is this?

The simplistic reason is that because of the cross, those who believe in Jesus are said to have had a "great exchange":

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10

So, although we are guilty and we do no good in of ourselves, we have been given the righteousness of Christ, who although he was tempted in all things, never sinned. When we are accused by Satan, God looks at those who believe and only sees the righteousness of His Son. And of his Son, God says:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Matthew 3:17

Because he is well pleased with his Son, and the Son's righteousness has been given to us, there is nothing that we can be accused of, and there is nothing that we can do to gain "a more pleasing attitude or disposition" from God. May we remember this.

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Mike Gunn's Response to Crosstalk and Ingrid Schlueter

Recently, the infamous Ingrid Schlueter got wind of our (Harambee) dialogue with a local Muslim community (MAPS) about "Who is Jesus?", and instead of calling us to speak to us she decided, along with many of her readers, to slander us on the internet calling us many names. I wrote a post on my response in regards to being called "dumb so-called Christians", "heretics", "a reprobate church", "denying Sola Scriptura", "Christian dupes", "den of thieves", "false teachers" and now, most recently, useless idiots. They say that this is just to warn others about what we are doing, although I am not sure how we are affecting them (like God needs to be defended?) nor did they ever actually call us or contact us to try and understand what the dialogue was all about.

Below, is Pastor Mike Gunn's full response to Ingrid's blog post and accusations. I want everyone to know my immense respect for Pastor Mike and how much he has taught me about the true understanding of the gospel and how it/we should interact with culture for the glory of God. If I were to give you a list of all the things he does locally and globally, and how much God has used him in ministering the word of God, it would sound like I was exagerrating and a little vain, since he is a friend of mine. Yesterday, we spent some time at lunch and spoke even more deeply about this subject of culture and the gospel (he has also written a book on the subject) and how much this type of attack does nothing but harm the gospel. This is why he felt it necessary to at least write a rebuttal of what was said, so that we could return to the most important part: The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Enjoy the post and ask any questions you might have.

Living In the World, But Not Of It!
By Pastor Michael Gunn

It saddens me that I have to write a rebuttal letter to those that have taken liberty to judge Harambee Church, Mark Driscoll and Acts 29 because Harambee hosted a forum for Muslims and Christians to get together to discuss the person of Jesus Christ from the two different perspectives.

First, I want to say that Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill nor Acts 29 had anything to do with this event. This event was born out of relationships and ministry in and among Muslims in the Seattle area. The fact is there are 30,000 Somali Muslims alone in the King County region, and there are 1.3 Billion Muslims in the world; many of who have never heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, it’s important to state that Harambee Church has always promulgated a clear, Christ-Centered gospel that is Reformed in its roots, and has never backed down from the hard theological entanglements that come with it. We have lost many people that do not agree with our theology, and our desire is not to “water down” the gospel so people will stay. These are major assumptions of our detractors. We do believe however that it is both prudent and biblical to preach a clear gospel that the people can understand. This tradition is taken from men like Peter, Paul and Jesus. When Paul was confronted with pagan believers in Athens (Acts 17), he departed from his normal strategy of “reasoning from the scriptures,” to utilizing pagan poetry to clearly communicate his message (Acts 17: 27-28). Gospel authors, such as John, used pagan terms, like logos, in redemptive ways in order to better explain Jesus to a pagan audience. The words the bible uses for God (Elohim/Theos) have pagan roots, yet they are redefined in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1: 1-3). Subsequently, using a biblical form of contextualization is true to the tradition of the biblical writers, and needed in order for the gospel to be understood by each subsequent generation and culture. Therefore using words like Allah (which is the Arabic word for God) is not any different than using the words Elohim or Theos. So many want to argue the fact that the root of Allah is from a moon god, whose name was Sin, but whose title was Al-Ilah (ie. Allah). While there are many linguists who would argue a different root for the name Allah, why does this matter? Our own Hebrew term for God is a plural, pagan term El – Elohim? Jesus’ words on the cross were “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is similar to Al-Ilah. Why is this an issue? If we were in Germany we would use “Gott,” which has its own pagan history, or if we were in Andra Pradesh India, we would be forced to use “Deywadu,” which is fraught with all kinds of pagan ideas. Yet, we would be forced to use these terms to communicate a clear understanding of the truth of the gospel. It is a biblical contextualization that takes these pagan terms and redeems them with the fuller truth of the gospel (See John 1:17).

Thirdly, it appears that many of those that hate Mark Driscoll and Acts 29, and decry dialogues, such as the one we hosted at Harambee, feel that if you aren’t immediately persecuted when you proclaim the truth of the “Good News” then you must not be preaching a true gospel. There’s an heir of self-righteousness that accompanies their assumptions, because not all of Jesus’ or Paul’s encounters with sinners and pagans ended in derision and persecution. In Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well (John 4), we see a somewhat muted story that the Holy Spirit uses for her conversion. While I believe Jesus was confrontive, it was done in a gracious manner, and was received well by the Samaritan woman. Jesus’ tact with the men on the road to Emmaus was explaining the story line from Moses, through the prophets to the present time, which is exactly what Mike Ly did when he explained the clear gospel of Jesus Christ to the non-believers who were present at the dialogue. But, it seems, that some think that the message of the gospel isn’t truly there unless persecution and hatred is the result. I believe Acts 17: 32-34 gives us insight into the reality when the clear gospel is heard clearly; “Some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this’…but some men joined them and believed.” Isn’t this the goal? To tell you the truth, there were definitely men, at our dialogue, who “sneered” and some that got a bit testy during the panel at the end, because we answered every question very clearly, and biblically. However, we also believe that we won an audience with many Muslims that night that have emailed Michael and stated that they never heard a presentation about Jesus in this way. It was counter to their understanding, and they literally want to “hear us again concerning this.”

There is no doubt that persecution will be a result of the gospel. I personally have been screamed at, spit on and punched, but not every encounter of the gospel results in people hating you. Jesus Himself, “kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). In order to cut through some cultural and political garbage, the gospel often needs to be heard well, many times. Our goal is to love our enemies, as we are clearly commanded in scripture, and to gain an ongoing relationship for the sake of the gospel, so we could:

“Speak forth the mystery of Christ…in order that we may make it clear in the way we ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned as it were, with salt so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”

Colossians 4:3-6

Christ and Christ crucified will always be the central focus of the preaching here at Harambee, as it was that night in March, but our goal is to “season our speech” with the grace and love of Jesus, and then allow God to work in the hearts of the people regardless of the consequences to our own lives.

Fourthly, the claim that MAPS (The group we worked with) has ties to CAIR, which has Hamas ties is irrelevant. Jesus commands us to love our enemies (Matthew 5: 43-44), and Paul exhorts us to “bless those who persecute you” (Romans 12:14). Even if all 150 Muslims in that room were Hamas (and that’s what I say is absurd, because they aren’t), so what! Aren’t we supposed to face our enemies, love them, and even bless them? Shouldn’t preaching to them Jesus be our goal? Aren’t we commanded to take the gospel to the “nations?” It seems as though many Christians are more interested in preserving their national identity than they are their identity in Christ. Their God has become a politically driven (Democrat/Republican, depending on which political side you choose), white American, which allows them to demonize those that don’t look and act like we do. Is that what Christianity has become? Isn’t our allegiance to Jesus, to live like Him, and not endorsing everything our political persuasion or our nation demands? Weren’t the early Christians persecuted (not for their message of the cross) for calling Jesus Lord, and not giving that title to the emperor? Yet, by all accounts, they lived exemplary lives and were loved by many in the culture.

So many comments in some of these blogs make claims that Muslims are the “antichrist,” thus justifying a lack of hospitality to over one billion people in this world. They use texts like 2 John 9-11 as their “proof text” for such a response. It amazes me that people who claim to be the guardians of the “truth,” can be so callous with the scriptures they claim to love. It was poor exegesis like this (not “Postmodern” relativity) that justified slavery and genocide by the church in the past. This verse has nothing to do with reaching non-believers and having them in your house, and it is contradicted by many actions of both Jesus and His disciples. This verse is speaking of false teachers within the church, not outside non-believers. Paul iterates a similar idea in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13.

This kind of legalistic nonsense reminds me of a quote from Westminster Professor, Michael Horton who said,

Christians are supposed to be in the world but not of it, but the problem is many of them are of the world, but not in it.

Unfortunately, I find this all too true. While they wear a badge of separation, they act no differently than the world. They use human effort and methodology to effect change, political power, division, slander, and lack of love for all people, which seems to color their repertoire. They act as the older prodigal son, who bitterly opposed his father because of his own claims to the throne. It’s easy to vilify the “enemy” as antichrists when you see yourself as “righteous.” It is only when the gospel penetrates your heart and reveals the ugliness of your own righteousness, that are we able to act in grace toward others, as Christ has done to us.

Our intent for the Muslim dialogue was not to water down the gospel. As a matter of fact, the leader of MAPS told our pastor that we are the first church they have dealt with to present a gospel that is clearly contradictory to the Muslim idea of truth. But the aim of MAPS, and the reason they felt it was a “success,” was that we both could state those differences, with reverence and grace, and though we vehemently disagreed with one another, we will continue to discuss Jesus. We will continually work out our disagreements with love and respect for one another, and I just don’t see how that is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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3 Minutes to Live: What Would You Say?

As I was standing in the Cry Out! studio this past Friday, listening to the young emcees writing and spitting some freestyle, I stood up and read something on the wall. It was a challenge by Celestine and Tara. It simply asked, "If you had 3 minutes to live, what would you say?" I thought about this. Would I declare the love I have for my wife? For my children? What would I do? I think that what I would say, or what I think I would say would have a lot to do with what I worship or idolize the most. The one thing I do know about myself is that I am a finite sinner with zero prominence or power of persuasion. I won't be remembered much after I die. I won't have people bringing flowers to my grace in the thousands, like some famous celebrities. Because of this understanding, I figured why wouldn't I say something that has stood the test of time and has real power over the thoughts and minds of people? My wife and kids know I love them, as I tell them so much that my oldest son has repeatedly told me, "Dad, I get it...you love me..."

If I had 3 minutes, this is what I would say, what would you say?

“Men and women that have come to hear me speak or will read of this later, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through this earth and examining the objects of your worship, I notice that you all worship different things, with different thoughts and ideals. They seem to change yearly, if not daily. You worship money, you worship self, you worship your good deeds, you worship sex, and because of this, you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like the dollar, or gold, or an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a dirty tampon; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our sins, like the wind, take us away. Because of this, Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Now I make known to you, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my enemies, those unknown to me, the gospel, which I am delivering to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to Paul also. Afterwards, at the right time, appointed by God, Jesus spoke the truth into my heart and revealed to me His Gospel that was passed down from the prophets of old, to the church of history and to the continual truth bearers until Jesus returns. For I am the least of the children of God, and not fit to be called His child, because I persecuted the church of God and everyone else I came into contact with. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

What must you do? You must repent, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Turn to him and believe, knowing that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Do this and know that you and I will worship the one true God forever in heaven. No work, besides the work of Christ will save you. Know that it is not because of who you and I are, but because of who Jesus was, is and always will be.

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The Most Prophetic Chapter in the Bible

Job chapter 9 has to be the most prophetic book in the Bible. The reason I say this is that Job is called the most righteous man to walk the earth by God himself in Chapter 1. After everything is taken away from Job he comes to the conclusion drawn in chapter 9. It is packed with wisdom from a man who knows his condition, knows God's goodness and perfection and is left to just complete bewilderment of what he can't do. The amazing thing is that there is only one person who can answer the most prominenant conclusion in chapter 9 by Job. It comes in verses 32 through 35 and it states:

For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
Job 9:32-35

Read Job chapter 9 and just glean from its beauty. Amazing that this came from the man that God described as, "...none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Job 1:8b

Then Job answered and said:
“Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God?
If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
who does great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
“God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
It is all one; therefore I say,
He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
“My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
Job 9

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