Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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What Nehemiah can tell us about apologetics in the church

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Brick and TrowelI have heard that there are those in the church who do not feel that apologetics should be part of the discipleship process for believers. While I find it hard to believe that anyone would articulate such a position, I must admit that for a large part of my Christian experience, there was very little content that taught me how to answer the questions that arise from those who do not believe.

This statement in the book of Nehemiah got me thinking about defending our faith and the need for such defense.

“Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me.” (Nehemiah 4:17–18, NASB)

The fact that they could be under attack at any moment did not deter Nehemiah and the Israelites from completing the work that they had begun. They kept focused on building the wall, but were ready to defend themselves if attacked.

I believe this is a fitting challenge to those who do not think that being able to defend our beliefs is an important part of Christian discipleship. The truth will always have enemies. There will be those who refuse to submit to God and His Word. They will not be content to allow us to continue on without a battle. They will try to win the hearts and minds of those who attend our churches.

This is especially true of the young people that are raised in the church. In high school and university, they will encounter those who seek to undermine or destroy their faith. In some colleges that are considered “Christian” this is also a danger. What should be a safe environment may not be so. We must be on our guard.

It is not enough to just be on guard, we must know how to respond to the attack. It is one thing to have the weapons available, but they do no good if we do not know how to use them.

Let us learn from Nehemiah that we should be able to wield our weapons in defense, but we should not get distracted from our main objective which is to build up the body of Christ. Nehemiah and his crew continued to build while being vigilant to dispel any attack that might come at them.

The ability to defend our faith helps in accomplishing our mission. But keep in mind that apologetics is not the goal, it is a tool to be used in achieving the goal of making disciples.

On the ropes . . . intentionally

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Ropes ChallengeOn Memorial day, our family went with some friends to the Poconos to take on the challenge of a ropes course. I had no idea what I was in for but it sounded fun.

Since we are not a bunch to underdo anything, we elected to take on the full course. What I found is that they save some of the best and most difficult challenges for the end. Of course you always want to do the most difficult part after you become tired. Where is the challenge in doing the hard parts when you have fresh muscles and lots of excitement?

The hardest part for me was one section where we had to cross to the next tree by navigating a rope net that was hung vertically. It looks so easy in the movies when they climb similar nets on sailing ships, but I found it to be particularly difficult. I have a renewed respect for 18th Century pirates and monkeys.

Toward the end of the day, my forearms were hurting and my fingers were cramping because I was using them in ways to which they were unaccustomed. I was not sure that I could finish the course. My fear was that my grip would give out at a crucial moment and I would be one of the people who would have to be rescued by the guides.Yet, cramps and all, I pressed on.

We all made it through the course and have some stories to tell. Our effort may not have been pretty, we did not set a record time and all of us had a combination of elated moments and scary times. The outcome was never guaranteed, but we made it.

As an added bonus we even saw a black bear cub lumbering through the forest below us.

This morning, I look back on our adventure as a metaphor for life. In life, the results are not guaranteed, there are moments of heartbreak and moments of elation but somehow we muddle through. We may not be graceful in our handling of our adventure, we may not feel that we’re strong enough to make it but we keep striving until the end of the course.

For the Christian we have the added benefit of knowing that God is superintending the process and he promises to see us through to the end (Phil. 1:6). Jesus promised that he would always be with us (Matt. 28:20). When our Earthly adventure is done we can look forward to eternal life (John 3:16). We have an added dimension of security (perhaps analogous to the safety harness we wore on the ropes course) because of relationship with Jesus.

My experience yesterday reminded me that we have a gracious God who is with us every step of the way, even the difficult ones.

Thankful for the rumble strips

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Rumble StripsIn the area I live, the highway department has spent a lot of time and money cutting grooves in the side of the roadway that create noise if the driver strays outside of his driving lane. I call them rumble strips because they cause the car to rumble as you drive over them.

The rumble strips are quite useful and will likely prevent crashes due to driver inattention. The noise is so annoying that even someone who is falling asleep will be awake in an instant as soon as the rumble strips are encountered.

The warning the rumble strips provide is helpful to the driver in arriving at his chosen destination safely. Scripture provides similar warnings to keep us out of spiritual ditches.

For example, in Galatians 5, I encountered the following list:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19–21, ESV)

Many times when I have heard teaching on verses 19-21, the implication was that these are typical of those outside the church. It as if Paul is giving us a list of how we behaved before we encountered Christ.

But is this true? By coming to Christ do we no longer struggle with these things? My observation of myself and others in the church causes me to conclude that this is not true. We continue to struggle with these even after becoming a Christian.

I’ve seen plenty of rivalries, strife and jealousies in the church. I know Christians who regularly experience fits of anger. Many of the works of the flesh have been manifested at some point in church life. So Paul cannot be giving us a list of behaviors of only non-Christians.

What then is the point of this list? Perhaps the purpose is like the aforementioned rumble strips. The list gives us warning of when we’re getting off track. While orgies may be outside of our current experience, idolatry certainly is not. While you may not be tempted toward drunkenness, jealousy is probably lurking. Few of us can say that we do not experience inappropriate anger at times. How many of us can honestly say that we have never said or done anything that stirred up strife in the church?

The point is that when my focus is not on fulfilling the two great commands to love God and love others, I am likely to drift off the road into one of the works of the flesh. This list is a helpful assessment tool to keep us between the lines and moving in the right direction. When we find that we’re moving toward one of the works of the flesh, a course correction is in order and priorities must be reestablished.

I thank God that 1 John 1:9 is part of his revelation to us.

The radical call of Jesus

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Radical ChurchWhile growing up in the church, I did not grasp the radical nature of Jesus as he encountered the world in which he lived.

We think that things are so much different today as compared to Jesus’ world. But are they? If the people of the Jesus’ world were alive today what would it look like?

Jesus would have gone to Wall Street or perhaps Washington, D. C. to recruit Matthew. James, John and Peter would have been found at the Union Hall, standing around the bed of a pickup truck with a cooler full of cold drinks. Jesus would have pulled Judas from an Ivy League business school.

Pharisees would be using conservative talk radio to get out their message of pulling yourself up by your theological and economic bootstraps. The Sadducees would be on NPR preaching their message of universal tolerance. The Zealots would be buying land in Idaho and arming themselves to prepare to overthrow the oppressive government. Name any other broad category of people in  Jesus’ day and you can find a modern parallel.

The point is that Jesus called men from various backgrounds and pointed them all in a new and completely different direction.

In 21st Century America, we too often come to Jesus and add him to our current lifestyle rather than allow him to redirect our lives. Conservatives seek support for their economic policies in the Old Testament. Liberals seek support for their agenda from some of Jesus’ statements.

The Son of God is not a liberal or a conservative, he is not pro democracy nor is he a socialist. Jesus did not fit into any of the popular categories of his day, nor does he fit into the categories in ours. He defies the world’s categories and sets up one new one. We are either completely his or we are not.

Too often we Christians group ourselves into bodies based on our preferences that have nothing to do with the Gospel. We associate with people who look and act just like us. But look at the diversity in the first disciples of Jesus. For example, Matthew was a tax collector and a de facto supporter of Rome. Simon was a zealot who wanted to break the grip of Rome. Apart from Jesus, these two would be mortal enemies. But as a result of the call of Jesus, they lived and worked together.

Jesus was a radical. He did not fit into any of the categories of the world around him. If we are comfortable in any of the categories in our world then perhaps we’ve missed something in our understanding of Jesus’ call.

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