Attempts at Honesty

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The Light that can be found – reflections on a lyric by 3 Doors Down

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3 Doors Down Logo

The song “When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down begins this way:

There’s another world inside of me
That you may never see
There’re secrets in this life
That I can’t hide
Somewhere in this darkness
There’s a light that I can’t find
Maybe it’s too far away…
Or maybe I’m just blind…

What struck me about this lyric is the comparison with light and darkness. The Bible uses this same image in describing the light of the Gospel (Gospel means “good news”) shining in the darkness of the world. In Matthew 4:16 it says, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”

There are two problems identified which cause someone to not see the light. The first is blindness: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). This is the starting point for all of humanity. We are all born in spiritual darkness. God shines the light of his love into that darkness and we have to choose our response to it. The difference between believers and unbelievers is that believers choose to respond to the light of the Gospel.

The second problem is willful blindness: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Some choose to reject Jesus Christ and remain in darkness. Often this rejection is in reaction to the behavior of some who claim to follow Jesus. I empathize with this reaction and would like to offer a response.

Even though believers have responded to the Light, Scripture teaches us that until death or rapture some of the darkness remains in us and we say and do things that are wrong. True believers do not think themselves better than unbelievers. Even the Apostle Paul, the writer of much of the New Testament, struggled with this. He writes, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:19).

The only difference is that believers have accepted the love and grace of Jesus Christ. If we are changed, it is a result of that love and grace changing us; we can claim no credit. While our motives may be improved sometimes our results are not. Some of the cruelest things ever said to me were said by believers. That is the icky truth.

My point is that believers still hurt people, say stupid things, struggle with addictions, act in selfishness and generally struggle with the same stuff the rest of humanity struggles with. This does not make the Gospel less true.

The fact that we are changed at all is testimony to the power of the Gospel.

If you are an unbeliever, I would ask you to consider Jesus based on what He said and did. He is the truth and the light. We believers are sometimes good reflectors and sometimes poor reflectors of his light. Please do not reject Christ because of our poor reflection of him.

I can tell you that life with Jesus, in spite of our failures, is good. Paul follows his lament about his own struggles with this statement, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

No condemnation, peace, forgiveness. Life is good (not perfect) in the light. Please join us. The Light wants to be found and is always available.

On the need for the intercession of saints

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Sister Marianne CopeI read the article in the Huffington Post entitled Marianne Cope, Catholic Nun On The Verge Of Sainthood and I feel the need to respond.

I do not have a problem with honoring those who have served God well during their lives. God does this when he refers to himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” in Genesis 3. By this reference, God honors the forebears of the nation of Israel. So if my Roman Catholic brothers want to pay special honor to some who have served well, I have no argument against that.

I do have a problem with the teaching that it is necessary or appropriate to ask the saints to intercede with God. What is being said about the character of God when this is taught? Whether it is intentional or not, God comes off looking like a grumpy old miser who has to be coaxed into granting a petition. Or perhaps God is uninformed or misinformed about the situation and the saint is there to set him straight. Is God only able to handle petitions one at a time and therefore it takes the pull of a saint to jump the line, like slipping the maître d’hôtel a $20 bill to get seated faster?

I don’t intend to be flip, nor do I intend to be disrespectful. Yet, I think it important to point out that this portrayal of God does not match with what I see in Jesus. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Can anyone read the Gospels and think that Jesus is unwilling to grant requests or provide healing? Can you point to one story where Jesus needed prompting by the Disciples to meet a need?

Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:5 that Jesus is the only mediator we need, saints are not required for intercession. In Matthew 6:9 Jesus us teaches us to pray directly to the Father.

One of the best ways to drive efficiency in business is to eliminate the middle man. Whenever possible, I prefer to go direct to the manufacturer. Why would we not go directly to God when we have been given a command to do so from Jesus?

I am open to being corrected if I have misunderstood or offered an incorrect portrayal of the Roman Catholic idea of sainthood. Please feel free to offer correction in the comments.

No retreat baby and no surrender – Inspired by Bruce Springsteen

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Springsteen
Image via wikipedia

I woke up this morning with the Bruce Springsteen song “No Surrender” bouncing down the corridors of my brain. The line “we made a promise we swore we’d always remember, no retreat baby and no surrender” grabs my attention. This line reveals the heart of someone who is all in, someone who will not settle for half-way measures. Having a goal in mind, nothing will deter him from pursuit of that goal.

While the chorus is catchy and the no surrender attitude seems praiseworthy, the song does not articulate a goal worthy of such dogged pursuit. Yet, there is in the heart of man the desire for such a pursuit. The question comes in, what is worthy of such focus and energy?

One of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes comes from his essay entitled, “The Weight of Glory.”

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

The Apostle Paul demonstrates this attitude when he writes “I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” in Philippians 3:12. In his first letter to the Corinthians beginning in Chapter 12, Paul tells us that each believer has been given a gift or gifts from God for the purpose of building up the Church. Putting these two thoughts together it seems that the goal toward which Paul presses is the development and use of his gifts to build up the Church.

The responsibility of church leaders is to equip those in the local body to pursue what God has called them to do (see Ephesians 4:11). The responsibility of church members is to find out how God has gifted them and then find opportunities to use those gifts.

If we are pursuing depth in our relationship with God, if we are seeking to develop our gifts and put them into practice, then we are right in taking the no retreat, no surrender attitude. The goal must be worthy of the focused energy.

What goal do you think is worthy of a “no retreat” attitude?

Herod was conflicted about John the Baptist

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Mark 6:20 is an interesting verse. The best manuscripts of this verse tell us that Herod was conflicted about what to do with John the Baptist. Herod’s wife, Herodias, wanted John dead, but Herod feared John and was at the same time intrigued and confused by John. (Note that the KJV and NKJV tell us that Herod “did many things” rather than “he was perplexed,” There is strong manuscript evidence for the latter reading and this reading makes more sense in the context.)

To fulfill the mission of the church to make disciples, the church will interact with those who know nothing about God, the Bible or Jesus Christ. When we do, there will be times when, like Herod, they will be perplexed by the message, but hopefully drawn to it at the same time.

There is quote that has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi which says, “preach the gospel always, when necessary, use words.” There is something to this, we are called to live in such a way as to make the gospel attractive to those who have not yet heard it. Yet we also know that living out the gospel is only the means to earning the credibility to share the gospel in words.There was something about John the Baptist the Herod feared and liked at the same time. John earned the right to be heard by Herod by the integrity by which he lived.

That being said, John the Baptist did in fact use words. He preached an unequivocal message. He did not compromise his message for anyone, not even King Herod. We should do the same despite the pressure from outside, and sadly, inside the church to tailor the message to our post-Christian, post-modern society. The world needs to hear the straight truth about their need for a savior and that there is “one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5)

At the same time, we should not be dismayed if the world, like Herod, is perplexed by our message. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that those who are not in relationship with Jesus cannot understand spiritual truth. So we should not be dismayed.

On the other hand, Paul also tells us in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Therefore, we need to preach knowing that some will be perplexed by the message, yet hopeful that God will use the preaching to bring salvation and enlightenment to those who hear the message.

If we are faithful in accurately conveying the message of the gospel, God is able to break through whatever perplexity the hearer has. It is not our prerogative to make it more palatable. Dilution of the medicine renders it ineffective in curing the disease.

What do you think about this? Do you agree?

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