Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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What is Caesar’s and What is God’s?

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Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25 record the familiar phrase “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The fact that all three of the Synoptic Gospels record this saying is an indication to me that it is very important. There is something here that I am supposed to get.

Hearing this taught while growing up in the church and reading the Gospels for myself, I never encountered any idea that this passage might be saying anything more than it is right to pay taxes.

The government has the authority to demand taxes and we are called to be obedient and pay them. Recently, when reflecting on this verse, it seems to met that In addition to taxes, the government, or world system, can demand our time, our effort and our intellectual power. In short, Caesar, as representative of the world system can demand our resources from us.

The world can demand our resources but what are we to render to God?

1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that we, as believers, have been purchased for God, therefore we belong to God. The thing that we need to render to God is us. To render myself to God is to acknowledge that he is in the ownership position and I am to do his bidding. We get a sense of this from openings verses of Paul’s letters where he refers to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Paul had that sense of ownership that we are to have.

We are to render our resources to the world and our selves to God. This seems very straight forward and should be easy, right?

it is not so easy. I have observed in myself and others that the opposite often takes place. It is too easy to have a punch-the-clock mentality with regard to our Christianity. Put in the time, give our tithe, perform that ministry, and we satisfied our obligation. I sometimes get it backwards and give myself to pursuit of what the world tells me I should value while being content to give a small portion of my resources to God. It is to easy to get this entirely backwards.

Jesus, quoting from Isaiah 29:13, said of the Israelites of his day, “this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8). There are times when I’m going through the motions and my heart is not wholly devoted to God, even when participating in church or ministry.

Perhaps the beginning of revival is for us to examine ourselves for misplaced affections, repent and give to God what is his. He bought us at a very high price.

Gutenberg, Google and the Church

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The Retweet

http://twitter.com/#!/coryhasabeard/status/78146081514459136

The Question

http://twitter.com/#!/uSlackr/status/78215933755273217

The Response

I’m not sure what Cory had in mind when he tweeted, but here is what his tweet made me think of.

There are those in Christendom who have an aversion or a distrust of anything new.  Part of this I understand. It is easy to settle into a pattern of church life and anything that upsets that pattern can be viewed as an annoyance. There is a sense in which new things should be evaluated and not automatically accepted. Some level of distrust is healthy.

But the aversion to new things can become pathological. In many congregations a change in the order of service will prompt a flurry of notes to the pastor indicating that the old order was better.

The distrust of new things leads to some curious practices. One of my favorite church curiosities is the practice of segregating worshipers into traditional and contemporary by having separate services for each group. I know that it is OK to have preferences and traditional is not better or worse than contemporary. How does this segregation enhance overall body life? How does splitting into two groups bring unity?

My point is that change is not inherently good nor bad; change must be evaluated as to its benefit in moving the church toward her goal of making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). It does not benefit the church to hold to old paths just because they are old and familiar.

Gutenberg could not have imagined the speed with which information can be disseminated in 2011. The internet and social media are tools which can be used to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. These new tools of communication should be used by the Church to proclaim the message. So the point I take from the tweet is that the Church should be investing in developing a web presence.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the church had sought to work on good television programming in the 60’s and 70’s instead of decrying the “one eyed monster” or the “boob tube.” We are starting to see some well produced and well acted movies with a Christian message, what would have happened if we had started doing this 50 years ago?

The internet and social media are not going away barring major damage to our infrastructure. We, the church, need work within these systems to provide opportunity for people to hear the voice of Jesus calling them to come home.

The Illusion of Security Apart from Christ

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Security is Elusive

 

TightropeIt is in the best interest of politicians and merchants to maintain the illusion of security. They tell us that if we elect the right person or party into office, if we invest properly, if we follow the prescribed diet, if, if, if . . . then we will experience security.

The problem is that those activities never provide the peace of mind that they promise.

We are heading into a presidential election year, promises will abound. Watch to see how much of the campaign rhetoric is geared toward promises of security. We have governmental departments and programs with “security” in their titles. The entire government purportedly exists to enhance our security as individuals and as a nation. We long for that security and will vote for the people we think best qualified to give it to us.

Since Genesis 3, mankind has been trying to establish his control over his own destiny. Yet, most of a man’s circumstances remain beyond his control. In spite of great scientific advances, we are at the mercy of our environment and other people. Where then can security be found? Is there a source?

Security can be Found

If you take the New Testament documents to be reliable (I do), they show us a good place to start our search for security. In a physical sense, death is the ultimate enemy. If a man proved that he could conquer death, that person might be a good resource in the quest for security.

Death has been conquered by Jesus Christ. His resurrection from death displays his power over death. He promises to provide this power for those who are willing to believe in him an surrender to him.

It is the death and resurrection of Jesus which provides the means whereby death can be robbed of its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55). Jesus also promises to be with us forever (Matthew 28:20). Paul asks the question, “if God is for us who then can be against us?” (Romans 8:31), the implication being that no-one can be against us if we are in Christ.

Why then do I often respond in insecurity? Why does much of the rhetoric of Christendom resound with fear and insecurity? It is because we fail to believe and appropriate the promises that God has given us.

May we go into this weekend believing the promises and living them out. The world needs us to do this.

Standing in the Light – Four Considerations for Defending the Faith

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While Driving this morning, I had a chance to listen to an Apologetics 315 podcast featuring an interview with Peter Kreeft. If you have not subscribed to the Apologetics 315 podcasts, I strongly suggest that you do so if you have any interest in Christian apologetics. Brian Auten does an outstanding job of interviewing apologists in a way that is informative yet avoids technical jargon.

In this particular episode, Peter said something which struck me. He was answering a question about what to do when interacting with someone who is asking questions intended to put off the apologist. In other words, what do you do when someone really isn’t interested in considering the claims of Jesus Christ.

Kreeft’s response was that in being a witness to Jesus Christ, we are not called to win arguments. We are called to “stand in the light.” In other words, we should not be focused on backing the non-believer into a philosophical corner, but should be seeking to be a testimony to the active work of God in our lives.

Shortly after hearing this phrase, I turned off the podcast to think about this phrase for a while. Four aspects of standing in the light came to me.

  • Jesus, in Matthew 5:14-16 tells us that believers are the light of the world. This light is not self-generated, but is the glory of God shining through us as we submit to him. If I am not shining with God’s light, it is because I am dulling the brightness through my own self-will. As I surrender to God and am conformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:1-2) then I will shine with God’s light.
  • We are to stand in the light. Thirteen times in the ESV, the phrase “stand firm” is used. For example, at the end of Paul’s list of the spiritual armor, he tells us in Ephesians 6:13 that the purpose of taking up the armor is so that we might be able to take our stand or stand firm. We are not to give ground.
  • To stand in the light, we are not to run ahead or lag behind the light. In other words, we are to be at a place in our walk with Jesus that we are sensitive to where he is leading. Remember what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (ESV) Paul did not try to produce growth when his responsibility was only to plant.  Be sensitive to the role that God is giving you to play and then do it.
  • To stand firm implies good footing. This reminds me that Bible reading and reflection are necessary to be a good witness to the claims of Christ. Wrestling with our own doubts and lack of knowledge are also critical to being used by God in the lives of others. If I understand who I am before God and what God has done for me, then I will not get dismayed when the person I am speaking with resorts to argument and ridicule.

I’m sure there are more aspects to this. Would you care to add any in the comment section below?

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