Count It All Joy

In a recent article by the Houston Chronicle, which can be found here, a christian couple from Houston are being told by city officials that they will be required to shut down their food outreach to the poor.  Bobby and Amanda Herring have been feeding the homeless in Houston for over a year, that is until this past month when police informed them that permits are required to feed the homeless.  Apparently city laws require anyone publicly producing food to obtain a food dealer's permit.  The requirements include a licensed food preparer and approved location for the preparation of that food.  [All the requirements and laws can be found here, here, and here.]

I can only imagine the heartbreak the Herrings are now experiencing after having worked with the homeless in Houston.  Now that the city of Houston has told the Herring "thanks but no thanks" for the work they have down within the community, they must choose their next move.  This cold shoulder to people who have actually taken action to help those who are in need may come across as silly, unproductive, or perhaps hypocritical.  But, I urge you not to think of the wrong that has been done to the Herrings or the homeless by the city of Houston, but rather encourage people like the Herrings and perhaps the Herrings themselves to press onward.  Though we may encounter trails of many kind, we must "remember the poor"(Galations 2) for "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed"(Luke 14). 


In a situation the Herrings are experiencing we must remember James 1 where we are told: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  Instead of giving up on living out our lives for Christ when early things get in the way, let's press even harder.  Encourage one another to keep the faith, keep persevering with an understanding of what the true future holds.


Blessings.

Persecution

John 15:18-20  ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

Today in the Middle-East, Christians are being arrested, and likely face sentences of death.  This may seem shocking to us in our western culture of "anything goes."  However, this is a more common situation than many of us realize.  Many in Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East are enduring a physical manifestation of hatred and attacks for their faith.  This should cause two reactions from us:  1. Support through prayer.  Too often do people think we ought to pray for our brothers' and sisters' hardships to disappear.  Instead we must pray for their strength to endure, a continuation of their faithfulness for which they will be richly rewarded.  2. An examination of our own lives is in order.  If our fellow family members in Christ are suffering for the truth, is it simply because of the difference in government and society, or a difference in message?  Let us not fail to continue to press onward here, for when is easy to speak the truth, it is also easy to forget to stay on our guard.  


Whether it is our brothers and sisters enduring hardship, or us, we must encourage one another.  This world is only a preface to what comes after.  Pain and suffering are temporary, "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13). 

Blessings.

Modern Pharisees

In an article by CNN, which can be seen here, readers are told of the plans one church has to picket the funerals of those who died this past weekend at the attempted assassination of U.S.  representative Giffords.  Westboro Baptist Church has come to be more known as a "hate group" than a church.  This is likely because they have behaved more like a hate group than any church ever should.  Routinely they attend high-profile funerals or political events to make their stance on sin painfully clear.  The group has now decided to attend the funerals even of the innocent such as the nine year old girl who died this past weekend at the shooting.  So, what's next for this "church?"


My advice would be to stop calling themselves a Christian church.  As Christians we are told to take upon ourselves the same nature Christ did, which was that of a servant, humbling ourselves before others, loving our enemies and those who hate us (Philippians 2, Matthew 5).  I do not see this attitude amongst those in the Westboro Church.  Instead I see hypocritical and pharisaical attitudes of hate and judgement.  They attack those who have sinned... Don't you know, people of Westboro, you too have been found sinners!  Yet while you were still separated from God by your sinful nature, Christ died for you (Romans 5).  Only through Christ have you been found pure, and this not of yourselves, but as a gift from God Himself (Ephesians 2).  So, Christ tells us not to judge, for we will be judged in the same way (Matthew 7).


Christ came not to save the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 9).  He reached out to the lost and the Pharisees attacked Him for "eating with sinners" (Luke 19).  With love Jesus told the adulterous woman to turn from her sins.  Nor did He condemn the thief who hung on the cross next to Him, instead He forgave. 


This is not to say there is no wrong in sinning, but that we as Christians should reach out in love to those who are hurt and lost.  To help them turn from their sin.  To be patient and kind.  To love those who hate us.  To forgive as we have been forgiven.  


It is my hope that those at the Westboro Baptist Church will see this, and instead of spending money and time condemning the lost, would instead put all their efforts toward taking upon themselves the very nature of a servant.  If they will not, it is time they stop calling themselves a church... for that is not what they are.  They are not tarnishing their own name, nor ours, but Christ's.


To those who lost loved ones in the shooting this weekend, our prayers are with you all.  May you find peace in Christ Jesus.


Blessings.

Truth Suppressors

Is it really possible for people to become better?  Central Michigan University thinks so, at least that is what one newspaper article claims.  Ryan Berlin of the Morning Sun reports, "Officials at CMU want people to make ethical decisions and become better people."  Also in the article is a quote from provost Gary Shapiro: "Let's treat people with respect, let's not get carried away in the moment, treat others the way you want to be treated, these are the kind of things that we would like to be represented in the university."  A very interesting approach to say the least, but does it sound familiar to you?  

In Matthew 7, Jesus summarizes the law and the prophets with the following: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  It would seem that CMU is on the trail of the teachings of Christ.  But not so fast.  If the University truly wishes to help people become better, are they going achieve it through instituting the "doing unto others" philosophy.  After all, Jesus Himself promotes it as a simplified version of the law and the prophets.  

Let us be careful of non sequiturs as we approach the situation.  First, we must know what makes a good person, or if such a thing exists.  Scripture tells us that a "no one is good, not one," (Romans 3:10) and that all have sinned (Romans 3:23).  Instead we are told that humankind is made up of "truth suppressors" (Romans 1).  We cannot find goodness if we wanted to (Ecclesiastes 7:20), but who do we have to blame, what causes our inability to reach truth and goodness?  Our nature is evil in its very essence (Galatians 5:7).  Simply "doing unto others" doesn't undo that nature that inhabits the depths of our mind and soul.  That that behaviour may be desirable, it does not make good people.  

What then?  What delivers us from our truth suppression into a state of actual goodness?  Paul provides the answer in Romans 6, saying we are no long bound to our old selves, no longer slaves, no longer suppressors of Truth, but actually good through the Grace of the Savior.

Doing unto others is a behaviour to be commended, yet it it doesn't make a good person, only Jesus can do that.

Blessings.

Marriage and Jesus Christ

The sermon in church today revolved around marriage.  It caused me to think about how fantastic marriage is.  Not because of the value people place on it, but because it is a clear covenant of the relationship between us and God.  Matthew 22 describes the kingdom of heaven as a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  The union spoken of is the relationship between the church and Christ.  In that relationship, Christ is perfectly masculine and the church, purely feminine.  That is not to say Christ is manly and the church female, but rather the masculine and feminine are eternal and permanent adjectives while the others are temporal.  C.S. Lewis describes this vital difference in "That Hideous Strength."  "The male you could have escaped," writes Lewis, "for it exists only at the biological level.  But the masculine none of us can escape.  What is above and beyond all is so masculine that we are all feminine in relation to it."  


Marriage reflects the relation of the masculine and feminine.  Husbands are told to "provide for his own, and especially for those of his household," 1 Timothy 5:8.  This reflects Christ providence for us.  On Him we depend for all things.  Scripture also commands "Husbands to love [their] wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, " Ephesians 5:25.  In this way, marriage symbolizes Christ as our head, just as the husband is the head of the household, and the church as the bride submitting and respecting Christ, just as the wife does before her husband.


Since Adam and Eve, God has blessed us with His gift of Marriage.  The earthly physical marriage is merely a reflection, a representation of that which is far greater than our understanding, but also far greater than our highest hopes.  Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said this of marriage:  "In so many beautiful ways, marriage points to the very character of God."  In our modern society marriage is being attacked and forgotten.  This is ultimately an attack on the church and Christ, as marriage itself sets an example of the future togetherness of us with our Saviour.




Lewis, C.S. "That Hideous Strength." New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Mohler, Albert. The Case for (Early) Marriage. Monday, August 3, 2009.