Personal Theology

2012-01-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

On the need for pastoring:

"Since Christ offered his infinitely valuable life for these sheep, it is a great sin against him when we watch over them with a lazy eye or fail to fight the ravenous wolves or neglect to seek out sheep that have wandered away! What Christ values, we must value."

-Darrin Patrick

2012-01-23T18:57:00.000-08:00

This should greatly humble us for all our sins, that they have been committed under the eye of God, which argues either a disbelief of his omniscience or a contempt of his justice.

- Matthew Henry on Ps 51:4

2012-01-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Your first calling is not to be a pastor but to be a Christian.

- Darrin Patrick, Church Planter (just finished this book, so I'll be listing some of his good quotes here. Good read with some very good points to be made.)

2012-01-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
-Robert Frost

2012-01-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

For those considering a call to ministry:
"Ask yourself again and again whether you would preach for Christ if you were sure to lay down your life for so doing? If you fear the displeasure of a man for doing your duty now, assure yourselves you are not yet thus minded."
- George Whitefield

One more (big) reason to plant churches

2012-01-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matt 22:36-40

How do we live these out? That's a question with a whole bunch of answers, but the more I think about it, the more I think there is one profound way to live these commandments out at the same time:

Planting churches.

How do we love our God? A right relationship between the creator and the creature is one of worship. To say it simply, God deserves to be worshipped and it's just right that we should give that worship.

How do we love our neighbors? We build them up and encourage them in that right relationship with God. To the Christian and non-Christian alike, we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and point them along the path of their salvation.

What accomplishes both these things? Church planting.

Church planting establishes the worship God commands and deserves. Church planting is the most effective and dynamic spread of the gospel, gathering Christians into our Lord's great commission and calling the non-Christian to the hope and glory of the gospel.

Want to love your God? Want to love your neighbor? Then let's go get some churches planted.

2011-12-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. ~James D. Miles

Political Arrogance

2011-12-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Never really read this author's work, but he's a stud of a writer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/opinion/sunday/bruni-newt-gingrichs-self-adoration.html

2011-12-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

- George Orwell

2011-11-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Christianizing Politics

2011-11-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

A quote from a story a bit ago. I forgot to post, but the point is still well made.

And this is what one always wants to know about candidates who flourish the Good Book or who presume to talk about hell and damnation. Do they, themselves, in their heart of hearts, truly believe it? Is there any evidence, if it comes to that, that Perry has ever studied the theory of evolution for long enough to be able to state roughly what it says? And how much textual and hermeneutic work did he do before deciding on the "inerrancy" of Jewish and Christian scripture? It should, of course, be the sincere believers and devout faithful who ask him, and themselves, these questions. But somehow, it never is. The risks of hypocrisy seem forever invisible to the politicized Christians, for whom sufficient proof of faith consists of loud and unambiguous declarations. I am always surprised that more is not heard from sincere religious believers, who have the most to lose if faith becomes a matter of poll-time dogma and lung power.
From:http://www.slate.com/id/2302661/

Political Christianity drives me crazy. I'd really love to see Christians either a) grill professing candidates to evaluate their sincerity/orthodoxy or b) stop using sound bits as a spiritual litmus test. Either one seems like a good first step.

2011-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

- Leo Tolstoy

Repenting False Prophets

2011-11-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.christianpost.com/news/family-radio-founder-harold-camping-repents-apologizes-for-false-teachings-59819/

So what are we to think of a false prophet who repents? I'd love to think a guy like Camping has turned from his sin and error, that would be God's grace indeed. Reminds me of 1 Cor 6... "such were some of you."

But I'll wait a while before celebrating his return to the faith. What do you think?

Learning to Pray

2011-11-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Father, we are so unfit to be your ambassadors. We are such vessels of weakness and decay. How many times have we failed you? But you, O Lord, are not limited by our frailty. Your strength shines forth precisely because you cause your plans to be carried out in jars of clay.

Praise the Father for his perfect plans. Praise the Son for fulfilling those plans with his life, death and life once more. Praise the Spirit for his sure hand, bringing many redeemed children home safely through this wilderness.

2011-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.

-George Burns

Learning to Pray

2011-10-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

My Father,

I confess that I turn to your word to find ammunition rather than turning to your word to find you. I confess that I see the world's need for you more than I see my own. I confess that I have lips that desire to speak of you more than a heart that desires to draw near to you. I confess that I have chosen every trinket this world can offer over an eternity of riches that you would lavish upon me.

Help this believer's unbelief. Drive from me my double-minded nature. Give me grace and may I never yearn for fool's gold again.

Amen.

2011-10-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.

Jef Mallett

Learning to Pray

2011-10-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

My Father, in the smallest details of your creation you are amazing. Even as crickets chirp at the stars, you demonstrate the art of your creation. Somewhere in eternity, you gazed at creation like an artist at a blank canvas. You said, "I will create, and it will be good." And in the million details you orchestrated, you decided crickets would fill the lonely night to keep us company. And you said, "This too is good."

More than creation, my God, you are amazing.

Amen.

the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since . . . you know, a long, long time ago!

2011-09-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Forgot how much I liked this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4

Plagiarizing Pastors

2011-09-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Reading this article the other day. Basically the idea is that students who are willing to pay are hiring people to write term papers for them. It's not a new article, nor, I'm sure, a new phenomenon. The part that stood out to me was this:

I do a lot of work for seminary students. I like seminary students. They seem so blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction in paying somebody to help them cheat in courses that are largely about walking in the light of God and providing an ethical model for others to follow. I have been commissioned to write many a passionate condemnation of America's moral decay as exemplified by abortion, gay marriage, or the teaching of evolution. All in all, we may presume that clerical authorities see these as a greater threat than the plagiarism committed by the future frocked.

So, the inevitable reactions was something like this: "Idiots. You guys are idiots." But then I realized that was a bit knee jerk and superficial of me. I let it soak in a bit and this is where I landed.

I'm not really surprised.

The obvious part is that, yes, future pastors cheating on their seminary courses is a bad thing. But it's not like the sin is a different kind of sin. It's the same thing that creeps into lives everywhere, where the thing we stand most against is the thing we undermine with the way we live our lives. It's a blindness to the most obvious and the most egregious. And it's the sin that rules lives and drags souls to the grave.

If that's depressing it's because it is. So maybe the closing note is this:

"Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

It comes back to that. We live in a world full of despair. We're hypocrites of the deepest kind. But thanks be to God for a church that will persevere despite our faithlessness. For the hope of a world that won't always be like this. For the faithful shepherd coming back for his own.

2011-09-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other.

-Jascha Heifetz

buzz

2011-09-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

I just heard that somehow, these posts are showing up in Google Buzz. First off, I disabled buzz on my account a while ago, so not sure what to make of that. Second, I thought Buzz was long gone by now. Third, sorry if I'm flooding social media 1.0. Fourth, if you want to see the blog posts at the real site, come to believelikeitmatters.blogspot.com. Also, that's where you have to make comments, I don't get to see any clever comments if they're in buzz.

Here's to you, Buzzers!

Learning to Pray

2011-09-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Our Father,

We fill this world with so much brokenness. Our relationships splinter and deteriorate under the weight of our sin. The things that should be strongest teeter on the brink of disaster.

We need you. We need the salvation you won for us on that dark hill. Here and now, we beg for mercy and help. We cry out for peace and relief--for deliverance from our chaos. But for the ages that come, we praise you for giving us hearts that yearn for the goodness that is desperately lacking in our lives. Give us faith to keep expectant eyes trained on eternity, longing to see glory revealed and creation redeemed.

Amen.

2011-09-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

God doesn't want any to perish, but we do...

2011-09-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.

-Fran Lebowitz

Great stories

2011-09-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

We don't always realize it, but Christians have amazing stories. I'm not talking about the addict who quits drugs. I'm not talking about the bigot who learns to love those who are different.

I'm talking about the dead ripped from the grave. I'm talking about the vile and treacherous being brought into the house of God. I'm talking about the Spirit of God himself transforming the slums that are our souls into places fit for the King. Read Ephesians 2 for more on that.

The problem is that no one seems to realize that. If Christians realized this, they would shine. They would sing for joy, they would dance in the streets--they would be those people who couldn't stop smiling. I think of the early church. The apostles get arrested for preaching. Then they're beaten, they they are released and told not to do it again. As they go limping away from their beating, they're rejoicing.

Now someone has to be watching these guys walk bleeding and celebrating down the street and think either a) These guys are nuts (likely option) or b) what do these guys know that I don't?

Even if there are a million possible interpretations of why these men are acting like they are, the bottom line is that these you've got these believers who are utterly enthralled with the redemption that's been won and the role they have to play in it. Is that us? Is this our view of our faith? By and large, I'd say it's not.

The reason I don't think we Christians realize this is that the world doesn't seem to be getting even a whiff of this kind of testimony. They think of Christianity as something that costs you what is good about this life and only pays you back in the form of false hopes for eternity. If we were enthralled by our salvation, by the work of a God who would seek out his enemies and by the privilege of having a place in his household and plans, they might have some reason to doubt that. But the world sees us and they get a sense of what they'd have to give up and they think, "That just isn't worth it."

What an upside down world we're in where eternal treasure seems uninteresting and fools gold steals the show.

So what smothers our rapturous joy? What gags our exuberant songs? Is it hearts grown cold or hearts grown distracted? Have we heard the good news too many times or have we never really heard it?

The question for the day, or the month, or the generation: What's missing? I have my own ideas, but I'd be interested in what others think.

Learning to Pray

2011-09-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

My Father,

Help me to serve. Overcome my selfishness and my lack of perspective. Give me eyes and strength to serve as Christ served his disciples and all his chosen ones. Thank you for the gospel that rescued me from darkness and my own self-inflicted destruction. Come once more and serve a needy servant, so that in your grace I might serve others.

Amen.

2011-08-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

How many Christians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. The Bible makes no mention of lightbulbs.

What's preaching worth?

2011-08-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

In some areas of the world, Christians still risk their lives and/or possessions for their faith. They fear angry mobs who will burn their churches, vigilantes who will punish them for believing and authorities who will either aid the locals or persecute the Christians themselves.

For these Christians, church is not a social function. Church is a risk to life and livelihood. For the preacher, he risks not just his own life but he also endangers those who come to listen. For this preacher, every sermon must be worth prison, every sermon must be worth provoking the wrath of this world. He must ask himself every time, "Is this worth my life? Is this worth my congregation's life?"

Why should our sermons be any different? I fear no angry mob, does it mean my sermons can be cheap? I fear no persecution, so does that mean I can spend my time giving anecdotes instead of the word of God? Just being called to be heralds of the king should sober and embolden us on its own. But recognizing the price our brothers and sisters pay for the word of God spurs us on. Let us cherish the proclamation we make.

Lord help us. Help us so that we, in addition to honoring our savior, would also honor the sacrifices and risks our brothers and sisters must make every time they choose eternal blessing over the crucible of this world.

Learning to pray

2011-08-15T05:40:00.000-07:00

My Father,

O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great redeemer's praise... So the song goes, but I can hardly keep up with that. It's more like I need a thousand hearts to gather the emotion and love your praise deserves. Give me a heart that longs to shout the great things you have done. A tongue made loose to speak of your wonders. A mind harnessed to explore the great depths of your goodness. May gospel overflow my heart and surge unstoppably through my thoughts, words and life.

Amen

2011-08-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Don't let the pulpit drive you to the word. The word must drive you to the pulpit.

-Tim Keller quoting someone else

Learning to Pray

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our Father, merciful one, give me grace to pray. I am like your people throughout all time, prone-eager even-to squander all the good things you give me. You offer me wisdom that I do not receive, you offer me comfort that I will not embrace and boundless privilege that I regularly ignore.

Thank you for your Son, my redeemer. The one who gives me access to you. Thank you for the Spirit, the one who transforms my careless prayers into divine intercession. Thank you for hearing a sinner's prayers.

New Sermon - Psalm 55:22

2009-11-09T08:53:00.001-08:00

Here is a short sermon I preached at the evening service at church. Feel free to listen, comment, and all that good stuff.

The old link stopped working. Try this one instead if you are interested: http://sites.google.com/site/jasonmching/about-me/01Psalm55_22-AWalkThroughScri.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

The New Trilemma

2009-10-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Beknownst to many, I dread the idea of going to a karaoke bar. Unbeknownst to many, I have regular covert karaoke sessions on my commute to work. I drive an SUV with no tint on the windows, which means I'm afforded about as much cover as a fishbowl. Moreover, I possess none of the externally obvious signs that would indicate that I deserve to be rocking out like it's nobody's business (e.g. I don't care what you think musician outfit, “cool” ethnicity, etc.). Therefore I must daily find a way to perform my latest hits without the hundreds of people I see in traffic noticing.

So I improvise. At the stop light, if I pull up in between the two cars in the next lane over, neither of them can really tell what I'm doing. Rock on my friend. If I can't hit one of those sweet spots between cars, I might just do every other line ...wishin they was dancin a jig... ciga-cigar right from Cuba-Cu-ba ... They might think they saw something, do a double take, but looking over they see I'm just another regular commuter. They can't prove a thing.

But the reality is, at some point, somebody notices. Either I go too big (hand gesturing and long, high notes are sure ways to go too big) or they're just too observant and bang. Busted. Then I feel obligated to either slow down or start speeding until I know I've put some distance in between me and that over-observant commuter.

Then things changed. I purchased a discounted, middle of the road bluetooth headset for my cell phone. What's that have to do with it, you might ask? Well, before, if anyone caught me, they'd have two easy choices in regard to my virtuoso renditions: Either that guy is crazy or I just caught him singing to himself in the middle of traffic. Neither of these options is particularly appealing.

But now--now they look over, catch me getting my groove on, but they also see the bluetooth headset and they're not so sure anymore. The simple dilemma is now, yes that's right, a trilemma. Sure, they have good odds they caught me doing something embarrassing, but there's that unsettling chance that I'm actually talking to someone. Ooh, not so sure of yourself anymore, are you Mr. Over-observant fellow commuter? I might be raving mad, I might have the entire corpus of Enrique Iglesias music memorized (no really, I don't). But you'll never know, because I might just be ordering take out after a long day at the office.

And just like that, the hits just keep on coming. Gettin' jiggy wit it, na-na-na-na-na-na-na...

Finding God in an Orange

2009-09-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm eating this orange. This juicy, delicious, liquid ball of orange juice. And I can't help but ask: Why? Why should this fantastic piece of fruit taste so good? Why doesn't it taste completely ordinary and bland? Why doesn't it taste boring and gritty, like a mouthful of the dirt from which it sprang? You could answer that this orange has developed its appealing taste because that taste helps it to get eaten by animals, have its seeds spread far and wide and grow lots of other orange trees. Okay, fine. I'm glad you got that out of your system. But how about this: That orange is one more proof that God made a creation that is delightful. And even though money still doesn't grow on trees, guess what? This stuff does. A creation that is beautiful, and not just a creation that is useful.

Take sunsets too. When was the last time you sat down and watched the sun set? Maybe you could care less. Maybe you're too busy. Maybe you have a hard time sitting still that long. But sometime you need to take ten minutes and go sit down with a drink and watch the sunset (if you're married and do this with your spouse, it might even be considered “quality time” and then your spouse is happy too, win-win situation). When the sun sets, why don't things just go dark like when I dim a light bulb in a room? Instead, plain white clouds turn to molten gold. Vibrant splashes of orange and red and purple streak across the sky. In the face of God's daily canvas, nature grows quiet and still. Far more than just a great artist, God is the one who inspires art itself.

Even a creation that groans under the weight of the curse reveals a creator who delighted in creating the delightful. Truly it has been said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” The glory of the Lord is all about us. In golden beams across the horizon, in an ordinary orange dripping juice down to the ground.

Everybody's Doing It (Theology, That Is)

2009-08-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Few things mystify like telling others that you like theology. I mean, who does that? Theology can seem like one of the most abstract and irrelevant pursuits around. It conjures up visions of monks and philosophers doing calligraphy and asking stuffy questions like, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” If words like aseity, supralapsarian and imputation mean little to you, well, they don't mean a whole lot to many other people either. But the fact is, however you talk about it, everyone is doing theology, including you.

So, let's just say that theology means the study of God. Perhaps you've never spent any sort of concerted or formal time studying theology, the fact is every day you are living out your beliefs concerning God. It could be saying, “God doesn't care if I (fill in the blank).” It could be the popular arguing point, “The God I believe in would never do that!” It might be the refrain of the prosperity movement, “God wants you to be able to pay your bills.” Whether formally or informally, somewhere along the line we all end up with our beliefs on God and we live those out everyday. The question then becomes, “Where did you get your beliefs?”

This question humbled me one particular day several years ago. In a discussion with a more mature believer, I voiced some claim about angels (my memory has mercifully blotted out the specific claim). Though he did not call me on it, as I reflected on the discussion I realized I had basically lifted that idea from the movie Dogma. It wasn't a result of any philosophical or biblical reflection, it was just some mental debris mined from the depths of a movie about renegade angels wreaking comedic havoc in the world. The other person graciously gave me some good counsel and let the issue run its course from there, perhaps realizing that my poor theology (well, I guess that's angelology, but let's not be sticklers here) would wither and go away on its own.

The scary thing is just how many such beliefs exist out there. Probably a vast majority of the country could quote “Thou shalt not judge” or “God is love” though they've never read the books those quotes are found in. Many people could resonate with “love your neighbor as yourself,” but few of those people realize just how high that standard is (and furthermore what we're supposed to do once we fall short of it). “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” might be famous, but it's largely not believed. We find that large amounts of our spiritual beliefs are not actively pursued through reading or serious thinking, rather they are passively received from billboards (Got Jesus?), bumper stickers (God is too big to fit into one religion), television shows (Touched By An Angel) and movies (more than I feel like listing). And this is what we rest eternity upon.

Everybody is doing theology, but not a whole lot of people are doing it well. That's not to say, “Oooh, look at me and my perfect theology.” But the fact is, people base their lives on what they think about God. This is true for everyone from the unaccountable atheist to the ambiguous agnostic to the driven zealot, and a lot of these beliefs are as thoughtless as my Dogma moment. People generally don't vote for people they know nothing about. Nor do they work for companies they know nothing about. So why would anyone live life based on theology they know nothing about?

Dear Christians: What if the Gospel is really true?

2009-08-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

When I read the Bible, I like to ask myself a question: What if this is really true? It's not that I am a big skeptic, as far as I'm concerned the Bible has already proven itself to me. But that said, I can read about jaw-dropping truths of God and not even bat an eyelash. Perhaps it's familiarity. It is a rare talent to be able to delight in the treasures one has constant access to. Perhaps it's cynicism. Just about every time someone starts getting all grandiose on me (generally a politician or an advertisement) they generally fall through. But perhaps it's worse than that, maybe I don't actually believe what I'm reading. After all, could I just gloss over the earth-shattering words of God if I really believed what they are saying?

As an example, take one of my favorite chapters of Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5. It took me almost no time at all to pull out 5 of these so-called “jaw-dropping truths”, take a look:

1.Believers in Christ have eternal life awaiting them (2 Cor 5:1) – Some think that a belief in heaven is a psychological defense. People can't handle the idea of their existence ceasing, so heaven is invented. There's some logic to that, I think many of us fear the unknown, especially the unknown of death. But there is another perspective as well. In one way, it is easier and far more believable to say we die and that's it. Since we're not sure what the other side looks like, then this life must be all there is. More difficult is to try and wrap one's mind around the staggering treasure and blessing promised in the Gospel. It would be easy to imagine that death is just sleep. Or that heaven is like having a big party with all your best friends. It is near impossible to grasp that believers will be united with their God and Creator for all eternity in perfect bliss.

2.Believers have been given the Spirit as a pledge (2 Cor 5:5) – To comfort a miserly, rebellious and fallen people, God has given his very Spirit to assure us of his faithfulness. The Spirit himself, the third member of the Trinity, has deemed it worthwhile to babysit, so to speak, the redeemed people of God.

3.We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10) – Judgment comes for us all. The believer has been spared, not for being good but for having faith in the One who truly is good. The one who does not believe, however, will have no such pardon. Wrath, like the wrath Christ bore for his people on the cross, will be poured out undiluted on those who don't believe.

4.Those who have faith in Christ are new creatures (2 Cor 5:17) – Before Christ, all of us stand condemned in our sins. We sin constantly because at our very hearts, we are sinners. Before Christ, we are doomed to a life filled to the brim with sin. Before Christ, we are spiritually dead people dying a slow physical death. When Christ saves us, he makes us new. Not new like fresh-coat-of-paint-new. He makes us completely new. The believer is still living out the rest of a fallen life, but with a new nature, with new desires and with new abilities. “The old things passed away, behold, new things have come.”

5.Christ the sinless one bore our sin so that we would be made righteous (2 Cor 5:21) – The perfect Son of God died a criminal's bloody death so that his chosen ones might live. His chosen ones are no longer guilty in the Father's eyes. More than this, they now stand righteous before their God. From spiritually bankrupt to spiritually rich, all through the work of Christ.

So what if that is all true? How am I to respond? If that is all true (not to mention everything else in Scripture), then I have more awaiting me in eternity than I possibly imagined. Until eternity comes, God has more abundantly provided for me in the pledge of the Spirit—than I possibly imagined. If this is all true, my family and friends who live in godlessness are not playing meaningless games; rather they are teetering on the edge of judgment with nothing but God's burning wrath awaiting them below. If this is true, the chains that held me in my sin have been shattered, sin's grip on me is lost and my Savior's grip on me is unbreakable. If this is true, the perfect One of God suffered in agony on my behalf, bleeding forth a redemption price dearer than words can express.

My God, my God, what if it's all true?

The Great Escape

2009-07-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

His eyebrows furrowed, he bit his lower lip in concentration. Long moments passed, his brain actually felt like it was burning he was thinking so hard. How had he not thought this through before? The questions troubled him, they were upsetting even and they shook beliefs he considered to be fundamental to his identity. Soon his stomach began to twist as the stress spread through his body. He clenched his fists, his shoulders stiffened. Then—then the moment came, and with it bliss and peace. “I guess I just don't know.” He smiled to himself and sighed. The dissonance would fade, the storm would pass overhead. He had successfully ducked another critical moment.

Label Me Christian (Wait, What Does That Mean?)

2009-07-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

What above all else characterizes a Christian? The Republican party? Opposition to abortion and gay marriage? Is it creationism vs. evolution(ism)? Is it morality? The 10 commandments? The location of the 10 commandments in public places? Is it boycotts of offensive/immoral movies? Is it 7 steps to how to live life to its fullest? Is it don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew (or go with girls who do)? If one were to take a poll of non-Christians—heck, if a poll were taken of Christians themselves—what would be said to be the defining characteristic of a Christian? What would be that sine qua non of Christianity?

Dare I venture to say, it's the Gospel that sets Christians apart? Call me “Captain Obvious” if you want, but this is a point I feel more and more compelled to spread. Christians ultimately are not set apart by their political or moral views or by their personalities, they are set apart by the salvation accomplished on their behalf by the Son of God dying on the cross. They are set apart by their Savior, who rose from the grave, conquering death and paving the way for all those who believe in him to follow thereafter. They are set apart by realizing once and for all that they themselves bring nothing to the table, their only hope is the grace by which God saves them, through the faith that he gives them as well.

If you could see yourself through the eyes of all those who know you, those who interact with you day in and day out, what do you think would stand out? Would you find out that people see you chiefly as a Republican? A social conservative? A creationist? A moral and principled person? Or would they see you as a sinner, saved by a glorious Gospel of grace?

Or from a different angle: If you had only five minutes to talk with an unbeliever of radically different views than you (maybe take a second and envision what that would look like in your case), what would you ideally want to spend that time talking about? If you amazingly managed to change their minds on every view they had but they leave knowing nothing of the Savior who can save them from their sin and wretchedness, how much has really been gained?

So what's the point? My point is not to denigrate politics or morality, nor is my point that it is wrong to talk about anything besides the Gospel. My point is that the most important thing about Christians is that which truly sets them apart, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shouldn't that be what people know us for?

Weeping With Those Who Weep

2009-07-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

C.S. Lewis wrote A Grief Observed in the midst of grieving the loss of his wife. He reflects on why her death should be causing him not only to mourn, but also to doubt in substantial ways his own faith. In chapter 3, he reminds himself that he had always known that such sorrowful things occur daily in the world. Nothing unexpected or unusual occurred in the passing of his wife. Though this time the unfortunate event had happened to himself, and not someone else. Lewis writes that his faith would not be so shaken if his concern for other people's sorrows had been real concern. He goes on to say, “If I had really cared, as I thought I did, about the sorrows of the world, I should not have been so overwhelmed when my own sorrow came.”

I found this comment to be shockingly insightful, at least in regard to my own heart. How much do I actually care about the sorrows that go on in this world, especially when they extend beyond my immediate circle? When a child, whom I have never met, suffers through a rare illness, how much do I really care? When a young woman somewhere is kidnapped, raped and killed, am I yet showing “real” concern? When the world's headlines are filled with injustice and murder, how can I possibly react to it all with any level of sincerity?

I find in these scenarios that I simply cannot handle the vastness of the suffering and tragedy this world affords. The sheer magnitude of earthly problems alone overwhelms me. I understand that I cannot in and of myself solve the world's problems, but more than that, I cannot even mourn them properly. Many have perceived their own smallness when they look at the night sky, at stars that stretch deep into the blackness of space. I find new conviction of this smallness, and of its powerlessness, when I dwell on this world's sorrow. Like the seemingly innumerable stars of the night sky, so also the tears and wailing of this world stretch on further than I can comprehend.

But my problem extends beyond inability. The problem for me is not just that I can't properly mourn this world's suffering, it is also that I simply don't. Frightened by the clamor of the world's trouble, I shut the door to my heart rather than open it even a crack to the flood of tears that awaits outside. I fear that sort of grief, I fear its life consuming nature. I fear being kept awake at night as I pray first for those I know and then all the sorrowful things I know of as well. I fear that my small heart cannot bear such a load.

Jesus grieved. He grieved at his friend lying cold in the grave. Though Lazarus would soon be miraculously raised, Jesus wept. Jesus was grieved in Gethsemane, to the point of death the Scriptures add. In the face of his impending arrest, torture and execution, Jesus was deeply grieved. Is it too much to also say the Father grieved as well? In that great exchange of Jesus' righteousness for the wickedness of his people, would not the Father grieve the marring of his spotless Son? If Christ wept for sinful Lazarus, would not the Father have mourned the perfect one's death?

In these divine examples, I find inspiration. But inspiration without compliance will only result in further condemnation, won't it? It will only be one more time in which I sin and fall short of the glory of God. I need more. In my inability to pray and mourn for the world, I find profound new depth to Romans 8:26: “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Perhaps the faithful ministry of that Comforter can convert even my halfhearted despair for the world into a fit intercession with the King. Perhaps presenting my fearful and closed off heart—my sinful heart—to Christ provides one more opportunity for him to declare, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”