Evangelium: What the gospel is… and isn’t

Posted by & filed under Current Affairs, Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  and by which you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ESV).

We’re starting a new 4-week sermon series this Easter weekend talking about the gospel. As the apostle Paul saw the need to remind the church at Corinth of the true meaning of the gospel, so we still have the need to be reminded.

Whether you’re a new believer, a mature believer or someone seeking to understand the true meaning of Easter, you should come this weekend to hear what the gospel is and what it isn’t.

Two weeks in God’s story

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

week-calendar-icon“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!'” (John 12:12-13 ESV).

The Bible has been described as the story of God. And for the most part it tells the story with broad strokes, sweeping across the calendar of history generations at a time. But there are two times that the story slows down and zooms in for a closer look. These two times are the weeks of God’s creation and of Christ’s passion.

The seven days of the creation story are found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The week of Christ’s passion is described in all four of the Gospels, the first books of the New Testament. Creation week begins with God saying, “Let there be light!” And Passion or Holy Week begins with Jesus, the Light of the World, entering the city of Jerusalem on what has come to be called Palm Sunday.

In the first week, God created everything and declared it good. Yet because man chose to disobey God, sin entered into creation and along with it, death. In Holy Week, God sent His Son to re-create that which was fallen, to redeem, restore and reconcile His creation to Himself.

                        Creation Week                                                            Passion Week

      • Day 1 –  Light                                                                                 Triumphal entry
      • Day 2 –  Sky and seas (separated expanse)                   Cleansing the Temple
      • Day 3 –  Land and plants (plants and fruit)                   Teaching in the Temple
      • Day 4 –  Sun, Moon and stars (to mark/govern)        Anointed in Bethany
      • Day 5 –  Birds and fish                                                             Last Supper/Garden of Gethsemane
      • Day 6 –  Animals and Man                                                     Crucifixion and Death
      • Day 7 –  Sabbath rest                                                               In the tomb
      • Day 8 –  Man’s Fall                                                                    CHRIST’S RESURRECTION!

The Bible really focuses on two important weeks in God’s story. In the first He got everything started and in the second He began putting everything back on track again.

The power of story

Posted by & filed under Family, Religion, Weblogs.

MyPapaw1976
My “Papaw” while sitting on his front porch telling one of his amazing stories (Photo by: Bruce Denton 1976).

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11 ESV).

“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms” (Muriel Rukeyser).

“God made man because he loves stories” (Rabbi Nachman).

“Tell us another story, Papaw.” I begged my maternal grandfather, Walter Dillon, while sitting with him on the front porch of his century old farm house. I’d brought some high school buddies of mine down to the old farm to do some hiking in the woods and wanted them to hear some of my grandfather’s stories before we left.

“Which one you wanna hear?” He asked. Our family had heard him tell his stories so often and so well that we all had a kind of internal library card catalog of them. In fact, if he tried telling an amended version of a well known story, the grandkids would correct him.

“You left out the best part, Papaw!” They’d shout, if he skipped over some minute detail.

My grandfather quit school and started working in the coal mines when he was 13 years old. He wasn’t well educated. He dug coal for 30 years. Worked a farm. Drove a school bus for 20 years. All he knew was hard work… and story-telling. He was the best storyteller I’ve ever known.

I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. My father died when I was eight, so I often spent summers living and working with my Papaw on his 70 acre farm. I learned many things from him. I learned how to be a man and how to work hard because these were things he valued. But looking back, perhaps the most important thing I learned from him was the power of story and the art of telling one well.

I think my love of story and of story telling has had a lot to do with God’s calling on my life to be a preacher of the gospel. Reading and studying God’s Word, the ancient stories come alive for me. My supreme joy is to share biblical stories with others, so that they come alive for them too.

I think one of the greatest gifts you can give someone is the gift of telling them your story. Certainly equal to that would be to ask them to tell theirs too. And if they are willing to tell it, listen to it well. Give them the gift of laughing or crying, raising your eyebrows with surprise or trembling with fear when their story calls for it. Applaud their story and therefore their life by listening and allowing yourself to be moved by its telling.

There is power in telling your story and in listening to those of others. It builds a relational bridge of trust that can bear the weight of truth. This is especially so for those of us who have had our stories intersected by the greatest story ever told, which is the story of love and redemption revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the book of Revelation, John reported that the saints had overcome the power of Satan “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” In other words, there is evil-conquering power in the combination of the gospel and our testimony, our story.

Our stories are really just supporting threads to the epic tapestry of God’s story. Our testimonies are like trophies of God’s grace sitting on heaven’s mantle, declaring the glory of how He redeemed us and is conforming us into the image of His Son.

There’s power in the testimony of how God’s story intersected ours.

Who are you sharing stories with?

What kind of neighbor am I?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017d419e0ca6970c-250wi“But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29 ESV).

The expert in the law who sought to test Jesus found himself tested instead. By asking Jesus the question, “Who is my neighbor?” perhaps he thought to limit the extent of the law’s demand by limiting those who qualified as his neighbor. This approach failed. Jesus turned the focus from the object of who we are to love, to the subject of what kind of lovers we are to be.

After answering with the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36).

In other words, Jesus’ parable taught that what really matters is not the identity of my neighbor, but “proving” the character of the love within my heart for others.

This reversal of the expert’s question reveals what kind of love we are to have for others. It’s a love not based on whether others are worthy of such love, but on the quality of the love within us. This is God’s kind of love, the kind that emanates from the inner character of the one doing the loving, not the one being loved.

We are often like the expert. We want to focus on the worthiness of our neighbor, rather than the quality of the love within us. In this way we hope to limit the scope of God’s command to love others as ourselves.

As we seek to limit the command to love our neighbor, we often ask questions like:

  • Who is this person? What if they’re trying to use me?
  • Can’t you come back later? I’m too busy right now.
  • Does this person deserve my help? Didn’t they get themselves into this mess?
  • How much do they want? I don’t want to give too much.
  • How far and long do I have to keep loving them?

The truth is that some people will use us. Some people really aren’t deserving of our love. Some are lying about their need. Some will never love you back. And many will not even say “thanks” when you do help them.

So, why do it? Because it reveals the true character of your heart. It shows that the love of God is within you. We love our neighbor because we are moved with compassion from within by the Spirit of God. And in so doing, we become the salt and the light of the world as Christ commanded. We act as the body of Christ, loving our neighbors with His sacrificial, perfect love.

Have you looked in the mirror lately and asked, “What kind of neighbor am I?”

What’s your witnessing love language?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017ee8cfcd7c970d-320wi“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 NIV84).

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. …I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23 ESV).

We all need to be loved. It’s how God made us. And according to Jesus the greatest kind of love is sacrificial love. The kind of love that He demonstrated when He died on the cross for our sins.

This sacrificial kind of love is also in evidence in the way that the apostle Paul witnessed about Jesus to others. He says that he “made himself a servant to all” in the way he shared the love of God. Paul also recognized that people had different ways of expressing and understanding love. And he was willing to adapt to their “love language” in his witness.

The idea that we each have different “love languages” has been popularized by Dr. Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages. In his book, Chapman says,

6a00d83524c19a69e2017d415c113e970c-75wi“Psychologists have concluded that the need to feel loved is a primary human emotional need… But what makes one person feel loved emotionally is not always the thing that makes another person feel loved emotionally. We cannot rely on our native tongue if our spouse does not understand it. If we want them to feel the love we are trying to communicate, we must express it in his or her primary love language.”

It seems that Chapman has uncovered the same need that the apostle Paul observed. Everyone wants to be loved, but not everyone communicates it the same way.

Chapman’s work has been mainly aimed at helping couples better communicate their love with one another. Whereas, Paul’s was applied in how he witnessed about Jesus. The Bible records at least seven different approaches that Paul used in communicating the gospel.

Seven Witnessing Love Languages

  1. The direct approach.
  2. The intellectual approach. 
  3. The testimonial approach.
  4. The relational approach.
  5. The service approach.
  6. The invitational approach.
  7. The creative-work approach.

Depending on his audience, Paul was able in the power of the Holy Spirit to speak in a language which communicated the love of God in the way they needed to hear. To the Romans, he was “not ashamed of the gospel” and spoke directly. To the Athenians, he quoted Greek philosophers and presented an intellectual case for the God that was “unknown” to them. To King Agrippa, he gave his Damascus road testimony. To the Thessalonians, he was as relationally “gentle as a mother,” and working night and day “like a father” he served them too. He invited people everywhere into the kingdom and he did creative work in the marketplace from city to city as a tentmaker.

I’m sure Paul had a preferred witnessing love language, but with the Spirit’s help, he was able to witness in a way that others could comprehend. My guess is that Paul’s top two preferred witnessing love languages are as listed above: the direct and the intellectual approach. But he learned to speak in other ways that people could hear and accept the gospel too.

What’s your preferred witnessing love language? And are you using it to witness to others about Jesus?

The fear of becoming John 3:16 guy

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017d4137b1a5970c-250wi“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV).

Jesus told His disciples that they were to be His witnesses until His return. The disciples obeyed Jesus and carried the gospel throughout the Roman world, turning the world upside down within a generation.

But there was a cost to being such a witness. The Greek word for witness is martus. It’s where we get the word “martyr” because the early Christians were so committed to witnessing that it often cost their very lives. The word martus became synonymous with dying for one’s belief.

The early Christians had to overcome the fear of prison, torture, being boiled in oil, fed to the lions and even crucifixion. They had to be willing to pay the cost for witnessing. There is still a cost to witnessing today. There are still fears to overcome.

Today’s top fears of being a witness for Jesus:

  1. Fear of looking foolish. “I won’t be able to answer all their questions.”
  2. Fear of confrontation. “I’m not a persuasive communicator.”
  3. Fear of talking. “I don’t know what to say to others about Jesus.”
  4. Fear of rejection. “What if they get mad or make fun of me?”
  5. Fear of failure. “But what if they don’t pray to receive Christ?”
  6. Fear of offending. “Maybe I should wait to a time when they’re more receptive.”

And then, there’s perhaps the worst fear of all. The fear of becoming John 3:16 guy! This is the fear of having to wear a Christian t-shirt and sit in the end zone with a multi-colored fro while shouting “Jesus loves you!”

No matter the age, being a witness for Jesus will always involve overcoming fear. I’m sure that the fear of standing on the floor of the Roman colosseum and being fed to lions doesn’t in any way compare to the fear of standing in the football stadium with “John 3:16” on your t-shirt, but fear is fear.

And fear is what the enemy uses to keep us from telling others about Jesus.

Bloom where planted

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017ee88441e9970d-200wi“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:4-7 ESV).

I was transferred to Wilson, North Carolina by the company I worked for in 1987. We had been living in Roanoke, Virginia and we were completely happy there. I didn’t even know where Wilson was, and I certainly didn’t want to move. But we had a mortgage and three little ones, so we followed the job.

Or so I thought…

Four years after living in Wilson, I surrendered to preach, quit my job and started seminary. After a year of study, I felt called to be a church planter. Since our house in Wilson wouldn’t sell, we decided to plant a church in it. We started in November of 1991 with seven people in our living room.

We never wanted to move to Wilson and never intended to stay, in fact, we tried to leave. But because of a job and an unsold house, there’s a church called Wilson Community Church that just celebrated its 21 year anniversary.

Is that really what happened?

No. Looking back, I now recognize the hand of the Lord in all of this. It wasn’t the job that brought us here, nor the house that prevented us leaving. It was God. He wanted a new church in Wilson. And He wanted me to plant it. It seems so clear now.

However, for the longest time I struggled. I wasn’t sure I was in the right place. Did God really send me here? Was this where I was supposed to raise my family and plant a church? I mean, I didn’t do a demographic study or hear a voice from heaven. Was I really supposed to be here?

I’m sure the Israelites felt even more strongly about living in Babylon. They had been taken captive by the Babylonian king and Jerusalem had been destroyed. They were taken to a foreign land. They didn’t want to live there. They definitely didn’t want to put down roots. Yet, God told them that He had sent them there. And not only should they put down roots, they were to grow and prosper there. Even more, they were to seek the peace and welfare of the city of Babylon.

I think God always calls us to bloom where we are. Rather than looking for a better place, city, state, neighborhood, school, job, friend or spouse… bloom where you are. Besides, if you don’t bloom where you are, who’s to say that you’ll bloom anywhere?

Believe me, if God wants you somewhere else, He’ll make it clear. In the meantime, start blooming!

The need for belonging

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017d40db6651970c-250wi“And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6 NIV84).

I was eight years old when I learned the need for belonging.

I was known as the smart kid in my third grade class at High Point Elementary. My teacher even chose me to represent our class on a local television game show called Kiddie Kollege. Along with two other students from our school, our team won for a couple of weeks before losing to another school.

I was a happy, well-adjusted kid with a lot of friends. Everything would have been perfect, except for one detail. My father was sick. He was in the hospital that whole Fall semester while I was on the TV show. He’d phone me when I got home from the studio each time to tell me how proud he was of me, and that he’d had the nurses and doctors in his room to watch me on TV.

“That’s my son!” He said he told them.

“Thanks Daddy. I wish you could have been there.” I replied, with a trace of sadness.

“I’ll be out of here soon, Son. Then, we’ll do everything together.” He answered, trying to cheer me up.

A few weeks later, he was dead. “Cancer,” they said.

That November we moved from our Virginia home to live with my aunt in Michigan. My mother needed the support after the loss of my father.

I started attending third grade in Michigan just a few weeks before Christmas. From the first day, I was an outcast.

“Hey Hillbilly! Say something else. You talk funny!” The kids would say everytime I opened my mouth. Apparently, the Southern accent that I brought with me was considered humorous.

My teacher had to cover her mouth, so I wouldn’t see her sniggering when I read aloud in class. She even had my mother take me to a speech therapist to see about getting help.

“Repeat after me, ‘The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain…'” The therapist instructed me, at our session together. Afterwards, I heard her tell my mom and teacher, “There’s nothing wrong with his speech. He’s just a Southerner.”

The bullying at school got so bad that I finally ended up at the hospital with a concussion after one three against one episode.

I wasn’t happy. My father was dead. I had no friends. My mother was depressed and cried all the time. And now, at school I was known not as the smart kid, but as the “Hillbilly.” I didn’t belong.

After a few months, things began to improve. I stopped saying, “Y’all” and starting saying, “You guys.” I made friends with a kid across the street named Terry. He taught me when to run and when to fight and which street corners to avoid when walking to school. I even beat a bully named Raymond in arm wrestling, which improved my stock when he befriended me afterwards. Happiness was starting to return.

At the end of my third grade year, Mom started feeling better and we moved back home to Virginia. I was so glad to be back home where I really belonged. But then, things had changed. My father wasn’t there. His clothes still hung in the closet and his leather recliner still sat in the den, but he was gone. Home wasn’t the same anymore. And I wasn’t either.

Why is belonging so important?

“Because as humans, we need to belong. To one another, to our friends and families, to our culture and country, to our world. Belonging is primal, fundamental to our sense of happiness and well-being” (CNN Columnist Amanda Enayati, The Importance of Belonging).

In his “Hierarchy of Needs,” the atheist psychologist, Abraham Maslow, got at least one thing right. He named “belonging” as one of the most basic needs of humanity. He thought that the need for belonging had to be met before one could have self-esteem and what he called “self-actualization.”

I know this. I didn’t get my sense of belonging back until I gave my life to Christ. I did this at children’s church while still living in Michigan. I called on God as my Father through Jesus, His Son. From that day to this, my sense of belonging has been growing.

I belong to Christ and He belongs to me. And so does every member of God’s family.

Yet, as I grow in my sense of belonging, this world feels less and less like home.

 

What’s hanging on your wall?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

6a00d83524c19a69e2017ee7e5b9e5970d-250wi“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

When I was a senior in college I led a men’s Bible study group with Campus Crusade for Christ. During the Fall semester we had several new Freshman in our group. One of them was named Rick.

Every week in our group we would close by asking the guys for their prayer requests, and every week, Rick’s request was the same.

“Hey guys. Keep praying for my problem with lust. I’m still struggling with it.” He’d say with a nervous laugh and wrinkled brow.

And so we would pray for Rick’s problem with the sin of sexual lust and ours too, since it really is every man’s battle.

After a few weeks into the semester, Rick stopped showing up for group, so me and a friend of mine decided to go and check on him. Climbing the steps to the third floor of the freshman dorm, we heard music blaring from Rick’s room.

After banging and banging on the door, it finally swung open to the sound of Rick’s voice yelling, “What the blank do you want?”

Seeing us standing there, the goofy grin left his face and he amended his remark with, “Sorry dudes, I figured it was the guys down the hall, not you. Come on in.”

Sitting on the corner of his unmade bed, I looked around Rick’s room. Every wall was plastered with posters of naked girls. Stacks of “girly” magazines were strewn about. I couldn’t find a place to rest my eyes that they weren’t assaulted with temptation, so I tried to focus them on Rick.

“Rick, we’ve been missing you in Bible study buddy, so we thought we’d come see what’s up.” I said, trying to keep things light.

“Yeah, I’ve been kinda busy. I guess I just don’t have time for the whole weekly group thing now that the semester has gotten going, what with tests to take and papers to write and all..” He half-heartedly muttered in reply.

“I hear you. A lot of freshman have a hard time adjusting to college life at first. But that’s why we need other Christians for fellowship and Bible study. It’s hard enough living for Christ while in college, but it’s near impossible to do alone.” I told him, mustering all the concern in my voice for him that I could, in spite of his flippant attitude.

“Yeah, well I guess I’m doing alright.” He said.

“Well, what about the lust thing? Remember how you’ve been asking us to pray about that? How’s that going?” I asked.

“Well, it’s still kinda a struggle.” He admitted, with that familiar nervous giggle.

“I’m not surprised.” I said. “Since you’ve told us that you’re a believer and therefore our brother in Christ, I want to be honest with you. If I had to sit in this room much longer, I’d be struggling with lust too! Why don’t you tear down these porn posters, throw these girly mags in a garbage bag and let’s have a bonfire?”

“What… these?” He asked, gesturing at the wall dismissively with his hand. “They’re just something I’ve been collecting since I was 13. I’ve got every issue and pin-up since 1969. They’re just a collector’s hobby. That’s all. No big deal.” He finished with a matter-of-fact tone.

“No. Actually, they are a big deal and they are hurting your testimony and hindering your Christian growth. Rick, you’ve got to get serious about following Jesus. You can’t say you believe and then live like this. Let us help you dude. We can have a bonfire tonight!” I told him, my voice cracking with real concern and emotion.

“Nah… that’s OK… I’ll think about it, but I’m kinda busy tonight. Anyway, thanks for coming by guys, I’ve gotta get a shower and head to my … my next thing, so..” He replied, while getting up and motioning us towards the door.

As we left Rick’s room, I said, “Rick, we really miss you friend. And we’re gonna keep you in our prayers.”

“Yeah, thanks. See ya around.” He replied, while closing the door.

I still sometimes think about Rick. We did see him around campus after that, but never at another Bible study. His brand of Christianity was of a kind that doesn’t affect behavior. It was a kind of passive believing that never really affects behavior. His kind of believing didn’t even affect what hung on his walls.

Should what you believe affect how you behave? Should following Christ make any difference in how you live?

What’s hanging on your walls?

Who studies the Bible these days?

Posted by & filed under Discipleship, Religion.

“Jesus replied, ‘Your problem is that you don’t know the Scriptures…'” (Matthew 22:29 NLT).

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

There was a time not too long ago in the English speaking world that to be considered educated, one had to know at least two books well. What were they? The King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare. And even Shakespeare was dependent on the KJV, so really the Bible stood alone in its importance as the foundational book that shaped the Western world.

From poetry to politics, the Bible was the common language from which we were once able to understand the extended metaphors of Milton, the biblical allusions of Melville, and the speeches of Lincoln. Today, who would recognize that one of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speeches was actually borrowed from the words of Jesus found in Mark 3:25:

“And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

Yet, in Lincoln’s day, his habit of peppering his speeches with Scriptural allusions gave them both power and immediate understanding with his audience. Since the Bible was both well known and well believed, using it in his speeches was a stroke of genius.

It’s difficult today for a president or a preacher to find a common language with his audience. Should he refer to Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, or Star Trek? To choose the wrong one (my list of three obviously dates me) is to cause one’s listeners to either dismiss you as irrelevant, or misunderstand you completely.

That our culture has lost a common foundation for understanding is a great loss, but an even greater one is that those who call themselves Christian are nearly as biblically illiterate as those who don’t. It’s ironic that our grandparents had only one version of the Bible and perhaps only one copy in their house (a large family Bible with births, marriages, and deaths recorded inside) and yet, they knew their Bible. Whereas today, we have dozens of modern English translations offered in every type cover from paper to leather, and in every type medium from written to audio to digital, and yet, we don’t know Samson from Solomon nor Moses from Matthew.

Speaking of digital and audio versions of the Bible, I read in this month’s edition ofChristianity Today that digital versions of the Bible are breaking through barriers that once prevented people from having access to a Bible. According to the article, the most read and listened to translation of the Bible after English is Arabic.

“The fastest-growing areas for digital Bible reading are where access is restricted. This is especially true in traditional Muslim countries where the average listener listens three to four hours at a time– far more than the average three to four minutes in developed countries” (Christianity Today, Jan/Feb 2013, p. 15).

Perhaps if we had fewer Bibles and less access to biblical teaching, we would spend more time in the reading and study of God’s Word.