Blest Be the Tie that...Blinds?!? (Part 4)

Our relationship with Christ should be at the center of every other relationship in our lives! And when Christ is in His rightful place in our hearts and our homes, all our relationships will be better because of it! Unfortunately, many of us know nothing of Jesus being the core of our lives and families. Some people include God in their families only because they think some religious training will be good for their kids…much like piano lessons or braces. Christ is not at the center of their lives; He’s just some peripheral addendum to their already busy lives!

We’ve moved from being families that pray together to being families that play together! If Sunday sporting events or weekend getaways take priority over being in church, maybe we need to take another look at our priorities! No matter how we try to explain it or justify it, it’s hard to get around Hebrews 10:25 that talks about “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.” Sadly, many of us have been “blinded by good intentions.” We say things like, “But we’re spending time together as a family,” as if time spent together as a family trumps our relationship with God.

Now, folk, listen. I’m not talking about having some legalistic attitude about church…but I am terribly concerned with what I see in today’s culture where Sundays are no longer a day of worship. Sundays have become one of the biggest recreation days on the calendar…and many of our church families will trade worship for amusement in a heartbeat…and feel completely justified about it because they’re doing it as a family.

But when we put family above God in our lives, we’re guilty of idolatry…even the subtle idolatry of family! Listen, don’t get me wrong—I love my family. I would give my life for my family. I treasure time with my family. But a Christ-centered, kingdom-focused family does not devalue God in their hearts and their home!

Let me shift gears for a moment as I seek to land this plane. Perhaps some of you who read this blog are facing hostility from your family because you’re a believer. And as much as that hurts your heart, Jesus’ words in Mark 3 teach you that you are part of a spiritual family that transcends time. That’s not to say that you should love your earthly family any less or that you should stop praying for their salvation. It means, though, that you are not alone. The Bible calls God our Father and Jesus our Brother and Savior. We have a true and eternal family through Christ! Don’t grow weak in your faith because of family pressures. God will honor your obedience!

I love the story that Jim Denison, pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, has told from his own personal experience. When he was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church’s worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized.

During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. And so he asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, “Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.”

FOLK, THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT…REALIZING WHO HAS THE GREATER CLAIM ON OUR LIVES.

I’m reminded of the man who asked a mail-order company to send him a kit to build a birdhouse. Instead of sending him the plans for a birdhouse, they sent him plans for a sailboat. He had the parts for a birdhouse but the plans for a sailboat. He tried to put it together, but it just wouldn't work. So he sent the parts and plans back to the company with a letter explaining his frustration. They wrote a letter of apology and added this post script: “If you think it was difficult for you, you should have seen the man who got your plans trying to make a sailboat out of a birdhouse!”

A lot of people are trying to do family well, but they’re using the wrong instructions…they’re not using God’s plan…they don’t have God’s priority. And no amount of sincerity or effort is going to ease their frustration. People leave God—especially the supremacy of God—out of their lives and then are surprised at the results!

Adiuva nos Deus!

Blest Be the Tie that...Blinds?!? (Part 3)

I need to clarify that, in no way, was Jesus denying His responsibility to His earthly family. In Matthew 15:19, He criticized the religious leaders for not following the Old Testament command to honor their parents. At the cross, you’ll recall, He provided for His mother’s care after He was gone by entrusting her to His best friend, John. He would have agreed with the apostle Paul—and, in fact, does agree—when he wrote to Timothy, “If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

The question is not whether we should love our families. Of course, we’re to love our families! The confusion comes in how we should love our families. Jesus made a statement on another occasion that’s relevant to this discussion…put your seatbelts on, though. Luke 14:26—“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” Matthew put it a bit milder in His gospel and captures the idea more, I believe. Matthew 10:37—“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

When Jesus used the word “hate,” he wasn’t saying what you and I think of when we hear the word “hate.” Hatred, in our understanding, is an “active hostility.” It wishes ill to fall upon the other person. That is not what Jesus was saying! The word Jesus used means something like “to love less.” So, He was saying, “If anyone comes to Me and doesn’t love his family and himself less than Me can’t be my disciple”…or, as Matthew put it—“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

HE WAS TALKING ABOUT PRIORITIES. You see, we have to discern the difference between important and all-important. Our families are important, but they’re not all-important.

You’ll remember when Jesus was asked on another occasion what the most important commandment was. What did He say? “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). The first and foremost commandment is to love God. Loving others comes after that.

Don’t misunderstand our Lord! These relationships should not be in competition with one another. They should complement one another! C.S. Lewis said it so well in a letter that he wrote many years ago: “When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. Insofar as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving toward the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”

I ought to be a better husband and father and brother because of my relationship with Christ. Jesus should sweeten every connection and concentric circle in my life!

Blest Be the Tie that...Blinds?!? (Part 2)

Mark 3:31-35 has to be one of the strangest stories from Jesus’ life found in the pages of Scripture. But these verses need to be taken in context with verses 20-21 if they’re to be understood properly:

20-And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.
21-When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

Do you remember the story of Jesus’ parents accidentally leaving Him in Jerusalem when He was only 12 years old? You can read it in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel. They thought he was with other members of the family caravan, but about a day’s journey outside of Jerusalem they discovered He wasn’t. So they turned around, went a day’s journey back to Jerusalem, and then spent a day looking throughout the city for Jesus.

Luke tells us, “…they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.’ And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?’” (2:46-49).

Don’t miss the contrast between “Your father” and “My Father.” Even at 12 years old, Jesus understood that His greatest loyalty lay with His Heavenly Father! Even at 12 years old, Jesus was aware that He had special work to do—“I had to be in My Father’s house.” Even at 12 years old Jesus grasped that He was on mission!

Keep all this in mind as we return to Mark’s gospel. At some point when He was about 30 years old, Jesus laid His carpenter’s hammer down and told His mother, “It’s time.” And He began His earthly ministry. He went about preaching the gospel, and crowds began to follow Him. Out of the masses, He chose 12 men to be His disciples “so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons” (Mark 3:14-15). This brings us to verses 20-21 in Mark 3.

When Jesus’ family heard what He was doing and how the crowds were following Him everywhere He went, they said, “He’s lost His mind! He’s ruining our good name and we’ve got to stop Him!” When they got to where He was, they couldn’t get through the crowd…so they sent word to Jesus that they were there. They were there, of course, to take Him home.

So Jesus was faced with the same decision every one of us is faced with—who has the greater claim on my life? My earthly family or my Heavenly Father? Jesus’ answer was shocking, to say the least. When they said, “Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You,” Jesus asked, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Then he said, “…whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

These words seem awfully harsh to us now, and I suppose they didn’t sit well with his family then. But Jesus knew why they had come, and He wasn’t going to be dragged away from His Kingdom work because His family thought He was crazy. They were seeking to block Him from His mission, and Jesus wasn’t going to let that happen. They meant well, no doubt, but they were “blinded by [their] good intentions.”

So Jesus asked that odd question, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” and made those strange statements: “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” What Jesus was calling attention to was the fact that our relationship with Him precedes every other relationship in our lives!

We sometimes say that “blood is thicker than water.” Well, Jesus was saying that “spirit is thicker than blood”!

Blest Be the Tie that...Blinds?!? (Part 1)

7-out-of-10 adults in America choose their earthly family over their heavenly Father when asked to choose the most important relationship in their lives. That’s what a 2007 Barna study discovered when more than a thousand adults over the age of 18 were surveyed.

* 1/3 said their entire nuclear family is more important than God.
* 22% named their spouse as the most important relationship in their lives.
* 17% said their children were of chief importance.
* 3% identified their parents as the most important relationship in their lives.

70% of American adults have elevated their families above even God in their priorities! In their emphasis upon family, they have devalued God in the process.

I fully expect to be misunderstood in this week’s blog, but I’m going to try to speak as clearly as I can. I’m in the midst of a series of blogs on “American Idolatry” in which I’m addressing subtle ways that we have allowed idolatry to creep in and camp out in our lives…sometimes unnoticed and unaddressed!

Remember, anything that takes our love and loyalty away from the Lord becomes an idol in our lives…and idols are not always evil things. Sometimes the object of our idolatry is, in and of itself, a very good thing. It reminds me of Augustine’s definition of idolatry that we considered in a previous entry: “Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshipped.” Anything and everything holds the potential to become an idol in our lives…even something as commendable and beautiful as family.

We’ve all heard the classic hymn, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.” The story behind that song is beautiful, by the way. I hope you’ll check it our when you get a chance. But consider this twist: “Blest Be the Tie that...Blinds?” It’s a valid question…it’s a necessary question.

Can families really expect the pleasure of God upon their homes if His authority and supremacy are downplayed…or even dismissed? And while I have no doubt that every parent reading this blog means well, there is such a thing as being “blinded by good intentions.” And those who put family above God in their lives and in their homes are often blinded to their sin of idolatry. So, knowing full-well my risk of being misunderstood, I rise to denounce the idol of family!

Mark 3:31-35
31-Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.
32-A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.”
33-Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”
34-Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!
35-“For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

“Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I” (Part 4)

I’ve been writing this week about “Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I.” At the heart of this week’s blogs (and every blog entry on “American Idolatry”) is the challenge from God to “repent and turn away from your idols...” I pray that will be our response as our Lord brings to light any and all idolatrous affections!

Yesterday I addressed the need for daily denial if we’re to forsake the idol of self. Second, forsaking the idol of self requires Daily Death—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily…” Some try to define this as bearing some personal burden—an angry spouse or a bad case of arthritis or some continuing crisis. But that’s not what Jesus was talking about. The cross meant something very different to the people of Jesus’ day than it does to people today. Crosses today are pieces of jewelry. Crosses then were places of judgment. Crosses today are used for decoration. Crosses then were used for death. We’ve so sanitized and ritualized the cross in these 20 centuries since Jesus, it’s no wonder that we have trouble understanding what He was saying!

Jesus was describing the surrender of our will to God’s will. Do you remember Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified? “…Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done…” (Luke 22:42). Obviously, for Jesus, the cross was a one-time event, yet he calls us to take up our crosses daily. Once again, he’s describing the surrender of our will to God’s will, and that’s a daily experience. It’s allowing our will to die in Christ’s death so that, like a seed buried in the soil, God’s will can spring forth life in us and through us! Daily Denial & Daily Death.

Finally, forsaking the idol of self requires Daily Discipleship—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” The core of the Christian life is following Jesus. Not just a profession of faith…not just a label…certainly more than a fish symbol on our car! The Christian life is about following Jesus.

But if we come to the issue of faith intending to go our own way…and to do our own thing, we’ll only follow Jesus if it’s convenient or comfortable. But the moment it costs us something, we’re out the door! But what we don’t realize is that we’re making the biggest mistake of our lives! “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”

Ask yourself, honestly and biblically, “Am I following Jesus by living my life the way that I am? Is my life a mirror reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ?” If not, why not? Could it be that we’re bowing at the wrong altar in our lives? Could it be that we’re guilty of “Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I”? Could it be that we’ve allowed self to substitute for God upon that throne in our hearts?

All that can change today…right now, right where you are. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

“Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I” (Part 3)

I’m writing on “American Idolatry,” in general, and the idol of self, in particular. I want you to see three things that Jesus said to “anyone who wishes to come after [Him].” And, by the way, no one wishing to come after Christ can continue to worship at the altar of the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I!

First, forsaking the idol of self requires Daily Denial—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.” We need to understand, though, that self-denial is more than denying yourself cake on Sundays…it is literally denying self! That word “deny” means to renounce or disown. So literally Christ is calling us to renounce the idol of self …to disown the idol of self!

A Christian writer from another generation, A. T. Pierson, said, “Getting rid of the ‘self-life’ is like peeling an onion: layer upon layer—and a tearful process!” What are those layers? One layer would be self-exaltation…or self-promotion…I’m talking about pride. The sin of pride is a preoccupation with self! And I think it’s very fitting that the middle letter of the word “pride” is the letter “i” because pride is all about “me, myself, and I.” We must be willing to peel back the layer of self-exaltation if we’re to forsake the idol of self!

Another layer that we have to be willing to peel back is that of self-indulgence. That’s when we say, “I’m going to do what I want to do because it makes me happy.” Listen, we justify our wrong-doing sometimes by saying, “But it makes me happy.” Forget what God says about it, “It makes me happy.”

May I tell you today that God’s primary objective for your life is not your happiness?!? His goal for you is His holiness… and His holiness will lead to your happiness, but so-called happiness doesn’t necessarily lead to holiness. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

“Blessed” = “Happy”
“Pure in heart” = “Holy”
“Happy are the holy!”

We must peel back the layer of self-indulgence if we’re to forsake the idol of self!

We could go on and on about the different layers of this proverbial onion, but let me mention one more—self-righteousness. If you read the New Testament objectively, you’ll see that the Pharisees during our Lord’s time on earth were greater sinners (if I can use that idea) because of their self-righteousness…they believed their exterior moral behavior commended them to God, but Jesus came along and exposed them as “white-washed tombs”…cleaned up on the outside but, on the inside, filled with dead men’s bones! The reason those who lived in open sin were attracted to Jesus was that they knew they were sinners. They knew their need for mercy, grace, and forgiveness. The Pharisees, however, didn’t realize how much they truly needed Christ. Their self-righteousness blinded them to their own sinfulness. Isaiah said in 64:6 that “…all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.”

Listen, beware of a faith that is only on the outside. It’s like counterfeit cash; it might look nice but it’s not worth anything. Jesus warned in Matthew 7—“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS’” (21-23).

Forsaking the idol of self includes disowning our own self-righteousness. Listen—it isn’t until we denounce ourselves as sinners deserving God’s judgment that we will throw ourselves upon God’s altar of mercy and entrust ourselves completely to Jesus Christ for salvation!

“Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I” (Part 2)

Regarding the worship of self, look to God’s Word in Luke 9:23-24, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.’”

Ever wonder where the words “narcissism” and “narcissistic” come from? They come from Greek mythology and are based on the name of a young man named “Narcissus.” There are several variations of the story, but the gist of it is that when Narcissus first saw his reflection in the water, he fell in love with himself. And the more he gazed into his own reflection, the more in love he fell…with himself. In the end, unable to tear himself away from his own reflection, he died from lack of food and water. Some versions of the story say he drowned…others say he took his own life. Regardless of the details, his infatuation with himself ended up destroying him.

Now, we all know that the story of Narcissus is just a myth, but “narcissism” is very real. In fact, about a year-and-a-half ago, a research study spanning from 1982 to 2006 revealed that today’s college students have never been more self-centered! 16,475 college students completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). And what the researchers discovered, they believe, is directly traceable to the self-esteem movement that emerged in the 1980s. We’ve spent the last 25 years teaching kids to sing, “I am special. I am special. Look at me. Look at me.” (to the tune of Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez vous? Dormez vous?) that we’ve created a culture that fuels and encourages the self-centeredness that already exists within each of us. (source: Associated Press, David Crary, "Study: College Students More Narcissistic," http://hosted.ap.org/ [2-27-07])

The Times of London ran a story early this summer that would be funny if it weren’t so disturbing. The first paragraph read: "The stage was set, the lights went down and in a suburban Japanese primary school everyone prepared to enjoy a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The only snag was that the entire cast was playing the part of Snow White." The school cowered to the parents who forced teachers and administrators to admit the injustice of selecting just one girl to play the title role. They all wanted their children to have the title role…so everyone was Snow White! No dwarfs…no other characters…just 25 Snow Whites running around. I’d like to have seen that just to see how they pulled it off…I doubt they did.

But Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Talk about cutting cross-grain! Jesus’ words fly in the face of those who wish to worship at the Altar of that Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I! Of course, most people would never admit to such as that…but I did read of one woman named “Sheila” who’s made up her own religion and named it “Sheilaism.” I’m not kidding. She’s had a group on Yahoo Canada since 2002. And it has a total membership of 3…evidently Sheila’s unholy trinity of me, myself, and I are the only ones interested in being “Sheilaists”!

But I was saying that most people—especially Christians—would never admit to worshipping themselves, but behavior says otherwise! Jesus wasn’t speaking in abstract terms when He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He knew that in our base nature that we are selfish creatures. And as long as we live as though life were all about us, we’ll never seek God’s grace and forgiveness! That’s why I’m saying that worshipping self is perhaps the most dangerous idolization of all! If anything will keep you from eternal life through Christ, it’s the refusal to forsake the idol of self!

“Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I” (Part 1)

One of my spiritual heroes from the past is Jerome Savonarola. He was a great preacher in Italy in the 15th century…actually a Catholic priest who was excommunicated and hanged for preaching the gospel in language that everyone could understand and for offending the Pope. His life story is fascinating, but I want to tell you about a particular experience he had.

One day he saw an elderly woman bowing before a statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus. On the following day, he noticed the same woman again on her knees before the statue. So with great interest, Savonarola observed that day after day, she came and worshipped before the statue. He whispered to one of his fellow priests, “Look at how she reverences the Virgin Mother.”

But the priest said, “Don’t be deceived by what you see. Many years ago an artist was commissioned to create [that] statue....As he sought a young woman to pose as the model for his sculpture, he found one who seemed to be the perfect subject. She was young and lovely, and had a mystical quality in her face. The image of that young woman inspired his statue of Mary. The woman who now worships the statue is the same one who served as its model years ago. Shortly after the statue was put in place, she began to visit it and continued to worship there religiously ever since.”

That woman wasn’t giving homage to Mary…she was worshipping herself! While that true story might seem a bit extreme, worshipping self is not that uncommon. In fact many are guilty of “Worshipping at the Altar of an Unholy Trinity—Me, Myself, and I.”

Worshipping ourselves—we could call that selfishness—is one of the most serious sins that a person commits. It’s perhaps the most dangerous idolization of all! Because when we place ourselves at the center of the universe…when life is all about us…we become self-serving…and self-sufficient…and self-satisfied! Self is upon the throne of our lives…and may I remind you that there is a throne in each of our hearts? God put it there, because He designed us to be worshippers. But nothing and nobody belongs on that throne except Him! Yet when we give self access to that throne, that’s idolatry…pure and simple.

American Idolatry...

God knows that all sin begins with the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is the stem cells, if you will, of sin. Stem cells, as you know, have the incredible potential to develop into several different types of cells—muscle cells, red blood cells, nerve cells, for instance. They’re the building blocks of life.

The sin of idolatry holds the incredible potential to develop into any number of other sins! It’s the sin-behind-the-sin. If a person gives over to some sexual sin, it’s because lust has become more important in his life than God! Lust has become an idol! When people’s lives are consumed with materialism, it’s because money has become more important in their lives than God! Money has become an idol! When a person has to violate everything holy to vote for her party’s candidate, politics have become more important in her life than God. The political machine has become an idol!

God, in His mercy, has told us, “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” God essentially said in Ezekiel 14:3, “Why should I even bother with their prayers?” “Should I be consulted by them at all?” If your prayer life is hollow and lifeless and ineffective…maybe you ought to ask yourself if something’s become more important in your life than God.

But there’s an equal if not greater issue that God raises in Ezekiel 14:8, “I will set My face against that man”…what man? The one who allows an imposter to sit upon God’s throne in his heart. The one whose heart is captured by idolatrous affections.

So what does this verse mean? It means that idolatry—outward or inward—sets a person in contradiction to God. And do you really want to oppose God? Because that’s one fight that you’re not going to win.

It still never ceases to amaze me how people will live their lives resisting and rejecting God’s authority over their lives…but when they need something, they’re surprised when their barrel of blessings is empty! But how can we really expect the blessing of God on our lives if we’ve rented out His throne in our hearts to some two-bit deity wannabe?!?

I know how tempted we are to try to justify or explain away letting something move God out of His rightful place in our lives…but listen to me today—there’s only one response that God will accept. Look at Ezekiel 14:6, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.” We can not accommodate idolatry in our lives and expect God to look the other way! It’s repentance…it’s turning away from the idolatry—even idolatry of the heart—that God’s looking for!

I love the words William Cowper (pr. “Cooper”) wrote in his poem, Walking with God:

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee.

Someone wisely said, “It’s never too soon to repent…but one day it will be too late.” So let’s forsake today any no-god idols in our lives…anything that monopolizes our attention away from God.

And as you stand at the threshold of decision today, beware of that li’l Gremlin named “Not Me.” Be very careful about assuming that these words have nothing to do with you, because that might just be a clue that pride has rented out God’s throne in your heart. “Repent and turn away from your idols...”

More on American Idolatry

What is Idolatry? Idolatry is anything that monopolizes our attention away from God. It doesn’t have to be a stone statue or a wooden figure. It’s anything that moves God out of His rightful place in our lives. Henry Blackaby said, “An idol is anything you turn to for help when God told you to turn to Him for help.” Augustine said, “Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshipped.”

And the Bible has a lot to say against idolatry! Leviticus 19:4 warns us not to turn to idols or make idols, because God declares, “I am the LORD your God.” 1 Kings 21:26 is a strong word against following idols. Leviticus 26:1 warns us not to bow down to idols. In Isaiah 45:20, the LORD condemns those “who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save.” Hosea 13:2 warns against sacrificing to idols. There are so many other OT verses that we could reference, but the bottom line of the issue is found in the second of the Ten Commandments—“You shall not make for yourself an idol…” (Exodus 20:4).

“Pastor, doesn’t all this just show that idolatry was an Old Testament issue?” Not at all! We find the same kinds of prohibition in the New Testament, as well.

The Apostles commanded Gentile Christians to abstain from the pollution of idols in Acts 15:20, 29. The Apostle Paul warned Christians in 1 Corinthians 5:11 “not to associate with…an idolater…not even to eat with such a one.” Idolatry is listed among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:20. And in the final words of 1 John…in 1 John 5:21, John says, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

The prohibition against idolatry is not an OT or a NT issue; it’s a biblical issue! Scripture clearly forbids the people of God to be involved in idolatry!

And, as we’ve read in Ezekiel 14, idolatry doesn’t require a stone statue or a wooden figure. You see, there is a throne in each of our hearts. God put it there, because He designed us to be worshippers. That throne belongs to Him. Idolatry happens when we substitute something else—anything else—for God in our lives…when we allow an imposter to sit upon God’s throne in our lives.

Louie Giglio wrote along these lines when he wrote:
“I think that all music—not just Christian music but all music—is worship music, because every song is amplifying the value of something. There's a trail of our time, our affections, our allegiance, our devotion, our money. That trail leads to a throne, and whatever's on that throne is what we worship. We're all doing a great job of it because God has created us to be worshipers. The problem is that a lot of us have really bad gods.”

Back to Ezekiel 14…these Jewish leaders were caught in two powerful cross-currents. On one side, they wanted to hear a word from God; but on the other side, their hearts were captured by some idolatrous affection. And God said, “I don’t think so.”

On the heels of Exodus 20:4—“You shall not make for yourself an idol,” God says in the very next verse, “You shall not worship [idols] or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” God doesn’t share His throne with anybody or anything. He sits in a peer group of one!

And at the heart of the offense described in Ezekiel 14 is the artificial attempt to seek God while their hearts were inclined toward idols. These leaders were playing a good game on the outside, making everyone believe they were genuine in their faith…but God could see through their hypocrisy!

And, by the way, it’s not just that God is a jealous God… that’s not the only reason God takes such a dramatic stance on the issue of idolatry. Notice in Ezekiel 14:3—“These men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity.” In other words, “They’ve set up idols in their hearts…and have embraced the very things that will make them fall into sin.” It’s actually the mercy of God toward us that says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol.”

American Idolatry

I don’t know if you caught it in the news, but Thelma Keane died a few months ago in Phoenix at the age of 82. I was saddened by that news when I first heard it, even though I didn’t know her. In fact, I don’t know anyone in the family…but I feel like I do.

Thelma Keane was the inspiration for the Mommy character in her husband’s comic strip, The Family Circus. I’ve been reading Bil Keane’s The Family Circus for as long as I can remember. There’s one character that Bil Keane introduced in the mid-‘70s that’s as true-to-life as any member of this cartoon family.

Do you remember the Gremlin named “Not Me”? He’s invisible and just stands by, watching while the children try to shift blame for some misdeed by saying, “Not Me.” We’ve all been there, whether we’re the ones saying it or hearing it…“Not Me.”

I preached a series of sermons this summer that I called “American Idolatry,” and I’ve decided to use some of that material for my blog. My guess is that most people who hear that title will immediately think to themselves, “Not Me. I’m not guilty of idolatry. I’ve never bowed down before some stone stature or worshipped at a pagan altar. Not Me.”

But don’t be so quick to let Bil Keane’s li’l Gremlin speak for you…As we journey together, we might just discover idols closer than we realized.

Let me tell you how I came to preach a series of sermons (and, subsequently, write in my blog) on “American Idolatry.” I think we can all agree that American Idol has become a household name in today’s culture. This year’s final week of American Idol garnered audiences of 27 million viewers on Tuesday and 32 million viewers on Wednesday, making it the most watched television program in America that week. As television goes, it’s huge!

Last fall I was in the orthodontist’s office with Becca reading a magazine article on the (then) upcoming 2008 season of American Idol…and I got to thinking about America’s fascination with this show—for some people it’s an addiction. Now so you don’t think I’m going on some tirade about American Idol, I watch it sometimes…but I’ve got to tell you…I only like the first few weeks. Once they go to Hollywood, I couldn’t care less who wins.

But that article set into motion an evolution of thoughts across the next 6-8 months that culminated in the sermon series—“American Idolatry.” Most Americans would never dream of bowing down in worship before some stone statue, but idolatry is very much alive in America. In fact, idolatry can be found in most American homes and families. Listen to God’s Word and pray that God will speak clearly to your heart…

Ezekiel 14:1-11
1-Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.
2-And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
3-"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?
4-"Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,
5-in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols."'
6-"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
7-"For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person.
8-"I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD.
9-"But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the LORD, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
10-"They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be,
11-in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,"' declares the Lord GOD."
Ezekeiel is a prophecy from the Babylonian Exile. In other words, Ezekiel the prophet preached during the time many of the Jews had been taken to Babylon from their homeland in Jerusalem. More specifically, Ezekiel prophesied to the Jews during the first part of their seventy years of captivity.

What’s being discussed in this Ezekiel passage is God’s great displeasure with “some elders of Israel” who were coming to Ezekiel to hear a word from God. These elders would have been some of the most morally upstanding, trustworthy men among the Jewish people in captivity. They were leaders, and their lives were exemplary to all who knew them…all except God, who “sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

These were men you would never see bowed down before some pagan deity…some icon of idolatry…much like most of us. It’s easy for us to be like The Family Circus kids and say, “Not Me,” because we’d never worship in an idol’s temple. Yet God said that these Jewish leaders had “set up idols in their hearts.” They would never have had idols in their homes, but they had them in their hearts. And God made no distinction between the two.

Where, Oh Where, Have I Been...?

I must apologize that I've been a bit distracted (BUSY would be a better word) over the last few months. My last post was on PI, and to be honest with you, I can't get that out of my head. I even dreamed all night long last night about 3.1415926535...

I'm not kidding.

I do hope to be more faithful to my blog in the days ahead. Please forgive me...

Easy as Pi

Did you hear about the recent crop circle found this month in the English countryside? It baffled observers until someone figured it out. An electrical engineer from North Carolina noticed that it was an abstract representation of the first ten digits of pi, the number at the center of Euclidean geometry.

This blog entry is not about crop circles, by the way.

Pi is what is known in mathematics as an irrational number, which means that it can not be expressed as a fraction. Contrary to a common myth, 22/7 does not represent pi. 22/7 is actually greater than pi…close but not the same. But pi is best known as a mathematical constant that represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. In other words pi equals a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter. The size of the circle is irrelevant, incidentally, because pi expresses the ratio of the circle’s circumference to its diameter.

While I am impressed with some artist(s)’s creativity in designing and producing this latest crop circle, I’m far more impressed with the number known as pi. It’s been a mystery for more than 3,500 years, and still proves to be so.

No one has ever been able to find the end of the number, although (with the help of a supercomputer) the first 1.24 trillion digits are now known. Just to give some perspective, the first eleven digits (3.1415926535) of pi are accurate enough to measure the circumference of our planet to within a millimeter.

The reason this intrigues me is that in 1.24 trillion digits, there is no detectable pattern in the sequence of the numbers.

When I told one of my Junior High math teachers years ago that I was majoring in mathematics (and biblical studies) in college, she told me to look for God in math. I did…and I found Him. If ever a language had the fingerprints of God upon it, math does!

Pi is one of the most fundamental concepts and numbers in mathematics, and it’s infinite! Just like God. And pi is infinitely creative…just like God.

Even if no one who reads this blog cares about pi, I have yet another reason to praise my Lord!

EXPELLED!

I'm anxiously awaiting the release of a new movie/documentary this weekend entitled, "Expelled." I don't know if you've heard of it or not, but it exposes the blatant fear and intimidation among academic elitists regarding the possibility that God exists. Evolution, as I've often said, is atheism veiled in academic garb. Basically what the "theory" (get that, "theory," not fact) of evolution says is, "Since there is no God, how did we get here?" WHAT AN ASSUMPTION! "Since there is no God..."

You know, we were taught in elementary school the scientific method. You remember:

• You begin with a research question
• You form a hypothesis (i.e. an "educated guess" as to what you're going to discover)
• You collect data
• You analyze collected data
• You report the findings

And a cardinal rule of pure science is that your research is repeatable by other scientists operating under the same conditions. Evolution fails the test of science on several fronts, yet the scientific community is so committed to atheism that they aren't willing to concede that data do not support their hypotheses. Accordingly, I'm shocked at the intellectual dishonesty that pervades the scientific community...although there are some good scientists and academicians out there...they're just not the ones who get the media attention.

I'm looking forward to this movie/documentary. I hope you'll go see it, too...

"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

Did you hear the story about the mother who ran into the bedroom when she heard her seven-year-old son scream? She found her two-year-old daughter pulling her brother's hair. She gently released the little girl's grip and said comfortingly to the boy, "There, there. She didn't mean it. She doesn't know that hurts." He nodded his acknowledgement, and she left the room.

As she started down the hall the little girl screamed. Rushing back in, she asked, "What happened?"

The little boy replied, "She knows now that it hurts."

How quickly we seek revenge against those who hurt us. Yet, as believers, revenge is never an option that is part of God's will. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse....Never pay back evil for evil to anyone....Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord....Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:14,17,19,21).

Black Holes and Belief

Today’s USA Today has a brief article that references a NASA announcement that the “smallest known black hole [has been] discovered.” The article caught my eye this morning primarily because I said in my sermon last night (I’m preaching a series of revival services outside Chicago, by the way) that black holes are only theoretical. In other words, scientists believe they must exist but actually observing a black hole is an altogether different issue.

I was preaching on the issue of doubt’s relationship to faith, and I concluded my message with an observation on Carl Sagan. He was a world-famous American astronomer and astrobiologist who died in December, 1996. Sagan was fascinated with educated adults, with all the wonders of science around them, who held to religious beliefs. He never wavered in his agnosticism.

Newsweek carried a story about Sagan in March of ‘97 in which his wife, Ann Druyan, said about his last hours: “There was no deathbed conversion. No appeals to God, no hope for an afterlife.” She was asked, “Did he want to believe?” to which she replied, “Carl never wanted to believe. He wanted to know.”

The interesting thing about Druyan’s comment is the theoretical nature of black holes, especially in 1996. It is true that NASA released a report this past fall that they had “unmasked hundreds of black holes hiding deep inside dusty galaxies” using their Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes. Incidentally, what they’ve “seen” are nine to eleven billion light-years away. A light-year, of course, is the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum or about 5.88 trillion miles.

Caveat—think about this. Pluto, which was classified as a planet more than 75 years ago, has lost its planetary status. Do you know how far from earth Pluto is? A mere 2.66 billion miles (minimum). Compare 2.66 billion miles with a single light-year. Then compare 2.66 billion miles with nine to eleven billion light-years. What’re you saying, Larry? I’m saying that scientists can’t even agree on what they observe at a minuscule fraction of the distance away from us that these latest reports are discussing. To make definitive, irrefutable claims about objects observed nine to eleven billion light-years away isn’t as easy as writing and publishing papers in academic journals.

Personally, I believe that black holes do exist and that we’ll continue to discover ways to prove their existence. Up to this point, however, the sciences of astronomy, physics, and quantum mechanics are limited to educated guesses. This was especially true in Sagan’s lifetime. So Carl Sagan, who “never wanted to believe” but only “wanted to know,” chose to place his faith in black holes even though he couldn’t see them and couldn’t prove them.

The Christian life is one of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Carl Sagan had faith…just not in God…and that grieves my heart.

“Well, are black holes only theoretical or have they been proved?!?”

That’s a great question....Scientists operate with confidence that black holes exist, but they still haven’t actually seen a black hole. They’ve seen what must be the effects of black holes through complex computer imaging using infrared and X-ray technologies. But the black holes themselves are still yet to be observed.

One of the reasons that “seeing” a black hole is difficult, to say the least, is that light itself can’t escape the gravitational pull of a black hole. And without light, we’re blind.

May I repeat—I believe in the existence of black holes, but I must do so by faith because I’ve never actually seen one. People often say that God doesn’t exist because they’ve never seen Him. But, as I’ve said before, an atheist doesn’t want to find God any more than a thief wants to find a police officer. If God does indeed exist, then He is the final Authority and deserves our absolute allegiance. That, my friend, means life-change…and most people don’t want Someone else calling the shots.

Until next time…

April 1

In an effort to be more politically correct, I am acknowledging today as National Atheist Day.

Psalm 14:1

Evan-jelly-whatie?

Sorry it's been so long since my last post...life's busy.

I had a lady call the office a couple of days ago--not a church member, but someone who watches our TV ministry--who wanted to know if I could explain to her what the word "Evangelical" means. She'd heard the word so much in the news in connection with the current presidential election that she figured she needed to know what the media were talking about.

I thought there might be others who share her confusion.

The short answer to the question “What is an Evangelical?” is “a more socially conservative born-again Christian.” But since I’m not prone to give short answers, here’s more information—

“Evangelical” is a term that describes a sub-category of Christianity. The word “Christian” doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody who uses the term. What Catholics believe differs considerably from what Protestants believe. But the beliefs of an Episcopalian differ considerably from the beliefs of a Baptist.

We sometimes distinguish between “Christians” and “born-again Christians” because not everyone who calls himself/herself a Christian believes in the necessity of conversion for salvation. Catholics and Lutherans, for instance, believe in more of a “community of faith” than a “conversion of faith.” In other words, you’re Christian if you belong to their faith community.

“Evangelical” actually describes the smaller, more socially conservative subset of born again Christians. Evangelicals represent about one-fifth of all born again Christians, according to George Barna. He defines “Evangelical” in this way:

“Born-again Christians,” for the sake of clarification, are Christians who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their lives today and who believe they’re going to heaven when they die because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. “Evangelical Christians” are Christians who are born again plus seven other conditions. Those include:

1. saying their faith is very important in their life today;


2. believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians;


3. believing that Satan exists;


4. believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works;


5. believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth;


6. asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches;


7. and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.

Naturally, there are some people who call themselves “Evangelicals” who are not and some Evangelicals who reject the label.

And just so we're still on the same page, "Evangelical" doesn't mean the same thing as "evangelistic." "Evangelistic," "evangel," "evangelist," and "evangelism" are English words that come from the Greek word for gospel, "euangelion," which literally means "good news."

I hope this helps...and, by the way, the TIME Magazine cover image that I used is from the February 7, 2005, issue.

Stephen King, Starbucks, and American Christianity (Part 4 of 4)

[This is an article that I've chosen to break up into several days due to its length.]
We demonstrate genuineness in our faith by loving God and loving people. Stop right there and think about that statement. Loving God and loving people. It’s the Great Commandment (see Mark 12:30-31). Jesus gave it when asked, “What’s the greatest commandment of all?” In other words, the man was asking “What’s the most important thing I can do with my life?” Jesus told him, “Love God and love people.” Do we somehow think Jesus was merely making a suggestion? Do we think He was kidding? Why are loving God and loving people not guiding principles for our lives and our churches? I assure you, they’re not for many of us…not when we treat one another the way that we do. I often say (and I’m ashamed to repeat it here) that the meanest people I’ve ever met in my life have been church folk. I’m serious.

We’re authentic when our lives line up with our lips. Regardless of what we might hear these days, truth matters. And truth matters because truth and experience are related. Some would argue against that premise, saying that our experiences exist independent of truth. But in the end, truth and experience always intersect. A guy falls from the twentieth floor of a building. All the way down, he shouts to people through open windows, “I’m okay!” He can say that…He might even—in some strange delusion—believe it…but in the end, the truth intersects with his experience.

So, since the truth—specifically the truth of God’s Word—will have ultimate bearing on our experience, then it is more than important—it’s imperative—that we come to terms with the truth. And that truth must be fleshed out in our daily lives…in our church ministries…in our interaction with the culture in which we live.

Starbucks did the right thing…refocused on their purpose and passion as a coffee shop. American Christianity (and all expressions of the Christian faith, for that matter) must return to its roots if we’re going to connect with our culture for the cause of Christ. How long will we wander in the wilderness of our worldliness while convincing ourselves that there’s ease in Zion!?!

When Americans are watching more than four and a half hours of television per day, we must ask ourselves whether our lives as believers are being shaped by culture more than by Christ. Think about it…most of us spend—what?—five hours a week in church activities, if we’re “there every time the doors are open”? Throw in our personal devotion lives. How much time each week are we talking about? I’m guessing it wouldn’t be as much as the 32+ hours per week we spend in front of the TV! And if our lives look and sound more like the world than our Savior, why does it surprise us when the influence of our lives for Christ is negligible?

We are the key to spiritual awakening in America. God said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Like the old saying goes, “If the gold rusts, what shall happen to the iron?”

I've got to tell you...when the church stops living out the demonstrable difference of knowing Christ, “organized religion gives me the creeps.”

Stephen King, Starbucks, and American Christianity (Part 3 of 4)

[This is an article that I've chosen to break up into several days due to its length.]
Just this week (Tuesday, February 26), Starbucks closed all 7,100 of their stores across the country for three hours in order to re-train their employees. From the massive publicity generated in the media beforehand by such a move, I assumed that the training had to do primarily with coffee. Yet when I spoke with Starbucks employees here in Clarksville and in Nashville on Wednesday, I discovered that the training was more about connecting with the customer…returning to their roots of being a friendly, neighborhood coffee shop.

Howard D. Schultz was recently appointed (or anointed, whichever way you want to look at it) as the CEO of Starbucks. In February of last year, Schultz wrote a (now well-publicized) memorandum complaining of the Starbucks experience being “water[ed] down” from the company’s former (and smaller) days. The idea behind the unorthodox move on Tuesday was to return to the company’s purpose and passion for the customer. Even though unsuspecting customers complained outside locked doors and to newspaper reporters, I suspect that Starbucks will be glad they did what they did…as will we.

So what?

The “so what” is that maybe that’s what we ought to do. “Close and lock the church doors!?! Keep potential church members on the sidewalks to complain?!?” Not exactly, but certainly we should give some serious thought to the “watering down” in America of the Christian experience…and we should do whatever it takes to return to Christ’s purpose for His church. We must protect the “saltiness” of the church!

Surely we have to take some ownership of the problem when the largest religious shifts in America are away from affiliation with any religion or faith tradition. Whether we like it or not, we are “guilty by association” (in the eyes of outsiders) when Christians, church leaders , or churches dishonor the Lord. Every pedophile priest has an impact on what people think of the Christian faith. Every rogue pastor is a bad advertisement for our faith. Every hypocritical “Christian” paints a picture of Christianity in someone’s understanding.

“But I can’t be responsible for what everyone else does!” And that’s true, but it means that we have to be all the more intentional about demonstrating integrity in our lives consistently.

As to churches and denominations, believe it or not we’re facing struggles these days with “church leaders” (if you can call them that) who’re challenging the idea that a person must be a follower of Jesus Christ to be a member of a local church. I have no doubt that many people sitting on the pews of our churches week after week are unregenerate, but do we really want to openly suggest that conversion is a dispensable part of our faith?!?

Stephen King said, “Organized religion gives me the creeps.” But was he talking about the structures and pillars of authentic faith…or the people who’ve forgotten to practice what they preach? We must possess what Bill Hybels calls “high potency” in our faith! If there’s one trait of my generation (I’m a Gen-Xer) and those coming behind me, we can spot a fake a mile away. Much of what parades itself around as Christianity is a deplorable distortion of biblical faith and hardly “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).

To be continued...

Stephen King, Starbucks, and American Christianity (Part 2 of 4)

[This is an article that I've chosen to break up into several days due to its length.]
Numbers like these should concern us, and rightfully so, but not for the reasons some people might think. Outsiders might accuse someone like me (the pastor of a local Southern Baptist congregation) of fearing that I might lose my audience or, even worse, my financial base. But I must tell you that my concern is far more substantive than that. If almost 8 out of 10 American adults consider themselves Christians while the largest net gains in religious affiliation among American adults were among those who claim no affiliation with any religion or faith tradition, we have bigger issues on our plate than the next Sunday School picnic or stewardship campaign!

Besides the fact that the American Protestant majority—which has been in place since the founding of this nation—is quickly ebbing away, churches are losing their relevance in today’s culture. Some, of course, will argue that this is impossible…but I remind you of the warning Jesus gave in His Sermon on the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matthew 5:13).

Now, if we were being true to our spiritual nature and calling, why did a new study of unchurched Americans (conducted by LifeWay Research, in partnership with the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research) find almost 3 out of 4 adults (72%) said they think the church “is full of hypocrites”? Yet, 64% of the respondents said they think “the Christian religion is a relevant and viable religion for today” and 71% of them said they believe Jesus “makes a positive difference in a person’s life.” Also, 78% said they would “be willing to listen” to someone who wanted to share what they believed about Christianity.

So where’s the problem? It seems that unchurched people have a greater problem with the church than with Jesus. 86% of those surveyed said, “I believe I can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church.” Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay research, said about the survey’s findings, “People on the outside see the church as candles, pews and flowers, rather than people living out their love for God by loving others.”

Don’t get me wrong…I don’t think all hope is lost…nothing even close to such doom and gloom. But I am suggesting that we (Christians, churches and denominations) need to conduct serious self-analysis and ask ourselves if all that we’re about and consumed with is really what Jesus died for.

Come on…what did Jesus tell us to do? “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). This is our mission…but is it what we’re about? I’m afraid we don’t really want to answer that question, but we have to....

To be continued...

Stephen King, Starbucks, and American Christianity (Part 1 of 4)

I know I’m going to shock some of you when I tell you this, but I think Stephen King is an amazingly gifted writer. I don’t like everything he writes, I assure you, but it’s hard to argue with his ability to tell a tale.

He’s known primarily as an author of horror stories (like Carrie, Cujo, Misery, Salem’s Lot, etc.), but he’s written some remarkable works in non-horror genres (like The Green Mile, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and On Writing [non-fiction]). The pinnacle of his writing accomplishments is a seven book series called The Dark Tower, written across a time period spanning almost 25 years.

Most of my friends, I’m guessing, wouldn’t read a Stephen King novel if it were given to them for free. He’s not my favorite author; Dean Koontz is. I have, however, read the entire Dark Tower series and found it to be the most fascinating work of fiction I’ve ever read.

The reason King is on my mind this morning is because of something he said recently. In the February, 2008, edition of “Citizen,” King is quoted as saying, “I'm not a vampire type, when somebody shows me the cross....But organized religion gives me the creeps.” Not that I was unaware of his aversion to “organized religion”…he discussed it in some detail in his non-fiction work called On Writing, which is slightly autobiographical as well as what he calls “A Memoir of the Craft.”

King’s comment that “organized religion gives [him] the creeps” has me thinking. On the surface, it would be easy to dismiss his comment as sacrilege…blasphemy. But before we go off half-cocked on King, let’s think about what thoughts might be behind his words.

Just this week, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released its “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey” findings. According to the survey, 78.4% of Americans call themselves Christians of some sort. Evangelicals are the largest particular group of Christians (26.3%), while Roman Catholics follow at a close second (23.9%).

One of the most intriguing yet troubling findings of the survey, at least in my opinion, is the number of people who have switched from the faiths (notice my use of the word “faiths” and not “churches”) in which they were raised. More than one out of four American adults are no longer affiliated with the faith in which they were raised, having chosen in favor of either another religion or no religion at all. If switching from one Protestant denomination to another is included, 44% of American adults have switched religious affiliations.

Can you guess, however, where the biggest gains in religious affiliation have taken place? Among those who claim no affiliation with any religion or faith tradition. “Overall, 7.3% of the adult population says they were unaffiliated with any particular religion as a child. Today, however, 16.1% of adults say they are unaffiliated, a net increase of 8.8 percentage points. Sizeable numbers of those raised in all religions—from Catholicism to Protestantism to Judaism—are currently unaffiliated with any particular religion.”

To be continued...

CONFESSION: "I'm addicted!"

Just as the title for this blog indicates, I'm confessing my addiction here, today, for all the world to see. Trust me, I know what most people think when others make such a confession--"Well! I've never!" And that's okay. I've come to accept my addiction as a part of my life. In fact, I have to admit that I don't want to stop!

Merriam-Webster.com defines "addicted" as "to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively." Yep, that's about right. I'm addicted.

I've gone for weeks without feeding my addiction...but I always come back. And, honestly, I experience awful withdrawals every minute I'm not immersed in my addiction. You can't "help" me...You can't change me...So, don't even try. I'm addicted and I'm not ashamed!

I'm sure there are some who could coach me through withdrawals. They would probably say things like, "I've been where you are, brother. I've felt what you feel. But I broke away...and you can too!" To which I would have to reply, "Why? Why would I want to do that? This is who I am...and this is who I want to be. I don't have a problem--you have a problem! I could walk away at any moment, but I don't want to...and I'm not going to."

Please don't pray for me to be delivered from my addiction. I'm telling you right now, I don't want to be delivered. And (this'll rock your world), I believe God approves of my addiction. Say what you will...be offended if you will...but I believe God wants this addiction to be in my life. I think my addiction makes me better and wiser and stronger, regardless of what anyone else might have to say about the matter.

What? I haven't told you what I'm addicted to? My family, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. "My name is Larry, and I'm addicted to my wife and daughters." There, I said it...but I'm not changing. ;-)

Beth, Morgan, and Rebecca...I love you! It's been so good to come home this weekend. What a shot of Vitamin B12 does for the body, this quick trip home from Canada has done for me in every way. One more week, and then I'm home, home...

I'm coming home for the weekend!

I've been in Canada for almost two weeks, and I'm having such a fulfilling experience...but I've got to tell you, I'm missing my family. I told Beth today in an E-mail, "If absence makes the heart grow fonder, I'm really, really fond of you right now!" But I fly out of Calgary Saturday morning and will be home in the late afternoon! Can't wait to see Beth and the girls!

I've had the privilege to hang out with some great folk since being here. I've eaten in the homes of Aaron (and Alicia) Scofield and Jeremiah (and Mindy) Pierson, both seminary students. I ate lunch today with Paul Johnson, director of evangelism for the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists (their national convention). I'm eating dinner with Cesar (and Mary) Parra tomorrow night. God's given me the opportunity to forge some relationships that I pray will stay intact for many years to come. I look forward to watching how God uses these folk I've had a chance to serve as Professor.

My trip home allows me to preach the morning and evening services at Hilldale, then I'll fly back to Canada on Monday. I'll finish my third week of teaching and then will come back home. My students, on the other hand, will be busy for a month after the class sessions are over finishing up the assignments I've given them. Of course, now that I think about it, then I'll be the one who'll be mighty busy since I'll have to grade all those assignments! Uh-oh. :-)

I'm rambling, but I wanted to bring you up to speed on how my Canadian Adventure is going. Thank you for praying...please continue to do so!

By the way, we got snow yesterday. It was wonderful!

HP + CP + CC = MI

“Aaaaagggghhhh! Not algebra again! I thought I left that behind in high school!” Maybe that’s what you think when you see a formula like HP + CP + CC = MI…but that’s actually “A Formula for Impacting Your World.”

One of the textbooks that I’m using in my evangelism class here at the seminary is by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg and entitled, Becoming a Contagious Christian. It’s been around for nearly 15 years but is right on the money when it comes to principles of sharing one’s faith.

At the heart of the book is what Hybels and Mittelberg call “A Formula for Impacting Your World.” HP + CP + CC = MI looks daunting until you break it down…

HP stands for “High Potency.” In other words, Christians have to be the real deal if they’re going to impact people around them for Christ. There’s no substitute for authenticity, and most people can spot a fake a mile away.

CP is short for “Close Proximity,” which means that Christians’ lives have to actually touch lives around them if they’re going to be contagious as Christians. It’s pretty difficult to spread a disease without some human interaction. It’s like that idea regarding being “the salt of the earth”—salt that never gets out of the shaker never makes a difference.

CC represents “Clear Communication.” Christians can be genuine in their faith and in the company of unsaved people continuously; but at some point, Christians have to communicate the good news of Jesus in terms and concepts that irreligious people can understand if they’re going to impact people for Christ.

MI stands for “Maximum Impact.” Impacting people for Christ doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s intentional and is the result of “high potency” Christians being in “close proximity” to lost people and engaging in the “clear communication” of the gospel.

So…if we want to impact our world for the cause of Christ, this is a wonderful and effective formula for doing so: “High Potency” + “Close Proximity” + “Clear Communication” = “Maximum Impact.” Let us make it so!

I went to world-renown Lake Louise and Banff today...

Dr. Kevin Peacock and his wife, Brenda, took me to places today that are difficult to describe in words. As the old saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

When Contextual Clues Fail You

Let me tell you how I embarrassed myself on Monday, my first day on campus. Dr. Kevin Peacock, Acting Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, found me setting up for class and asked, “Have you met Dr. Blackaby yet?” I said, “No, but I’d love to.” So he took me upstairs where Dr. Blackaby was gathered with students and faculty after having given his State of the Seminary address.

Parenthetical Thought: One of the greatest gifts to the church of this age has been Dr. Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God and too many other titles to mention here. His son Richard Blackaby served as President of the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary from 1993 to 2006. Dr. Rob Blackaby succeeded Dr. Richard Blackaby as President of the seminary last year. Now, back to my story…

Kevin said, “Dr. Blackaby, I want to introduce you to our evangelism professor for the next three weeks, Dr. Larry Robertson.” Wanting to make a good impression, I said, “Dr. Blackaby, it’s an honor to meet you. I spent a week with your dad in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a few years ago and just fell in love with him.” Dr. Blackaby gave me a puzzled look and then said, “You think Henry Blackaby’s my dad, don’t you?” to which I said, “Uh, yeah?” He laughed and said, “I get that all the time. He’s my uncle and Richard’s my cousin.”

I started backpedaling, trying to explain…but to no avail. I had officially embarrassed myself, no question about it. But in the end, we all just had a good laugh and moved on. Whew! I was glad of that.

Dr. Blackaby and I spent time together Wednesday eating lunch and swapping seminary and ministry stories. I found out a few things about him that I didn’t know. He’s only 41 years old. His Ph.D. is in the study of Christian ethics. And his wife is from Springfield, Tennessee! They were married in First Baptist Church of Greenbrier. Let’s sing it all together: “It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all…” He and his wife, Jo Susan, met while both were students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

God has given this seminary a leader with a fresh vision for his home country…and He’s given me a new friend. I’m grateful for both…

Please continue to pray for me as I prepare, lecture, model and preach. This Sunday morning I’ll be preaching at Cambrian Heights Baptist Church in Calgary. On Sunday evening I’m planning to attend a house church in the area. Real estate is so enormously, incredibly expensive in the Calgary vicinity that churches have had to “rethink church.” They can’t focus on buildings or properties…they have to concentrate on people. Wow! What a concept. ;-)