Currently The Trouble With Paris: Following Jesus in a World of Plastic Promises By Mark Sayers see related

MANIFEST SONS OF GOD

The Controversy: 

(Rom 8:18-19) ¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  (KJV)

The KJV translation of these verses gives the title to a view known as “Manifest Sons of God”.  This teaching emerges from the Latter Rain Movement and from postmillennialism, a particular view of the end times.  The Latter Rain Movement sprang from post WWII Pentecostalism and deviates from Biblical teaching. 

People ask me questions about this every now and then because some of our church members also participate in the International House of Prayer (IHOP).  Mike Bickle, the leader of IHOP, is often accused of promoting Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God teaching. 

According to this view, certain Christians will be identified (manifested) as sons of God—an elite group of Christians who attain never-before-seen holiness through spiritual disciplines, particularly prayer and fasting.  They will expand God’s Kingdom on earth and prepare the way for Christ’s return. 

Points from the sermon:

1)     This teaching advocates elitism.  Whenever we encounter Biblical teaching that promotes certain Christians over others or a kind of super-holiness, we should run.  That teaching isn’t Biblical.  We don’t find Christians and Super-Christians in the New Testament—just Christians. 

2)     This teaching misses the point of the passage.  The apostle Paul is not referring to Super-Christians that will usher in Christ’s return.  He is referring to Christ’s return, all of Christ’s followers being ushered into glory, and the final perfection of our bodies for which all Christians hope. 

3)     In the 80’s and 90’s, Mike Bickel associated with a group that seemed to advance the “Manifest Sons of God” view.  While Bickel is a postmillennialist, he doesn’t seem to advocate “Manifest Sons of God” or Latter Rain teaching as far as I can tell. 

Currently Reading Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny By Frank Freidel see related

CHURCH AND STATE

It has been way too long since I posted anything here.  I have only the building project as an excuse.  Now that we are in the building, though, I hope to post more regularly. 

As my first return-post, I am linking to an article by Cal Thomas. 

So that everyone is aware, Cal Thomas is a politically conservative journalist.  In his article, he references Pulpit Freedom Sunday—an event that took place this past Sunday, September 28, in which 28 pastors in 20 states told their churches for whom the pastors thought church members should vote in the upcoming presidential election. 

Normally, I wouldn’t post something like this.  I agree, however, with Thomas’ conclusion.  Personally, as a pastor, I do not believe it is my responsibility to tell people for whom I think they should vote.  Though I am secure in my own political views, I believe serious-thinking, devout Christians can disagree with me and, therefore, vote differently. 

Those who attended our Sunday Worship Gathering know I was not one of the participants in Pulpit Freedom Sunday. 

For me, my role as a pastor works out differently.  Instead of telling church members how they should vote, I prefer to teach on how we should process political issues.  I am not as concerned with whom you vote for as how you make your decision.  I am most concerned that people in our church think Christianly.  Put simply, are your faith and understanding of God’s kingdom leading your decision? 

As Christians, I believe we are called to be Christians first, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, or Independents second. 

Four years ago, I did a sermon series entitled God’s Take on Politics.  In that series, I argued that God is neither a conservative Republican nor a liberal Democrat.  In fact, God isn’t even American!  That is still my view. 

I believe good Christians can vote Republican or Democrat.  As a pastor, I just want them to do so as Christians, not as Republicans or Democrats.  The Christian whose faith leads him or her to vote for the candidate who backs pro-life legislation has my support.  The person whose faith leads him or her to vote for the candidate that backs government programs to help the poor and downcast has my support.  For me, the key is that one’s faith leads to political ideology (or no ideology). 

As November 4 approaches, I hope we will all prayerfully consider our vote and let faith lead us in the ballot box, not propaganda and certainly not a pastor’s viewpoint (even if it’s mine).  As Christians, each of us should prayerfully make our choice.  We don’t get to pass on this by depending on the thoughts and decisions of others. 

WELCOMING PEOPLE THE CHURCH REJECTS PART 2

Last week, I started writing about the biblical practice of hospitality, the views of other Americans toward those of us who are Christians, and how the practice of hospitality could help alter those views.  Hospitality begins as attitude and passion.  We can see this in the attitude of the father in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal.  The father waited, watched, hoped, and longed for his son’s return.  Hospitality begins as we develop that attitude of waiting, watching, hoping, and longing. 

Hospitality, however, is sustained by passion.

 (Luke 11:5-10) ⁵Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'  ⁷"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'

⁸I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Jesus tells the above parable to encourage his disciples to pray.  The context, however, is hospitality.  The friend who arrives at the man’s house has a right to hospitality according to the customs of the day.  The man takes his friend’s claim so seriously that he wakes up another friend asking to borrow some bread for the traveler.  When the friend refuses, the man continues to bug him until he finally relents.  The word the NIV translates as boldness could also be translated persistence, shameless persistence.  This man is willing to be rude, even disrespectful of his other friend, to show proper hospitality to the traveler. 

I think this parable offers a great example of the kind of passion needed to sustain hospitality.  The man is relentless and shameless in his desire to care for his friend.  He is even willing to strain his other friendship to offer hospitality.  In other words, this man is willing to experience personal injury or suffering in order to care for his friend.  What boldness!  What passion! 

Passion takes us above and beyond our responsibilities. 

We can see this in Jesus’ story about The Good Samaritan.  Looking past the audacity of the Samaritan’s care for the Jewish man (Samaritans and Jews hated each other), the Samaritan went above the normal requirements of hospitality.  Treating the man’s wounds and providing him a place to recover for a few days would have been enough.  The Samaritan, however, promised to do more when he returned.  The Samaritan went above and beyond his responsibility.  His passionate concern for the beaten man led him to do more. 

Back to Jesus’ story in Luke 11:

Jesus places us in the parable.  He begins with “Suppose one of you has a friend…”  Jesus wanted his disciples, and by extension wants us, to put ourselves in that man’s place.  What would we do?  Would we be so impertinent?  Would we continue to bug one friend to care for another?  Jesus encourages us to pray.  From the Good Samaritan, though, we also see the need to offer hospitality.  This is part of the great commandment to love our neighbors.  Do we care enough?  Are we passionate enough to offer care to those we meet?

Two or three years ago, we had a lady attend our church for a short time.  One Sunday, she told a few of us that her cousin had been in an accident.  She was in a coma with severe brain trauma.  Two of our members asked me if I thought it would be okay for them to go to the hospital and pray for this lady’s cousin.  They didn’t know the lady very well and didn’t know her cousin at all.  When I called to get the hospital room number, I was told a group from our church had already visited and prayed for the lady and the family.  I didn’t need to drop by.  A couple of days later, I called again.  I found out that people from our church had returned and continued to pray for them.  Thank God, the cousin eventually recovered with limited consequences. 

This is a wonderful example of our church offering hospitality to others—a lady who only attended our church briefly and her cousin who, to my knowledge, has never attended one of our gatherings.  It’s a wonderful example of how attitude (watching, waiting, hoping, and longing for the opportunity to care) and passion (the willingness to go above and beyond) blended in our church and resulted in biblical hospitality. 

My prayer is that God will continue to develop this attitude and passion within us.  I pray he will continue to encourage and inspire us to care for others and offer to them the welcome of the Kingdom.  Where our enthusiasm has waned, I pray he will rekindle within us the passion of hospitality. 

WELCOMING PEOPLE THE CHURCH REJECTS*

In recent history, American churches have neglected becoming the welcoming communities described in the bible.  We failed to live up to the extravagant love expressed in Jesus’ parables, The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son.  I wonder how often we pray for those who cannot care for themselves.  In Jesus’ day, strangers (transients and immigrants), orphans, and widows could not sustain themselves.  In our day, single mothers, the homeless, those struggling with mental illness, and so many more cannot provide for themselves.  How often do we pray for them, much less watch out for them or care for them? 

Lately, I have pondered the practice of hospitality and how desperately our world needs us to practice it.  The biblical word translated hospitality literally means welcome for the stranger.  While hospitality may begin (and for those who attend our church gatherings should begin) with a greeting at the door on Sunday morning, it is so much more than that.  The biblical practice of hospitality goes far deeper than any program. 

Hospitality is an expression of the heart. 

Hospitality begins as attitude and passion.  As an attitude, hospitality asks, “Who can I pray for today, meet today, bless today, or care for today?” 

The father in Jesus’ prodigal son parable offers a great image of this.  He waits for his lost, reckless son to come home.  Jesus does not describe passive waiting, but active.  The father looks for his son.  We get the impression that day in and day out he stands and waits or sits and waits, watching for his son’s silhouette at the bottom of the hill, the beginning of the pathway home.  How many days did he pace back and forth on his front porch hoping he would see his son?  At the end of how many days did his heart break because there was no prodigal to welcome home? 

His son had become a stranger, an outsider.  He had offended his father, his family, his community, and his people.  Leaving home, he had committed atrocities no self-respecting Jewish son would ever commit.  He was far away.  That doesn’t mean he was in a distant land.  It means he had walked away from God and family. 

Any normal Jewish father would have disowned his son, but not this father.  He waited, he watched, he longed, he hoped for his son’s return.  When finally his son’s shadow could be seen cast against the rocks of the hilly path, the father cast off his shoes, jumped off his porch, and ran to greet his son.  He kissed him, hugged him, welcomed him, and restored him.  On returning, the prodigal experienced hospitality.  His father welcomed him, the stranger, home. 

We Christians are defined by what we oppose rather than promote.

A recent book, unChristian, written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, reports that non-Christians ages 16-29 believe Christians in America are, among other things, judgmental, anti-homosexual, too political, and hypocritical. 

Unfortunately, they have had good reasons to think that way.  Christian leaders claiming to represent us seemed to lose the capacity to disagree without being disagreeable, to love and accept people regardless of what they do without condoning what they do.  They specialized in rejecting instead of welcoming. 

In unhealthy ways, politics blended with faith until the two seemed one.  I half expected the evangelistic question, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?” to be replaced with “Who did you vote for in the last presidential election?”  

Christian leaders seemed to be developing a Nixonian list of enemies—people to be defeated and marginalized instead of embraced and convinced of God’s love and compassion for them.  They even turned on other Christians. 

I was shocked when a group of national leaders demanded the dismissal of an executive of the National Association of Evangelicals because of his desire to address global warming.  I understand the political, economical, and potential environmental consequences of global warming science.  I respect those, Christian or not, on both sides of the issue.  I fail, however, to see how global warming affects our expression of faith.  We are called to care for creation whether or not the earth is warming. 

These and other positions only encourage others to define Christians by what we oppose rather than what we promote.  We are characterized by anger and dissent rather than our love and acceptance.  We who have received immeasurable grace and forgiveness are seen as those who dole out judgment and hatred. 

Personally, I think we’re coming around.  Even those who claim to lead us seem to be coming around.  But, we have a long way to go before our image changes. 

Adopting an attitude of hospitality:

Several weeks ago, a guy in our church approached me.  He’s been attending our worship gatherings for a while.  He even helps out some weeks.  During our brief conversation, he told me he isn’t a Christian.  He said he used to be anti-Christian but is changing.  He wants to get closer to God and experience Jesus.  We talked about how he could do that.  I was inspired by the way he has been welcomed into our midst even before believing.  We are showing him hospitality. 

A few of my questions: How can we continue to develop the attitude we see in Jesus’ father?  How can we improve in offering the welcome of the father, the offer of hospitality?  How can we intensify our watching, waiting, longing, and hoping for those immersed in sinful practice to come home?  How can we run to them, embrace them, and restore them?  What more can we do?

These are thoughts I have been pondering for some time.  I’ll share more next week when I look at hospitality as passion.

------------------------------------

*Subtitle of Rich Nathan's book, Who Is My Enemy

Currently Reading The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World? By Ronald J. Sider see related

Giving Is Spiritual

With yesterday’s sermon on giving, I finished a series from the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament entitled Money Matters.  I cut yesterday's sermon a bit shorter than I expected, leaving out some of the practical suggestions I intended to offer.  So, I am going to include them here. 

Preliminaries: 1) If you would like to listen to the sermon, you can download it here: http://www.springfieldvineyard.org/sermons.asp.  It should be posted in a few days.  I think it will provide an important context for the rest of this post.  2) In the sermon, I shared statistics regarding the giving habits of American Christians and basic needs of the world’s poorest inhabitants.  You can find the information I referenced in Ronald J. Sider’s book, The Scandal Of The Evangelical Conscience. 

That said, how do we implement the spiritual practice of giving in our lives?  Where do we begin?  The following suggestions aren’t original.  In fact, I am embarrassingly unoriginal here.  Still, I think they offer a good start to embracing the spiritual practice of giving and beginning to make a difference in our world. 

First suggestion: Give first.  Following is one of the scriptures we looked at yesterday morning:

(Prov 3:9-10) ⁹Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

The author says to honor God with the firstfruits of your wealth.  I think there is great wisdom here.  For the Hebrews, the tithe wasn’t just to come from any portion of their harvest or livestock, but from the first ten percent—the firstfruits.  That way, they could resist the temptation to give the leftovers, that part of the crop that wasn’t as good or cattle that wasn’t as healthy.

The only way I have been able to stay consistent in my giving is by following this principle.  Our tithe check is the first one we write.  Actually, we now automate our tithe.  It’s built in discipline.  That way, we organize the rest of our life around our giving rather than trying to fit it in with all of our other obligations.  As someone who has struggled with finances and giving in the past, this has been a crucial discipline for me.  If I don’t give first, I don’t give.  I think this is why we see this principle, this wisdom, offered in scripture.  It helps us honor God and make a difference in our world.  This is part of what I mean by “give first.” 

Our family gives 10% of our income to the church.  Giving to other ministries or causes is above and beyond the 10%.  There might be precedent for this in the Hebrew Scriptures.  There, Israelites were told to bring the tithe into the storehouse (the temple).  After that, they could give other offerings above and beyond the tithe.  Years ago, I heard Larry Burkett, a Christian financial advisor, address this practice.  Basically, he said the theology worked if the church acted like a storehouse, which provided for the priests and Levites (those who served in the temple and led the people in worship) and for the poor.  On hearing his words, I determined to lead a church that would focus on and be generous toward the poor.  As a church, I am thankful that we do just that. 

Second suggestion: Promote justice.  Here’s a passage I didn’t get to in the sermon:

(Prov 31:6-9) ⁶Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; ⁷let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. ⁸"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. ⁹Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

We show compassion by giving to the poor, by helping them meet their needs.  We promote justice when we speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, when we defend the rights of the poor and needy.  Compassion meets needs.  Justice addresses the origins of those needs.  When we address the causes of suffering and poverty, we promote justice. 

Hunger is a big problem.  It’s hard to address other issues when basic sustenance is missing.  I think we begin to promote justice when we provide food for the poorest in the world.  Participating in advocacy groups is another way to make our voices heard and promote justice.  By getting involved with the One Project, Make Poverty History, and similar organizations, we can add our voices, votes, and finances to address some of the larger justice issues in our world.  Our involvement in Big Brothers/Big Sisters, job-training programs, and other associations can also promote justice locally.  

I’d also love to hear from you on this.  What thoughts do you have on how we as a church and as individuals can start promoting justice?  How can we speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves?  Please post comments with your thoughts.