I HEARD FROM GOD...

 “But Dad, how can you know for sure that God is calling you back to Jamaica?” That question from my daughter-in-law was prominent among those asked by younger members of my family. Like any other millennial, my daughter-in-law wanted specifics.

Her question presupposed a relationship with God. A relationship that enables one to hear His voice. Such a relationship can only exist if one first accepts the existence and availability of a Living God. Thankfully, my worldview resonates with a theology that accepts the existence of God and affirms His ability to communicate with His creatures.

Nature testifies to God's existence and ability to communicate. This was Paul’s understanding when he wrote to the Christians at Rome - “What may be known of God is manifest in them [godless people] for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20).

 

Like Paul, the Psalmist clearly articulates God’s voice in nature (Psalm 19:1-6). The writer to the book of Hebrews contends that God speaks through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2). Again in Hebrews we read: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

 

But did God speak to me specifically when I decided to return to Jamaica to pastor a church? Yes, God did. The first nudge came from the Christians in the church. Because of their heritage, they have never had a full-time pastor. Throughout their sixty-year history, they used itinerant preachers for pulpit ministry. Nothing from their history should have prompted their invitation. Yet, they felt inclined to invite me to be their inaugural pastor.

 

The leadership at the church never formally considered a resident pastor. However, upon learning of interests within the congregation, the leaders were willing to pray and consider the option of a resident pastor. The growing list of unsolicited favours seemed to be sending a message of God’s approval on the venture.

 

In addition to the institutional affirmation, I listened to hear the voice of God as I read the Scriptures. My structured daily readings do not allow me to select preferred texts. It was during one such reading, I came across this passage:

“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away” (Isaiah 50:4-5).

 

So, the mission to Jamaica is one for which I am academically equipped. It is one to which I was invited to serve. Unsolicited endorsement continue to flow from a variety of sources. What appeared to be an arbitrary text from the Bible was used to affirm my decision. Confirmation also arose from hearing sermons and songs. And, most important for me was confirmation from my wife of 47 years.

 

In seeking to follow the voice of God, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) believed we must become indifferent or totally open to anything but the will of God. Our sole desire must be to obey what we believe God is saying to us. Personal preferences and monetary rewards must never influence the outcome. One’s sole desire must be obedience.

 

Agreed, this posture makes one vulnerable. Personal ambitions are sometimes sacrificed. At times, institutions exploit the submissive attitude and obedient disposition of people who are called. Despite these negatives, obedience to the call of God should not be undermined. This is not naivety. Rather, responding to God’s call is a focused, intentional attempt to seek joy in obedience to God’s voice alone.

 

Unlike the American singer Frank Sinatra, who sang I Did it My Way, the obedient Christian has one option, to do it God’s way.

Ashamed and Uncomfortable?

In his book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala tells the story of a soloist at Brooklyn Tabernacle. She was invited to sing at a church and was told in advance, “We want to ask you not to sing any song that mentions the blood of Christ. People feel uncomfortable with that, and our goal here is to be user-friendly.”

Uncomfortable about the blood of Christ? Today, many churches even find the frequent observance of the ordinance of remembering the death of Christ in communion to be a distraction in their up-beat worship services. Some churches even relegate the practice of believers’ baptism, with its symbolism to the cross, to a private adjunct activity, following a main service.

To be honest, we want a happy Christianity, without symbolic reminders of sin. A Christianity with minimal need of reflection. The cross invites us to reflect on the heinousness of sin and the heavy price Jesus paid for it. Forgiveness of sin is not amnesty. Forgiveness is possible because Someone paid the price for sin - death on a cross.

As an atheist, the late Christopher Hitchens could not accept this Christian doctrine. On one occasion he said, “I find something repulsive about the idea of vicarious redemption – you can throw your sins onto somebody else, vulgarly known as scapegoating.” Hitchens understood the message of the cross, but he was not prepared to embrace it.

The cross of Jesus Christ differentiates Christian faith from religion in general. Religion tells us what we must do in order to achieve forgiveness. Christianity insists that forgiveness has already been paid for on the cross. Paul contended, whereas Jews demanded miraculous signs and non-Jews (Greeks) looked for wisdom, he preached Christ crucified – a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to non-Jews.

As a matter of fact, Paul argued that God’s power was evident in the cross of Christ. Whereas others depended on oratorical skills and philosophy to make an impact; for him, it was the cross of Christ that enshrined the power to make an impact. To the Corinthians Paul said, “When I came to you...I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). He was convinced that what others considered foolishness, was God’s demonstration of power.

In addition, whereas we view death as coming to the end of the road, God viewed the death of Jesus as the beginning. But why would God use the horrific death of Jesus on a cross to bring new life? Paul provides two answers. The first, no one other than God could get the credit. Absolutely no one could bring new life from death – that is a demonstration of divine power. Paul’s second reason is that no one can boast about what he or she accomplished. The truth is, new life in Christ cannot be acquired by any human effort.

The Bible calls this grace – undeserved favor. In one of his letters, Paul said, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8).

But couldn’t God have accomplished grace by some other means, probably, not as severe as the cross? The logic is simple – punishment must be commensurate with the crime. Because of the severity of sin, severe punishment was inevitable. Hence, the worst sinner could find God’s grace, because of the cross.

Furthermore, if we could have paid for our sin, then what would happen to those who could not afford to pay? Also, if we could have paid for our sin, we could boast about our ability to help ourselves. Because of the cross, such boasting is not possible, in that new life in Christ is a gift. Since it is free, one may ask, wouldn’t it then cheapen the gift? The question implies that my contribution increases the value of God’s gift – ludicrous thinking.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul argued that any attempt to add to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, nullifies the value of the gift – “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” (Galatians 1:8)!

The 17th century hymn-writer Isaac Watts got it when he wrote: “Forbid it Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” This Easter season might be a good time to return to the words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross”, or Elizabeth Clephane, who in 1872 wrote “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”.

There is no user-friendly version of the Gospel. Without the cross, we are presenting another gospel, not the one God offers to anyone who seeks Him. Like Paul, I contend, “I am not ashamed of the gospel...” I further contend that the cross is still the best antidote to the narcissism and violence in our culture today.

PLEASE PRAY FOR Rick & Kay Warren

The Warrens need our prayers. They are known publicly as the founders of Saddleback Church, international speakers and best-selling authors. With the media visibility it is easy to forget that they face challenges in their home like any other family in America – probably more than the average family in America.

Last Friday they faced one major challenge. They had just completed a fun evening with their son Michael. After leaving his parents, Michael went to his home and experienced “a momentary wave of despair” similar to other moments he had throughout his life. This time though, he reacted by taking his own life. 

This is how Rick Warren announced the tragedy to his staff: “over the past 33 years we’ve been together through every kind of crisis. Kay and I have been privileged to hold your hands as you faced a crisis or loss, stand with you at gravesides, and prayed for you when ill. Today, we need you to pray for us. No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now. Our youngest son, Matthew, age 27, and a lifelong member of Saddleback, died today.”
The heart-wrenching email went on to say, “only those closest knew that Matthew struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts. In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided...I’ll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give him relief, Matthew said, ‘Dad, I know I’m going to heaven. Why can’t I just die and end this pain?’”

That pain ended for Matthew on Friday, but not for the Warren family. Days earlier, Rick Warren and his staff prepared for the services over the weekend of Matthew’s death - the theme – “Surviving Tough Times.” Little did Rick know that he and his family would need the message more than any of the 20,000 persons who worship at Saddleback every weekend.

Worship services continued as scheduled with Rick’s brother-in-law Tom Holladay filling-in. Rick asked Tom, one of the assistant pastors, to take over the weekend services when he came down with pneumonia after a busy Easter schedule. Before Matthew’s tragedy, Rick Warren promoted the weekend services on Facebook with these words: “It’s a message on what to do on the worst day of your life.” What a prophetic message.

Both Rick and Kay are prolific writers and encouragers. In addition, Kay has spent the last ten years as a tireless advocate for persons living with HIV and AIDS. She has travelled to more than 19 countries calling on faith communities to respond to the needs of others.

 In her most recent book, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough, she describes her own pain. She has had two bouts of cancer and has watched as life-threatening illnesses attacked her children and grandchildren. Those experiences obviously helped to prepare her for Matthew’s tragic death.

Matthew’s dad, Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Life, which became the bestselling hardback non-fiction book in history, and is the second most-translated book in the world, after the Bible. The Purpose Driven Life has inspired and changed tens of millions of lives ... more than any modern book.

The Warrens need our prayers at this time. Millions have benefited from their ministry and it is now our turn to take them to the Lord in prayer. In a recent tweet to his almost one million internet followers, he said he and his wife were overwhelmed by the support they have received since Matthew’s tragedy.

Unfortunately, not everyone has responded to this tragedy with compassion. Heartlessness was expressed by both Christians and non-Christians. Here is a sampling:

“He knew his daddy was a fraud fleecing the masses and just could no longer live with the guilt and continue the charade.”

“He preaches about saving millions of lost souls, but couldn’t save his son. Just another phony preacher taking advantage of stupid sheep!”

“I can only think of one “believer” who committed suicide: Judas Iscariot. Did he suffer a mental illness, too?”

How sad, some have allowed their theological and ideological differences to stifle compassion. The Bible we claim to believe calls on us “to grieve with those who grieve and mourn with those who mourn.” When we cannot do that, we are as warped as the opinions we share.

WE URGENTLY NEED A Voice on Vice

A new word has been coined to describe a growing elephant in the room of vices – sexting. Sexting is sending sexually explicit messages via cell phone or instant messenger. With advances in technology to record and send photos and video, the practice of sending suggestive and explicit pictures has increased.

Last year at least two congressmen tarnished their political careers because of sexting. A joint study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl

suggests that 20% of teens (13-19) and 33% of young adults (20-26), have shared nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves either via text or by posting online. The study disclosed that girls are slightly more likely to do this than boys. Furthermore, 11% of the young teen girls (ages 13-16) admitted to sending suggestive photos of themselves.

It is believed that some 51% of teen girls cite pressure from boys as a reason to send explicit messages, while only 18% of teenage boys say they were pressured by girls. A Pew Research Center poll found that 6% of Americans over 18 years of age reported having sent a nude or near-nude image of themselves to someone else. However, some 15% of adults have received sext messages.

Sexting is currently illegal under federal law. It falls under the creation, distribution and possession of child porn and is a felony offense. At the moment law enforcement officers are arresting both those producing and possessing sext messages. Based on a 1973 definition of obscenity by the Supreme Court, sexting is a crime. Sexting depicts or describes sexual conduct. Because it is not intended to reflect something artistic or scientific, it should be adjudged as obscene, and cannot be defended as a First Amendment Right.

Like pornography, sexting thrives because of prurient or lustful minds. The practice is destructive both to the individual and to the society to which he or she belongs. Lustful practices escalate and often demand more challenging and stimulating opportunities. As these debased practices become more bizarre, they resort to more sullied methods to satisfy their cravings.

Social scientists confirm that many adult rapists, child molesters and serial killers began their raunchy behaviors with pornography. What began as private fun resulted in disaster in the community. Family counselors would also confirm that persons who embrace pornography with the aim of finding sexual fulfillment in marriage, witness destruction rather than fulfillment in their marriages.  

More persons need to expose and seek to curb these destructive behaviors. It is bad enough if the practices were evident only outside the church. However, I have every reason to believe that deviant sexual behavior is also practiced in the church.

Late last year my wife and I were invited to provide leadership to a new ministry designed to address issues of value and virtue among today’s youth. As we attempted to identify some of the more specific areas of need, we felt we needed to begin among young people in our churches.

This new ministry, Love Protects, exists to expose deception and lies, to confront assumptions with logical truth-claims and to defend a biblical worldview with “grace and truth”. We intend using social media, lectures, debates, seminars, rallies, mentorship programs and training conferences to disseminate our message.

Honestly, you would be shocked to hear the stories from some of our churched young people. Many have no concept of biblical sexuality. When confronted about their behavior, many consider our approach to be out of date. Cases of abortion are as prevalent as among un-churched young people.

I must encourage you to visit our website – www.loveprotects.com. Although still under construction, you will be able to get a sense of why we do what we do. Young adults form the base of our Board of Directors. They love the Lord, understand the youth culture and are committed to change. Prior to conversion, some Board Members were victims of the culture. Now, they are determined to use every professional tool available to make a difference.

With the passing of Chuck Colson, the need for others to engage the culture is critical. We need people to pray for us - this is a battle against forces of evil. This mission requires more than analytical skills for victory.

We need financial support. With one full-time staff member providing executive leadership in a few weeks, we know there are fiscal challenges ahead. Please check our website and see how you can assist to provide a voice on vice.

By the way, if you know of anyone in need of professional help with deviant sexual behavior, please encourage them to contact Pure Life Ministries today.