Author Archives: scott

Gratitude

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For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, (I Timothy 4:4)

In one of my favorite passages of John Calvin’s Institutes, the supposedly dour reformer points out how God’s blessings not only in providing for our needs, but in giving us pleasure:  “Now then, if we consider for what end he created food, we shall find that he consulted not only for our necessity, but also for our enjoyment and delight. Thus, in clothing, the end was, in addition to necessity, comeliness and honour; and in herbs, fruits, and trees, besides their various uses, gracefulness of appearance and sweetness of smell.”

This passage is a helpful corrective for us, a reminder that God is not a cosmic hall-monitor, waiting to crush anyone who is having too much fun.  God is the source of these gifts that bring us so much pleasure, as Paul writes in his letter to Timothy, all things made by God are good and to be enjoyed – with gratitude.

Enjoying Gods gifts with thanksgiving means, among other things, enjoying them within the bounds of His intent.  That is they gifts are enjoyed and used but not abused.  What a wonderfully joyful restraint – we can take pleasure in what God has given us  without idolizing those gifts, becoming greedy, or being controlled by those gifts.  If I am thankful to God, God remains above the gift.  If I am thankful, I don’t have an unsatisfiable hunger for more.  If I am thankful, I receive God’s gifts freely.  Our gratitude is a good test of how healthy our relationship is with our possessions, our work, our family, and everything else God provides for us.  A lack of gratitude is often a sign of self-righteousness, idolatry, or abuse.  True gratitude keeps the gift subordinate to the giver and shows the gift is enjoyed within the boundaries of God’s intentions.

The other aspect I like about this passage from Calvin is that is shows the inherit goodness of pleasurable experiences.  We gather around turkey and dressing every year and we share what we’re grateful for.  We list the things we know we should to be thankful for: our family, our freedoms, our health.  Indeed we are, and should be, thankful for these things.  Families are a blessing.  We should be thankful or our nation’s freedom and character.  Anyone who has gone through a sickness will quickly tell you how grateful they are for good health.  But it’s OK to be grateful for a good game of golf, for laughter with friends, or for a good Rock album.  While it might seem shallow to list the pleasure we get from watching our favorite ball team with the blessings of our Church family, I believe it is good for us to thank God for these simple pleasures, to show appreciation that God doesn’t just provide what is necessary, but for what makes life so enjoyable.  I encourage you this Thanksgiving to share your gratitude for the rich blessings of family and health, but to also give thanks for the lesser joys of life and for a God who doesn’t just want you to not be hungry, but to enjoy a panorama of flavors and smells because of His lavish love.

The Word and the Priesthood of All Believers

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I’ve been preaching through a list of “Essential Tenets and Reformed Distinctives” the past several weeks; today was on the priesthood of all believers.  In laying out my discussion I realized how closely this doctrine is related to the doctrine of the authority of scripture.  The role of the priest is to act as a mediator – speaking God’s word to people, and on behalf of the people to God.  The doctrine that each of us are priests means that we speak directly to God in our prayers through Christ, and we hear God speak directly to us through the scriptures.

We lose this if we do not take the scriptures to be the very Word of God.  If they are only a witness to the Revelation, or potentially a channel for the Word then we must have someone distinquish for us which portions are the Word of God and which are the words of men.  We return to having a magisterium, an authoriatave priest or professor who tells us which portions are accurate witnesses and which are errors.

(Photo of people reading the New Testament for the first time in the Mape language by kahunapule)

The Mark of Discipleship

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“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

Jesus spoke these words after he had washed his disciples feet.  He gave us the command to love one anther, just has he loved us and as an example he took the role of a slave and cleaned the filth from their calloused heels and from between their toes.

It is good that Jesus gave us an example of what he meant by love.  We tend to think of love as an emotion, a strong feeling of fondness for another.  Romantic notions of being overwhelmed with attraction lead us to believe we don’t have much control over love – we fall in it and if things get difficult we talk as though it left us.  Against this Jesus gives us an example of love that displays itself in active service to others.  He washed their feet, at other times he fed the hungry (even when he was exhausted and grieving the cruel death of his cousin John and probably didn’t feel like serving), and he spent time with rowdy children, anguished widows, and the sick.  And he said this was how other people will see that we are his followers.

Notice what displays us as his followers.  It is not that we adhere to the right creed, or that we have a T-shirt or bumper sticker, or that we refrain from certain vices – but that we lovingly serve our brothers and sisters.  Right belief is essential to our faith, there’s nothing wrong with a fish on your bumper, and should exercise moderation.  However, it is the difficult act of loving one another, regardless of how we feel, that evidences a living faith in our hearts.  The simple, spontaneous acts of sharing food with a sick neighbor, giving a ride to a fellow church member, or checking in on someone who’s lost a loved one reveal a heart like Jesus, a heart that put others above himself.

During first centuries Christianity spread phenomenally in the Roman Empire, despite opposition and even persecution.  One of the means of this amazing spread was that the Church showed remarkable acts of loving service and generosity to everyone.  One of the last pagan emperors who tried to renew the worship of Roman gods complained that “The impious Galileans [i.e Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well. Everyone can see that our poor lack aid from us.”  Which is to say as the gospel was proclaimed and Jesus was lifted up, the lives of his disciples proved that they truly believed in the “Son of Man” who “came not to be served but to serve”. (Matt. 20:28)

Does your life evidence a belief in the one who made himself nothing and took the form of a servant? (Phil. 2:7)  You probably wouldn’t have to look far for an opportunity to love someone by serving them.

On the Burning of Old Books

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On September 11 the fifty member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL plans on having a Koran burning to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.  As they explain on their website is “we are burning Korans to raise awareness and warn”.  They go on to give ten reasons why the Koran should be burned and then cite Acts 19:18-20 as Biblical precedence to publicly burn “a book that is demonic”.  The reasoning of the leadership of the Dove World Outreach Centers is faulty, unbiblical and their protest is dangerously misguided.

Some of the reasons they give to burn the Koran are premises most Christians would agree are valid such as that the Koran is not divinely inspired or that it teaches that Jesus was not crucified.  But what is missing is any explanation of why a community that considers itself Christian should make the leap from disagreeing, even disagreeing strongly, with ideas to the symbolic attack of burning a book.  By the logic expressed in their reasons they should also burn any of the other competing texts held sacred by religious communities.  In other words, the reasons they have given for burning the Koran are merely reasons they disagree with the book – but it is a dangerous non sequitur that we burn books we disagree with.

Referencing the Book of Acts in support of book burning completely misunderstands the context of the passage.  The story tells of how some, who had previously practiced magic, converted to Christianity and afterwards brought their books out in an act of confession, “divulging their practices” (v. 18) and burnt them, though they had great monetary value, in an act of repentance.  That is they were publicly destroying their own books as a sign of their own conversion – not as an attack on others who believed differently.

Christianity is a faith that has always spread through rational means joined with works of mercy.  That is we believe in the truth of the Gospel we proclaim and present it clearly to others so that they might consent to truths by agreeing with the evidence and reasons for believing.  Book burning is an inflammatory attack that does nothing to proclaim the truths of scripture, the love of God, or invite Muslims to hear the Gospel we present.  The effect will be to alienate those who hold the Koran sacred.  Moreover, it will present Christianity to those outside the Church as an irrational faith.  Burning books gives the appearance that we are incapable of presenting our reasons for disagreeing with Islam and supporting those points with historical evidence and logic.  Rather than showing that Christianity  invites others to test all things and come to receive truth; those who support this protest reveal a belief system that is based on power, coercion, and force; it is indistinguishable from the images I see in the news of protesters burning American flags and calling the United States “the great Satan”.

I wish the leaders of the Dove World Outreach Center would obey the Bible on which they purport to be based, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” (I Peter 3:15-16)  By hosting a book burning I believe the Dove World Outreach Center will do more harm to the faith of the Holy Bible than to the Koran.

Sixpence-none-the-Richer

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When we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to his father and saying, “Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.” Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Morality and Religion Irrational

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I was reading a Washington Times piece on Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling overturning California’s homosexual marriage ban.  As the article states, ‘He denied that there is “any rational basis” for distinguishing the marriage of man and woman from same-sex relationships’ and ‘The evidence shows conclusively that moral
and religious views form the only basis for a belief that same-sex
couples are different from opposite-sex couples.’  It is terrifying to think that a federal judge is stating as fact that neither religion, or especially, morality are rational.  If morality is irrational, regardless of one’s belief system, what is it’s basis?

Have we forgotten something?

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Since I’ve finished work on my thesis I’ve been digging back into more pastoral reading.  I’m immersing myself in books on preaching and pastoral ministry.  I try to follow C.S. Lewis’ advice of reading one “old” book for every new one.  (see his introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation)  By doing so I’ve noticed that modern books on pastoral ministry tend to emphasize technique and models, older ones the minister’s personal piety.  I wonder if we might have forgotten something.