The Church...As Entertainment?

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WARNING: The following post includes content full of biting sarcasm. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
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Oy! I just opened some of our church mail, as it was addressed to the children’s ministry, an area over which I am charged with pastoral oversight. Inside were two glossy color pages replete with pictures of carnival inflatables, booths, and even rides. In large bold font at the top, the first page read thus:

“Benefits of Having [XYZ] as Your Church’s Entertainment Vendor.”

Really? The church needs an entertainment vendor? Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

I read all 23 bulleted “benefits.” NOT ONE was spiritual, or even remotely church-y. They DID include, “highest insurance limits in the Midwest.” Well, NOW we’re getting somewhere!

👏

Just for kicks (personal entertainment) I did a word search in my Bible software: “entertain.” Hmm. Results:

Dt 15:9. Here entertain is a “wicked thought in your heart… [to be] stingy toward your brother and give him nothing.” Next.

Jgs 16:25-27. Oh yeah, the Philistines called for the self-destructive Samson, whom they had captured and blinded, to come entertain them. That’s just sad. And it turned out the Philistines were NOT happy with the product.

Jer 7:31; 19:5; and 32:35. God never entertained the thought of – what? – the people building high places to burn their children in worship of Molech or Baal! Yikes!

How about Dan 6:18. Nope, more negativity. King Darius is so worried about Daniel in the lion’s den he DOESN’T want his usual entertainments.

Well, how about the NT?

Mt 9:4.Entertaining is once again, “thinking evil things in [their] hearts.”

Acts 17:7. Here, entertaining is welcoming Christians who are “turning the world upside down” into your home. Jason is mobbed for it and has to pay a bond to get out of custody. Sounds a little like a carnival…but not in a good way.

1 Tm 5:19. Here we have the potential of accepting an accusation against an elder. Nope, no carnival here either.

Last one. Heb 13:2. The prohibition against failing to show hospitality to other Christians (who might even be ANGELS!). That’s a good one, but it still doesn’t sound like a carnival.

So, a quick survey reveals the Bible is silent on how to discern the best entertainment vendor for one’s local church. Huh. Clearly, the Lord intends to guide us through his Spirit and his gifts. I guess we’ll have to wing it.

I’m sure we’ll do fine.

Powerful and Brilliant Enough

Many teachers (myself included) have used the Egyptian pharaoh of the Exodus as an illustration of the interplay between God's will and ours. It is pointed out that the biblical record states that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and then also that God hardened his heart. That's a great illustration of two realities, both that of the LORD's absolute sovereignty and of our truly free choices.

But the same both/and reality is brilliantly made clear in one compact paragraph earlier in the Genesis narrative, one that involves a Hebrew governing for an earlier pharaoh. Joseph, the eleventh son of Israel (Jacob) was sold into slavery by his brothers, some of whom wanted rather to murder him for his favored status with dad, and for his annoying dreams. Sibling rivalry at its near worst! (They did stop short of actual murder.) And multiplied times ten! (Benjamin, the youngest, wasn't involved.)

Well, read it for yourself, but the short version is that God orchestrated things so that Joseph ended up second only to pharaoh in Egypt during a catastrophic famine that extended to every land. This famine brought Joseph's brothers (who did not recognize him) to Egypt at his mercy to buy food. Their injustice was the first of several that led to this point, and Joseph put it into a perspective befitting a brilliant leader, and one that is appropriate for every Christian.

In Genesis 45:4, first notice that Joseph recognized their actual wrong choice, "I am...the one you sold into Egypt." He didn't pretend they didn't make this choice, or that the action was forced against their will. They wanted it, and some wanted even worse. In the next statement he continues to acknowledge their choice, "...yourselves for selling me here." The brothers' choice was real, and it was freely their own - they OWNED it, and Joseph acknowledges that reality.

But he has a higher perspective, and seeks to draw their own view up to it. He presumes they have been beating themselves up for their horrific action - "don't be grieved or angry with yourselves" - but offers them relief. They can't undo what they've done. But Joseph shows them a greater reality at work. In their own work, they were unwitting agents of God's work: "God sent me ahead of you to preserve life." Joseph amplifies that statement in the following verse, and then in v.8 summarizes, "Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Joseph is not contradicting his earlier statements that the brothers freely made a horrible choice. He is simply offering a perspective that this horrible free choice is swallowed up in a beautiful free choice by One who is more powerful than them. God is so powerful and so brilliant that he can both allow our free choices - even the most horrible ones - and still somehow work things out that they ultimately always accomplish exactly what he wants.

And the same is true for all OUR free choices too, from the best ones to the worst ones. We may beat ourselves up about the latter kind, but that is not the end of the matter. God will accomplish what he wants, even through our worst decisions. But that word "ultimately" above requires our trust. For many times we do not see our bad decisions - or those of others - reach those points where the beauty and brilliance of God's wisdom are evident to us. That often will not happen even in our lifetimes.

We may not be able to see HOW God will work all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rm 8:28), but we can trust THAT this will hold true. If we will trust in this way and take this perspective, we can be set free of our past riddled with bad choices. They are real choices, and we are responsible for them. But Christ paid for them, and all our Lord requires of us is godly grief. This kind of grief brings a change of direction that leads to salvation without regret (2 Cor 7:10). Anything short of that keeps us stuck in regret and death.

Whenever we struggle with this, let us confess our bad choices and be propelled forward, free of regret, knowing that God is powerful enough and brilliant enough to bring beauty out of our worst moments.

Sound Bite

Too many pastors are not leading worship, and too many worship leaders are not pastoring.

Naomi and Ruth: The Draw of Devotion

When you have about twenty minutes, read or re-read the short story of Ruth. For centuries, readers have been amazed by the devotion that Ruth, the young Moabite widow showed to Naomi, her Hebrew mother-in-law. And rightly so.

But I want to draw attention to Naomi’s own devotion. Though it is less explicit in the text, it is shown to be powerful and moving. And God uses it to draw an outsider in, a foreigner who would ultimately be part of the family line of the Messiah who would save his people from their sins.

Naomi’s devotion is to her God – Israel’s God – Yahweh. And she expresses her devotion to him in her relationships with her daughters-in-law in such a way that they are deeply impressed. When Naomi sets out to return to her homeland, these young women have been so won over to Naomi that they set out with her. The famine that brought Naomi with her husband to Moab was over. And now, ten years later, bereft of her own husband and two sons she heads home. The young widows still have potential in their homeland; they can remarry and start anew. But in their relatively brief time with Naomi they have been so drawn to her as to think of following her instead.

Names in this story’s beginning are illuminating. Elimelech, the name of Naomi’s husband, means “My God Is King.” He likely came from a pious Hebrew family that was well-established “old money” in the Bethlehem community. Hence, the excitement and recognition of the “whole town” when Naomi returns there (1:19). Naomi’s own name means “Pleasant.” She was apparently very much so, given the loyalty of her daughters-in-law. But she was clearly devoted herself to God.

She asks for Yahweh’s (the LORD’s) blessings on the young women for the kindness they have shown to her (v.8), even while acknowledging that from her perspective he has withdrawn those blessings from her (v.13). Clearly, even though Naomi sees the hand of God as sovereign over her own misfortune she does not see this as grounds to abandon her faith in him. Instead, she accepts her situation and asks for Yahweh’s blessings on them. Naomi is the one who introduces talk of gods in the conversation (v.15). But Ruth’s response shows that Naomi’s God has won her over (v.16). Both young women react with a strong respect and loyalty to Naomi, but Ruth goes further in expressing loyalty to Naomi’s God, taking Him as her own.

We don’t know how Orpah’s story works out, but we can learn some powerful lessons from Naomi, and see how blessing flows to Ruth because of Naomi’s faithful devotion. Let me flush them out and call us to apply them in our own contexts.

First, notice that Naomi’s devotion to God survives her down times. She doesn’t pretend things are okay. Her self-ascribed name-change from Pleasant to Bitter (v.20) seems more an acknowledgement of her sadness and downcast expression than a commentary on her social conduct. She looks like she’s been through it, but judging by Ruth and Orpah, she hasn’t been a bitter old woman to them.

Do we handle our own calamities as well? Do we accept God’s hand in these circumstances, still convinced of his love and goodness, and seeking his blessing on others? Or do we blame Him, becoming bitter and biting to everyone around us? Our response tells those outside the community of faith, those who have their own gods, what we think about our God. Our steadfast devotion to Him, especially in the worst times, may win them over. We may feel the bitter sting of suffering, but we cannot hope to win them if we treat them bitterly. Somehow, Naomi lived up to her real name, Pleasant, and we must do the same.

Second, we learn that Naomi’s devotion to God draws another into that same devotion. God works through Naomi’s relationship with Ruth to move Ruth beyond devotion to Naomi, and to Naomi’s God. We can see this in Ruth’s poetic declaration (vv.16-17). Ruth swears her oath to the LORD as a witness to her devotion to Naomi. The greater devotion will outlive the other.

We too may be God’s instruments to move others toward him. As we express our devotion to Christ in showing his love to others, some will be drawn to him through us. Again, the toughest times are often our greatest opportunity to show a devotion that is contagious.

Last, we see that not everyone comes around. Orpah returns to her people and her gods. So too will many in our relationships. But in this case, it was not because Naomi was a jerk to Orpah. The young woman simply chose her culture’s best attempts at fulfillment and life – at least as far as we are told. Many will do the same in our culture. But let it not be because we burned our bridges. Let their respect of us for our conduct remain intact. Perhaps at some point they will reconsider our Savior.

In summary, let us follow Naomi’s lead. Hold our devotion to Christ in such a way that we may win others over to Him. For those who return to their own gods, at least we will be faithful in showing Christ to them in pleasant kindness. But for some we may be a means by which the Spirit draws them into eternal life!

What Christmas Is All About

After watching the movie,The Man Who Invented Christmas, I was reminded that until relatively recently Christmas was a “minor holiday,” and that many, if not most, of the current trappings and expressions now attached to it were classical or modern inventions. Most Christians have long had a sense that red flags were accumulating on pace with the many traditions of Christmas. We are right to sense a danger, but I wonder if we perceive the different nuances in which it is expressed.

More than 50 years ago, Charles Schultz was apparently already feeling the need to offset the commercialism and secularization of Christmas, and so he did in a beloved animated television special most of us know well. In A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of his characters, Linus, reads a portion of Luke’s birth narrative in chapter two, and then declares, “That’s what Christmas is all about.”

That statement certainly plays today as too exclusive. Well into the next century, our culture would now require a pull-back to something like, “That’s what Christmas is essentially about,” or, “That’s what Christmas is traditionally about.” Or it should be qualified, “…for many Christians,” or, “…in the perspective of classic Christianity.”

I like Schultz’s choice of the Luke narrative over Matthew’s, because it does more than offset the commercialization of gift-giving (and competitive buying). In Luke – especially the portion read by Linus – there are no Magi, no gifts. Yes, there are Shepherds and angels, but they are not the focus. The focus is a proclamation, the birth of a Savior. Then there is worship. Linus stops there, but what follows is verification – real shepherds become witnesses of this real historical event – and the movement of worship from heavenly beings to earthly ones, as the shepherds glorify and praise God.

If Linus is right, and the birth of the Savior and the resulting glory of God is “what Christmas is all about,” (emphasis mine), then Scripture offers a corrective not only for the commercialization and secularization of Christmas. It also leaves no room for syncretization.

Christmas is not some highly evolved culture’s expression of goodwill that Christians would hijack. It is not some blending of ancient paganism, Nordic tradition, or the like with Judeo-Christian myth. Christmas is by definition the worship of God, centered around the joyful event of his incarnation. That is what it is ALL about.

That worship appropriately promotes the values of community and giving that even our secular culture also promotes. It may well find expression through symbols like trees and light and angels (though Luke doesn’t indicate they were the ones with wings). Santa Clause and fireplaces and magical toy distribution…those are much farther removed from worship of the Savior, but I’m not promoting legalism here, only caution. The point is to sift out what is inherent to Christmas from what is not, for what is not may well overtake and even replace what is.

Have your traditions and your fun. Maybe even light up your reindeer and plug in your inflatable snowmen. Compete with your ugly sweaters and white elephants. But let us be sure to bring it down at some point, like Linus, to what Christmas is all about. The world needs to understand clearly that we worship with joy the God who entered humanity to save it. We celebrate his humble birth because he is the Savior, and the Lord of all glory!

God, or Google Maps?

We trust our devices. I mean we REALLY trust our devices. Think about it. When you get in your vehicle to head somewhere new, what do you do? If you’re like most people I know, you put the address in your phone or other device and wait for it to tell you where to go.

Now, you might be like me, and want to quickly scan the whole route, but once you are driving you are simply executing one step at a time.

“Turn north on such-and-such street.” (The virtual person’s pronunciations are often pretty amusing).

“Continue for five miles.”

“Take the left two lanes to exit onto so-and-so highway.” (This is technically not a good idea, since your car should occupy only ONE of those lanes, but you understand and comply.)

“Make a U-turn at the light.” (Yeah, you missed the turn because of signal loss, and now you have to go back to where you should have turned. But you are STILL following the newly recalibrated orders, because you have no clue, and this device knows all.)

Why are we willing to blindly take directions from a collection of micro-circuits and solder connections controlled by a magical binary language that no one understood even at Pentecost?

Because our navigational device knows what we don’t. It has all the mapping information about every road and intersection, every on and off ramp between here and there. It even knows where calamity awaits, where a wreck is clogging a major artery and causing huge delays, and knows exactly how to re-route us to the most efficient path to our destination.

Until the announcement, “You have arrived at your destination,” comes. And this could NOT POSSIBLY be your destination. No, no, no, what happened? Did I punch in a typo? Was it “lane” and not “street” or “avenue”?

We figure out the problem. We correct the input, and…start blindly following directions once again. Why? Because it works. Eventually. Nearly always. Well, once we take out human error.

Amazing.

Not that we blindly follow directions from a simulated person speaking from a device. That’s not amazing, because it does indeed generally work, and it is commonplace nowadays.

What IS amazing is that a REAL person who is NEVER wrong is personally WITH US and speaks to us through a LIVING communication. This Person knows EVERYTHING about the current map, all the previous versions of the map, and every map that ever will be. More than just streets and on and off ramps, he knows every person, every thought, every motive and action. He knows perfectly how every potential and actual event will interact as we travel from here to there, how it will impact us in the near future and ultimately. He himself is both here and there – EVERY here and there. And he doesn’t offer the most efficient route, but rather always perfectly directs to the BEST route, always pointing us to what is GOOD and what is good for us. He knows the right destination, even when we had it wrong.

The amazing thing is that we won’t trust God like we trust Google Maps.

In life, we want more than a glance at the whole map. We want GUARANTEES that we will find security, comfort, and easy going at every turn. God knows about every wreck waiting to happen, every construction zone, even every pothole. But for some reason when the neighborhood doesn’t look right, we bail on God’s navigation and go back to winging it based on our own sense of direction.

You know why we trust Google Maps more? Because WE MADE IT.

Turns out the first command in God’s navigation is “Make a U-turn.”

And all God offers us after that is the same thing our device offers: the next step. Be comforted with his presence and obey his voice.

Will we trust God enough to follow his directions?

Psalm 119:97–104 (CSB) 

מ‎ Mem

⁹⁷ How I love your instruction! 

It is my meditation all day long. 

⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, 

for they are always with me. 

⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers 

because your decrees are my meditation. 

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the elders 

because I obey your precepts. 

¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path 

to follow your word. 

¹⁰² I have not turned from your judgments, 

for you yourself have instructed me. 

¹⁰³ How sweet your word is to my taste— 

sweeter than honey in my mouth. 

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts; 

therefore I hate every false way. 

Candlelight

So, here is a question you may actually hear asked in our home now:

“Honey, did you turn off the candles?”

And the response may be, “No, they turned off automatically a while ago.”

Yep. We have battery operated fake candles now. We already had a fireplace that turned on or off with a switch – in fact TWO options, electric and gas – and now we have expanded the pseudo-incendiary arsenal to smaller, more versatile units.

I have to say, they ARE pretty cool. And that is a double entendre that really got me thinking.

First, I mean that the ascetic effect is nice. The candles (or the fireplaces) make you feel good just by looking at them. I suppose some subconscious association with ACTUAL candles produces this effect. Add to that the fact that these candles even simulate flickering, especially as the light bounces off nearby objects in the dark. Ah! Such a cozy look!

But in the more literal sense of cool, these candles are more like fake news – looks like the real thing at a quick glance, or out of the corner of the eye, especially across a room, but up close the substance is not all there. They throw light, yes. But where is the heat? In this sense, one might argue the electric fireplace is almost a real fireplace (you know, except for the – well, fire). But the battery operated candle, not so much.

We know candles are about LIGHT (we even use "candle" as term for measuring light), but they are also about HEAT. Before electricity, houses were lit by candles and oil lamps. But did you know that an oil lamp could also heat a room? In cold winters back then, a family might huddle around an oil lamp to avoid freezing!

Now, a single candle wouldn’t be as effective as a lamp, but the principle is there. In a cold, dark world, a real flame is a source of light, and warmth, and to some extent, life. It can also be dangerous. An open flame burns up dry things like old dead sticks or old clothing.

Well, there are great spiritual analogies here. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Light that came into the world. Further, his coming, and his life, were a demonstration of perpetual and perfect love (warmth). More yet, for those who trust him, this Light is also Life. Jesus is salvation from a cold, dark, death. But this Light is also dangerous, for his judging fire burns up wood, hay, and stubble. It burns up old clothes – the things from a Christian’s old life that tend to still cling to him. For those who reject Jesus, this burning becomes eternal judgment.

And we Christians are children of the light.

But are we like Jesus, reflecting the true Light in all his properties (light, warmth, life)? Or are we like the battery-operated candles? Do we turn on our light at desired moments? Is it set on a timer to come on Sunday mornings around, say, 10am? Are we completely lacking warmth and life for those who come close? Are we running on short-lived batteries, or burning an endless supply of oil from Christ’s Spirit? Do we offer a feel-good light that is artificial and safe?

Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) 

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”