Can’t We All Just Get Along? Reflections re: Os Guinness

Os Guinness visited Biola University today to talk about restoring civility to the public square.  By civility, he meant “the act of showing regard for others” [1] and by the public square, he meant “a place of assembly for the people” [2], like the agora in ancient Greece.  Guinness painted two extremes for the Christian to avoid.  First, avoid the position that your Christian faith is entirely a personal, private affair and thus does not have any interaction with the public square (e.g., politics, etc.).  In other words, avoid divorcing Christianity from public life.  Second, avoid the position that the Christian faith should dominate all other voices.  In other words, avoid wanting for Christianity to become the state religion and suppress all other beliefs.  Historically, the second extreme has not played well for Christians.

Guinness argued that there is a middle ground of public civility that Christians have a unique opportunity to forge.  This middle ground avoids the extremes and says, in a republican [3] and democratic [4] state (notice the small “r” and small “d”), Christians should have a place at the table in public discussion, neither “allowed” to dominate or rule nor pushed away from the table, but allowed to earnestly compete.  Under girding this place at the table should be the confidence Christians ought to have in their belief system.  We should have confidence that there are good ideas in Christianity that compete well (in the sense of a sporting event), if not great, against non-Christian systems in the public square.   We should not react out of fear or insecurity or pride to those who might have differing and competing opinions, but rather argue lovingly and convincingly.

This may be where Christian apologetics [5] plays a role; civil, well-argued, tight, loving discussions with those who disagree with us.   Francis Schaeffer [6], one of Guinness’ mentors, once said that love is the greatest apologetic, so good reasoning and arguing in love seem to me to be a powerful force in the public square that will help us avoid all the ugliness and insecurity of  the extreme right and the poverty and bankruptcy of the extreme left.

By the way, Biola University has a wonderful Christian apologetics programs, offering many events free of charge.  Check out their latest events at www.apologeticevents.com.

Wanting to Want God

O God, I have tasted Your goodness,

and it has both satisfied me

and made me thirsty for more.

I am painfully conscious of

my need of further grace.

I am ashamed of my lack of desire.

O God, the Triune God, I want to want You;

I long to be filled with longing;

I thirst to be made more thirsty still.

Show me Your glory, I pray,

so I may know You indeed.

Begin in mercy a new work of love within me…

Give me grace to rise and follow You

up from this misty lowland

where I have wandered so long.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

– A. W. Tozer

The Power of the Gospel in Changing Lives

Christ is in the business of saving people who, from our perspective, are the most unlikely to receive Him.   The Gospel of Christ crucified is the most powerful message on the planet.  I think this video attests to the power of this message.

To see more videos like this one, please go to http://www.iamsecond.com

Why Read The Dead Guys?

Last night I attended my reading group at church.  It was a truly enjoyable time sitting around the fireplace at church with the guys.  We are currently reading Martin Luther’s Concerning Christian Liberty.  I love Luther’s thesis…

“A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”

Doesn’t this sound like Paul?

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all…” (1 Cor. 9:19)

Luther uses the rest of this short book to unpack this statement.  Read these great quotes…

“From these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian man is free from all things; so that he needs no works in order to be justified and saved, but receives these gifts in abundance from faith alone. Nay, were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set free, saved, and made a Christian, by means of any good work, he would immediately lose faith, with all its benefits. Such folly is prettily represented in the fable where a dog, running along in the water and carrying in his mouth a real piece of meat, is deceived by the reflection of the meat in the water, and, in trying with open mouth to seize it, loses the meat and its image at the same time.”

“Yet a Christian has need of none of these things for justification and salvation, but in all his works he ought to entertain this view and look only to this object–that he may serve and be useful to others in all that he does; having nothing before his eyes but the necessities and the advantage of his neighbour. Thus the Apostle commands us to work with our own hands, that we may have to give to those that need. He might have said, that we may support ourselves; but he tells us to give to those that need. It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and well-being, he may be enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the weaker member, and we may be children of God, thoughtful and busy one for another, bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ.”

“Here is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love, when a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest servitude in which he serves others voluntarily and for nought, himself abundantly satisfied in the fulness and riches of his own faith.”

What a great evening we had.  It was not just talk about these ideas, but rather, it was talk about applying these ideas to our lives… about serving and loving others (e.g., our wives, etc.) out of the abundance of love God has given us, knowing that our service and love merit us nothing in God’s sight, but rather our rightness with God being found in the merit of Christ, who died our death for us so we could share in His resurrection life, a life of sharing and love.  And, we when we get up in the morning and don’t feel much like serving and loving, preaching the Gospel to ourselves that Christ died even for our lethargy.

So, why read the dead guys?  Simply they have much rich wisdom and powerful encouragement to share with us.  May I never become arrogant and think the past or those who lived in it have nothing to offer me.  The Holy Spirit used them mightily in death and He uses them mightily in death through the works they left behind.

Book Recommendation: A Case for Historic Premillennialism

One of the most popular eschatological (end times) systems is dispensational premillennialism, which involves a pretribulational rapture of believers followed by seven years of tribulation, Christ’s return, a 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, and then the final battle.  This is the system behind books and movies such as the Left Behind series.  This system has become so dominant in Christian circles that, at times, a person’s Christian faith can be called into question by not holding to it. One alternative to this system is what is called Historic or Classic Premillennialism, also known as Post-tribulational Premillennialism.

In 2007, a group of Christian scholars gathered at Denver seminary to discuss this topic and the book pictured above is the result of their discussion.  Their subtitle is An Alternative to “Left Behind” Eschatology. I hope people will read this book to at least see there are orthodox, evangelical alternatives to what we have typically been taught through the Christian media and in some of our churches.

My Dilemma: Loving & Hating Eschatology

In currently teaching a series on the book of Revelation, I have had to confront my distaste for eschatology (the study of the last days); more specifically, not eschatology itself, but rather particular methods in the study of eschatology.  Let me illustrate my dilemma of loving and hating eschatology by talking about the book of Revelation.

In the book, there are major literary events that occur: a throne and lamb in heaven, judgments upon the earth, God’s new city where His people will dwell forever, etc.  One of the methods for understanding these events is to match them up to historical events.  In other words, the literary events in Revelation primarily match the events in the first 400 years of the church (i.e., preterism), or the literary events match events future to John’s readers and us (i.e., futurism), or the events are spread throughout church history (i.e., historicism).  These are all examples of a puzzle solving method when it comes to this book and this is where my hate of eschatology (again, not eschatology itself, but these methods) wells up.

What is a better path?  I believe it is the picturing making method.  In other words, let the literary events in Revelation (or Daniel or Ezekiel) be literary events and look at the big pictures the book gives us.  Revelation makes sense this way.  So, instead of trying to figure out who the anti-Christ will be or trying to determine if the church is present in chapters 4-19 or building a time line, focus on the big themes: a throne, a lamb, a storm of judgment, and a new city.

The original readers in Asia Minor (today Turkey) experienced pressures from all angles including the pressures of economics, the Roman imperial cult, earthquakes, etc.  How did they respond to the big picture visions of a throne, lamb, storm, and a city?  Probably by feeling encouragement to persevere, even perhaps to death, because their God sits on the throne and nothing happens to them except by divine decree or permission.  This kind of God with this kind of power is a God to trust.  This is a God to hope in.  He is their future.  And this is why I love eschatology.