Christ

Stories of Christian Persecution | Fatima of Saudi Arabia – YouTube

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

So, I just came across this video from Open Doors. It’s a year old, but a powerful message nonetheless.

via Stories of Christian Persecution | Fatima of Saudi Arabia – YouTube.

The story revolves are Fatima, a martyred Christian woman in Saudi Arabia, who said she was a ‘unto death a Christian.’ That leads into exploring the idea of risky Christianity and the observation that Christianity is always risky. I wholly support that idea and the conclusion. But, that got me thinking.

What does it look like to be a ‘unto death a Christian’? Is it even possible, when American Christianity is built upon making people comfortable, to be ‘unto death a Christian’? Is Christianity really risky in America?

Let me tell you the story of Daria. Continue reading →

What do ya’ know?

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When I read this:

Or even a happy one. Not long ago, an enterprising professor at the Harvard Business School named Mike Norton persuaded a big investment bank to let him survey the bank’s rich clients. (The poor people in the survey were millionaires.) In a forthcoming paper, Norton and his colleagues track the effects of getting money on the happiness of people who already have a lot of it: A rich person getting even richer experiences zero gain in happiness. That’s not all that surprising; it’s what Norton asked next that led to an interesting insight. He asked these rich people how happy they were at any given moment. Then he asked them how much money they would need to be even happier. “All of them said they needed two to three times more than they had to feel happier,” says Norton.

I thought:

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” Luke 12:15 (ESV).

What do ya know? Jesus was right all along.

A new Lifeway Study

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For those who never attend church, the study revealed this group is least likely to pursue purpose and meaning in life or to think about the afterlife:– 19 percent strongly disagree that there is more to life than the physical world and society;– 33 percent strongly disagree that there is an ultimate purpose and plan for every person’s life;– 63 percent strongly disagree that they think often about what I must do to experience peace in the afterlife;– 50 percent never wonder how they can find more meaning and purpose in their life;– 68 percent never wonder if they were to die today, do they know that they would go to heaven.

via Ed Stetzer – New Research Just Released: How Americans Perceive and Pursue Spiritual Realities.

I came across this article on Ed Stetzer’s blog via the EFCA Facebook page.  On one hand it provides some, “Well, of course,” kind of information.  On the other hand, it provides some that might cause us to rethink evangelism.

For example, according to the study (you can download a .pdf or .ppt here) 49% of those with a college degree never wonder about going to heaven when they die.  That seems unsurprising for two reasons.  First, a certain percentage of those Americans are converted Christians, so they shouldn’t wonder.  Second, American education is so thoroughly humanist and anti-supernatural, you’re not going to find many Universities that seriously engage with such an issue.  Back in the ’90s Purdue required us to take a course called Great Questions or something like that.  It was billed as a look at how different groups had struggled with the great questions of life throughout history.  While creation, judgment, heaven & hell were discussed, it wasn’t serious.  It was more from a, ‘Look at what those unenlightened people used to think.’

The study does, however, provide some food for thought in terms of evangelism.  Fully 68% of the unchurched respondents never wonder if they will go to heaven when they die!  So, two-thirds of our mission field aren’t even concerned with the afterlife. At the same time, the article mentions Ed Stetzer’s Lost and Found.  In that book, he reported that 89% of unchurched young adults would be willing to listen to some explain their view of Christianity.

That would seem to indicate folks are willing to listen, but we can’t assume they believe in a heaven. Also, we can’t assume they believe they aren’t going there.  Perhaps 68% believe in Heaven and assume they are going.  As we share the gospel, then, we should make sure to communicate the reality of heaven and judgment.  If they don’t believe in Heaven, or don’t know about judgment, it shouldn’t surprise us that they don’t accept the gospel.

Thoughts?

Merry War on Christmas! – Mark Steyn – National Review Online

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The crisis afflicting the West is not primarily one of unsustainable debt and spending. These are mere symptoms of a deeper identity crisis.

via Merry War on Christmas! – Mark Steyn – National Review Online.

Steyn is spot on that we face a much larger problem in America than who gets elected, what laws they pass and what judges rule on those laws.  The foundations of our culture are being undermined by those very folks who, in previous eras, would have been guarding the gates.

I wonder if the Church doesn’t have some blame in all of this.  Steyn points out the ‘faintheartedness’ of the American Church in confronting those forces that would destroy celebrations like Christmas.  True, we are often faint of heart.  Yet, the Church has poured countless sums into political action committees, candidates and other such endeavors.  We’ve sought to overturn Supreme Court decisions, repeal laws, enact new laws and get ‘our’ guys to a place where they control the levers.

But that isn’t the Church’s mission.  Western Civilization is, in large part, the result of more than 1,000 years of making disciples.  The cultures of the West developed because we proclaimed the Gospel to hostile people.

Thus, our current cultural devolution is not a call to greater political action.  It is a call for the Church to reinvest in our core mission:  making disciples of Jesus Christ.

What will they say about you?

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This past week I was officiated the funeral for the father of a dear friend.  Then, later in the week (as has been well covered), John Stott died.  Reading some of the articles eulogizing Dr. Stott, left me wondering, what will they say about me?  Or, perhaps, what do I want to be said?

For me, I want it to be said that I was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Why does Jesus require all of me?

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Previously, we looked briefly at Christ’s standard for becoming His disciple.  To be a Christian, Jesus teaches, one must renounce everything else and follow Christ.  Now, this raises a good question.  Why must I renounce everything to follow Jesus?  Why does Jesus place such a high entrance requirement upon us?  The answer is found in two of Jesus’ Parables.

In Matthew 13:44-46 Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven in similar, yet distinct, ways.  On the one hand, the kingdom is like a pearl of great price.  Upon finding a pearl of great value, a merchant sells all he has in order to buy the pearl!  On the other hand the Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field, for which a man joyfully sells all he has in order to buy the field and secure the treasure.

In both cases the man finds something he values more than all of his possessions.  Therefore, he willingly (and joyfully) sells all to gain that prize he found.  So it is with the kingdom.  Consider the kingdom Jesus speaks of.  It is eternal; it is perfect.  In this kingdom there is justice and righteousness, there is peace and rest.  This kingdom ushers in perfection.  This kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is life as God intends it to be!

Now, compare this kingdom to our present lives.  Our lives are short and imperfect.  We are beset by injustices, great and small.  We experience little rest and much trouble.  No matter how long we live, we don’t grow toward perfection—we decay toward the grave.  This is what we are called to give up.  We are called to leave behind this life and embrace the life of His Kingdom, learning and allowing Him to transform us, so that we might enjoy the fullness of this Kingdom forever.

Half measures are no good. We cannot stay where we are and enter His kingdom.  Either what Christ offers us is more valuable that everything we already have, or it is not.  If it is not, we are fools to accept His offer.  But, if it is then we must leave behind this life and embrace His kingdom.  Sadly, most of us pay lip service and act as if that should be good enough.  We say, “I’ll follow you Jesus,” but we never actually do.

The Barna Group – Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010

~ brandon ~ 2 Comments

The Barna Group – Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010.

Makes me wonder why this is true.  All of the studies findings seem to come back to Barna’s first point:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.

A theologically illiterate Church might lose mission (pt 2), not care for spiritual principles (pt 3), prioritize community action over gospel proclamation (pt 4), become more pc (pt 5) and experience little/no impact on the world around.  Whether or not my thinking is true, one still wonders, “Why?”

I believe it starts with our evangelism.  We often try to downplay various aspects of the gospel, in order to win an audience or secure a conversion.  Some down play God’s justness and Hell.  Others downplay the radical commitment that Christ demands.  When we win people to a gospel that only requires a prayer and attending church once in a while, we should not be surprised by these results.

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”  (Luke 14:33 ESV)

Contrary to our invitations, Jesus made a radical call upon those who would experience God’s grace–they must give up everything.  The response Christ demands is a willingness to lay down anything–and everything–in order to gain Christ.  When we have this attitude toward Christ Barna’s six findings will no longer true.

 

Reason to Rejoice in Repentance

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“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.”
(1 Samuel 2:25 ESV)

Eli’s sons were wicked men.  Though Priests, they neither served God nor man–they served themselves.  Using their position for their own pleasure, they defiled sacrifices and took liberties with the women working at the temple.  Eli warned them that their sin was not against man, but against God.  He reminded them that their was no one to mediate for them before God.  But they did not listen.  Verse 25 tells us why they didn’t listen, and reminds us of why repentance is reason for joy.

In the case of Eli’s sons, it was the Lord’s will to destroy them.  They had no opportunity to repent.  As I ponder that terrible reality, I consider that God did grant me repentance.  I’m no better than they were, but by His grace (and for His glory) He chose to extend to me what he kept from them.  So I rejoice in His grace to me, His grace that granted me repentance and gave to me salvation.