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On April 6, 2020 By In Wisdom

Fear: America’s Best Sold Drug

As I write this, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is in Intensive Care. Our hope and sincere prayer are that God would spare him and hasten his recovery. Covid-19 is no joke! Today, however, some good news painted our computer screens. Bill Gates says that if people continue to practice social distance, cases “should begin leveling off towards the end of the month.” He also offered a smaller number of deaths than the White House’s estimate. Over at the Wall Street Journal, we were greeted with some encouraging economic speculation. The author argues that our economy is strong enough to sustain whatever is ahead. Due to our creativity, we should be back in business soon. I pray this all becomes prophetically fulfilled.

But not all is wine and roses. There are apocalyptic voices everywhere. The Drugde Report has bathed their hideous white screens with bad news for the last four weeks. They have painted such a dreadful picture that at one time, they covered every available space with unimaginable scenarios, all of which determined the end of the world in some capacity. As I have tweeted, their hype has probably given them immense attention. Even now, though some numbers are changing, the message is still the same whether during Covid-19, Hurricane Season, Wars and Rumors of Wars: Fear sells.

Fear! Fear! Give me some of that ol’ time religion! It’s been there since the days of Genesis. When Eve ate the fruit, she allowed her fears to consume her. “Did God really say?” When the first mother suspended her belief for a second to contemplate the Serpent’s words, she gave in to fear.

Will Yahweh keep his promises? Shall the Creator of all the earth give me the knowledge to endure? Perhaps this serpent is right. If I doubt God’s ability to come through, I might as well accept this offer. If I doubt that God can intervene and do just as His Word promises, then fear settles.

To settle in fear is easy. But the Christian faith is not an easy faith. Again and again, we are called to count the cost. The Bible gives us difficult imperatives to challenge our faith. James says, “Count it all joy, when you meet various trials.” Paul says, “rejoice, and again, I say rejoice.” Is this the message you are hearing on the news today in opposition to the ubiquitous apocalypticism? Is this the exhortation from our political figures? No. Fear sells easily but joy is something we must fight and strive for in this world.

Make no mistake: I do not wish for anyone to minimize concerns. I have stressed that not taking the necessary precautions is naive and assumes a stupid hubris. However, we are not addressing the obvious. We are talking about taking a certain posture as Christians. We are talking about rejoicing that the King has come on this Holy Week, and he is not like other kings who forsake the throne when things are not going his way. Jesus does not step down for even a second during the Spanish Plague and certainly not the Covid-19 crisis. We do not worship a king who sees the cross from afar and runs away in fear. We exalt a King who sees the cross and draws even nearer.

Our expectations are framed around the current view of Jesus we have. We instinctively know that he enters our lives daily, hourly, repeatedly by his Spirit, but the manner of his entrance is usually interpreted according to our current view of Jesus. When we are living in fear, surely everything taking place is reason to succumb to fear’s power. Then, we adopt a minimalistic view of the Messiah’s work which is why so many are content with a small Jesus. The audience of fear is always more eager to hear than the audience of fear not.

It is clear especially in our day that fear is the most sold American drug! To some extent, we have all taken it and to some extent, we are all addicted to it. But Jesus comes to break our addictions this Monday of the Passion. When everything is not as it should, he says, “Rejoice; fear not!”

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Photo by Mark Cabrera from FreeImages

On April 3, 2020 By In Wisdom

Coronavirus Fear Without the Mind-Killer: Solomonic Wisdom in the Shadow of the Plague

One of the most memorable items that has come to us from Frank Herbert’s Dune is the “fear litany,” which the story’s protagonist recites to himself in order to regain composure amid panic:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

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On March 25, 2020 By In Culture, Theology, Wisdom

Kuyper’s Flawed Example: Sphere Sovereignty on the Personal Front

In book 2 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates’ conversation with his young friends takes an unexpected turn. Plato’s brothers Gaucon and Adeimantos have challenged Socrates to defend justice for justice’s sake and not merely to gain a reputation for being just. Why would people wish to do justice if they were deprived of its tangible rewards? To answer this question, Socrates memorably shifts the discussion to the building of a city. Why? Because if he can demonstrate what justice is within the city, he can by analogy reason back to locating justice in the individual person, which he and his companions undertake to do in the succeeding books of the dialogue.

I was reminded of Socrates’ rhetorical strategy several years ago as I read James Bratt’s magisterial biography of one of my heroes, Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat. Kuyper, as readers may know, originated the term “sphere sovereignty,” a translation of the Dutch expression sovereiniteit in eigen kring, or “sovereignty in one’s own circle.” Facing the twin threats of liberal individualism and socialist statism, Kuyper, based on his reading of the Bible and the larger Christian tradition, came up with this rather inelegant phrase to describe his party’s unique approach to society. (more…)

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On March 19, 2020 By In Theology, Wisdom

Lessons from Jonah’s Ship

When Jonah saw the rising and tempestuous storm there was an immediate sense of powerlessness. The ship was “like to be broken,” says the author. Jonah’s entire wandering episode was about to get mighty worse. The Psalmist knew that there is no place he can hide from God’s Spirit, and Jonah became another example of self-deception. We know we cannot hide but this does not impede us from finding the deepest cave or the vast ocean as refuge. We seek shelters outside God’s protective wings.

The lessons for us in this season are similar. Cycles of history come and go and we often refuse to learn from them. What do we do when we convince ourselves we can distance enough from God? What do we do when our navigational capacities blind us to the ability of the all-seeing God to find us? In typical fashion, we victimize our status and use it as a justification for our wandering. “I only did it because I needed time away;” or “I need some time to think about what God truly wants for me.”

It’s crucial for us to see that the biblical characters rarely if ever failed to know precisely what God wanted. Similarly, we know what God desires of us in this season. We don’t fail because we can’t see what God is communicating, we fail because God has communicated and we can’t accept the demands on us. Thus, we seek out alternative plans hoping that God would nod in agreement.

But God is not a fool. He is not mocked which is a short way of saying God does not take shortcuts to dissect you. He prefers to carefully observe your ways and see how far you are willing to stray and how long it will take you to call on his name. The reason God does not judge you immediately when you get on that boat to a place far away is that you would learn your lesson without much knowledge gained. You must get on the boat and believe that you are truly distancing yourself from the God who comes near; to trust in your escape routes among the prostitutes of the prodigal or waves of waywardness. God waits to see your ship almost breaking to act. He waits in perfectly executed timing for you to see the cause and effect of your sins, to be at the mercy of pagan mariners. Then, God pierces your soul like a two-edged sword and meticulously brings you back to life like a skilled surgeon.

We are powerless creatures. We cannot control the next second. There are no shortcuts to righteousness but only the hard work towards long obedience. We live in days where people all around are sleeping in ships near destruction. Yet, they sleep comfortably unaware that the waves will crash a little harder each time until the damage is too great.

Every situation provides opportunities to understand a little better our journeys. And we can only learn if we too picked up lessons while on the boat. We may not find refuge in a pig’s den often, but we are too comfortable navigating ourselves towards that hideous smell. We need a richer appetite for the Father’s table. Ultimately, we need to take seriously our steps and choose the hard road of obedience instead of the slippery steps of Sheol.

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On March 16, 2020 By In Theology, Wisdom, Worship

The Ultimacy of Worship in the #Coronavirus Age

Another week begins, and the topic is universally the same in coffee shops (if you still frequent those), the workplace and worship spaces. The #Coronavirus is trending more frequently than your favorite five celebrities put together. Our culture has exchanged TMZ stories for the primacy of the geeks who once made their living in the privacy of their laboratory. These are now our modern-day celebrities. It’s safe to say the experts surrounding this topic will probably consume the news cycle for the foreseeable future.

Since this is the general trend, Christians must ask, “How now shall we live?” Recently, I encouraged pastors to preach the Word on the Lord’s Day without allowing the trends to dictate the church’s agenda. The Church should be the last place where people come to educate themselves about any virus or plague. The church should be that one place where we immunize ourselves against such cultural ubiquity. What the church must provide in this time is a heavenly normalcy that affords Christians a glimpse into the holy as they experience the unholy of disease and death in the world.

Whatever the future holds, and I forbid myself from acting like a prophetic epidemiologist, we know that the future belongs to Jesus. After all, he has lived and reigned over every imaginable pestilence and plague throughout history. He was Lord then and is Lord now. Christians often forget that reality in times of crisis. It is a real danger. There is no more excellent opportunity to flex our monergistic muscles than a scenario where we envision ourselves as experts and when we can quietly act as lords over human despair.

Of course, it is right and prudent to take measures, but it is even more crucial to take good and necessary measures towards our daily actions and reactions; to honestly examine ourselves in Lenten fashion to see if we are living as Christ would have us in our day. One inevitable temptation is the predicament of tomorrow. The anxious person will worry about everything until he gets one thing right. He will worry about a thousand things, and when that worry is finally validated, he will use that event to justify his fears about the next thousand things. It’s an unhappy cycle. If the things of today are sufficient (Mat. 6), then there are sufficient things to occupy our faith today. In sum, opportunities abound in living out our faith in times of peril. Our habits and rituals can be changed; our view of the world and others can change, and we can discover in such a time of transition that our priorities have been wrong for a long time.

In many ways, we lived exilically before any of this came into being. But back then, there was no all-consuming Corona-Virus news; there was just the mundane. Back then, many of us lived flippantly and apathetic toward our Christian rituals. Times of peace more often than not provide rationales for complacency. Thus, in times of uncertainty, we must remember that usually, the best period for the church to sharpen and hone her worship skills and practices is now. Biblical history bears this out. We can think of Israel’s wilderness wandering as a time of exile. Israel had left Egypt and was preparing to enter the Promised Land. But what was Israel doing for those 40 years? She didn’t have any real cultural influence since she had no homeland. She was just a nomadic community moving through the wilderness without the certainty of tomorrow. Still, faithful Israelites carried the tabernacle with them through the desert so that corporate worship became their constant focus.      

While we may not know what tomorrow brings, we do know who controls time and space and viruses. For the Christian, this is truly an opportunity for communities to find refuge in one true city. Whether we are worshipping together or in limited numbers in seven days, God’s gift of worship is ours. Whether in exile, free from alarm, or in between the times, worship is always ultimate. So, let the Christian see that the only worthy trend in this world is not the #Coronavirus but the worship of the Triune God.

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On March 13, 2020 By In Culture, Politics, Theology, Wisdom

Social Distancing and the Real Danger in an Age of the Corona Virus

It was a typical morning for my tribe. When I returned from the gym, it was still early. But my boys are ready to take on the day with zeal. We went for a walk around our peaceful neighborhood. The young warriors carried their sticks as a precautionary measure against wild creatures. As we leisurely strolled, we began singing through the Lord’s Prayer. “Deliver us from evil…” we roared. It’s a piece we sing every Lord’s Day and often at the dinner table, but this morning it took on a special significance.

Which Evil?

In our day, the natural evil in our minds is the Covid-19 with its aggressive demeanor towards the elderly and sometimes its fatal blow towards unexpected recipients. It’s all over ESPN at the gym, and it’s the featured article in any major newspaper. Its ubiquitous nature is obnoxious but expected. We live in an interconnected state of the human era. We may debate the hype or the unorthodox enthusiasm of the media, but the reality is we do not know what next week will look like for any community.

But is that truly the only evil of our day we sang against this morning in our casual adventure? I believe there is something more subtle than what this pandemic brings. It may take different shapes, but its root is the oft obligatory “social distancing” experts are encouraging. That’s a significant threat in this Corona Virus age. In the 14th century, there was a plague outbreak in Florence, Italy. Renaissance author Giovanni Boccaccio noted:

Florentines “dropped dead in open streets, both by day and by night, whilst a great many others, though dying in their own houses, drew their neighbours’ attention to the fact more by the smell of their rotting corpses.”a

We can safely say it was a deeper plague than anything we are currently experiencing and probably will experience. But the results of such destructive forces led to another epidemic, the one of isolation. Boccaccio goes on to argue for the importance of preserving social forces and traditions even when the higher forces wish to de-activate our social practices, or we might say, those things which make us human.

Social Distancing vs. Scriptural Sociology

At this moment, people of all evangelical persuasions are likely downplaying the self-quarantine incentive viewing it as a necessary step towards the eradication of this virus and self-preservation. There is a clear sense that in times of societal upheaval, we must do whatever it takes. But this shouldn’t close our eyes to the consequences of isolating ourselves from one another and our communities.

Should this pandemic force us into these isolated environments, we need to be thoughtful about this new sociological phase of history. The Scriptures are unwavering about the necessity of community and social gatherings. Social distancing is the antithesis of the Scriptural imperative. Even if necessary, we should grieve over it. Some appear to praise social distancing as a noble gesture in an enlightened culture. Church cancellations, colleges moving to on-line venues, sports events, and concerts are now entering into unchartered territory with indefinite postponements. Again, all good and necessary, but have we counted the cost of such actions?

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  1. https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/03/coronavirus-survive-italy-wellbeing-stories-decameron   (back)

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On March 9, 2020 By In History, Theology, Wisdom

God as the Main Character in Esther

God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. What does that mean? Why does a book of the Bible not mention God? While this can seem mysterious, the reality is that God is not absent in the story at all. He is all over it. In fact, the better way to describe it is that He is the main character. While there are lots of people acting in the story, no one character in the story is moving the story forward. Through the events of the story, we see that God is the one who is making everything happen. In this way, each character in the story is really more of a side character upstaged by God performing his sovereign plan. 

God’s Plan

God’s sovereign design is emphasized at the beginning with Vashti refusing to obey the king’s request at his feast. If Vashti had not done this, then the rest of the story would not have happened. While Vashti was acting on her own account, God removed Vashti in order to make way for Esther.

When looking at Esther’s rise, we see that she did not choose to be queen. God put her there. And this position was not particularly nice. She was chosen by the king as an object to gratify his desires. But Esther did not remain passive in this event, rather she attempts to gain the king’s favor by following the advice of Hegai about what to take in with her to the king. But even this highlights that her role of queen was not her choice but one that was given to her. Which is to say, God turned the heart of the king to make her queen.  

We see God’s sovereignty in Mordecai also. The story notes that he was from the tribe of Benjamin. This reference highlights and draws us back to other stories about Benjamin. One important story in Israel’s history is the story of King Saul who is also from the tribe of Benjamin. The story of Esther notes that Haman is an Agagite. While Haman may or may not be a direct descendant of King Agag whom King Saul fails to kill, the story of Esther does suggest that this story is at least an echo of that earlier story. God is at work telling a similar story through Mordecai. While Mordecai is a kind of Saul, called to defeat the wicked Haman, he actually does very little to bring this about. Mordecai angers Haman and that is about all he does. The real cause of Haman’s downfall is designed by God who is orchestrating the events. 

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On March 6, 2020 By In History, Theology, Wisdom, Worship

Sabbath Harder: Eric Liddell and Complete Surrender

Original post at CrossPolitic Blogazine

Christians should know how to keep Sabbath. I am not saying this the way that some in our culture would say it. Some people say we need more rest because we are too busy, living crazy, distracted lives. These people suggest we need to do some yoga and find our inner guru stillness. That is not what I am talking about. I am suggesting that we are not doing enough with Sabbath. What we really need is to Sabbath harder. By that, I mean we need to have a better understanding and vision for Sabbath. This means we have more to do, not less.

In the fourth commandment, God commands his people to rest. He says work on six days and then rest on the seventh. This is a command. This is not an option. While it might seem like a command will dampen our joy, the reality is that obedience brings great joy and peace. This command is a wonderful gift so that we have one day out of seven to rest. This Sabbath rest is a gift to us because we are reminded what our rest should be founded on. It should be founded on something that God has done, not something we have done.

In Deuteronomy 5, it says that the Sabbath day is a memorial for what God has done for his people: once they were slaves in Egypt and God brought them out with his mighty hand. God has done this great work and so the people need to rest. In the new covenant, we celebrate and remember God’s work on Sunday, the first day of the week, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Our Sabbath rest is on the first day of the week because our lives are oriented around the Gospel. God has done a great work for us and we are to reflect and remember and celebrate that work. This is something American Christians need to do more. 

Eric Liddell and Sabbath

The story of Eric Liddell is a wonderful lesson of how to Sabbath harder. In 1924, Eric was a runner who was going to compete in the 100m event at the Olympics in Paris. However, that year the 100m event was held on a Sunday. So Eric switched events, changing over to the 400m event. Eric refused to run on Sunday because he knew that was against God’s law. He honored God above men. Eric knew of the schedule issue ahead of time so he was able to train for a different event but this new event was still a huge challenge for him. It is crucial to see that while Eric honored God and kept Sabbath, this did not mean that Eric sat back and was passive about it all. Actually, he jumped in and worked harder. He trained for the 400m and he won that race. 

The famous movie Chariots of Fire records the story well. The character Eric in the movie talks with his sister about being a missionary in China. He explains that he will be a missionary but that God also made him to be a runner. He says the great lines, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” In this way, we see that Eric was not a snooty sabbatarian; he truly wanted to enjoy the good gifts of God in his life. He knew that God had called him to be fast and he wanted to use that gift to honor God.  

After he won the 400m, Eric explained how he had won: “The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200m, with God’s help, I run faster.” 

In this quote, Liddell is not saying that he ran 50% and then God added another 50%. Rather, the whole thing was a gift of God. By God’s grace, Liddell ran the whole thing. 

That is the correct vision for Sabbath rest: we need it because that is where we are reminded that we cannot do what is required. We must run and strain for the goal but we cannot get there in our own efforts. We must look to God for our strength in order to run. Paul in Romans 9:16 says it this way: “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” 

Sabbath as Surrender

Later in his life, Liddell went to China to be a missionary. He followed God’s calling on his life and he worked and served there for several years. He eventually gave his life there dying in 1945 in an internment camp. His last words are recorded to be: “It’s complete surrender.” 

Liddell’s last words summarize the Christian life: it is surrendering everything to God. But this surrender does not mean that we remain still and passive and don’t have anything to do. Rather, It is a complete surrender to God’s will for our lives and so this means that we work harder and longer than we ever thought possible. But this comes from God’s strength, not from us. 

There are two errors in how we approach Sabbath rest. One error is to think that rest means inaction: I just sit here and do nothing. Some might erroneously encourage us to a still quietness as if our problem is that we are too busy in life. But busyness is not the problem for Christians. The reverse is more often the case: we are too lazy. So Sabbath is not about finding an inner peace or quiet. True Sabbath rest is about action. 

The other error is to think that I must do everything. God might save me, but I am the one who has to run the race. So I get out my running shoes and I run. I grit my teeth and I try to run harder and faster: as if God will be more pleased with me, if I can just do more things faster. But this is wrong too. My job is not to do what I think; my job is to do what God says to do. 

This means that I must obey God all the way, every day. I must obey the command to glorify God but the reality is that this command is an impossible task for me. So it is only by God’s grace that I can fulfill the task before me. 

The answer then is complete surrender. We must give it all up to God. In God’s command to rest on the Sabbath, he is not saying that the other six days are ours to do with as we please. All our days belong to God. He has claimed them all. There is nothing left over for us. In turning to God, we must surrender it all to him. Then God in his grace gives us back six days to serve and obey him. 

Sabbath as Launch

In this discussion, it is important to emphasize God’s grace to us. It is all grace. I am not saying that we must do our part and then God adds his part. The truth is that all of it comes from him. God gives us the task to run and we must run our best. And we run only by God’s grace. And then God takes us even farther than we thought possible. And that is by God’s grace also. When it is all done and we reach the end, we will see that we had run because we had surrendered it all to God. He will get the glory because we were merely obeying what he had told us to do.

In Luke 17, Jesus says it this way, “Does [the master] thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” At the end, when we have run our hardest and in God’s strength we have gone even farther than we thought possible, we will say like Liddell, I didn’t do it. I just surrendered it all to God. I don’t deserve any praise. I was just doing what I was commanded to do. 

In this way, we see that the Sabbath is not about us having a chance to rest or for us to get a chance to take a nap, although those things are good gifts from God. The true vision of Sabbath rest is that life is like a pole vault competition. The pole must be placed in a stationary spot, a spot that doesn’t move. This is not to keep the pole from moving, but because the pole is supposed to move. The stationary spot is the point from which something larger can be launched. Sabbath is like that spot for the pole. We set it there in God and in his great work of deliverance, and then He launches us farther than we ever thought possible. 

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On February 2, 2020 By In Theology, Wisdom, Worship

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

The story of the Good Samaritan is well-known in our culture, not just among Christians, but by everyone. We have Good Samaritan laws that protect those who help people in distress from being sued if the rescue doesn’t go well. Presidents and other politicians have referred to the story of the Good Samaritan in their speeches to encourage certain policies. Back in 2018, Nancy Pelosi recited the entire story in her eight-hour speech on the floor of Congress to promote “The Dream Act.” (https://www.christianpost.com/news/nancy-pelosi-recites-the-good-samaritan-parable-praises-evangelical-leaders-in-8-hour-speech-216989/) There is a Christian mercy ministry run by Franklin Graham called “Samaritan’s Purse.” Christians have a health insurance replacement called “Samaritan Ministries.” The story of the Good Samaritan is well-known, well-loved, and well-used.

When a story like this becomes such a common cultural fixture, it becomes easy to assume we understand the story. Our American culture has taken the story, for the most part, in a very simplistic way, reading it as if it were one of Aesop’s Fables: a story that promotes a moral. In this case, the moral is “Do good for hurting people.” This, of course, is true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. There is quite a bit more to the story.

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On January 12, 2020 By In Counseling/Piety, Wisdom

Dying Well

It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

(Ecclesiastes 7.2, 4)

Through my fifty-one years, I have been in the house of mourning a number of times. As a grandson, I have experienced the death of grandparents. As a son, I walked through the sadness of losing my father and mother. As a pastor, I have officiated the memorial services of still-born children, adults who have lived well into their nineties, and everything in between. I have seen death surprise families, and I have watched as the coldness of death slowly crept over families. For many deaths, I have been able to stand by the bedside of the dying, talking, praying, weeping, and rejoicing with them. At other deaths, I have witnessed people hopelessly wail at the loss of a loved one. I am privileged to have visited the house of mourning quite a bit through my years to lay to heart what is the end of every man.

Recently, I had the privilege of visiting a dying lady who is prepared to meet her Lord and Maker. She lives with her daughter and son-in-law. She has lived a full life. Her children and grandchildren love Jesus. She is at peace. Her slow but sure passing from this life is a joyful time for her and her family. No, they are not dancing. They hurt. But there is something that runs deeper than the hurt: there is a joy that springs from the hope that they have in Christ Jesus. She will die soon, but she will die having been recently surrounded by all of her children and grandchildren who share her hope. She will die well. She will die with joy.

While I was standing by her bedside praying with her, I must admit that I was overwhelmed with the beauty of it all, and I laid to heart, once again, my own end. I want to die well. When the day of my death draws close, if God grants me and my family the grace to know that it is coming, I want the fruit of my faithfulness to Christ to surround me with that sorrowful joy; that sorrow that my family and friends will truly miss my being with them, but the joyful hope that I am with Christ and will be reunited with them in the future. I want to die well.

The only way to die well is to live faithfully in the present. To live faithfully in the present, you must keep the end in mind. That is why it is wise to spend time in the house of mourning.

This is your end. What are you doing today to die well?

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