How the Gospel Changes Our Relationships: Introduction

Last week I was invited to lead a breakout session at a youth conference in town themed “The Gospel Changes Everything.”  The conference explored all the different aspects of life that the gospel transforms, relationships being one of them.  Of course, most of the students assumed relationships meant dating.  That became clear when the girl to boy ratio for each session was about 7:1.  Nevertheless, I wanted to look at relationships from a more fundamental perspective, then apply what we learned to specific types of relationships.

I posted the outline last week, but thought it would be good to treat each of those areas individually in posts over the next week or two.

Relationships weave through every area of our lives; parents, spouses, friends, co-workers, peers, cashiers, waiters, bank tellers, and on and on.  Some of these we choose and others we don’t.  Some hold greater importance than others.  All of them matter.  The Gospel has something to say about all of them.  

Relationships are difficult for numerous reasons from selfishness to lack of communication to presumption to pride.  Those are all internal reasons.  But, we cannot ignore the fact that those internal desires are fed through the IV of television, internet, advertising, pop-psychology, music, and even friends and family.  They sustain and feed our view of relationships and most often the slow drip giving life to our unhealthy views goes unnoticed.  They shape how we think about marriage, dating, co-workers, revenge, etiquette, parenting, love, affection, forgiveness, self-esteem, and priorities, all manipulate how we relate to other people.  Our challenge, therefore, is to be sure our relationships are not defined by these shadowy influences, but from the Word of God.

The Bible challenges our assumptions about relationships. We'll look at the following:

• Treat other people as being more important than yourself
• Church Relationships become a Priority
• Neighbor Redefined
• With whom do you pursue friendship?
• Submission to Authority
• Genuine Happiness for the Joy of Others
• Forgiveness
• Servant to All
• Purity and Devotion in Relationships

What do you think are some specific aspects of relationships that have been led down an unhealthy path by cultural influences?

How the Gospel Changes our Relationships

I'm leading a Breakout Session at a Student Conference this evening and wanted to make the outline available here:

How the Gospel Changes Relationships - Handout

1. Relationships
1. What is a relationship?

2. What influences do we allow to shape/inform/instruct how we handle relationships?

3. So, what does the Gospel do to our relationships?
3. What is the Gospel

3. How/Why does the Gospel change anything?

4. What does the Gospel change about our relationships?
1. Other people are always more important than you are
1. Philippians 2:3-4
2. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
2. Church Relationships become a Priority
1. Hebrews 10:24-25, Galatians 6:10 (Eph 2:19, 1 Tim. 3:15),
2. 1 Corinthians 13
3. Neighbor Redefined
1. Luke 10:25-37
4. With whom do you pursue friendship?
1. Luke 14:12-14
5. Submission to Authority
1. Pastors: Hebrews 13:17, Parents: Eph. 6:1, School and Work: Colossians 3:22-24
6. Genuine Happiness for the Joy of Others
1. Romans 12:15
7. Position of Forgiveness
1. Ephesians 4:32
2. Matthew 18:21-22
8. Position of Service
1. Mark 10:43-45
9. Pursue Purity and Devotion in Relationships
1. 1 Peter 4:1-5
2. 1 Corinthians 7:7-8; 32-35

How Far Is the East From the West?

Psalm 103:12, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” This is a glorious statement of God’s grace toward us; beautifully summarizing the gospel. God placed our sins on Christ so that, in our place, he could bear the wrath we deserved. Psalm 103:12 paints a word picture to help us understand what that means. But, what exactly is Psalm 103 saying? What’s the word picture being painted? Pastors explain this imagery most often by contrasting east/west to north/south. The north/south distance limits the distance sin could be from us. If you travel far enough north, you will eventually end up going south when you make the turn at the north pole and start heading back down the other side of the globe. We can measure that. On the other hand, if you travel west then you just keep going to the west and you’ll never start traveling east. Eastward travel and Westward travel continue without end. So, they make their point: there is an infinite distance between east and west. God chose east/west instead of north/south, they say, to show that he put the greatest distance possible between you and your sin. Of course, technically speaking, if you go far enough east you actually end up where you started. Which could also mean our sins eventually come back to bite us. In other words, if we’re going to make our point based on the spherical shape of the earth giving an advantage to east/west over north/south for the distance of our sins - then we also have to accept the “what goes around, comes around” reality as well. Therefore, the fact that moving around the globe eastward is an infinite distance compared to moving north, probably isn't the point of the text. So, then why east/west and not north/south? What is the point? The Old Testament, and the Pentateuch in particular, often uses movement eastward to symbolize movement away from God’s presence and/or people. When Adam and Eve sin in the Garden, God sends them eastward (Gen. 3). After Cain kills Abel he “went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Genesis 4:16). When the people decide to rebel against God and make a tower to show how great they are, they migrated to the east (Genesis 11:2). When Lot separates from Abraham, the blessed one, he chooses the land of the east - away from God’s chosen man (Gen. 13:11). Finally, when Abraham sends the sons of his concubines away from his promised son, Isaac, he sends them to the east country (Gen. 25:6). So, if movement east represents movement away from God and separation from his people, then perhaps that’s the imagery of Psalm 103:12. Maybe the point is not the infinite distance between them, but the biblical imagery of being removed from God’s people and the land of promise. He removes our sin from us, just as he removed sinners from his promised land, to purify us. The illustration is not as convenient and takes a little more work, but it uses biblical imagery that seems more fitting.
 

On Baptizing Aliens

Earlier this week Pope Francis argued the church should display grace and be more open to baptizing all who come seeking after it, regardless of their parents' practices, for example.  While I disagree with the way the Catholic church practices baptism (and a lot of other things!), I would certainly applaud the driving point the Pope is making - the church should be open to receiving all who come desiring to place their faith in Christ.

But, I would certainly want to limit what I mean by all to all . . . humans.  To illustrate his openness, the Pope said he would reach beyond humanity and extend baptism to green martians, "green men, with a long nose and big ears, like children draw,"  and "If tomorrow, for example, an expedition of Martians arrives and some of them come to us ... and if one of them says: 'Me, I want to be baptised!', what would happen? . . . Who are we to close doors?”

I understand the Pope was simply illustrating his point and not laying down church doctrine for ET.  I can only imagine a Green Lantern or Jedi style meeting of cardinals from a plethora of human-like species.  After all, Yoda would look ridiculous in a mitre.

An illustration though it may have been, it misses the whole point of what God did when he sent Jesus to become a man and take on human flesh. Hebrews 2:14-18 makes clear that he "had to be made like his brothers in every respect."  Jesus didn't take on humanoid flesh - which could potentially include anything with two legs, two arms, opposable thumbs, and the ability to fly a spacecraft.  No, he took on human flesh.  The same humanity that Genesis 1:27 tells us was created in the image of God.

So, to answer the Pope's question, "Who are we to close the doors?"  We're Christians, who have been given the truth of God's Word and have an obligation to order our practices by it.  We don't get to make it up as we go long so that we sound more compassionate.

So, just to be clear, aliens can visit our church anytime.  They can come to potluck and we'll fellowship with them if they want to hang out.  But, the Bible doesn't allow us to offer them salvation through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  And, therefore, we can't baptize them either.  Plus, remember what happened when they spilled water on Gizmo - I mean, you never know!

Praise God that Jesus took on human flesh that we might have life.  That's more precious than you or I can ever imagine!

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:13-17 ESV)

Apology from Beeke About Rap Panel

I really had no intention of continuing to post about this issue, but because I have, I thought it appropriate to include the recent apology from one of the panelists:

http://www.challies.com/articles/joel-beeke-christian-rap-and-public-apologies

Great Roundup of the Recent Reformed Rap Debate

Thabiti Anyabwile provides a great roundup of many of the responses to the recent panel discussion on Christian Rap.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/

You can see the video of the panel discussion that started all this here: (http://hiswordistruth.blogspot.com/2013/12/can-christian-rap-honor-god.html)

Al Mohler Reflects on the Question of Reformed Rap

Yesterday I posted some thoughts on the recent panel discussion concerning reformed rap.

Al Mohler provides his excellent insights here.  The last paragraph is golden:

Bach’s English Suite No. 3 in G Minor is playing as I write this. It makes me happy to hear it. But knowing that the Gospel is being taken to the ears and hearts of new generation by a cadre of gifted young Gospel rappers makes me far happier.

Can Christian Rap Honor God?

And we wonder why our churches are as segregated as they are on Sundays . . . This video literally made me feel like I had been punched in the gut.  It made me angry (and I don't even listen to Reformed Rap).


The Worship of God Q&A: Holy Hip-Hop from NCFIC on Vimeo.

This reminds me of the missions movement when they thought making a tribe "christian" meant making them dress like Europeans.  The reasoning of this panel basically sounds like this to me, "We don't like Christian reformed rap because everyone who raps is egotistical, we can't understand the words, and it doesn't sound like our Christian tradition."

Though I know it is a serious charge, these men sound a lot like the Pharisees to me; holding up their tradition as the only way to approach God.  While I'm certain these men genuinely want God to be glorified in the church, I have to wonder what they would do on the mission field.  How would they handle music among brand new believers in a previously unreached tribe.  Would they force Western styles on that tribe, or would they find ways for that tribe to express praise to God in their own ancient musical styles?  I'm not sure how they would answer that question, but my guess is that they would glory in that tribe's particular cultural expression and not force another style on them.  So, why treat this particular American cultural expression any differently?

I'm struggling to find an answer to that question? The only answer I can come up with is that they are guilty of some form of American cultural elitism where they believe their expression is the only legitimate American Christian expression.  Now, I don't think they wear that reasoning on their sleeves, but it must be hidden somewhere in their heart for these arguments to find such expression.

The church will remain a place of segregation until we agree that God loves and embraces cultural diversity and, therefore, diversity of musical expression also.



Justin Taylor has a great round up of some other responses on his blog.

"I can see that you do not understand what I am saying to you. What I am saying to you is that you do not live life as Martin Luther lived life. You do not wake up in the morning as he did, nor do you go to bed at night as he did. You need to understand something about changed conditions of belief.  Do you not understand that in the time of Martin Luther, almost every single human being in European civilization woke up afraid that he would die before nightfall?  Eternal destiny was a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute thought.  Every night, as the late Medieval or early Reformation human being closed his eyes, he feared that he would wake up either in heaven or in hell.  You do not live with that fear.  And that means that your understanding of these things is very different from Martin Luther's.  That's why he threw ink pots at the Devil, and you close your notebook and sleep well at night."

- from "Atheism Remix" by Dr. Al Mohler quoting Dr. Heiko Obermann

He Gives What He Commands

"You give them something to eat" was Jesus' command to his disciples after they asked him to send the 5,000 men and their families to get provisions.  Can you imagine being in their position?  It would have been laughable.  With a straight face, Jesus was commanding these 12 guys, with essentially nothing, to feed 5,000 men and their families. He knew they couldn't do what he was asking.

But, Jesus never intended them to obey in their own strength or with their own provisions.

He took the five loaves and the two fish, said a blessing, "then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd" (Luke 9:16).  He gave what he commanded.  He handed them what they needed to do what he asked.

Church History Resources

It's been a joy to walk through Church History with Christ Community Church on Wednesday nights!

I've come across a few helpful resources for the group and am listing them on our church website.  The timeline is a great resource to have in hand as we move through the first 6 centuries of the church.  Also, the series on the NT Canon was really helpful.

He Disarmed the Rulers and Authorities (FF Bruce on Colossians 2:15)

"The very instrument of disgrace and death by which the hostile forces thought they had him in their grasp and had conquered him forever was turned by him into the instrument of their defeat and disablement.  As he was suspended there, bound hand and foot to the wood in apparent weakness, they imagined they had him at their mercy, and flung themselves on him with hostile intent.  But, far from suffering their attack without resistance, he grappled with them and mastered them, stripping them of the armor in which they trusted, and held them aloft in his outstretched hands, displaying to the universe their helplessness and his own unvanquished strength.  Such seems to be the picture painted in these words."   - F.F. Bruce

Well-known Scientists Admit Validity of Intelligent Design

We're all familiar with the debate.  The mainstream world of science says that Intelligent Design is inadmissible in the realm of real science.  It can't be tested, therefore it can't be proven.

But, what if I told you that there is an entire scientific organization funded by:

NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Headquarters
National Science Foundation
Department of Energy
US Geological Survey
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
International Astronomical Union
Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
Pacific Science Center
Foundation for Microbiology
Sun Microsystems
Hewlett Packard Company
(right hand column on this page)

 . . . and the entire organization is based on looking for Intelligent Design.  It would be hard to believe, wouldn't it?  But, it exists.  SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is a well-respected, well funded organization who believes that Intelligent Design is an extremely important scientific concept.

I heard one of their scientists on NPR just the other day.  He was  asked, "How will you know if what you're observing is from aliens?"  To which he responded, "It will have evidence of intelligent design."  I almost ran my car off the road, blown away by the hypocrisy.  So, intelligent design can be observed in the universe as long as it's designed by aliens and not by God.

Almost too hard to believe.  But, in case there's any question, here it is in the FAQ section of their site.  They say they are looking for transmissions that are "purposely built," which is a synonym for intelligently designed.

Anybody else see the double standard here?

Ashton Kutcher Admits to Taking the Creator for Granted

A few days ago on Jay Leno, Ashton Kutcher admitted that when he learned of the creator's death he realized that he had been taking him for granted.  Kutcher told Leno, "I realized all the relationships I have in my life are held together by glue that he laid down."  Kutcher look around at all the things in his life that were made by him and realized that all this time he had not appreciated him like he should have.  Here's the full transcript:

It was actually the day that he died... for me, I hear people talk about they knew where they were the day Kennedy died. And for me, I'll never forget the moment I heard that he died. And I pulled my car to the side of the road, and kind of took a moment. I got home and I realized, I sat down on my computer and started doing some work and I realized all the relationships I have in my life are held together by glue that he laid down.

And all the work that I do, in whatever capacity that I do it, and all the entertainment I consume.. here I have my Apple computer and my iPhone... all these things, and I realized that I had taken him for granted, and taken for granted the contributions he actually gave to society.  (transcript and video here)

So, no, it's not the Creator you're thinking of, but that's just the point.  We should learn from Kutcher here, but take it all the way back to God, the creator of all things.  Kutcher realized he had taken Steve Jobs for granted.  We need to realize we take the creator of Steve Jobs for granted.  All the work we do, in whatever capacity that we to it and all the relationships we have are from Him.

And, the only way we'll ever see it is if he graciously opens our sin riddled eyes.  Otherwise, we remain blind to the glaring light of his glory all around us:

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." Romans 1:19-23

It's Somebody Else's Problem

In Isaiah 39 we find Hezekiah showing off all his riches to the visiting envoy of the Babylonian empire. When Isaiah finds out what Hezekiah has done he tells him that God will one day remove all these treasures and even his sons will be exiled to Babylon. Hezekiah's response is shockingly cold and detached, "'The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.' For he thought, 'There will be peace and security in my days'" (Is. 39:8).

Hezekiah's response, however, shouldn't surprise us all that much. It's always easier to put off our problems on a future generation. They're nothing more than unnamed faces; let them make the sacrifices.

My fear is that this mentality has crept into our zeal for the Great Commission to be finished and the gospel be proclaimed to every tribe, tongue, and nation.  We believe that it will happen - after all Jesus made clear that it would, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). I just don't think we really believe that it could happen in our generation. And, as a result, we begin to pass the responsibility to the next generation.

Of course, we should be preparing the next generation for this great work. But, let's work, pray, and give with the goal that there's not going to be any work left for them to do. Let's not wash our hands of the hard work and think our job is just to get the next generation ready. If all we're every doing is preparing the next generation the job will never get done.

To learn more about the spread of the gospel visit http://www.joshuaproject.net/

Endangered Languages

While I can certainly understand the cultural and historical tragedy of losing a language, perhaps it will open doors for the gospel. A people who have had no access to Scripture in their language could become overtaken by a language that has already been translated. This is not unlike the domination of the Greek language when the gospel exploded on the scene. Who knows what God may be doing . . .

From Enduring Voices Project, Endangered Languages, Map, Facts, Photos, Videos -- National Geographic

"Throughout human history, the languages of powerful groups have spread while the languages of smaller cultures have become extinct. This occurs through official language policies or through the allure that the high prestige of speaking an imperial language can bring. These trends explain, for instance, why more language diversity exists in Bolivia than on the entire European continent, which has a long history of large states and imperial powers."

Planet could be 'unrecognizable' by 2050, experts say - Yahoo! News

The first justification for abortion was a woman's right to choose, the next will be the impact on our planet and over-population. (APF news)

Population experts, meanwhile, called for more funding for family planning programs to help control the growth in the number of humans, especially in developing nations.

"For 20 years, there's been very little investment in family planning, but there's a return of interest now, partly because of the environmental factors like global warming and food prices," said Bongaarts.

"We want to minimize population growth, and the only viable way to do that is through more effective family planning," said Casterline.

Planet could be 'unrecognizable' by 2050, experts say - Yahoo! News

Treasuring Christ

Thanks to a faithful sermon from Justin Childers this morning I was reminded of the central place Christ should have in our hearts, which prompted me to ask,

Do we think, teach, and preach about Christ in such a way that we are left realizing that to be without Him would be unthinkably horrific?

Interesting Article on Tebow's Ad

Justin Taylor linked to a thoughtful article from a feminist on Tebow's upcoming Super Bowl ad.  It seems to me if we were able to have honest conversations like this one with people who disagree with us we might get somewhere on the major ethical and philosophical issues of the day.  This is just as true for conservative, evangelical Christians as "the other side."  So, let's learn a lesson from this journalist and not create caricatures and straw mean, but actually engage those who disagree with us.

Jesus and the Old Testament

"For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him" -Acts 13:27

This verse helps us understand how we should interpret the Old Testament. I think we often mistakenly think that the Old Testament is unclear in it's object and it is our task to help it along in what it's trying to accomplish. We think it's our task to make the Messiah clear where it's not quite so obvious. Paul would disagree.

Here Paul says that the people of Israel should have recognized Jesus based on the scriptures themselves. He "looked" like the Messiah they should have been waiting for had they correctly understood the prophets. So, the fault lies not with the Old Testament, but with those who fail to meditate on it day and night.

John Sailhamer's analogy is helpful here. We often think of the New Testament as a spotlight shining back on the OT. In reality, it may be better to think of the OT as a spotlight shining on the NT giving it a context that makes sense. It provides the evidence of a Messiah that Jesus fulfills.

Acts 10:42-43 points us in the same direction: "And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”