The Purpose of His Temple

I was reading this morning in 1 Kings chapter 8 which contains Solomon's prayer as the temple was finished and the dedication began. This is a beautiful and powerful picture as God's glory fills the temple. God's glory was so "thick" the priest could not stay in the Holy Place. His presence was undeniable. God's majesty and transcendence is recognized by Solomon when he asks the question "but will God indeed dwell on earth?" (1 Kings 8:27 ESV) Solomon goes on to say "heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" It was an amazing thought that God, who is so much greater than His creation, could reside on earth; but He can and does. As amazing it was for Solomon to conceive that God would come and reside, in part, in the temple he built, it's even more amazing that God resides in His Temple today. But now it's a different temple described by Paul as an "earthen vessel". It's us! That's just awesome! How can God reside on earth? How can God be contained in a place like this? I'm sure I can't begin to completely explain that, but, I have to reflect on how powerful and awesome that is. God, the creator of all that exists, lives in His Temple and that temple is me! (See 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19)

So, what does this mean? Well, first it's a picture of how things will be eternally. God will forever be in our midst and we will be forever with Him. John wrote "Behold,  the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." We have a taste today of our eternity if we have a relationship with Him which leads to an eternal salvation; He is with (in) us. There's a second much more immediate truth for us today in regard to God's purpose for His temple. Solomon hit on it a little later in his prayer in 1 Kings 8. As I read through Solomon's prayer this resonates in my mind as I contemplate my being the temple of God. Solomon speaks of the time when foreigners would come and witness this temple which houses the glory of the Lord and what that would produce. He says "they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm." Why would God make his home in us? One reason is that it shows God as making a down payment for our redemption. (See Ephesians 1:13-14; meaning of the word translated "guarantee" NKJV) The second reason is what Solomon touches on. It's so the world can witness Him. And notice what happens we they see Him. Solomon continues by saying "all the peoples of the earth may know your name." Wow!

I have to ask myself and I'll ask you too; do the people who do not know God see Him when they approach me (you)? If I'm the temple in which God resides then like Solomon's Temple His glory should be undeniable; His presence in my life obvious to all who approach. Is the temple of my body like the temple Solomon built? I think the apostle Paul would say "it's better!" We the redeemed live filled by the Holy Spirit, God Himself in us. The reason, so the whole world will see the glory, majesty and power of God in and through our lives. You know, any day is a great day when I reflect on that; God Himself makes His home in me. May He be glorified!

Matters of Ownership

I've been studying, praying and listening lately with the desire to find out exactly what God wants our church to be. I say lately but this is obviously something that I should be continually doing. Anyway, I think the crux of the matter in regard to what our church will be is in the recognition of ownership. Who owns the church? Now, having asked that question anyone who is a believer automatically answers "Jesus does." We know this to be true because Paul said "Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body." (Eph. 5:23 NKJV) But, do we handle ourselves and the church in that way? Well, I'm sure at times we do. But my desire for our church is that we become exactly what Jesus wants us to be. The only way our church will grow to be what Jesus desires is if the Spirit is leading us in all we do.

Francis Chan's book Forgotten God came in the mail a couple days ago and several things he wrote about cemented exactly the way I've been thinking. (I would quote from the book but I've already loaned it out to a friend.) One thought he brought up, which I shared with our church the other night, was if we were completely isolated from the church and the only understanding of what the church should be came from our study of the Bible; what would we think of our modern, western church if we observed a typical Sunday morning? Now, one aspect of my thoughts about this is the description of the actions of the church in Acts 4. If I asked our church to sell everything they had, bring it to the church and share all things in common people would instantly describe me as a crazy, radical, cult leader. They would be watching to see if I was going to break out the Kool-Aid. The idea of this type of community goes against our grain in many ways. These days it's a social political issue that we sum up with the word socialism. So, because of the human factors of dishonesty and selfishness we cannot fathom this lifestyle because it will always break down.

I'm not suggesting to our church we try to be as the apostolic church was in this way because I don't want to lose my ability to minister to others. There is one fact we must address, however. The reason the apostolic church could do this and everyone be treated fairly without injustice, selfishness, contention and dispute is because they were led completely by the Spirit. They understood Jesus' ownership in a very practical way which always culminates in complete Spiritual leadership. They knew Jesus was the Lord, founder and designer of His church and when this truth becomes practical it will greatly affect the goals, gifts and product of the church.

This leads me to this point. Many times in the modern, western church we put together programs and events that we feel that will help the church to grow. In doing that we tend to figure out what we're doing and then ask God to be a part of it. That's even the way we're taught. "Make sure, whatever you do, you bathe it in prayer so God's power will be upon it." Some of the men of our church and I meet early every Sunday morning to pray that God's power and presence be upon our services that day. I know this is a good thing to do. But, the question that has come to my mind is how much are we doing just by our own design and just asking God to be a part of it. I believe it's time that we truly seek, by the Holy Spirit's direction, what God wants us to be as a church. It is time, instead of asking God to be a part of what we're doing, that we ask Him if we can be a part of what He's doing. I think the question we must always be asking is; is this what I want or what Jesus wants? Are we acting by the leading of the Holy Spirit or the leading of our own desires? If the church is really Jesus Christ's then let's let Him have it!

Quite Time

A verse stood out to me this morning in my morning reading. I'm reading through the book of Exodus right now. The theme basically is God to the Rescue! I told our church on Wednesday night that the meaning of Salvation, the Gospel, is just that; God to the Rescue. The nation of Israel finds themselves in bondage and God sends Moses to bring them out. On the way out, though, they find themselves in a position with nowhere to run. With their backs against the Red Sea and Egypt's army coming to kill God speaks through Moses and this is His advice: "The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." (Ex. 14:14 ESV)

In our personal struggle with the bondages of this life; sin, self and stuff, we find ourselves often in the position where we have to fight. This battle is important. If we are not willing to fight, we will find ourselves defeated by the enemy and not in the fellowship and walk with God that He intends to have with us. Paul talks about this fight as a race and that we need to run the race to the end. He says that part of the race is that he disciplines his body and brings it under subjection. (1 Cor. 9:27) That's the fight! But, sometimes we find ourselves in this battle when we are just in a corner. It can be because of a physical temptation, it can be because of a temptation of the mind or even of a mindset that is not God's desire for us. This is when it is God to the rescue! Just as Moses told the people of Israel, sometimes, we just need to be quite and let God fight for us! He can't lose! The Psalmist says it this way: "Be still, and know that I am God!" (Psalm 46:10)

Did you know that God has such an interest in you that He will fight for you?

Evangelism Rant

For the independent Baptist movement it is common to hear Great Commission messages that emphasize that we should “go into all the world.” The problem; we don’t actually believe or do that. The history of our movement has been one of hyper separation and though we preach “go into all the world” the truth is we expect the world to come to us, especially when it comes to evangelization in this country. The message is more like this. Learn to fit in with us, that is, come to our church, dress like us, learn the rules and then you can come to Jesus. I say that knowing this statement it’s a little more extreme than the normal church, but, that is basically our attitude. So, what about the “go ye therefore?” Well, as a norm, in order to fulfill the Commission at home we depend on confrontational evangelism. That is, cold call, door knock, approach on the street and ask people we’ve never met to make an eternal decision.

This is on my mind for a couple of reasons. First, a conversation I had the other day with our summer intern Kevin. The discussion was about our college and career ministry that Kevin started during this past school year. The foundation of the ministry is a group of Piedmont Bible College students, which is good, in that you know that they’re going to show up most of the time. I’m sure you see there is an obvious conundrum, which is, when the Bible college students go home for the summer, so does the college and career ministry. So, Kevin is thinking about how to reach the career singles we have in the church and keep them plugged in, and then, how to use the ministry to reach Wake Forest University, which is a large university within a ten minute drive of our church.

Our conversation goes like this. I ask Kevin how he’s planning to reach the career singles to keep the ministry alive now that we are in the summer months. He replies “I’m thinking about doing something other than Sunday School hour on Sunday morning.” I immediately express how much I think this is a good idea which starts my thought process, no doubt affected by things I’ve been reading and much contemplation which I’ve taken part in since entering the pastorate a few months ago. Kevin expresses how he would like to see the ministry expand to include some type of ministry at WFU. This is where my rant begins. I start talking about the need to go into their world. We can’t expect secular students in a secular university to come to our church just because we’ve invited them nor can we expect to see much fruit by walking on campus one day with some tracts and expect them to receive us. So, how about taking some kind of ministry to them? “The catch,” I said, “you must develop a relationship and trust first if you ever expect to see them come to Christ.”

The second reason this is on my mind is a book I’ve been reading called The Unlikely Disciple. This is a book written after Kevin Roose, a Brown University student, spends a semester at Liberty University. It’s a surprisingly objective look at an evangelical university from a person who is admittedly an unbeliever. The entire book is interesting, as long as you don’t mind reading someone’s views who does not think like you and me. But one thing that triggered my thinking was a Spring Break mission’s trip in which Roose participates. A team of students, after a crash course in confrontational evangelism, go down to Daytona Beach during spring break to witness to as many people as they can. Obviously, this was a difficult trip which ended without success, unless you count getting spit on by an old lady successful. What really piqued my interest was an observation that Roose made himself. “I thought….that we’d be told to do some sort of follow-up with successful converts, if we had any – guide them to a local church, maybe, or at least take their contact information. But there’s no such procedure.”[1] Interesting observation Mr. Roose maybe we should think of that.

Let me take just a moment to state that I have already thought of that, along with many others like me. Just so you know I’m not developing my evangelistic practices apart from Scripture much less from a secular writer. But, this has drummed up some memories of hours of door knocking that produced little and front door conversions who I never could talk into showing up to church. So, I return to the original premise. How should we evangelize? Does confrontational evangelism have any place in the programming of our churches? Well, possibly, depending on the culture of the people we wish to reach. But, can it fulfill the “go ye therefore” here at home?

Let’s say, then, that confrontational evangelism isn’t the answer and if you haven’t noticed already I’m convinced that if it ever was, that it’s becoming less and less the answer. My mind goes to a sermon I watch online from Liberty’s campus church. Ergun Caner, whom I respect and enjoy listening to occasionally, was preaching and made a statement that I’m still accessing. He told the Liberty students, “I don’t know what your calling is, but, I know where it is; one foot from the gates of hell.” He was telling the students that our mandate is to live our faith in the culture. He illustrated by stating that he could be dropped into the middle of a worldly, ungodly, secular cultural situation and be the salt and light that he was called to be. I have to admit, it pumped me up a bit to listen to this and for the most part I agree.

This is how I agree. When it comes to evangelization of the lost we need to step out of our world and into theirs. This is Christ’s example. He left His world, in heaven with the Father, and came into our world. Not only did He die for us, but, He worked through relationships with us, so, He’s our model. We need to go into the culture to reach the world. Not to act like them, not to take on a lifestyle of sin, but, separated from sin step into their world to build relationships so they can see the love of Christ in us. This is more than just confrontational evangelism which is historically the way we like to do things. What’s the problem with confrontational evangelism? Well, there are several. First, you will irritate more people than you reach. Anyone who has done this knows the number of converts to those met are anywhere between 1 to 250 and 1 to 1000. Secondly, it’s basically easy believism to which we are trying to win them. Many people who preach against easy believism go out and expect someone to come to Christ like it’s easy. Unfortunately, this is usually presented in the method of “say this prayer” and then you’re in. That’s easy believism. If you never see the person darken the door of the church is it a conversion? I know, only God knows the heart.

There is one dilemma I’m dealing with, however. As Caner prompted the Liberty students to go live Christ in the midst of an ungodly culture one thing crossed my mind. Are they ready to do that? I have the same question in regard to the members of our church. I would like to extend the same type of message to our people, but, are they ready to go live Christ in the world outside the safety of the church, outside the safety of the community that keeps us out of harm's way?

So, the answer. It seems, in our independent Baptist movement, that we have always been ready to send people out to witness. To get them ready we coach them on how to “win someone to the Lord.” But, don’t they need more from us than for us to coach them to follow the WWJD line of questions to make someone realize they need a savior? Obviously, this type of teaching, or I should call it training, is not sufficient for someone to go live Christ in an ungodly environment as Caner suggests we do. If we expect Christians to be this kind of witness they must become strong people of faith. If not, don’t they stand the risk of not being able to stay grounded in their faith? Don’t they stand the risk of falling back into old habits and vices?

I agree with Caner in that we must be willing and prepared to live Jesus in the middle of the culture around us. The church has become its own culture and we’ve separated ourselves and become a sub-culture in America. In order to reach America we must now re-enter the culture. But, before we send our people out to do just that we’d better make sure we equip them. That is also a Biblical mandate. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.”[2] [emphasis mine] If we are going to reach our community, if Kevin is going to grow the college and career ministry to reach WFU, then, we must equip the saints to live Christ in the culture. This will take significant investments of time and energy. This is more than a Wednesday night or Saturday morning coaching session. I do not believe we will see large amounts of people coming to Christ in the culture around us unless we are willing to make true, long-term, Spiritual investments in our people.

[1] Kevin Roose, The Unlikely Disciple (New York: Grand Central Publishing), 159.
[2]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Eph 4:11-12.

Redemption in the OT - B -- Our Personal Worship Part IV

Flash forward from the time of Naomi and Ruth about 530 years (see last post) and God uses the picture of redemption again. This time, God instructs Hosea to preach through his life. God is going to speak by using Hosea’s life like a giant, life size illustration so He can get the attention of His people. God has a charge against His people, which is, they are idolaters. God uses very strong language to describe how he feels about their disobedience in worshiping idols. He calls them whores and compares them to an unfaithful wife.

To begin His illustration and make His point, God instructs Hosea to marry a prostitute. “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”[1] Hosea obediently does what God tells him and the next thing you know Gomer, Hosea’s wife, starts having kids. By her second son it becomes evident to Hosea that Gomer is having illegitimate kids. They’re not his! Gomer then leaves Hosea and sells herself on the street. This is when God’s message begins.

The picture of our redemption, that God would purchase us when we were, in human standards, not worth buying, is seen through Hosea’s act. “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods.”[2] Not only is Hosea instructed to buy her, which we see in verse 2 “So I bought her,” he’s also instructed to love her. Even though we have sold ourselves to a lifestyle of sin and lived contrary to God’s desire, He still loves us, unconditionally and has a reason to buy us back from the life we sold ourselves into.

So Hosea buys Gomer back and restores her to the family. Then the second part of the message is revealed. Not only is the hope of redemption brought forth, but, also an expectation after redemption. Hosea instructs Gomer that now that she has been bought back and restored, she will not go back to her life of whoredom. “You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”[3]

This is God’s desire for us. Now that he has paid the ransom price through the work and blood of Jesus, He now asks us not to go back to the life from which He has redeemed us. The New Testament understanding is that the work is done. It should seriously change our outlook and our worship. God, through the work of Christ bought us back! Though we hurt the marriage by being unfaithful, He has restored us and now it is as if it never happened. The relationship is as if it was never broken. Now, we are legitimate. This is the active worship of our life. To live the life God saved us to live. To live in the freedom He provides through redemption. When I understand the price, the passion and the provision of Jesus Christ it compels me to live for Him. The act and truth of redemption causes my life to now become an act of worshiping Jesus, the true, living, loving God.

[1]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ho 1:2.
[2]Ibid, Ho 3:1.
[3]Ibid, Ho 3:3.

Redemption in the OT - A -- Our Personal Worship Part III

The story of Ruth is loaded with theological and doctrinal truth especially in regard to redemption. In the New Testament we see redemption as the finished work of Jesus Christ; and rightly so. In the Old Testament, however, redemption is a human work that is a picture of the future work of Jesus. We see this picture in the Kinsman Redeemer Boaz.

The reason for the need of redemption in the book of Ruth is sometimes overlooked. Naomi needed her land to be redeemed, bought back, by a kinsman because it had been sold. This was something that should have never happened in the first place. Elimelech was Naomi’s husband and they had two sons. They moved, because times were hard in Bethlehem and decided to reside in Moab. These are two things that Jews were not supposed to do: sell their land and reside in Moab. So, it’s important to realize that the entire situation, and need for redemption came from God’s people going against God’s desire for their life. In other words, sin, which is the same problem we have today.

Well, the disobedience of Elimelech came with a heavy price. His sons both married Moabite women, which they were not supposed to do. Elimelech and both his sons then died. This left Naomi unable to support herself in what is now a time of famine in Moab, so, she decided to go home to Bethlehem. She was in such despair when she traveled home that she changed her name and told people to call her “bitter”(from pleasant). Ruth, however, showed incredible loyalty and went to Judah with her mother-in-law. She also makes an awesome declaration that Naomi’s God will be her God. In order for Naomi to survive in Bethlehem, since she no longer has a place to live there because it was sold, she will need a redeemer. This is a person who will pay the purchase price to “buy back” that which was sold and return it to the original owner. Redemption, in the Old Testament, can be applied to animals, land, slaves and even indentured servants who are family members. Naomi needed a redeemer to buy back her land.

In steps Boaz, the kinsman of Naomi. It ends up that Boaz is much more of a redeemer than anyone expected. Not only does he buy back Naomi’s land, but, he takes Ruth as his wife. Remember it was law that if a man has a wife and he dies, his brother takes the wife so the family line will continue. This is past any obligation that Boaz had. He married her anyway; and loved her. Ruth ends up giving Naomi a grandson and Naomi watches her circumstances change from bitterness to overwhelming joy.

Just as Naomi’s problems, our problems are self-inflicted. We have the affect of sin marked all over our lives. We have sold ourselves out of God’s kingdom into a life of slavery to sin. But, a redeemer has come. He is more than anyone would have ever expected Him to be and He was willing to pay a higher price, to buy us back, than anyone else would have been willing to pay. After the birth of Ruth’s son the Scripture records the praise of the people, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel.”[1] The same should be true for us. Our testimony is to be one that brings renowned to the name of Jesus Christ, because he has bought us out of sin. Our life should always reflect this truth as should our worship.

[1]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ru 4:14.

Is your God an Idol? -- Our Personal Worship Part II

God has gone out of His way to demonstrate how personal He is which can be seen in the presence of His holy name throughout Scripture; as I demonstrated in my last post. How, then, should that truth affect our worship of Him? As God’s personality is demonstrated in the Old Testament the answer to this question can be demonstrated there as well. This begins with the charge God brought against Israel and Judah through the prophets. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah verbalize God’s displeasure with His people, which is because of idolatry. It is also notable, however, that the idolatry Israel practiced affected their approach to God even when they tried to worship Him.

Notice God’s feelings toward idols and His comparison to them. Isaiah, in chapter 40, records this with the question in verse 18 “to whom then will you liken God?” The answer to this question comes as a charge, “an idol!” With a bit of godly sarcasm Isaiah explains both the idol and the idolater. If you can’t afford an idol made of metal, as described in verse 19, then the poor will have a craftsman make him one out of wood. He picks a block of wood that will not be easily knocked over, which is just hilarious. Obviously, this idol will not be able to do anything for the one who worships it. In chapter 44 Isaiah explains further how ridiculous the entire concept of idolatry is. The wood of a tree when the idol is “created” is not just used for the idol. After he cuts the tree down “then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.”[1]

To prove His point God asks some questions, a challenge to the idols, in Isaiah 41. God gives the idols the chance to “set forth [their] case.”[2] God asks the idols to tell what has happened in the past, or maybe, tell what will happen in the future. After their obvious and expected silence the judgment is given against them; “behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing.” So, why would anyone worship an idol? What sense does it make to ask a hunk of wood or a shaped piece of metal for anything knowing it cannot respond? The answer, of course, it’s ridiculous. The psalmist describes the person who worships an idol. After describing idols as dumb, mute, unable to move and worthless, he states “those who make them become like them.”[3] In other words those who worship idols are just as stupid as their idols.

Needless to say, no Christian will disagree with what Isaiah and the Psalmist have said. But, let me return to my original question. If God has gone through so much trouble for us to recognize that He is a personal, living, loving God, how should that affect our worship? Well, God states that it should have affected the way Israel approached Him, but, it didn’t. This charge is delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. Though God described in minute detail how sacrifices should be made throughout the book of Leviticus, He states through Jeremiah that He did not “command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” This is not a contradiction. This is God expressing that if His people come to Him with sacrifices, though they may religiously do everything right, if their heart is not focused on Him as Lord (YHWH) they might as well be cooking steaks on the grill.[4]

So, what does all this have to do with us? There are many different world religions. All of these religions worship idols. Some of them are actually made of wood and metal and some are just false gods. All over the world people religiously bow, pray and offer sacrifices to their idols in order to either receive things like long life, love, fertility and food, or to appease wrath. In order to receive they must follow the religious ritual very closely. Wouldn’t be a tragedy if we approached the living, loving and holy God the same way? Unfortunately, sometimes we do. Anytime we come to God just to receive something, like He’s the preverbal vending machine or Santa in the sky, we are treating Him like an idol. God desires worship from us that connects us as Father to children; Spirit and truth.[5] Anything less and He’s an idol. So, is your God and idol?

[1] Isaiah 44:15
[2] Isaiah 41:21
[3] Psalm 115:8
[4] See Jeremiah 7:21-26
[5] John 4:24