In lieu of Memorial Day, I am dedicating this blog entry to those who have given their lives for the sake of my freedom.
Recently, I traveled to Maryland for our annual conference of the Primitive Methodist Church. While on the plane, I sat next to an older gentlemen. I finally broke the ice and started a conversation with him mid-flight. His name was Charlie and he was a Vietnam veteran. It was interesting because my history class had just covered the Vietnam War in class the week previous. He told me a few stories of his time over there. One of the most interesting ones was the day President Johnson ordered a cease fire on North Vietnam. He was in South Vietnam when this happened and he told me that the South Vietnamese looked at them and said, "Why would your president do this to us?" It was heartbreaking to hear the story and you could tell it still affected him.
In my church is a man named Everett Smith. He served in World War II as a ball turret gunner for the Flying Fortresses. He flew six missions and the life expectancy for these gunners on mission was 25 minutes! He served towards the end of the war and served faithfully for our country.
The one thing that binds Charlie and Everett together is Jesus. These men sacrificed for our country I think in large part because they understood the sacrifice Jesus made for them. These men were devoted to their country, but more importantly they were devoted to their Savior. We don't understand sacrifice apart from the cross. The cross is the ultimate sacrifice because Jesus goes to war against sin, death, and Satan even though we did not act like they were our enemies. Jesus gave his life for his enemies. We all were his enemies and Jesus loved us too much to not die for us on the cross. He embraced the cross so that we could be free.
Thank you men and women for what you have done for our country and the freedom of others. This day is for you. Thank you Jesus for setting us free; may everyday be for you.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
How do we respond?
This week North Carolina voted to ban same-sex marriages in their state. This has sparked a lot of response even from the top two leaders of our country who have publicly stated their support for same-sex marriages. Homosexual marriage is such a polarizing issue and it seems to be our civil rights issue of the 21st century. It is even causing division within the church. Churches across the country are expressing their support of same-sex couples and their desire to wed while other churches are expressing their views against it. So, what is the right response as Christians?
I brought this issue up at Bible study last night and we had an interesting discussion. The one thing I noticed about the discussion is that it is very stressful and wearing on people, at least those in my church. There are so many different views on it, some are very informed views while others not so much. In our Bible study we are studying the book Master Plan of Evangelism to see how the Master evangelized his world. The one thing that is becoming more and more apparent for our present situation and time period is that we need to look more to how Jesus reached people.
We live in a day and age where absolute truth is absolutely obsolete. Morality is determined by the individual and sin is something that is outdated. Thirty years ago, even twenty years ago, this would not be the case. The first problem that the church is running into is that we have failed to address the issue of homosexuality in a correct way. We have deemed homosexuals as the enemy that needs to be conquered in order that they submit to the ways of the church. However, this is not how Jesus did things. A woman was caught in adultery as recorded in John's Gospel (John 8:1-11). The teachers of the law bring her to Jesus in order to trap him. They want to see what he will do with her. If he stones her, then he is condemning her and violating Roman law which did not allow the Jews to execute anyone and if he does not stone her, then he is violating God's law which stated that someone caught in adultery should be stoned. Jesus takes the third option: he does not condemn her at all. He looks at the teachers and says that if any one of them has not sinned then they can cast the first stone. In order to carry out the law, one must be clean. What these people had done was set this woman up. The Law says that both people involved must be stone (Leviticus 20:10), but they did not bring the man because they probably knew him. So, one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they dropped their stones and left. Jesus looks at the woman, does not condemn her, and tells her to leave her life of sin. This is the way the church should be approaching anyone, not just homosexuals. For too long, we have condemned first and tried to give grace later. The problem with that approach is that people will not feel worthy of grace. Jesus did the opposite. He showed grace first and then helped them see their sin. In order for grace to make sense, sin needs to be realized. Jesus was quick to love and slow to condemn. He even says in John 3:17, "He did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
As the church, we have to stop labeling people. People are people. We are all in the same boat. We are all created in God's image no matter what lifestyle we are embracing. This is not to say that we condone our lifestyles that are against what God wants for us. This is to say that we should be quick to show love and grace and slow to condemn. As a pastor, I will continue to preach and teach against sin. That includes all sin from a white lie to any kind of sexual immorality whether it be heterosexual or homosexual. We live in a different world, but the one thing that never changes is that people want and need to be loved. This is how the Master did and this is how I want to do it.
I brought this issue up at Bible study last night and we had an interesting discussion. The one thing I noticed about the discussion is that it is very stressful and wearing on people, at least those in my church. There are so many different views on it, some are very informed views while others not so much. In our Bible study we are studying the book Master Plan of Evangelism to see how the Master evangelized his world. The one thing that is becoming more and more apparent for our present situation and time period is that we need to look more to how Jesus reached people.
We live in a day and age where absolute truth is absolutely obsolete. Morality is determined by the individual and sin is something that is outdated. Thirty years ago, even twenty years ago, this would not be the case. The first problem that the church is running into is that we have failed to address the issue of homosexuality in a correct way. We have deemed homosexuals as the enemy that needs to be conquered in order that they submit to the ways of the church. However, this is not how Jesus did things. A woman was caught in adultery as recorded in John's Gospel (John 8:1-11). The teachers of the law bring her to Jesus in order to trap him. They want to see what he will do with her. If he stones her, then he is condemning her and violating Roman law which did not allow the Jews to execute anyone and if he does not stone her, then he is violating God's law which stated that someone caught in adultery should be stoned. Jesus takes the third option: he does not condemn her at all. He looks at the teachers and says that if any one of them has not sinned then they can cast the first stone. In order to carry out the law, one must be clean. What these people had done was set this woman up. The Law says that both people involved must be stone (Leviticus 20:10), but they did not bring the man because they probably knew him. So, one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they dropped their stones and left. Jesus looks at the woman, does not condemn her, and tells her to leave her life of sin. This is the way the church should be approaching anyone, not just homosexuals. For too long, we have condemned first and tried to give grace later. The problem with that approach is that people will not feel worthy of grace. Jesus did the opposite. He showed grace first and then helped them see their sin. In order for grace to make sense, sin needs to be realized. Jesus was quick to love and slow to condemn. He even says in John 3:17, "He did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
As the church, we have to stop labeling people. People are people. We are all in the same boat. We are all created in God's image no matter what lifestyle we are embracing. This is not to say that we condone our lifestyles that are against what God wants for us. This is to say that we should be quick to show love and grace and slow to condemn. As a pastor, I will continue to preach and teach against sin. That includes all sin from a white lie to any kind of sexual immorality whether it be heterosexual or homosexual. We live in a different world, but the one thing that never changes is that people want and need to be loved. This is how the Master did and this is how I want to do it.
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