Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

Jan
03
2012

Kevin DeYoung on Christian Political Engagement

Today is the Iowa caucus and the first of many primaries for Republicans before a long drawn-out Presidential and Congressional contest. Christians of course have to wrestle with politics in America. Good people find themselves on both sides of important issues.

This is why I especially appreciated the wisdom of Kevin DeYoung, who writes on this blog:

This can be tricky. On the one hand, I’m concerned that some of us think there is a Christian position on every issue—as if the Bible determines the one and only God-honoring decision regarding rates of taxation or how to respond if Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz. But on the other hand, I fear other Christians are so loathe to seem partisan, or they consider politics so unclean, that they don’t dare bring Christian principles to bear on their political thinking. This too is a mistake. You don’t have to be a transformationalist or reconstructionist to believe that biblical principles ought to shape the way we look at the world (including politics) and how we understand the way things work.

The Bible is a big book, so there are a lot of things we could say in an effort to piece together a political worldview out of biblical principles. But this is a blog and not a book. So let me take just one doctrinal area and tease out some possible implications.

I believe our most important political considerations grow out a proper understanding of the human person. The more our politicians and political institutions operate according to the way things actually are and the way we actually are the more we will flourish as a nation.

Kevin then goes on to outline some basic biblical principles. Do yourself a favor and read the whole post:

Jan
02
2012

Permission to Pursue What You Love

I’ve just finished reading two books which have cemented in my mind an often neglected biblical doctrine. We often call it the doctrine of “vocation” but I think this doesn’t speak to the totality of it. The first book I finished was Work Matters by Pastor Tom Nelson (Christ Community Church, Leewood, Kansas). The second was The Cure for the Common Life by best-selling author and pastor, Max Lucado.

While both books are different–Nelson fully fleshes out a theology of work while Lucado beautifully illustrates the uniqueness of every human being created in God’s image–they both arrive at an important conclusion: God has uniquely gifted, wired, called, and shaped every human being for a specific purpose on this earth, to glorify Him.

This may seem like something we always hear in church or a tired Christian clique, but I don’t think we fully articulate two powerful ideas that come out of our uniqueness: work was ordained by God and is a form of worship and that God implants in us certain unique skills, passions, and gifts that make our lives unique.

I want to expand on this concept today because I think its powerfully important. Embracing God’s unique design involves pushing back against a cultural lie about ourselves and a church lie about ourselves.

The Cultural Lie

On the one hand, you have the cultural expression that “you can be whatever you want to be, whatever you set your heart to do.” This has been echoed in Disney movies and other pop culture seemingly from the beginning of time. But we all know that this isn’t really true. Supposed I really wanted to play in the NBA as a center. Well I could work extremely hard, harder than everyone else. Like Larry Bird, I could shoot thousands of shots a day and still, after all that, I likely wouldn’t get invited to a scout camp. Heck, I’d be lucky to make the team on the worst Division III college team. So I can’t actually be whatever I want to be, can I?

The Church Lie

But the opposite of this cultural lie is a church lie. It’s a pushback against the Disney fantasy dreams that tell us to follow our hearts. It’s the equal and opposite idea that because our hearts are so wicked, we can’t trust them and therefore what we like to do, what we’re good at doing, what we have a passion to do–this can’t possibly be what God wants us to be. This lie might go something like this: You can’t be anything you want to be. In some ways, this may be more dangerous than the first lie in the sense that lots of Christian kids grow up forced into a mold set by parents or pastors or others. Every young boy must aspire to be a pastor or in “full-time” Christian service, otherwise he’s not serving God. Every girl must aspire to be a pastor’s wife or in some kind of acceptable full-time ministry or she is not serving the Lord. The guilt goes like this: How can you pursue a career in law or business or entertainment when across the world people are dying and going to Hell? 

And so you have a lot of people who feel they are supposed to ignore their gifts, their skills, their passions and they plunge into full-time ministry when they really have no aptitude for it. And as a result, not only do they suffer, but God’s people suffer. You’ve taken a skilled man out of the environment where he might have had the most impact (law, business, medical field, etc) and you’ve placed him, like a square peg in a round hole, in ministry where the people are suffering under the leadership of someone who wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.

The Biblical Third Way

So is there an alternative to the world’s false “You can be what you want to be” fantasies and the church’s “Don’t dream, don’t trust your passions and skills” consignment to certain acceptable callings? I believe there is and it’s to dive more fully into a biblical theology of work. Here’s a few important points we need to consider when it comes to calling:

Every kind of work is honorable to God. I’ve heard the phrase, “There is no divide between secular and sacred” for all of my life and yet we in the church still create that divide, mostly unintentionally. This is where Tom Nelson’s book, Work Matters really shines. It shines because it pushes back against pastors and missionaries and so-called full-time ministry staff elevating their callings above that of lay people. The truth is that if we believe work itself is good and worthy and honorable to God as a form of worship, then we should consider the skilled plumber or the top salesman or the doctor as worthy a ministry of the gospel as a pastor or missionary. The work lay people do from Monday to Friday is important, not simply so they can be a witness in the workplace or they can make more money so they can tithe, but because the work itself is important to God. 

God has uniquely wired every single person with specific skills and gifts. Max Lucado beautifully brings out the important message of Psalm 139, where David describes the intricate design behind every human soul. You are who you are because God made you this way. The things you are gifted at, passionate about, the things others see in you as strengths–these are given to purposely by God. Why? For a purpose. To occupy a space in His plan for His glory. This is comparisons are so damaging and, dare I say, evil. You wanting to be live someone else’s life is actually against God. Someone forcing you into their mold is against God. The life God wants you to live is the life of Christ lived through you in a unique expression.

A Redeemed Person Can Trust Their Hearts. Now before you send me angry emails with Jeremiah 17:9 in it, let’s look at the totality of the Scriptures teaching on our hearts. Ephesians 2:10 says that God created us as a “masterpiece” designed to do certain good works. But something happened, right? We chose sin and sin has corrupted our hearts, thus Jeremiah 17:9 which describes our flesh as place of desperate wickedness whose depravity we don’t even fully realize. But, the promise of regeneration, rebirth, transformation offered in Christ gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).

So, if we are followers of Christ being transformed by His grace, we can listen to our hearts. Psalm 37:5 urges us to commit our ways to him and in doing so, he’ll give us the desires of our hearts. What happens in salvation is this: God restores us (His masterpieces) from the corruption of sin. He implant in us a new heart. And as we die to ourselves, He reveals to us His original purpose for us. As you walk with the Lord, your calling will become clearer and clearer. But it’s not because you are ignoring your gifts, your passions, your skills, but rather you are seeing them more clearly because the Holy Spirit is removing the residue of sin.

So, this means you can’t be anything you “want to be” but you are free to be who you are supposed to be. What you die to in following Christ is not your skills and passions and gifts, but to the sin-soaked desires that were a distraction from God’s original design of your life. You begin to enter, as Max Lucado calls it, your “sweet spot” where your gifts, your opportunities, and your impact all meet.

I think is is especially important for Christian young people as they survey their lives. High-school seniors and college freshman. I do this routinely as I counsel them. I ask them simply: What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? Where do you think you can have the most impact in the world? What do others say you are good at?

What I try to help them realize is that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17). It’s no accident that I enjoy writing, studying, and engaging with people. God equipped me with those gifts, not for me to show off my skills but to reflect His glory. It’s no accident my father is perhaps the most skilled craftsman I know. He’s a terrific tradesman who does great work. It’s no accident that one of my best friends has the mind of an entrepreneur. God knew what He was doing when He designed us this way.

Gifted plumbers shouldn’t preach. Gifted preachers shouldn’t plumb.

No, you can’t be what you want to be. But you are freed by Jesus to be what He designed you to be. And it’s a whole easier to figure out what that is when we reject both cultural and church myths.

 

Dec
22
2011

Finding Christmas Joy

I’ve always loved the Christmas season. When I was a kid, my parents always made the season great. Our traditions were simple, but wonderful.

I especially enjoyed the two weeks off of school. Usually we chilled out at home or would go to a Christmas party or two at friends’ homes. When I was in high-school, I’d join with some other friends and go caroling in our neighborhood. Then we had to take care of our last minute Christmas shopping. My parents gave each of us some allowance and let us choose gifts for the family.

On Christmas Eve, we typically chilled out at home, then, after some cajoling from all of us kids and my mom, my father would relent and let us open our gifts that night, before we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. My Dad enjoyed being the position of deciding when the gifts would be open and enjoyed keep us in suspense. I suspect his plan was for a Christmas Eve “open” all along, but he liked the back-and-forth.

We enjoyed the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church. I remember it being very late, perhaps 11 pm. There was just something special and warm about gathering at church, singing a few carols, seeing friends, hearing a short message and exchanging gifts.

On Christmas we’d usually go to my grandparents house for a terrific feast. My grandmother and grandfather were Jewish, but would put on a huge Christmas spread in their condo. They’ve both since passed but I miss them every Christmas. I think I can still smell the Christmas smells of Grandma and Grandpa’s wonderful house.

Then we’d go to my father’s family and have another wonderful feast of food and gifts. I had many cousins on that side and it was always cool to catch up with them.

I love the way my parent’s “handled” Christmas. They raised us in the church, so we knew the real meaning of Christmas. Dad read Luke 2 every Christmas Eve. And yet, they weren’t at all scared by Santa Claus, shopping, gifts, and all the other parts of the season that Christians often lament. We weren’t stressed on Christmas, but we also weren’t grinches out to make sure everyone understood that Santa was a fake fat guy in a red suit. I guess they felt we were secure enough in our faith in Christ that we didn’t have to shoot down everyone’s Christmas joy.

Now that I’m a parent I hope to model my parent’s approach to Christmas–to simply let Christmas be what it is. The truth is that if we truly believe that what happened on Christmas is true, that the baby, the son of Mary was God in the flesh–then all the other stuff won’t bother us. In fact, the gift-giving, the food, the fun, everything–this is the overflow of the joy in the manger.

The idea that God could come to earth and become a baby is so wonderful and so out-of-this-world, it should be celebrated. Sure, sometimes the story of the Incarnation becomes obscured by the celebration, but that doesn’t mean we should consider the celebration wrong. Rather those of us who have been transformed by the baby in the manger might radiate with extra joy this season, to know that we give gifts, we feast, we listen to music, we gather with loved ones because we have been made right with God, our eternal destiny is secure, and we have a relationship with God through Jesus.

That’s why we can freely revel in the celebration that is a part of our regular Christmas celebration. We can give and receive gifts without guilt, realizing generosity and giving is a natural outgrowth of gospel joy. We can enjoy friendships with friends, cherish memories, eat cookies, love the music, and watch our favorite Christmas movies. Because at the heart of Christmas, the spring from which the celebration flows, is the gospel story, God’s good gift of Jesus the Son, sent to redeem us of our sins and offer us hope and eternal life.

Nobody is taking Christmas away. No fat guy in a red suit can rob us of Christmas. No signs bearing “Happy Holidays” can erase our joy. We don’t have to berate corporations to express Christmas how we think they should. Because our joy doesn’t come from someone’s forced expression of a faith they don’t understand, but from the knowledge that “unto us is a born a child, a Son is given.”

 

Dec
09
2011

Friday Five: Charles Powell

Earlier this week I posted a review of Kathi Macias’ explosive new novel that puts a human face on human trafficking here in America. It’s a book I encouraged every believer to read.

Today, I continue the discussion about human trafficking with an interview of Charles Powell, coauthor with Dillon Burroughs of Not in My Town (also published by New Hope).

Charles is a justice activist, film producer, conference speaker, and founder of Mercy Movement, a grassroots movement to abolish human trafficking and slavery. Over the past three decades Charles has been trained in counterterrorism and police investigation, worked as a bodyguard for royalty, and lived undercover during the war on drugs. He now uses his unique background to investigate and stop modern slavery in the US and beyond. Powell lives in Northeast Georgia.

Not in My Town not only exposes the scourge of human trafficking in our midst, it also gives practical ways to fight it. Charles was kind enough to stop by for today’s Friday Five:

  Read More

Dec
08
2011

Return to Christmas Joy

I had the privilege of writing a piece on Christmas Joy for New Hope Digital. There is a tendency to either be cranky about commercialism or be caught up in it at Christmastime. Here’s an excerpt:

I think both approaches miss the majesty of Christmas. Yes, the Western world is increasingly secularized and dismissive of Jesus. But that’s why we are still here. We are the ones who have been eternally transformed by the Incarnation. And we are to bless others in His name.If we want the guy at the checkout to be excited about the real story of Christmas, why not let the gospel pour from us so he visibly sees Christ in us? If the message of Christmas is getting obscured, let’s shout it joyfully from our own little platforms. Maybe, just maybe, the secular world would take notice.

Read the rest here: Return to Christmas Joy :: New Hope Digital.

Dec
07
2011

A Novel Every Christian Should Read

I realize that there are many Christians who are ambivalent or even opposed to Christian fiction. I’ve never shared that belief, because I think fiction has a way of bringing important issues to light in a way that may be impossible for straightforward treatises. But even if you are someone who eschews novels, I’d urge you to take a look at Deliver Me From Evil a powerful and disturbing new novel written Kathi Macias, an accomplished author who also happens to be a great friend.

I’ve known Kathi for a few years and she has become a great friend. We also happen to be fellow New Hope authors. A few years ago, Andrea Mullins, publisher at New Hope, made a decision to launch into fiction for the first time in the history of the publishing house. But her desire was to do fiction in a way that was different, specifically fiction that fit with the ethos of New Hope which is to be gospel centered and mission driven. If you’ve met Andrea and have been with her for more than five minutes, you’ll feel her passion for missions.

Kathi Macias has led New Hope’s foray into what they call “missional fiction” by writing novels that tackle tough, thorny, often controversial issues of justice. Deliver Me From Evil is the first in her second series of books entitled The Freedom Series. This book is important and powerful because it puts a human face on the scourge of human trafficking.

Before I read Deliver Me From Evil I was aware of the human trafficking problem, but was not engaged in it. I knew it happened in places like Thailand and Africa and the Middle East, but I did not invest myself emotionally in the full scope of the problem. I had heard folks say that there is more slavery in the 21st Century than at any time in history. But I have been engaged in other issues more deeply. I’m actively involved in the prolife issue here in our community, supporting a local pregnancy center and speaking out in columns and blogs and speeches on the issue. I’ve also been recently engaged on the issue of immigration, working toward a biblically based, gospel and kingdom-centered approach to this issue.

But reading Deliver Me From Evil gave me a disturbing, up-close look at the horrific problem of human trafficking. Kathi Macias weaves a story of a young girl who was kidnapped from her San Diego area home and forced into sexual slavery; a girl in the Golden Triangle in Thailand. In this novel, Kathi shares the awful exploitation of young girls in excruciating, but appropriate detail. These are girls whose innocence and freedom and self-worth are bought and sold to the highest bidder by the most evil of men.

Deliver Me From Evil is written in a honest, raw, disturbing way. It’s disturbing because what happens in this novel isn’t made up. It happens every day, not simply in a far off place across the ocean but in our own seemingly safe neighborhoods. It happens in our own cities and towns. My own daughter is approaching seven years old. When I read about the girls in Deliver Me From Evil, my jaw becomes clenched with anger because the girls being trafficked are my own daughter’s age.

I might have never read a nonfiction book on human trafficking, but reading this well-written novel that reveals real-world crimes has motivated me to do what I can to be a part of the solution. In fact, this year our family is giving a donation to International Justice Mission, who fights human trafficking.

I think this book may do for the issue of human trafficking what Randy Alcorn’s book, Safely Home did for the cause of persecuted believers in China. Frankly, this an issue in which the Church has been way ahead of the politicians and the media. I pray that those of us who work to fight abortion and HIV/AIDS virus add human trafficking to their portfolio of causes. IJM quotes National Geographic which estimates that there are 27 million people living in slavery today. The U.S. State Department estimates that there are 600,000-800,000 children, women, and men trafficked across international borders every year—up to 50% of them are minors.

I plan on writing about this issue more. But I think reading Deliver Me From Evil is an important first step.

Helpful Resources:

Interview with the author, Kathi Macias on her motivation on writing Deliver Me From Evil and what the sequel will look like.

A helpful list of ministries and information on combatting human trafficking

An article by Kathi Macias on the face of human trafficking

My friend Dillon Burroughs has written a book entitled, Not in My Town, also published by New Hope. He and his coauthor Charles Powell have founded an advocacy group, Mercy Movement.

 

Dec
01
2011

A CEO’s Courage

Read this story in the New York Times and I thought it was a good one (HT: Janice Crouse)

IT seems that every week we hear of a C.E.O. who earned millions from a golden parachute after demonstrating poor business judgment or cutting thousands of jobs with no financial downside for executives. These stories feed the fires of the Occupy movement growing all over the world.

But on Tuesday, we heard something different. American Airlines, once the largest airline in the United States, declared bankruptcy. This is not surprising news for the beleaguered airline industry; what is different is what is emerging from the wreckage. Gerard J. Arpey, American’s chief executive officer and chairman, resigned and stepped away with no severance package and nearly worthless stock holdings. He split with his employer of 30 years out of a belief that bankruptcy was morally wrong, and that he could not, in good conscience, lead an organization that followed this familiar path.

via At American Airlines, a Departing C.E.O.’s Moral Stand – NYTimes.com.

Nov
28
2011

Replacing War with Joy on Christmas

Around this time every year, some Christians get heated about the “War on Christmas.” Political organizations churn out sharply worded press releases about a perceived attempt by the left to strip Christ out of Christmas. Bill O’Reilly will highlight one story every night, something like the town council in Podunk, USA that removed a cross from a water tower. The Drudge Report will take the most obscure case of Christmas secularizing and highlight as if its a dangerous national epidemic. And of course, the American Family Association will create its “Naughty and Nice” list of retailers who don’t explicitly mention the story of Christmas in their promotions, forgetting the irony of using Santa Claus to beat up retailers who don’t articulate the mystery of the Incarnation with their 40% off sweater sales.

I’m not suggesting that there isn’t a cultural push back against Christianity. I realize gospel-centered Christianity is increasingly becoming marginalized. I get that. But when it comes to Christmas, I think most of the outrage expressed by Christians is misguided at best and manufactured at worst. Especially when Christians in places like Sudan and China are beaten, separated from their families, and often killed for expressing the name of Christ. We cry foul because the tired and overworked greeter at Target doesn’t say “Merry Christmas”?

Honestly.

I think this outrage is manufactured in that it gives activist organizations a bit of relevance during a time of year when most of the world shifts their eyes away from partisan politics. It preys on fear, fear that somehow our traditions and all that we hold dear is being snatched away. It’s a crass way to inject politics into every area of life, as if everything is explained by the bogeymen of left and right. Frankly, I think it’s a great fundraising tool. Help us stop the War on Christmas, contribute $5, $10, $25 dollars to this urgent cause! 

Even if there is some truth to the War on Christmas–and there might be–I wonder if force is the best way to advance the real meaning of this holiday? Is a stern rebuke to the Walmart cashier the best presentation of God in the flesh? Are we so fragile in our faith that we need the GAP to articulate the Christ-centeredness of the holiday?

When you read the gospel accounts of the Incarnation, you find that it is way above the tired political debates of today. Jesus himself said that the Kingdom wouldn’t advance by force. He didn’t come so that his followers could pursue power, so that Christianity would be the dominant, powerful force in society. So that everyone would like us and affirm our holiday.

The story of Christmas is about gospel joy. The angelic choir rang perfect melodies through the heavens, worshipping in awe at the mystery and glory of God coming to earth in human form, of the Son born to a virgin in a lowly cattle trough.

And we, who were dead in sins and have now been transformed by the regenerating power of Jesus bear this joy of Christmas. So the best declaration of the gospel on this holiday is not angry shouting about perceived slights. It’s not a persistent whining about the end of civilization. Its a heart of overflowing joy at the Savior’s birth.

Imagine if we stopped sending angry emails and press releases about “naughty and nice” retailers and instead exuded the joy of the season? Consider this: even in a world ravaged by sin, in a country increasingly given to false ideologies and the worship of plastic gods, we stop and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Like it or not, December 25th is the one time of year when the world peers in on Luke’s narrative about the baby in the manger. This is when the entire world is filled with with gospel truth, when Joy to the World and the First Noel and Silent Night breathe the wonder of the Incarnation into the darkest places in our culture.

So those of us who’ve been the object of Jesus’ love, whose hearts have been transformed by Christ, let us be the most joyous members of the human race when the calendar flips to December. Imagine what the culture would look like if every Christian stopped complaining about  war on their holiday, stopped whining about commercialism and stress and bursted forth with joy?

Maybe, just maybe, the tired retail workers at the checkout line would say “Merry Christmas,” not because cranky Christians demanded it, but because the joy of our hearts at this season so overflowed that the gospel spilled over.

The real war on Christmas isn’t being fought on Madison Avenue or in the White House or on Wall Street. It’s being fought every day in the hearts of believers who can choose to either revel in the miracle of the Incarnation or allow themselves to be slaves of the enemy who seeks to rob God’s people of their joy.

This holiday is our holiday. We get an entire month to rejoice at the unfolding of God’s salvation plan. So, let’s go forth this Christmas, with generosity towards those we love, charity toward those who don’t celebrate as they ought, and gospel gladness in a culture that desperately needs the good news.