The Gospel Coalition

Last night, I caught a little bit of Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor. In one segment, Bill O’Reilly showed the video footage of two homosexual men dressed up as nuns with clown wigs entering a Catholic church to receive Communion from the visiting archbishop. This event was clearly designed to be a desecration of the sacrament, as well as a slap in the face of all Christians.

O’Reilly opined for a while with former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed about the failure of Christians to stand up and demand their rights. He mentioned how Muslims would have reacted had this been a mosque, and he urged Christians to fight back against those who would denigrate their religion.

O’Reilly is right to point out the unfairness of the media coverage regarding this issue. The only acceptable form of bigotry left in the United States is that which is directed to Christians. However, I take issue with O’Reilly’s insistence that Christians strike out against the desecrators. I wrote a letter to Bill, which I am publishing here. (I will check tonight to see if it is included in the mail comments at the end of the program.)

Bill,

As a Baptist minister, I deplore the mockery made of the sacrament at the Catholic mass in San Francisco. However, your concern and anxiety over the fact that few Christians were fighting back is perplexing.

Do you actually expect us Christians to react similarly to Muslims when our religion is desecrated? History shows that early Christianity spread throughout the world under persecution from the Roman Empire and the Caesars. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church…” claimed Tertullian in the third century. History shows that early Islam spread quite differently, by wielding the sword and forcing conversions.

Perhaps the reticence of Christians to respond angrily and violently to the mockery in San Francisco is not so much apathy, as it is the right response demanded by the Christian faith.

The Christ we worship was mocked, spit upon, and beaten, but he did not fight back. Instead, he uttered the words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The truly Christian response to the mayhem in San Francisco is not angry words and fighting for our rights. It is taking up our crosses, offering forgiveness, and shedding tears for those who persecute the very One who died for our sins.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

When I look at the Ten Commandments, I can’t help but feel bad about myself. Once I understand what God expects of us, I feel pretty beat up and very far away. I guess that’s partly the point. The Commandments are here to teach us about God, and because we see how awesome and holy God is, we realize just how far we fall short of his glory. But that’s why we turn to the cross for our forgiveness and to the resurrection for the possibility of actually living this new way.

The first nine commandments are externally observable. You can see if they are being broken. You cannot tell if someone is breaking the 10th commandment. The Tenth commandment is the final blow to our pride and self-righteousness. We know in our hearts that we are guilty of this one.

How easy it is to covet! What if you took your kids to a toy store and told them they could have all they want? What would happen? Do you think they’d ever finish and say, “Enough is enough. I’ve got all I need. I’ve got all I want.” Now, fast forward twenty-five years and put yourself in a mall, or a Home Depot, or a Game Stop or electronics store (or for me a bookstore). Same problem. It’s never enough. 

God is not only concerned with what we do, but with what we are, what we think, how we feel. Our inner feelings and desires are included in the Ten Commandments. It’s not enough to keep some external rules. God wants every part of us, our hearts and minds.

We were created to love God and love people. When we don’t love God as we ought, our desires get all out of whack. And that messes up the way that we are meant to relate to other people. Instead of loving people, we covet their stuff. Instead of desiring our neighbors’ good, we desire their goods for ourselves.

Desire, in itself, is not a bad thing. In fact, Christianity says that desire is good because the world is filled with good things. It’s good to desire good weather, good clothing, good food. The world is filled with things that are meant to be desired. It’s right for a man and woman to desire an intimate relationship within marriage.

Buddhism tells you to annihilate all your desires. The state of non-desire is the best place to be. You are saved and fully free once you no longer desire anything. Christians do not agree. We believe that are desires are God-given, only that we turn those desires in on ourselves and wind up wrecking our lives with them.

The problem isn’t in our desire, it’s in our desire of the wrong things. We violate this commandment whenever we do not sincerely take pleasure in the success of our neighbors and instead desire their possessions, prosperity or position. Desires are contagious. If someone else wants something, we naturally start wanting it too.

 Nelson Rockefeller the millionaire was once asked: “How much money does it take to be happy?” to which he replied “Just a little bit more.” The problem is, the little bit more is never enough.

C.S. Lewis talks about how we as human beings are too easily pleased. We are spending all our time making mudpies in the slums while God is offering us a beautiful vacation at the sea. But we are content with coveting mud. We attempt to be content with things that never satisfy.

One way to know if you are coveting is to see if you are living beyond your means. How much money do you have on the credit card? How much do you spend in relation to your income? When you are living beyond your means, throwing money here and there, money you don’t really have, that’s a good sign that you are ensnared by covetousness.

Coveting distorts our list of priorities and all our values. When you focus on things, your vision of God is dimmed. When you focus on God, your care about things is dimmed.

Snoopy, one time, was sitting on top of his doghouse, and it’s Thanksgiving. He’s bitter in his spirit because Charlie Brown and the family are having this huge feast inside their house, but Snoopy is stuck on his doghouse with only dog food. And he’s kind of grousing about that until this thought occurs to him, and he says to himself, “It could be worse. I could have been born a turkey.”

Whenever you are tempted to covet or to wallow in dissatisfaction, say, “It could be worse.” And then say, “I don’t deserve even this.”

Contentment means wanting what God wants for us, rather than what we want for ourselves. The key is to be so satisfied in God that we are content with whatever he has decided to give us. John Piper says it this way: “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.”

The 10th commandment is about replacing the wrong desire with the correct desire. We are to desire Christ. We are to desire the glory of God. We are to desire heaven. There and there alone will our happiness be found. Jesus came and gave his all, so that we can receive eternal life. The Bible says that though he was in very nature God, he didn’t see his equality with God as something to be grasped, coveted after or abused.

I always look to the Lord’s Supper when I think of this command. We come with open hands. Empty. Nothing to offer. Only to receive the bread and the cup, the blessing of Christ in our lives.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

“And when he (the younger son) had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.”
- Jesus, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:14-15)

Jesus tells us that the prodigal son squandered all his wealth in reckless living. The boy wastes his money and life, so when the famine comes, he winds up desperate. Jesus describes him going and “hiring himself out to one of the citizens of that country.” The original language uses the phrase “glued himself to” or “joined himself to someone in that country,” a description that reveals the son’s despair.

Jesus subtly lets the Jewish audience know that the boy is now working for the Gentiles, those who did not know the one true God. He says that the boy “was sent into the fields to feed pigs.” Not only does the younger son start working for a foreigner, he is actually feeding pigs – the most despised and unclean animal! The Jewish Talmud says, “Cursed be the man who breeds swine.” The Jews in Jesus’ audience must have bristled at such a terrible picture of this younger son’s sin. There was no greater sign of depravity!

Outwardly-rebellious sin eventually leads people to squander away their lives until they are at the mercy of whatever they have glued themselves to. People attach themselves to drugs, alcohol, casinos, sex, music, TV, internet pornography. We become addicted to something or someone we think will provide hope. Instead, the addiction brings enslavement.

When we, as humans, head out into the far country away from God, we are capable of reaching new lows in our behavior when we face famine. Due to new circumstances, we adopt actions we would have earlier shunned as evil. Our rebellion leads us down the spiral of desperation, while God the Father, with arms open wide, continues to call us back to Him.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

When we arrived back in the States after that initial journey to Romania in 1997, I was forever changed. Dad and I did the rounds in several churches, showing slides and telling some interesting stories. Eventually, life returned to normal. I went back to school. There was little to remind me of my first journey to Romania. Occasionally, we would look through pictures as Dad and I would reminisce or tell the rest of the family some of the stories.

But Romania continued to linger in my consciousness. The next year, a group of teenagers from our church went to Romania. I signed up quickly to go. The year after that, it was the same story. I saw myself as a “pioneer” because I was the first teenager from our church to go, and then future trips with larger teams became “expeditions” in which I would help the “newcomers” adjust to the culture.

The short-term mission trips were terrific. I learned valuable life-lessons, and even began to pick up a little Romanian. But short-term mission trips were just that – short-term. I never truly considered moving to Romania. Neither did I feel God calling me to the country for an extended period of time. Of course, God had some other plans.

Later this week, I’ll post some thoughts on how I discerned God’s call to the mission field.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

O Lord and Master, Jesus Christ,
Word of the everlasting Father,
you have borne our grief
and carried the burden of our human frailty;
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
renew in your church gifts of healing,
and send out your disciples again
to preach the gospel of your kingdom,
to heal the sick,
and to relieve the sufferings of your children
to the praise and glory of your holy name. Amen.

- Celtic Prayer

Watch an atheist and a Christian discuss their visits to several mega-churches. Word to us Christians? Greet people! Talk to them. Get to know someone.

“Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship.

“Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.

“Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”

- Soren Kierkegaard

There’s some good conversation in the blogosphere prompted by my post last Tuesday: Newsflash! The Key to the 20Somethings is Not Musical Style.

• Christian recording artist Shaun Groves interacts with my post and asks some probing questions about my philosophy of ministry.
• Check out the 40+ comments generated at the Thinklings.
• Jared Wilson backs up my findings with some examples of his own.
• Jared White wonders if my post isn’t pointing out a bigger problem: The church isn’t thinking big enough. 
• Katherine asks if we should be analyzing our preaching style instead.
• This reader liked the post but he thinks I’m missing the bigger picture. 
• Sherrill summarizes the content of the comments from this post.
• Jim waxes eloquently about the “Myth of contemporary.” 
• Julie says there is no magic bullet to reaching this generation.

SaidatSouthern podcast #7 features an interview with well-known Christian blogger, Tim Challies

Good thoughts on the baptism/conversion ratio between Southern Baptists and the PCA

Russell Moore on “Retaking Mars Hill”

Simplify your life. Learn to live with less.

Hank Hanegraaff has done all non-Dispensationalists a service by writing The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times . . . and Why It Matters Today. If anyone wonders why you question the Left Behind eschatology so prevalent in the U.S.A. today, hand them this book. The Apocalypse Code is written with the lay-person in mind, making it a splendid introduction to eschatology and the rules for interpreting Revelation.

Though the title and the cover look somewhat “sensationalist,” The Apocalypse Code contains a rather simple premise. The code to unlocking Revelation’s secrets is in understanding the Old Testament. Indeed, Hanegraaff points out how Revelation quotes the Old Testament hundreds of times.

Hanegraaff does not set forth a scholarly system of eschatology. Because this book is intended for the layperson, it contains helpful suggestions for biblical interpretation. Hanegraaff calls the main one LIGHTS. In order to correctly interpret Revelation, one must understand five principles: the Literal principle, the Illumination principle, the Grammatical principle, the Historical principle, the Typological principle, and Scriptural synergy. As he takes the reader through this system of interpretation, he demolishes the Dispensationalist view. By the end of the book, Dispensationalism collapses under the weight of its own incredulous affirmations.

Hanegraaff’s eschatological views can be considered moderately preterist. He believes in an early date for Revelation. He sees much of New Testament prophecy fulfilled in the first century, and he avoids the sensationalist tendency of eschatological predictions that plague the church today.

But whether or not you are a preterist, you will benefit from The Apocalypse Code. Hanegraaff’s principles of interpretation are more beneficial than the system he sets forth. Rather than constructing a full theology of the End Times, Hanegraaff is content to give the reader principles for interpreting Revelation, allowing the reader the chance to form his or her own conclusions.

The only misstep in Hanegraaff’s work is the way in which he critiques LaHaye and other Dispensationalists. Rather than simply dealing on the level of ideas, Hanegraaff uses illustrations that link (for example) LaHaye’s grammatical conclusions to Bill Clinton’s testimony about the meaning of “is.” While this may be rhetorically effective, it is quite over-the-top, undermining much of the weightier matters that Hanegraaff addresses.

Still, TThe Apocalypse Code is a worthy effort from a well-known radio personality. It is one of the better books on eschatology to grace the bookshelves of your local Christian store. I recommend you pick it up, consider the exegetical rules found within, and then pass it on to some friends.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

I didn’t do much when I first visited Romania in 1997. (I was only 15 anyway…) We spent every evening in a village church doing evangelism. I was a little too young to preach, but I did give my testimony and share briefly from one of my favorite Bible verses: Psalm 19:14.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The people always responded graciously to my short testimony.

Romania was so different. The winter was harsh. The wind was biting. The snow fell non-stop. The dreary, winter landscape draped the city in a dull gray color. The apartment buildings loomed over us in the city, yet their exterior revealed decades of little care or renovation. The sun only peeked out for short intervals, before hiding again behind the snow-filled clouds.

Church was different too. Services were held in a solemn atmosphere that was only rarely interrupted by laughs or smiles. The worship services seemed cold, though the temperature inside was warm from the wood-burning stove in the center of the church house. People were welcoming and accepting, but the language barrier made me feel unintentionally distanced and different.

Life was different. Schedules didn’t matter as much. We sometimes arrived an hour late at an evangelistic service, but the people would wait, would listen, and then would stay after we had finished. If Dad didn’t preach a full hour, the people felt cheated. In a world with little to do in the wintertime, the people were hungry and receptive to the Gospel message.

Work was hard. Most of the people we met that first year were farmers. They cared for their crops, raised their animals, and fed their families. They lived off the land, mostly, and had the scars, wrinkles, and bruises to show for it. The people’s faces revealed a hard life of labor with little in material wealth as compensation. Evangelical Christians seemed much more joyful. In the midst of their poverty, they would not give in to despair. Instead, they seemed to have tasted a better world – a better life – and that the life they now lived was an anticipation of the world to come.

The anticipation of a new world coming… that was the impression that stuck with me most. For the first time in my life I questioned whether or not the USA was a “better” world, and I began wondering if the wealth of my country had dulled my sense of hope for the new heavens and new earth – a world where righteousness dwells. In some ways, the Romanians were better off. The sense of longing and anticipation was infectious.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog