Free to Be Me—Part 1

The Rascals sang the heartbeat of post-mods: “People everywhere just got to be free.” Admittedly, this song is now a relic of ancient history (the ‘60s). In spite of it’s age, it surely describes the mindset of many of us. We just want to be free to be whoever we want to be; to do whatever we choose to do.

Christianity doesn’t seem to have any appeal to make to such mindsets. Seem is the operative word, though. Christ has something very important to say about freedom—real freedom!

What the freedom folks are so quick to demand is not freedom; it’s slavery. “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” Christ says.

What is so liberating about addiction—to drugs (legal and illegal), to alcohol, to gambling, to pornography, to lying, to constant amusement, to shopping, to cheesecake? What about the heartbreak of broken relationships? The pain that never goes away and loads you with regrets—where’s the freedom in that? That’s not freedom. That’s shackles and chains.

Sin does not free us to be ourselves. We choose sin because we are afraid to be ourselves, we perceive some deficiency in ourselves. Remember Eve? The hook? “You’ll be like God.” That did it. Paradise lost. East of Eden.

Yep. We’ve been free ever since. Haven’t we????

Growing Up and Growing Apart

I was watching my daughter play with her friends on the playground, and observing their parents and grandparents, too. Though they have occasional issues with each other, they just keep on playing together. Occasionally, only occasionally, someone gives up the whole deal because he has been hurt. Even then, he'll be right back at it tomorrow.

Why is adulthood so complicated? Why do we grow up and grow apart? Proximity. Affinity. Sure. Don't forget about sin, though. It's the main culprit. People make choices that affect community. Self-esteem destroys community.

Paul, in view of Jesus, said, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others" (Phil. 2:3-4).

This is the only way to recapture community. But it's not easy. We have a lot to overcome. I have a lot to overcome.

"Our Band Rocks"...Who Cares????

The goal of this blog is to be a place for me to express my take on things in the church today. I haven't written as much I could have. I'm just not a disciplined blogger yet...whatever that is.

I get distracted (thankfully) from all the bad in the brotherhood with all the bad in the world, our country, myself,etc. Then, something else happens that gets me all fired up or makes me sad, and I write about it.

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I'm so glad I can connect with almost all of my friends from college. At the same time, I keep shaking my head over their spiritual conditions. In some ways, because I'm not the same person I was then, I have grown apart from them ideologically.

It would appear that some of my friends now worship with churches that are not connected at all to us. Some go to churches with bands. One friend made a comment about the Easter service at her church. I inquired more about it. The reply was, "Our band rocks."

I just don't get it. I'm not surprised or shocked by it. I just don't understand why it matters whether or not something "rocks" in worship. What about worship needs to rock?

Here's where I get real critical: I'm not much of a fan of "the singing sounded good this morning," either. Who cares about how it sounded? What about our worship needs to sound good?

I'm wondering aloud: Why doesn't the we-need-to-teach-people-how-to-sing-four-part-harmony stuff seem much different from the reasoning behind praise teams or praise bands?????

"These people having sweet-sounding, rockin' worship, but their hearts are far from me."

Mourning

I think I'm going to have be a man in black. People who are close to my heart are going in directions they ought not to go. They've fallen in love with this present world, like Demas. They are not merely deserting me; they're deserting the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are running fast for the newest deception the deceiver has crafted, rapidly trying to fuse together Christianity with materialism. The deceiver has confused the meaning of materialism so that is now exclusively means "loving money and the things it can buy." In the midst of this confusion, the deceiver is designing a syncretism that hasn't reared its ugly head in ages.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4 ESV).

I can't hardly read it without weeping.

Eclectic Spiritualities

If you need a guru to fix your messed up life, just talk to the High Priestess of Talk Shows. Oprah will have just the spiritual guide you need. Whether it’s doctors, psychiatrists, life-coaches, or just a good old fashioned New Age guru, she’s got them all.

In doing some research, I came across a webinar (a seminar on the web—don’t you just love all of this new terminology) done by Oprah and one of her newest gurus. This particular guru, Eckhart Tolle, is a new age “spiritual guide” (read “blind guide”) who has no problem quoting Jesus. Tolle believes that Jesus was a good spiritual teacher. So one of the participants in this interactive webinar asked Oprah how she could reconcile Tolle’s teachings with her Christian beliefs. Oprah then informed her that Oprah herself was a Christian who did just that. How did Oprah reconcile it. She simply prefers to call the life-force (or whatever he calls it) “God.” That’s basically how she reconciled the two. After all, according to her, who’s to say there’s only one exclusive way to understand and access God?

Um...Jesus Christ!!!! The One Christians claim to follow! He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). That’s a rather exclusivist claim, isn’t it? But that’s the claim He made. If you claim to be a Christian, then you claim that there is only one way to God. That’s what being a Christian is all about.

Oprah’s words should tell us all we need to know about her. She does not have the words of life or even the “guides” who can give them to us. She is a contemporary syncretist extraordinaire who has a melting pot of religious ideas.

Syncretism is the new “spirituality.” It leads folks to borrow ideas from all kinds of religious and philosophical sources to create customized, “have-it-your-way” spiritualities. In reality, these are just ways to avoid the commandments of Jesus Christ and still feel “spiritual.” But syncretism is nothing more than “empty deceit” (Col. 2:8). These eclectic spiritualities won’t fix your life.

Only Jesus can fix sinners.

YOU TURN

I’ve been doing some thinking about repentance lately. Something sparked the thoughts and I’ve spent some time considering what the Bible has to say about the nature of repentance. I believe the topic is worthy of discussion in the church today.

I’ve noticed a terrible trend about folks dropping out of the assembly for some time, presumably because they’re immersed in sin and worldliness, and then dropping back in like nothing ever happened. They might come forward during the invitation, but even then they might or might not use the word repent to describe what they’re intending to do. Perhaps how people describe it isn’t really all that important, but I think it’s symptomatic of a deeper problem.

Repentance is about turning away from sin to serve God. Those who have never responded to the gospel must turn from their sin and come to God in an acknowledged and demonstrated faith that obeys the Lord’s command to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. But a straying Christian must also turn away from his sin and worldliness before he turns to God. Repentance is a change in direction. If you’re walking the wrong way, you need to turn around!

Perhaps the reason why folks don’t feel the need to speak of repentance is because they’re not all that serious about it. They know they need to get back to church, but they’re not always willing to abandon their worldliness and they’re not very interested in giving up unrighteous practices. John the Immerser was clear about the nature of repentance when he said, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Mat. 3:8).

Have you turned away from sin to serve God? Have you really changed the course of your life? Have you changed your purpose in life? Have you repented?

It's a Love Issue!

“Is it a salvation issue?” I don’t how many times I’ve heard or been asked this question. I’ve even asked it a few times myself in the past.

I don’t like it anymore. Too many times it’s asked by people who either want to add something to God’s clear directives in Scripture or to get out of doing something they don’t want to do. It’s really more of an excuse than a question.

“Am I expressing my love to the Lord Jesus Christ in this?” This is a better question. It’s not merely a question of our affections for Jesus. Jesus determined for us how we go about expressing our love to Him. Quite simply He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV). This is the motivation for all we do in our Christian walk.

Too many times we’re worried about what infraction will send us to hell or what small list of things we must do to ensure our place in heaven. This is not what Christianity is all about. This misses the whole point of what Jesus came to do and to call us to in the gospel.

We’re called on to trust Him to save us on the merit of His sacrifice and to entrust ourselves to Him by obeying Him in everything He commands us. We’re called to follow Him wherever He leads and to do whatever is required to glorify Him and exalt Him in the gospel before a lost and dying world. Simply stated, we’re called to love Him more than anyone or anything else in this world.