Time Traveling

I was thinking about that old movie The Time Machine. (The old Sixties version not the messy remake of the Nineties.)  In it,  Rod Taylor plays a man who invents a time machine.  There is a wonderful sequence at the beginning when he gets into the machine for the first time, and time moves rapidly around him. Out his window,  he watches the sun and moon whiz by, as the days move faster and faster. Eventually, he can only see  grey.  In his room, furniture moves around him; wallpaper goes up and down; gas lights give way to electric lights.  Then the room itself disappears, and he is in a vacant lot.
He watches a mannequin in the store window across the street.  The hemlines go up and down with the changing styles. Then the store itself disappears. The city goes, too.  Now he is in an open field.  Trees grow and fall around him,  natural features change.  then he is encased in volcanic rock.  finally, after eons (minutes in his time)  the rock erodes away, and he views a new world, where everything has changed, even people. 
The older I get, the more I feel like that time traveler.  every year, the world changes around me.  Things I once knew and loved, places I've been,  friends, and family change beyond recognition.  Technology that I was just getting the hang of suddenly becomes obsolete.  Newton's second law holds. Everything breaks down eventually, even ourselves. 
If we could, like the time traveler of the movies, reverse directions by pulling a magic lever, we would. Maybe we could go back to times when we felt more comfortable and had more energy.  But we can't.  This is a one-way trip from birth to maturity, to change, to obsolescence and extinction. 
It seems to me there are two ways we can face changing time.  We can resent it, and try to run from it, but that is futile.  Or we can change to,  embrace the future, and cherish it.
Times are going to change, and we are going to get old, whether we like it or not.
Our other option is to embrace the future. Change can be invigorating, if we let it happen without too much complaint.
As I get olde, I make a point to try to avoid certain things.  I make it a point to avoid getting sentimental about the past. Frankly, no one cares much about the way things were when I was younger.  I try to avoid saying the words "In my day." This is my day. I plan to live in it.  I try to avoid saying or thinking that things were better when I was younger.  Old people with selective memories have been saying that line forever, and it really gets tiresome.  I try to avoid thinking that music,  the arts, movies,  books,  cooking,  of anything else was necessarily better "in my day." Things were different, that's all.  Just different.
I will do this for as long as I can,  until time and age pull me back into the past.  I have to confess that sometimes I do catch myself listening to Sixties rock and laughing at old TV shows sometimes.  Don't tell anyone, though. 

Living Sacrifice

(Note:  I received several requests for copies of the message I preached at the New Life Seminary Awards Banquet. So I am posting it here for anyone who wants it.)

Rom 12:1-2

What is the most important decision you make in life, outside of your decision to receive Christ as your savior?  Is it whether or not to go to college? Is it your wife?  Is it your career? These are important to be sure, but people can change colleges, careers. They can even change wives.  Even if they do not, we can adjust wherever and to whomever we have. 

People to think that the most important decisions they make are the big ones. But what matters is the accumulation of a lifetime of little decisions, done over and over, until they become habitual. 

One little decision is a choice. Making the same decision twice is an inclination. Three times and it becomes a habit. We are defined or defiled by our habits. Habits do not make our lives—they are our lives.

We get fat when we develop a habit of eating.  We get rich when we develop a habit of saving. We get healthy when we develop a habit of exercise. We get close to God when we develop a habit of prayer. We become generous when we develop the habit of giving. We become beloved when we develop a habit of showing love to others.  These little habits define who we actually are, far more than our thoughts, intentions, hopes, or dreams. 

With that in mind, look at this passage.  Paul tells us—no, he begs us by the mercy of God--to we present our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  Why a living sacrifice?  Because it is a decision that we must make again and again. 

Suppose a man came into this room with a machine gun and said “Renounce Christ and I’ll kill you.” Most of us, I am sure, would choose without hesitation to stand firm, even to our death.  It is a simple, clear cut decision, which we would have to only do once. But following Jesus is not that kind of a decision. It doesn’t happen once, but daily, every day, for our entire lives. 

We make a promise to God that we will get up and have devotionshen hit the snooze button. We have just broken a promise to God. In that moment we have denied His authority over us. We promise Jesus we will fast today then change our minds.  We get angry at our spouse, and take our troubles out on her, even though we promised to love and cherish her forever. We put our love of college football above our love of the faith, by skipping church to go to a Clemson game. We critics and ostracize another believer, even though we promise God that we would treat others like Him.  In a thousand little decisions every day, choose self-indulgence over self-denial. That’s the problem with a living sacrifice—we keep crawling off the altar.

Please understand, I do not suggest that being a living sacrifice is hard. It isn’t—it’s impossible! No one does it perfectly. Fortunately, God’s in Christ has already forgiven our failures, so we don’t have to worry about punishment.  But the consequences are still ours.

 There is a difference between consequences are punishments. Punishments are corrections imposed upon us from without.  Consequences are the natural fruit of our efforts, or lack of effort.  If we eat ice cream three times a day, we will get fat.  No one makes us fat but ourselves.  Don’t blame it on God.  If we spend money on nice clothes, then can’t pay the mortgage, you are experiencing the consequences of a little decision.  If we walk in a path away from Him, why do we think we would feel close to Him later?  He has not moved--we have. 

But if we daily present our bodies to Him, denying our own habits in order to do His will, we will get closer to God. We either choose to get close to Him every day or we choose to get farther away every day.

Paul goes on do not be conformed to this world.  J. B. Phillips rendered it “do not let the world squeeze you into its mold.” There is a powerful force in this world pushing against us, forcing us not to follow Jesus every day.  It is the Devil. It is our own habits and inclinations. But Paul calls it “the world.” It is as if the whole world is out to keep you from following Him, which it is. 

If we do not choose to follow Jesus every day, we will become increasingly like everyone else around us and less like Jesus. Eventually we join our voices to their chorus pushing against people who want to follow him.  We either resist the enemy or we join it. As we look at the church around us, we can see that this has already happened. We are like  people trying to swim across a rushing river.  If we do nothing, you will be swept away.  Every moment, you must struggle not to let that happen.

Paul says be transformed by the renewing of your minds.  If you do this, you will be able to say “What Jesus wants is what you want.” Your will surrenders to his and we become what we want to become, true children of God, a new and different person. 

The tricky part of this passage is the term mind.  We get hung up there, especially Presbyterians, into thinking that if we are rational, if we just think hard enough, we will become like Jesus.  

Does this work in any other sphere of life? If you read a drivers’ manual, can you drive a car?  If you read the biography of a famous baseball player, do you develop a good pitching arm? This is not an intellectual exercise. It’s not that we don’t know what it means to be a Christian; we know, we just don’t act like Christians. 

Here’s how I was always taught this verse was supposed to work: We put God’s Word inside us. If we do this (so we’ve been taught), then God’s Word inside will push back against the opposing forces, and then we’ll be transformed and be like Jesus.  Only, it doesn’t work that way.

The Word of God can’t affect us if we don’t listen. Even if we did take the time to study, we still don’t want to do it. Knowing the Bible doesn’t change us. Faith in the Bible does.

This phrase “be transformed by the renewing of the mind” is read as a causal statement—that is, that the cause of the transformation is mind renewal. However, it may also be read as coincident-- that transformation and the renewal of the mind are caused together by something else.  This actually makes more sense in context. Paul says first we present our bodies to God—everything we are. If we present our bodies to God, in time our minds will be transformed, and then the renewed mind continue us in the right direction. 

This opens up an interesting idea. That the process of change is not always led by the mind, but our bodies--our Let’s look at each of these four parts aspects of the body—head, feet, hands, and heart. 

Our heads.  Knowledge does transform us.  When we grasp insight into God’s Word, it does transform our lives.  The more we absorb from God’s Word, the better off we are.

But there’s the problem.  How do I want to study it?  We need to give God our feet and hands, too—that is, to go to the places where we can make a difference. We’d rather keep our feet propped up in our recliners or stuck under our own dinner tables than to be among the lost. 

Our hands. Jesus used His hands to heal the sick and raise the dead. But that was not all. Jesus raised them to heaven, or folded them in prayer. In other words Jesus practiced the spiritual exercises of his tradition, praying, fasting, and giving.

Our heart. Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness above his peers.  In other words, He was emotional about it.  We have emphasized coming to church as a duty, but do not emphasize loving and glorifying God as a duty. We are head heavy and heart poor. 

Jonathan Edwards wrote in his Treatise on Religious Affections that true religion consists in great part in holy affection. Furthermore, he insists that these affections should be given outward demonstration, since it is natural for them do to so, that the will is strengthened by affection, and that the without emotional inclination, religion is practice by definition with indifference. Or to put it another way, “If you’re happy an you know it/Then your live will surely show it/ If your happy and you know it say Amen.”

The ailment that affects us may not lie in our theology, but in our suppression of passion in religious life.  By emphasizing order, calm, and regularity, we have suppressed the emotional side of the faith so much that our desire to practice the duties of the faith has become virtually non-existent.

Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God meant following Jesus and denying ourselves in the small areas and details of our everyday life--our head, heart, hands, and our feet.

What can we do about Synod?

Two days  ago I wrote a pretty angry article, about the Synod packet. It isn't the only one I've written. 

Apparently, a lot of you share my anger. because more people read it than any of my other postings.  So if you passed around that last one,  I hope you will pass around this one , too. 

It's good to see people talking and responding ,  but honestly I have no passion for church fights. I only want to be faithful in saying what I believe God wants me to say.

And so I must.  The problems with this church cannot be fixed either by reforming Erskine or not reforming it.  They are spiritual, and have much more to do with our hearts than our heads. 

Considering the sad state of unity in the church, the decline in membership and giving, and the sad state of fellowship in a once gracious community of believers,  what are we to say?  It doesn't seem to me that we ought to be fighting.  There are other problems greater than these.   

I know some will disagree.  Some believe that purity of the church trumps peace,  and that we should have purity at any cost.  I wrote about that in one of my old blogs on four visions of the church (here) (here) 

But it is also a mistake to want peace at any cost.  Sometimes we have to fight. 

Even so, there's something we need more than either or them.  We need to change the conversation, and look for answers from God.  Without a rebirth of the spirit and a renewed passion,  we are doomed.

Our forefathers were men who lives breathed, and enjoyed prayer.  We take to it like a cat takes to water. 

Even so, our forefathers often failed when it came to loving each other.  We shouldn't make that same mistake. We should love God and love each other.

Do you remember Micah 6:8,

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

We'll disagree on things. We see the same circumstances differently.  But it would not matter if we gathered together around in justice, mercy, and humility.   nothing matters but what is good. 

1. First, let's be just.  "Justice" is a hot topic, but  in its most agreeable sense it means treating people with fairness.  Everyone should feel free to say what is on their mind, and not be afraid.  We can criticize what each other says without questioning that they have the right to do so. In a disfunctional organization, people are afraid to speak. They are afraid to speak or their voices are not heard. This should not be.  It's time to treat each other as equals.

Recently after church a man came up to me and made a comment about compassion. A businessman had recently told him there were two kinds of people--those who hurt him and those who helped him, and  the rest did not matter. It  that comment epitomizes to me the political mentality--people only count if they help or hurt the cause. 

Everyone counts, and everyone should be encouraged to speak. They should not be shushed, but should be respected.  It has always bothered me that the ARPs have not been able to handle conflict better than they do. They either have false tranquility or all out war.  There doesn't seem to be any way of disagreeing fairly.

2. Next, let's love mercy.  People needed to be treated mercifully,  as we like to be treated ourselves.   Their feelings matter, no matter, whether they be for us or against us. 

Politics is about making yourself look good while making your opponent look like a monster; exaggerating their problems while hiding our own. 

God requires us to love each other, even if it means we look weak doing it. The Romans persecuted Christians partially because they thought their mutual love made them look weak. They could not understand it.  Romans believed in demolishing enemies, not loving them.  They feared Christians because they believed their mutual respect weakened their iron resolve.  They were right. 

God requires it, though. We ought to be more concerned with reconciliation than retaliation, and with  love than winning.  Our battles of today matter less than our friendships.  I disagree with many of my close friends a little,  and  with some of them a lot.  If I only stayed friends with those who agreed with me, then  even my dog wouldn't like me.

3. Most of all, let's walk humbly with God.   As a denomination we very much need to pray. We all say it, but most people don't do it, and when they do, they often pray about the wrong things.  I  don't think we should be praying today for the defeat of that other side, whichever side we are on.  Instead,  let's pray for our own humility. 

We all have much to repent for.  I have been a terrible witness in many ways, and have often been more concerned about building my caree r and my reputation than getting close to God.

Ever since I left the pastorate for the school,  denominational concerns  not been on my mind.  Instead, I've been teaching an writing mostly on the disciplines of the faith,  Bible reading, meditation, praise,  thanksgiving, and  confession.  These are in my opinion far more important than being a denominational man.  Walk humbly before God seems much more important than what happens to ecclesiastical institutions. 

Could we focus more on getting humble and less on getting even?  Is it possible that we could have a time this year of confessing our own sins forgiveness each other?  It would be so much better for us to work on clearing relationships between people than cleaning house.  Then if anyone needs to go,  maybe we could part as brothers than as enemies. 

Most of the issues in our denomination are about running institutions,  power, money, and control, as well as what we believe about god.   But we don't need money, power, or control to be godly, and being right about God is not that important if we are not right with  Him. 

Ten years ago, my life was pretty much settled. I was on a good track.  Since then I've left two  churches full of people I  loved and started a new career as a teacher for which I feel woefully unqualified most of the time. I  still grieve for both congregations, and yearn to preach.

But this  isn't a complaint--on the contrary, it been a very good thing for me. Once I was out of my comfort zone, I discovered how much God provided.  My life had to be out of control before I could allow God to run it. 

What's true of us as individuals is also true of us as a group.  It's more important  for this denomination to walk humbly before God than that we settled and prosperous.   Let's pray and get humble before we come to Synod. 

In one of my previous blogs I threw out a suggestion.  Let's get some prayer partners and pray not for the synod, but for ourselves, that we can get humble before Him.

Reading through the Synod Packet

I got my report  last week. It is so disheartening, I hardly know where to begin.

There's a line in the last Batman movie, when Alfred is trying to explain why the Joker is blowing everything up.  "Some men sir, just want to see the  world burn." Judging from the Synod packet, some men just want to see the ARP church burn.  It's hard to see any other motivation. 

Synod and Erskine have always had differences of opinion.  Thirty years ago, when I  was there,  there was a severe difference of opinion over the role of faith in the church.  I once took  a group of students to an orientation where the president said outright that it was not a Christian college. 

Today,  Erskine is very, very different. The President is an inerrantist and the school is much, much better. In fact, we have the most conservative administration the college has had in sixty years.  Outside of a few tenured professors, there are few who would deny the infallibility of the Bible.   That was not the case before. 

Nevertheless,  a couple of years ago a  group of presbyters tried to fire the bulk of the board so they could put their own people, picked not for their qualifications to run a college, but for their party spirit.  Some members of the old board resisted by going to the one source they could--the secular-court.  Instead of lying down and taking their beating from the bullies who picked the fight, they asked the secular courts to intervene.   When they did not lie down submissively enough,  this group who tried to have them removed wailed in mock righteousness that they were insubordinate and deserved to be punished for defending themselves.  When everyone knows that if they lost, they were prepared to do the same thing.   If they did not,  why were they so eager to get lawyers on their side?   Then,  when a concord was reached between Christian gentlemen from both sides who favored peace over strife, this same group pushed harder for division.  When the session  of one man who dared to resist refused to punish him sufficiently, they brought charges against the session. When their presbytery refused, they brought charges against presbytery.  Then they accuse others of not seeking the peace, purity, and prosperity of the church, when they should be on their knees in repentance for doing that very thing!

Now, one of the synod moderator's committee-namely Erskine's--has been deliberately stacked to produce a political outcome.  If you think that untrue, look at the packet for yourself.  Eleven members of the Erskine moderator's committee come from one presbytery, while Florida presbytery has none. Three churches have both a pastor and an elder on the same committee. In thirty years, I have never seen that happen before.  Cross-reference the names and churches of the people who were appointed to the committee with those who have signed the various complaints included in the packet, and you will see a remarkable similarity. 

One of the members of this committee, admitting to this collusion ,  justified this privately by saying,  "The liberals used to do it to us all the time. "  By "all the time," he meant thirty years ago.  Since when are standards of Christian behavior based on how other people behave?  If the old liberals were wrong to do it, why do they do the same thing?

Why continue to push for discipline over a matter that had long since been settled?  Who do they think they are helping?  Do they think that a God of peace and mercy is best served by pushing punitive action over a matter that that no longer matters?

I must question their motives. I do not think this is about Erskine or about the Bible. I think it is about power and control.  Some of them just want to see Erskine burn and know that they set the fire.

If that were all there were,  that would be a bad enough. But that is not all.

This year, Erskine has been seeking to renew their accreditation with ATS and SACS.  Last year, that would not have meant much to me. But this year, I'm working at a school that is also renewing their accreditation. Board autonomy and academic freedom are serious, serious matters to accrediting agencies.   If you haven't seen the thoroughness and pickiness of reaccreditation boards, you probably can't appreciate the seriousness of it.  If the board is not free of undue influence, and does not take a warning from the accrediting agency seriously, they can and will shut it down. This happened a few years ago to Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina. Overnight, it went from several  hundred students to twenty-five.  Students lost their degrees, their financial aid--everything.  

The writers of the minority report give their word that it won't happen. They also gave their word that they know what is best for the college and denomination, and that they are acting in the school and denomination's best interest.  Do we really want to take their word for it?  I don't.

But wait,  There's more.  There are no less than four disciplinary actions either referred to or calling for our action.   There's a call for action against a member from First Presbytery.  The information we are given ahead of time is a blank sheet.  A blank sheet!    All we know is his name.  Evidently, it was okay to publish his name as a potential malefactor, but not any charges,  leaving the rest of Synod to freely imagine whatever charges they wish   Look at the report of the Ecclesiastical Commission on Judiciary Affairs indicating that we have apparently already lost Pacific Presbytery.  The Ecclesiastical Commission report also refers to another ecclesiastical trial, that was cut short only because one presbyter  recused himself and another quit.  Otherwise, that one would probably be before us, too.

Think about it, those of you who've been around Synod many times.  How many trials have you seen on the floor of Synod?  At this rate, we'll soon have more ecclesiastical trials than Salem, Massachusetts.  

I have been told by some of these men that they are acting in defense of the Bible and the Reformed faith. But they use the Bible the way an ape uses a computer--to bang people over the head with it, without any regard for what is in it. 

Ask yourself this,  how does any of this relate to the Great Commission or the Great Commandment? Does it help or hurt making disciples? Does it unify or divide the church? Does it cause us to love God and our brothers more or less?   How can they be squared with the vow to seek the peace, purity, and prosperity of the church? Does it bring peace? Does it bring purity? Does it bring prosperity? 

Some men just like to see the world burn, all right, and apparently the Synod, too.  I cannot conceive of any reason all this could be done, unless it were to see our church divide and fall--strip off Erskine,  keep the presbyteries in turmoil, and threaten with tribunals any who get in  the way. 

I do not like church fights.  I would rather see us praying and repenting together,  seeking God's will for why we haven't fulfilled either the Great Commission or Great Commandment.    But sometimes we just need to say the truth.  Either we treat our own behavior as seriously as we treat other people's doctrinal errors, or we cease to be a practicing Christian denomination.

 NOTE:  If you read this, and want to know more,  please click here.   And also here