No Passion, No Preaching

There is an idea floating around my head of throwing a "10-minute party" each Sunday after I teach. The party would be by invitation only. Those invited would be people interested in or believing they have a call of God upon their life to preach.

For ten minutes after each study they would dissect what I just did. What was the homiletical idea? How did I start the introduction? At what point did I draw illustrations? How did the outline contribute? What were the transitions? Was the conclusion appropriate to the subject? Maybe more of a party for me than for them.

Often I will say while I am teaching, "It is not preaching if it's not practical." If I have not made truth practical, I have not preached.

That is true from the listener's side. Equally true from my side is there is no preaching without passion, for preaching is truth shot-through a prism of human personality and Holy Spirit anointing. That means a dominant note in preaching has to be intensity. Well, I have to be intense. I preach to reach the back row.

Study the preaching of the apostles. It was far from the familiar Sunday fare of legalism, humanism, and political correctness wrapped in aphorisms.

There is no reason why your ministry should not achieve visible results, provided you keep alive within you a sense of the wonder of the facts you preach and of the urgency of the issues with which you deal. Every Sunday morning when it comes ought to find you awed and thrilled by the reflection – "God is to be in action today, through me, for these people: this day may be crucial, this service decisive, for someone now ripe for the vision of Jesus."

—James S. Stewart, Scottish preacher, Heralds of God, 1946, p. 47

Lessons Never Learned from History

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
—George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense, 1905

People talk about being "postmodern," but really we live in an a-historical age. Our people are prisoners of the past because they never learn it, and hence learn from it. That is why to the Greeks history appeared to be circular, and to Hegel it looked like a repeating scenario of truth-antithesis-synthesis—because we never really learn the truth! The reason we never learn from history is because learning requires change. People have to actually change if they have truly learned. In order to say you have learned, new decisions have to be made. For humanity, here are five lessons we never learn from history.

Lessons Unlearned

1. A global economy cannot immunize us from war and tyranny (and neither can science or technology)

Modern rational empiricism is not enough to keep us from fighting new wars. And certainly the Palestinians are not rational enough (as an example). Ever since the 1993 Oslo Accords Israel and the west have extended them a carrot. This carrot, to include statehood, means entrance into the global economy, with all the prosperity that implies. Don't expect them (or the Iranians) to go for it. Theirs is a religious objection (the North Koreans, on the other hand, are greedy and might just accept the carrot over the stick—if it is a long enough carrot).

2. Freedom is not a globally shared value

Desire for power is the true universal human value. Six thousand years and you would think we had learned this. Since this point is the hardest to accept, let me spend a paragraph on it. Nations and individuals often choose the perceived security of a dictator (like maybe Russia as a modern example) to the responsibilities of freedom. China and Russia both had democratic revolutions in the last century; they ended in brutal tyrannies. Confucius said that order flows from above. This ideal produces persistent despotism until the King of kings returns.

Okay, I see you still don't believe me, so let's take an illustration closer to home. Latin America is right next door to the U.S. It has vast resources and an industrious population. Yet many Latin American countries have never developed enduring institutions of democracy. (Sure, it would be easy to cite South American examples, but Cuba is only 90 miles away!) This lesson is why . . .

3. The Middle East is the cradle of civilization and the graveyard of empires

It doesn't matter that some of the empires had good intentions. Washington D.C. is the new Rome, and America is the new Athens. Along with those ancient civilizations, we share the idea that,

LAW: the strong have a duty to come to the aid of the weak
COROLLARY: pre-emptive war is necessary against bullies, and we will be welcomed as a liberator by the victims

And Middle Eastern history says, Not! Rome fell as much by getting caught in the cycle of nation-building, annexation, and the terrorism that followed, as from anything else.

4. Lust for power is a universal human value, but religion is the most powerful motivator of nations

Watch. The U.S. was founded on the truth "self evident," that "all men are created equal." And yet the Constitution was crafted to state that some men in America were only equal to three-fifths of a human. Why? Because those men and women were viewed as property, not persons. Righteous indignation against that immoral idea led to a Civil War. The Civil War led to over 620,000 deaths (about two percent of the population, or the equivalent of over six million today). This finally settled our understanding of the definition of freedom—as a moral issue. (Freedom may be settled, but fairness, on the other hand, is still "the struggle.")

5. Nations do not rise and fall because of enigmatic social and economic forces, but because of decisions made by individuals

Harry Truman believed that America was ordained to bring freedom to the world. Every President since has believed the same, to a greater or lesser degree. Truman knew that to achieve this we must become a superpower, and so we did.

What lesson does the Bible teach us?

Study Moses, David, Solomon. Examine the interplay of kings and prophets and foreign relations.
LAW: there is a moral dimension to history
COROLLARY: you cannot separate public and private morality

Any nation is able to be just as ruthless as its leaders (as shown in the book "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust," by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen).

History is a great self-help course; especially Bible history.

How Deep Is Your Love?

How deep is your love
I really need to learn
'Cause were living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me

—The Bee Gees, 1977


What Are We Here For?

I write this for my own enjoyment. I am embarrassed by the people who say they read my blog.

This entry will not appeal to you. We live in a day of seeker-sensitive, need-meeting oriented churches and services. I am much less therapeutic, preferring to make you look into your Bible instead of inside yourself to get the answer. And I find that sometimes we need to be reminded of the basics.

We were made to worship. Church exists because Christ calls his people to assemble for his worship.

The Old Testament is a narrative of worship. The Patriarchs worshipped as they wandered. Israel worshipped in the wilderness with a tent and an ark. When they settled in the land the tent became a tabernacle, and finally a temple.

God was worshipped in a sanctuary. The sanctuary was a place where God dwelt. It was a buffer zone between a holy God and an unholy world. It was the cusp where the Kingdom of God was conceived. So the sanctuary served as the focal point of worship. But the building was nothing apart from obedience. This is worship.

There was a place and time. They worshipped on the Sabbath and during the Feasts. They prepared for worship by circumcision. The elements of worship were prayer, praise, scripture reading, preaching, almsgiving and sacrifice. But the sacrifice was nothing apart from obedience. This is worship.

We worship God in spirit, but according to the truth. Principles first laid down in the Old Testament transcend dispensations.

The church is the new royal priesthood. Every believer's heart is now the sacred dwelling-place of the divine nature.

We have a time when the congregation comes together: Sunday. Some churches have services Friday or Saturday, but we still honor his resurrection when we meet on Sunday, for he was the sacrificial Lamb of God.

We prepare for worship. Circumcision is nothing, but baptism relates you to a local body. Baptism links us to Christ by a good conscience. Baptism marks our entrance into a body of believers. Baptism states that we are living according to a new life and walking in a new way.

If we make everything worship then nothing is worship. God is worshipped by our coming together. We offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise. Think through this.

ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP
1. Preaching the word (discipleship goal 1)
2. Prayer and praise to God together (discipleship goal 2)
3. Observing the ordinances (discipleship goal 3)
4. Giving an offering (to enable discipleship goal 4)

At the end, there is no temple (Rev 21:22). There is no Sabbath, for it is now the Sabbath rest (Heb 4:9-10). There is unceasing praise, and no need for sun or moon to regulate sacred time (Rev 21:23). There is preparation, for we have washed our robes (Rev 7:14-15).

There are still elements to our worship. We pray (Rev 5:8). We sing (Rev 19:6). The scroll is read and the word is proclaimed (Rev 5,14). We share a supper with the Lord (our marriage supper, Rev 19:6-8).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Crucified or Crowned

The inevitable defeat against overwhelming odds eventually comes upon every Christian. It is not fatal and not final, even as complete as it is. Yet Christians have become notorious for "shooting their wounded." Much like the contrast between Carthage and Rome.

Think 220 BC. This is the time mid-way between the Old and New Testaments. Carthage controls the Mediterranean coast from its capital in North Africa. Rome controls the Italian Peninsula, conquers colorful pirate Queen Teuta, invades the Gauls and defeats them to add that annexed region to their expanding number of provinces. Both have ambitions on the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain). This sparks the Second (of three) Punic (Phoenician) War between Carthage and Rome.

The head of Carthage is Hannibal. In an audacious move, he crosses the Alps with 40,000 soldiers, 12,000 cavalry and (maybe most importantly) 40 war elephants. After a series of defeats the Romans panic. There was a constitutional provision for just such an emergency: Dictatorship. They declare one old senator Dictator. When his year of dictatorship is up with no success, the Romans go from panic to impatience.

Two young consuls promise they can crush Hannibal if given the power. They raise a double army of nearly 80,000. Marching out of Rome to great pomp and circumstance, they meet Hannibal on a plain at a place called Cannae.

They are confident and cocky. Hannibal is outnumbered 2 to 1, but he knows Roman methods. So he develops a tactic that Gen. Schwarzkopf used in the first Gulf War. He knew they would attack his center to break his line and destroy his army. So Hannibal purposely weakened his center and placed his best troops on the flanks. When the attack comes, the Romans find themselves in a death trap, surrounded by stronger troops to the side and behind. They are so densely packed they cannot even draw their swords, much less swing them. The only thing left was the butchery. Nearly 70,000 soldiers die in a day.

But here is what I want to get to. One of the two Roman consuls was last seen sitting on a rock, head bowed, bleeding profusely. He died. The other consul returned to Rome on his horse. He was haggard, blood-splattered and dusty. But when he entered the Senate, they stood and applauded! An official resolution was passed thanking him for not giving up on the Republic, and for doing his duty as best as he could.

When Carthaginian generals failed they were crucified. Whereas the vision and attitude of Romans, even when defeated, was not to be conquered. Times of crisis were their "finest hour" to stand firm, yielding nothing.

Quite a contrast. But you know "the rest of the story." Hannibal stomped around Italy for 15 years, never able to lay siege to Rome. Because of Roman attitudes toward intermediate defeats, the core of their countrymen did not budge. They contained Hannibal in the boot-heel while they patiently pushed to victory in North Africa and Spain. Eventually Hannibal had to return to Carthage to defend it from massive Roman invasion, being defeated in the battle of Zama, ending the Second Punic War.

Who are the heroes in our Christianity? Hannibal who crosses the Alps with war elephants but ultimately fails to reach the final objective? Or Marcus Terentius Varro, returning dusty and bloody on his steed, shattered breastplate, scarred sword at his side, dented helmet, splintered shield, having done all he could just to stand? Will he be glorious in apparent defeat, crucified or crowned?

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

"We live in Bug Landia—get used to it."
--Sue Kedrovsky to her kids

I spent all of last week in Costa Rica on a missions trip. It is the first strictly "work trip" I have made in quite a while. They worked us to death, but it was good to see what God is doing with La Iglesia del Este (Eastside Church) in San Jose.

The trip blog is here.

http://www.kcbt.org/207/costarica0807.htm

Some pictures from the week are here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/james.w.edwards/CostaRicaTrip

New Coded DaVinci

On July 27, the AP reported that an IT computer analyst in Milan, Italy has uncovered a new code in Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper. The web sites that posted the picture went down (and are still down today) because of all the madness.

Here's what he did. Pesci took a picture of the mural, reversed it (making a mirror-image), and then superimposed it back on the original picture. And what did he see? Two Knights Templar, one cradled baby, a strangely ostracized Judas, and the chalice that Christ was blessing at the last supper. (No partridge in a pear tree.)

Holy dialectic, DanBrown! You mean taking one image, getting the antithesis of it, and then synthesizing the two together creates a third image? Sure enough. A higher state of truth, even. You don't believe me, so look for yourself:

Wait a minute. This is a trick! How about if we line them up with Christ's face, instead of with the physical center of the picture?

Bam! The ghosts are gone. Do new ghosts appear though? That's your assignment. Take the Da Vinci Rorschach test and tell me what you see.

Little Tears

Got all the heartaches I can use
From all the long nights I've been through
I'm only crying little tears
Not quite as big as they might appear

—Joy Lynne White

A storm was stirring in Jesus. "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." The center column reports that "he troubled himself." Before he would raise the dead he roused himself. Why? Because he now stood toe to toe with that last enemy, death.

Spurgeon says the hardest thing in winning souls is to get ourselves into a fit state. I would say the same for preaching. Because until your own soul is moved you cannot move others.

Indignant at the power of the hour of darkness. Grieving with the family. Sorrowful at those who stood by in unbelief. Recognizing the full effects of sin. Our Lord's heart was in a great storm. But instead of a thunderous threat, or the lightning bolt of a curse, all that was perceptible was a shower of tears. Just two words make a verse unto themselves, John 11:35. He worked, he walked, he wearied, and "Jesus wept."

Jesus was always in touch with himself. Happy are those who are in touch with him. He held his divinity without doubt and his manhood without mistake. How did he keep it together? He wept.

The Puritans used to say that no prayer would prevail with God like liquid petitions. They trickle from the eye when distilled from the heart. The angel at the Jabbok will slip from Jacob's grasp. But moisten your hands with tears and you will hold him. Why take Prozac? Let your soul arouse itself, and trouble itself to anguish to prevail. Jesus taught us how to baptize our prayers.

How did Jesus keep sin out of his crying? By weeping in the Father's presence. He spoke to God in his sorrow and the first word was, Father (v 41). But that's not all. It was, "Father, I thank thee . . .".

If you can weep in a way that, all the while, you sense God is your Father and are thanking him, then your crying is healthy. When you cannot smile or weep without forgetting God and his word, you are sinning. (I just gave you the answer. Or if you prefer, we'll call it "The Secret" and you can send me $23.95.)

Consider this. Jesus did not prove his sympathy in words, or even his deeds. Only your heart can express true sympathy, and it does it by tears. They are mined from the depths of the heart, minted in the eyes, and put in circulation as precious (Ps 56:8).

Watch, or you'll miss it. Our Hero wept in the fight, but he was not defeated. He came, he wept, he conquered (apologies to Julius Caesar; I'm not sure how to say that in Latin).

You have an awfully small soul if you can hold it all in your ribcage. A Christ-like soul lives in the souls of other people’s bodies as well as its own (Rom 12:15). And indignation over being wronged will best show itself in compassion for the wrongdoer.

Then after you weep, go roll the stone away.