Ad augusta per angusta

A Different Question on Holiness

2011-03-25T19:34:00.000-04:00

Holiness, Holiness is what I long for

Holiness is what I need…

You know you’ve been there. It’s the last song…head held back, arms lifted, singing this over and over

And over

And….*yawn*

After eternity ends and Jesus comes back, it’s done and you walk out in the lobby (that’s church-code for “Gossip Central”), where you hear about the worship leader’s son’s girlfriend’s pregnancy, how the pastor’s socks were mis-matched, and those rumors about how the children’s director got a speeding ticket and thus needs to resign.

Is there a problem with this picture?

The words of Jesus ring ominously when He says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Seriously? Jesus, who walked on water and turned water into wine? Who went 40 days without food? Who withstood temptation from Satan himself?

How am I supposed to be just as holy as Him?

An Attempt

If we see holiness on a scale, a grade of goodness that goes from good to bad, then giving up is the only way. That’s the problem with religion, it puts a limit and a scope on holiness that is contextual, and then conveniently provides rules and regulations that will help the unsuspecting church-member to fit that scope. Some of the more common rules are:

Don’t drink, it’s a sin

Don’t listen to music that isn’t Christian (minimum limit of 5 clichés per song)

Don’t miss church, that’s a sin too

Don’t hang out with too many people who aren’t Christians

Don’t question your faith

Don’t appear weak or vulnerable

Don’t challenge church leaders

Church culture defines holiness, sets the rules for attaining it, and then releases a package via an established institution for people to either follow, or “fall away”. Ironically, this culture overlooks some overt sins like gossip, because certain sins actually enforce the rules.

A Problem

The problem is that holiness is not that simple, and Jesus wouldn’t fit in with any of these religious games churches play with. He didn’t restrict Himself, in fact, He did the exact opposite. He went to the clubs, the bars, and the crazy parties of His day. He made alcohol and drank it too. He hung out with hookers in clear heels and white collar crooks who robbed the poor. He made fun of the ‘church leaders’ of His day and cussed out Jewish holy men in the temple, saying they were sons of Satan.

So, by today’s standards, Jesus wouldn’t be allowed to give the announcements in children’s church.

A Different Question

We need to ask a different question about holiness. It isn’t about ‘is this word holy’, ‘is this music holy’, ‘is this drink holy’, or ‘is this movie holy’. The holiness of a thing is not about the thing itself, but to what the thing points to.

Does my beverage consumption show my love for Jesus?

Does my consumption of and conversation about artistic expression show I love Jesus?

Does where I spend my time point to Jesus?

Does my social structure reflect Jesus’?

Am I authentic as to reflect Jesus?

Do I challenge sin in my own life to help others love Jesus?

Do I challenge authorities and rules that go against the principles of Jesus?

See the difference? Everything points back to Jesus, how HE would react, and the questions don’t refer back to US and OUR definitions of holiness, but to how we are connecting our lives and choices back to Jesus.

Holiness isn’t found in restriction, but in redemption.

Can You Sing In the Night?

2010-09-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

"Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest… The difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skillful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by -- who sings from the heart… Lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God's high praises, unless He Himself give me the song? No, it is not in man's power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lip… Then, since our Maker gives 'songs in the night', let us wait upon Him for the music."

~ C.H. Spurgeon

The Struggle of Surrender

2010-08-30T20:51:00.000-04:00

Surrender

What are some things that come to mind when you hear that word? Maybe white flags, hands raised, guns down, the French?

In our American philosophy, surrender is usually something that is associated with the weak-minded and the weak-willed. Our society prides itself in rewarding the biggest, baddest, and brawniest of persons. Businesses and wars are run with a “we-will-never-surrender” mentality, and for the most part…it’s worked.

Unfortunately, surrender from a Christian perspective is viewed in the same way. When we hear a phrase such as “I must surrender myself to God”, it is viewed as a limitation of freedom, fun, or creativity and thus is substituted with rote obedience. But I think it’s something a lot different.

Surrender is a struggle.

Think about it. Jesus died to set us free right? But we are also called to surrender our bodies down as living sacrifices. To mesh the two, freedom must be seen through a different lens: the struggle to surrender leads to freedom.

The Bible says that Jesus gave himself up for us, surrendering to His Father’s will. We are called to do the same. True, biblical surrender of our lives, wills, ambitions, and aspirations seems at first to be extremely limiting. But there is a second part to this story.

In the proportion to which we surrender ourselves, we get unchained from the slavery of shame, guilt, ‘religious’ rules, and regulations. The struggle to continuously surrender to God produces in the life of a Christian the increasing ability to live life the way we truly want to, freed from the desire to sin and freed to the desire to ‘put away violence and practice justice and righteousness’.

When surrender is seen as a struggle which results in freedom FROM sin and TO Christ-likeness, it becomes a joy instead of a burden, a love instead of an obligation, and allows us to engage with the true heart of the Gospel.

"Love is an attempt at penetrating another being, but it can only succeed if the surrender is mutual."

- Octavio Paz

Please Break Glass in Times of unCertainty

2010-08-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

I’ve been out of a job for a week, but haven’t been working for almost three months.

I am a person who is driven, passionate, and loves to work, have responsibility, and lead, so this not-working/staying-at-home thing is something that absolutely kills me. Sitting at home, getting unemployment, and trying to find jobs at churches or elsewhere…the uncertainly and lack of intensity drives me insane.

Throughout this three+ month walk along an oftentimes dark and unsure path, I am trying to be reflective of my life and walk with Jesus. As someone who trusts in God and the Bible, I have full confidence that nothing happens outside of God’s control or by chance. So for me, this job situation is just as spiritually impactful as going to church on Sunday, if not more.

I know from reading the Bible that God sometimes places us in these in-between situations to grow us and stretch us, especially as it relates to our faith in His goodness and love. So the question I am asking myself constantly is "God, what are you trying to teach me". This unsure path is meant to get me looking UP, not AROUND...and I can’t say with honesty that my eyes have stayed completely on Jesus for these three months. (Check out my buddy Pete for more details on that)

While at times I like to rebel or throw pity parties or rant at God, I am trusting that God does truly know me intimately and has a plan for me that I can either submit to or not. Open candor with God is always better than closed and angry feelings towards God. One opens communication, the other closes…and right now I’m trying to communicate and cry out like I’m sinking in the Sea of Galilee.

God has been continuously bringing me back to Psalm 139, especially in the past month. I am holding on to the truth of this passage, and praying for the faith to trust that God will actually do what He says. And instead of having little faith and sinking, I want to have big faith to be walking towards Jesus because I know if I do that, the rest will work itself out.

Here are three biblical ways to respond while walking through some of these uncertain paths:

1) trust that God is faithful to complete what He has started in you

2) know that all things happen to work for God's glory and our joy

3) hope that God is blessing and will bless you in ways you cannot currently see

[for more fun, read this last sermon from John Piper. Good stuff]

This Present Hope- London Day 2

2010-05-23T21:30:00.003-04:00

Hope.
Prayer.
Tribe.
Biblical Church.

These are the four topics expounded upon at Dwell London, a powerful gathering for church-planters and potential CP’s throughout the country of England. After an incredibly intense day of understanding the overall religious culture through immediate immersion, this second day was more focused on the local church and its specific needs in the cultural context of western Europe.

This Present (Hope)

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 15:13)

How have you seen hope expressed in the local church?

Outside of vision casting, the idea of hope from the pulpit is most often related to eternal glory with Christ. While this is not a bad perspective, it is one which is sadly incomplete. Because the concept of progressive sanctification is little referenced in the church, the hope of future glory tends to override the beauty of present sanctification.

Steve Timmis, regional director of Acts29 in Europe, began to touch on this by stating, “our perspective of hope has been reduced to spiritual anorexia”. The question is: why? The reasoning for this relates to an inaccurate and incomplete view of the overall narrative of scripture among the rising generation of church leaders.

Most evangelicals would ascribe to the Creation (Gen. 1-2), Fall (Gen. 3-11), Redemption (Gen. 12-Rev. 20), and Consummation (Rev. 21-22) narrative of the Bible, but fail to incorporate this into their theology, express this in mission, or teach this through spiritual formation. As Steve continued to express his perspective, the predominant theme he kept coming back to was Genesis 12:1-3. It says:

“Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

The impact of this passage is critical to the Gospel. After the Fall and the protoevangelium in 3:15, there is no infusion of hope. God promises, yet for almost 1,000 years there is no solution to the problem of evil. Biblical scholars say Gen. 4:1 points to Eve anticipating the savior to be Cain, but that went horribly wrong. And so in between Genesis chapters 4 through 11 all we see is failure after failure over a period spanning more than a millennium. Cain’s murder of his brother (ch.3), the wickedness of man (ch.6), the Flood (chs.7-9), Noah’s sin (ch.9), and the Tower of Babel (ch.11).

And then God speaks.

God chooses a wicked idolater who has no concept of the true God, and speaks a promise of blessing over him. But it was not just localized to Abraham, God does something unbelievable. He promises a heathen that He will make his nation SO BIG and SO EXPANSIVE that every single tribe in the history of the world will be blessed by his descendants! This is an unparalleled covenant, unlike any other in scripture! God makes a universal, global promise of salvation to someone who doesn’t even know Him as the true God!

And so the redemption of humanity began.

Another millennium later, God came down from heaven to fulfill His promise to bless the world through His ultimate Agent of blessing: Jesus—Living…Dying…Resurrecting, Jesus died a substitutionary death so that we could live a sanctified life and experience a glorified eternity. He solved the problem of sin in Genesis 3, but He also did something else.

Jesus blessed us.

This concept of blessing in ancient near eastern (ANE) Israel literally means to expand, or grow. To bless was to speak an expansion of growth and potential over someone. A curse is the opposite: a limiting of potential and restriction.

Naturally, God’s blessing of Creation was turned into the cursing of the Fall with the invasion of sin and depravity. We were destined and blessed to fill the earth, subdue it, and reflect an innocent and perfect expression of the holiness and love of God on an undefiled earth. But sin cannot allow us to do that, and thus we are limited by it constraints and consequences.

So Jesus’ solution to the problem of sin reintroduced blessing back into the world. We are now capable, in a limited and imperfect way, to reflect the holiness and love of God…because of Jesus…by the Holy Spirit.

And thus the message of the Gospel is the fruition of both the promise of salvation in Genesis 3 and the hope of salvation in Genesis 12.

When we understand and connect with this, it unifies our view of the Gospel with the narrative expositions of the OT. Every narrative in the OT reflects humanity’s brokenness and inability to be blessed. And thus the eternal weight of Jesus’ sacrifice becomes much more real when we see it as a fulfillment of Genesis 3 AND Genesis 12!

The marriage of the promise of salvation and the hope of blessing as fulfilled in Jesus Christ is the key to living a sanctified, Gospel-centered life.

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How do you see this perspective of hope and Genesis 12 informing the local church’s view of Gospel-centered mission?

Turning Another Page: London Religion 101

2010-05-21T20:56:00.001-04:00

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page” - St. Augustine

It is a strange thing to wake up in one continent and sleep in another. It’s even stranger to do so without delays, troubles, or stressful circumstances. I am pleased to say that today offered me both of these luxuries!

In case you did not know, I have the opportunity to travel to London with a team of pastors and church leaders on a 10 day exposure trip to post-Christian culture in western Europe. The organization is called The Upstream Collective, and the feature leaders of the trip are Dr. Ed Stetzer and Daniel Montgomery. I have been fundraising, stressing, praying…and finally God has allowed me to come to Europe again without any troubles at all!

Immediately after a brief, five-minute meeting upon arriving in London, we set out for an Muslim mosque. The missionary we connected with has developed a relationship of mutual respect and love with the local Imam for over five years, just living out the Gospel. They have actually become very close friends, and the Imam shared with us some of what he believes as it relates to God and faith and also gave us a quick overview of the Islamic religious culture. As our team saw the local missionary interact with the Imam, there was such a sense of love and brotherhood between them that it could not have been a better reflection of the love Christ has for the lost! This missionary in London is a joy to be around, and his love for the Muslim community and his Imam friend in particular was worth flying 1500 miles to see.

We continued our tour to include a Hindu temple, Sikh temple, and a Church of England location. And, if the religious exposure wasn’t enough, we finished off the evening with a full-blown Afghani dinner.

AND, all of this was in the first four hours of our time in London! The intensity was vibrant and the experience more than beneficial to begin understanding the religious culture of Western Europe.

The cultural diversity of London far surpasses anything found in the States, including New York City. This gives rise to subcultures so deep and influential that people from the home countries of these religions want to live in London because it is quickly becoming the hub of religious activity for Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim religions. And with this heavily charged atmosphere, the depth of spiritual oppression and depravity is like an insurmountable weight upon my heart. Yet God has provided some faithful people to devote their lives to leading these colorful, beautiful, diverse, yet lost people to Jesus.

There are a few things I would like to note from our debriefing time after visiting these places:

1. The people in Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh religions FAR surpass even the most devout Christians in terms of intensity and dedication (Muslims wake up every single morning at four am for prayer, no matter what circumstance)

2. The worship services for these other religions are more integrated than in America. The children kneel before their false goddess Vishnu alongside of their parents. There is no separation of children from the joint worship service. They observe and repeat whatever their parents do. This leads to a high level of assimilation from children into their parents faith.

3. In America, our faith is mostly seen as a compartmentalized hobby to entertain us, but with these religions in London they are a way of life and dictate every, single facet of their existence.

4. These false religions do not osculate with models of ministry, they have a specific worldviews and perspectives to which they approach every dimension of their life, without compromise. Their methods are driven by the needs of their ‘followers’, but the message and almost all basic principles are the same as they have been for thousands of years.

These four notes lead me to four interpretations and four questions to ponder this weekend:

1. In all of these false religions, the person has to work to earn their favor with God. Christians have a freedom because Jesus earns favor FOR us with God through His death on the cross. Unfortunately, we forget that Jesus saves us to run a race…not to descend into spiritual atrophy.

How can we translate this freedom of grace into a call to serve?

2. American, evangelical parents most-often shoo their children away on Sunday to their own service, denying basic discipleship to them yet passing on the blame to the local church when things go wrong with their youth.

How can pastors train parents to disciple their children in worshipping Jesus from infancy to maturity?

3. The incredible amount of dedication and religious fervor is unspeakable. For example, the Imam memorized the entire Koran, reciting the entire book throughout the month of Ramadan from memory. As a Christian society, there are very few, if any points throughout all of church history where this dedication has been recorded on a consistent or community basis.

How can pastors lead their congregation back to the “joy of their salvation” so they can do ministry out of a joy within them instead of an obligation coming from outside of them.

4. In popular Christian culture, there is a look to and dependence on models and methods to drive church ministry. These most often have damaging effects on a church’s theology. Yet in these false religions the theology has remained virtually untouched for hundreds if not thousands of years.

How do churches break out of the model-seeking mode and develop a core biblical theology which will stand the test of culturally driven methodology?

And so tonight in London I turn another page in the narrative of my life and my ministry, enjoying the story God is penning in my life.

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What are your reactions? What are you distressed about when you read this account?

If only life would allow…

2010-02-20T15:47:00.001-05:00

i have always told you i would join
your collection of fettered friends
to write about the happenstance
of life and love and lost romance

i have always told you i would join
to bring rhymes and rhythm
or recreate rain by our rolling readings
or raise rings of ridiculous randoms
that rise to reprehensible ramifications

i have always told you i would join
your colloquial commentary for foster-child fantasies
to wonder about the haplessness
of life and love and lost romance
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Sacred Friendships- A Book Review

2009-10-05T00:21:00.004-04:00

A voice to the voiceless.

Throughout the history of the church, men have most often been the voice of church movement, change, and progression. We read about the greats such as Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Edwards, Whitfield, and the Wesley brothers…to name a few. Volumes are written about their lives and ministry, theologies are formed around their sermons, and whole denominations are based on their teachings concerning the roles and functions of the church.

Yet behind every strong voice there must lay a strong heart.

Beneath the sermons there must rest a loving soul.

And beside the resounding mesh of corporate change there must stand a mindful, individual ministry.

And this is where we have silenced the heart, soul, and mind of over half of our venerable ecclesiology…the voice of women in the history of soul care and spiritual direction.

The noble task of giving back a voice is the heart and soul of Dr. Bob Kellemen and Susan Ellis’ new book Sacred Friendships. Their work has over 50 stories of historical women of the faith, who practiced the art of counseling both the suffering and the sinning in ways that are still echoing through the annals of time. Sacred Friendships does more than simply teach on the role of women in historical counseling, it also helps us train our ears to hear the beautiful narratives of brave souls and learn from their ministries of grace and truth.

God designed both men and women in His image and likeness. Within their core gender distinctives, He has placed a picture of who He is and what He is about. We call this the imago dei. Too often, the church has relied on only the male personalities and perspectives to express the Divine Personhood. The imago dei has been shackled and chained to only show the masculine image, while excluding the feminine proclamation of the nature and character of God in the process.

Through the exposition of these women heroes of the faith, Kellemen and Ellis have shown how the image of God is displayed in the unique and distinctive ways that only the feminine ministry of soul care and spiritual direction can show. They have started bridging the gap of history and reality by including a whole other section of our “great cloud of witnesses,” and have given them a voice.

These women have stood upon the stage of history for centuries with a message and a model. They have watched from the gates of heaven for generation after generation in eager anticipation, ready to proclaim again the beauty of God through the retelling of their stories. And now, we are here to look upon their platform and learn from their ministry.

What Kellemen and Ellis have done is to simply turn the lights on, to shine the spotlight on these women heroes, and most importantly…to switch on the megaphone for these women to shout to our modern era the glory of God through their testimonies and ministry to the hurting, the sinning, and the helpless.

They have been given their voice back.

Will you listen to their stories?

Dr. Kellemen can be reached at: rpm.ministries@gmail.com
A free sample chapter of Sacred Friendships is available at: http://bit.ly/1S1haj
Sacred Friendships is on sale at 40% off for $12.99 at: http://bit.ly/MG1l5
To learn more about RPM Ministries, please visit: http://www.rpmministries.org/

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More Than A Name

2009-09-07T22:50:00.005-04:00

My full name is Joshua Belden Young.

The word ‘Joshua’ in Hebrew is יהושוע (yeshua). It means, ‘God is salvation’. There is a specific, yet simple reason I am named the name I am. My parents have always loved the story of Joshua in the Old Testament, and wanted their child to reflect and emulate his character. At three days old, I was named after someone my parents one day wanted me to be like.

There’s a hope attached to a name.

We tend to name things what we want them to be rather than what they are. The idea isn’t original, we got it from God. He did it with Peter, and He seems to enjoy doing it with us too. But since God doesn’t make a habit of speaking names out of the sky, He gave us titles. And there is one that stands out as the most frequent in the New Testament. One that has a lot of expectation, responsibility, and dare I say hope…

saint.

Corporate America is driven by titles. Supervisor. Director. Executive Director. Vice President. President. They come with them certain inherent expectations. A paycheck. A desk or workstation. Access to company resources. Maybe a stapler? Some things are assumed from the get-go.

But other things are required. As people progress up the corporate ladder, they have more responsibility, increased workloads, longer hours, and a lot to lose. They have to work to keep progressing and living up to the job description they were given on day one.

Friends…we are given a title on day one. The word ‘saint’ means holy, set apart. It’s a one-time deal. You’re saved and BAM, an instant promotion to sainthood. No lengthy process of research, investigation, or a Vatican counsel. Take that Catholicism. If you think that’s cool, you won’t believe what God does next. He then gives us the unique opportunity to do what few saints were ever able to do…live up to the title.

That’s called sanctification.

Just like there are some things that are assumed with a job title, the same goes for saint. It’s what theologians call being positionally holy. God sees us in light of His Son and as far as salvation goes, we are set apart for God. Our position in front of God’s judgment seat is holy no matter what we do or how far we may try to run…because its already been decided.

Yet the other side of the coin is what is called progressive sanctification. Because we have the title of saint, we need to live up to it. That’s what this life is about. From the moment of salvation to our last breath, we are seeking to walk in the manner worthy of our calling.

Lots of things hinge on this name God has given us and the responsibilities that come with it. What matters the most is that, by virtue of our title, we have been given all of the tools necessarily to live up to it. The question is: are we fulfilling the job requirements? Are we living up to the title of saint? Sorry to disappoint, but most of us aren’t doing a very good job and more than likely deserve to be fired from our 9-5 sainthood.

Most people try to resolve this problem through more Bible study, good deeds, church services, and helping old ladies across the street. It doesn’t help, and frankly all it does is hide the problem from others and ourselves. The goal is not for more content or concealment, but for real and raw CHANGE.

The change comes when realize what it means to be holy and set apart.
When we start to live up to our God-given title.
When we move past 9-5 Christianity.
When we embrace the transformation He has already done in us.

When we become Saints.

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A Salvation So Great

2009-09-02T10:30:00.000-04:00

I love ska.

Everything about it makes me happier: the horns, the high-pitched, frazzled guitar that sets the tone for the jazzy, funky beats, and tunes that never cease to flutter around the brain long after being played. Ahh…the glory days of the 90’s.

And back then The O.C. Supertones were the heavy hitters. Like any legit ska band, they originated in California. My Dad won their cassette tape off the radio...and ever since they first came in through my Walkman, I've been hooked.

At the end of their second album, the last song is notably different than the more complex melodies which made the Supertones distinct and popular. A simple song with only an acoustic guitar accompanied by a electric solo made the ending seem like a whisper.

But it seems many important things come softly.

/Why me God? Why should You choose me?/
/On your team God, can You use even me?/
/Oh, hold me in your arms of love/
/Sometimes I swear I feel your heartbeat/
/I could never ever thank You enough/
/But here's my life for whatever it's worth/

And so this blog is about what it means to be saved and sanctified. A saint and a sinner. A lover and a fighter. Striving and struggling. Sinning and forgiving. Trying to connect to the beautiful music of heaven while being shackled to such a tone-deaf earth.

Exploring how we can attain what we already have…

a salvation so great.

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