Recently a friend told me of his growing concern for the impact of the concept of Great Commission utilitarianism on the church. As someone who is relatively well read and is currently writing a book on the Great Commission I was intrigued about the concept. A Google search on the phrase returned only five documents—not too much discussion about something that my friend is so concerned about.

So what is this Great Commission utilitarianism and why might it elicit so much concern from my friend and so little discussion within the church?

Great Commission Utilitarianism Defined

First, let us define utilitarianism itself. The word utilitarian refers to something that is useful. It is derived from Philosophical Pragmatism, a movement born in America at the end of the 19^th century and popularized by the atheistic humanistic philosopher John Dewey in the 20^th century. Philosophic Pragmatism determines that something is valuable if it is functional; it is good if it works! There is no sense in asking if that thing is beautiful, good, or true, only if it is useful. Unfortunately, many Christians have, perhaps unconsciously, denied the biblical virtues of truth, beauty, and goodness for utilitarianism.

Great Commission utilitarianism [GCU] refers specifically to a prevailing Christian view of work and wealth. Work is separated from God’s purpose and viewed as a necessary evil, or even a curse. Wealth is not something to be pursued for God’s glory and as part of God’s intentions for families, communities, and even nations. Instead, wealth exists for utilitarian purposes such as the need to feed one’s family and provide basic housing and simple clothing. Any other use of wealth would be a waste. In addition, a person who has amassed wealth is expected to use it to support “spiritual purposes.” This should include his or her local church, missions, and charitable organizations. People who spend wealth on themselves (outside of a utilitarian framework) are often made to feel guilty; “How can one afford a new vehicle when the church bus is falling apart?”

Stated another way, GCU sees wealth as bad in itself and thus it should be rejected. Wealth can only be deemed “good” if it has utility; in other words, if it is used to support something that is spiritual. Enjoying material things such as a good meal, going to the theater, owning a beautiful home and clothes, enjoying art and good music, or owning a well-built vehicle is seen as worldly. Mediocrity and utility are virtues of GCU. To die with wealth is evil.

Like wealth, work is good in-so-far as it 1) is spiritual work – missions, evangelism, church planting or being a theologian, 2) is “ministry” – helping people who are hungry (relief or aid workers) or sick (health workers) or teaching, or 3) contributes to the support of spiritual workers. All other work is considered worldly or secular. Being a farmer, auto mechanic, homemaker, entrepreneur, or artist is thought to be inferior to religious vocations. Work has been devalued from its biblical glory, to being a curse.

This view of work is not what the Bible calls for, however. As ordained in Genesis 1-2, work is a sacred task. It is mankind’s contribution to fulfillment of the Creation Mandate to build Godly culture. Work is the human contribution to the fulfillment of God’s purposes for creation and to the end of history  – telos, the completion of the garden-city – the City of God. In this framework work is worship, our dignity as human beings. We were made to be economic man!  The meaning of the Greek word for economics refers to being stewards of [God’s] house; from the beginning, we are meant to labor, to create, to generate bounty in our communities and nations. The earth, our families, communities, and nations are all to prosper and to reach their fruition. This is what it means to be economic man. Or to say it differently, work is what human beings do to steward creation, to bring forth all its potential and bring God’s intention to fulfillment.

From this crescendo of understanding, the glorious biblical concept of work and wealth has been reduced to the utilitarian need to support missions and spiritual causes, and the necessity to put food on the table. The biblical mandate to work and to be rewarded with wealth for this work is now seen instead to be a curse and thus something to be avoided.

-Darrow L. Miller

Obama’s New Initiative towards Afghanistan seems to be one of wise stewardship? Or is it? what are your thoughts?

Obama Speech: Key Quotes

President Barack Obama has unveiled a new strategy aimed at bringing the war in Afghanistan to an end.

Mr Obama wants to begin bringing US troops home in 2011

Here are some of the key quotes from his speech:

The Surge
As commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.

US Allies
Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully.

Pakistan
We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak.

Al Qaeda
We must deny al Qaeda a safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum. … And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s security forces and government.

World Security
We must come together to end this war successfully. For what’s at stake is not simply a test of Nato credibility. What’s at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world.

US Security
If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow.

We Are Jesus’ Hands, Feet, and Voice

During His time on earth, Jesus demonstrated His deep love for those who had physical and spiritual needs. He left to us the responsibility to carry on His work as we share His love for us with others by being His hands, His feet, and His voice to reach those who are in need, especially those who do not yet know their Savior. As Jesus was devoted to such work, we are to join Him. He told His 12 disciples, “My food … is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). He calls us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you …” (Matthew 28:19-20). With God’s help, we can be effective workers in the work of His harvest field.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, grant me courage to proclaim boldly the life-saving Gospel to all people. Use my life and resources to extend Your kingdom. Help me to be a blessing to others. May all that I say and do give You honor and praise. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

Blessings on your stewardship journey!

Preacher Upchurch has given us the theme “Victorious by Faith” for the stewardship emphasis this month at Mid-Way Baptist Church.  Hebrews 11:6 says “but without Faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

Paul was writing to the Jewish Christians in the epistle, telling them that Judaism had come to and end through the fulfillment of Christ as the purpose of the Law.  In today’s society it is necessary for us to focus our lives around the promises of God.  Realizing He is our source and strength for our lives.  The world can place its trust in the dollar, or a job, or the economy or government.  But as we have all seen over the past year, placing our faith in anything but God is folly. God has an abundance of blessings he has stored up for his children if we would only ask of Him.

 As we approach this 42nd annual stewardship emphasis, MBC will offer Bible studies, testimonies and preaching outlining God’s miraculous plan of economy.  The Chest of Joash service will be held on Sunday, December 6th in one big service at 9:30am.  This service is a celebration which is designed to glorify God and His mercy, faith and provision for His children. You don’t want to miss this service as we worship the one who has given us so much in our lives here on earth.

God will use all of the above; however the most important ingredient is prayer and fasting.  Look at your calendar and mark a day to join heart and soul with the MBC family in fasting and praying.  Oh how we need the power of God on every endeavor for the Lord.  Preacher Upchurch has asked us all to join hands with him and the MBC family as we attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God!  Our prayer is for God to Bless you and yours as you faithfully serve Him!  Amen!

Foothills Learning Center in Boise, Idaho.

CSR installed the hard scape in winter of 2008 and in the spring of 09, the native plant garden, complete with native turf, native forbs/shrubs/trees was installed. Some mighty fine boulder work and a stream was also included in the design.

The concept was to educate kids about native plants and the geology of Southern Idaho (the rock material changes from sandstone to basalt/limestone to Hagerman boulders from the top to bottom of the site). Despite having a path system, the entire site is made to be explored both on and off path.

This winter, we will be finalizing and installing informational plaques. Stewardship on the site is ongoing.

I’m looking for some happy volunteers.  It’s time to put up and decorate Calvin’s Christmas tree.  Would you like to take on this project with your family? Sharon and I would be happy to work alongside you, or at very least to walk you through the process.  Needs to be up for this coming Sunday.  Give me a phone call if you’re interested, or would like more information.  First come, first served.

Even as I ask for volunteers, I also want to say Wow!
It struck me again at last night’s Fall membership meeting how many volunteers give so freely and joyfully of their time to keep the wheels of ministry turning here at Calvin.  May God bless your sacrifice of service that I know you give in Christ’s name.

It was good to see a number of youth from the inter-Generational church school class at the meeting, learning how the business end of our congregation runs.  It was a “field trip” as part of their unit on stewardship.

Finally, I really appreciated the spirit and direction of conversation last night.  There was careful thought given on how to be stewardly with the resources God has entrusted to us.  There was a calm sense of confidence in the leadership of our elders & deacons.  And there was a delightful sense of generosity.  What a great thing to hear more talk about how we can, long term, give away more money to various Kingdom ministries than hoard it for ourselves!  May the Holy Spirit grant us divine wisdom to know how to best continue to move in that direction.  I find it amazing that a community can have a smile on its collective face as it votes to give away approximately $150,000 out of about $540,000.  That’s just under 30%. And feel compelled to work towards making that percentage grow in the years to come.  Awesome!!
Of course…. now we’ve made the pledge.  That’s the easy part.  Reaching for our donation envelopes and cheque books will tell, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.“

While we’re on the topic of donations and missions, please don’t forget about this coming Saturday evening’s chili dinner and piano coffee house as a fund raiser for the upcoming mission trip to Peru.  It kicks off at 5:30pm.

A neat site put together by evangelicals and scientists to protect God’s creation that we call home.  Creation Care 

The site is designed to help “pastors who are interested in a growing emphasis within the Christian community called “Creation Care”: applying biblical principles of stewardship to the environment we share with all living things.” — website.

“Evangelicals & Scientists United to Protect Creation is a bridge building effort between top environmental scientists and evangelical leaders (see below). On January 17, 2007 this group released An Urgent Call to Action: Scientists and Evangelicals Unite to Protect Creation. (View PDF.) The statement, sent to President George W. Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, bipartisan congressional leaders, and national evangelical and scientific organizations, urges “fundamental change in values, lifestyles, and public policies required to address these worsening problems before it is too late.” — Website.

A glacier in the Himalayas has increasingly become more like a river. We have a history of consumerism taking place where the worlds’ resources should be. I am wondering if we are going to learn from that when it comes to climate change and good stewardship of our resources?

The last few quiet times we’ve had have been on the subject of stewardship. It’s interesting, because ’stewardship’ has cropped up quite a number of times over the last few weeks. Here are the readings:

‘…Give an account of your stewardship…’ Luke 16:2
The issue of ‘ownership’ is a key point in understanding biblical stewardship. A steward doesn’t own the property he manages, so he needs to handle things with an eye to pleasing his boss, the owner. Today that rubs us the wrong way. We think, ‘My time is my own. My abilities are mine to use in the advancement of my career because I’m the one who worked hard to develop them. This is my stuff, bought and paid for.’ The Bible says, ‘…what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?’ (1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV). Every good thing you have is a gift from God; try to keep that in mind! Like a wise investor, a good steward does three things: he
1) looks to the future. He refuses to be influenced or sidetracked by those who are ‘blowing’ everything they have on immediate pleasures, living just for the moment
2) is disciplined and patient. He remains steady through the highs and lows of life, understanding that ‘…in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart’ (Galatians 6:9 NKJV)
3) takes risks for the benefit of his boss. Not foolish risks, but prayed-over and carefully thought-out risks. No investor can be totally sure his financial future won’t come crashing down if something drastic happens. But here’s the difference. When we follow God’s plan for our lives, even if we lose some of it on earth, we can still gain much more in heaven.

‘…the lord of those servants…settled accounts…’ Matthew 25:19
In His famous parable of the talents, Jesus points out two things about our stewardship to God:
1) ‘…he gave…to each according to his own ability…’ (Matthew 25:15 NKJV). God knows what you can handle and He won’t give you more, so don’t ask Him to. He knows what He’s called you to do. The master didn’t burden the one-talent guy with a five-talent responsibility, or vice versa. Now we’re not saying that those who have lots of stuff are the best stewards, or that those who have less must be poor stewards but God knows each of us intimately, and He deals with us according to that knowledge. So, you won’t have to answer for what God didn’t give you, or gave someone else. You’re only responsible for yourself. Whatever God’s entrusted to you to manage, He’s done so knowing you’re capable of handling it.
2) ‘After a long time the lord of those stewards came and settled accounts with them.’ It may seem like ‘a long time,’ but Jesus is coming again! He hasn’t changed His mind or His plan. The first time He came to save, the next time He comes to reign – and reward His stewards. ‘…”Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household…Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes”‘ (Luke 12:42-43 NKJV). Don’t get weary or sidetracked. Keep your eyes on the prize. Imagine the Master saying to you, ‘Well done!’ That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it?

‘…”Well done, good and faithful servant…”‘ Matthew 25:21
In Jesus’ parable of the talents, the first two stewards were rewarded for multiplying what was entrusted to them. The first steward said, ‘…”I have gained”…’ (Matthew 25:20 NKJV). Now, when God entrusts something to us He doesn’t sit up in heaven pulling all the strings, controlling how we handle our stewardship. We have a choice. We’ve the freedom to mess up His affairs, or maximise them. The first two servants did with their master’s money what he expected of them. God gives it to us – but we must handle it. God’s not going to handle it for us! That’s obvious from the fate of the third steward who said, ‘…”Lord, I knew you to be a hard man…And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground”…’ (Matthew 25:24-25 NKJV). He was like those who say, ‘God’s standards are too high. I’m afraid if I say yes to Him, He’ll demand too much of me. I’ll just stay here on the sidelines where it’s safe.’ That’s bad stewardship and even worse theology. Don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t do what God expects of you. By His grace, you can. The first two stewards knew their master’s expectations; that’s what being a good steward is all about. We know what God requires of us because He’s put it in His Word for us to read. The reason the master’s commendation meant something, is because the stewards’ work meant something. They had authentic responsibility and they carried it out faithfully. So, where do you rank on the faithfulness charts today? If you’re not sure, examine yourself!

I’ve become very aware of my role as a steward of what God has given me, and the uncomfortable ugly truth is that I am that third servant. I have firmly and deeply buried my talent. I am a poor steward of the gift of my time; I am a poor steward of the gift of my body; I am a poor steward of the gift of our finances; I am a poor steward of the gift of food; I am a poor steward of the gift of this beautiful world I live in; I am a poor steward of the gift of my family; I am a poor steward of my marriage; I am a poor steward of my abilities. Why? Because I waste time, food, money and abilities as I commit myself day after day to bingeing. By bingeing, I create vast amounts of rubbish and I waste vast amounts of water; I use up too much petrol going to the shops and too much electricity warming food. I put my marriage second with CM and I having to cerfully engineeer our lives around bulimia, and me holding him at a distance day after day because I feel too replusive to be touched.

Taking up the responsibility and honour of stewardship is a fundamental key to recovery.

Here are the post in the series by Phil Johnson on the morality of gambling:

1. Is Gambling OK? Don’t Bet on It
2. Gambling: Some Definitions and Distinctions
3. Answering a couple of objections
4. Oh, and one more thing . . .
5. Gambling vs. Faithful Stewardship
6. Does ‘Mutual Consent’ Eliminate the Evil in Gambling?
7. A good question
8. The Sin of Putting God to the Test
9. Gambling: The Moral Antithesis of Charity

Well, this past Friday I got closer than I’ve ever gotten to doing some “door busting” on Black Friday. Wal-Mart was advertising a sweet laptop at an unheard of price. I had plans to hit in there about 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning and take my place in line. I dreaded it, but since I’d never actually had one of those ”door busting” experiences, and since I really wanted that laptop, I thought, “This is the year.”

The store was open on Thanksgiving day, and so Tonya and I made a trial run over there that afternoon. Fortunately for us, the lady who was going to be selling those laptops the next morning was also working that afternoon and took the time to answer some questions for me. The question-and-answer session went something like this:    

“What time do I need to be here to get one of those laptops?”  “By 1:30 or 2:00 a.m.”

“Really? That early?”  “Yes, definitely. I wouldn’t advise coming any later.”

“How many of those laptops do you have?”  “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. I know, but I can’t tell you.”

“If I do get here at 2:00 a.m., what will I need to do?”  “Go back to the appropriate part of the store and get in line.”

“What then?”  “I will start handing out tickets. Then, when the sale actually begins at 5:00 a.m., I’ll go right down the line and give the person with the ticket a chance to buy a laptop. I’ll go right down the line until all the laptops have been sold.”

“So, if I get in line at 2:00 a.m. and get my ticket, can I spend the next three hours walking around the store?”  “No, the best I can do is give you a five-minute bathroom pass.”

“In other words, I’m going to have to stand in line for a full three hours just to get a chance at buying one of those laptops?”  “Yes, that’s right.” 

It was somewhere along about then that my “door busting” turned into bronco busting and I was thrown off the horse. NOTHING that woman said sounded good to me. She finished me off when I asked her how much the computer usually cost. She quoted something along the lines of $389. I say “something along the lines” because she was talking pretty fast at that point. The truth is, I could be wrong about the price she quoted. That’s the figure my brain heard, though. And since the sale price was $299, I did some quick math and came to the conclusion that all that just wasn’t worth it to save $90. 

Now, I’ll grant you that three hours in line for $90 breaks down to $30 per hour. That’s good money. But it wasn’t enough to get me to bow down before that altar of American consumerism. So, I slept in Friday morning and enjoyed it. I did get out along about 10:30 a.m. with Tonya, the boys, and my mom. We hit the mall and had a good experience checking a few items off our “to buy” list. We didn’t get any 75% off deals, though.

I came away from my whole Black Friday experience with the following observations:

#1. Since that sales lady at Wal-Mart was so adament that I should be there no later than 2:00 a.m., I figure that meant they only had about ten of those laptops to sell.

#2. I’ve got enough willpower and sheer stubbornness to have gotten in line at 1:00 a.m., stood there all night, and staked my claim to one of those laptops, but I couldn’t do it and keep my self respect. That would have been me letting Wal-Mart play me, and I just couldn’t give them that satisfaction.

#3. If I was someone else, or if the situation had been something else, maybe God would have given me a peace about doing what was necessary to get that computer. As things were, though, the only peace I found was in forgetting the whole deal and sleeping in late.   

You know something? Even when I’m half in the mood to play this world’s silly little games, it’s just not something that I can do with ease or pleasure. God has had me too long for that. But I’m glad I’m that way because, after all, 1 John 2:15-17 is still in the Bible: 

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have launched a new Good Practice Guide on Sustainable Forest Management: Biodiversity and Livelihoods. This booklet is part of a series of Good Practice Guides produced by the CBD. It provides a range of case studies and other materials to make the forest sector more biodiversity-friendly, and socially beneficial. It addresses the linkages between forestry, biodiversity, and development / poverty reduction. The summaries and examples included in this booklet show how biodiversity and sustainable economic development can go hand in hand. The primary target audiences for the guide are government officers and decision-makers in the various government agencies related to forestry (at global, regional, national and local levels), as well as development practitioners. A CD-ROM is also available.

Chapter II.c of the guide focuses specifically on the role of indigenous and local communities. Indigenous case studies include one from the Congo (on the use of GPS and community radio by Pygmy communities to protect cultural sites) and Malaysia (on biodiversity in production forests).

“Recent developments for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) have the potential to provide benefits to local and indigenous communities. However, a number of conditions would need to be met for these co-benefits to be achieved. Indigenous peoples are unlikely to benefit from REDD where they have no secure land tenure; if there is no principle of free, prior and informed consent concerning the use of their lands and resources; and if their identities are not recognized or they have no space to participate in policy-making processes and/or lack the capacity to engage on an equal footing.” - Extract from Sustainable Forest Management: Biodiversity and Livelihoods

Download the Good Practice Guide on Sustainable Forest Management: Biodiversity and Livelihoods [pdf]…

The tendency, when reading about the Pharisees and those who opposed Jesus in the Gospel accounts, is to distance myself from them. I tend to paint them with very dark colors, seeing them as basically wicked and evil; I want to distance myself from them. But, when I am genuinely honest, that’s hard to do.

They weren’t basically wicked and evil; they were intent on living holy but ended up misconstruing how holy living was to be accomplished. They approached holy living and right standing with God in a way that left them at odds with Jesus. And, rather than (rightly) yielding to him, they pushed back. And, right there, I can see myself.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem and turned over the tables in the Temple and called for a pursuit of prayer rather than the kind of activity that was being cultivated in the Temple, he set himself at odds with the religious leaders. They didn’t understand what he was doing; but they didn’t ask. What they did understand they didn’t like; but they didn’t pursue clarification. So, they became antagonistic. And, right at that moment, Jesus told a story–he used a parable to make a point.

The parable is found in Mark 12:1-12. (It would be good if you read the parable for yourself; there are links at the bottom of this blog page to take you to a website to read the passage if you don’t have a Bible nearby.) The parable is about a vineyard and tenants.

Some take an approach to this particular parable trying to discover who the various people are who are sent by the vineyard owner. The owner has tenants; he wants what is his from those who are using his land. So, in the parable, the owner sends servants and more. Some want to know: Is this a picture of God sending prophets? Is the last one sent intended to say something about Jesus being God’s son? Perhaps. But if we turn our attention to those details, we might really miss what Jesus is saying.

What is the point of the parable? What is the big idea that is underscored by Jesus’ parable? When read and taken as a whole, the point seems clear.

Tenants should not live as if they were owners. That is, you shouldn’t act like something is yours if it isn’t! That seems pretty clear, fairly straightforward. And that is what the religious leaders were missing.

They thought that they were about their own business when they encouraged and promoted certainly religious practices. They thought they were busy with their own stuff as they went about life. But that is not the case. It is not the case for them, nor is it the case for me.

And it is there that I see myself in the Pharisees. They were living lives with the mistaken notion that what had only been entrusted to them had, somehow, become theirs to do with as they wanted. And I live, almost daily, with the mistaken notion that what has been entrusted to me (my life!) has, somehow, become mine to do with as I want.

I spend my time as I want. I spend my resources as I choose. I invest my talents and abilities at the discretion of my will. I do, or do not do, what I deem best. I live most of my days as if my days are mine, to be spent as I see fit. And I live in my relationship with God as if that relationship, fundamentally, really is about what I want to get out of it. I live, so much of my life, as if my life is mine.

And Jesus tells the same parable to me. And Jesus wants me to see the same thing the religious leaders he was speaking to missed.

My days, my life, my talents, my resources, my abilities, my hours . . . all of this I merely serve as steward over . . . entrusted by the owner who has the rightful claim on all I am.

I thought it was all mine. But to the degree I think that, I am self-deceived.

Mark 9:1-50

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. 2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. 3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. 7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. 8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. 9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. 10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. 11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? 12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. 13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.”  Mark 9:1-13 (KJV)

THE GLORY OF JESUS IS SEEN BY A FEW WHILE JESUS SPEAKS TO ELIJAH AND MOSES ABOUT HIS DEATH (Luke 9:31).

In verse 1 Jesus is most likely speaking of those who would see His “Transfiguration” which is about to happen, and it happened only before the three disciples – Peter, James, and John.  In Luke’s account of this glory the three disciples had fallen asleep.  There are times to sleep and times to fight going to sleep, and this seems like it was one of those times to fight sleep.  They almost missed it.

The two to whom Jesus was speaking were considered dead and gone.  Moses died and Elijah had just “gone” by the power of a “chariot of fire”.  Moses represents the “Law” of God, and Elijah represents the “Prophets” of God.  It is important for us to catch the message which the “Voice from Heaven” speaks.  “This is my beloved Son: hear Him.”  Those words tell us that the most important thing we can hear is Jesus.  The “Law” and the “Prophets” speak of Jesus.  John the apostle wrote in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, “…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (REV. 19:10).

According to Luke 9:31 Jesus was speaking to Moses and Elijah of His coming death.  No other of the gospel writers mention this.  It tells us clearly that was the direction Jesus was headed – to Jerusalem to die, and make atonement for the sin of mankind.

In Matthew and Luke the text tells us it was “Moses and Elijah”.  Mark is the only one who writes “Elijah and Moses”.  It is important for us to remember the history of these two men.  Moses died and was buried by God, and no one knew where he was buried (DEUT. 34:5-6); and Elijah never died.  He was carried to Heaven by a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11), and Elisha, his pupil in the prophetic ministry, received a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit.  There is quite a picture given here to us.  That is that at the future coming of Jesus Christ in His glory all that know Jesus, the living and the dead, will be raised to share in that eternal glory with Him.

“And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. 28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”  Mark 9:14-29 (KJV)

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO THEM THAT BELIEVE.

It is apparent by our text that the young man of whom it is speaking was afflicted by an “evil spirit”.  He has been afflicted for several years, even from early childhood.  We can see from this that children are not exempt from evil or even the devil or his demons.  Children can be susceptible to Satan from a very early age, but then, all are born into sin, and none are without sin.

This boy had often been thrown into the fire, and into the waters.  This demon hated this boy, and that is something we all need to remember that the devil and his hordes hates mankind, and will do whatever it takes to destroy the human race.

Notice, Jesus’ rebuke of the “Faithless generation”.  He is probably referring to “scribes” who are there in argument with the disciples, accusing and excusing their own actions and accusing the disciples of not having power to help this boy.

When Jesus calls for the boy and they bring him to Him the boys goes into a “fit”; falling on the ground and foaming at the mouth.  You will notice the father is not only asking Jesus to help his son, but also himself; he says, “Have compassion on us, and help us.”  The father later says, “I believe; help thou mine unbelief”.  This father new to whom to bring his son, but he had not witnessed the power of Jesus before, but he was about to.  He had the faith to bring his son to Jesus, and that was a good starting point.

There are many psychologists who probably would reckon this boy to have epilepsy, or some neurological disorder, but not demon possessed.  Notice though why it must be demon possession;  1) this personality recognized Jesus because he did not want to come before him, thus causing the boy to throw himself on the ground and foam at the mouth;  2) Jesus spoke to the spirit and commanded him to come out, and to stay out;  3) the spirit cried out through the boy and wreaked havoc on him one last time, evidently fighting for his “territory” but could not fight against his creator and win.

Note Jesus’ final words on this matter, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Mark 9:29 (KJV)”.  The matter of this boy’s well being hinged on the battle of two worlds, and who was to overcome.  There is a spiritual warfare we must wage everyday.  It is not an easy fight.  We must commit ourselves to prayer, and at times we must give ourselves to it diligently even to the point of forsaking our food and nourishment for the day or a period of time.  We cannot win spiritual battles if we are weak in the Spirit of God.  That was the problem with the disciples, and why they could not help this man or his son.  It is a battle we wage to keep the souls of men from eternal torment.  We must pray for them to have opened eyes to see the death of Christ on the cross, his resurrection; and that they will have an open heart to receive the glorious salvation of God through Jesus Christ.

It is an imperative  that we remember the words of Jesus, “All things are possible to him/[her] that believeth”.  It is not just believing in the event as history, but in the person of Jesus Himself.

“And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. 31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. 32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. 33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? 34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. 36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, 37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. 38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is on our part.”  Mark 9:30-40 (KJV)

A GRASPING FOR POWER BRINGS A REBUKE FROM JESUS, AND AN ANSWER TO THEIR PROBLEM.

Jesus is teaching a valuable lesson in these verses about service and “Greatness” or power and position.  He says He is going to die and then He will be glorified by resurrection.  He will die for our sins, and then by resurrection be given all that was His from the beginning.  By His death Jesus was serving the human race by providing our eternal salvation.

There are many people today looking for a longevity to life; they look for power and prestige, and position; but they look to themselves, when all that is needed is to bow at the feet of Jesus and call Him Lord, and wash the feet of our fellow man by service.  What great privilege it is to serve the Lord and bless our fellow man.

Jesus does enlist a small child as an illustration of humility and service.  A child will subject themselves to an older person, and most of the time trust in their care.  We are to come to Christ as little children, and we are to always receive our fellow man as if they were “little children”.  In receiving the “child” we receive Jesus and the One who sent Him.  And that is the Father.

When we see others working in the name of the Lord do we grow jealous, protective of our own work, or do we say, “Great!  Someone else is working in His vineyard.”  The latter should be our attitude and we should be an encouragement to all who are serving the Lord, and living for His glory.  This is not to be a blanket statement that approves of all who claim to be working in the name of Jesus, but to those who are Biblically sound, and those who are truly in Christ Jesus.

“For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. 42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”  Mark 9:41-50 (KJV)

THE HORRENDOUS, ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES OF SIN.

What is the price of sin?  “Sin will take you farther than you want to go; slowly but wholly taking control;  sin will leave you longer than you want to stay;  sin will cost you far more than you can ever pay.”  ANON.  It is something that Jesus took quite serious.  He took it so seriously that He went all the way to the cross and died, taking all our sin on Himself, paying the price that was mine and yours to pay.

How seriously does Jesus take sin?  Let us look at these verses.  Do not offend a “little one” for it would be better that a millstone were tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea.  “If your hand offends you, cut it off”;  “If your eye offends you pluck it out”.  It seems to me like Jesus takes sin quite seriously.  He was willing to pay the price for our sin that we might have eternal life in His eternal presence.  Jesus is not advocating the torture, or destruction of our bodies, but He is showing us the degradation of sin and its costliness and the price we should pay.  Simply cutting off a hand will not keep you from sinning.  Plucking out an eye will not keep you from the sin of lusting.   We saw in chapter seven that it is in the heart of man where we must deal with sin.  How much are you willing to pay to rid your life of sin?  Jesus was willing to give His life.

Jesus uses here the illustration of Gehenna – the garbage, trash, waste dump of the city of Jerusalem – that burned continually and the fire was never out.  There is an eternal fire that burns, where no desires are ever met, and there is nothing but pain, sorrow, hatred, vileness, hostility, and war.  Is that the place you want to be?  Is that the place where you want your friends and neighbors to spend eternity?  It is the place Jesus described as “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:46 (KJV)”.  He mentions this twice.  Is there a Heaven?  If Jesus said He was preparing a place for us, and that He was coming to take us to that place; then, yes there is a Heaven.  Is there a place called Hell?  Jesus mentions more about Hell than He does about Heaven.  He spent a whole story of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus to tell us of the reality of Hell.  He describes it as a place of flames, torment, and a place you would not want to be.  This is in Luke chapter sixteen.

Hell is the place we all deserve to be.  We do not deserve Heaven, but because of the gift of Jesus’ death on the cross and by the power of His resurrection we can go to Heaven for all eternity, but not without Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.

In the beginning of this chapter we see Jesus in His glory and speaking with Elijah and Moses.  In between this picture of the glory of Jesus and this warning of Hell we find a child being tormented by a demon, disciples arguing about who is the greatest will be the greatest among them, and one disciple wondering about a man who is doing the work of Jesus who is not a part of their group.  These are the things that happen between Heaven and Hell.  As a matter of fact when Jesus died on the cross His head was toward Heaven and His feet were toward Hell, and His arms were outstretched to the world in invitation to come to Him.

What a Servant.  What a Savior.  For His arms are still outstretched to all so we may come to Him.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Today is Black Friday, so called because it puts retailers in the black. I know one guy who’s parked in front of an electronics store, hours ahead of opening hours, in hopes of a good buy.

So what’s on your twice-checked list for Black Friday? Is the day a sign of the affluent times? Will the economic crisis change the way people approach Christmas this year? How do Christians deal with the temptations to consume?

By the way, anybody know what the header picture is?

Besides a good dinner for Thanksgiving, I also took time to read The Bergen Record much more thoroughly than I normally do.

This article caught my attention as it reminded me of a man I met in a Detroit suburb in 1980. I was being interviewed for a call to our congregation in Bloomfield Hills MI and during the meeting with the call committee, I was introduced to a member of the congregation who was the president of the general contracting company that built the Silverdome. I was able to see the facility (from the outside) and it was impressive.

Sadly, economics and our culture’s desire for something bigger and better spelled the demise of the Silverdome. To buy it for $583,000–who would have thought that was possible?

By the way, that church never did call me and for that I am grateful.

By far, my favorite thing about the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta was Perry Noble’s message to youth workers. Perry spoke on Saturday morning and left most people in the room feeling encouraged, energized, and pumped up for youth ministry. Perry Noble is a 6’ 6” 230 lb. Senior Pastor from New Spring Church in South Carolina. He started off by making a joke about his southern drawl. He said that in heaven, everyone will have a southern drawl, if you don’t believe that, you may not be going to heaven!

Perry’s message was based out of Acts 20:7-12. I’ve spoken to a few different youth workers at the convention and have heard mixed reviews/feelings about this message. The reviews/feelings ranged from “he nailed it,” to “he took the passage and made it apply to his topic!” When someone takes a passage and make sit say what they want it to say, it is known as “eisegesis.” Eisegesis is when you put your own ideas into the text to make it mean whatever you want it to.

For the record, I do not know where I stand on this matter! I loved what Perry had to say but I am not a Bible scholar so I don’t know if it was eisegesis or not.

Anyway, regardless of how you interpret the passage and the message he gave us, it’s time to move on. Perry went on to tell us that he believes there is a breakdown in communication with youth pastors and the church in general. He and many others believe that youth pastors are viewed as glorified babysitters in that we are supposed to watch the kids, teach them a few things, and when they are old enough to attend big people church and tithe; then they matter to the church. This is not the case and it should never be viewed as such. Perry was not saying that this is the case in all churches, but it is definitely something that he has seen happen occasionally. But regardless of whether your church falls into either of these categories, an alarming statistic is that around 80% of students are walking out the door when they turn 18, and many of them are never going to come back!

Youth ministry is a hard and vital job. Most people will disagree with that, but that is because they have no idea what it means to be a youth pastor. They think we get paid to hang out and play video games all day, but that is 100% inaccurate. There are days when we go home from youth ministry and it isn’t “Thank you Jesus!” it’s “Help me Jesus!” Rest assured…there is hope! Perry said that we, as youth workers, are game changers. We work in the ripest harvest in the world and if we can get our minds (senior pastors, youth pastors, volunteers) around several of these soon to be mentioned concepts, we could see a revolution in youth ministry and the local church. When youth ministry catches on fire through the local church, nothing can stop it!!!!

Perry and many of the other speakers who were senior pastors were very much in support of youth workers. Perry has four prayers that he is praying for youth ministry. Those prayers are: For Attention, For Submission, For a Biblical Foundation, and For Stewardship.

For Attention:

In the Bible passage that Perry spoke from (Acts 20:7-12), Paul was speaking to a group of people late into the night (because he intended to leave the next day) and basically had a long message planned for them. There was a young man (a youth) sitting in a window seal in the back of the room who fell into a deep sleep as Paul was preaching. Eutychus fell to the ground from the third story and died. Yikes! Perry said that in this story, Eutychus fell out of the window because no one was paying attention to the youth ministry of that church. When a church refuses to pay attention to the youth ministry, kids fall out of the window and die (a.k.a. – leave the church and never look back) each and every day.

Youth ministry is important, not just for the teenagers but for also for the church as a whole. The youth aren’t the church of tomorrow, THEY MATTER TODAY! Perry said “The kids that we are called to ministry to matter today and the church better wake up and smell the Starbucks because if not, the kids will fall out of the back window and die.” Perry’s philosophy is that you can tell if a church is paying attention to the youth by looking at how much money they spend on them. He says that you can never spend too much on your youth and children. I understand the premise of what he was saying, but I don’t know if it applies to every circumstance. Some churches simply can’t afford to put a lot of money in the youth fund, and they could be the church that supports their youth way more than the church with the large youth fund. Money shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be a deciding factor on whether or not a church is paying attention to their youth (my thoughts).

Perry does something cool in his church. I don’t think it would work at every church, but it is something to hope for I guess. Perry believes that a youth group should never be asked to do a fundraiser for anything. He doesn’t allow the youth group at his church to do fundraising because he believes that the church and the older people should support them to show that they care.

If we want attention in our youth ministries, we need to start reaching kids for Jesus and seeing lives change! If the adults come into the sanctuary and have no place to sit because of the youth, the older people will pay attention and take them seriously. The last thing that Perry said about this first prayer for youth is that we need to not bang the budget drum, but we need to bang the kids need Jesus drum and change their lives!

For Submission:

The way a youth group gets noticed in the church is when they are completely submitted and sold out to Jesus! Perry says that we need less strategy and more spirit in our youth ministries, and I couldn’t agree more! Not only do we need submitted and sold out youth, but we need leaders who are as well. When God asks us to do something unbelievable, we need to say “Yes Lord!” In the Bible passage, Paul was so submitted to Jesus that he was willing to declare the impossible (that Eutychus was alive). We need to have complete submission.

In order to be completely submitted to God, according to Perry, “you have to be you!” We shouldn’t have the desire to be someone else or do ministry as they do it because you think they’re better than you. When you do this, it is known as ministry envy. You can read a post of mine about ministry envy by clicking here. Perry says that the problem with churches today is that there is too much imitation and no more revelation. He also said that youth pastors have a disease that he invented called “destination disease.” Destination disease is when people in ministry want to be over there (at the other church/ministry) because they think it’ll be better there. This is not true though because you take you with you and it will be exactly the same. You are you!

When we get to the point where we get it all figured out in our ministry, God will say “you don’t need me? Fine…go ahead!” We need to be in complete submission to God. When we do this, it is unbelievable. Leadership is as easy as listening to God and doing what He says! Perry’s prayer is to have a generation of youth pastors and workers completely sold out for Jesus. We are the ones who set the pace for what youth ministry will look like in 10-20 years!

For a Biblical Foundation:

After Paul (with God’s help) brought Eutychus back to life, they went upstairs again and broke bread. Paul got carried away preaching, the youth died, Paul declared something supernatural and brings the kid to life, and then comes back up to keep the focus on Jesus. Paul never stopped focusing on Jesus or teaching about him. This is an example to us. We need to never quite proclaiming who Jesus is to students. They need to know who He is and it is our job to tell them. Some people think that if we focus on only Jesus, then we won’t be relevant. Perry says that we won’t be irrelevant, we will be impotent! We’ve watered our youth ministries down with these next three things and the kids don’t even know who Jesus is when they graduate from or leave our youth groups. 1. Morality – we teach our kids to be good…problem is, if we teach our kids not to watch rated R movies or listen to “bad” music, they can become morally superior to everyone and no one likes them…we can’t teach them to be moral without Jesus. 2. Compromise – Everyone gets caught up in this game. We think that if a lot of kids come to our group and we do all kinds of fun things, we have a great ministry. But in reality, we are compromising who Jesus is to have a great crowd show up. Sometimes, youth ministries let kids show up and say it’s ok to do what you are doing and not repent. When they do this, they are leaving Jesus out of the picture…allowing compromise to creep into that ministry. 3. Personal Agendas – Don’t ever let your personal agenda trump the Gospel! We make our own personal agendas the agenda of the youth group. If we put anything in front of the cross, it becomes an idol in our ministry. Let’s worship God in splendor and majesty rather than trying to boil him down to fit into our social agendas.

For stewardship:

Perry’s prayer is that our prayer would be that we look at God and say “give me the ball…I’ll be hurt and play hurt, but I’ll do whatever it takes to push the ball down the field…I want the ball!” Perry said that in Acts 20:12, the youth ministry got brought back up and the church embraced stewardship…they said they want the ball.

We can do it, no matter how small our budget is. But if our attitude is that we want the ball, money doesn’t matter. It doesn’t happen because of lights, sound systems, looks, but because there is a sold out man and team saying give us the ball…and they are sold out for Jesus. Perry says that the senior pastor needs to make sure the youth ministry has everything they need and the youth pastor needs to sit down with his senior pastor and find out what his vision is…and then line up with that.

God’s plan is that youth ministry will thrive in the context of the local church to make a difference. When the church gets that right, it is on fire and is an unstoppable force!

Perry closed with the following comments:

“It’s always hard when we do what Jesus calls us to do. When we think it’s hard, may we think of Jesus hanging on the cross and bleeding! If no one else tells you this, I (Perry Noble) believe that you are the difference makers. Out of your ministries will be the next Billy Graham and other amazing church leaders! We will not fall…we want the ball!”

-          paulg

A Very Wise Money Principle

We can give, save, or spend our money. How we give, save, or spend indicates a lot about our values and interests. Are we willing to give generously to our church? Is saving important? Do we need to have nice things? Our Christian values help us determine the wise use of our money.

A wise money principle to follow with our money is the 10-10-80 principle which is to give 10 percent, save 10 percent, and live on the remaining 80 percent. After we give the Lord His firstfuits, we put aside the second 10 percent in savings. If we need to modify the percentages some, that is fine; however, the principle should never change. Giving to God is always first, followed by a disciplined effort to put money aside in savings for the future, and then using the remainder.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for all of my gifts, including my money. Help me develop a proper attitude toward my money and to be a generous giver and a prudent spender. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Blessings on your stewardship journey!

Pope Benedict XVI addressed the artists of the world on November 21, 2009 from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.

For a link to the address given by Benedict to artists on relation between art and the Church today, please refer to the comments section below for a link to the Chiesa website.

- ‘Goyo de la Rosa’

   Editor, LA ROSA

Phil continues to post on the question, “Is Gambling OK?”  Here are his two recent posts:

Gambling vs. Faithful Stewardship

Does “Mutual Consent” Eliminate Evil in Gambling?

What it means to be “human” / Reflections on the film, 2012

The film 2012 offers some insightful dialogue and illustration on what it means to be a human being.  Moreover, my wife and I saw the film a few days ago and found it most entertaining, though the action sequences were often farfetched to the point of hysterics.  But again, there are some very insightful themes running through the film which I find that as a Christian, are especially relevant for my Christian brothers and sisters.

Note that while the film does not necessarily convey a Christian perspective towards history, I believe as I have inferred at the onset, that the film convey insights on how we ought to carry ourselves in moments of crises, let alone in the normal events of life for that matter. I thus hope that many Christians, as well as non-Christians, will watch this film in order to reflect on two themes I saw emerging through its plot, both of which I find highly relevant to the age we live in.

An apocalyptic parable on true humanity

Before I introduce these two themes, I should offer a few comments concerning the film’s apocalyptic genre and story line.  We can most benefit from the film by interpreting it as simply a parable— though a parable unfolding through a rather unimaginable and horrifying event concerning a cataclysmic reconfiguration of the earth’s crust, which results in the near extinction of human life.

To call the story a parable is to stress how the film depicts an imaginary event yet uses that event to convey, even if quite unintentionally, some very relevant lessons for real life.  When we do that, (and again, I am speaking here to my fellow Christians), then there is really no need to focus so much on dismissing the film’s value because of its apocalyptic premise derived from the Mayan Calendar, which presumably concludes that the world may end in the year 2012.

As a further qualification, it is also important to note that in the film, the world does not actually end.  The world does undergo a horrific cataclysm created by earth’s crust becoming for a moment in history, unstable.  This in turn results in a shifting of the continents and of the north and south poles, and further results in several cataclysmic and global-reaching tsunamis that reach all the way up to Mount Everest.  These tsunamis thus destroy most of the earth’s inhabitants, but in the end, a remnant of the human race survives.  Moreover, the floodwaters apparently recede, thus marking a new beginning in human history.  Hence, the story line roughly echoes the biblical story of Noah and the flood.

Now again, while this scenario may not wholly fall within the images of biblical apocalypticism, I do not find its portrayal of a cataclysmic upheaval capable of seriously threatening life on earth, as wholly impossible.  For I believe there is sufficient warrant to surmise that are a number of very possible scenarios also involving the most unmanageable, horrific and cataclysmic destruction which can very well erupt upon the earth and at any moment in human history.  We should also keep in mind that for most of history, the human race consisted of less than 200 million people around the globe.  Then during the Middle Ages, the Bubonic Plague had in fact wiped out millions of people in Europe and I believe in Northern and Central Asia.

With this mind, the film actually thus becomes deeply relevant to our postmodern age. This is because today we in fact do live in the face of very real and looming apocalyptic threats to our entire earthy existence.  This reality thus largely defines the setting that we commonly call the postmodern setting.  Postmodernity means to some extent that we have come to realise that there are definitive limitations to what extent modern science and human knowledge can insure our continued survival as a species upon the earth.  Modernity preached self-reliance and human ingenuity; it preached the message of self-interest at all costs.  However, if now live in an age marked by a deep sense of pessimism towards the future, our pessimism largely stems from realising that in ourselves, we can no longer be certain of anything concerning our future.

We should however also note that there is a more positive element to the postmodern situation.  This element is that we have come to recognise that the way forward may come, not from the things we have traditionally trusted in, but rather from the most unlikely places and people.  Hence, we should therefore be open to marginalised voices; voices that the majority or the most powerful, or most affluent, have too often marginalised for purposes beneficial to their own security.  So with reference to the film 2012, by the time the film ends, the future of humanity becomes located— in the continent of Africa.

As a Christian, I believe the Lord is coming to unite heaven and earth, which will bring about a full renewal of this world, resulting in its complete transformation into a new creation under His complete reign.  Yet I am aware that things can potentially become far worse for humanity before they get any better.  I have come to realise that if things do get far worse— and I believe they may well in fact eventually get far worse, even to the point of a global-reaching, cataclysmic and utterly complete ecological and financial breakdown, what we may find ourselves suffering under, are the consequences of our own human follies.

Yet in the event of such a possible scenario within human history, and within the possible history that all of us can very well enter into, I want to stress that we as Christians will be called upon to live a life that is counter to the ways of the world.  That will be a counter-culture way of life that is wholly expressed through an ethic fully manifesting the charity of Christ, hope is His soon coming, and certainty in the coming establishment of His kingdom upon the earth, which will culminate in the complete union of heaven and earth through the full coming of His kingdom; the kingdom of God.

The true nature of true humanity

Now I will introduce the two themes that I found so vividly illustrated in the film 2012, which together I believe reveal the true nature of true humanity.  This true nature of true humanity is therefore our true destiny and calling as human beings upon the face of the earth, both in this age and in the age to come.

The first theme we can discern in the film 2012 is this: The film provides us an epic yet also horrifyingly apocalyptic parable on, what it means to be a human being.  This theme first emerges early in the film when upon discovering the potentially impending doom facing humanity, two individuals reflect on how we might carry ourselves in a moment of life-threatening crisis.

More specifically, the film calls to imagine a moment of life-threatening crisis, where the crisis gives us a choice to act and can only act upon only one of two possible choices: the choice to save either our life— or the life of another human being.  Even more specifically, this is the moment of life-threatening crisis, when the crisis confronts a person with the choice to either save only one’s self or rather, to selflessly act without regard for ones own safety, if in doing so, one can possibly save a number of other human lives from certain doom.

In the moment of truth, how will we live?

As the movie 2012 moves towards its end, one of the two individuals, who at the beginning of the film engaged in the moral discussion that I just presented, comes face to face with a moment of truth.  It is a moment we all may at some point in the course of life encounter, where that moment asks us, “In this moment of truth, how will you live?”

What happens in the film is that a scenario develops which reminds me of that old humanistic “life boat” case study involving seven people lost at sea but with a lifeboat made for only five people.  The case study thus calls us to decide which five out of the seven people, should we allow into the lifeboat that is presumably capable of holding no more than five people.  The case study thus forces us to ask ourselves, which two people should we throw over board?  Since the boat has space for only five people, which two people should we together elect to leave behind? Who should live and who should die?

The “lifeboat” case study is one image that implicitly shapes the film’s story line, but so also does the biblical story of Noah’s arc and the flooding of the earth.  Therefore, as the movie reaches its climax, several mammoth “life-boats” are revealed, which had been built in preparation for the global flooding, each capable of saving perhaps hundreds of thousands of people from the floodwaters.  After the selected populations board the boats, there are however still thousands of others desperately seeking to board the ships.

But in midst of the ensuing tension, and hours before the tsunamis impact the ships, one of the chief architects of these mammoth lifeboats, fears that the ships cannot contain those remaining thousands waiting to board.  Therefore, in the moment of truth, this individual, fearful that the ships may not sustain everyone, seeks to close the gates from the masses still hoping to board the boats.

This individual reasons that only by closing the gates to the many still outside the boats, can the human race be preserved from compete destruction.  Note then that this individual has a grand vision, which he passionately believes in, and it is a vision for the preservation of the human race.  He then reasons that if preserving the human race involves making tough decisions as to who we should save and who we should not save, then let us made that decision, and let us limit the number of passengers into the lifeboats.

Yet then there is another man who also faces this moment of truth.  He is that man who earlier pondered, how shall we act in the true moment of truth?  How then shall we live?  How will we act in that moment where we might be called upon to selflessly act without regard for our own safety, if in doing so, we might possibly save the lives of countless other individuals besides our self?

That man speaks up and says, “What is the point of saving our self, if we think that in doing so we are preserving the human race, yet also in doing so, we are in fact acting less than human?”

That man then further argues, “What does it mean to be human?”  He continues by pleading what he believe is the nature of a true human society and culture.  He thus asks, “How can we even start a new society, a new culture, if our foundation consists of behaviours that are less than human?  How can we rebuild a truly human culture, if our founding actions involve no sense of costly yet selfless altruism, even to the extent of our laying down our lives for one another?”

That individual then concludes and challenges those already on the boat that we must take the risk of jeopardising all our lives, if in doing so— we might successfully save every other life from destruction.  Ultimately, we must do so for this reason: it is only in doing so, that we can live a life that is truly human.  If we cannot do so, we are in reality, living less than a human life.

True and false civility

Some years ago, the famous psychiatrist, Dr Scot Peck, wrote a book titled, A World Waiting to Be Born: The Search for Civility.  Peck begins his first chapter titled, “Something is Seriously Wrong,” by noting too many people, think of “civility” as simply being polite and observing proper etiquette.  Peck calls this assumption not only superficial but also horribly wrong.  For this reason Peck goes on to say that too often in our varied life settings, especially in the larger and formal organisation structures in which we work, we carry ourselves towards one another according to the secular techniques of manipulation and personal self interest.  As a result, Peck says, we fail to manifest “the glory of what it means to be human.”

Elsewhere in Peck’s book, he demonstrates how a common organisational culture that is trapped in this secular idea of polite civility, is illustrated when an organisation’s presumed identity is one of, “We’re the best in the business,” and its motto is thus “Quality at all costs.”

In contrast to this idea of civility as nothing more than politeness and following proper decorum, Peck therefore stresses that true “civility” refers to seeking the best interest of all people, regardless of the cost to one’s self.  Within this same discussion, Peck then draws attention to the biblical story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man, who was unwilling to part with his wealth.  Peck suggests that the story functions as a parable for all of us, and every time when we read the story or reflect on the story.

The point of the story about the rich young man who is unwilling to part with his wealth, is not that following Jesus means that Jesus wants you to necessarily let go of everything you possess and live in voluntary poverty in order that you may follow him.  Although, I would say for many of us, that may not be a bad idea!  But no.  The moral of the story is that Jesus oftentimes will come to us and ask us the question, “What are you really trusting in?  Where is your security, right now, in this moment?”

Jesus will ask us these questions because if our security is indeed in the things we possess, then how are we going to carry our self as a human being, when the moment of truth calls upon us to express our humanity?

Within this discussion, the mental psychiatrist Peck throws throw at us this observation: “Security can become an addiction, and there are many for whom enough is never enough.”  Peck goes on to say that his work in psychiatric care has convinced him that having wealth never fully satisfies the aching feeling of insecurity.  All their lives, the rich often find themselves caught up therefore, in an insatiable quest to heal this ache through the continued accumulation of wealth.

Peck notes that past statistics demonstrate that within the American setting, the wealthiest segments of the American population give away to charity a much smaller proportion of their income that do middle or working class people.  Hence, their proportional giving reveals “a telling commentary on the spiritual impoverishment of most who are financially rich.”  For similar reasons, another notable psychiatrist, Erich Fromm, realised from sheer experience in the profession of mental care, that, “The essential difference between the unhappy, neurotic type person and him of great joy is the difference between get and give.”

A truly human life therefore, is a life lived in utter selflessness towards other human beings.  A true human life is always lived in the presence of one another, and for the presence and existence of one another.  A true human life can only be lived in selfless action to one another.  This is the mark of true humanity.  Anything less, is less than human.  Anything less is to live not as a human being but to live like an animal.  This discussion thus clarifies what we should mean by the term secular humanism.

Real Christianity infers a true and biblical humanism. Christian humanism is a humanism that encourages and celebrates the true nature of true humanity.  It is founded upon a moral centre, because it is furthermore, founded upon a Person— who is the True Human.  Secular humanism however, is a humanism without the true moral centre, and thus no real moral centre.  It has no moral centre because it encourages and celebrates living only for one’s self without regard for others.  It encourages and celebrates living for one’s self especially when the well-being of your life is any way dependant upon the loss, deprivation or disregard for the best interest of another human being.

For the most part, the world we live in, in spite of its increasing nuance towards spirituality, operates by values reflecting not a true humanism but a secular humanism that really does enthrones “self” at the centre of all things.  That is why even Christian bookstores are filled with books with titles such as “How to Become a Better You,” or “How to Be all You are Meant to Be,” or, “How to Receive all You’re Supposed to Have!”  At the root of all these pseudo-Christian books is not the paradigm of true humanity but the subhuman paradigm of self-interest.  So deep is this false humanistic in the cultures that we live, that much of the current talk within Christian circles of becoming relevant to the day we live in, or of transforming the culture around us, is really quite ludicrous.

The forces that have constructed the macro economic systems of our world, the security systems and social systems we now live within through the processes of globalisation, have constructed these systems upon premises that seek the best interests of the few without concern for the many.  The proverbial lifeboat of the film 2012 is therefore indeed a proverbial analogy of our present world order.

Many of us are right now enjoying the privileges of life on a “boat,” to which untold millions are currently barred entry into, and thus face the prospect of becoming the first causalities of whatever repercussions may erupt upon the earth because of our follies.  Moreover, added to these follies is the folly resulting from keeping our eyes closed to the many.  We close our eyes to their existence, though one day we may painfully discover that all people are indeed interdependent.  When that day comes, we may then truly learn that “No man is an island,” for the same forces that have united much of the world together in economic affluence, has united that much of the world to frustrations of the greater numbers of people who lack access to our prosperity.

Self-denial, charity, sacrifice, and healing the world

This discussion illustrates how nothing less than a complete, radical and revolutionary subversion and undermining of the entire world order, can bring healing to the world.  If a Christian truly believes that he or she lives as salt and light in the world, then he or she must also see their role as a prophetic presence in the world.  This is a prophetic presence that consistently demonstrates values that are visibly counter to the values of the world, and at the same time positively point to a world that is waiting to be born.  The good news is that to fulfill this prophetic role in the world, one need only mature and thus behave as a human being— a true human being.

To fulfill this prophetic function of living a truly human life we must however confront a common though false presumption concerning the purpose of Christian life, and about the purpose of Jesus’ life, sufferings on the cross and resurrection from the dead.  This is the misunderstanding that the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ atonement, was to insure our eternal salvation and hence, that we get to go to heaven when we die.  Now to be sure, the securing of our eternal destiny is central to why Jesus came to live and die upon the earth.  It is central because it is we and not angels whom God has created as His image-bearers— It we whom He loves as His children, and it is we who are made to reflect His likeness.

But in itself, this assumption is only a half-truth, and in itself, it makes for a very “self-centred” gospel.  It is the message of a gospel that men have not centred in the glory of God but rather in the glory of man apart from God.  Rick Warren therefore had it right when he titled the first chapter of his book titled, The Purpose Driven Life; with the title, “It all Starts with God.”  In that chapter, he moreover and rightly began the first sentence by saying, “It is not about you.”  Warren’s proposition illustrates how the primary purpose of Jesus’ atonement was far bigger than the redemption of humankind.  For even greater than to secure the redemption of humanity, is the greater purpose for which Jesus died for.  That greater purpose was to secure the glory of God.

Within the greater purpose of securing the glory of God, is that Jesus dies to reconcile all things— all things both heaven and earth, to Himself.  Jesus suffered and rose again that He might restore all things back together under His rightful reign.  So the Scripture says, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”  To this end, the entire purpose of God is to restore our humanity, that we might live as true human beings.  Moreover, the healing of the world involves our becoming more human; thus our becoming more humane.  To this end, God is at work to restore our humanity.

If we want to therefore carry our self in the world as a true human being— if we want to carry our self in a manner that is truly civil, we will never do so by calling attention to what we possess.  We can only show our true humanity through denying our self; and hence, by how easy it is for us to give it all away.  It is for this reason that in his Institutes of Religion, John Calvin devotes Book III to the Christian Life, and in chapter four, he summarises all of Christian life by this one phrase:  “self denial.”

By using that one phrase, “self denial,” as the most succulent description of a truly Christian lifestyle, Calvin chose to stick within a long tradition and a principle within that tradition, which every other leader of the Protestant Reformation also affirmed.  That is a tradition that thus remained connected to the best of Roman Catholic spirituality as illustrated in earlier works such as The Imitation of Christ and The Rule of St Benedict.

The tradition of self denial, which is in fact the true call of Jesus and the only call He gives any of us, when He calls us to Himself, is a tradition that stresses a central image of true humanity, which goes all the way back to the why the Gospels are in the Bible.  It is a tradition that rightly recognises that the Gospels are not provided for our intellectual assent to Jesus’ historical life, but rather foremost to grant us the one true guide on how we should live as human beings.

The Gospels are written to show us how to live— to actually imitate the life of Jesus.  That is why Jesus says, “Deny your self, and follow me.”  Moreover, God has made to some extent, the healing of the world dependent on weather or not we choose to follow Jesus.  For only in following Him can we begin truly living like human beings.

Within this context, we should thus realise that self denial is not something based on ideas of having to live with a “poverty mindset” or deny the very real and material nature of God’s blessings.  But rather, self denial is simply based on a true knowledge and comprehension of what it means to truly live like a human being.  When that knowledge is received, self denial becomes an act of calling and joyful vocation.  We begin joyfully denying our self because we have come to know that only here are living according to our high calling as real people upon the earth.  But to do that, requires our reception of a special kind of joy, and it is a joy that is freely received from the One who is humanity par excellence.

Jesus is humanity par excellence

I submit to you that there was a man who was truly human and remains the True Human, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the one who laid down his life for His friends.  He is the one who put Himself in harm’s way and suffered harm’s way for the preservation of the entire human race.  He did so because in doing so, he truly behaved and acted as a true human.  He acted as true as a human life can ever be.

Christians rightly confess and know Jesus as the image of God.  Even more so, we have come to know He is God in the flesh.  In Him, we see God, and by his behaviour, we see and know the true personality of God.  Yet I will here also remind us that in Jesus we see true humanity.  In Him we see what human life is designed to be.

This confession that Jesus is not only truly God but truly human, is true because after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus did not stop being human.  After he rose from the dead, He remained human.  This is why He rose from the dead with an indestructible though fully physical and material body.  Even now at this moment, Jesus reigns in heaven through His very real and physically material body.  Moreover, there will come a day when He will appear and like Thomas, we will see the nail scars in His hands.

The entire weight of these reflections rest upon a cardinal doctrine, which if we in any way undermine, we therein commit heresy concerning the person of Jesus.  This doctrine we must confess in order to lift up the name of Jesus over all things, is that He is truly God and He is truly human.  As the ancient creeds effectively established the concluding synthesis of the biblical story of Jesus’ coming, death and resurrection, Jesus is and will always be truly God and truly human.  In Him we see two distinct natures, the divine and human, clearly distinguishable, yet wholly different; undivided, yet inseparable.  He is and will always be, truly God and truly Human.

If we are to therefore truly worship Him as God, and if we are to preach Him fully lifted up in all His saving glory, we must also confess Him and preach Him in all His true Humanity.  For in Him we therefore also see who were born to be, if we are ever to become truly human.  He dies to restore our humanity.  When He lives in us, He works in us to restore our humanity, by setting us on a path of human restoration.

In Jesus Christ we see not only the potential of true human life, but even more so, a vision for a true human society and human culture.  We therefore also see a vision for a new humanity upon the face of the earth.  That is why the Scripture says that Jesus is the beginning of a new humanity.  He is the First Man of a new humanity.  He is therefore the true paradigm for a true human life and human existence.

When we look at Jesus, we therefore see what were born to be.  We were born to be like Jesus.  This is God’s true purpose for all human life; to become like Jesus.  This is why the ancients said, “God became man, so that man might become something like God.”  This again is why if we want to know what God is like, we should look at Jesus, for He is not only the true man, but in Him, we see who God is.  For God is love, and love acts without regard for one’s self but wholly for the sake of those outside our self.  For this reason, God created humankind in His image that we might reflect the likeness of God in how we live.  This is our true human calling.

The process of becoming human is the process of becoming like Jesus.  So complete is the process that He works upon us both from the inside and from the outside.  There is no antithesis between the two processes.  On one hand, he works within us, transforming us from the inside out.  On the other hand, He works outside us, presenting Himself to us as our Teacher and ourselves to Him as disciples called to follow Him.  Through both ways, the goal is the same: that we might live as human beings.  When that happens, we realise that self-denial is indeed not a method towards Christ-likeness, but rather simply the fruit of becoming human, and thus, of becoming like Christ.

Servant-leadership and the vocation of true humanity

In bringing these reflections to a closure, I will now draw attention to the second theme I find so poignantly illustrated in the film 2012; this is theme of true leadership.  Moreover, this theme of true leadership is what Jesus argued as, servant-leadership.

In the movie 2012, one of the chief architects of those mammoth lifeboats was something of what we might call, a visionary leader.  He had a grand vision and it was a vision for the preservation of the human race.  To some extent, we may argue that this man possessed a noble vision.  He believed his vision was for the greater good of humanity.

This man was also a practical leader.  He was a pragmatic leader as well, because He well knew that to be most effective and efficient, he had to make practical choices that may involve refraining from higher moral ideals.  Hence, he chose not to jeopardise the lives of the few by opening the boat to the many.

This man therefore chose to insure the security of the boat and the few in the boat, by choosing not to risk the security of the boat by opening the boat to so many others hoping to step into the security of the boat.  So in all these presumptions, we have a picture of practical, pragmatic and sometimes of visionary leadership.  But in view of the true humanity of Jesus, this is a way of leadership that is nonetheless, subhuman.

Yet the other man, who I want to say was the true leader, argued that preservation of the human race is still not possible unless we seek to preserve the human race through and upon the high moral foundation of self-denial.  As earlier mentioned, this man who was the true leader, argued that a new world that is truly human cannot be rightly established unless such a world is founded upon actions involving genuine risks through the giving of our lives for one another.

This man who was the true leader, therefore sought to persuade those in the boat to risk their own secure future by taking the wild risk of opening the boat to all those outside the boat.  He called upon everyone in the boat to do so, even if in doing so, the boat might sink in the process of getting everyone into the boat.  He argued that failure to do that is to behave not as humans but as animals.  He therefore understood that true leadership is not about putting one’s personal interest before others, but about putting the interest of others before one’s own interest.  He understood that true leadership is always the laying down of our life for the common good.  He understood that true leadership is servant-leadership.

Jesus is not only the True Man but he is the true leader of the human race.  Jesus said that the rulers of this age love to be lord over others, but that is not true leadership.  True leadership is serving others.  Serving always has its penultimate and highest expression in the laying down of our life for one another.  That is what Jesus taught and it is what he modeled— not only to secure our redemption into restored humanity, but to grant us an example of true humanity.  He did this in the expectation that we would actually emulate as an act of our will, having had our will empowered by the Spirit of Christ who lives within us.

Jesus did not just give His life for us, but He modeled to us what it means to be a true human and how to live like a true human being.  It is not enough to even say, “I’ll let Jesus live through me.”  It is important to know that Jesus lives in you and that is where it all begins.  Then when He begins to live in you, you will always face choices every day, where circumstance call upon you to behave like Jesus.  That comes through an act of your will and obedience to His Word.  You can choose to disobey the Lord, even as a Christian.  For this reason, many Christians know the Lord, but actually disobey Him.  Such Christians the Bible calls, fleshy Christians; Christian who remain like spiritual babies.  However, there are times when we all disobey the Lord.  So you must choose to follow Jesus, observe how He lives, and starting acting like Him.  If you do, He will guide your steps and place your feet into His footsteps.

I have digressed here, but I am talking about servant leadership.  True leadership begins with laying down our life for others.  Any aspiration that begins with the preservation of one’s self is not true leadership.  That is a kind of leadership founded something less than a truly human life.

Some months ago, I was engaged in a discussion with a group about the nature of leadership.  In that discussion, someone suggested that there are many kinds of leadership, one of which is the idea of servant leadership, and another is what we might call visionary leadership, and that they are not the same.

Let me point out that for a Christian, there is only one valid kind of leadership, and that is servant leadership.  Any other kind of leadership model or style that fails to recognize Jesus’ model of servant leadership as the foundation, is a subhuman form of leadership.  In a truly biblical worldview, Jesus’ pattern of servant leadership and the concept of visionary leadership are not antithetical styles, but they are the same.  Having a vision for a world founded upon true justice where God’s righteousness and peace prevails requires nothing less than a great people who have discovered their true vocation as servant leaders.

Sometimes in life, there is a moment of truth, which will call on us to choose either the way of self-preservation or the way of self denial.  In the moment of truth, how will we live?  How will we live in the moment of truth, when Jesus comes to us and says let it all go?  How will we live in the moment of truth, when Jesus says let it all go and follow me?  How will live in the moment of truth, when in that moment we are called upon to either act without regard for our own security or even safety , if in doing so, we might secure the life and posterity of other individuals besides our self?

But the truth is that in an infinite number of small and unknown ways, the moment virtually always comes to us every day of our life.  Abraham was able to offer up Issac on Mount Moriah because his whole life revealed a pattern of hearing and responding to God’s call every day of his life.  Every day God calls us and every day we are given a choice to either obey or disobey the Word of God.  Make no mistake about it:  the New Testament does not shrink from describing Christian life according to the language of obedience and disobedience.  “Today, if you Hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”  And a moment of truth will come when you are also called up to the top of Mount Moriah.  And there maybe even several times or more when He will call you up to the top of Mount Moriah, and offer your life a living sacrifice.

The healing of both our selves and those, whom we might need to lay down our life for, will come through the way of self-denial.  So part of the good news is that our own healing— the healing of our soul, is found through simply living like a true human being.  The healing of our soul and the healing of the world, is only found through losing our selves in the saving of those not on the boat, but who also long for a new world waiting to be born.