Church, there are many things that can divide us. The fault lines of division are seemingly growing deeper and wider, at least in my neck of the woods. There are lines being drawn in the sand in every direction.
Unless you live under a rock, you know that one of the issues dividing citizens of the world, Americans and Christians is the issue of what to do about the COVID-19 vaccines. Some of you believe we should definitely take the vaccine and some think we should definitely not. To some, the vaccine is a life-saving shot and to others, it is a potentially deadly jab.
I see many seeking to divide us further and I, to my delight, see others trying to unite us. I've seen many uniters say something to the effect of, "There's no wrong answer. Just do what's right for you and your family."
I think that's dumb.
There most certainly is a right answer. Some of you may be offended by that statement, but you know you believe there are right answers to the vaccination question. Unity within the Church of Jesus Christ is highly important (see John chapter 17) but relativism is a stupid answer to an important goal.
We can't let relativism be the basis of our peace.
G. K. Chesterton has said, "Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as the opening of the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." Relativism about the best ice cream flavor is okay. Relativism about important topics in the midst of a pandemic is an unreasonable expectation that few would or should impose upon themself. So, relativism can't be our basis for unity and peace in the Church.
Let me put the mirror in front of myself. I am thoroughly convinced that the COVID-19 vaccinations are safe and effective. In my job I have been afforded the opportunity to speak directly to my county's health department administrator, several medical doctors, physicians and researchers from the American College of Public Health and more experts in the field. I have listened to those working in the emergency departments that are swamped with sadness. I have seen the stats on who's being ventilated and who is dying from COVID-19 and it's mostly unvaccinated people.
I am convinced by what I have seen, heard, read and experienced first hand with my own vaccination. I believe that these vaccines are a great good for society. I firmly believe that if your doctor says you can and should be vaccinated that you should get vaccinated for the good of you and your neighbor.
Let's keep the mirror in front of my own face.
Can I be thoroughly convinced that I am right and that you are wrong and still be kind? Can I be more unified with the person at my local church who disagrees with me about this important topic than I am with a stranger that is in the choir I was preaching to above?
Again, G. K. Chesterton once said, "A bigot is not the one who thinks he is right. Every sane man or woman thinks they're right. The bigot is the one who cannot understand how the other person came to be wrong."
Do I ever give effort to trying to understand the arguments of the other side? Or do I assume they're a selfish idiot that wants to infect everyone they meet? Did you skip over my brief explanation of why I believe I am right?
The Body of Christ can't be splintered but relativistic thinking isn't the ligament that holds the members together.
Then what is?
Jesus Christ, the head, is what holds it all together. In Jesus' own group of 12 men there was reason for great division. Think about Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. One man worked for the Roman government while the other was part of a group bent on overthrowing the Romans. What brought those two men with diametrically opposite views together? Jesus.
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit... just as you were called to one hope when you were called... one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:2-6
I think some of you reading this are right when it comes to your understanding of the COVID-19 vaccine and I firmly believe some of you reading this are wrong. My unity and peace with you won't come from pretending I don't think that way. Rather, I'm going to value my Lord and Savior and His wishes for unity above all. I'm going to remember that there is much more that unites me to you than divides us in Christ. Frankly, I'm going to follow many of the proverbs and shut up when I want to argue with you. I'm going to try hard not to be as snarky and sarcastic as I can be (I'm really good at sarcasm) and I'm simply going to bear with you some times.
Church, let's not spend our time "quarreling about words" (2 Timothy 2:14), even though topics like this are important. Let's remember that hands need feet, that eyes and ears have to work together. We are the Body of Christ and we need to start acting like it.
Read up. Listen to experts. Talk with your actual doctor. Come to an informed decision. Have a strong point of view. Think you're right. But don't let us dare throw away the unity Jesus prayed for right before He was arrested to be crucified in part to bring us together.
"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD."
Proverbs 18:22
Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. How can so much have happened since that Summer day? How can I love her more than I did then? How did we live before kids? Seriously, I don't remember.
The last 8 years have been the best years of my life. Perfect?: No. Best. I have gotten what is good and received favor from the LORD. I have a partner, a friend, a lover and my closest family member in her. I have watched her birth children, love foster children, deal with my crazy schedule, put up with me and grow more beautiful by the day.
8 years ago Christine walked down the aisle at Grace Baptist Church to my recording of "I Will Be Here" (thanks Kat, Cody and Austin). 8 years ago those words felt true and today I know they are. I didn't know exactly what marriage was going to look like for real, but I knew I wanted to find out with Christine Marie. Today I know that my promise was to cleave to her and to try my hardest to love her well. I too often fail at loving well, but I refuse to fail at staying.
Happy Anniversary, Christine! The promise remains: I will be here.
One of the sad pastimes of too many Christians is watching videos of people "taking down" ministry leaders. Maybe I just clicked on one and YouTube thought this was my jam and Facebook agreed, too. Maybe. But even if that were the case, we Christians spend entirely too much time exchanging friendly fire.
Before I get too far along I must give a disclaimer: There is a time and a place for calling out false teachers and bullies. There certainly are Biblical reasons to call out men who misuse their church office. We've seen too many times when unfit leaders hurt and led people astray. I've been disappointed too many times by people to whom I gave my respect. Men like Ravi Zacharias that abused instead of shepherded.
But most of the friendly fire I see is YouTube and Facebook warfare against those who disagree on non-essentials. Most of the videos I've watched serve the goal of making the viewer feel superior to those who have ideas that like "that guy". Many of these videos feature clips of other pastors doing the "take downs" without their comments being intended to do such a thing.
Too often I've been around groups of solid Christians who spent more time discussing the who's in and who's out in the acceptable brand of Christian leaders than enjoying the goodness of God and enjoying the company of His people. Recently I found myself joining right in and then feeling the painful correcting of the Holy Spirit that I was being a busybody and gossip.
"For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe... as the Lord has assigned to each his task." 1 Corinthians 3:4-5
This glomming on to celebrity pastors and even theological camps and infighting is not what the Good Lord wanted. Consider Jesus' priestly prayer:
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17:20-21
I'm not saying there aren't good reasons for denominations. That there aren't real theological differences. What I'm saying is that the petty garbage is an affront to our Maker and Redeemer. I hate it when my kids fight, and God must feel very similarly. Some of you may be thinking about how Paul once called out Peter on his hypocrisy. Again, there is right person and a right place and a right time, but most of you aren't the person, most of the time I see it isn't the time and most of the places certainly aren't the place.
I think of two seasoned pastors that I really respect and what they said: My dad and my current senior pastor.
I remember being the one that started a stupid dialog like the one I'm bemoaning now. My dad said (I'm paraphrasing from memory). "I can't stand the fundamentalist who think it's their job to tell everyone else what to do." Now, my dad was not bemoaning fundamentalist in the vein of those who believe the Bible to be 100% true and 100% authoritative. In that moment he was referring to the fundamentalist that like to function like modern day theological police for everyone else's church.
My pastor, Jim Lee, once said when talking about the widespread prosperity gospel in South America: "God is more okay with a needle of truth in a haystack of heresy than we are." Meaning, God works often in the very churches we would refuse to join and through the very pastors we wouldn't recommend to our neighbors.
Does this mean these two men don't care about their best understanding of Christ in the Scripture: Absolutely not. We can care about ourselves and those we've been entrusted to guide without seeing the need to lob grenades on our own comrades.
"Teacher," said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.' 'Do not stop him,' Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us." Mark 9:38-40
Heaven's gates may be more narrow than we think but I am sure Heaven will be more ecumenical than most of us think.
If you enjoy videos featuring an edited clip, for instance, of Voddie Baucham "taking down" another lead worker in the harvest than his preaching of the Gospel, I'd imagine he'd be grieved. I have to believe the Father would be more grieved.
You might be thinking: Matt, what's the solution? I'm prone to enjoy this more than I should. My knowledge has indeed made me puffed up and I need love that builds up those outside my theological and denominational camp (1 Corinthians 8:1).
Here's one helpful practice I have done off and on through the years.
Steeple prayers.
When you come across a steeple, you pray for that church. When you come across the school the church plant meets, you lift them up to the Father in prayer. You pray for every body of believers whose building or name you see, then watch your heart grow more ecumenical. Watch your love for the Church grow. Watch your love for Christ's bride deepen. Watch the way you spend less time tearing down and more time wishing to build up those who may be Baptist or Pentecostal or Lutheran or Methodist or Anglican or Catholic. It's hard to feud with your brothers and sisters when you're praying for them.
Stop friendly fire. We have an enemy and he deserves our full attention. Spend less time tearing down and much, much more time asking Jesus to beautify His bride today.
I haven't written on this blog in a while. I wrote for my brothers and I have been working on a sermon. I was given the honor of team preaching this morning with a great man named Dan Bolin. Below is the manuscript of that sermon.
. The last time you were thrilled with God in a worshipful moment, what thrilled your soul? Maybe this was on your own, or at Grace group, or at camp, or hopefully right here in this room. But what stirred your heart into a glowing fire?
When did you really enjoy worship in this room? Perhaps the singing or the prayers or the silence that you could hardly contain, or the preaching... what was it that made you so excited?
I mean, have you busted out “How Can I Keep from Singing Your Praise?!”
And, why do we sing and play music at all? It's not for our entertainment, it's for the worship of God, but why do we do this? Why when I got to the edge of the Grand Canyon did I want to be silent and then burst out in a verse of How Great Thou Art? Why when I first held Gideon did I get the chorus “God is so Good” stuck in my head? Why when the great athletes at the Tokyo Games run or swim faster than we’ve ever seen do we shout “Did you see that?” or “Wow, that’s amazing!” or why do we ascribe the greatness of a local American Ninja Warrior on Facebook?
Today we'll look at Psalm 96. Psalm 96 is the middle of a set of psalms that celebrate the kingship of God. Psalm 93 through 99 invite us to focus on God as King and to sing and praise.
Let's read it together, because we are promised that there is power in the reading of God's Word.
(Read Psalm 96)
If I were to put this psalm into one sentence it would be this: Yahweh is the incomparably awesome Judge of the universe so we happily praise Him and implore all nations to join us.”
Later Dan is going to help us look at what we do and how we do it, but I want to ask, “According to this psalm why is God worthy of our worship?”
There are two answers I want to share from the text. 1) God is incomparably awesome. And 2) Christ will come to judge the world.
1) God is incomparably awesome.
(Read verse 4-6)
Yahweh is great and greatly to be praised. He is awesome and worthy of our praise. This fact is juxtaposed with the other gods.
The psalmist uses a clever pun to help us see this. He writes, “the Elohim are elilim”. In Hebrew Elohim is the more generic word for god; while elilim is the word that means “worthless, useless, futile.” The psalmist is saying all the “gods” are “ungods”. But Yahweh made the heavens.
Our God created the heavens. He is the infinite creator. Everything you can see and everything you can’t see was made by His Word. All other gods are ideas or objects made by objects of creation. The other gods are ultimately pointless whether they are made of wood, stone, bronze, silver, gold or paper.
Why does this matter?
Everyone not worshipping the one true God is wasting their time. Don’t get me wrong, as far as our government is concerned, I am all for religious freedom. I want all religions to be treated fairly under the law and I want freedom of religious expression, but that does not make all faiths equal. All objects of worship outside of the worship of our God is at best, at best, a pure waste of time.
Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus, Taoist, and pagans of all kinds need to know: great is the LORD and greatly to be praised.
But Matt, I don’t have much interaction with people who are of other faiths. Humans all worship something, whether or not they call it worship. Here are some other worthless gods: academic success, athletic success, economic success, sexual conquest, political power for our party, fun, and the like. Think about it. You see people all around you sacrificing to these gods. Sacrificing time, money, energy and relationships to these idols that the writer of Ecclesiastes labels “meaningless”. These are all worthless in comparison to Yahweh and we know scores of people bowing down to these empty idols daily.
The world is searching for something absolutely wonderful and we know what it is.
In comparison to the ungods all around us, our God is worthy, not worthless. In contrast to all the other things to which we ascribe glory, our God is most glorious and awesome. I found myself worshiping at the sight of the Grand Canyon. God made the Grand Canyon. I remember standing there and the words I uttered when seeing the tiny looking Colorado River was, and Christine can attest to this, “They think that made this?” The world sees majesty and worships the power of erosion! Even if it were erosion from that blip of a river that did that, and that may very well be, who gave erosion its power?: God. The idols of the nations are pieces of wood or stone. Our God made the Grand Canyon with the power of His Word.
In verse 6 the psalmist personifies Splendor and Majesty to walk into the courts before Him and Strength and Beauty themselves to worship Him in His sanctuary. Yahweh is powerful.
Think of Isaiah chapter 6 when he sees the vision of Yahweh in His glory. Woe to me, I am a man of unclean lips and I live amongst people of unclean lips. Think of the flying creatures and the elders and their unending worship of Yahweh.
God is incomparably awesome and worthy of all praise. Throw away all the impotent gods and run to praise the omnipotent God.
2) Christ will come to judge the world
(Read verses 10-13)
Judgement Day is coming!
Does that thrill you or scare you? I’ll venture to guess it sounds scary.
Well, the psalmist sings that judgement is good. Judgement, in this sense of the word, is God coming to set the world right. My kids have The King Jesus Storybible. The book tells the story-arch of the whole Bible to kids in one sitting. It’s wonderful and I recommend it. But the way this children’s book says it is: Jesus comes to make the world right and good again.
Is the world right and good now? Listen to the news, read the headlines. This world isn’t right and good.
What are some of the world’s problems that worry those in our communities whether or not they believe in Jesus? Violence? Fascism? Communism? Tornados? General chaos? Evil seemingly getting its way? Climate change? Racial inequity?
The list of the things that we look at and scream, “This ain’t right!” is long. You have to wait on test results to find out if there’s cancer in you. That ain’t right! Steve was in a car crash and was banged up. That ain’t right. Amara has to use a walker as a child. That ain’t right. We had to go to the basement to hide from a tornado. That ain’t right. Some of you have buried spouse and children. That ain’t right. My baby won’t let Christine sleep at night. That ain’t right. Some of you have family members with diabetes. That ain’t right. Too many of you have fractured families. That ain’t right. Let’s go beyond our congregation. The Uyghurs are in concentration camps in China. That ain’t right. A pandemic has disrupted the whole world. That ain’t right. Drug dealers exploit addicted people. That ain’t right. Girls are being sold around the world as sex slaves. That ain’t right. Black and White, Left and Right, Men and Women can’t live in peace. That ain’t right.
There’s a lot that just ain’t right.
But friends, we have the good news!
Christ the righteous Judge is coming! He is coming to make the world right and good again. The earth and all that is in it will be perfect.
When Jesus comes back cancer goes into the lake of fire and the Devil goes with it. Steve, there’s no car crashes on the New Earth. Amara will run and skip any time she wants. Diabetes won’t exist. Families will not be separated by lack of love. Children won’t need foster care. Tornadoes won’t destroy. Death itself will be dead. People won’t be sold or tortured and every race, tribe and tongue will live as brothers and sisters and sing praises to the King of kings. And I expect babies will sleep through the night.
That’s why we sing my favorite 2nd Coming song Joy to the World!
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King.”
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy."
And my favorite verse that is sadly skipped often:
"No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found."
Christ is the King who will come back to judge the earth. Romans 8:22 says the whole creation groans as it waits for the culmination of the Gospel.
In this psalm we see the heavens themselves being glad. The earth itself is personified as rejoicing. The sea is roaring with praise. This is significant because to an ancient middleastern person the sea represented chaos and everything wrong, yet here it is in line praising its creator and judge. The fields are celebrating. Even the trees of the forest are singing. This makes me think about how Jesus said if the people didn’t praise Him the rocks would.
The universe can’t wait to stop its groaning.
Jesus is coming to make His creation what it should be.
(Read Isaiah 11:3-9)
(Read Revelation 21:1-5)
This is reason to celebrate. But why now, when the world is still ugly?
Our faith requires us to find joy in this future hope. For who hopes for what they already have?
Let me tell you about my grandma. My Mimi lived a rough life. She was orphaned. As a young girl she was raped by a midnight intruder. Her adoptive parents divorced. She married an abusive alcoholic who cheated on her constantly and beat her and her daughters. She raised foster kids from broken homes. She died a relatively young woman. She had many reasons to be as bitter as Naomi in the book of Ruth. But throughout her life she sang and whistled hymns. She knew nearly every verse to every hymn in our Baptist hymnal.
You have to wonder, what kept her singing? What keeps a person who lived a hard life praising?
She picked one song for her funeral in the notes she had made for a day she knew would come. It was Bill and Gloria Gaither’s classic “The King is Coming”. The knowledge that the King is Coming can keep us praising our coming King even when life hurts.
The LORD is incomparably awesome and worthy of our praise. And Christ, the perfect King, is coming back to set this place back in order. Does that thrill your soul? Does that make you want to sing, declare, ascribe and shout?
Let me read you some more lyrics and ask you a question?
Do you feel the world is broken? I do.
Is all creation groaning? It is.
Is a new creation coming? It is.
See, the psalmist is going to tell us some things that we must do and Dan is going to help us see what that is in a bit. But Grace family, I have a very important question for you before we get on to looking at what this psalm commands of us.
Here's another post about social media. It's safe to say there's a lot of posts out there about the dangers of social media, the etiquette of social media and the like floating out there. I've written at least a few times in this vein as well and this is another one of those posts.
Like it or not, social media is a major aspect of a lot of our lives, and how we exist of social media is important.
One of the major ways we interact on social media should be likes of posts/photos of vacations and kids. However, one of the major ways we interact on social media is in ALL CAPS. We (though we deny it) love being angry at one another, we love arguing with one another, we love owning each other for the cause of our side.
Christians, is this how we want to be known?
"There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." Proverbs 6:16-19 (emphasis added)
A man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
The last line made me think of a Facebook friend of mine. In typical Facebook friendship, I've never seen this person in real life. This post isn't directed at him, but inspired by some of his postings. He, like me, enjoys the give and take of an argument (exchanging and defending of ideas, not a fight). He seems to really enjoy posting controversial questions which lead to an explosion of comments.
Many of the people commenting may be like he and I. They might enjoy a fun, rousing argument. However, many others may actually be mad and it may actually split friends. Is social media the best place for this?
Many news media (especially local news media) like to post controversial stories and then comment "What do you think?" As expected the comments are many and volatile. The media outlet gets lots of traffic and increases its social media presence, but is it worth it and should Christians jump into the fray?
This post isn't to say Christians need not argue ideas and even argue them in the public square. This post is to say "the LORD hates a man who stirs up dissension among brothers and, in fact, finds him detestable." That's a heavy thing. That should apply a weighty warning.
O, be careful little thumbs what you post.
O, be careful little thumbs what you post.
For the Father up above is looking down in love.
O, be careful little thumbs what you post.
Christian, be careful what you post. Many of our beliefs are becoming increasingly unpopular, but that doesn't mean our social media activity should be increasingly detestable to God and that we should exemplify the type of person the book of Proverbs says that God hates. I'll put it bluntly, social media commenting and posting is very unlikely to persuade and is more likely to create dissension. Before you post, use wisdom and run it through prayer.
I have failed in this and unfortunately may continue to fail in this at times. I'm learning that much of the wisdom in the book of Proverbs can be summed up in two words: Shut up.
Pastor Josh said this morning that words are like razors. Razors intended to shave are used to slay in the hands of evil men. Will your words serve a godly purpose or an evil purpose today?
What positions in the local church require the Holy Spirit?
You'll likely answer this question by saying preachers, elders, Sunday School teachers, worship leaders, deacons and the like. Or you'll say, "all of them" but you won't know exactly why other than the answer sounds right.
But what about the facilities team, the kitchen volunteers, the audio-visual team leader, the children's crafts coordinators and the like? Do those sorts of positions within your church really require the empowering of the Holy Spirit? Do those types of roles within the functioning of the church really need spiritual influence or are they not on the spiritual plain?
Let me refer you to a story that will clear up this question. It's from the book of Exodus when God had told Moses how worship in the community of Israel was to be conducted.
"Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge of all kinds of crafts... to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. And He has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen and weavers... all of them master craftsmen and designers." Exodus 35:30-35
God filled this man, Bezalel, with the Holy Spirit so he had the ability to lead the facilities team, as it were, so he could lead the interior decorating team, as it were, so he could teach crafts to others. The Holy Spirit that moved within Bezalel and Oholiab was the same that empowered Moses. Don't miss that.
We must avoid the temptation to create categories of spirit and non-spiritual within the workings of the church. Given that the Church and your local church is a spiritual house, the work within it is also spiritual... from the work of the pastor to the facilities team leader.
Don't believe Satan's lies that the manifestation of skills from the Holy Spirit in you are useless or undignified. Serve using the skills God has blessed you to have. Serve in the role the Holy Spirit empowers you to serve knowing that you are serving the God who made you the way you are intentionally.
Show proper honor to all who serve in the house of God today.
Over the last couple months I wrote about the 10 Commandments. It was a great experience dwelling on these verses in Exodus for an extended period of time. It was helpful for my life.
Below are all ten posts in one place. Take time to read one or all (or none, I guess) today.
