JESUS CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Advent Week 4: Joseph's Change of Mind from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

"My grace is sufficient for you..."

Advent Week 3:Questions? He's Got Answers from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

"DOESN'T THE BIBLE SAY 'THOU SHALT NOT KILL?'" and OTHER MYTHS PART I

Does the Bible allow for capital punishment?

I would say, not only does it allow for capital punishment, it encourages it when warranted. When is it warranted? Well, certainly the law in numerous places (Exodus 21, Numbers 35, etc.) tells the people of Israel to practice capital punishment in many cases. But one could argue, "Those laws were meant for Israel's society and are not laws made for all people at all time." And they'd be right! There are many laws in the Mosaic code that we don't adhere to because they were and are meant strictly for Israel.

But the call for capital punishment from God comes even before the forming of Israel. Genesis 9:6 commands the whole world (not merely one nation) to a universal principal of justice:

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."

Now couple this verse with how Romans 12 & 13 describe the working of civil government:

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

So Romans 12 says to us individual Christians that we are to never personally seek out vengeance for wrongdoing done to us. Fine.

Now look at Romans 13, directly following the verse just quoted:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

Did you read that? Remember how many times we've talked about the doctrine of vocation? In that doctrine we are seeking to show that God fulfills most of what He does in this world through various means (usually people). He gives grace through preachers preaching; gives food through farmers farming. How does He deliver vengeance to the lawbreaker? Not through individual Christians because Christians are called to turn the other cheek and love their enemies. Rather, God delivers His vengeance in this world through civil governments. The Christian cannot take vengeance because vengeance is God's, but then directly after that Paul declares the government is "God's servant, an avenger...." We individual Christians are to "leave it to the wrath of God" to deal with the evildoer. But who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer? The governing authorities. Either Paul is contradicting himself in some strange and weird way, or Paul is distinguishing between two spheres of life: Civil and Spiritual (we've talked about this before too!).

Ok, we've established that God avenges evil (at least in part) and delivers his wrath on the wrongdoer through the governing authorities. Now, what does Paul say the governing authorities carry around with them to deliver vengeance and wrath? A sword. What do swords do? They stab, slice, dice with the intention of severely wounding/killing someone.

So now, we're back at governmental killing of lawbreakers. Is is warranted from Scripture? It seems indisputable to me that it is. However, this is not the case for many within the Church. Objections come up like, "Doesn't the Bible say 'You shall not kill?" "How can we be sure the right person is being executed?""But doesn't the Bible say to turn the other cheek and love our enemies?"

I will deal with those objections and more tomorrow...

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Erick

RECEIVING FROM CHRIST....GROWING IN CHRIST....GOING WITH CHRIST....

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS PART IV

"CONSUME RESPONSIBLY"

Aren't beer commercials great? In beer commercial world, people argue over whether a beer should be known for being less filling or tasting great. In this world, frogs croak out words, and clydesdales dance through snow covered hills. In beer commercial world, people that drink beer are usually good looking (when's the last time you saw a beer commercial starring a guy with an inflated beer gut?) and never drunk; pretty girls are always just hanging around, and the bars are always well lit and uber hip.

But then at the very end of the commercial an announcer says quickly, "Consume Responsibly." The reason? You will get drunk, not be very attractive, no pretty girls will hang out with you, you'll end up in some dive bar with no windows hunched over a toilet. You will not care whether a beer is less filling, you will not think it tastes great and you will be dependent upon someone to drive you home on something less romantic than a clydesdale. Being responsible with our consumption (not just with beer but with all things) is pretty important stuff.

To be an American is almost synonymous with the word Consumer: It's how our economy runs. If we don't consume, our country and for that matter the world, go broke. But just because we are consumers, doesn't mean we have to consume everything placed in front of us. Biblically, we are called to be responsible, thoughtful, engaged with our consumption of the things business produces for us. So I've compiled a list of questions one can ask themselves to hopefully be a better (i.e. more biblical) consumer:

1. Is the Business ethical?

I admit, this is not a very easy question to answer a lot of the time. Some say "such and such" a company is evil, while others defend it as a fine organization. So, the rule of thumb is if you know that a company does things that violate God's law or your conscience (this could be much, depending on each individual's conscience), don't support them.

2. Is supporting this business, causing me to sin?

This may sound obvious, but if a company produces something that will cause you to sin, then don't support them. For example, there is no way in any universe, that a Christian could justify investing in a porn distributor. One may say, "Hey, I don't watch the stuff, I'm just making a profit." Sorry folks, it doesn't work like that... "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints."

Ephesians 5:3

3. Is supporting this business harmful to my neighbor?

Maybe more important than the question of whether a product is harmful to me, is whether it is harmful to my neighbor. In my mind, this is where the biggest challenge comes for Christians in North America (with regard to business). Do we buy shoes if we know they're made in sweat shops in third world countries where the workers are abused and taken for granted? What if we find out a large corporation who makes a great product, in order to make that product, is polluting and contaminating waters in India to do it? Again, I recognize that not everyone has the time or the ability to research every company in the world trying to sell them something. So the rule of thumb is, if you know a company is doing something that willfully harms your neighbor (remember your neighbor is not just Charlie next door, but every person on planet earth!), don't support them with your business.

4. Is the product needful?

Please ask yourself this question more. The following are conversations I could've had in my own head:

"Yes, yes, I know you want to eat out, but Ramen noodles will do the job for 1/30 the cost. "But Ramen noodles aren't very satisfying." "I know but they do the job right?" Yes, yes, I know you want the 60 inch flat-screen, but can you get by with the 32 inch? But 60 inches makes the characters bigger. Yes, but 32 will get the job done right?

Is there anything sinful about going out to eat all the time? No. Could the money be spent more wisely? Yes. Is there anything sinful about owning a 60 inch T.V.? No. Could the money spent on a 60 inch TV probably be spent more wisely? I'll let you answer that.

5. Is the product worth it?

Ask yourself this more too. What is worth your time, sweat, anxiety, tears etc? That is really what hard earned money represents right?

Tomorrow, we move on to the subject of Capital Punishment...

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Erick

RECEIVING FROM CHRIST...GROWING IN CHRIST...GOING WITH CHRIST...

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS PART III

DIGGING INTO A THEOLOGY OF WORK

In our last devotion on world-view, I discussed a biblical theology of work. We saw how a biblical theology steers us away from two opposite errors, namely, in work is found all meaning, and in work is found no meaning. Today we move from the workers to the employers, that is, business owners. Here are three biblical principles Christian businesses should seek to follow:

1. Quality over quantity-

It's pretty easy to produce a quantity of garbage (we all do it everyday!), what's more difficult is to produce something that is truly quality. In our consumer culture, we have become accustomed to most of the things we own having a short life. There used to be T.V. repair men, now we just buy a new one; there used to be vacuum repair guys, now we just buy a new one.

As a person operating a business, one of the things God has called you to do with that business is to produce something that brings glory to Him. "All things are to be done for the glory of God." Now does this mean everything has to be the finest quality? Of course not, but it does mean that we seek to do the best with what we do have. We don't cut corners in our production just to save a few bucks, if in the end that means a product that is more poorly made.

2. Service to the Community-

A biblical business is not just a service to the owners, but to the employees, their consumers, and the broader community of neighbors all around them. John Stott, in his book, Issues Facing Christians Today states it well:

Work is intended not only for the fulfillment of the worker, but also for the benefit of the community. Adam did not cultivate the garden of Eden merely for his own enjoyment, but to feed and clothe his family. throughout the Bible the productivity of the soil is related to the needs of society. Thus God gave Israel a "land flowing with milk and honey", and at the same time issued instructions that the harvest was to be shared with the poor, the alien, the widow and the orphan. similarly in the New Testament, the converted thief is told to stop stealing and start working with his own hand, so that "he may have something to share with those win need."

If a business detracts from the good of the community, then that business is not operating according to Biblical standards. With this guide in mind, a Christian cannot in good conscience work for a business that lies to the community, or sells smut to the community, etc.

3. Valuing your employees-

One can never underestimate the power of letting your employees know how much they are valued. Without them, your business doesn't exist. Colossians 4:1 says, "Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven." Luke tells us that "the worker deserves his wages." So the Christian business seeks to reward it's employees for good work by giving them decent, competitive pay, some flexibility and allowance for time off. However, even more than this, I think the most important thing here is that your employees are shown appreciation through your words and deeds. Here's Stott again:

The knowledge that our work is beneficial and appreciated adds considerably to our sense of of job satisfaction. I understand that Henri De Man's studies in Germany between the wars, and the Hawthorne experiments which were conducted at the same time at the Chicago plant of the Western Electric company, were the first pieces of scientific research into this now well-accepted fact. The Hawthorne studies in particular showed "that workers would increase their output even when the lights were dimmed to the strength of moonlight, if they thought that their labors were considered by other people to be important and significant."

"In a survey conducted by the Work foundation in July 2004... pay was less important to people that the content of their job and fulfilling personal ambitions."

If you're interested in seeing what it actually looks like to run a Christian business according to these principles, check out any article on In-N-Out Burger. Their food is most definitely focused on quality over quantity (thus their drive thru line takes longer than almost any fast food place, but it doesn't hurt business. Why? Because people love the quality of the product so much, they're willing to wait!). They serve the community they're in not just by their quality food, but by their charitable work as well. And lastly, their employees know they're valued. They're paid more than most, if not all, fast food restaurants for the job they do; they're instilled with a sense of pride over the job they do. It really is unlike any other business, though Chick Fila (another Christian business) is run very similarly, and once again, the difference is stark between their service and other places.

Now I'm hungry....We'll talk more about this stuff tomorrow.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Erick

RECEIVING FROM CHRIST....GROWING IN CHRIST....GOING WITH CHRIST....

Lutheran Air

Why Christians Go Postal Over Facebook, Jay-Z, Yoga, Avatar, and Culture in General

An Excellent post from Mark Driscoll on Engaging Culture. I've literally copied and pasted the whole thing from The Resurgence:

Mark Driscoll » Mission Mind Culture

It was only last week that the Washington Postasked for my opinion on the New Jersey pastor calling for Christians to stop using Facebook. Had I known what would erupt this week, I might have agreed with him.

The big idea of my Post blog was that Facebook doesn’t cause adultery, people do. Calling for a boycott of Facebook is not the answer because the issue is the heart. Even if someone doesn’t commit adultery because of Facebook, if that sin remains in their heart, they will find another way to act upon it. Sadly, after the story broke, it was revealed that the pastor protesting against Facebook was, in fact, guilty of prior adultery, along with his wife. Of course, their adultery had nothing to do with Facebook, according to the news reports. So, while I pray for the couple to get beyond whatever may be troubling their marriage by God’s grace, it simply confirmed my big idea that sinners are ultimately responsible for sin.

Facebook, like many technologies and cultural phenomena, is an opportunity for my heart and the hearts of others you and I interact with to be revealed and transformed. Funny that this week, a simple comment I made appreciating the talent of Jay-Z generated hundreds and hundreds of comments across multiple threads on my Facebook page. Compare that to nineteen comments on my post regarding a news article about the Christian who is being raped, beaten, and tortured for his faith and needs some people to push for his freedom.

The backstory is this. While flipping through TV channels recently, I noticed an enormous concert by Jay-Z. The event was simply epic. Madison Square Garden was packed and people were raising their hands and singing along with religious zeal. By no means a hip-hop expert, but someone who did grow up listening to the earliest days of rap as a non-Christian, I have been aware of his influence for some time. He has sold fifty million albums, garnered ten Grammys, and was honored as one of the Ten Most Successful Artists of the previous decade by Billboard Magazine. He’s also helped to launch the careers or at least influence the music of Beyoncé, Eminem, Rihanna, Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G., Timbaland, Linkin Park, and Dr. Dre, among others. Some of these friends joined him on stage for the portion of the concert I watched, which was quite a performance.

Back to Facebook, where I posted that despite using bowling words, Jay-Z is a genius. I was very surprised to see how heated the ensuing debate became. Scanning the comments, it became clear that there was a polarization between two camps of thought about how Christians should engage culture. One side cited Philippians 4:8 and 1 Peter 1:13ff and advocated that Christians should not listen to music like Jay-Z. The other side cited 1 Corinthians 9, Romans 14, and John 17:15 and advocated that Christians have freedom in Christ and should be in the world but not of the world. All in all, it was a predictably ugly display of Internet flame-throwing where it gets personal fast and people say things digitally they would never say in a face-to-face conversation. Still, I’d like to address the issue of how Christians should engage culture—mostly for those caught in the crossfire of the two extremes.

This blog is not intended to defend everything I’ve ever said and done, as, like all sinners, there are things in retrospect I would say and do differently. This blog is also not intended to defend or impugn Jay-Z. He’s a gifted producer and musician, some of his lyrics are vulgar, and though it will likely never happen, if I ever got to chat with him I would be curious to hear what he thinks about Jesus.

Are You a Missionary?

What I’ve found over the years is that whenever I speak about something culturally related from a Christian perspective, a debate rages. This has been the case since the earliest days of my ministry. This is because I consider myself a missionary in culture. When we started our church we did so in what was among the least churched cities in the nation, seeking to reach the least churched demographic—young, educated, single, urban men. The truth is, these kinds of young men are generally missing from the American church. One thing these men of all races are doing is listening to rap music.

So, as a missionary, I find it a good thing to be aware of what is going on in culture in general as well as in music in particular. Though not a musician myself, I have some five thousand songs on my iTunes account from a wide range of genres and styles. Music is among the most defining and revealing aspects of any culture, and so in addition to enjoying some music, I study lots of music. This endeavor is helped, in part, by a communications degree from one of the top programs in the nation, where I spent a few years analyzing advertising, marketing, political speeches, film, music, and the like.

“

Here’s the big idea: it’s not about music, it’s about missions.

”

The God of the Bible is a sender by nature. He is a missionary God who has sent his people into the world since Abraham. In the Old Testament he sent prophets like Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Jonah over cross-cultural boundaries. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to live as a man, in a particular time and place, with a particular people as a missionary in a sinful culture. The Father also sends the Holy Spirit to Christians so that we, like Jesus, might also live as missionaries in culture. The gospel that portrays this most clearly is John, where Jesus says roughly forty times, “The Father has sent me,” and then says in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

As a missionary, I do not view culture passively, merely as entertainment. Rather, I engage it actively as a sermon that is preaching a worldview. I teach my children to do the same. Their computer is fully visible in the middle of our kitchen and dining area, with protective software to help ensure they are not prematurely exposed to content they cannot handle, dangerous people, and also such things as pornography. The television used by our five children is also mounted for all to see in the most visible section of our home to help ensure we actively oversee our children’s cultural intake. That television also has a password that my wife or I must enter if anything is to be recorded or watched beyond a certain age-appropriate rating.

We also watch shows with our children. Those shows are recorded on a TiVo so that we can stop and have discussions during them, helping our kids understand the ideology that is being presented and how to think about it critically. We want our kids to be innocent but not naïve. Naïve Christians are the most vulnerable to engaging culture ignorantly and unpreparedly. If a Christian kid does not know how to walk as a Christian in culture, it’s no surprise that once he or she leaves their parents’ home after graduation, they are statistically likely to fail continue walking with Jesus.

The attitude we have for our children is the same we have for our church. This is why we have a pastor leading film and theology discussions. This is why we have a large contingency of Christians who are in the music business but do not wave the flag of Christian music. Rather, their theology informs their songwriting and artistry. Like our children, our goal is not to create a safe Christian subculture as much as to train missionaries to live in culture like Jesus. This helps explain why we baptized, by God’s grace, almost a thousand new converts last year alone—people who simply would not have connected with a typical Christian church existing in a cultural cul-de-sac.

Syncretism vs. Sectarianism

Regarding missiology, the question is, how are Christians to be missionaries in their cultures? Historically, and biblically, there are two erroneous extremes that Christians swing between: syncretism or sectarianism.

Syncretists go too far into culture, abandoning or diluting the gospel in the name of relevance. Liberals in the early twentieth century did this by pandering to the high culture of academic modernity and abandoning belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, the supernatural, and the divine nature of Christ. The shells of mainline churches are their legacy. Most recently, the Emergent Church did much of the same as they chased after the postmodern mood of our culture by questioning the virgin birth of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, and God’s design for heterosexual marriage.

Sectarians are better known as fundamentalists who impose man-made rules on people in the name of achieving holiness by avoiding sinners and hiding out in a “Christian” culture. They are prone to seeing others sin more easily than their own sins of hypocrisy and religious pride, while arguing about morality when they should be explaining how to be redeemed. Whereas syncretists go too far, sectarians don’t go far enough. Neither follows the entire example of Jesus, though both would disagree passionately.

The general concern of sectarians is that to be in culture is to be in sin. All Christians are commanded by God to avoid universal sins—offenses the Bible condemns for all people in all cultures—as well as particular sins, or offenses that are sinful for some people under some circumstances but not for all people under all circumstances. Christians are to do so without unfairly condemning or restricting the freedoms of fellow Christians who involve themselves differently in controversial cultural matters. For example, I personally disdain cigarettes, but I cannot forbid everyone in my church from smoking, because the Bible does not. This is, in part, what Paul means throughout the New Testament when he speaks of weak and strong Christians. In truth, every Christian is both weak and strong. We all have some areas in which we need to restrict our freedoms because of our weaknesses, while we are able to use our Christian liberty in areas in which we are strong.

Unity, Not Uniformity

I recognize that Christians will have different personal convictions in matters of culture and I welcome those differences that are not sinful, because what pleases God is unity, not uniformity. Uniformity undermines mission and often is promoted by erroneous restrictive and permissive theologies. Restrictive Christians go too far and name everything a universal sin, forbidding some cultural activities that the Bible does not, such as listening to certain musical styles, getting tattoos, watching movies, smoking cigarettes, consuming alcohol moderately, enjoying some sexual pleasures within marriage, and body piercing. Conversely, permissive Christians tend to name everything a particular sin and bless activities that the Bible forbids, such as drug use, fornication, homosexuality, and cohabitation before marriage.

I’m not advocating either a permissive or a restrictive approach to debatable cultural issues. Rather, I am encouraging Christians to involve themselves in culture not merely for the purpose of entertainment but primarily for the purpose of education. As a missionary, you will need to watch television shows and movies, listen to music, read books, peruse magazines, attend events, join organizations, surf websites, and befriend people that you might not like to better understand people whom Jesus loves. For example, I often read magazines intended for teenage girls, not because I need to take tests to discover if I am compatible with my boyfriend or because I need leg-waxing tips, but because I want to see young women meet Jesus, so I want to understand them and their culture better.

Garbage In, Garbage Out?

Sadly, a theology of “garbage in, garbage out” remains quite popular but has numerous flaws. First, there is no such thing as a pure culture untainted by sin and sinners, including Christian entertainment, which has had its share of scandalous behavior. One such example is the fact that as I’m writing this blog, the leader of a major Christian television network has publically confessed to adultery. Second, it is uncertain what distinguishes clean “Christian” and unclean “secular” entertainment forms and why Bibleman is so much better than Spiderman.

Engaging culture requires discernment by God’s people to filter all of the cultures they encounter, Christian and non-Christian, through a biblical and theological grid in order to cling to that which is good and reject that which is evil. As we engage culture (watching films and television, listening to music, reading books, shopping at stores, and so on), we must do so as theologians and missionaries filled with wisdom and discernment, seeking to better grasp life in our culture. We do this so we can begin the transforming work of the gospel in our culture by contextualizing the good news of Jesus. Not compromising. Not changing. Contextualizing. Practically, this means doing what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:22–23, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” The truth is that every ministry is contextualized, the only difference is to which culture and which year of that culture. Everything from pews to chairs, sound systems, projectors, suits, and a printed Bible in the English language are very recent missiogical contextualizations in light of the two thousand years of Christianity.

For those who are familiar with my ministry, this all may seem very confusing in light of comments I have made on other cultural issues. For those who have raised objections and questions in a gracious manner, with all sincerity I want to say thank you! They help me learn how to articulate more effectively my deeply held biblical convictions about Christ, Christians, church, and culture. They help me learn and grow, which I appreciate and need.

One helpful taxonomy I have used for years to help teach on missiology is as follows:

· Receive – There are things in culture that are part of God’s common grace to all people that a Christian can simply receive. This is why, for example, I am typing on a Mac and am going to post this blog on the Internet without searching for an expressly Christian computer or communication format.

· Reject – There are things in culture that are sinful and not beneficial. One example is pornography, which has no redeeming value and must be rejected by a Christian.

· Redeem – There are things in culture that are not bad in and of themselves, but can be used in a sinful manner and therefore need to be redeemed by God’s people. An example that has resulted in a great deal of media attention is sexual pleasure. God made our bodies for, among other purposes, sexual pleasure. And, although many have sinned sexually, as Christians we should redeem this great gift and all its joys in the context of marriage.

As you can see, each issue requires discernment. Liberal syncretists tend to receive too much. Fundamental separatists tend to reject too much. So, while I would reject yoga because it is a Hindu worship act, it is possible for the Christian to redeem some of the exercise principles, as my friend, Rose, extols. Likewise, it’s not a sin to watch a film such as Avatar, enjoy the technological mastery, and learn about how to tell a great story. But, it is imperative for a Christian to not embrace the blatant pagan worldview that does not distinguish between Creator and creation, upon which the entire storyline of the film is constructed.

That said, is it possible to appreciate the musical and entrepreneurial talent of Jay-Z without praising his character or beliefs? Yes. Is it possible to watch and listen to Jay-Z to learn about culture, what people are valuing, and why some men have much larger audiences than any preacher because of how they present their message? Yes. Should Christians agree with the every message he and other artists present? No. Should Christians who like rap check out guys I have enjoyed getting to know a bit, such as Lecrae? Yes. Should all Christians listen to Jay-Z? No. Should Jay-Z sit down and talk to me about Jesus? Yes. Jay-Z, whenever works for you is good for me, and if need be I’d even watch a Nets game.

Making His Path Straight: Repentance

Advent Week 2:Are You Repentant? from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

Is the Christmas Story Historical?

Luke 1:1-4- Did Christmas Really Happen? from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.