Yesterday’s blog included a line from Augustine:

God’s grace always seems to startle the religious.

I’m reminded of something Nicky Cruz said at astronaut Jim Irwin’s memorial service. First, the backstory of Nicky – here are some snippets from a Wikipedia article:

David Wilkerson served as a pastor in small churches until he saw a photograph in Life Magazine in early 1958 of seven teenagers who were members of gangs in New York…He later wrote that he felt the Holy Spirit move him with compassion and was drawn to go to New York, in order to preach to them… He began a street ministry to young drug addicts and gang members, which he continued into the 1960s…He founded Teen Challenge in 1958, an evangelical Christian addiction recovery program in Brooklyn…Wilkerson gained national recognition after he co-authored the book The Cross and the Switchblade in 1962 about his street ministry… In the book, Wilkerson tells of the conversion of gang member Nicky Cruz who later became an evangelist himself and wrote the autobiographical Run Baby Run.

I read Cross and the Switchblade soon after it came out so it’s a story I’ve been aware of for a long time. In the 1990s, when I lived in Colorado Springs, both Nicky and Jim Irwin lived within a mile of my house, and I saw Nicky from time to time when we were both out jogging. I can’t say that I knew either of them personally.

Jim Irwin was an astronaut, lunar module pilot of Apollo 15, and the eighth person to walk on the moon, back in 1971. Jim was raised in a Christian home but only became a strong believer after his moon mission. He died of a heart attack in 1991. Because I was doing some work for the US Space Foundation at the time, I was able to attend his memorial service, preached by his friend Nicky Cruz. I’ll never forget what Nicky said. It went something like this:

The miracle is not that I was saved by grace. I was a Puerto Rican street kid. I’ve killed people in gang warfare. I understand grace. I needed grace. The miracle is that Jim Irwin, a good, white Baptist kid from Pittsburgh, understood grace.

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3.5 – 7, NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2.8, 9, NIV)

John 8 opens with the adulterous woman story which ends with “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” It’s a story that many translators took out – check your Bible and see if there’s a note to the effect of, “This story does not occur in the most reliable Greek manuscripts.” Why not? Here’s part of the story:

Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?” They were only testing Jesus because they hoped to trap him with his own words and accuse him of breaking the laws of Moses. But Jesus didn’t answer them. Instead he simply bent down and wrote in the dust with his finger. Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.”  (John 8.4 – 7, TPT)

I like this translation: “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire thrown the first stone at her.” I expect that sinful desires were going on right there. What do you think the woman was wearing if she was “caught in the act of adultery”? By the way, where was the man? Doesn’t it take two? 

In general, most of us could be less condemning. It’s the whole issue brought up in the Atlantic article. Condemn! Punish! Dr. Tim Keller was trying to counteract this attitude when we said, “Proud people are out; humble people are in.” That is just not the way we usually see it.

Here’s the note from TPT on the adulterous woman story:

8:11 It should be noted that this entire episode (referred to commonly as the “Pericope Adulterae”) is missing in the majority of the most reliable Greek manuscripts. There are some manuscripts that have this story at the end of the book of John and at least two that include it in the Gospel of Luke. Many scholars surmise that this episode in the ministry of Jesus was added after the Gospel of John had been completed.

However, it is the conclusion of this translation that the above text is indeed an inspired account of the ministry of Jesus and may have been deleted by many translators and copyists who doubted that Jesus could tell an adulterer that he would not condemn her. St. Augustine, one of the early church fathers, mentioned this story and stated that many translators had removed it because they interpreted it as Jesus giving license to immorality. God’s grace always seems to startle the religious. (St. Augustine, De Conjug. Adult., II:6) (Emphasis mine)

This is good, and Augustine got it right. “God’s grace always seems to startle the religious.”

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6.9 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 18.13, 14, NIV)

It was a non-descript white envelope from someone I’d never heard of. June was going through the mail and offered to toss it, but I remembered it did have first-class postage on it. I opened it expecting yet another offer to help me with my mortgage (I don’t even have one!) or something like that. Turned out it was a settlement from a class-action suit. I’ve gotten those before, too, usually in the amount of $10.00 or so.

Not this one: it was a check for more than $1400.00!

I expect the low-key approach results in a lot of these being thrown away. That’s why the check expires in 6 months.

I wonder how many opportunities we miss when the “packaging” isn’t what we expected?

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1.43 – 46, ESV, emphasis mine)

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7.33, 34, ESV)

The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (John 7.47 – 52, ESV)

I recently wrote two blogs on the importance of works: one from James 2 – What we do matters! and a follow-up: Obedience in the Flesh, in which I observed that some folks seemingly try to get out actually doing anything because it might be perceived as “works righteousness” or “obedience in the flesh.”

I was talking with a pastor friend the other day, and he had a wonderful response to one of his members who was worried about “works righteousness.” Aaron said:

It’s not works righteousness; it’s righteousness at work!

The scriptures are clear. Here’s Ezekiel talking about the new covenant that quite clearly includes Spirit-empowered obedience:

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11.19, 20, ESV, emphasis mine)

It’s that time of year when the sports media are hyping the upcoming College Football Playoff: Who’s In?

I just read a sermon by Tim Keller: The Sin Against the Holy Spirit that speaks to this important issue – not with respect to football, but the Kingdom of God.

It’s a very powerful sermon, and I encourage you to read it in its entirety. (If you have trouble with the above link, try this one.) Without getting into all the details, I want to highlight that Dr. Keller observes that Jesus warned religious leaders about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. In general, Jesus reaches out to both religious leaders and “sinners:” Nicodemus (John 3) versus the woman at the well (John 4). All the good people around, and Jesus talks with Zacchaeus (Luke 19). The Luke 15 parables, directed at the religious leaders who didn’t appreciate Jesus spending time with “sinners” on which I wrote a series of five blogs.

Dr. Keller observes:

Jesus Christ calls them both in. In every case, the faster one, or sometimes the only one, to respond, is the irreligious person. – Tim Keller

We don’t understand salvation by grace. Navigator author Jerry Bridges often wrote: “Preach the gospel to yourself every day.” This is what is actually wrong in our churches that the Atlantic article is pointing out. 

In addition to there not being enough disciple-making and teaching in churches— enough to counteract all the teaching people are getting through tv, talk radio, and podcasts—many of us in churches believe we’re better than other people. If poor people only worked as hard as I do, they wouldn’t be poor, etc. It’s always “us/them” “inside/outside.” Keller reminds us:

Jesus Christ came and redefined the kingdom of God. What was that redefinition? First of all, he himself came in weakness and in love and in service, which was not at all what they were expecting. Second, he said the real problem is not Rome, the problem is the sin and evil in all of your hearts, the “good” people and the bad. And finally, he said, therefore, it’s not the good people who are in and the bad people who are out; it’s the humble people who are in and the proud people who are out. – Tim Keller, emphasis mine

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18.9 – 14, ESV)

I don’t often try to take pictures of the night sky – I just don’t have the equipment for it. But a few days ago, we were eating dinner, and the view out our window was a conjunction of Mars, Venus and the new moon. It was breathtaking, and as they sunk lower on the horizon, the moon started to glow orange. I couldn’t resist trying:

³  When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—
⁴  what are people that you should think about them, mere mortals that you should care for them? (Psalm 8.3, 4, NLT)

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. (Psalm 19.1, NLT)

Some of you long-time Ewellogy readers may remember the story of my friend in Haiti Dr. Lucner Pierre. The blog “Let’s See What God Will Do,” published almost exactly two years ago tells the exciting story of Lucner leading a number of Christians into a voodoo village stronghold. It’s worth the read.

Lucner has just written a personal note, and I pass on his message without alteration:

Things are highly difficult in Haiti right now. We have a gas shortage that causes almost everything to be dysfunctional (bank, hospital, radio/tv station/market/schools etc) in the country. Price of everything including food turns to be high. Gangs takes control and causes an unprecedented insecurity in the country. The 17 kidnapped missionaries are still the hands of the gangs. We don’t know what to do in the country right now. This is the worse time we have seen since the embargo around 1991. Please, keep us in your prayer list, and ask other Christian brothers and sisters to pray for us as well. – Dr. Lucner Pierre, pastor in Haiti

Please pray with me for Haiti…

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, ESV)

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29.7, ESV)

It’s important to remember that God values warriors. Consider:

• God is referred to in scripture as a warrior: But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior… (Jeremiah 20.11, NIV)
• One of the last pictures we have of Jesus is as a warrior.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. (Revelation 19.11 – 14, ESV)

• Many of God’s key men were warriors:
  • Abraham led his men on an armed mission to rescue Lot. (Genesis 14.11 – 16)
  • Joshua was a general who led a series of campaigns to capture the promised land.
  • Gideon (and most of the judges) led the Israelites to conquer their oppressors.
  • David, of course, was a warrior demonstrated first in his defeat of Goliath. (1 Samuel 17.31 – 49)
  • A significant chunk of scripture is devoted to Davd’s mighty men. (1 Chronicles 11:10 – 12:22)
  • The first recorded Gentile convert was Cornelius, a Roman centurion. (Acts 10)

I’ve been challenged in adult Sunday School classes about being “too military.” But I don’t write this stuff…I just report it! If God didn’t value warriors both for what they do and for the fact that warriors remind us of spiritual warfare, God wouldn’t have devoted so much space to honoring warriors. Here are some snippets of 1 Chronicles 11:

• He wielded his spear against 300 whom he killed at one time.
• He took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and killed the Philistines. And the Lord saved them by a great victory.
• He wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them.
• He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver’s beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Those were some tough men!

This is a day to honor all the men and women who have served and are serving in our armed forces. God bless them.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6.10 – 13, ESV)

Do you want some good news from the Atlantic article? Here’s my take: suppose someone is on the outside, an unbeliever, a subscriber to The Atlantic, and they’re reading this article which confirms everything they ever thought about Christianity…BUT, who wrote the article? And who is quoted in the article? Christians! 

Some people and churches may be getting it wrong, but there are some among us who know what the true standard is and advocate for it. There were a lot of issues in the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Of the seven, only one had no problems. But Jesus, through the apostle John, called them out. 

The problem is not with Christianity. The problem is with how it’s practiced. 

What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” (Romans 3.3, 4, ESV)

And, as always, no points just for talking. Peter Wehner, the author of the Atlantic article, the people he quoted, me for quoting them, and all those churches, for that matter: we all have to put it into practice. 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1.22, ESV)

I’ve been sharing a few thoughts from a provocative article that appeared in Atlantic Magazine: The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart. The first two blogs talked about the intolerance of some people in many churches toward any message of social justice, despite that the Bible has a huge emphasis on it.

Today, I’ll look at what the article gives as the root of the problem, and it will be no surprise that I latched on to this part of it.

“What we’re seeing is massive discipleship failure caused by massive catechesis failure,” James Ernest, the vice president and editor in chief at Eerdmans, a publisher of religious books, told me. Ernest was one of several figures I spoke with who pointed to catechism, the process of instructing and informing people through teaching, as the source of the problem. “The evangelical Church in the U.S. over the last five decades has failed to form its adherents into disciples. So there is a great hollowness.”

This is a classic case of building the church (read, buildings, bodies, bucks) without building the people. This despite the fact that, as my Navigator friend Ron Bennett writes:

Jesus said, “You make disciples (Matthew 28.19). I’ll build the church (Matthew 16.18).” We have it exactly backward. – Ron Bennett in The Intentional Disciplemaking Church

The Atlantic article goes on to point out:

“Culture catechizes,” Alan Jacobs, a distinguished professor of humanities in the honors program at Baylor University, told me. Culture teaches us what matters and what views we should take about what matters. Our current political culture, Jacobs argued, has multiple technologies and platforms for catechizing—television, radio, Facebook, Twitter, and podcasts among them. People who want to be connected to their political tribe—the people they think are like them, the people they think are on their side—subject themselves to its catechesis all day long, every single day, hour after hour after hour.

On the flip side, many churches aren’t interested in catechesis at all. They focus instead on entertainment, because entertainment is what keeps people in their seats and coins in the offering plate. But as Jacobs points out, even those pastors who really are committed to catechesis get to spend, on average, less than an hour a week teaching their people. Sermons are short. Only some churchgoers attend adult-education classes, and even fewer attend Bible study and small groups. Cable news, however, is always on. “So if people are getting one kind of catechesis for half an hour per week,” Jacobs asked, “and another for dozens of hours per week, which one do you think will win out?”

I agree wholeheartedly with these observations. Moreover, it’s not just “teaching” that people need, it’s training. Theology, yes, but also skills: how to spend time with God, how and why to memorize scripture, how to share one’s faith in the world we live in today. Churchgoers are often told either implicitly or explicitly: just give us an hour on Sunday morning, and experience life change! It doesn’t happen like that. Not in the Christian life, not in any other endeavor. My kids will tell you that I told them more than once, “Real skill takes real time.” I played a round of golf the other day with a friend who used to be an excellent golfer. But right now, “used to be” is the appropriate term. He said, “I’ve got to play more than nine holes a month if I expect to get my game back.”

Dr. Jacobs, quoted above, went on to say:

That’s not a problem limited to the faithful on one side of the aisle. “This is true of both the Christian left and the Christian right,” Jacobs said. “People come to believe what they are most thoroughly and intensively catechized to believe, and that catechesis comes not from the churches but from the media they consume, or rather the media that consume them. The churches have barely better than a snowball’s chance in hell of shaping most people’s lives.”

And the media not only teaches content but also behavior, looping us back into the problems we discussed the past couple of days. For example,

The root of the discord lies in the fact that many Christians have embraced the worst aspects of our culture and our politics. When the Christian faith is politicized, churches become repositories not of grace but of grievances, places where tribal identities are reinforced, where fears are nurtured, and where aggression and nastiness are sacralized. – Peter Wehner, emphasis mine

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4.1 – 4, ESV)