Did Jesus laugh?

Of course, Jesus laughed. Let me tell you why I can answer that question so unequivocally. Jesus was fully human. Expounding on the nature of Christ, Christian theologians often speak of the “hypostatic union,” a term that refers to Christ’s human nature being inseparably united forever with His divine nature. Christ’s two natures are distinct, yet Christ is “fully God and fully man.” It’s that “fully man” part which assures me that Jesus laughed.

In fact, the Bible is full of humor. While I have a huge plank stuck in my head, I’m still proud (and dumb) enough to think that I can help you remove the tiny speck from your eyeball. If we don’t laugh at that, we didn’t really get it. Even Solomon affirmed: “There is a time to laugh.” If we’re not careful, we can fall into the mistaken notion that people who are serious about the gospel have to be deadly serious about everything, but nothing could be further from the truth. We were made to laugh. We need to laugh. We ought to laugh. Laughter is good for our souls, and healing for our bodies.

To laugh in 2021 is not to deny some very tough realities which are all around us. Despair is everywhere, friends. Substance abuse is on the rise, as are suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These indicators have soared over the last decade, especially among those under 18 (skyrocketing 287% between 2009 and 2018). Between 2015 and 2017, life expectancy fell in the U.S., and that was the longest sustained decline since 1918. And I haven’t even mentioned the gasoline that’s been poured on this fire by the pandemic.

Only a person who is full of faith in Christ can laugh in the face of future unknowns. I’ve heard it said like this: “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.” That’s some good stuff.

In order for that kind of faith to flourish in and through us, you and I must be driven by a higher perspective of the world, and of our lives. This is central to our spiritual flourishing. Martin Luther penned these words on Christmas morning in 1522: “If you possess faith, your heart cannot do otherwise than laugh for joy in God, and grow free, confident, and courageous. For how can the heart remain sorrowful and dejected when it entertains no doubt of God’s kindness to it, and of His attitude as a good friend with whom it may unreservedly and freely enjoy all things?”

Paul in Ephesians 2:4-5 perhaps captures best our desperate need for a higher perspective, and the whole truth hangs on two short words: “But God.” In the verses preceding, the apostle has already described the downside of the universal human condition: “dead in trespasses and sins” … “following the course of this world” … “sons of disobedience” … “living in the passions of our flesh” … “by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Not a pretty picture, to say the least. “But God.”

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved!

I’m so grateful for those two words: “But God.”

But God refused to let me remain in lies and darkness.

But God refused to let me destroy myself in my pride and rebellion.

But God refused to let me stay on the wide and wrong road.

But God refused to let me be defined by my past mistakes.

But God refused to let me wallow in self-pity.

But God refused to let me get what I deserve.

But God refused to let me go!

But God. I’m inviting you to join me in the passionate pursuit of this higher perspective. God’s higher perspective. We need it now, and it is ours for the asking and seeking.

And I want to add that I believe that you and I will laugh in the world to come. C.S. Lewis wrote that “joy is the serious business of heaven.” It’s difficult to read about the wedding feast in Revelation 19, where God and His people are likened to a bride and groom who are caught up in the merriment of eternal victory, without imagining a great deal of laughter around the table. It’s a Biblical snapshot of nothing less than an absolutely joyful celebration! We ought to smile just thinking about it.

I don’t know all your struggles, and you don’t know all of mine, but I can tell you that you and I need a good belly laugh today. GOD’S GOT THIS. Let it out! Let it happen! Let it flow!

Pastor Charles

Today’s blog posting may feel more like a rant. I hope not, but I guess it is what it is. I’m feeling very protective toward someone I don’t even know.

The facts are that 24-year-old Simone Biles has withdrawn from the all-around final at Tokyo 2020, citing concerns for her own mental health. The situation is unfolding daily, but my greatest concern is the piling on of critical public opinions regarding a life we know little about. Simone may be the world’s greatest gymnast, but the spotlight of the Olympics is very limited in its ability to show us the person herself. And that’s what Simone is: just a person.

As unsuspecting kids who knew no better, many of us were taught: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Dumbest. Line. Ever. And totally unbiblical. The Bible is replete with warnings against the careless misuse of the tongue, and of the irreparable damage which can be unleashed by an unbridled tongue. Today, of course, the tongue includes the keyboard.

Here’s what Simone says. I’ll employ her exact words here: “Whenever you get in a high-stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health or well-being. It just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head.” According to news media, the young woman broke down in tears as she explained her decision. Personally, I choose to take Simone at her word.

I understand that we as Americans have grown accustomed to not just winning but dominating in gymnastics. For nearly a decade this has been our story. Silver feels like a loss. I get it. But we must be really careful not to join in the pile-on of commentary when it comes to issues where we have no business rushing to judgment.

Social media can be incredibly cruel. As Christ-followers, you and I must never forget that, on the other side of our judgmental words, is a person. Not just an Olympian, or a potential winner, or a celebrity, or (worst of all) an object for my entertainment. Simone is a person created in the image of God.

We ought never join in on the shame game. Shaming another is always unfitting for resurrection people. We are the new creations! We are the edifiers! We are the eternally hopeful!

We ought never board the train that leaves from condemnation station. Even when the whole world seems to be getting on board, we must not. That’s not who we are, because we are in Christ.

We ought never hold onto a stone of critique after Jesus has told us to put it down. That’s right. Our first thought toward Simone ought to include vivid memories of all the times when we have “cracked” under pressure.

When it comes to my haughtiness and my mouth, Psalm 19:14 always fits the situation: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. O God, may it come to pass among us, even in 2021.

Dial it down a notch, America! We’ve got bigger fish to fry than judging Simone Biles. In fact, we ought to be praying for Simone. She is obviously enduring a very tough season of life.

I don’t know Simone Biles. Not at all. But I do know that she is young, and that she is under more pressure than most of us will ever even begin to fathom. I also know that we’re experiencing a mental health crisis in our nation, and in the church. Methinks this is the time for humble and gracious respect toward a young lady who has represented us well.

A person is a person. (Dr. Seuss was right.) We are not gods. Maybe if we get that straight, we’ll have some room left over for the one who is God.

Pastor Charles

The Norse religion focused on a three-part, pre-Earth world: a land of fire, a great void, and a land of ice. I’m not making this up: a behemothic cow licked the god Bor and his wife into being. And from the dead body of the giant Ymir emerged all of creation. The rest is history.

According to Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Persia, everything including human life sprouted from a rhubarb plant.

According to the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, the four-eyed and four-eared Marduk created the world from the dead body of a goddess whom he had killed and then created humans to do the drudge work that the gods refused to do. (Too many stimulus payments?)

Egyptian myths started with the swirling waters of the Nu, where the genderless and all-seeing Atum – who had willed himself into being – spat out a son and then vomited up a daughter.

The Aztecs of Mexico looked to the earth mother and her skirt of snakes. Her 400 sons became the stars of the southern sky, and the stories went on from there.

In China, a cosmic egg floated within the timeless world, containing the opposing forces of yin and yang – until the first being Pan-gu emerged after eons of incubation.

Japan’s gods created two divine siblings, the brother Izanagi and the sister Izanami, who stood upon a floating bridge above the primordial ocean. Utilizing the jeweled spear of the gods, they churned up the first island, Onogoro. Izanagi and Izanami married, and produced offspring who were malformed. The gods blamed the whole mess upon a breach of protocol, and I’ll stop the story there for the sake of your time (and your stomach).

The Hindus look back to a gigantic being named Purusha. Purusha had 1000 heads, 1000 eyes, and 1000 feet. (A trip to Foot Locker must have been cost-prohibitive.) When Purusha was sacrificed by the gods, his body produced clarified butter, from which came all the animals and birds. His different body parts served different roles in creating the world’s elements and in birthing the four castes of Hindu society. That was all pre-Brahma, but I’m running out of time so we’ll leave it there, except to say that the current cycle of Hinduism has a couple billion years left.

The earliest Greek poets had a few colorful stories of their own, the best-preserved being Hesiod’s Theogony. Mother Earth was Gaia, and there was a bizarre menagerie of monsters … and Cyclopes … and giants … and thunderbolts hurled by Zeus … along with a plethora of gods. Uranus despised his monstrous children and imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth. And I’ll just leave that right there.

Our Josh has just informed us that he’s learning (at MSU) how Genesis compares to the creation and flood myths from Mesopotamia (Iraq). They’re talking about the Eridu Genesis, the Atrahasis Epic, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Enuma Elish (which I mentioned earlier in this blog posting). I get it. I really do. In some respects, these texts look similar to Genesis. But I wanted to say to you today that, in a multitude of very critical ways, they are very different! The Mesopotamian accounts portray a beginningless primordial soup of chaos where the gods can’t stop fighting each other except to procreate, but then somehow it all manages to transform itself into an ordered universe. Hmmm. And that’s only the beginning of the critical distinctions.

In those ancient myths, humans are formed out of a mixture of clay and the blood and spittle of the gods, in order to relieve the workload of the overworked lesser gods – who are having to serve the greater gods. The gods send a flood to deal with overpopulation (or some version of too much noise), but one man (Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra) is warned in advance and survives the seven-day flood in an ark with his family and animals.

But perhaps the most important distinction is that the Bible portrays THE ONE TRUE GOD, who speaks the entire universe into being out of nothing. Yahweh then fashions Adam and Eve – in His own image – and breathes His own life into them. And then this personal God bestows upon our first parents and their progeny – in fact, the entire human race – the sacred responsibility to rule over His creation on His behalf. Hallelujah!

We know from Acts 7:22 that Moses was exceptionally well-educated when it came to the culture of his Egyptian upbringing, yet God inspired what Moses wrote to oppose every godless worldview. We can rest assured that any apparent similarities between our Book of Genesis and any ancient myth are an example of God’s purposeful inclusion in the Scriptures of evidence against that myth. Genesis reveals to us – God’s people – the true nature of God and His sovereignty over all of human history. Written as historical narrative, plain and simple, Genesis purposefully undermines the false ideologies and idolatries of every culture where He is not worshipped and glorified.

Let’s be clear. Genesis describes no war among the gods. Quite to the contrary, in perfect harmony, the three members of the Godhead set in motion what later become for us our first inklings of the Covenant of Grace – by which our Lord Jesus will overcome Adam’s failure. What good news will be the empty tomb! God is the hero of the Bible and the hero of the gospel. The earliest chapters of Genesis regard every force of nature as entirely inanimate, and absolutely under the absolute control of the one true Creator God. He doesn’t need 1000 eyes. He doesn’t need a Home Depot. He doesn’t need magic or trickery. He doesn’t even need a rhubarb ruse. He is, simply, God.

Friends, most of the supposed “pagan parallels” aren’t nearly as parallel as the liberal critics claim. Upon close scrutiny, the myths have little in common with the Bible. And, even when a parallel is apparent, that in no way minimizes the historical veracity of the Scriptures. What it does is highlight for us the common longings of the human heart. In every culture, people want to know the story of how we got here, why we’re here, and why it matters. Even in cultures that are entirely hostile to the God of the Bible, and that’s our mission field, there are God-given yearnings for meaning and purpose. God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Those who are not trusting Christ by faith will always twist that knowledge, as well as those yearnings, into stories which only vaguely resemble the truth.

“In the beginning, God …” I’m sticking with that. What say you?

Pastor Charles

There was a time when church bells were torn down and melted. The public worship of God was strictly forbidden. The “Law of Suspects” was enacted; turning any sense of justice on its head, government suspects had to prove their innocence. And the cult of the “Supreme Being” took center stage.

No, I’m not describing a fictional novel. The year was 1793, and it was the French Revolution in full swing.

“That could never happen here,” we might be tempted to imagine, “as we are the people of liberty and the First Amendment.” But the British-American author Andrew Sullivan raises an interesting idea as he describes what he calls America’s new “successor ideology.” I think it was the essayist Wesley Yang who actually coined that term, and it refers to a new era in America that has superseded true liberalism. Right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, there is no longer a “liberal” society and a “liberal” democracy – posits Sullivan – where every voice can be heard, but we’ve been left with a place of “no escape, no refuge from the ongoing nightmare of oppression and violence – and you are either fighting this and ‘on the right side of history,’ or you are against it and abetting evil. There is no neutrality. No place for skepticism. No room for debate.”

No room for debate. If it’s true, that’s a scary place to be, friends.

What’s going on around us, right now? I’d be tempted to call it the rising tide of secularism, but I acknowledge that I can’t adequately wrap my mind or my words around every corner of the phenomenon. Please allow me to take a stab at describing what I see.

1. There is a godless philosophy mounting in strength. That’s why I mentioned the French Revolution. It’s a great picture for us of the importance of who occupies the place of royal authority. Do you remember learning about the storming of the Bastille? As Christ followers, our primary concern is not the royal authority in Paris – or in any other center of human government – but our supreme passion should be the royal authority who reigns on high, and who has graciously revealed Himself in His Word. And here’s what we must recognize: the sin-twisted worldview which seems to be carrying the day is simply the latest version of the serpent’s mantra: “Did God really say …?”

2. There is a race for firm control of the history books. A deist state religion – and that’s what I fear is arising – must demand that we learn nothing from past mistakes. By way of example, socialism can be cool again. (Never mind its global death toll.) Herein lie some of the dangers surrounding Critical Race Theory, in my opinion. It oversimplifies human history, and it forces people into false categories which serve to divide us even further. It is my contention that CRT undermines some of the principles of freedom which are absolutely necessary for the flourishing of all people, and that it accomplishes this particularly by distorting American history for its own ends.

3. There is a phony “reason” emerging in influence. I think you will agree with me that people seem to be losing their ability to think, critically and rationally. Emotional heat has supplanted honest dialogue. Quite ironically, “safe spaces” are threatening the healthy marketplace of ideas. France’s “Cult of Reason” recognized no god, but it did worship the goddess of “reason.” Consider the present similarities, if you dare. When I think about the potential dangers of the so-called Equality Act, for example, I can’t help but imagine all the ways in which inequality now masquerades as something noble. It’s as if someone has crept in by night and switched all the price tags! Oh, how you and I need a renewed mind for such a time as this!

4. There is a growing hatred for any dissenting voice. We don’t seem to be witnessing the eradication of every religious worldview (Islam seems strangely but widely unquestioned), but I think that we may be witnessing the attempted eradication of the central tenets of Christianity. I say that because we’re seeing such overt hostility in our society at those places where Biblical values crash into postmodern values: the definition of gender, for example. (One can barely keep up with even the ever-morphing terminology related to the house of cards that’s under construction.) And, because we’re losing the liberal marketplace of ideas, someone has to be silenced in order to avoid the direct conflict. We don’t even have to wonder who that will be.

5. There is a false characterization of the Christian faithful. When I look around and consider current trends, here’s what I observe: Biblical morality is increasingly considered oppressive, discriminatory, and downright dangerous. In the days of the revolution, and in its quest for absolute power and control, the French government attempted to “de-Christianize” everything, literally. I see nearly the same thing happening here and now. (Believe me: I don’t like writing these things any more than you like reading them.) But these are our times. Our God has put us here, and He has put us here now – let’s not shrink back from the grand spiritual opportunity which is today!

6. There is a hostile passion to silence said dissenters. In order for a firm cultural takeover to succeed and to stand, all non-complying doctrines and institutions must be removed and replaced. In light of church history, that really should not surprise us, nor should it terrify us. What most people fail to recognize is that Christ’s gospel will never be silenced – because it is Christ’s gospel! So press on, beloved saints of the Lord!

This present phenomenon is not simply the rising tide of secularism, but it’s really the rise of a powerful secular religion. Because everything I’m describing here is happening all at once, and it’s happening with a passion and zeal which makes an old-fashioned tent revival seem tame by comparison.

Against the backdrop of our current cultural malaise and cult of unreasonableness, I find God’s stern rebuke voiced through the lips of an ancient prophet (Jeremiah 2:11-13) to be quite chilling: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Fill my cup, Lord. Please, fill my cup.

Pastor Charles

I had an edifying conversation yesterday with a friend who – I’m guessing – at least on occasion arrives at different political conclusions than I. This man is my brother in Christ, and I know that the Holy Spirit will continue to bear fruit in my own soul as the direct result of our conversation. My friend and I agreed upon the main thing yesterday, and that is that the gospel of Jesus is the main thing! We also compared, at least on some level, our understanding of how much the church should speak into issues of public life and public policy. So the central issue with which I’m left wrestling might be expressed like this: Is there any room for the church to speak into the issues of the world/culture/government/politics in such a way that the church’s gospel witness is not compromised, or relegated to second place?

That’s not such an easy question to answer, because we know that the enemy of the church would love nothing more than to see the gospel of Jesus snuffed out, in whatever way possible. If that can be accomplished by getting church folks all riled up over political issues so that their first love is forsaken, so be it. That would be a tremendous victory for the enemy. We can all fall prey to misguided passions, and we all must remain on high alert in that regard. Can we compromise our gospel witness by hyper-activism? Yes. It’s a real danger. And, just for the record, this can happen on the political right and on the political left. The right can get so caught up in the “culture wars” that we lose the primacy of loving and serving our neighbor. The left can get so caught up in “social justice” that we lose the primacy of objective gospel truth. We have to keep the main thing the main thing. Like our Lord, we want to be “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

That being established, I’d like to explain why I do speak out in regard to issues of law and justice, and in regard to moral issues which wield widespread cultural and societal implications, like the current battles over gender redefinition and critical race theory. I speak up because I consider them gospel issues. They’re not gospel issues in the sense that “man is sinful and in need of a Savior” is a gospel issue, but they’re gospel issues in the sense that the gospel message itself is maligned by a wrong (or even incomplete) understanding of those issues. In regard to the two issues I’ve raised here, I would explain it like this: 1) We can’t know God if we don’t understand His preeminence in our lives as the Creator who made us, in His image, male or female – this is foundational to Genesis and to the core of Biblical theology; and 2) We can’t experience the grace of salvation until we admit that our primary problem is sin, not race. As such, gender and CRT become key gospel issues, in my opinion. I would contend that the church must address such issues, and address them clearly.

Have you ever heard of Hannah More? Hannah was a firecracker of a lady who lived in England back in the late 1700s when the abolitionist movement was gaining steam in Great Britain. Hannah lived among the trendy and fashionable in London, and she used her position to share with people a pamphlet that she had created to raise awareness about the evils of slavery. She would ask unsuspecting social elites questions like this: “Have you ever seen the inside of a slave ship?” (Most people had not.) And then Hannah would provide pictures of the horrific conditions which slaves endured, in order to plant haunting images in people’s minds so that she’d leave them bothered – really bothered – by the injustices of slavery.

The faithful life and bold public witness of Hannah More left a huge impact on a man whose name you’ve likely heard before, William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a devout follower of Christ who is remembered for his life’s work, which was – like that of Hannah More – the abolition of slavery. Wilberforce was dynamic and eloquent, and his antislavery efforts rather astonishingly bore fruit in 1807, when Parliament abolished the slave trade in England. He then worked to ensure that the slave trade laws were fully enforced, and that slavery in the British Empire was entirely abolished. The personal health of Mr. Wilberforce prevented him from leading the final charge of his life’s campaign, but he learned three days before his death that the passage of the emancipation bill was ensured in committee. I don’t have to tell you that this became one of the significant turning points in the history of the world.

William Wilberforce and Hannah More were friends and allies. At least some of the significance of their relationship is captured in the 2006 film, Amazing Grace. Wilberforce, played by Ioan Gruffudd, was struggling profoundly with his vocational calling. As a Christian believer, he sensed a call to the ministry. But he also sensed that God had gifted him with some unique abilities which might be used of the Lord if Wilberforce would commit his energies to serving faithfully in the House of Commons. I want to re-create for you a tiny but pivotal scene from that movie …

(Wilberforce, More, and others – including the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson – are seated at a dinner party.)

Clarkson: “Mr. Wilberforce, we understand you’re having problems choosing whether to do the work of God or the work of a political activist.”

[Pause. Gulp.]

More: “We humbly suggest … that you can do both.”

That moment was a turning point for Mr. Wilberforce. Wilberforce came to understand that the gospel he believed and professed carried with it, intrinsically and by God’s design, implications for every sphere of society – and that the God of the universe was sending him into the bullseye of England’s cultural storm. It wasn’t anything less than gospel ministry. It was gospel ministry. It is gospel ministry.

Perhaps that thought will be a turning point for you as well. Because, friends, we have to be careful never to make an “either/or” out of something which God intended to be a “both/and.” Maybe Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) – the theologian, journalist, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands – summarized it best: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

Pastor Charles

You know that I’m a Spurgeon addict, but the subject of my reading and study has always been the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. When Moody published this quote from Susannah Spurgeon (1832 – 1892), I knew that I had to learn more.

We may remember Susannah as the wife and encourager of London’s famous preacher, but often overlooked is Susannah’s “Book Fund” which she established so that ministers of the gospel could build at least a small theological library of their own. You have to keep in mind that most ministers back then were not paid enough for such luxuries as books. If my homework is accurate, Susannah’s love for theology started with The Pilgrim’s Progress. The woman who would become Mrs. Spurgeon came to understand that these kinds of resources were desperately needed by those who were filling England’s pulpits, and she did her part to make that happen.

Not only did Charles become a writer of widespread influence in the church, but Susannah had her own literary gifts, and authored several books of her own. She chronicled her spiritual struggles, and the ordinary trials of the Christian life, and I’m so glad that she did. But I particularly love the quote which I’m sharing with you here!

“When the storms come …”

You’ve been there, and so have I. But a spiritual storm doesn’t always look like a storm, does it? Sometimes it just looks like nothing is happening. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? Nothing is happening. We don’t like nothing. (Former English teachers: forgive me.) Nobody enjoys those seasons of seeming emptiness. In fact, sometimes the waiting on God is the hardest part!

“Our trees of delight are bare and leafless.”

Susannah Spurgeon knew personally of what she wrote. Likely you can relate, because there are times when we all feel zapped, spiritually and otherwise. Zapped! Along with her husband, Susannah had to walk through many painful seasons of church life, and many dark nights of the soul. One of her journal entries includes these words of counsel which she offered to herself: “The Lord has strewn the pages of God’s Word with promises of blessedness to those who wait for Him. And remember, His slightest Word stands fast and sure; it can never fail you. So, my soul, see that you have a promise underneath thee, for then your waiting will be resting and a firm foothold for your hope will give you confidence in Him who has said, ‘They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.’” Friends, I pray that Isaiah 49:23 will be for you, like it was for Mrs. Spurgeon, a promise worth standing on – even when you feel without the energy to stand.

“He strips us of the comforts to which His love has accustomed us.”

In Every Moment Holy – which I highly recommend – Douglas McKelvey includes a prayer that I have found most comforting in times of my own struggles with letting go of my own dreams – those moments when I finally realize that what I’ve been wanting is not at all what God wants. I’ll share a portion of that prayer here: “O Christ, in whom the final fulfillment of all hope is held secure, I bring to you now the weathered fragments of my former dreams, the broken pieces of my expectations, the rent patches of hopes worn thin, the shards of some shattered image of life as I once thought it would be. What I so wanted has not come to pass … You are the sovereign of my sorrow. You apprehend a wider sweep with wiser eyes than mine. My history bears the fingerprints of grace … My dreams are too small. Your bigger purpose has always been for my greatest good … So let this disappointment do its work … Here in the ruins of my wrecked expectation, let me make this best confession: Not my dreams, O Lord, not my dreams, but Yours, be done.” The older I get, the more I need that prayer.

“He leaves us alone in the world, to mourn the absence of the chief desire of our heart.”

It seems to me that God’s “wider sweep with wiser eyes” always includes the work which needs to be done in my own soul. The work that I can’t accomplish in my own strength. The work which I don’t even know needs to be done. It seems to me that, as long as the visible blessings keep rolling in, I am unlikely to keep my eyes fixed upon the lover of my soul – and so my Lord must leave me to taste the emptiness of my own achievements. This is a painful work, but a beautiful work. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you’re there right now.

“… to sing to Him then, to bless and praise and laud His dear name then …”

Then! Will you and I sing in the storm? That’s a really good question. Let’s get real for minute: we generally feel like singing when things are going great. When we can see that things are going our way. But that kind of praise doesn’t require much faith on our part. Friends, the testing of our faith comes in the moment of worshipful surrender that can happen only when you and I have no idea how or what God will provide …

“This is the work of His free grace only.”

Susannah knew something which you and I must never forget. We don’t wait on a God who has forgotten us. We don’t wait on a God who’s powerless to save. We don’t wait on a God whose attention we need to summon frantically because He has forgotten where we live. No, we wait upon none other than the Sovereign King of the universe! He is here. He is able. He is everything we need. By that term “free grace,” Mrs. Spurgeon was reminding us that we did nothing to bring about our salvation except receive it from the open hand of the Lord Jesus. How glorious! How marvelous! How timely for 2021!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Charles

Prickly issues seem to be everywhere. I’ll take up a prickly one now, not with a desire to determine winners or losers, but with a desire to foster understanding at a moment when understanding seems to have fallen on hard times.

Beginning in 1776, the Hyde Amendment and measures like it have prevented the federal government from forcing pro-life American citizens – via their tax dollars – to fund the abortion industry. This has allowed for the conscientious objections of millions of people to what they believe is a tragic national holocaust in our own generation. Now this nearly half-century-old bipartisan consensus is under significant scrutiny, and that is – in my humble opinion – a crying shame.

I’ll share a little history in case you’re unfamiliar with its origins, but the Hyde Amendment – which was named after the late Congressman Henry Hyde from Chicago’s northwest suburbs – was passed three years after the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade. The amendment is affirmed each year by Congress as a rider to the Health and Human Services (HHS) appropriations bill because it prohibits federal funding of abortions. The rider has been worded differently over the years, but the current version includes exceptions that allow for Medicaid funds to be used for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother – but all other federal taxpayer funding of abortion is banned by Hyde.

The United States Supreme Court rendered the Hyde Amendment constitutional in 1980. As part of the annual appropriations process, Hyde has passed routinely, and was rarely challenged prior to the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. In fact the Hyde Amendment has stood under six presidencies – three Democrat and three Republican. Bill Clinton campaigned against the Hyde Amendment in 1992, but President Clinton continued to sign a version of it into law each year of his two terms in office. And it was President Barack Obama who enshrined Hyde via an executive order pertaining to his Affordable Care Act.

So, at least in my view, the Hyde Amendment stands as a unique compromise in American politics. There may be no greater political divide in America right now than the divide over abortion. Those who see abortion as a life issue are horrified at the thought of being compelled to fund what they believe is murder. And, at least until now, most people who see abortion as a right have recognized the need to protect the conscience of their neighbors with whom they fundamentally disagree.

If the Hyde Amendment is repealed, all Americans will become financially complicit in ending the lives of the unborn. That’s why this moment really matters, friends! In order to maintain freedom of conscience, as well as to protect the 60,000 babies who are born each year because of the amendment (that number is backed up from the data between the Roe decision and the determination of Hyde’s constitutionality), Hyde must stay intact and in place.

Freedom is central not just to who we are as Americans, but to human dignity itself. Henry Hyde once said: “This is a debate about our understanding of human dignity, what it means to be a member of the human family, even though tiny, powerless, and unwanted.” So it’s easy to see how unchecked emotions on both sides of the issue can have people talking over each other, despising each other, and mistakenly characterizing the intentions of those on the other side. We must be honest about the fact that both sides think they’re protecting freedom.

Within that messy cultural soup, some of us are striving to keep the light on for religious freedom! The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is grounded in the character of God. The earliest Christ followers appealed to the Incarnation itself: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness … for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.3-4). However imperfectly applied, our nation’s Founders sought to enshrine these principles of inherent human personhood and dignity, stemming from the image of God, into our earliest national documents. Christians must take seriously the Bible’s admonition to obey those in authority, but all citizens must remember that the purpose of law is to preserve order, serve justice, and promote the common good. In this present hour, methinks we all have some serious soul-searching to do.

It’s time for us to study the tenacity of Peter and John when they were ordered to stop preaching. It’s time for us to study Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Drawing upon Augustine and Aquinas, Dr. King made it clear that just laws elevate human beings because they are rooted in the moral law of God Himself. Personally, I am drawn to that term “elevate,” because I think that it might be useful here and now for bringing warring factions to the same table. Elevate …

Can we look beyond sheer human opinion or obstinance to a higher and grander motivation to do the right thing? Can we honor Caesar appropriately, without ever giving to Caesar what is due only to God? And can we dust off our copy of that old “golden rule,” and treat the folks around us with the kindness and respect that we would like also to receive?

Only by God’s grace, we can.

Pastor Charles

After spending the night on the Mount of Olives, Jesus enters the Temple area and begins to teach. The scribes and Pharisees drag before Him a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery. She is clearly guilty. These religious leaders cite Mosaic law, which calls for the woman to be stoned to death, and the men solicit the expert opinion of Jesus.

We know from John 8 that this “question” is anything but sincere. It is yet another setup. The hypocritical band of spiritual power brokers is attempting, as it happened often, to trap Jesus in a moral or legal catch-22.

Though we can’t know what Jesus wrote with His finger in the dirt, we do know that He cleared the crowd. And we do know at least one of the statements Jesus made to the angry crowd with their rocks in tow: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” One by one, the woman’s accusers departed. And Jesus is there on the ground with the adulteress. Christ is kneeling with a guilty criminal and a societal reprobate.

I am so moved by that particular posture. The Lord of heaven and earth lowered Himself to extend grace to a sinful woman, to restore her from her brokenness and shame, to rise to her defense, and to rescue her from condemnation. That is real power.

We live in a world where power is understood quite differently. Power is control. Power is manipulation. Power is prevailing over others at all costs, and exploiting their every weakness in order to prevail. Power is domination. Power is winning. Power is walking over others to elevate oneself, and to make it successfully to the top.

Not so with Jesus.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has not made me a woman.” Jewish rabbis prayed that prayer every morning, and Jesus had no doubt heard it many times. Women were so devalued by men that they were regarded as property. But, much to the surprise of those who watched Him closely, Jesus elevated women everywhere He went. He showed us what it means to respect women as God’s image bearers and heirs of divine grace. He appointed women to first announce His resurrection!

Jesus taught us how to live, how to love, and how to lead. Each involves giving ourselves away, choosing to serve instead of to be served, and dying daily to the idol of self. Surely you and I must breathe in the strength of the Holy Spirit if ever we are to experience such life in Christ. That is real power.

As I drove away from the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this afternoon, I was grateful to God that the world’s largest deliberative body took a decisive stand to protect the vulnerable among us, and to hold accountable those who might be tempted to exploit the weak or ignore the cries of the abused.

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/motion-spurs-task-force-to-oversee-ec-review/

Those are gospel issues. And actions which embody Biblical justice and mercy remind me of none other than the Jesus who stooped to save. I believe that the SBC chose love over comfort or status quo today, and that is real power.

Pastor Charles

Meet Byron “Tanner” Cross.

Mr. Cross has been reinstated as an elementary school physical education teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia. He had been suspended from his job at Leesburg Elementary School for speaking his mind about a proposed policy regarding gender and gender identity. The policy was aimed at requiring school staff to use students’ preferred pronouns.

Thankfully, Twelfth Circuit Judge James E. Plowman just ruled in favor of Mr. Cross and ordered the school district to restore his employment. Judge Plowman asserted that Loudoun County Public Schools had violated the teacher’s constitutional rights under the First Amendment.

What had landed Mr. Cross in so much hot water with the school district? Simply this: he refused to “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion. It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.” Once Mr. Cross made that comment in a public forum, the district tried to dump him like a hot potato. Never mind that the district had solicited public input on their proposed gender policy. The school district’s principle argument for ordering Mr. Cross to stay completely away from school property had been the “disruption” caused by Mr. Cross at the meeting where his comments were made.

Our nation’s latest round of “new” sexual orthodoxy carries with it a brutal demand for absolute adherence. Christ followers should expect to feel the brunt of this demand with greater and greater intensity. You and I should be praying for the God-given courage to stand for moral absolutes (even the notion of such is under widespread cultural attack). We should contend for the rule of law, unequivocally. No government ought to be allowed to compel any person to articulate things which that person does not believe. In many ways, this boils down to a matter of basic human dignity. You and I must never forget that we always live under a higher authority than that of the state.

Mr. Cross may have been disruptive, but his controversial speech has been deemed constitutionally protected. Furthermore, the judge held that it was in the public interest for Tanner Cross to keep his job. That’s good news for now, and it’s true, because that one job means that Americans still have the right to question public policy, and to speak against it based on their personal religious convictions.

Friends, trust me on this, as it has been proven time and time again: the best way to preserve religious liberty is to exercise it! Some disruptions are good ones, and sometimes our silence in the public square is a selfish betrayal of the common good.

And never forget the incredible power of LOVE in all that we say and do. Though the fierce opinions of a rebellious human race must never dictate our ethics, sexual or otherwise, the litmus test of whether we love our neighbors is whether we love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Pastor Charles

Spoiler alert: this is not about ice cream sandwiches, though admittedly I’m a fan.

I’ve read through the Bible about thirty times, which means that I’ve read through the Book of Genesis about thirty times, which means that I’ve read Genesis 41 about thirty times, which means that I’ve read the story of “Joseph and Pharaoh’s Dreams” about thirty times. Impressed by my logic and math skills so far?

So here’s the scoop (ice cream pun fully intended)! During my last read-through, I noticed a detail which I had not noticed before. (I’ll bet that happens to you on occasion.) The first time that the dreams are reported in the Scriptures, we learn about the seven “ugly and thin” cows, and the seven “attractive and plump” cows. You may remember: in the dream, the seven skinny cows ate the seven fat cows. We also learn that Pharaoh was troubled by his dreams. We also learn that Pharaoh could not find anybody who could interpret them. Enter Joseph, remembered for his interpretive prowess just in time by the chief cupbearer.

But here’s what I noticed for the first time: when Pharaoh tells Joseph about the dreams, the king includes another bit of information – which is new to us as the reader. Here’s the detail: after the seven skinny cows had feasted on the seven fat cows, “no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning” (41:21).

Call me a Bible nerd, but I find that intriguing! And it’s probably because I know that not a single word of Scripture is wasted. If it’s recorded for us, that means that God recorded it, and that means that we need to hear it!

I suppose it’s anybody’s guess why that detail appears in the story. It’s kind of a funny detail, because – in our mind’s eye – we’re already picturing ugly cows … only to be told that they’re still ugly! Even after chowing down on some scrumptious beef! I could have some fun with this and talk about “cannibal cows” or the first mention of Chick-fil-A imagery in God’s Word, but I won’t go down any of those roads – you’ll be relieved to know. (P.S. I once saw a Chick-fil-A directly adjacent to a Krispy Kreme, and I wondered for a second if that was the place Jesus was referring to when He promised to get it ready so He could take us there. But I digress.)

Could it be that this specific detail of Pharaoh’s dream was necessary to unlock the dream’s underlying meaning – the impending famine – for Joseph? I don’t know. You and I can’t know. At least not here and now. But we can know that there was a reason, and there is a reason, why it’s in the Bible. And that’s my point. You and I must come under the absolute authority of the Word of God. Even the parts of it which seem trivial to us. Even the parts of it which seem inconsequential to us. Even the parts of it which seem irrelevant to us. (That would include “archaic.”) Even the parts of it which seem superfluous to us.

Not a word of the Word is wasted, friends. All of it matters. And, somehow, it all points to Jesus Christ. I like to say it like this: Christ is the Hero of every page.

And make no mistake about it, fellow sojourners: our greatest point of tension with the chaotic culture which surrounds us is the Bible. They’re O.K. with “Jesus,” as long as it’s a Jesus whom they can create in their own image. But they have no use for the Jesus of the Bible. Hear me again, please: the world will not tolerate the Jesus of the Bible.

If they can have a Jesus who says that there’s no such thing as sin, then Jesus is welcome. But the risen-from-the-dead Jesus who shed His blood to atone sacrificially for the total depravity of the human race, that Jesus is not welcome.

If they can have a Jesus who says that “love is love” – in the sense that our culture clearly intends that line to be interpreted – then Jesus is welcome. But the Jesus who claims that sexual intimacy is a divine gift to be celebrated between a husband and wife within the lifetime commitment of a monogamous marriage, that Jesus is not welcome.

If they can have a Jesus who claims that there are many ways to God, then Jesus is welcome. But the Jesus who preaches that He alone is the only Way – that Jesus is unequivocally not welcome.

And, if Jesus is not welcome, you and I might not expect red-carpet treatment either.

I’m going to make a strong statement, so heads up: if we lose the Bible, we lose Jesus. That’s because the Son of God can’t be separated from the Word of God. It’s all His Word.

So chow down, friends. And chow down now. You’re going to need sustenance of eternal value in order to thrive in these “tolerant” times. Humble yourself before God’s Word, and feast liberally, regularly, and ferociously.

Because, unlike the consumption of a fat cow, the consumption of the Word of the living God will make us shine with the radiance and beauty of Christ.

Pastor Charles