“Everybody keeps saying that God sent this thing as an act of judgment on our city. I think it was really an act of mercy – there are people who have been praying for something like this for years – just waiting for an opportunity to get out of a bad situation.”

These level-headed words from the wife of a New Orleans Baptist Theologial Seminary student didn’t blend with their context.

She spoke them while inspecting her salt-encrusted Chevy Cavalier to the background noise of six men from Bryan College stripping appliances and furniture from her neighbor’s apartment.

I never associated mercy with destruction. The mold-blackened walls, rancid refrigerators and pervasive stench of flooded homes more closely matched my conception of hell than of God’s love. Pausing from our grim task to hear her wisdom sharpened the meaning of our work there.

Before heading to Louisiana for a week of ministry, I wondered how I could show God’s love to people who thought He Himself had destroyed their lives. The words of the seminary wife caught me off guard with the simple truth that God was behind the whole story of Hurricane Katrina, in ways that I never conceived.

New Orleans needed judgment. The city of gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes and revelers, was ripe for sentence to be passed. Gulfport and Biloxi in neighboring Mississippi weren’t much better. Then again, neither is any place on this earth. What cities and towns don’t play host to people who are financially irresponsible, those who depend on alcohol and drugs, the sexually promiscuous and self-absorbed partygoers? “Normal” places carefully pass over these woes as those who partake of them deftly cover their tracks to avoid condemnation.

New Orleans wore her sins on her sleeve. Did we rush to proclaim the wrath of God on the Big Easy because she deserved it or because we were glad that our own closet hadn’t been blown open by the storm?

Too often we mistake nudges from the Almighty as blows from His sword. We forget that He works in mysterious ways. If He wanted to destroy the city, He could have – beyond the shadow of a doubt. Looking at roofs crushed by trees, windows exploded by 130-mph winds and 10-foot-high piles of trash that were once the contents of a home, it’s very easy to think of judgment.

Looking deeper, mercy overtakes judgment as the theme of this saga. A city of 500,000 people losing only a little more than 1,000 to a direct hit by a monstrous hurricane for which it was almost completely unprepared is mercy. Letting people see the Church do the work of restoring lives wrecked by the storm when the government bungled its attempt at the same is mercy. Leading National Guard soldiers and Red Cross relief workers to salvation is mercy. Allowing the terrible beauty of a hurricane to thrash our lives so that we wake from the slumber of Christless apathy is mercy.

New Orleans needed mercy. We all need mercy. God loves to show us His gracious care. We’re just slow to pick up His frequency.

New Orleans was not destroyed. Today, just a few weeks later, it is bustling with the activity of reconstruction. The South isn’t about to let the bosom of its culture wash by the wayside. More importantly, Christ isn’t about to let hurting people go untouched through this upheaval. I’ve never seen as positive an outpouring of energy and resources from the Church in my lifetime.

Those of us who could go offer tangible help did, some more than once, and I’m sure many will continue to go for months to come. Those who could give to the cause gave generously; so much so that there has been an overabundance of supplies for the refugees. The hand of the Lord has been active the whole time. It touched refugees herded into shelters with hot meals and listening ears. It touched uninsured homeowners by preparing their homes for reconstruction free of charge. It touched people living in makeshift trailer parks with welcoming embraces and simple services. It touched relief workers from Bryan with the strength, patience and generosity we needed to be that hand to the people of southeast Louisiana.

Years from now, when we look back on this incredible story of God’s redeeming mercy, no one will think of it as a judgment from on high. We can’t waste the gift He has given us. If we allow our lives to return to “normal” after the dust of all this settles, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina will not be the destruction of the Gulf Coast but the destruction of spiritual fervor by comfortable circumstances.

The words of the prophets linger in the background. “‘I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord.” (Hag. 2:17).

God got our attention and allowed us to rebuild His Body with a righteous work ethic. To Him be the glory, even (or, should I say, especially) when we can’t immediately see His purposes.

Posted by Justin Lonas

In this passage, Paul is writing in the context of a conflict among the Corinthian believers as to the physical abuse of the Lord’s table during communion. Certain believers were gorging themselves on the bread and wine to the point of drunkenness (12:21), leaving others out of the celebration altogether. Obviously, this would qualify as an “unworthy manner,” tantamount to taking God’s name in vain. The part that confuses us is the pronouncement of sickness and death as a consequence of these actions (12:30). To our sanitized sense of church, this seems very “Old Testament”, and out of character with the grace represented by communion.

Passages like this bring us face to face with an imagined conflict between holiness and grace. Christ came to fulfill the law, but the law is not a stand-alone. The law served to show us our sin in relation to God’s uncompromising holiness. When Christ’s sacrifice fulfilled the law, He allowed his blood to cover our sins and permit us to fellowship with Him in His righteousness. The holiness of God is unchanging, before, during, and after the law.

When those who claimed to be brothers and sisters in Christ trampled one another and indulged in the Lord’s supper with a self-focused, gluttonous attitude, they were spitting on Christ’s sacrifice. They were casting aside the significance of the observance for their own gain, forgetting who God is. They were taking Him in vain, demonstrating that, at best, they had not allowed the Spirit to reign in their hearts since professing Christ, or, at worst, that they did not know Him at all.

Does the same principle and punishment apply to us today? Our modernistic worldview has so sequestered disease and death in a scientific construct that, if it is occurring, we aren’t noticing. The principle, however, holds true in any instance of worship (read: life as a believer). Whenever we seek to magnify ourselves (whether openly or only in the attitude of our hearts), we are not honoring Christ. When we do it under the guise of celebrating Him, we are inviting judgment. When we become involved in the church to improve our social standing or to feel good about ourselves, when we do good deeds for the recognition of men, when we give of time and money for the wrong reasons, we make light of God – we take Him in vain. We invite judgment on ourselves in this way because we are tarnishing the name of Christ. Rather, we should, as Paul commanded the Corinthians, “. . . proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Posted by Justin Lonas

“Summer and winter and seedtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

“Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to lead and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside!

“Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided,
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.”

© Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923

Chisholm’s hymn is dear to many of us, but perhaps so near that we forget the power of its meaning. This is not just a hymn praising God for His abundant blessing or His steadfast support. In point of fact, the text for this songbook standard comes not from Psalms but from Lamentations – from the lowest point of the lowly life of Jeremiah. And the affirmation of God’s faithfulness comes not after a blessing, or even after deliverance, but after God’s chastisement of Israel. So confident was Jeremiah of God’s purposes in His punishment, that he echoes Job’s cry, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13:15a).

“My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, ‘My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord.’ Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my sould remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:17-23).

That is the true test of our faith – do we trust God enough to know that even the troubles we encounter are part of His plan? Do we believe, as Jeremiah did, that “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both good and ill go forth?” (Lamentations 3:37-38).

Posted by Justin Lonas

Curious, I watched as he began a talk on economic policy, the value of the U.S. dollar, and the ways our present government (and those of European nations) have colluded to destroy the world’s economy. This informational (and politically charged) lecture might easily have been held in a classroom or election rally and seemed more prescient. Whatever one’s personal feelings on the subject matter, I couldn’t help but wonder what place such discourse has as (presumably) the main sermon at a church service. I watched for ten minutes before any reference to Scripture or anything of a spiritual nature entered the lesson, and when it did, it was a passing remark about 2 Thessalonians 3:10 (”If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either“).

This spectacle got me thinking again about an idea I’ve kicked around before–should churches be tax-exempt, especially when they engage in rhetoric and activities so focused on directing public policy? The TBN program is just one (extreme) example of this abuse of tax-free status. Many mainline U.S. denominations actively promote liberal causes and candidates from the pulpit; many otherwise theologically sound evangelical churches do much the same from the conservative side of the spectrum, though they tend to be more careful not to mention specific parties or candidates because of greater media scrutiny. It seems to me that any organization (with or without a spiritual/religious) pretext that seeks actively to influence elections, laws, and policy should be willing to pay their fair share for a “seat at the table” just like the rest of the individuals and businesses in the country.

Tax-exempt status is, and has historically been, a great blessing to Christians. It enables them to afford the costs of ministry; it provides further  incentive for faithful giving (through income tax deductions); it has helped boost the expansion of the Gospel message around the world by funnelling resources to tax-exempt missions agencies and parachurch ministries. As such, it should not be tossed aside lightly, but at the very least, there should probably be more severe penalties for those that violate the intent of tax-exemption by openly advocating (or denouncing) political positions and candidates. Churches should treat this status as the privilege that it is, and use its benefits to dedicate themselves wholly to the work of the Gospel, not to push the envelope of political involvement.

Biblically, you could make a decent case against any special treatment for Christianity from government. Jesus in Matthew 17:24-27, instructs Peter to pay the temple tax (and miraculously provides the means to do so), specifically seeking to avoid unecessary prejudice against His message by bucking a disliked law. In Matthew 22:15-22, Jesus thwarts the machinations of the Pharisees by  distinguishing between spiritual realities (the work of God in his people, who bear His likeness) and political/financial realities (the Roman tax, paid with money which bore Caesar’s likeness). We are told in Scripture to submit to government (Rom. 13, 1 Pet. 2), to pray for those in authority (Rom 13, 1 Tim 2), and to live within the law (1 Pet. 2), but never to desire power, to publically promote the government, or seek to overthrow it (I’ve witten more extensively about this subject here and here). This doesn’t mean that we should not oppose injustice and evil (whether or not it is sanctioned by government), that we should be uncritical of social and cultural trends that lead people away from the Lord, or that Christians who are so gifted should not live out their faith in public service. It does mean that the gathered Body of Christ should focus its attention on the Lord and His work and trust His hand in the movement of governments.

What do you think? Should the Church be tax-exempt? Why or why not? Would you trade the right to tax-exemption in order to speak openly about politics from the pulpit?

Posted by Justin Lonas

Tim Challies, who you may recognize as a periodic contributer of articles to Disciple, raises the issue of just who is qualified to be a leader in the Church (and the dangers associated with following after the wrong leaders) with a masterful exposition of Jeremiah 23.

Don’t let this one slip by you today.

Posted by Justin Lonas

What about, however, the prayers of those who neither know God nor worship Him? In Genesis 24, we see an interesting display of the prayers of a man seemingly in such a position. The scene opens with Abraham, advancing in years, concerned for the spiritual well-being of his son Isaac and the perpetuation of His line according to the promise of God. Abraham wants Isaac to marry from among his own people, not from among the pagans in the land of Canaan, and so he asks his servant (whose name is not given in this passage) to swear to travel to his relatives and find a wife for Isaac. The servant obliges, and sets out on his errand.

Upon his arrival in Mesopotamia, he utters a prayer that belies 1) his position outside of Abraham’s beliefs, 2) his confusion at Abraham’s orders, and 3) his worry that he cannot complete his task. “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of this city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’–may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master” (Gen. 24:12-14). He sounds unsure of himself and detached from the God to whom he prays. He prays not so much for himself but according to Abraham & Isaac’s faith and makes an outlandish “damp fleece” request of the Lord–but he prays! He steps out in the faith he has seen modeled in his master’s household and calls out to God with at least some recognition that only the Lord could accomplish the task he was sworn to by Abraham.

God not only answers the servant’s earnest plea for a successful completion of his mission, He does so immediately. “Before he had finished speaking” (v. 15), Rebekah walks up to the well and performs exactly the unusual set of actions he had prayed for as a sign. “Then the man [the servant] bowed low and worshipped the Lord. He said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the ways to the house of my master’s brothers” (vv. 26-27).  He proceeds from there to seal the deal with Rebekah’s family and bring her back to marry Isaac, praising the Lord for His provision (vv. 42-49).

Reading  an attitude of skepticism into the servant’s prayers may be a bit “Western” of me (the language is such that He may have been simply honoring Abraham as his master even in prayer), but his amazement at the Lord’s sudden and exacting answer is palpable in the text. God will answer whom He will answer, and whether or not the servant was a partaker in Abraham’s faith “reckoned to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6), the Lord showed up in response to his earnest request. To say that the Lord answers the prayers of the faithless is, in any case, misleading–there are no faithless prayers. All true prayer is born out of a person’s honest belief “that [God] is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6)–a request made from any other attitude is just hollow and meaningless talking to the ceiling.

Prayer is faith in action.

Posted by Justin Lonas

Beck is, by all counts, a devout Mormon who finds his conservative politics embedded in his religion’s teachings. Liberty University, of course, is the living legacy of Jerry Falwell, whose name is nearly synonymous with Christian involvement in conservative politics. While at a policy level, Mr. Beck and the leadership of Liberty share much in common, their underlying faiths are anything but similar.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would be unthinkable to have a vocal member of a non-Christian religion (though most Mormons I’ve met would disagree with that characterization, we know theirs to be a false gospel) to speak, with official blessing, to the students of a distinctively Christian university. Somehow, however, these believers came to the conclusion that the times dictate political association to be of equal or greater importance than orthodox faith.

It seems as though Liberty continues to struggle much in the same way most American Christians do with politics.

At the risk of oversimplification, we tend to take one of two approaches in this arena, both of which are damaging to the Gospel. 1) We cherish our religious freedom and we believe that it is the government’s job to enforce morality in the culture, or 2) We cherish the work of Christ and we believe it is the government’s job to do justice and love mercy.

When we succumb to the first approach, we show a watching world that Christianity is not as important in society as general conservatism and that we don’t trust God to redeem men from the inside out as He has always done—as Jared Wilson put it, the message of the Gospel is not “behave”. When we fall to the second, we show the world that Christianity is less about personal sacrifice and more about making sure someone else takes up their cross and gives involuntarily to the poor and needy through taxes. We show that we don’t trust God to move His Church to live out His kingdom. In either case, we show a willingness to compromise certain key teachings of Christ in order to advance a temporal agenda.

Both approaches belie a fundamental distrust of God’s view of things—if there is one theme that Jesus hit over and over again during His ministry, it was that His kingdom was not of this world. He had eternity in view in everything He did, and Christian involvement in politics is, at a grand level, idolatry of the present and visible over the permanent and invisible.

The reason why both camps struggle so much in modern America, I think, is because the Bible is eerily silent on democracy. Jesus said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:25). Paul said, “Be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God…Render to all what is due them…” (Rom. 13:1; 7), and “I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

Scripture’s stance on government assumes absolute despotism as the norm and that citizenry has but two choices—obedience and disobedience. The concept of representative government of, by, and for the people (cherished though it may be by most Americans) is not given a category in Scripture. We struggle, in short, because we are torn between the submission and prayer commanded of us and the very tangible ability to change things through political action.

This doesn’t answer the intractable problems we face, but it is something I have to keep in mind daily to keep me focused on the true reality of Christ and my true calling as a believer. Politics has never changed a person’s heart or brought eternal salvation to anyone.

Posted by Justin Lonas

“O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.”

What a great Savior we serve–not only has He cancelled our sin by His sacrifice, but He frees us from its power in our lives by His indwelling presence! How can we adequately offer gratitude for so marvelous a gift? To quote from another great hymn (Isaac Watts’ “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”), “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.”

What greater praise could we render to the Lord than to “spread through all the earth abroad the honors of [His] name?” The end result of redemption should always be missions. God’s greatest glory is the praise of His name by sinners redeemed from rebellion–the more He redeems, the more glory He gets. We proclaim His name both out of gratitude and out of a desire to see His name glorified above all other names. No other act of Christian service is more precious to God.

Posted by Justin Lonas

“We are looking at putting our church on Facebook…most comments I have received from others are positive, what do you guys think? Do you have any lessons learned, or advice for a chruch doing this? We have a website, but people do not use the blog feature, and I thought we would try FB as a blog and communication tool. Appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks.”

Below is what I wrote back to Dan in his comment. Since we’ve never had a blog post about this, I thought I’d re-post it here. Many others have already written on this (most of them probably with a lot more experience at it than us), but it’s better to be late to the table than to miss dinner entirely.

Facebook and other social networking sites seem to be the “hub” of today’s informal communication. Whereas we used to tell our friends things around the water cooler or over the phone, now we post them to our profiles–as you said, even blogs don’t get much traffic anymore compared with social networking sites. Many businesses have jumped on this bandwagon, using Facebook as a way to connect their customers to each other and draw them deeper into their market with coupons, contests, and special offers. We have our own Facebook page which hasn’t taken off quite as I’d hoped yet, though it is opening more connections with readers than a totally one-sided model.

For churches, Facebook can be a blessing and a curse. Putting yourself out there definitely can open doors of ministry, by providing visitors and members an easy way to connect with church staff and other members and for you to communicate with members about upcoming events, etc. However, it can easily devolve into pettiness if you aren’t controlling the content of what people post.

I think you should move forward with the idea, but here are a few guidelines to remember:
1) Set the tone. Make the Facebook page feel like an extension of your church, with an emphasis on Christ, Scripture, discipleship & ministry. Get involved because this is a new way to further the cause of Christ, not because it’s “hip” to be on Facebook. Relevance should never be our goal as believers–becoming and making disciples of Jesus should always be our focus.

2) Control the content–gently. You can edit settings to control how much (or how little) you allow “fans” (the equivalent of “friends” for organizations) to post to the page. The best policy is to allow user feedback–that’s what makes Facebook different from a static website–just don’t let it get away from you. Check the page often, and if any comment threads or discussions are going in a poor direction, you have the ability as the page administrator to remove them. You want to facilitate healthy, spiritual interaction through the page, not serve as just another place for gossip or complaining.

3) Take what you do seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. You want to make sure that you use your page to impress upon those who visit it that the church (and the pastor) are sinners saved by God’s great grace. Don’t use the page as a platform for moralizing, but turn people’s attention to the Lord. It’s okay to “be real” on Facebook within the context of pointing readers to Christ.

4) Don’t let it stop there. If visitors never make it past your Facebook page to a real interaction with you or members of your church, it’s not doing its job. “Community” is a word that gets thrown around a lot in Church circles today, and Facebook can be a way to create a pseudo-community that makes us feel good without actually accomplishing ministry. Be intentional about pursuing further conact with the people you may meet through the page, invite them to church if they’re local, and certainly take every opportunity to magnify the name of Christ. Used wisely, Facebook and its ilk can provide a great opportunity to move beyond the four walls of the church, but it doesn’t happen automatically.

Have you ever stopped to ponder the audacity of some of Jesus’ claims? We tend to grow accustomed to the words of Christ recorded for us, not necessarily ignoring them, but forgetting their context and power. When He made this statement to Martha, he wasn’t blithely looking toward heaven with a glow on his face uttering platitudes to comfort her at the loss of a family member, He was reassuring her by focusing her attention on His person and power, and in the process, turning her world on its ear.

For 1st century Jews, the “Resurrection of the Dead” was a concept of the last day, when all people would be raised to life by God. Clearly this is what Mary is clinging to in verse 24. Jesus’ response doesn’t invalidate this, but brings it to full expression in Himself. He tells Martha (and, through Scripture, all of us) that He is the hope of eternity and the very breath of life in bodily form! Anyone within earshot would’ve been scandalized to hear such talk–a Nazarene carpenter claiming to hold the destiny of the world and to be the source of life? Small wonder that later in this same chapter we see the chief preists and pharisees conspiring to kill Him. They weren’t particularly fond of His other incredible claims, like “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58), and “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), either.

But Martha wasn’t offended; she was astonished, and she believed. “You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world” (v. 27). For the Jews of that day, the only two logical responses to such a claim were indignation (reinforcement of the tradition belief system) or acceptance (realization that the belief system was being transformed by the presence of its object). Martha’s belief changed everything about her perspective on life, death, and faith–she knew that He could be trusted and would sustain her, and even restore Lazarus to physical life if He so desired. Christ was enough because He was life in full.

As we approach our grandest celebration of our Risen Lord this Sunday, remember that He is the Resurrection and the Life, and remember the power of that statement. It is no less bold today. We say we know that God is the Creator and the One who holds our lives in His hands, but do we understand the magnitute of this truth or its centrality to our spiritual rebirth in Christ? As we reflect on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection and long for our resurrection (or restoration) at His return, stand in awe of the fact that this Jesus whom we worship is life itself.

Posted by Justin Lonas