deeds

Jun

2020

The Bible is not a prop, and religion is not a drug

by David Sellnow

In the early 1800s, revolution was in the air. The French Revolution had introduced ideas of liberty and equality to the masses, and the masses were restless. Napoleon enforced law and order by a willingness to shoot shrapnel out of cannons into crowds of protesters (in 1795, as he rose to power). He believed he was destined to take the Revolution to its proper conclusion. But his portrayals of himself as a man of the people were more about ensconcing himself in power as leader than about the people’s hopes and dreams. Napoleon knew the people revered religion, so he sought to reinstate the Catholic Church’s position within France (which had been damaged during the Revolution). Napoleon’s Concordat (agreement), however, made the church endorse his government and, essentially, serve his government. In 1804, Napoleon arranged a grandiose ceremony in Notre Dame Cathedral. He compelled the pope to be present and hand him a crown, which Napoleon then placed on his own head to designate himself as “Emperor of the French.” To Napoleon, the backdrop of a church was not due to any deep personal faith. The cathedral was a place to present himself to the people as the man God wanted to lead them. He had said, “In Egypt I was a Muhammedan; here I will be a Catholic, for the good of the people.” Religion was an expedient tool for him to gain public support.

Other princes and kings fought against Napoleon and his new world order. They wanted to preserve the ways of the past and their own hold on power. But their approach to the church was not unlike his, endorsing religion as a stabilizing force while conducting themselves in ways that contradicted faith-based convictions.

Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria, dominant in Europe from 1815 to 1848, championed the church as an institution of society, saying that “religion cannot decline in a nation without causing that nation’s strength also to decline.” In his Memoirs, Metternich wrote that rulers must protect their authority against radical forces that would overthrow “everything which society respects as the basis of its existence: religion, public morality, laws, customs, rights and duties.” He urged all rulers to follow his example and “maintain religious principles in all their purity, and not allow the faith to be attacked.” Yet this selfsame Metternich was a “great womanizer” who went from woman to woman over a series of three wives, multiple mistresses and additional lesser trysts and affairs. One biographer said of him, “‘His favorite recreation was the seduction of high-born women.” Metternich would attend mass, but that seemed a matter of propriety and formality. According to a historian’s description, Metternich’s capital of Vienna was “a city lukewarm to religion. Attending mass was, to be sure, still the custom. But the priest who could say the quickest mass (about twelve minutes by some reports) would attract the largest crowds.” Metternich, government defender of the institution of religion, was not himself a particularly spiritual person. As Czech historian Miroslav Šedivý puts it, “Metternich’s own Catholicism had no real significance in his Weltanschauung (worldview).” Religion was primarily for policing the behavior of commonplace people.

This was the societal context in which Karl Marx made a remark about religion for which he has become famous: “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” That’s a clipped version of a larger thought. The broader statement, as published in an article by Marx in 1844, was: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Marx may have been wrong about many things. But he wasn’t altogether wrong in his assessment of how religion was being used by persons in power as a tool to tamp down criticism and subdue protests by the people underneath them. The answer is not, as Marx proposed, to abolish religion. Rather, we pray for men and women of genuine conviction who live by faith. We pray for that in ourselves. We admire it when we see it in societal leaders.

Standing beside a church and holding up a Bible does not make someone a person of faith or a friend of the faith. The Bible is not a prop and the church is not a showpiece–though plenty of political figures in past history have sought to use it that way. May we not look at the Bible that way in our own lives. James, the brother of Jesus, urged us, “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like” (James 1:22-24).

James also had something to say about religion’s role in society and our lives: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). Honest, heartfelt religion is not a drug we use to numb ourselves against injustices in this world (as Marx suggested it was). Rather, it gives us the grace and resolve to do good for one another in our world. Believing in Jesus Christ and his resurrection not only prepares us for the next life but also invigorates our living in the present. Faith means having “the eyes of your heart enlightened” to know “the immeasurable greatness of God’s power” which is in at work in us as believers — the same power that God “put to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Ephesians 1:18-21).

The Bible is not merely something to hold up for show. “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Religion is not a means to cover over society’s problems or inequities. Rather, earnest faith will motivate us to do all we can for one another as fellow children of God. “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

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Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jan

2020

Let your light shine

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on January 28, 2018.

Shining like the brightness of the heavens

by Sheryl Persaud

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Have you ever been in a church with stained glass windows on a sunny day? It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Light passes through the windows in colorful, detailed patterns. And often, stained glass windows are not merely patterns of color, but persons and events from the Bible are illustrated in the glass. The windows shine in ways that tell stories of faith.

Think about the time and preparation it takes to make a stained glass window. First, you will need to decide what design you want to make. Then you’d choose each color and shape carefully in order to make that design. At first, it is just a mess of broken glass, but when you arrange the pieces together into the story or symbol you wish to convey, you have a beautiful masterpiece.

As God’s people, we are like stained glass windows. God sees the beautiful plan and design he has for us. We cannot see this plan because sometimes our life is like a big, messy pile of broken glass. We may also feel the pains of broken glass. There may be so many trials we are facing in our lives that we don’t think anything good can come from it. However, God looks at each broken piece and he sees art. He sees how each broken piece will fit together perfectly. He needs us to be patient, in the same way an artist exercises patience as he is creating his art. We wait to see and understand God’s master plan for us. At times we may want to give up, but we hang on in trust that our Savior is working in our best interest.

When a stained glass window finally goes up and the sunlight shines through, all you can do is step back, admire it, and praise the person who created it. We want God’s Word to shine through us and those we come into contact with. We are able to shine a light to others because Christ has put a light into us first. He did this through his death on the cross, that we may become shining pillars reflecting his love and mercy, bright enough for all to see. How awesome it would be to show others the wonders of our awesome creator! We become a fulfillment of what God foretold: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

Just as sunlight shines through and illuminates figures in stained glass windows, we glow beautifully when God’s Word shines through us.

Prayer: Dear God, give us the courage to put our full trust in your plans for us. Help us to be illuminated by your light, reflecting Christ’s love and grace in all we say and do. Amen.

Dec

2019

Being Christ to our neighbors in the city

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on August 11, 2015. Henry Tyson wrote this powerful testimony in connection with his ministry in Milwaukee WI. He passionately urges all of us, in every city and town and village, to be living witnesses for Jesus to those among whom we live — to the communities we are called to serve in the name of Christ.

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Living as Christians in Milwaukee’s Central City

by Henry Tyson

How is it possible that there can be so many Christians and churches in Milwaukee’s central city and yet the church seems powerless in the face of segregation, poverty, and crime? What can we say about the life of Christian and what such a life will look like in a city so gripped with ungodly behavior? From a biblical standpoint, one can see that the life of a Christian in Milwaukee’s central city – in the face of all that we see – will be marked by extreme joy, increasing holiness, radical love, and urgent, prayerful solitude, all to the glory of God.

Satan has laid claim to this city by leading people away from the Lord and thoroughly destroying the fabric of traditional families and communities. The resulting chaos enables Milwaukee to lay claim to the ignoble titles of most segregated city in America, city with the highest incarceration rates among African Americans, an extremely high homicide rate, and one of the highest rates of child poverty in the richest nation on earth. If Christ were a Milwaukeean today, what would his ministry look like? Where would we find him? What would people make of him? Surely we would find him joyful in demeanor, radical in love, urgent and prayerful in solitude, and fruitful in his ministry.

In his first letter, the apostle Peter explained why the life of a Christian will be a life filled with joy. Following a clear and concise explanation of the pure gospel, Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Christ, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). The “salvation of your souls” is in reference to the Christian’s movement from eternal death to eternal life as described by Paul: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). Therefore, the life of a Christian is filled with joy regardless of events or circumstances, because we have been justified by faith and our salvation is certain. This is not something that we have to wait for but it is something that we have already received. For this reason alone, the life of a Christian will be marked by a length and breadth of joy that cannot be understood by the world.

In addition to joyfulness, the life of Christian will be marked by increasing holiness. What does this mean? It means that the life of a Christian, as he or she matures, will be increasingly identified with the life of the Lord Jesus and therefore increasingly look like the life of the Lord Jesus. The apostle Paul got at the heart of the matter when he wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2). The process of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the process of sanctification – the process by which the Holy Spirit shapes the Christian’s life into a oneness with Christ.

The great 20^th century theologian, Oswald Chambers, captured this wonderfully when he assured his readers that “sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly,” and “it is his patience, his love, his holiness, his faith, his purity, his godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest). The Christian life therefore — in Milwaukee and at any time and in any place — is a life that increasingly reflects the holiness of Christ.

It is this concept of increasingly becoming and reflecting the holiness of Christ that mandates that the life of a Christian in a broken city and a hurting world will be marked by radical love. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood the radical love of Christ when he wrote from Birmingham City Jail, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love – ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you’” (Letter from Birmingham City Jail)? Dr. King understood that “Jesus love” goes far beyond the usual interpretations and extends as far as loving enemies and blessing those who insult us. Further evidence of Christ’s radical love is found in Jesus’ tendency to hang out with sinners (Mark 2), his willingness to break social norms and talk to a Samaritan woman (John 4), and his willingness to forgive the very men who were conducting his execution (Luke 23). And for those who doubt the radical nature of Christ, perhaps it is worth considering his very death – a wicked, lonely, brutal death that he chose out of obedience to the Father and love of mankind.

What sort of actions, then, does radical love display in the life of a Christian? It will certainly look different from one to another but it will always be radical. It might be radical in how much one gives to the poor, or where one chooses to live, or how much time and energy one sacrifices for children, or the boldness with which one speaks against the moral depravity of 21^st century America. Certainly, the life of a Christian in our hurting world will look nothing like the pursuit of the American dream, for the American dream is contrary to the holiness of Christ. Indeed the natural reaction of the world to the radical love of Christ will be to persecute the Christian and view him or her as someone strange and different. Peter identified this reality in his first epistle when he referred to the friends to whom he was writing as “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11). The life of a Christian, therefore, is on track and appropriate when he or she completely identifies with Christ and self-describes as an alien and stranger in the world. This is the natural outcome of the radical love of Christ.

When the life of a Christian is full with a glorious and inexpressible joy, is increasingly holy, and responds to the world with an exhausting, radical Christian love, the Christian life — like the life of Christ himself — will be drawn toward and indeed will depend on times of solitude and prayer. We note in Christ’s life, how in response to the beheading of John, the feeding of the five thousand, the fear of the disciples, the faithfulness and subsequent faithlessness of Peter, and the healing of the sick, that on more than one occasion, Jesus “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matthew 14). So engaged is the Christian worker in the life and activities of Christ, that he or she will, by both desire and need, find himself or herself in regular solitude and prayer. Just as Jesus needed this time to connect with the Father, so the Christian worker needs this time to connect with Christ and the heavenly Father. The Christian life is not just praying in church or at bedtime. The Christian will, in the words of Paul, “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Regular times of solitude and prayer will be a mark of the Christian life in the central city.

The Gospels and the books of the New Testament paint a wonderful picture of the life of Christ, the lives of the earliest church workers, and provide a clear road map for modern day Christians. In a city with so much hurt, so much divisiveness, so much ungodly behavior, it is easy for Christians to retreat to their homes and churches and disengage from the world. But we must not. Instead, we stride forward and exhibit the glorious joy that comes through our justification by way of the cross, the holiness that comes through sanctification, the radical, engaging love of Christ, and constant times of prayer and solitude that fill us up and draw us ever closer to oneness with Christ. This is the life of a Christian in Milwaukee’s central city.

Dec

2019

Springtime thoughts

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on March 21, 2015. March 20th of that year was the first day of spring … inspiring some springtime thoughts for this blog.

Nurturing Growth

by David Sellnow

Spring has sprung … and I’m reminded of all that’s amiss in my yard. The boulevard is more dirt than grass. There are bare spots and weeds throughout the main lawn. The bushes in back and hedges out front are part dead, part unruly and overgrown. The flowerbeds never got raked out properly before winter came; they are mucky mess. Much must be done to get things growing and going in the right direction.

When our yards need tending, we tend to labor with springlike eagerness. Do we work at relationships with human beings with as much energy?

Maybe a connection with a coworker is gnarled and thorny. Rather than avoiding contact, might you pay more attention to each other and prune away places where you get twisted around each other?

Maybe roots with family have gone dormant and your love has browned. What watering can you do to rejuvenate family ties and green things up?

Maybe you’re a teacher and a student’s performance has been poor – not much is budding or blooming. Will you let that student wither away or do all you can to prod her, cultivate her interest, nurture learning and understanding?

Jesus once told this parable (Luke 13:6-9):

“A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Jesus’ words point specifically to our spiritual condition and the Lord’s patience in dealing with us. God grant us the patience to be nurturing and supportive with our fellow human beings – first and foremost in regard to spiritual growth, but also in the day-to-day aspects of our relationships as the Spirit strives to awaken new life in all that we do.

Dec

2019

Judgment Day – books are opened

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 15, 2014.

I once was asked to deliver a chapel talk on a college campus concerning Judgment Day. This was the message I offered.

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Balancing our Books

by David Sellnow

All of us have a natural tendency to be bookkeepers. We think like accountants, keeping track of things. We keep track of every sort of statistic for our sports teams. We use pedometers to log how many steps a day we are walking. We monitor how many likes we have on Facebook or how many followers we have on Twitter.

You see the bookkeeping tendency already at a young age in children. They like to keep track of the chores they have accomplished, get check marks on their chore chart or even better, little stickers or stars. Little bookkeepers like to see their accounts growing.

I see the tendency in college students. If you’re a college student, you may count up every point you can get on every assignment that you’re assigned. And if an assignment is graded and the professor didn’t give you as many points as you wanted, you go up after class and talk to him and try to argue for more points. Or you email the prof and ask, “Did you dock me for such and such? Because I think I did such and such, or your instructions didn’t specifically tell me I had to do such and such.” Or maybe you don’t have the nerve to complain to your professors, but you gripe among your friends about the grades you get. “His grading is so unfair. I deserve more points.” Students are eager bookkeepers, wanting a gradebook full of points.

Benjamin Franklin was a bookkeeper. He kept books to chart his own good deeds each day.

In 1726, at the age of 20, Ben Franklin set this goal for himself: “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time.”

In order to accomplish his goal, Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues, things like industriousness and temperance and sincerity and moderation.

In order to keep track of his adherence to his listed virtues, Franklin carried around a small book of 13 charts. The charts consisted of a column for each day of the week and 13 rows marked with the first letter of his 13 virtues. Franklin evaluated himself at the end of each day. He placed a dot next to each virtue each had violated. His goal was to minimize the number of marks, thus indicating a “clean” life free of bad marks in his book.

Franklin admitted he never got the book completely clean. (He liked beer too much, and flirting with women, and other foibles.) But he said, “Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, … yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been.”

[Information taken from ArtOfManliness.com.]

I don’t know how happy Ben Franklin was at the end of life when it was time for his final accounting before the Lord of all virtues. But it seems he didn’t rightly understand how the Lord keeps books in eternity. And while Ben Franklin was more meticulous than most about his bookkeeping, I’d say the way he thought about the bookkeeping process of his life is the way too many people think of the books of their lives. And that’s a problem.

The Bible section for today is a vision from Revelation that talks about books. It’s also the section of the Bible that the website Listverse.com, which bills itself as “the original top 10 site” on the web, lists as the #1 Most Horrifying Moment in the Bible.

This is Revelation 20:11-15 …

I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Being thrown into the lake of fire is indeed a horrifying thought. But let’s talk about those books. What are those books? What’s in those books? Everyone – whether great or small – has a book. When Judgment Day comes, “the dead are judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” Does that scare you? Have you done enough for your account book to be in passable condition?

Well, actually, you know what the Bible says about how much you have to do. You have to have a perfect book, a book that records flawless keeping of all God’s laws, impeccable and constant virtues. You can be as diligent as Ben Franklin and still your book comes up short of what it needs to be. So how can anyone be saved? Those who are saved are those whose names are found written in the book of life. If your name is in the book of life, the lake of fire poses no threat to you. Don’t be afraid, Jesus saves you.

You do have an account book with God in heaven. Think of it as a book that has two columns. One column is for credits to your account of virtue – all the good deeds you are expected to do in keeping with God’s commandments. The other column records your debits or sins – every time you have violated God’s commandments. When the books are opened in heaven, you need a book that has a completely clean record in the sin column – not a single sin standing against your name … and a completely full record in the righteousness column – that every opportunity you ever have in life to do the right thing, do a good deed, fulfill a commandment of God, you have done so.

Does anyone have a book like that? One person does. Only one person. One person who stood in our place and lived the life we ought to live, constantly and consistently obeying the Father’s will. One person who was “tempted in every way just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). One person has a record book with a completely clean, unstained column in regard to sin, not a single sin to list. One person has a record book with a completely perfect, full account of good deeds in the column marked for righteousness. Jesus Christ is the one person with a perfect book. But when we become connected to Jesus, when the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, brings us to trust in Jesus by faith, our names are written in the book of life. And for those whose names are written in the book of life, the book of Jesus’ life is credited to us also as the book of our lives – even though we didn’t do it, even though we didn’t deserve it, even though we haven’t lived it. We are granted all the credit of Jesus—all the goodness and righteousness of his life. We are forgiven of all the sins we have committed, on account of all that Jesus suffered in our place—even death on the cross under God’s horrible judgment. As one of Christ’s apostles summed it up for us: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And so when our books are opened, they reveal these sorts of things: Jesus will say to us, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35,36). We will wonder when we did all those things. But all that Jesus did will be already credited on our account. And on top of that, Jesus will say to those whose names are written in the book of life, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

So don’t fear the lake of fire. And don’t fear that when your book is opened on Judgment Day, you won’t have enough in it. You won’t need to beg the Father in heaven to give you more points because you didn’t fulfill his assignments well enough. You won’t be arguing that you didn’t understand his expectations and can he please just give you another chance. Believing in Jesus Christ, your name is written in the book of life. Believing in Jesus Christ, the book of your life that God opens on judgment day will show what Jesus has done for you and what you have done in Jesus. And all will be well.

Don’t be afraid. Jesus saves you.

Dec

2019

Be liberal with your love

Originally posted on the Electric Gospel on July 3, 2018.

Last year for Independence Day, I posted a message titled, “To Change a Nation, You Must Change Souls.” I thought I’d post something again this year for the national holiday — something that says a little bit about how the culture of politics often differs from how hearts are moved by faith.

Feel free to share this post with others.

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Be Liberal with your Love

by David Sellnow

I want to be liberal, and hope you will be too. I’m not talking about political liberalism, but the kind of liberality that every Christian will want to espouse. Our hearts go out to all those in need of spiritual guidance or physical assistance. Our gifts will flow freely, liberally, in order to bring needed benefits to them.

I fear that some within the Christian community have so adopted the doctrines of political conservatism that they become unwilling to practice liberal Christian kindness, which is eager to assist those in need. A church member—a dear, dedicated lady—argued against giving aid to struggling families. Our congregation was providing them with vouchers to the community food bank. Bear in mind, we paid pennies per pound for the food, and our annual expense for this charitable effort was less than one percent of our congregational budget. It wasn’t the amount of our donations that sparked this woman’s objection. It was the principle of the matter. She was firmly convinced that helping the poor encouraged helplessness and dependency. This can sometimes be the case, but is not always so. The Bible writer James described a scenario in which an individual is truly in need of help. You can’t tell him he should budget his income better; he has no income. You can’t say he should work harder; he has no job and no prospects. The person James pictured is literally naked and absolutely lacking. He’s got nothing. He’s totally helpless. Will you help him … or will you pass by on the other side of the street? James’ brother, Jesus our Savior, told a parable that warned against behavior like that. Jesus’ parable pictured a priest and a Levite passing by on the other side of the road when they encountered one of their countrymen who had been robbed and beaten and left for dead (cf. Luke 10:30-37). Being a true neighbor means helping anyone that you see in a position of need—as the good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable exemplified.

Along with our inaction toward neighbors in need in the communities where we live, we have allowed ourselves to fall into similar attitudes globally. We see Third World inhabitants as the concern of international policymakers, not of personal concern to us. We fear foreigners as threats to our jobs through outsourcing, or we want them as markets for our products through exporting. We fail to remember that they are, first of all, people. They deserve our evangelistic concern and Christian compassion. If love for others—including strangers and foreigners—is not in our hearts, can we say the love of God is in us? “He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. … If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:8,20)?

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“Be liberal with your love” is excerpted from the book, Faith Lives in Our Actions: God’s Message in James Chapter 2. Get the eBook for your Kindle, or you can download the free Kindle app to read on any device

Dec

2019

Faith must act

Originally posted on the Electric Gospel on June 23, 2018.

Faith must act

by David Sellnow

This installment of The Electric Gospel is an excerpt from the recently released book, Faith Lives in Our Actions: God’s Message in James chapter 2. The full book is available through Kindle Direct Publishing.

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It is a central Christian truth that we are made right with God through faith, not by keeping commandments (cf. Romans 3:28, Galatians 3:11, Ephesians 2:8,9). Yet it is also true that where faith exists, doing good is to be expected. “What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? … Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself” (James 2:14,17).

Faith that generates no works isn’t really faith. True faith always has actions flowing from it. For example, the thief on the cross next to Jesus had only a few moments of life as a believer. Yet he was moved to confess Christ aloud and rebuke another man’s mockery. An elderly grandmother in a nursing home may not have ability or opportunity to do community service, but her heart regularly offers prayers from where she lies in bed.

Most of us are not confined by bodily frailty. None of us are being held down by nails through our feet. There is so much good that we can be doing. Why is it that at times we seem so inactive in serving the Lord and loving our neighbor? Is there some sort of glue that has us stuck in our recliners in front of wall-sized TV screens?

James said faith by itself—without actions accompanying it—is dead. It no longer exists. That’s because faith never exists by itself. Faith always acts. A man with faith would never say, “Look at me! I have no deeds!” He would be ashamed of his inaction. A person of faith is always seeking opportunities to put faith into practice. Having faith without works is like having fire without heat. It just doesn’t happen.

James gave a specific example of how faith connects with works. He challenged us about our attitude toward the poor and called us to a greater love. James asked, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, ‘Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;’ yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16).

Ask yourself the uncomfortable sort of question James is asking you. What do you do if you encounter someone who is destitute? That’s an uncomfortable question for many of us because we seek to avoid such encounters. We build our homes in the suburbs, out of sight of urban poverty. We teach our children that there are certain parts of town you just don’t go to. We say this in the interest of safety. But are we inferring that the poor are inescapably criminal and utterly beyond hope? Might it also be that, underneath it all, we have an aversion to dealing with the poor?

James’ example demonstrates how our aversion works. We are pious about it. We say we’ll pray for people whom we see struggling. We wish them well … but are eager to send them on their way. We are reluctant to get our hands dirty and get into the ghettos and get involved. We say to the person who can’t afford food or clothes, “God bless you, you poor dear! I hope you will be okay.” What good is that? God puts needy persons in front of us for a reason. How will their needs be met if we don’t respond to their needs?

In James’ time, a common farewell was to say “Go in peace.” It is similar to our “goodbye,” which derived from the phrase, “God be with ye.” Most of the time we speak expressions like “farewell” and “goodbye” as trifling slogans—indeed, how many of us even recall their original meaning? We even say “God bless” as a parting word in a similarly empty way. We don’t utter these words as true prayers, for that would lead to our personal involvement. We prefer to remain detached. To say, “I’ll pray for you,” is often a dodge to avoid doing something concrete. Yes, we should pray for the less fortunate, and prayer is “powerfully effective” (James 5:16). But God also wants to use us as an answer to others’ prayers, to be his agents to bring mercy into their lives. “Let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:18).

Let’s look at the full picture. We have Christians in our congregations who could use assistance. There are persons across town or in nearby cities whose need cries out to us in our affluence. And the world has grown closer within our reach in the centuries since James’ time. If we ask ourselves now, “Who is my neighbor?” we must include the throngs of humanity crowded into impoverished regions all around the globe. When I was a child, my mother said I should eat my vegetables because starving children in China would be glad to have such food. (I suspect everybody’s mother used some similar admonishment!) I don’t recall, though, that we ever tried to send a care package to the starving in China or India or Africa or wherever. Maybe a plateful of one kid’s green beans wouldn’t make much global impact. But in our world today, we have access and ability, through missionaries and other charitable organizations, to share shiploads of necessities with neighbors all over the world who are “naked and in lack of daily food” (James 2:15), or who need medical care or other basic humanitarian services. Do we think much about them? Do we do much to help them? James’ powerful urging is: Do something! The world’s poor are not to be viewed as a drain on the world’s economy, but as opportunities for us to put faith into action.

Dec

2019

New Year, Renewed You

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on January 14, 2018.

New Year, Renewed You!

by Dan Kleist

“What are your New Year’s resolutions?”

It’s a common question when a new year begins, and almost everyone is expected to have made some sort of promise for change in the year ahead. A new year is much more than a flip of a page on a calendar – it signifies a fresh start and clean slate, an unwritten page in which you can become your “best you” and let go of the disappointments of the past.

What drives our desire to make New Year’s resolutions? While it’s possible that too much of Grandma’s strawberry fluff and too many of Aunt Barb’s peanut butter bars could be to blame, resolutions are often characterized by what is lacking – time management, self control, personal accomplishments, discipline, feeling healthy, being healthy. Sure, there are times during the year when we can feel as though we’re doing well or at least good enough, but most times it just feels like a constant struggle to stay on top of our priorities and our quality of life suffers as a result. In the end, our only options are to buckle down and resolve to try harder this year, do our best to tolerate the problem a while longer until we can make the changes we need to, or hope things miraculously improve on their own.

A Christian’s faith life can often be similar. There can be times of joyful clarity, relishing the simplicity and extravagance of God’s love personally, and appreciating and reflecting his love for all people. Our relationship with God can be undoubtedly solid. Sometimes it can be neither hot nor cold, perhaps taking his love and presence for granted while still finding glimmers of joy and hope through his promises and blessings. At its lowest points, that simplicity and joy of God’s love can seem like a distant memory, and feel as though there is a “veil” over the eyes of our heart, which causes a longing for that solid relationship to return. Faith can feel like head-knowledge rather than heart-knowledge – and that’s when it’s easy to notice what is lacking.

So, what do we do about this? How do we move closer to God when we’re brought to the realization that we need to make a change? Is a “resolution” toward spiritual renewal the right answer?

The Struggle for Renewal

The “roller coaster” of faith is nothing new. It is one expression of the Christian’s struggle with sin since it first entered our history and created physical, emotional, and spiritual voids that every human experiences. Perhaps our struggle is the result of neglecting time in the Word or worship in our search for “balance.” Maybe we started going through the motions in our devotional and worship time. Sometimes doubts can surface, and rather than seeking God’s answers to our questions we can let them stand in the way and spend some time “figuring things out” on our own.

In any case, our sinful nature wants nothing to do with matters of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17), while the devil and the world are proactively trying to pull us away and distract us from a relationship with God. At the same time, the “new man” God has created in us longs to serve God and walk in that relationship with joy and gratitude. Paul expressed the struggle with sin clearly when he described his desire to carry out God’s will and his inability to do so. He finally exclaimed, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Romans 7:24-25).

The Resolution for Renewal

Spiritual renewal in our lives does depend on a resolution – but not our resolve. The resolution was made by God, in the Garden of Eden, immediately after the curse of sin entered our lives (Genesis 3:15). God promised to send a Savior from sin – and followed through on that promise by sending Jesus to be our perfect substitute in life, and to suffer our punishment in death.

Paul saw himself as victorious over his struggle with sin, despite the sin’s manifestation (and victories) in his life. How was this possible? He understood that he was justified before God – declared not guilty by God himself, because of Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection. The relationship with God we could not – and would not – pursue on our own, God freely gives to us! God has made us his own children. Even in our weak moments of faith, we retain the status of children of God in Christ. Because of this, we can rejoice with Paul, saying, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:7).

The Power for Renewal

Our justification is done – a one-time event won for us on the cross. In Christ, we have been made new. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). At the same time, because of the struggle with our sinful nature, the life we live as a child of God is one of constant renewal. Paul said as much when he wrote, “You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge and in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9,10). Taking off your old self and putting on the new self are things that have already happened. The new self, however, is also “being renewed…” This renewal is an ongoing process. This is often our struggle! How do we go about making progress?

Fortunately, this too is God’s work! The Holy Spirit, who brought us to faith in the first place, gives us the will and has promised us the strength to live the new life we and God both desire. We are told that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6), and, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12,13). He does this work through the means of grace – the gospel in Word and sacrament.

The gospel message, the source of our renewal, serves as the power for our new life in Christ. Our baptism serves as a daily reminder of our justification. In baptism, God appropriates the blessings Christ won for us on the cross to us – personally, and completely. One author states that “baptism is the giving of new life, and the new life is laying hold of baptism.” The Lord’s Supper assures us of our forgiveness – even for the times we’ve neglected the very means for our daily renewal.

Whenever we experience our spiritual lows, we have a resolution for renewal. Not our own, but the one God made for our sake, died to uphold, and for which he provides the strength we need. Through the means of grace, we see that the renewal we seek is already ours – and we will continue to be renewed through the gospel means until the day we see our perfection made complete in heaven. And so again we shout with Paul, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Dec

2019

Emboldened witnesses

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on November 23, 2015.

Emboldened witnesses

by Yaffet Gabayehu

Are you prepared for the big game? Have you worked hard enough? Do you think you can handle typing the huge paper you have to do for your college class? Are you ready to take on new adventures and all the challenges life has to offer? At times we find ourselves asking questions similar to these in our lives – wondering whether or not we are prepared for the future. It can be difficult know how to handle difficult situations, and we may even seek ways to avoid them when they arise.

For me, perhaps my biggest feeling of being unprepared is when it comes to teaching and sharing God’s word. It seems to me that it can be so easy to make a mistake or accidentally turn others away, or simply not know what to say when the opportunity to instruct others in God’s word arrives. All of us are called to be Christ’s witnesses in the world, and many of you may have similar fears on your minds at times also. We are all are sinners. We know make many mistakes and errors. Each and every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God (cf. Romans 3:23).

God’s Word gives us many examples of persons who struggled with the idea of being unprepared to preach and teach his word. We see how Moses feared speaking to Pharaoh and all the Israelites, as Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Moses feared that Pharaoh and the Israelites wouldn’t believe him or listen to what he had to say. Don’t we also find ourselves thinking like this in our own lives? That whatever we say or do will be denied by others? I know I have found myself scared and worried that I will not be able to speak to others, just as Moses was afraid … because I don’t know enough and I’m nothing compared to the pastors out there today. Maybe many Christians have this same fear of speaking up. But friends, we have a promise from Christ that gives us the hope and the strength to witness confidently to others.

Christ says, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8), and we have received power from the Holy Spirit to trust this promise. Jesus also promises he will be with us always and that he ultimately has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18-20). We have the ability and responsibility to tell all people of Christ and his salvation, and Christ graciously gives us the strength to do so. When we are worried by the mistakes we might make or the daily sins we commit, or even afraid that we may not be well-prepared as witnesses of the gospel, we can go to Christ in daily repentance and see the love he has given us at the cross. Jesus paid the price we couldn’t, that we might live through him in everlasting life with him. He gives us the promise that he gave to his apostles, that we will receive power from the Holy Spirit and will be his witnesses to all the ends of the earth. When we feel like we aren’t prepared or ready for our witnessing work on Christ’s behalf, we can smile with great joy that Jesus himself has given us the promise that the Holy Spirit will be with us as we proclaim his word. We know what Christ has done for all people. Out of our joy, and through the strength of the Holy Spirit who fills us, we eagerly want to tell the world this good news!

The Lord promised to help Moses speak to Pharaoh and the Israelites and to teach him what to say. The Lord promised the apostles that his Spirit would enable their testimony. We also can trust that Christ will be with us and his Spirit will work through us and guide us by the Scriptures. So be bold in witnessing to all, telling what the Lord has done!

Dec

2019

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on April 25, 2015.

“I’m a Christian” – What Does This Mean?

by Kyara Grunst

“I’m a Christian.” This is something I’m sure we would all be willing to say. But let’s ask what our catechism would ask: What does this mean? What makes us “Christian?” You could say that’s an easy question. Of course it’s Christ that makes us Christian. But again, what does that mean? First, let’s take a look at what Christianity isn’t.

When I think of a Christian, I will admit that I usually think about a person who does good works. I think of someone who donates money to church and to charities, someone who volunteers a lot, someone who hold doors open for others, someone who does good things. However, this attitude, called legalism, is not, in essence, Christianity. Legalism is all about the law. It creates a “Christ and…” mentality where we feel like we need to add something to the work of Christ. We try to save ourselves by either keeping all of the rules or by making up our own rules.

Even if the rules we aim to follow are all doctrines of the Bible, we cannot earn our way to heaven by keeping them. We are not capable of this. We cannot keep all of the laws of Scripture. We break commandments every day, multiple times each day. And so being a Christian does not, ultimately, mean obeying the rules as best as we can to try and earn our way to heaven because that is an impossible task for us.

Christianity also does not solely mean being a good person. We often think that as we become better Christians, we gain better qualities and we become better people. We think that we need to have a certain number of good traits to be truly Christian. Again this puts the work on us. It is our duty to become better people so we can be better Christians. And again, no. With this mentality, Christianity is about our work, not Christ’s. Besides, what are works without faith?

So what then is Christianity? Christianity is all about Christ. It is about his work for us. Christ humbled himself and came to earth. He didn’t come as a prince in pomp and earthly glory, but instead he came to us in a lowly manger. He lived a perfect life for us, not sinning even once. He did not give in to any temptation the devil put in his way, but stood firm and resisted them for our sake. He then willingly suffered death on the cross and took upon himself the sins of the entire world. He died for us.

And that is not the end of the story. Jesus’ death is not meaningless, because he also rose from the dead. Christ gained for us the salvation we could not and cannot obtain on our own. He did what we cannot because he is the perfect and holy Son of God. This is why being a Christian means we are Christ-centered.

Christ is the reason for everything we do. Because he has done what we cannot, there is nothing for us to do except thank him continually. And so we do just that. We thank and praise him with our lives and with our words and actions. Everything we do is for his glory and to spread the word of what he has done. Our sole work is to preach Christ crucified and risen. Through him, we have become new persons. We were born again in our baptism and have done away with the old self. We are now blameless in God’s eyes because when he looks at us, he sees Christ’s holiness.

That is what it means to be a Christian. It means living our lives as a testimony to Christ and his saving work. For without him, we are nothing. Instead of asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” we instead ask ourselves, “What has Jesus done?” Our identity as a Christian comes through Christ and through the salvation he won for us. It means that we are firmly rooted in him and in his Word so that our lives are permeated with the joyful message of what he has done. Being Christian means casting aside who we are and what we have done and instead living in what Christ has done and who he is – our loving Savior.

Being a Christian, then, is not exclusive to a single denomination or group of people. But rather, the church—the holy Christian community—is filled with people from numerous congregations and from every race and people. Ultimately, being a Christian is not dependent on us having the same sort of religious organization or the same norm of worship style. Being a Christian is fully dependent on having saving faith in Christ and in Christ alone. That is what it means to be a Christian.

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“I’m a Christian” – What Does This Mean?

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