Mission Impossible?

Mission Impossible?

by | Apr 2, 2016 | Great Commission

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​“Your Mission, should you choose to accept it, is to” … “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

The juxtaposition of twenty-first century fiction with first century fact may seem strange, but the analogy works.  The “Mission Impossible” tagline transitions seamlessly into the words of Mark 16:15 because of the difficulty and the scale  – the seeming impossibility – of the mission Christ gave his disciples.   The analogy follows through because in both cases we see a small dedicated group struggling to fulfill its mission – despite the machinations of evil forces bent on the group’s destruction and the thwarting of the mission it has been given.

We know the ending, of course.  We know the movie mission will be fulfilled, and that the Christian mission will likewise be fulfilled eventually, but that doesn’t stop us from living through some tense moments in the “mission” type movies we may watch, or in the “mission” lives to which we are called.  For many of us, in fact, there are days when the “impossible” part seems more real than the “mission.”
 
Sometimes it’s the difficulty associated with fulfilling the mission we are given, at other times it’s the sheer size and magnitude of the task.  But it is encouraging to remember this is how it has always been. If we backtrack to some of the earlier “impossible” missions recorded in the Bible, we find that they almost always involved moments of tension and doubt regarding either the  difficulty or the size of the task that God had given. 

The Book of Judges alone is full of such stories. Put yourself in Rahab’s shoes as she thought about how difficult it was going to be to explain to the king and his security forces where the Israelite spies were who they knew had been staying in her house (Joshua 2), or think about how Gideon felt about the size of the task when he was told to cut his army by  almost 99 percent before a huge battle (Judges 7).   But God has the ability and the will to routinely turn the impossible into the accomplished.

Christ himself had to remind his disciples of this fact:  “… With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).  We know this intellectually and spiritually, but often it helps to look more closely at the mission briefing and remind ourselves that both the difficulty and the scope of the mission are possible: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV). 

Notice first that the difficulty of the job is covered in the promise to provide the necessary resources: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  Next, notice that the Son of God could have just said “you will be my witnesses to the end of the earth,” but he broke the mission down into successive, bit at a time, stages – Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the whole world. 

The mission parameters we are given specifically remind us that we will be given the resources we need to do the job – and they also remind us that we need to do the job a bit at a time.  The answer lies on the one hand with faith in the help we are promised, and on the other hand with our ability to successfully break down the mission and firmly grasp a workable part.  But we have not really accepted the mission if we accept it as an impossible-seeming task. 

Our mission, if we accept it, is to trust, and then to take on a small part of the job and make it happen.    Those are the two responses needed to fulfill the mission we have been given. What small part of the mission will you make happen today? 

The Three Offerings of the Cross

The Three Offerings of the Cross

by | Mar 25, 2016 | The Life of Jesus

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​Many Christians know that the death of Christ took place at the “ninth” hour of the day – about 3:00 pm – at exactly the time of the afternoon sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple. Christ’s death was, of course, what the physical sacrificial system had pointed to, but relatively few Christians have noticed the extent to which the sacrifice of Jesus tied to those Temple offerings.

According to the Law of Moses, sacrifices were made in the Jewish Temple three times each day – at the third, sixth, and ninth hour of the day. The daylight part of the day was reckoned to start at 6:00 a.m., so these are the hours we would call  9:00 a.m., 12 noon, and 3:00 p.m.  When we look closely at the Gospel accounts, we see certain events at the death of Jesus corresponded exactly with these three times of offering.

1) The Gospel of Mark tells us that “ … it was the third hour when they crucified him” (Mark 15:25 ESV). This is when the actual crucifixion took place when Jesus was nailed to the stake or cross  on which he offered up his body – at the exact time of the morning sacrifice – although it was a number of agonizing hours before Christ died.

2) Mark also tells us “And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33 ESV). This darkness – that began exactly at the time of the mid-day sacrifice and lasted till about 3:00 pm – symbolized the weight of all sin that was placed upon Christ, as he temporarily was separated from God, sacrificing his relationship with the Father. This separation was expressed “about the ninth hour” in his anguished words “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
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3) Finally, Luke tells us, at the ninth hour or 3:00 pm, at the time of the so-called “evening prayers” and the last sacrifice of the day:  “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46) – he gave up his very life.

So the sacrifice of Jesus literally spanned all three of the sacrificial offering times of the day of his death – the morning, noon and evening offerings.  At the third hour he was crucified and offered up his body. At the sixth hour  he was cut off – he temporarily sacrificed his relationship with God.  At the ninth hour he died – he gave up life itself.
Interestingly, in his epistle to Titus the apostle Paul tells us, regarding Christ’s sacrifice, that “He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works” (Titus 2:14).   Although Paul was not speaking directly of the three aspects of the sacrifice of Christ in saying these three things, his words are relevant in reminding us of how the three aspects apply to us.

When Paul writes that Christ “… gave himself to redeem us…” we should remember that, biblically, redemption is accomplished by  substituting one person or thing for another. In offering up his body, Christ acted as a substitute and redeemed us – the first point Paul makes.  In the same way, when Paul says it was to “cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession” we should remember that Christ temporarily sacrificed his relationship with his Father because of the burden of sin placed upon him, in order that we could have a relationship with God – to be a part of the people of God. Finally, when Paul says the people of God would be “… eager to do good works” we see a result of the third sacrifice – of Christ’s life – and we see how this applies to us in Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans:

“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness” (Romans 6:13). 

In saying we should sacrifice ourselves as “an instrument of righteousness” Paul means, of course, to do good works – exactly as he writes in Titus 2:14 (and see Titus 3:8, and Ephesians 2:10).  It is a command that is clearly echoed in the Book of Hebrews: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Hebrews 13:16).

So while Paul’s mention, in his letter to Titus, of the three aspects of the sacrifice of Christ are not tied directly to the three sacrifices of the day of the crucifixion, his words give us cause for reflection and remind us of our own responsibilities in accepting the three parts of Christ’s offering. We too need to offer our bodies as a sacrifice to God, we too need to do whatever we can to help others find fellowship with him, and we too need to offer the sacrifice of our lives – the time we are given – to the cause of good works.  To the extent that we are following him, the three aspects of Christ’s sacrifice will be reflected in our lives also.

Why We Need to Pray for Asia Bibi Now!

Why We Need to Pray for Asia Bibi Now!

by | Mar 23, 2016 | Persecution

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​This Saturday, March 26, an appeals court in Pakistan will review the case of Aasiya Noreen, or Asia Bibi as she is better known, an illiterate young Pakistani Christian who was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging in November 2010.

Local women became angry with Asia when she drank from the same water source they were using.  After subsequent arguments, she was charged under Pakistan’s strict blasphemy law for insulting the prophet Muhammad – a charge she categorically denies.  For the past five years Asia has been imprisoned and separated from her husband and children (who have had to go into hiding) while she awaits execution. Threats against her life have continued in prison, and she was moved to solitary confinement in a small windowless cell where she cooks her own food in order to protect her from other inmates and from attempts to poison her. She has reportedly been abused by the guards in the prison where she is being held and her health is now very frail.

The Pakistani Christian minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, and another politician, Salmaan Taseer, who argued for Noreen’s release, were both assassinated for advocating on her behalf.  In October 2014 the Pakistani court system dismissed Asia’s appeal and upheld her death sentence. The following month, her lawyer appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan which suspended Bibi’s death sentence for the duration of the appeals process.  After several postponements the Lahore High Court will hear her appeal this week – on March 26.

We should join Christians around the world in praying for the release of Asia Bibi. Pope Benedict XVI and other leaders have publicly called for the charges against her to be dismissed, and many Christian organizations are trying to mobilize believers to help her.  The Voice of the Martyrs organization has organized a petition that can be signed online and hopes to gather one million signatures on behalf of our sister Asia.  At the time of writing, 697,586 people have signed the petition and you can sign it here. 

Given the Pakistani Supreme Court hearings scheduled for this weekend, we should pray earnestly for Asia Bibi this week.  Pray not only for Asia as an individual (who was condemned not for taking a cup of water but for her Christian beliefs), but also for all who are similarly afflicted by Pakistan’s harsh Islamic blasphemy laws.  Because this is a high profile case, if the court rules in her favor, it could be an important precedent for other Christians unjustly threatened by the same blasphemy laws now and in the future.

There are other things we can do. In the United States we can contact our Congressional representatives to protest America’s eight billion dollar yearly aid to Pakistan and to argue that that aid should be stopped as long as persecution of minorities is allowed in that country.
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But most of all, Asia Bibi needs our prayers – and she needs them now.

Giving What We Receive

Giving What We Receive

by | Mar 13, 2016 | Giving, Service

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“I do give a portion of what I earn each month,” April confided to her Christian friend, “but I feel I could be doing more.”   Do you ever get that feeling? Perhaps we all do, and perhaps we all should.

Most Christians understand the principle of being “blessed to be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2-3): that one of the reasons God blesses us is to enable us to help others; but many of us limit the understanding of that principle to financial and material blessings.   Those things are certainly an important part of our giving, but we do not need to stop there. While we may acknowledge intellectually that life is much more than just money and material things, it’s sometimes hard to really apply that understanding as we should.  Often we do not see blessings that we can share with others because we do not always think of them as an abundance of something that other people need. 

The apostle Paul stresses our ability to help others in a number of non-material ways – beyond sharing the truth with them – and perhaps nowhere more so than in his letters to the Galatians and Romans where we find similar themes expounded.  Here are four non-material blessings to which Paul alludes directly or indirectly in those letters – gifts that we can share with others:

Time:  “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). We may know this scripture well, but we don’t always equate opportunity with time. Are you retired? Between jobs?  Have some time on your hands?  Ask yourself to what extent you give of the time you have and think about how you can share the blessing of time you have been given. 

Health:  “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1).  Paul’s mention of this principle is in a wider context than just physical health, but it does apply there.   Do you enjoy good health – or even reasonably good health?  Ask yourself to what extent you give of the health you have and think about how you can share the blessing of health you have been given. It could be in service or in simple encouragement to those in poor health.

Skills: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us…” (Romans 12:6). Although Paul is talking primarily about spiritual gifts in Romans 12, the principle applies in other areas, just as he speaks of gifts of teaching, giving and leading (vss. 7-8). Do you have specialized knowledge or training in an area with which you can help others?   If you have medical, financial or legal training there are a number of ways you can help those in need, but there are many other types of knowledge that can be shared by helping those without the training you may have.

Peace of mind:  “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19).  Primarily, in this verse, Paul is speaking about peace as the opposite of strife, yet the principle can be applied to the “mutual edification” that comes from helping others to develop the peace of mind we may have.  Peace of mind means a simple absence of warring emotions, doubts and fears.  If we have that blessing, it is one we can share if we look for opportunities to do so.

These are just some basic areas in which we can share the non-material blessings we have. Even if we are poor, we may have time we can give.  If we do not have enough time, we may have health we can share; if not enough health, we may have knowledge or skills we can use to help others.  Even if we have none of these things, if we have peace of mind, that is in itself a blessing that we can share with others.  We just need to get into the habit of seeing the blessings we have and asking ourselves  what we can do to share those non-material things – to fulfill the purpose of being blessed to be a blessing  to others.

Counterfeit Christians?

Counterfeit Christians?

by | Mar 6, 2016 | Growth

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When we hear of counterfeit Christians or Christianity, we tend to think immediately of false doctrines, of heresy and perversion of the truth and of individuals or groups masquerading as “true” Christians.  

​But the situation can be more subtle than that.  The Bible certainly gives us the clear affirmation that  to be a true Christian we must have the Spirit of Christ – of God –  within us, or we simply are not what we think we are. The apostle Paul makes that clear in his letter to the Romans:

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9).

If we do have that Spirit acting in our lives, Paul tells us, there will be clear “fruits” or evidences (Galatians 5:22-23).  But it’s often easier to see those fruits in the lives of others than it is within ourselves. That’s especially true if we tend to be a naturally outgoing and accepting person, a person with a fair measure of natural human patience or other good quality.  Hopefully, as Christians, we can see growth in our lives regardless of where we started on the “goodness curve,” but as C.S. Lewis famously argued, some do start out higher on the curve.

Perhaps that is why Paul gave another clue in Romans – an actual “litmus test” if you like – as to what it looks like to be truly acknowledging God in our lives.  But he did that in a place and a way that you might not have noticed:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him … And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:21, 28).

Now when we read these verses it is easy to see them as only applying to those without God – the pagans and God-rejecting individuals of whom Paul was apparently speaking in Romans 1. But we should not miss the obvious broader application of what Paul says.  He doesn’t say that he is speaking of those who don’t know God, but of those who do (vs. 21).  Paul speaks of individuals who do know God but who demonstrate two very telling signs: they don’t honor God and they don’t give thanks to him.

But why would we apply this to apparent believers – especially if it is not the group Paul was  primarily speaking of?  The perhaps unexpected answer is found in the word “debased.”  We read this word with our understanding of the English concepts behind it and think only of moral or spiritual  degeneration.  But the Greek word Paul wrote holds a very different significance.  The word “debased” in Romans 1:28 is translated from a-dokimon, a word used of precious metals and coinage and meaning not standing up to a test of authenticity, not approved – in other words, fake or counterfeit.   The word was, in fact, regularly used of counterfeit money.

So Paul’s point is that God allowed people who knew him (and that could be the God-rejecting or the nominally God-accepting) to take on a counterfeit mind – a counterfeit Christianity where that applies – but the reason was not doctrinal lack of understanding; it was because they failed the tests of honoring God and thanking him.

It’s natural to think that theological litmus tests should be more complex or involve more intellectual issues.  But Paul makes it clear that  the most basic yet profoundly true tests of whether we are reacting properly to our knowledge of God and living as true Christians – or whether we are a counterfeit – are found in if we honor God in what we think, say and do, and if we give thanks to him. These are things that we can usually see and know about ourselves no matter where we started on the curve.
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Fortunately we can use this knowledge.  Being aware of these principles is one way we can avoid counterfeit Christians – and I don’t mean the kind we might see in church, but the kind we never want to see in the mirror.