Saturday Ramblings 11.17.12

Thanksgiving is right around the corner (or, to be more accurate, five days away), iMonks, and we have a lot of cooking and cleaning to do to get ready for the big day. Damaris decided she was going to go vegetarian on us and insisted we serve up a “tofurkey,” whatever that is. Adam thinks those “turkey legs” you get at the state fair are real, so we got one of those for him. Martha of Ireland and Craig are arguing over what is the best beer to serve with mashed potatoes. Chaplain Mike said he wants another month’s sabbatical if he has to do the dishes. And the Synonymous Rambler grabbed the remote control and won’t let us watch football. Sigh … it’s time for us to ramble.

Black Friday? No, we have not forgotten Black Friday. We tried, but somehow we can’t.

Franklin Graham says his father has always been political, preachers should preach about abortion and gay marriage but not economics, and he was shocked—shocked, mind you—to learn that the word “cult” was used on the BGEA web site. Anything else you want to know?

Seems Abraham Lincoln was not always the revered spiritual leader we have come to see him as. At one time he was the “village atheist.” No, Billy Graham never met for prayer with Lincoln.

Pat Robertson, meanwhile, says that he understands Gen. David Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell. “After all,” said Robertson, “he’s a man.” Ok then. That settles that.

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Pentecostals And Miracles

We have been looking at the topic of miracles, and Tim Stafford’s Miracles, this week. Lisa Dye walked us through a look at Stafford’s book on modern miracles, as well as helping with your comments. Before we leave this topic, I thought we would hear from Stafford on the topic of Pentecostals and why they seem to focus on miracles more than others. Please keep your comments on the topic of Pentecostals and miracles. This is not a critique of Pentecostalism as a whole.

God and miracles go together. Seek God and you will find him doing wonderful things. When God walks the earth, the sick get healed. So it was with Jesus. So it is today.

But we go wrong when we show a higher interest in miracles than in God. This is Pentecostalism’s persistent temptation—to let the effects of God’s presence become more central than God himself. When God becomes mainly a miracle provider, he stops being God. He becomes more like a vending machine. Then pressure comes to provide more miracles, new miracles, unprecedented “phenomena” that stir excitement. The “prosperity” becomes a formula rather than God’s blessing given in a personal relationship … I’m thinking of meetings where only the most superficial gospel teaching is given, and the focus is almost exclusively on miracle healing. I’m thinking of groups that always seem to go on to “the next thing”—the latest manifestation of the Holy Spirit, whether laughing or prophetic utterances or dancing or trembling or singing or roaring. There’s always something new to catch our attention, and the search for novelty becomes an addiction.

That is a danger in all faith: we want what God offers more than we want God himself.

 

Our Archived Faith

I often go back through the archives of this site, reading essays written by our founder, Michael Spencer. His words continue to challenge and encourage me as I walk in this evangelical minefield/post-evangelical wilderness. I got to know Michael by reading his older essays. Even as we then were author/agent, and then friends, the way I knew Michael best was through his writings.

We walk with Michael through his Calvinist days, then his flirtation with the Catholic Church, then with his prophetic proclamation that evangelicalism was on the verge of collapse. He wandered around, trying to find a place where he would fit in American Christianity, and finally realizing that not fitting was right where he needed to be.

One thing I would be very cautious in saying is that Michael grew in all of his wanderings. My caution is because of our use of the term “grow.” It implies, in our current culture, that where we are today is not good enough, and we need to keep working to achieve some new level. And if we don’t, then we are not doing our duty. It is the American education version of Christianity. Listen to the presentation of knowledge, pass a test to show you have grasped the knowledge, and graduate to the next level. We keep doing this until we “graduate” to Heaven and then we no longer have to learn.

I hear so often, “What do you think God is trying to teach you through this or that trial?” It’s as if God’s main role in our lives is to teach us things. And our role is to learn. Teacher-student. Yet I don’t see this picture painted in Scripture. When I read of God’s interaction with his creation, it is as of a lover. Often as a jealous lover, yes. That’s because we drift off after lesser loves, and he has to come find us and bring us back.

Or as a shepherd, who has to deal with sheep who constantly want to wander away from green pastures. And in case you think you are part of the 99 who stay put instead of the one who strays. guess what? There are no 99 “good sheep.” We are all the one who has strayed. We’re not learning anything. We’re selfish creatures who think we know what is best rather than trusting our shepherd. And once he has brought us back safely into the sheepfold, we’ll once again look for a hole in the fence so we can run away.

Or as the father who is waiting and waiting and waiting for us to return, knowing we will when we are hungry and tired and scared enough. And when he sees us tramping up the lane, our father will run—run, mind you—to embrace us.

There are other metaphors in Scripture that show us God, but I don’t see any as him as our professor. I do, however, see one picture over and over and over.

Grace.

If there was one thing Michael and I could talk about for hours (other than the Cincinnati Reds) it was grace. God as our lover, freely receiving us back even though we have been unfaithful, and will be unfaithful to our dying day. God as our shepherd seeking us out to feed us and care for us and keep us safe in spite of all of our efforts to run away. God as our father, running to welcome us back as his sons and daughters.

Grace. We constantly go our own ways, and God the lover/shepherd/father gives grace upon grace upon grace. Just like in the miracles we read in the gospels, grace is given without the recipient doing anything to earn it or keep it. And that is what makes it so scary to us. We would prefer God as a schoolmarm who gives us lessons and we work to earn a good grade. But that is not the God of Scripture. And it was never the God of Michael.

 

iMonk Classic: Preaching Grace is Risky Business

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said that if we didn’t get complaints that we’d gone too far and said too much, then we probably haven’t really preached the Gospel of grace. That’s been my experience. Almost every time that I preach a strong sermon on justification by grace through faith, by Christ and apart from the works of the law, I get complaints. I just thought I would say a few things about that.

1) Young people have a difficult time understanding grace. I think that young people are so used to living in a world of rules and grades, so used to competition and being told to be good/do right, that the Gospel is hard for them to understand. I’ve been around youth evangelism my whole life, and I believe about 98% of the “decisions” I’ve witnessed were brought about by messages that were legalistic and moralistic, not Gospel centered. These are kids who think about the Christian life as “living for God,” not as “Christ died for me and I will never deserve that.” They are like the workers in the Vineyard who are really hacked off that the owner paid those last minute workers the same wage.

2) Another reason young people struggle with the Gospel of grace is that they’ve been the primary focus of all the cultural warfare Christians talk about. It’s in their lives that all the issues of morality and cultural decline really come to the forefront. When you hear that sort of “do good/be good/don’t be like the world” message, the Gospel of God justifying sinners really sounds dangerous.

3) I think it’s provable again and again that what we are comfortable saying to an unbeliever, we aren’t comfortable saying to a Christian. The Gospel is for Christians, too. We love the story of the Prodigal son. Now, what about the day after the party? What if the son messed up again in a week? What if he doesn’t live the life of a grateful son? Or to be more realistic, what if he sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t? Does that change the Father? Does the older brother get to come back into the story and say “Aha!! I was right!” Christ died for the sins of Christians, and we need to hear that over and over again.

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Spinning The Hits Backward

On Sunday I said I would try to play at least one request, and that is what I got: one request. iMonk reader Steve Scott asked me to talk about what happens when you play Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven backward. Ok Steve, here’s your long-distance request.

First, a bit of background. I spent a fair amount of time (as in several decades) working in radio. I started just after Marconi invented the thing, and left it when it ceased being for the good of the community and became simply a money machine. (For the future of radio, and what radio should sound like, I point you to one of our sponsors, Broken Road Radio.) When I started in the radio biz, we played music on ancient vinyl discs known as “records.” Sound was etched into this vinyl, and recreated by a tiny diamond inserted into the groove on the record. The diamond—known by the misnomer of “needle” and by its proper name, “stylus”—was attached to a cartridge, which … oh, sorry. I taught this stuff for 15 years, and explaining it all is still second-nature to me. But this is not Wikipedia, so let’s move on.

Records could be played forward or, if you had the right kind of turntable, backward. Why would you play a record backward? To hear hidden messages. What kind of hidden messages? Ones placed their by Beelzebub, of course. Intended to lead you astray if you were listening to filthy rock and roll music. Songs that Satan could use to ensnare you against your will, because God apparently is not strong enough to protect his own against the evil one—and against a “message” you really needed some stout imagination to hear.

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What Happens After The Miracle?

Tokah is a longtime iMonk who was diagnosed with a disease that should have–taken her life—and it nearly did. Then God intervened. But what next? What happens after the miracle occurs? I had honestly never thought of this side of the miraculous before.  JD

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Luke 18:40-43 (ESV)

As a child, I always wondered what happened next. After all of the glorifying God is over, the various gospel writers just move on to the next story. The camera follows the Lord, and we never learn how things went for the previously blind, demon possessed, paralyzed, and otherwise ill people he left in his wake. Did the man born blind ever get his colors straight or learn to read? What kind of employment did the beggar in this passage find? Were those cured of leprosy accepted easily by their families? Did the Gerasene demoniac ever win back the trust of his town? Did those healed on the sabbath get the cold shoulder from the religious establishment?

I propose that there is a post-miracle wilderness. When an unexpected miracle changes the circumstances of your life, blessing that it is, there are immense challenges. However bad your previous situation, at least you understood it. It was easy to explain to others. You had a lot of practice at that mode of life, and you had an idea of how to plan for the future. As your new circumstances dawn, you are both very happy and a bit lost.

You quickly come to the end of the gospel style telling of your tale. People have rejoiced, God has been glorified, and you have walked home with your mat. Now Jesus is headed to Capernaum, leaving you to confront your life with very little information. Questions fly furiously from every direction about everything from why you think you received a miracle to whether you were really ill in the first place. Foremost in your mind is a rather different curiosity: is this real, trustworthy? Will I wake up this way tomorrow or back in my old life?

If it does last, if you wake up the next day with your newly restored faculties intact, the long term challenges set in. First you fight through who to tell and how and when to do so. Your long term plans will certainly change, but in our modern bureaucratic society that is easier said than done. For example, explaining that gap on your resume is hard, and few pick the prospective employee who may suddenly become sick again. You may be a part of a program for people in your old circumstances, receiving some kind of help or benefits. The honest thing to do is to get off the rolls, but the fear that you may need that help again makes it hard to take that step.  You will be a square peg in a round hole for a very long time, always a bit of a freak. There is a serious risk of being treated as the boy who cried wolf. Even the very Christians who have prayed for you faithfully often are not sure what to make of you now.

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Open Mic: Miracles

We are looking at Tim Stafford’s Miracles this week as part of our iMonk book club. I went to a school where the words “Expect A Miracle” was written alongside the basketball court. (And some of the teams they had desperately needed a miracle to win.) In the circles I grew up in as a believer, the word “miracle” was tossed around like candy on Halloween. It seemed for many, the least inconvenience necessitated a call for a miracle.

Lisa Dye started us off great yesterday with an overview of Stafford’s book and a glimpse of the miracles Lisa has seen in her life. Several of you shared your experiences as well. (Tokah, we are rejoicing with you.)

We want to turn the mic over to you for your thoughts on just what constitutes a miracle. Are there biblical qualifications? Is one man’s natural another man’s supernatural? And most of all, is God still in the miracle business today?

Step up to the mic, state your name, and share your thoughts.

Miracles

Tim Stafford is a senior writer for Christianity Today and recently penned and published a book exploring modern-day miracles from a journalist’s point-of-view. He doesn’t claim to be an expert on any one subject, but for the past thirty years he’s written on a wide variety of subjects relating to all things Christian. His says his expertise is in asking questions, listening and then writing about what he learns. He admits that this book is more personal than his usual style because it is born out of his curiosity in a miraculous occurrence in the life of a member of his church.

I think I would have liked the book better had he dived rather than dabbled his way more fully into a personal opinion piece. As it is, the writing comes across too tentative for opinion and too mixed for journalism. Nevertheless, the subject is interesting, relevant and Stafford is a good writer.

In Miracles, Stafford examines what constitutes a miracle, if we can still expect to see miracles, how much of Scripture deals with miracles, hype over hoaxes, lack of authentication in cases of the truly authentic and the Pentecostal movement in the world today. He includes a chapter near the end on science and miracles which makes a couple of good points, but probably isn’t weighty enough to preach the truly scientific minded over to the choir of miracle believers. He closes with a couple of chapters that echo a few of my own thoughts on miracles and which come from an already believing and not very skeptical point-of-view. In what seems an attempt to point out that we Christians are not all gullible and can get embarrassed when others in the faith make questionable claims that only add fuel to atheistic fire, the book is also punctuated with stories about unsubstantiated miraculous claims he portrays as clearly bogus.

Continue reading “Miracles”

The Coming Week

We continue to do our best while Chaplain Mike takes a much-needed sabbatical this month. We are going to look at the second book in the iMonk book club this week, Tim Stafford’s Miracles. Lisa Dye will lead us through this book and this topic, one that is sure to provoke some very interesting stories from you. Lisa’s initial essay is so good, so strong, that I am saving it for tomorrow morning. In the meantime, be thinking: Does God still do miracles today? And just what is a “miracle” anyway?

We will also look at a topic that gets me into no end of trouble: God’s grace. Let me go ahead and answer the question I am always asked when I write about grace. “Are you really saying that we can live anyway we want and still experience God’s grace and forgiveness?” To which I answer … ok, you know how I answer that. And if you don’t, well, you’ll just have to keep reading this week.

Finally, the old radio DJ in me is showing through. I’m taking requests as to what you want me to write about this week. I’ll fit in one request, maybe two. Call our request hotline and tell me what stax of hot wax you want to hear.

Read Miracles. And be ready to have your world turned inside-out with Lisa’s essay tomorrow.

Sunday Morning Meditation: Think On These Things

During the month of November we are starting your Sunday—and your week—off with a quote to help you focus on God’s grace as you head to your worship service. This morning we read from Robert Capon’s Between Noon And Three.

The Gospel invites us to believe not that we are safe, provided, but that we are safe period. It is not that sin should not have dominion over us but that it cannot, for its power has been destroyed by Jesus. It reigns in our death, of course, as it always did; but what is that? What is it to have sway over a valley of dry bones? The main things is that sin does not reign over Jesus, and Jesus is our life. And there is the crucial point: Therefore, we are safe. Not safe, if … Not safe, as long as … Not safe, provided … Add anything — even a single qualifier, even a single hedge — and you lose the Gospel of salvation, which is just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.