Worship Him
This week I have been working on two sermons – one for Good Friday and the other for Resurrection Sunday, otherwise known as Easter.
Then, on Thursday, I was informed by my younger son that Good Friday coincides with Earth Day. Furthermore, that school children will be taking field trips to his place of work for Earth Day. He didn’t say it, but it is doubtful any public school will be commemorating the death of Christ on Good Friday.
We call it “Good” because it was good for us and the cosmos, not Jesus. It was by His death that our personal sins were forgiven and, according to Romans 8:22 – 23, all of creation will be redeemed. Good Friday is a day when Christians reflect upon the sacrifice of Christ and express sorrow for their sin.
I know what Earth Day means, and I know how it is sometimes celebrated. I know it was promoted by Senator Gaylord Nelson and environmentalists and first held in 1970. It is not a coincidence that Earth Day was placed on the calendar in such close proximity to the most important Christian holiday. By the way, “holiday” comes from “holy day” and is derived from Christian holy day observances.
Earth Day is a pagan holiday for some – a time to worship earth. For others it is a day to reconsider their roles in taking care of earth. For promoters of Earth Day It is the time to express worry about Mother Earth. Is Mother warming too fast? Is Mother having too much difficulty with carbon dioxide? You will observe that the typical participant in an Earth Day rally is a privileged person whose basic needs are met. People who worry about earth are people who have the luxury to worry about earth. It is easier to worry about earth when pressing personal needs are met. Have you noticed that people who live in underdeveloped countries where sanitation measures are lacking and disease is rampant or where famine is stalking don’t seem to celebrate Earth Day? Earth Day is a creation of the affluent and those with too much time on their hands.
I wish everyone in North America would read The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. Lomborg details in his work the environmental problems that have been overcome in recent years. He then considers the more radical concerns of present day environmentalists, doing a cost versus benefits analysis of their agenda. He puts things into perspective. Disaster, my friend, is not around the corner.
Here is the point: as American culture has abandoned its Christian heritage, it has grabbed at ideals and false gods to fill the void. Mankind is religious. If Good Friday demands I repent of my personal sin and I don’t want to do that, then I will substitute something for it. In this case, I replace Christ with Earth. I will not speak of a Heavenly Father, but of a planetary Mother. I will disregard the stories in the Bible, and replace them with legends of the pre-industrial, pristine past. I will ignore the possibility of living in a perfect heaven and I will attempt to create a perfect earth – by my standard of what is perfect, of course, not yours.
We should work together for clean water and air, healthier environments and lifestyles. This we should be doing as good citizens of the planet – 365 days a year. But while doing this, let’s never forget that it was Christ who gave us this earth in the first place. He owns it and He will redeem it. He visited this planet to show His love for it and for mankind.
Worship Him.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
It’s Time to Pray and Act
I am tired of reading, listening, and watching news about the budget debate in Washington. What is there to debate? The March 2011 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report shared that for the forty years prior to Barack Obama’s election, federal deficits averaged around 35% of the country’s annual GDP. That number rose to 62% by the end of 2011. If action is not taken that number will rise to 87% over the next ten years. This information is easily accessible to anyone owning a computer by accessing www.cbo.gov.
Most businesses, every single church I know of, and families all had to tighten the belt in recent years. Job losses and the worst recession since the Great Depression forced such changes.
Here is the news the federal government needs to produce: debt reduction is real, not a political illusion. The country will not go broke. The government is tightening its belt, and while it may hurt for a while, it is a long term cure for what ails us. Remember when the budget debate was about “millions” or even “billions”? Well folks, it is now about “trillions”. Is this a runaway train or what?
What is wrong with a picture where businesses, churches and families all can cut back spending on non-essentials, but our government cannot? My hunch is that our political leaders, with some exceptions (like Paul Ryan) are afraid of cutting back. The political repercussions are too scary – note the government union workers and their spirited demonstrations in Columbus, then multiply that by about, oh, one hundred and you can see what could happen. That would be a mob and would mandate force and a possible police state. It is a politician’s worst nightmare. Cool heads and steady hands must prevail in this debate and political posturing should end. This is a critical moment in our country’s history. The financial mess in which the nation finds itself is non-partisan. Both parties are responsible and both parties must find people willing to work together to lead in this matter. Let’s be frank about it: unless the country cuts spending seriously and begins reducing debt just as seriously, the term “trillions” will be replaced very soon by “quadrillions” and every cent gathered by the government will be used for debt repayment.
But really, I want to take another tack. The scriptures say, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
My tack is twofold. First, this is the time for people to pray. Pray that God gives our political leaders courage. They are all pretty bright individuals who understand what needs to be done. They do not lack in intelligence. Neither do they lack knowledge. But many seem to lack courage. And they appear to live from election to election. Pray that God will raise up statesmen and save us from mere politicians.
And here is the second tactic: put some strength to your prayers. Write your congressman and senators and ask that they work with others, even those from the opposing party, to bring the ravenous spending appetite and mindboggling debt of the federal government under control – for our sake and the sake of our children and grandchildren. Be nice – they are people, too. Be encouraging. Let them know you are praying for them and our country. Perhaps we will see a great movement of God in our time and through our government, one that would parallel the beginning of America through the Continental Congress.
It’s time to pray – and act.
I am tired of reading, listening, and watching news about the budget debate in Washington. What is there to debate? The March 2011 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report shared that for the forty years prior to Barack Obama’s election, federal deficits averaged around 35% of the country’s annual GDP. That number rose to 62% by the end of 2011. If action is not taken that number will rise to 87% over the next ten years. This information is easily accessible to anyone owning a computer by accessing www.cbo.gov.
Most businesses, every single church I know of, and families all had to tighten the belt in recent years. Job losses and the worst recession since the Great Depression forced such changes.
Here is the news the federal government needs to produce: debt reduction is real, not a political illusion. The country will not go broke. The government is tightening its belt, and while it may hurt for a while, it is a long term cure for what ails us. Remember when the budget debate was about “millions” or even “billions”? Well folks, it is now about “trillions”. Is this a runaway train or what?
What is wrong with a picture where businesses, churches and families all can cut back spending on non-essentials, but our government cannot? My hunch is that our political leaders, with some exceptions (like Paul Ryan) are afraid of cutting back. The political repercussions are too scary – note the government union workers and their spirited demonstrations in Columbus, then multiply that by about, oh, one hundred and you can see what could happen. That would be a mob and would mandate force and a possible police state. It is a politician’s worst nightmare. Cool heads and steady hands must prevail in this debate and political posturing should end. This is a critical moment in our country’s history. The financial mess in which the nation finds itself is non-partisan. Both parties are responsible and both parties must find people willing to work together to lead in this matter. Let’s be frank about it: unless the country cuts spending seriously and begins reducing debt just as seriously, the term “trillions” will be replaced very soon by “quadrillions” and every cent gathered by the government will be used for debt repayment.
But really, I want to take another tack. The scriptures say, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
My tack is twofold. First, this is the time for people to pray. Pray that God gives our political leaders courage. They are all pretty bright individuals who understand what needs to be done. They do not lack in intelligence. Neither do they lack knowledge. But many seem to lack courage. And they appear to live from election to election. Pray that God will raise up statesmen and save us from mere politicians.
And here is the second tactic: put some strength to your prayers. Write your congressman and senators and ask that they work with others, even those from the opposing party, to bring the ravenous spending appetite and mindboggling debt of the federal government under control – for our sake and the sake of our children and grandchildren. Be nice – they are people, too. Be encouraging. Let them know you are praying for them and our country. Perhaps we will see a great movement of God in our time and through our government, one that would parallel the beginning of America through the Continental Congress.
It’s time to pray – and act.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Do Something for Japan
James Hudson Taylor was founder of the China Inland Mission in 1865. Now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship (www.omf.org), OMF is an outstanding missionary organization. Taylor would be pleased to see OMF today.
One of Taylor’s primary concerns was that Christians around the world – and this would include affluent Chinese Christians – share any abundance they might have with those less fortunate, the poor. Although J.H. Taylor is renown in church circles as a missionary spokesman who spent his life in China, the truth is that he made frequent return trips to England to impress upon people his worthy cause, to raise money. He needed funds! As someone (not Taylor) once said, “Prayer is what turns the wheels of the church, but money is the grease.”
Okay, here is what I am driving at in this week’s column: would you consider giving a special gift to help Japan? Almost overnight many Japanese lost everything. They lost loved ones, their home, their job9 and their possessions. I mean everything.
When Taylor would return to England and address the need to give in the churches, he would use Psalm 41:1 – “Blessed is he that considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the time of trouble.” Taylor would then proceed to tell people that the one who is blessed is not the one who quiets his own conscience by gifts that cost no self-denial. Rather, the blessing that God promises is for those who “consider the poor” – those who think about their plight and what it must be like. The blessing is for those who ponder what spending a week in the shoes of the poor would be like. The blessing is for the one who decides that he, materially well off, could do without a few (or many) things and redirect his spending to make sure the very basic needs of the poor are met and their misery is lessened. The one who is blessed is the one who sacrifices in order to provide for the poor. In some supernatural and wonderful way, God in Heaven will make certain that such a one is blessed himself. Taylor would then remind his audience that Jesus spent a great deal of His time ministering among the poor and afflicted, seeing that their basic needs were met. He would conclude his exhortation by telling his audience that such giving, to assist the poor in their desperation, is Christ like.
As I write this, reports are that another earthquake has shaken northern Japan, and a tsunami may follow. If ever you have wanted to help people, now is the time and Japan is the place. The evangelical churches and mission societies in Japan have come together in an effort called CRASH Japan, and your donation through either OMF or The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) will go to that fund. Our church recently sent funds to TEAM, P.O. Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187 and designated those funds for the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. Or you may donate online by going to either the TEAM or OMF web site (TEAM’s web site is www.teamworld.org). I found the TEAM web site easier to navigate.
Now is the time to…
Do something for Japan.
James Hudson Taylor was founder of the China Inland Mission in 1865. Now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship (www.omf.org), OMF is an outstanding missionary organization. Taylor would be pleased to see OMF today.
One of Taylor’s primary concerns was that Christians around the world – and this would include affluent Chinese Christians – share any abundance they might have with those less fortunate, the poor. Although J.H. Taylor is renown in church circles as a missionary spokesman who spent his life in China, the truth is that he made frequent return trips to England to impress upon people his worthy cause, to raise money. He needed funds! As someone (not Taylor) once said, “Prayer is what turns the wheels of the church, but money is the grease.”
Okay, here is what I am driving at in this week’s column: would you consider giving a special gift to help Japan? Almost overnight many Japanese lost everything. They lost loved ones, their home, their job9 and their possessions. I mean everything.
When Taylor would return to England and address the need to give in the churches, he would use Psalm 41:1 – “Blessed is he that considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the time of trouble.” Taylor would then proceed to tell people that the one who is blessed is not the one who quiets his own conscience by gifts that cost no self-denial. Rather, the blessing that God promises is for those who “consider the poor” – those who think about their plight and what it must be like. The blessing is for those who ponder what spending a week in the shoes of the poor would be like. The blessing is for the one who decides that he, materially well off, could do without a few (or many) things and redirect his spending to make sure the very basic needs of the poor are met and their misery is lessened. The one who is blessed is the one who sacrifices in order to provide for the poor. In some supernatural and wonderful way, God in Heaven will make certain that such a one is blessed himself. Taylor would then remind his audience that Jesus spent a great deal of His time ministering among the poor and afflicted, seeing that their basic needs were met. He would conclude his exhortation by telling his audience that such giving, to assist the poor in their desperation, is Christ like.
As I write this, reports are that another earthquake has shaken northern Japan, and a tsunami may follow. If ever you have wanted to help people, now is the time and Japan is the place. The evangelical churches and mission societies in Japan have come together in an effort called CRASH Japan, and your donation through either OMF or The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) will go to that fund. Our church recently sent funds to TEAM, P.O. Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187 and designated those funds for the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. Or you may donate online by going to either the TEAM or OMF web site (TEAM’s web site is www.teamworld.org). I found the TEAM web site easier to navigate.
Now is the time to…
Do something for Japan.
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