John Piper on the Economic Downturn

Below is a piece of John Piper’s February 1st sermon entitled “What Is the Recession For?”

Trusting God in the area of our finances is one of the hardest areas to trust in Him, and is often reflective in our lack of giving, and the anxiety we display when we have economic problems. Hope you enjoy!

“(Some of) God’s Purposes in This Recession

Now what are some of God’s purposes in this recession? I will mention five:

He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

1. To Expose Sin and Bring Repentance

The book of Job in the Old Testament begins, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). But in the last chapter of the book, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). He was “blameless,” but later he repented. What does that mean?

It means that the most godly people in the world are like a clear glass of water with a sediment of sin hidden at the bottom of the glass. And when the glass is struck—with Job’s suffering, or with our recession—the sediment of sin is stirred up and exposed, and the water becomes cloudy. That’s one of the things that recessions are for.

And it works both individually and socially.

Individually Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

God brought his own faithful servant Paul to the brink of death so that he might learn more deeply to rely not on himself but on God. If that happened to Paul, we may be sure that God is doing that for us as well in this recession. That we may rely on him and not ourselves.

At the bottom of every Christian heart—no matter how advanced in faith and godliness—there is the sediment of self-reliance. Then God shakes our lives, sometimes to the foundations, to show us our self-reliance and clean it out with a new, deeper reliance on him.

Socially, the recession reveals a host of sins that hurt people. The recent Ponzi schemes are one of the clearest examples. Promise people huge returns on their investment when there is nothing to invest in, then pay those returns with some of the next investments in nothing. And keep doing it for years, while you skim millions for yourself. Until a recession makes people want their investments back—and they don’t exist. Recessions have a wonderful power to expose that kind of deceit. What will it expose about you?

And, of course, the recession is especially good at exposing the sin of wasting other people’s money (or our own), and the sin of selfishness and greed in the mortgage business, and the sin of fear when everything starts coming down, and the sin of grumbling and impatience. And on and on. What a gift the recession is in the exposure of sin. May the Lord give us all the grace to repent and receive the forgiveness that God offers in Jesus Christ.

2. To Awaken Us to World Poverty

It’s astonishing how blind prosperity makes us to the miseries of the world. God has some remedies for that kind of indifference. For example, it says in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

How does that work? He says that there are people that we should care about who are imprison and mistreated. We tend to forget them. So he says, “Remember!” And he says: “As though with them” and “since you have a body.” So how does it work? It works like this: You have a body and sometimes it hurts. When it hurts, remember that there are people right now who are being mistreated—who are hurting much more than you. Imagine yourself in their shoes, and treat them the way you would want to be treated.

Recession hurts us. It imprisons us. What is God’s aim? That we would wake up. Does this recession bother us? If it bothers us, we should be bothered by the fact that millions always live in recession. Only live in recession.

One billion people do not have safe water to drink. Sixteen thousand children die every day from hunger related illnesses. Almost eighteen million children are orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our family prays through the Global Prayer Digest each morning. For January 29, 2009, we prayed for the Afar people of Ethiopia:

It’s 3:00 a.m., and the Afar father is still awake. The desert night is cold. He snuggles up to his wife and newborn baby to keep them warm. Their stomachs rumble with hunger. Should he slaughter his scrawny goat to feed his wife, hoping she will produce enough milk for their baby? Or should he beseech the clan elders to move again, in search of weeds for the goat, or maybe even some fresh water?

They are fortunate; both his wife and their baby survived the birth. The Afar people have the highest maternal fatality rate in the world. Women give birth without benefit of sterile conditions, or even clean water. Of the babies born alive one-third die before age five. Afar people roam throughout one of the most desolate places on earth: the Ethiopian desert.

Drought and malnutrition make them vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, conjunctivitis, and other water-borne illnesses. Of 13 million Afar people, three million are infected with HIV/AIDS.

It is good to know these things. And to pray about these things. And to cultivate a radical culture at Bethlehem in which hundreds of people dream of ways that their lives can count creatively and long-term for the relief of suffering. Recession has a way of making us wake up to the endless recession of millions. It has a way of changing our priorities and releasing effort and money for others.

Part of our overall vision at Bethlehem called Treasuring Christ Together (TCT) is the Global Diaconate. The giving to TCT is over and above the $9.2 million budget for church and missions this year. Ten percent of everything you give to the vision of TCT goes to our efforts to help the poorest of the poor. Since 2005 when TCT started, you have given over $700,000 to this fund, and $593,000 of it has been disbursed. God’s purpose for this recession is to say: That’s good work; and now more than ever, don’t let up.

3. To Relocate the Roots of Our Joy in His Grace, Rather Than in Our Goods

God sends recessions to his people to pull up the roots of our joy from the pleasures of the world and sink those roots into the pleasures of the glory of his grace. Here’s he clearest recessionary text about this in the Bible—2 Corinthians 8:1-2. It describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their “recession.”

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

This is my dream for Bethlehem. Verse 2 ends with a “wealth of generosity.” We want to be a generous people. Generous in every way. Where does it come from? From prosperity? No. Extreme poverty. “Their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of liberality.” This is why I call this a recessionary text. Here are people overflowing in generosity when the economic times are very bad.

Where then did the generosity come from if not from prosperity? From a supportive and sympathetic culture surrounding them? No. Verse 2 says they were in a “severe test of affliction.” That means they were being harassed. You can see what that looks like in Acts 17:5-9.

Where then did this wealth of generosity come form? Paul says it came from joy, abundance of joy. Verse 2: “Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

Their joy was not rooted in prosperity or popularity. But it was very great. Paul calls it “abundance of joy” in the middle of verse 2. Where did that joy come from?

It came from the grace of God. Verse 1: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.” What makes people grumble and be stingy is a sense of entitlement. But if we have tasted the measure of our sin and the magnitude of God’s grace, we will have abundance of joy in recessionary hardships. God’s grace overflowing in Jesus for sinners like us is the most glorious thing in the universe.

This is where our joy is rooted. This is why the Fighter Verse for this past week says that Christians can be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Our joy is not rooted in circumstances. God has relocated our joy in his grace, not our goods—in his mercy, not our money, in his worth, not our wealth.

If the recession can assist that relocation, it will have done the most important thing possible. Because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

4. To Guard His Glory by Advancing His Saving Mission in the World Precisely When Human Resources Are Low

We see this all over the Bible. God does his great advancing work again and again when it looks least possible for us.

He promises the heir when Abraham and Sarah are too old to have children.
He splits the Red Sea when Israel is hopelessly trapped by Pharaoh’s army.
He gives manna when there is no food in the wilderness.
He stops the Jordan River when it’s time to take the land.
When a city stands in the way, he makes the walls fall down.
When the Midianites were as many as the sand of the sea, God whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 so God would get the glory for the victory.
When Goliath defies the armies of the Lord, God sends a boy with a sling and five stones.
When the Son of God is to come into the world, God calls a virgin to conceive.
And when the mighty devil himself is to be defeated, a Lamb goes to the slaughter.
And here in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, when God wants to raise money for the poor in Jerusalem, he uses afflicted, poverty-stricken Macedonians and fills them with joy because of his grace.

So that’s the context for Finish the Million by March. In only four weeks, in the hardest financial times in decades, on top of a 9.2 million-dollar church budget, with thousands of givers who never attend the North Campus, all of Bethlehem (on every campus) will give $235,000 to meet the million-dollar goal to pull the trigger on finishing the North Campus.

But vastly more important than that is where your treasure is—where your heart is. Are you like the Macedonians whose joy—in times of “recession”—was invincible because it was rooted in the grace of God? May God open our eyes to glory of his grace. When he does, the last purpose for the recession that I will mention will come true.

5. To Bring His Church to Care for Her Hurting Members and Grow in Love

Buildings exist for people, not the other way around. May no effort to build ever keep us from caring for Christ’s followers. Acts 4:34 describes the early church: “There was not a needy person among them.” This is what the church does. Every member will have his needs met. God will test us to see if we are a church or a club.

May the Lord grant us “Macedonian grace” to “finish the million” and care for each other.”

Here is the Desiring God Link; http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/3566_What_Is_the_Recession_For/

Are you an insider or an outsider or both

At our Missional Theology training class last Sunday we talked about the differences between being a cultural insider or a cultural outsider from a missional point of view, and how determining that for yourself and for your MC group helps you understand what it means for you to be a missionary through that MC group. As an insider, you are more intuitive about your local culture and so you will be able to identify the barriers that prevent people from accessing the Gospel. In fact, traditional church (buildings, denominations, structures, titles) can actually be a hindrance to accessing the Gospel. So a cultural insider missionary should be able to figure out how to best connect the people in your context to the Gospel message.

If you are an outsider, which is more of a common way foreign missionaries work, you won’t be so intuitive or clued in regarding the cultural context your MC is situated in. So you need to spend some time learning about the culture. However, as a transformed believer you have taken on a biblical worldview and so you bring a third party perspective to the situation. All cultures also need outsiders who can point out things that insiders may not be aware of, and in that way they bring a new perspective on things. That is like a pastor from India preaching to Americans or Mike Gunn teaching pastors in the Congo. God sends outsider messengers, too.

Either way, it helps to know what role you play in your Missional community so you know how to view yourself in that context, and then from that figure out how you are going to communicate the Gospel, often by removing barriers to the Gospel.

Gilles Gravelle

Better Than Heaven and Worse Than Hell

Better Than Heaven and Worse Than Hell

Here is a riddle for you: What is the only thing better than heaven and worse than hell?
Jesus said

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust1 destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

I want to emphasize the second part of this command. In my opinion our culture might tend toward stopping half way through or not understanding the admonishment here. We love to store up treasures here, and we don’t really believe in heaven anyways. We could hear Jesus the proverbial poor mystic railing against our standard of living. Or see the revolutionary Jesus with a beret and machine gun inciting a revolution against the bourgeoisie. Or we could just skip over the impact of this teaching which takes aim at the heart of our cultures preoccupation with self-sufficiencey and the implicit materialistic caste system that worships the almighty dollar. Jesus was poor, he didn’t know what he was talking about anyways, he was just a provincial bumpkin wandering around an uncivilized time in history when men were barely able to walk and chew gum. Actually they hadn’t even invented gum yet that is how stupid they were! We on the otherhand have thousands of different flavors of gum and smartphones. But my heart responds to Jesus, “What’s in it for me?” Treasure in heaven is good but I’ll take mine now. Honestly, we sound like our children complaining about not being able to eat cake at every meal.
I think I hear another voice whispering to me, “Did God actually say don’t store up any treasures?”; “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” No that is not what God said at all Jesus is actually helping us kind of like an inside trader would do but this is completely legal, because he is telling everyone. Inside traders get in trouble because they have information about the companies which is not available to the general public and they buy and sell stock in these companies based on that inside information. Jesus took out an add in the most widely publicized and translated book ever published to warn us not to put stock in this world. Read the passage carefully though because he is not saying stop storing up treasures, he is saying don’t store them in this failing system which is not secure at all. He is saying store up treasures in heaven. Here is why it is important to study escatology, or the last things. In my head when I think of heaven, an insidious cartoon image of a guy in a white robe with a little harp sitting on a cloud flashes into my mind before I can blink. This is not an article concerning escatology and what you should believe, just an encouragement to study it so that the reality of what Jesus is teaching here has a firmer foothold in your imagination than a simplistic cultural characterization of a homogenous heaven. Please don’t run out and buy a plane ticket to the Mount of Olives or just go and get the latest pop escatology book or movie, I think most of that stuff should be left behind. A good place to start is in Mathew 24 and 25. All of these parables in Mat 25 are illuminated by Mat 24. It seems that Jesus wants our understanding of the future to focus our thoughts on the present. Jesus is commanding us not to store up treasure here but to use it for it’s purpose, namely his kingdom. This scripture is teaching us about what our finances look like when our heart set on Christ, however I think there is another aspect here that we miss because money is such a huge issue for us.
One of my favorite analogies here is from CS Lewis. He talks about a little boy being told that when people grow up they like sex better than chocolate. And he asks if they eat chocolate while they have sex. When he is told no these people have other things on their minds at the time, he thinks that sex means no chocolate. He knows what chocolate is but not sex and so thinks that it is impossible to look forward to going without chocolate. “We are in the same position. We know the sexual life; we do not know, except in glimpses, the other thing which, in Heaven, will leave no room for it. Hence where fulness awaits us we anticipate fasting.” CS Lewis. We don’t know what treasures in Heaven look like or what is the return rate? Does God have matching funds? Won’t we have anything to show for all our hard work? The answer to that last question is yes, in a way.
So what would be a treasure in paradise? Did Adam and Eve need anything? Do you think they would have been excited to find a treasure chest full of gold? No, but Adam was sure excited when God created Eve. Think of all the people you have known in Christ over the years and the prospect of seeing them again. Won’t it be awesome to sit down with relatives or beloved friends and mentors who God used to lead us to himself? I also look forward to seeing Noah and Moses, and just seeing the Blue Ray of “the crossing of the red sea”, starring Moses as Moses. But the relationship the person who I most look forward to seeing is Jesus. That relationship is more valuable to me than all the treasures of earth. That is a real treasure. How much would a man give for his life? All his possesions. So how much is eternal life worth? The gift we have been given freely is relationship with Christ. The one who has always been with us authoring and perfecting our faith and trust in him. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3. Growing up in the church I always heard people say, “You can’t take it with you.” In reflecting on that I realized there is something you can take with you into heaven, something that won’t be burned up; Relationships. All the people we interact with and love in Christ. All the people who could potentially hear the gospel from God through us, all the people who have gone before us in Christ, and most importantly Christ himself.
I wonder how shocking death, the transition, from mortal life to eternal life will be. Will our transition be like greeting our oldest and best friend who we truly love and long to see, or will it be a shocking introduction to someone we barely know? I hope it will be like finally coming home, to the home we have always missed and never been to, the place our heart is restless to see although can’t fully imagine. To have all our tears wiped away, no more mourning, crying or pain. To meet up with our faithful and loving Lord whom we have served and hear him say,”Well done good and faithful servant.” Now that is a treasure worth waiting for, worth working for and it is freely given to us by grace through faith. “ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:7-8
That we would be able to see the surpassing worth of knowing Christ with such clarity is my prayer. To treasure relationship with Christ like that enables us to see him in his body, the Church, and treasure the relationships we have in Christ. To be able to love one another and demonstrate that we are his disciples is to be storing up treasures in heaven.
In answer to my riddle, what is the only thing better than heaven and worse than hell?
Taking somebody with you.

Let us know what you think.

Harambee = Renton?

Harambee (the building) is located in Renton, but Harambee (the people) is located throughout the South Puget Sound area (Rainier Valley, Maple Valley, Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, SeaTac, Burien, Tukwila, White Center, etc.), and our mission extends beyond that. Our mission is to know, worship, enjoy and join God on His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever (all in that order, of course). It is the desire and goal of the Elders, to equip and lead the body in this, that we would be worshipping, joyous missionaries in our contexts, where we are the church vs. simply going to church. So, we gather corporately each week as Jesus’ body to celebrate Him and His work, and to be equipped, then scatter as His missionaries throughout the week.

Yet we know that there’s still a tension with people feeling like the real ministry/mission happens at Harambee (the building) through our missional endeavors we have during the week (i.e. The Hall afterschool program, The Refuge homeless ministry, Harambee Venue, etc). As a result, the farther people live from downtown Renton, the more they tend to feel disconnected, both geographically (i.e. commuting to/from Renton) and contextually/culturally (as much of our work in Downtown Renton is more of an inner city context that may be quite different from the suburban contexts that many of is live in or are familiar with).

This is the beauty of missional communities (MC’s), in which we gather during the week to love Jesus, each other, and our neighbor: they take into account the significance of proximity. Through them, we hope to release people to engage the contexts they are a part of (live, work, play, etc). vs. leaving them to drive to Renton to be part of a program here. So, just as we have a vision for Harambee (the building) to be a “3rd Place” center for community development, so we hope to see our MC’s develop a vision for how they can engage the communities/contexts they live in. And, as we continue to join with Soma in our vision for MC’s, our prayer is that we see them spread and multiply throughout the region so that it becomes saturated with communities formed around the gospel.

As for the missional endeavors that take place throughout the week at Harambee, our prayer is that missional communities will form around these endeavors by people who feel called to the mission field of downtown Renton. This means that for some of us, we may need to pray about relocating to be a part of the mission He has called us to. As Pastor Aaron hit on this past Sunday in His farewell sermon, obedience to the call isn’t just for church planters, it’s for all of us. Why? Because we love Jesus, who gave himself up for us so that we might die to ourselves and live for Him.

Pastor Bryan

Get As Much As You Can!!

Well here we are, Christmas season; ‘tis the season to spend money! Bah, humbug! This is the time of year that many churches remind us that the reason for the season is giving, and particularly the most incredible gift of all; Jesus Christ to all of humanity.

That said, and even acknowledged by most Christians, spending, shopping and parties seem to dominate our thinking. It’s interesting in this “Down” economic time, I keep hearing that it may be disastrous to our economy if people don’t get out and spend. Weird, our economy is at its best when people spend and get themselves into debt?? Huh? Doesn’t seem right

Even though most churches and Christians would agree with me that Jesus really is the “Reason for the season,” we just can’t seem to remain consistent with that thought.

In a new book that I have been reading by Michael Horton (Christless Christianity; get out spend your money on it now, it’s a good read!!) he makes an interesting point;

“I don’t think we realize that extent of our schizophrenia: annually decrying the commercialization of Christmas by the culture while we assume a consumer-product-sales approach in our churches every week…” (pg. 23).

I find that to be all too true. Consuming stuff has, well, consumed us. We are saddened when can’t have the things that it appears is our right to have, even when obtaining that same said product doesn’t usually make us that much happier when we obtain it. Loosely paraphrasing Tyler Durden, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy stuff we don’t need.”

Stuff no doubt has a place in our functional lives, but I pray in 2009, Jesus has a larger place as the source of our joy and happiness, and I pray we go all out to gain that in our lives!!

Have a very Merry CHRISTmas this spending season!!

St Francis vs George Orwell

So, I was watching one of those reality TV shows which has a panel of Judges who comment on the performers abilities. The Judges of course are some sort of celebrity in their fields and therefore authorities in what they do. What hit me as I watched this show, I think it was dancing, or dancing and singing, I can’t remember, anyway the judges comments or method of commenting captivated me. One of them seemed to be visibly touched by the performance and attempted to express their awe. As they formulated their praise, relating the talent they perceived and the impact of the artistic expression, they stammered at a loss for words. Like a car running out of gas, engine sputtering, stalling, almost continuing, and then lurching to a halt. This caught my attention but held it when the scene repeated each time with the same judge and the same lack of expression. This professional TV star, unable to find the words to express themselves, nodded, shifted in their chair, sat forward and with outstretched arm, grunted. I guess it could be construed as a satisfied groan like when your mouth is full of the most delicious chocolate delicacy, you cannot speak with a mouth full but, at that moment of chocolaty flavor epiphany must express yourself…mmmm…mmmmm, is all that comes out. This groan preceded a restatement of the fourteen or fifteen words this expert had at their disposal, in different order. I think it could be described as Dr. Suess spoken word. I sat entranced by this minimalist poet. My mind began to wander a bit to the idea of vocabulary and thoughts. I have to admit, if you haven’t already gathered from my writing, I am a shabby wordsmith compared to some.
I remembered one of my all-time favorite books 1984, George Orwell, please read it. If you don’t have time because there are too many reality TV shows on then just read the appendix on “Newspeak.”(http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four/Appendix_-_The_Principles_of_Newspeak) If you don’t have time to even read that because your DVR is broken and you’ll have to spend extra time watching TV in real-time (Yikes!) I will try and express the main point. I sit nodding, shifting in my chair, and beginning to lean forward, formulating a guttural affirmation which when combined with my hand pounding my chest will communicate everything, but you will have to go to youtube for that one. In the meantime, George Orwell writes about a future totalitarian state, where things like banks, mortgage lenders, and automobile manufacturers are all owned by a central government. Everyone has large viewing screens in their houses connected to each other in a huge sort of network. I know, I know he was writing in the 1940’s. What a kook…wait a minute. Anyways the totalitarian state needs to control everything including thoughts. They are attempting to control thought by revising, or should I say dumbing down, the English language. The improved version of English is called “Newspeak.” To quote the appendix, “Newspeak was designed not to extend but to DIMINISH the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.” There is more to it than just that but my point is, are we collectively contributing to the shaping of our own “Newspeak” through apathy and laziness of thought? Not only in our society as a whole but we in the Church? Are we able to express the magnificent glory of God? The Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation? Or do we allow ourselves to cough out fragmentary biblical words into the vacuum of our post-everything society, which is desperately lost? Of course the devotees of St Francis will chime in at this point and say, “I always preach the Gospel [with my life], and use words when necessary.” I say, eloquently put. Can you communicate that without words?
It is like my friend, a well meaning short term missionary, trying to give an exhortation to a Church in the Ecuadorean jungle. We sat, sweating under the tin roof church on home made benches. Roger, name not changed because he is totally guilty but wouldn’t mind me sharing his story in the interest of fighting totalitarian theological illiteracy, gets up to share with his 4 months of Spanish language study and begins to tell everyone how much he appreciates them. He wants to share how awesome God is and is sort of free-styling. Bad idea in a language you are barely able to speak. He says God is “muy” which roughly translated means very, and pauses. Silence, then muy. More silence, Roger’s mind is racing I can see it, the car is sputtering, running out of gas. He begins to wave his hand in a circle, pausing as if to speak, saying muy, and then repeating. Muy is slowly repeated about 11 times and followed by “bien,” good. Translation: God is very, very, very, very, very,very, very, very, very, very,very good. The Brothers were gracious to us and didn’t even crack a smile. I translate that sentence to illustrate what I am ranting about, can we do better in our own language with the people we are interacting with? Can we speak their language well enough? But more importantly do we know Christ? Can we proclaim the Gospel to their situation with more that Christian Newspeak? “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15

John

Chuck Smith was right, or was he?

Pastor Chuck Smith was right after all!
It’s finally happening! In the 70’s the pastor of my church (Pastor Chuck) talked and wrote about how the book of Revelation revealed, among other things, that a world government would arise within the next 50 years, and that followed by the Anti-Christ. Most writers at that time believed that the European Union would model this new world government. Today, a blogger seems to think the time has arrived (and Now for a World Government), and the EU is indeed the model. The anti-Christ must be close behind! Who could it be? And how should this new evidence of the end times affect Christians? Should we sell everything and move to Idaho? Let’s see… in Mathew 24 Jesus says a lot about “birth pains”. All the calamites and distresses on the earth are just signs of the end. But he also said when the end comes it will be like Sodom (Lk.17). That is, people will just be going about their daily business with no warning whatsoever. So if that is the case, then the tumultuous days of 2008 really haven’t revealed much about the end. Is it just birth pains brought on by the latest generation? Paul said, “Don’t waste your time on unimportant things, because the days are evil” (my paraphrase, Eph. 5). So maybe that is what we believers are to do. Stay focused on the important things, and don’t worry about the things of this world…because as Jesus said, “I will be with you until the end.” For the new year, how about writing out a list of what the “important things” are, and focus on that for 2009.

Gilles

So, should we quit our jobs?

I went on a business trip to a conference in Orlando last month. The venue was right next to Disney, within walking distance of the “Downtown Disney” area. In case you don’t know, this is the big shopping and eating zone at Walt Disney World. More on that later.

Before heading down there, I had been thinking a lot about my role in today’s world, both as a long-term career guy, and as a part-time Pastor (Elder) at Harambee (not to mention a family man). I was a speaker at this conference, not because I am a particularly gifted speaker, but because I have a boat load of experience in my field. Maybe I could teach someone else a few things. Now this is also part of the reason I am an Elder at Harambee (Christian life experience), but what I realized is that I have specialized more in my career field and family than in Christian life, and particularly in the areas of doctrine and study of man’s discovery of God throughout history, etc. Many of the Harambee Elders are truly experts in this area, and what I finally realized is that I will likely never catch up with them!

And you know what, that’s OK. Each of the Elders has our role to play in the body of Elders, just as we all have different callings in life. And that leads me back to Downtown Disney. I was thinking, “If everything we do should be to glorify God, how does what I do for a living and the reason I am at this conference do that?” and “Look at all this Disney stuff, and the spectacular design of the shops, and the beautiful boats on the lake, and the families spoiling their kids, etc. etc. What is it all for? How does it glorify God? Are we all so lost that we waste our entire lives chasing after false rainbows?” (yes, I can get deep when I’m far from home and by myself!)

And that’s when the Lord let the pressure off. You know, he reminded me that he has created each of us very uniquely and with so many diverse talents and skills. All of the things above; my career, Disney, beautiful buildings, spectacular fireworks displays, DNA research, poetry, art, music and on and on, are all reflections of His glory, regardless of whether they were created specifically to honor him or not. God gave us all brains to think and we naturally look for ways to express the talents we have.

Those of us not in “full-time Ministry” do not need to have any misgivings about working for a living, or pursuing a creative outlet because it may not directly honor God. We have all been given different callings, and I believe that’s what life is about: Discovering those callings, gifts and talents. There is no fail, there is only learn.

-Doug

The Gospel on a global scale

There is alot of controversy and discussion around the topic of unreached people groups. Even missiologist debate on definitions and terms in describing people groups that are “unreached” or “least-reached”. Thankfully, regardless of where you stand on your perspective, the Joshua Project gives us some great statistics (admittedly NOT perfect) to help us see the progress of the gospel on a global scale:

http://www.joshuaproject.net/global-progress-scale.php

So if you just take into account the “Unreached” section of their chart, on a global scale there are 6 to 7 thousand people groups, totaling 2.5 to 3 billion people, that have less than 2% evangelicals in their midst. Remember that for more than 4,000 of these people groups, which totals over 1 billion peoples, the Joshua Project doesn’t even know if there is a single believer in their midst.

So how does this connect to the Great Commission for you? Does this even matter?

Halloween = Missional? Now That’s Scary

I realize this is a little after the fact, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the past few years, and thought I’d bring it up while it’s fresh on everyone’s minds. What should a Christian’s response be to Halloween, particularly in the context of the “missional living” world?

As a kid who grew up in the church, Halloween was seen as “Satan’s Holiday,” so the church would host a Christian alternative (aka boycott) called a “Harvest Festival” where we could invite people to join us instead of endorsing all the evil associated with Halloween by going trick or treating. There’d be pumpkins and prizes (and hay rides if it was really good), and it accomplished the goal of safely avoiding Halloween. And although we were encouraged to invite our friends, neighbors, etc., seemed like it was primarily composed of church folk, which was great for them, but didn’t seem very successful at engaging the outside world.

Now, there’s no doubt Halloween has a pretty jacked up history and purpose (as do the pagan origins of Christmas & Easter), and am not suggesting we blindly celebrate it, but since my wife and I moved into our neighborhood 5 years ago, I’ve really wondered whether attending a church alternative is the best missional approach vs. being with the people where they’re at. Let me break it down. Halloween seems to be the one time of the year where almost everyone in the neighborhood has their doors open, then seemingly closed for the rest of the year (or at least for the winter when people go into their [TV] dens for hibernation). I’ve been invited into more people’s homes and met more people in our neighborhood on Halloween than probably the rest of the year combined, despite our continual efforts to be intentional with them throughout the year (inviting them to dinner, parties, a weekly bbq we hosted at the local park, etc.). So while it saddens me that Halloween is now the crux of neighborhood hospitality, it’s seems to be the reality of the culture we’re seeking to bring transformation to. At least that’s how it is in our neighborhood.

Would love to hear your thoughts, objections, etc.

Pastor Bryan Nelson