four principles for christian unity

(if you're confused as to why there is a picture of bacon here, a) keep reading but b) why not!? :)

a few weeks back, we went through Romans 14:20-24 and looked at how to deal with your convictions and those of other believers.  i thought i'd share the principles from that passage on how to rightly hold and use your personal convictions as a Christian and how to treat another person in his convictions:

1) "all things indeed are pure."  in other words, if the Bible doesn't say something is sin, you can't universally define it as sin.  if the Bible is silent on a particular issue, or gives freedom, or doesn't set forth a specific stance, then no Christian (no matter how insightful he thinks he is) has the right to declare it as sin for all people.  there are plenty of things the Bible does say are sin, and pride is one of the most often repeated.  as soon as you take any of your personal convictions and try to force it on others, you have become a proud pharisee.  this includes areas like drinking alcohol, birth control, watching harry potter, eating bacon, playing cards, listening to secular music, using electricity (thanks amish! ... and no, i'm not worried about offending them.  they shouldn't be using the internet anyway. :), etc.

2) "whatever is not from faith is sin."  if you are personally convinced God doesn't want you to do something which the Bible is silent on, don't do it.  for you it would be sin!  the reason it would be sin is not cause the thing/action itself is wrong, but because, in as far as you are convinced, it would be disobedience to God, and that is sin.  keep your convictions.  live by them.  just don't force them on others because then you'll have a much bigger problem than eating bacon and watching harry potter. 

3) "it is good not to do anything by which your brother stumbles."  that is, if the option is between using your freedom to do what you want and serving your brother, go with the later.  we are given great freedom in Christ, not so we can do what we want, but so that in surrendering it for others, we may become more like Him.  the Cross of Jesus proves without a doubt that serving others is more important than standing on your rights.  but does that mean we have to stop drinking coffee, eating bacon, watching TV and using electricity just cause it might stumble someone?

4) "do you have faith?  have it to yourself before God."  to serve others with our freedom doesn't mean that we become as strict as they are.  it does mean that we use our freedom with discretion and readiness to surrender it for others.  the principle is not "if this might stumble someone somewhere, i shouldn't do it."  love doesn't exist in "theory", only in practice.  the principle is: "if this does stumble the person i'm with right now, then in his presence i will refrain."  use your freedom in places and ways it won't stumble others (at the least just before God... it won't stumble Him if you eat bacon. :)  does this mean we stop using freedom all together?  no.  does it mean we surrender it for the good of those who are stumbled by it?  yes.

if Christians would all apply these simple Scriptural principles, there would be a lot less petty fighting and contentions among the body of Christ. 

one disclaimer should be mentioned at this point:  if a person is attempting to set up their own convictions as law for others (which really means they are trying to set themselves up as god), we should contradict and break their convictions boldly.  if they are contradicting the will of God through their man-made convictions, we should ignore them.  Jesus often practiced this when the pharisees attempted to thwart the work and will of God by their extra-biblical convictions.  Jesus' response was to boldly contradict them and continue anyway with the work His Father was doing.

well, hope that was beneficial for someone out there.  feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

ministry is a whore

yes, you heard right.  i've been thinking lately about this idea.  it's no coincidence that the "whore of babylon" mentioned in Revelation is specifically a religious system. but why "whore"? ("and why does he keep using that awful word!?" :)   first of all, it's offensive.  and that makes it the right word.  if we had even the slightest idea how sickening and offensive it is to God when we replace relationship to Him with a system, we might see that this word is probably not vile enough. 

secondly, it paints a very accurate picture (and i'm about to get a little vivid, so be warned).  a whore is, in some twisted sense, a "wife-replacement".  that is to say, she gives the impression of intimacy without real intimacy.  she looks like she might satisfy, she goes through the motions of satisfying, but leaves only emptiness in her wake.  there is just enough similarity to distract a man from seeking true intimacy with a wife; to fool him into thinking he's got what he wants when in reality she is only drawing him further away from what he truly longs for.  this is a perfect picture of religion and, too often, of ministry.  it looks like we're serving God, while in reality we are replacing Him with our service.  it has the appearance of intimacy, but is really only a superficial act that widens the void.  it looks just enough like a relationship with God to keep us fooled, to keep us from seeking the real thing, while leaving only emptiness in our hearts.  we begin to think that maybe doing all these things is spiritual intimacy, but it is only a cheap whore. 

as we recently studied through the books of Kings in our Old Testament survey class, i was struck by an interesting detail.  after the kingdom of Israel was divided, the people almost immediately fell into idolatry (described by God through the prophets inevitably as "playing the whore").  now, in the northern kingdom, it says that Jeroboam, the first king after the division, set up two golden calves for the people to worship.  this, of course, was hearkening back to Aaron's rebellion while Moses was on Mt. Sinai when he also formed a golden calf for the people to worship.  Jeroboam made the same statement that Aaron did then: "behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."  the fascinating thing is that this was not a claim to worship another god.  it was a claim to be worshiping the true God, the God of Israel... only it wasn't Him!  it was a substitute.  later, when Jehu (the best of the northern kings) wiped out the false god Baal from the north, it says that, nevertheless, he left the golden calves.  in all the idolatry of Israel, it seems that the idol that had the strongest hold on the people was the one that was closest to the real thing.  

the interesting thing about these golden calves is that they are an appropriate picture of ministry.  the very first calf was made from the golden earrings the people offered to Aaron.  they literally made a god out of their own sacrifices.  the "calf" or bull is a work animal.  they symbolize work, productivity, etc.  and, they were much easier to worship than a God who couldn't be seen, who was apt to move His pillar of fire at a moment's notice.  they could always be measured (2 of them), and always kept where you want them.  

this is the temptation before many Christians today, especially before many ministers.  how many of us have replaced God with our service to Him?  it is a subtle trap, and therefore all the more dangerous.  we content ourselves to substitute true intimacy with the forms of intimacy: church attendance, ministry, perhaps even reading and prayer.  we have made a god of our own sacrifices and called it the God of the Bible.  ministry can so easily become that golden calf, that scarlet whore, because it looks so similar to the real thing and anyone looking on from the outside probably can't tell the difference.  but we know the difference in our hearts, because emptiness is the result.  it is the subtle replacement of Christ with Christianity. 

as a minister myself, i believe that it is vital to understand this.  if i do not constantly keep my heart in check, constantly return to true intimacy with my Savior, i will slowly allow ministry to take the place of God.  ministry provides a substitute spirituality, and usually no one else knows the difference except myself and Jesus.  i once heard a quote by C.H. Spurgeon that has stuck with me "the worst [temptation] is the temptation to ministerialism—the tendency to read our Bibles as ministers, to pray as ministers, to get into doing the whole of our religion as not ourselves personally..."  i am convinced that anyone who is enthralled with being in ministry should not be in it.  that is, if they think that ministry will somehow fulfill their longing for intimacy with God.  yes, when we remind ourselves of this ever present danger, and maintain our hearts in right relationship with Jesus, then ministry is a wonderful privilege and truly presents a unique ground for experiencing Jesus.  but without understanding the inherent danger in it, we will simply whore out our true intimacy with God until there is nothing left.

washing feet and loving others

(btw, don't you just love that Jesus is washing feet in what appears to be a german bar, complete with beer maids? :)

well, i thought i would share a little excerpt of what we talked about in today's study in Romans. it really spoke to me as i was preparing and i hope to others as we studied today. we looked at the phrase in chapter 13, "owe no one anything except to love one another". the word "owe" in the original greek is most frequently used of financial debt. it implies an obligation. (i'm tempted to start a rant on how Christians often ignore this and are as apt to live in financial debt as the next shmuck, but i'll restrain myself. :) the thing is, Paul says there is one thing we are obligated, indebted to give, and that's love to one another.

Jesus also uses this word in a very unique way at one point (most times he uses it in the financial sense, too). in Jn. 13, right after He humbled Himself to do the menial task of washing the disciples' feet, wiping them with the towel wrapped around His waist, He says to them, "You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought (are obligated) to wash one another's feet." now, we get that it's a good example and all, but why exactly does Jesus choosing to humbly serve these disciples obligate them and us to do likewise?

Jesus Himself gives the answer in emphasizing His role as "Teacher and Lord". the ancient, eastern culture that Jesus lived in was an "honor culture". if a person was in a position of honor, there was certain protocol. for example, if a king were to kneel before someone else in the presence of his subjects, the subjects would also immediately kneel before that person (i'm sure we even recognize this from a number of movies.) if a rabbi, a "teacher", were to humble himself through fasting, it was expected that his disciples would do the same. if a slave were to see his master, his "lord", begin to do some menial task, he would without hesitation come along and take over that work. the subjects/disciples/slaves were never to position themselves above their master (Jesus Himself states this in Mt. 10). if their superior were to humble himself in a given way and they did not, it was tantamount to saying "i am above my master/teacher/king", which in reality is a rejection of his position as lord. therefore, Jesus says, "if I, as your Lord and Teacher, have done this, you have a direct obligation to Me to humble yourself and serve in the same way, thus honoring Me."

this is vitally important to grasp in living out the Gospel. we often think of our love and service to others as what we give to them. Jesus completely contradicts this understanding. the fact is, our love and service to others does not tell primarily what we think of them, but what we think of Christ! our attitude towards another person, as disciples and servants of Jesus, reflects foremost our evaluation of Him, not of that person. to use the the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together, "among Christians there are no direct relationships. all relationship exists in and through Christ... any direct relationship is ultimately sinful." that is, as Christians, each one of our human relationships is mediated by and reflects upon our relationship with Jesus first and foremost. this is why we have a debt, an obligation to love one another, because it is a question of honoring or insulting our Lord. when we refuse to love and serve another person, we are essentially saying, "Jesus, i know you think he/she is worth dying for, worth Your life, but they aren't worth mine." in this way we are boasting against, insulting our Lord and, in some sense, denying His relationship to us as Sovereign.

the reason we do such a crappy job of loving and serving people so often is in part because we have failed to realize this truth. we attempt to love a person for his own sake, and of course fail when we realize that he is not capable of sustaining our effort to love him/her. we put that pressure on him and ultimately crush him with it. this is why Bonhoeffer said that all "direct" relationships are ultimately sinful (and as sin always is, ultimately destructive). relationship to someone who is unworthy can only be sustained and empowered if it is mediated by One who has the resources to command and inspire our love on His behalf. and since there is only One who is worthy, all relationships must exist "through Christ". to attempt to create or maintain relationship directly is to ensure our failure in this endeavor and to crush the recipient of our "love" under a burden he cannot bear.

it is this understanding that led John, who recorded the footwashing scene, to later write in his 1st epistle "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." in other words, if a person thinks he loves God but is holding hatred, refusing to love his brother, he is lying to himself! the truth is that how we treat our brother has much more to do with Jesus than it does with our brother. in a very real sense, based on Jesus' position as Lord and His humble love, if we do not love our brother, we are not loving God. Jesus said that the 1st commandment was to love God with all your being and the second like it; to love your neighbor as yourself. as it turns out, the 2nd is so much like the 1st that we could really say they are the same commandment. loving our brother is not optional to loving God, nor even secondary to loving God. it is the same thing from a different angle. there is really only one commandment: love.

McNazis, Religion and the Gospel

well, i figured i'd write about my latest adventure in a string of very unusual spiritual attacks. i was invited to teach at a men's conference for calvary chapel of kiev this weekend. i headed up to kiev on friday and as i was leaving mcdonald's, a guy, mid-twenties, rather "aryan" looking, stares at me and asks me if i've ever read mein kampf (hitler's autobiography and ideological treatise). i was shocked by the question and didn't even know what to say. he proceeded to call me a "friggin' jew" and pushed me a few times. i'm pretty sure he was on some kind of drugs. i tried to explain to him that i'm not jewish (though i do look it and would be completely proud to be jewish). he didn't listen and began to punch and kick me. i was able to block most of his swings, though he left a few good bruises on my legs from kicking. i yelled to the manager to call the police. this is all happening in the middle of a very crowded mcdonald's.... and NO ONE even stood up to help. for all their tough-guy facade, men here are generally pretty cowardly. the police arrived in a few minutes and put him in their car to take to the station.

now, besides the obvious warfare right before the conference (which actually encouraged me because it made me even more sure that God wanted to do something important there if satan was going to such lengths to stop it), there was another very interesting aspect to this event. tomorrow we will be in Rom 12:13 and discussing the phrase "given to hospitality". the word "hospitality" here in greek is "philoxenia". it is basically the opposite of "xenophobia": a fear or hatred of strangers/foreigners. interesting timing for my first ever xenophobic attack.

but the idea of "philoxenia", friendship or love of strangers/foreigners, is much wider than race. the phrase in verse 13 literally translates to "pursue, chase after friendship with those who don't belong, who are outcasts and rejected". what it got me thinking about was how so often this is the last thing people would describe christians as. in fact, it is sadly "christians" (who often for some reason that i cannot comprehend feel that fox news is on nearly the same level of spiritual authority as the Bible) who demonstrate a dislike and even disgust of people who do not fall into their club; democrats, illegal immigrants, muslims, homosexuals and the like. sure, they would not likely take to violence, but there is a certain animosity that nevertheless some "christians" hold against those who don't belong. sadly i've heard too many rants against illegal immigrants, homosexuals, democrats, and others perceived as somehow doing damage to "traditional society" coming from the "christian" pulpit.

the reason i keep using the word "christian" in quotation marks is because people who hold this xenophobic attitude (in more than the racial sense) have really very little that is Christ-like about them. the fact is that christians who avoid or even disdain those who are other than themselves, christians who do not pursue the outcasts of society/culture have really forgotten the Gospel (and may not be more than culturally christian or just religious in the first place). in the epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 2 Paul says that we were once aliens and foreigners (xenos) to the promises of God and without hope in the world. but because God is full of "philoxenia", He pursued us and brought us into His family, made us part of His kingdom. He did not shun us in high-minded disdain, but came to earth, became one of us, and humbled Himself on the Cross that we might be brought near by His precious blood. therefore, if the Gospel means that we have received this love of God as outcasts, it only follows that we would pass this along. a "christian" who is high-minded and hateful towards those who do not fit into his understanding of the world have forgotten that they are no less "alien" by nature than the one they now disdain. the Gospel must necessarily produce in us the same kind of "philoxenia" that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ, otherwise there is reason to question if we have experienced the Gospel at all and instead are merely religious.

[disclaimer: the image at the top of this article is a not a production of the national socialist german worker's (nazi) party nor of the mcdonald's corporation, neither is it meant to imply that ronald or any of his friends is a fascist (except for possibly the hamburgler) or for that matter that adolf would have clogged his aryan arteries with bigmacs. it is merely meant to illustrate my experience on friday... so now i can't get sued. :) ]

on humility in criticism

just read a great blog post by tim keller of redeemer presbyterian church on our attitude in criticism and debating theology. check it out:

How Do You Take Criticism of Your Views?

ukrainian road repair

i was driving up to kiev last weekend and thought i'd give everyone an understanding of how ukraine deals with road problems (very similar approach for many other problems):

rather than fixing the road, they just put up signs that let you know, "for the next 3 km, this is gonna suck." well, at least they're not pretending that these road conditions are acceptable and warning you about it. ah, ukraine, you never cease to amaze. :)

Ukraine: A Democracy at Risk

i just read this article from the widow of murdered ukrainian journalist, gregory gongadze. it pretty well sums up the steep, downhill ride that ukrainian democracy has taken since the orange revolution in late 2004/early 2005 and the resulting mindset of many ukrainians as they head to the polls this january. very sad, but unfortunately true. if you're interested in where ukraine is at or is heading as a country, i'd recommend it:

Ukraine: A Democracy at Risk

abby's jokes

lena is praying with abby tonight in russian and she finishes and says "Аминь" (a-meen')....

abby: "mama says 'a-meen'?
lena: "yes."
abby: "papa says 'amen'."
lena: "yes, papa says in english 'amen' and mama says in russian 'a-meen'."
abby: "oh.... abby says "oh, man!" like in cartoon (dora). "swiper, no swiping... oh, man! hahaha!"

things i missed about ukraine in the states and things i miss about america here

things i missed about ukraine while in the states:

1. real food: unless you are going to a farmer's market in the states (and paying thrice the standard price) food is tasteless, especially the meat. like a wet sponge.
2. fellowship in church: i don't know if its just part of the american culture or what, but it seemed in every church we were in, that as soon as the service ends, at least 80% of the people rushed for the doors. another 15% were gone within 5-10 minutes. maybe it didn't help that we were in indiana and the colts were playing almost every week. :) here in ukraine we hang out and fellowship after service for sometimes up to an hour.
3. toilet paper: yes, that's right, i like the brown ukrainian toilet paper. its just so darn sturdy!
4. the medical system: allow me to clarify. the kids got on medicaid this time, but lena and i got turned down. when i went to the pharmacy to get a prescription filled, i was told the medicine cost $120! i passed and upon returning to ukraine found the same medicine for like $8. so ridiculous! they should destroy the whole medical funding system and start from scratch (with a completely universal system).

things i miss about america here:
1. good coffee: not that it doesn't exist in ukraine, but is very rare and usually cost more than the bux in the states.
2. cheap technology/clothes: yes, both of these things cost MORE here than in america. fortunately they are things you can stock up on once every 2-3 years.
3. wi-fi everywhere: gotta love that. here its mostly only at mcdonald's.
4. the medical system: it may be expensive as all get out, but at least they are all about quality care.
5. customer service: a concept largely lacking in ukraine. the best example in america during this trip i can think of this was the apple store. i brought my macbook in that i had for 2.5 yrs. and had just about every part on it possible replaced (under warranty so it was free). but when i brought it in for another repair this time, i told the manager about all the problems i've had with it (very unusual for macs, btw). i was hoping to get a free battery out of the deal or something. he goes away and comes back and says "we're gonna give you a new macbook". sweet! way to take care of your customers, mr. jobs! i was already hooked on macs even with the hardware problems, but they have just won a very satisfied life-customer.

cc svitlovodsk video

so i've been meaning to post this video on here for a while. oddly, we have better and more consistent internet connection here in ukraine than we did in the states. this is a video i put together with pictures of people and events in our church as well as interviews with people to let them share how Jesus has worked in their lives since coming to calvary chapel svitlovodsk. the interviews are subtitled in english. enjoy and pray for us!

in addition, be sure to check out our church's website and podcast.