Nike and the spirit of this age

Nike’s new ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick has proven quite controversial. The mere fact that Kaepernick is the face of the campaign has been enough for some people to claim they will boycott Nike. Others have proudly posted pictures of themselves wearing Nike shoes in solidarity with both Nike and Kaepernick. I just read that Tiger Woods called the Kaepernick ad “a beautiful spot.”

So what should we think of the Nike commercial? Specially, how should Christians respond to the Nike ad?

My basic problem with the commercial is that Nike and its recent ad campaign represent the spirit of this age. What is the spirit of this age? It is a self-exalting, self-glorifying ideology that you are your own god and the master of your own universe. There is nothing that you cannot accomplish. The god of this age is the self. And we find this god exalted throughout Nike’s ad campaigns. Whether they are telling you to “find your greatness” or that you are “unlimited,” they are preaching to you the god of self. Christians must recognize this as idolatry.

Even the religious language Nike uses should stand out. This language mimics the language of the Bible. The ad talks about “non-believers.” These “non-believers” might call your dreams crazy, but when they do so, they are really complimenting you for dreaming so big. But what do these “non-believers” not believe in? They don’t believe in you and your dreams. They don’t believe in the greatness within you.

The tag-line of the commercial also uses very religious language. “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” Some have changed this to “Believe in God. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” But this one-word change shows that the content of our belief, or as we might say the object of our faith, matters. What are we believing in? What are we trusting in? Nike’s answer to this question is two-fold. In one sense, it doesn’t really matter. Just believe in something. There is no objective standard by which we can determine what each person should believe. So just believe. But really, Nike’s more persistent answer is that you should believe in you and what you can do. Believe in yourself and the greatness within you.

To be clear, Nike is preaching a hopeless message. There is no hope in believing in yourself. There is no hope in finding the greatness within you. Nike is setting people up for disappointment because they are encouraging people to worship and exalt themselves, a false god if there even was one. If we know anything about ourselves, we ought to know that we will let ourselves down. We will make mistakes. We will fall short. So to worship at the alter of me is a recipe for disaster on so many levels.

So is there something wrong with Nike’s new ad campaign? Sure. But there has been something wrong with Nike’s ad campaigns all along. They have been preaching a false religion with a false god of self for some time now. They are preaching the religion of you and your greatness. And they do this because they are representatives of the spirit of the age in which we live. They may say they are only trying to sell shoes, but they are also trying to sell us on a philosophy. And they hope we will buy into this philosophy by buying their shoes. In the same way that the prosperity preacher appeals to someone’s love of money to try to get them to hand over their money to the preacher, Nike is appealing to our love of ourselves in an attempt to get us to hand over our money to them.

So why does any of this matter for Christians? Should we really expect anything different from Nike? I don’t see why we should. For those intent on boycotting, we can come up with many other reasons to boycott Nike. In years past we were told to stop buying Nikes because of their use of sweatshops. I stopped buying Nike shoes over 2 decades ago because their high arches didn’t work well with my flat feet.

So how will I respond to this Nike commercial? I am far less concerned about who delivered the message than the message that was delivered. I am not going to burn the Nike shoes I just bought my kids a few weeks ago. And I will not worry about buying Nike shoes for them the next go round, if for no other reason that I am not sure that New Balance or Reebok or any other shoe company will offer a better message. But I will seek to guard my kids against the dangerous idolatry of self and the self-exaltation that is so prevalent in our culture and in Nike’s ads. And I will continue to pray that they turn away from self and to Christ crucified and raised from the dead.

The God of self offers us no hope. The only hope we have is to be found in that while we loved ourselves and worshipped ourselves, a mockery of the creator of the universe if there ever was one, that Christ died for ungodly idolators like me. So while Nike’s commercial may expose the hopeless idolatries of our age, Christians have the chance to proclaim the only place true hope can be found. As the song says, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame” (even if that frame is my own) “but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (ESV)

False teachers or teachers with false motives?

Christians today must be discerning enough to tell the difference between false teachers, those who are proclaiming a false gospel, and teachers who are teaching the truth but with false motives. Biblically, our response to these two groups should be drastically different.

In Philippians 1:15-18 Paul addressed a group of Christians who were preaching Christ out of selfish ambition or rivalry. These Christians actually meant to cause Paul anxiety in his imprisonment through their preaching. These were people who preached the truth, but they preached the truth with false motives. While Paul does not address exactly how this group was seeking to cause him trouble, Paul does make his response to this group clear. Paul rejoiced that no matter their motives, Christ was being proclaimed.

Paul’s attitude in Philippians stands in stark contrast to his attitude in Galatians. In Galatians, Paul was not dealing with people preaching the truth from false motives, but he was dealing with people preaching a false gospel. So instead of rejoicing, Paul warned the Galatians not to turn to this false gospel no matter who preached it to them. In fact, Paul called for a curse to be on those who proclaimed this false gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).

We see in these books two drastically different attitudes from Paul, and the difference in these attitudes, from rejoicing to cursing, was the content of what was being proclaimed. When the truth was being proclaimed, Paul rejoiced, even when people preached that truth with false motives, and even when their goal was to cause him trouble. Paul rejoiced because he knew of the power of the gospel to save. But when a false gospel was being proclaimed, far from rejoicing, Paul called believers to reject this false teaching and to stand against those who were teaching it.

Christians today need to be able to tell the difference between false teachers and teachers with false motives so that we can respond to each situation biblically. Is a certain teaching, or a certain church, or a certain pastor, to be called out, shunned, and rejected? Or are we called to rejoice that the gospel is being proclaimed, despite false motives and even though these teachers might even cause us grief or trouble? In essence, we must be prepared to discern the difference between false teaching and true teaching with false motives.

How do we know the difference? I think three questions can help us navigate whether someone is teaching a false gospel or the true gospel: what is the problem they present, what is the solution to the problem, and how do they say that the problem is solved?

What is the problem?

The basic plight of humanity is that we are sinful people before a holy God. God is holy, and we are not. As a result, we are worthy of the judgment and just wrath of God because of our sins.

What is the solution?

The solution to the problem of sinful people before a holy God is Jesus Christ. Christ’s death as the sinless sacrifice for sinners and his resurrection to new life are the only hope for sinful people.

How is the problem solved?

Sinful people are made right with a holy God through repentance from sins and faith in the work of Christ on their behalf.

Much more could be said about each of these questions. What is sin? How is sin defined? What is repentance and faith? How do we know this to be true? What is our source of authority for making these claims?

But even this cursory glance shows how some of these questions can be answered wrongly in a very subtle way. To give just one example, some deny the judgment of a holy God. They still talk about sin, but they claim that the real problem with sin is not that it brings people under the judgment of God, but sin just keeps us from living our best life. Sin messes up life in this earth and leads to trouble in this life. So people need to turn from their sin, not because they face the judgment of God, but because it will help them live a better life.

This so distorts the broader picture of the gospel that it calls people to call to God for selfish reasons. Come to God to get a better life, as opposed to come to God for forgiveness and a new life in Christ. Distorting the problem of sin leads to the proclamation of a false gospel that is powerless to save but simply appeals to people’s sinful, selfish desires.

Christians today need to be as discerning as ever. Many preach the true gospel with false motives. And while we should not hold these people up as examples to be followed, we should rejoice that the powerful gospel message is being proclaimed. But many are distorting the gospel and preaching a false message that has no power to save. As Christians, we must be wise enough to discern the difference.

What we do and why we do it

When my wife and I bought our minivan about 6 years ago, I discovered that with just the touch of a button, the rear passenger doors would come sliding open. Early on, I loved walking up to the van, hitting the button, and watching the doors slide open so the kids could jump in. Such luxury!

Fast forward to this week, and our family is cruising around town in a brand-new, 2017 minivan. It’s not our van, but we are driving a rental while our van is in the shop. This van’s doors also open with just the touch of a button, but the newer model has seat warmers, a backup camera, and now the van itself starts with just the touch of a button. Suddenly our old van doesn’t seem so impressive. Soon I was wondering how much the payment on a vehicle like this would be.

Our passage for study last Sunday night included 1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these” (HCSB). As we talked about these verses, I was struck by how much we focus on the what instead of the why when it comes to material goods.

If we only focus on the what, like the new car, we will be prone to assess people based on the material goods they own. We will find the person who has a newer car than ours, and we will wonder why they don’t love Jesus like we do. After all, they are not suffering for Jesus like we are in our late model vehicles. Clearly they have succumbed to the love of worldly things. However, we will rarely turn this assessment on its head and think about those who have older cars than ours. There has to be some limit to this kind of analysis, some year at which all cars become spiritually neutral. And that limit, as it turns out, is probably about the year our car was made.

So to answer the what question rightly, should we buy a new car, we can’t just ask what, but we must also ask why. Why are we buying the car? If our family had gone out immediately and bought a new van, we would have done so because we were discontent with what we had. It was not that our van stopped working or became insufficient for our needs, but we would have made the purchase because we were lacking in godly contentment. Upon seeing what we didn’t have, we would have grown discontent with what we did have. And so the what, the buying of the car, would have been a sin because of the why, discontentment. This is not to say that the act of purchasing a new car is sinful. After all, our van will not work forever. The day will come when we will move on from it and purchase another vehicle. The problem with the what would have been found in the why.

But I think there is one more confusion that might plague us when making these kinds of decisions. We might now think that it is always the why that matters and not the what, as though it doesn’t really matter what we do, only why we do it. But we must be reminded that it is not really the what or the why that inherently matters. What matters is obedience to God. What matters is what God has said. And sometimes God’s Word addresses the what, and sometimes it addresses the why. If you get drunk, you have sinned (Ephesians 5:19). There is no reason you can come up with to make the act anything but sinful. You are not getting drunk to better minister to drunks. You are breaking God’s command.

But when it comes to purchasing a new car, taking a better paying job, or many other decisions that we must make from time to time, God has not given us commands concerning the what in many of these instances. So we must ask if God has addressed the why. Why are we buying the car? Why are we taking the job? Often we think that the Bible does not address so many of the questions that we might ask, like what job to take. But this is because we are looking only for commands related to the what of our lives, not the why.

I see this clearly demonstrated in our kids. Sometimes they get the what right while missing horribly on the why. Pouting and muttering while they clean their rooms might check the what box, clean your room, but it misses the why by a mile, obey your parents as you would the Lord and honor your father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-2). So even in cleaning their rooms, they might sin in how they do it. And on the other hand, sometimes they think they can negate the what because of their creative whys. I know you told me not to do this, but let me explain.…

As children of our heavenly Father, we are also called to obedience, both in what He has called us to do, and how He has called us to do it. So as we consider all the decisions that we have to make, let us consider first what God has said, both in what we do and in why we do it. Let us remember that both the what and the why matter, but they matter because God has spoken.

Which candidate is best for the church?

Millions of Americans are presently trying to decide which presidential candidate would be best for our country. Who would do the most good for America? There is, however, a more important question that Christians need to ask.

As Christians in America, we know that we are first citizens of God’s kingdom before we are citizens of America. We are Christians before we are Americans. This means that our primary allegiance is to God’s kingdom, manifested on this earth in the church. So I would argue that our first order question is not how this election will impact the country, but how it will impact the church. Asking how our vote will affect the country is not bad, it is just not a first order question.

The answer to this first order question of which presidential candidate would be best for the church is not as easy it as might seem. Many evangelicals would immediately claim that Trump would be better for the church. Trump himself is certainly trying to make that argument. Some might see this as one candidate, Clinton, who is overtly opposed to many fundamental, biblical principles. Then they would argue that Trump is at least less opposed to historic, biblical Christianity. Further, Trump would claim that he stands for the church. Therefore, they might say, Trump would be a better for the church.

But I don’t think the choice is between a candidate for the evangelical church and a candidate against the evangelical church. I do believe that if Clinton is elected, she will stand directly against a number of principles clearly taught in Scripture. Consequently I will not vote for her. But the choice is not between a candidate for the church and a candidate against the church. I think the choice is between opposition to evangelical Christianity and the promotion of cultural or carnal Christianity, neither of which is genuinely Christian. Consequently, unless I am convinced that I am wrong in that assessment, I will not vote for either candidate.

As I listen to Trump, it is clear to me that he is more interested in restoring a facade of Christianity than returning to a genuine, biblical Christianity. When trying to court the vote of pastors and church leaders, he has talked about how the government has taken away the power of these pastors, and he has promised to restore their power to them (by among other things repealing the Johnson amendment). He has clearly demonstrated that he does not understand the power or nature of the church and its leadership. He does not have a firm grasp on biblical teaching, and has shown in many ways that he stands against biblical teaching (think prohibitions of the love of money for example). When I listen to him talk to church leaders, I do not get the impression that his concern is for biblical Christianity. His concern clearly seems to be for an Americanized, politicized form of Christianity that has little to do with the Bible, and more to do with the American dream, individual rights, security, and power.

Am I saying that Trump is not a Christian. No, that’s not the point. I am not in a position to know the answer to that question. I also am not calling into question the Christianity of those who might vote for Trump. I am simply asking whether a Trump presidency would really be better for the church than a Clinton presidency. Is the promotion of carnal or cultural Christianity really better than outright opposition to Christianity?  Or to put the question another way, which is better, outright opposition to biblical truth or paying lip service to biblical truth?

Here’s what I do know. I know for a fact, because the Bible tells me so, that the church can withstand outright opposition. We also have plenty of historical data to support this claim. I also know that many Americans are enticed by a facade of Christianity that is not Christianity at all. I know the damage that cultural or carnal Christianity has caused by luring in many in our country. Cultural Christianity has been widespread in America for decades now, and we are in many ways reaping the fruits of a cultural or carnal Christianity that ought not be given the name Christian.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want either of the candidates from the two major parties to be President. But I do fully believe that the church can withstand and flourish during times of direct opposition, and even outright persecution. But is the church likely to thrive and prosper in the midst of a cultural Christianity that does little to reflect the truth of God’s Word, but instead is more concerned with security, prosperity, power, and influence? Perhaps the important point to remember here is that for the church to flourish, she must stand against government leaders both who oppose the church and who promote a cultural, carnal, so-called Christianity. So if either major party candidate is elected, it seems to me that the church will be forced to stand against him or her on a number of key issues, whether standing firm against outright opposition or hypocritical flattery.

So what does all this mean? It means that the two major party candidates both stand in many ways in opposition to biblical Christianity. So perhaps we need to be reminded that, whether in standing against outright opposition or in standing against cultural Christianity and empty religious ritual, we must place our faith and trust in King Jesus rather than in a political candidate. If we endure persecution, we must be reminded that God is faithful and we can trust in Him. And if we find ourselves surrounded by false teachers and false churches who are using the name of Christ for their own material gain, we must be reminded that God is faithful and we can trust in Him. You can find many, many people claiming that the fate of or country hangs in the balance, pending the outcome of this election. We can rejoice and be glad that the fate of the church is not dependent on the election of a worldly leader. And we can celebrate that the fate of the church is not dependent on the fate of our country, since the church is lead by an eternal King and she will outlast all the kingdoms of this world.

 

Entertained by the world?

I saw an article recently that examined whether Christians should watch the movie Deadpool. I don’t know much about Deadpool and certainly won’t be watching, but in the article, John Piper asked wether Christians should be watching movies with graphic nudity. The fact that this question is even being asked shows how little discernment many Christians have regarding what they watch. I find no biblical justification whatsoever for watching these kinds of movies, and I find many biblical reasons not to watch (Philippians 4:8, 2 Timothy 2:22, Titus 2:12-14, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Peter 1:15, Matthew 5:27-30).

My TV viewing habits have changed over the years. I have come to realize that so much of what I watched was promoting ungodliness, glorifying sin, and encouraging all manner of evil and immoral thoughts. I realize that Christians will disagree over where the line should be drawn, but here are two questions I use to try to discern what should and should not be a part of my entertainment.

1. Does this glorify sin?
2. Does this normalize sin?

It could be any manner of sin: sexual immorality, fits of rage, revenge, selfish ambition or greed, drunkeness or lewdness. Why would we watch something that glorifies sins for which Christ died. Countless movies and TV shows for decades have centered on glorifying or making light of sin. To use the example of drunkeness or intoxication, think of all the movies that treat this sin as funny, from Dude Where’s My Car? when I was younger to the Hangover movies today. The basic principle of these movies seems to be the apparent humor that can come from drunkeness and intoxication. As Christians, why would we find such immorality funny?

Movies and TV shows have so normalized sexual immorality that what is sinful has become the norm, and many Christians have continued to find this immorality entertaining. We think this is a new phenomenon, but look back a few decades. How many shows from prior years glorified and normalized sexual immorality? How many Christians cheered when Ross and Rachel finally “hooked up”? Or how many thought Jerry and Elaine’s “deal” was humorous? I know I was watching when the West Wing tried to find something noble in the fornication of a White House staffer and a call girl. I know these examples will only hit certain generations, but the larger point is that for decades now, TV and movies have been normalizing what is clearly in violation of biblical commands.

Let me give one more example to try to demonstrate the point of how much TV glorifies ungodliness. One of the shows we recently stopped watching in our house is Garfield. Our kids sometimes watch cartoons on Netflix, and I have a certain nostalgia for shows that were around when I was a kid. So why would we turn off Garfield? Listen to how Garfield is described on wikipedia: “In addition to being portrayed as lazy and fat, Garfield is also pessimistic, narcissistic, sadistic, cynical, sarcastic, sardonic, negative, and a bit obnoxious. He enjoys destroying things, mauling the mailman, tormenting Odie, and kicking Odie off the table; he also makes snide comments, usually about Jon’s inability to get a date.” And Garfield is a cartoon meant for kids.

We should not be surprised when our kids copy the immorality they see on TV when we have exposed them to so much that glorifies what the Bible clearly condemns as sin. We should not be surprised when they are fighting and belittling each other when we have put before them these activities as entertainment. When we copy, glorify, and are entertained by the patterns of the world,we should not be surprised when the results are disorder and every evil practice (James 3:14-16).

I believe that that in many ways Christians and churches have developed patterns of copying the world around us rather than living according to the truth of God’s Word, and we have often fooled ourselves into thinking that we are living more biblical than we really are. The viewing habits of many professing Christians, I think, are a clear demonstration of this truth. I do not think you can find any sound biblical justification for exposing yourself to these kinds of immorality. The only reason we do so is that we uncritically copy what the world around us is doing. The time has come for us to stop doing what everyone around us is doing, and instead to seek carefully and prayerfully the things of God. Why should we continue to entertain and amuse ourselves with what God has clearly told us is sinful? When we do this, many in the world, and some in the church, will ridicule us and call us prudes (or worse). But when this happens, will we seek the approval of the world around us, or will we seek to be holy as our God is holy?

Copying the world or living the Word?

Are we copying the world or living the Word? I am becoming convinced that many Christians and many churches are being conformed to the world in ways that we don’t even understand. We simply copy the world, even if what we do violates God’s Word. I want to use two examples to demonstrate this point.

The Discipleship of Children

For the average child in a Christian home, their primary Bible teacher is a Sunday School teacher, children’s worker, or youth worker. Many Christian parents are not regularly teaching their kids the Bible or how to follow Jesus. Why? Mostly because they have copied the educational principles of the world. We are not the primary ones to teach our kids math or science, so why do we have to be their primary Bible teachers?

The Bible commands fathers to do otherwise, to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). So the father who is not actively discipling his children is copying the educational patterns of the world instead of living the commands of the Word. And we wonder why each generation seems less and less biblically literate when we have taken our cues from the world rather than the Word.

Church Discipline

I am convinced that the average church today will not exercise biblical church discipline. Most churches have many members who are living in the sinful pattern of complete disassociation from the church. Matthew 18:15-17 sets a clear pattern for handling this problem. We should approach these people privately and rebuke them. This means that we should confront them and prove to them from the Scriptures that what they are doing is wrong. If they won’t listen to us, we should bring another person or two with us as witnesses. If they still won’t listen, we should take the matter before the church. If they won’t listen to the church, we should remove them from church membership.

But most churches refuse to follow this pattern. Why? Because we follow a worldly wisdom instead of a godly wisdom. This worldly wisdom tells us that it is unloving to enact church discipline. This worldly wisdom tells us that doing so will disturb the peace in the church, lead to division, and drive people farther from God. And so we don’t do what the Scripture clearly teaches because we have bought into a false wisdom from the world about what is loving and peaceful.

I could give other examples, but the point is this: we cannot follow God according to the wisdom of this world. As James says, the wisdom of this world does not come down from God but is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil (3:15). I have a deep concern for the church today. I am afraid that in many instances we are unable to ground what we do in the Scriptures, and too often this is because we have conformed ourselves to the world instead of being transformed to live according to the Word. If it’s true in these two areas, how many other areas might we be living out the patterns of the world instead of the commands of God?

So what do we need to do? James says that true wisdom from God is open to reason or submissive (3:17) and that God gives wisdom generously to those who ask in faith (1:5-6). We will not ask for what we think we already have. The first step is to humble ourselves and admit that the problem is real. Only then can we begin to seek God’s wisdom and evaluate all we do in light of Scripture, striving to make sure that we are being transformed through a godly repentance and renewal, rather than a conformity to the patterns of this world.

The testing of our faith

One reason we as Christians can rejoice during our trials is that trials lead to the maturing of our faith (James 1:2-4). We rejoice in the midst of discomfort because we know that God is making us more like Him through our struggles. So our greatest times of growth as Christians often come when we are most uncomfortable, most challenged, or most ill at ease.

Many churches today have turned this principle on its head. They are catering their churches to people’s comforts, and they are surprised when the result is immature Christians. We cater music to people’s preferences, and we put people in groups with only those who make them comfortable, and then we are caught of guard when they seem unwilling to look to the interests of others or to consider others as better than themselves (Philippians 2:3-4).

The example of music can demonstrate how much we think of people’s comfort in the church,  rather than their growth. We think that we sing the older hymns for the older people and the newer choruses for the younger people, so both groups feel comfortable as we worship. But could it be that we need to sing the older hymns for the younger people, to give them grounding in their faith, and the newer choruses for the older people, to stretch them in their faith? Like parents with their kids, the church must not be driven by giving people what they want, but we must learn to give them what they need.

For example, if you ask about the best way to get people to come to Sunday School, you might create classes with everyone alike, where people feel comfortable with others just like them. If you asked how best to disciple people, you would put people with others not like them. You would put the young newly weds with an older married couple to teach them how to stick to their marriage. You would put the rich with the poor to teach them humility. When we cater the church to people’s comforts, we get comfortable Christians.  When we center the church on Scripture, we get biblical Christians.

The church in America desperately needs to hear a word from James 1:2-4. Trials and difficulties are not always to be avoided. True wisdom (James 1:5) teaches us that our struggles are for our benefit, for the maturing of our faith. Christian maturity comes through trials. Consequently, the church that seeks to remove the difficulties of being a part of the body of Christ will never yield the kind of disciples that flow from the fiery ordeals that we must all endure from time to time (1 Peter 4:12-13).

A sinner who’s never sinned

I have recently been reading two books by Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ and In God’s Underground. Wurmbrand was a pastor in communist Romania in the years after WWII. He was imprisoned for 14 years; he was beaten and brutally tortured for his faith. In In God’s Underground, Wurmbrand tells stories of how he shared the truth of the gospel with his fellow prisoners. Often these prisoners were themselves former oppressors, torturers, and murderers. Many were avowed atheists, but when death drew near they found themselves crying out to Jesus.

Wurmbrand tells of one such person who began to confess his many sins; he had murdered, beaten, and tortured many people before he himself became a prisoner. His confession included how he had killed many Jews, not because he was ordered to do so, but because he knew he could. The next day, he admitted that there was still more to his sordid tale. He had shot children while they were in their mother’s arms, and when he ran out of bullets he beat the children to death. He died soon after his confession, perhaps having found peace in death that had escaped him during his life.

 His confession led me to think about how we confess sins as Christians today. This morning I met with a pastor friend and had the opportunity to confess some of my own sins, but it’s too rare an occurrence in my life. It seems that we are often ready to admit that we are sinners, but we are much more hesitant to admit that we have actually sinned. Or if we have sinned, our sins are minor compared to the atrocities committed by others.

Do we truly believe the words of Christ, that if we have been angry with a brother or sister that we are subject to judgment, and if we have said “fool” we are in danger of the fire of hell (Matthew 5:21-22)? Or if we have looked at a woman lustfully, we have already committed adultery with her in our heart (Matthew 5:27-28)? We treat Jesus’ words as righteous hyperbole, designed to make us think, but perhaps his words reveal to us not just that we are sinners but that we have sinned. For some reason we find it easier to make the blanket claim that we are sinners; we struggle to utter the words that we are liars and murderers and haters and cheaters. Perhaps we have heard for so long to hate the sin but love the sinner that we have become convinced that we are worthy sinners because we are sinners who have hardly sinned.

The confession of this professed murderer and torturer seems to have been a prerequisite to any hope he had for faith in God. How could he hope for faith in God without confession of his many sins? But why is it different for us today? How many new Christians have you seen who have actually confessed their sins as part of their profession of faith, not just that they were sinners? Today, to confess that you are a sinner is enough without having to admit that you have actually sinned. Or perhaps we try this approach. Have you told a white lie? Well then you are a sinner because you have lied. This approach makes us feel better about our sins, as though the white lie is all that God has to hold against us, so surely he would forgive such a righteous sinner. “Oh yes, I’m a sinner. I remember one time when I told a white lie or stole a quarter when I was a kid, but thank God that He sent Jesus to die for me so that I could be forgiven of my little lies.”

The Colossians were told that they were once alienated from God and enemies of God in their minds because of their evil behavior (Colossians 3:21). But too often in my own mind I am a righteous sinner, worthy of Christ’s death on my behalf. I have been thinking a lot recently about what the gospel really is. I have often said that we can’t understand the good news of the gospel until we understand the bad news of our sin. But too often, far too often, I downplay my own sin, and I find that I am just that person who does not appreciate the goodness of the gospel because I am not willing to face the depths of my own sinfulness. Only when I see the depths of my own sin will I begin to fathom the riches of God’s mercy for a sinner such as I.

Reflections on bin Laden

The death of bin Laden has caused a range of reactions, and I thought I would reflect on some of my feelings in the last day or so. First, I have been convicted that bin Laden and I were both destined for the same fate. If not for Christ, he and I would both stand condemned as enemies of God. The world might say that I am a better person or that I am more deserving of God’s grace, but the truth is the only difference, and the only thing that separates our eternal destinies, is Jesus Christ and my faith in Him. That thought is humbling, but at the same time, I rejoice in God’s graciousness toward a sinner like me.

Second, many of us have struggled with the proper reaction to this kind of event. Some have suggested that if I had a loved one killed in 9/11, I would want to celebrate Bin Laden’s death. In fact, I have always wondered how I would respond if someone close to me was killed. Would I feel vindicated if the murderer were executed? Would I be glad to see their life taken as payment for the death of a loved one? Obviously I cannot tell you how I would respond, but I can tell you how I hope I would respond.

I hope that I would visit that person in jail and share with them the glorious good news of the forgiveness that they could still find in Christ. I hope that I would invite that person to become my brother or sister by placing their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. If that person became a believer, I hope that I would rejoice alongside the angels in heaven that another lost sheep was found (Luke 15:10). And if that person died apart from a relationship with Christ, I hope that I would grieve the loss of one created in the image of God. I hope that these theories of how I might respond are never put to the test, but I pray that I would respond out of the Spirit that lives within me and not out of my own fleshly, human desires.

More than anything else, the last few days have challenged me to think about how I respond to difficult situations in life. In Ezekiel God asked, “Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign LORD? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?” (18:23). I pray that I would respond biblically, that I would realize the utter darkness of my own sinfulness, that I would understand that we all stand hopelessly condemned apart from Christ, that I would desire that all come to know Christ as Lord, that I would never desire that anyone perish apart from Him, and that I would take as much joy in seeing others come to justice as a I would in God giving me what I justly deserve.

Romans 8:28- God works all things for good

The problem with reading Bible verses out of the context of the passage in which they were written is that we can often misunderstand what the verse actually means. We like to read and memorize individual verses of Scripture, but sometimes this focus on an individual verse causes us to misunderstand what the biblical author, and ultimately God, said. We love to quote Romans 8:28, which says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” We cling to this wonderful promise from God, but do we really understand what it means?

Often we understand this verse to mean that God will not continue to let bad things happen to us, that God will always deliver us from hard times, or that God will work things out for our earthly, material benefit. In other words, God will make good things happen for us in life. While we might reject a prosperity gospel, we assume that God will generally cause good things to happen to us in life if we are His children.

While I don’t mean to suggest that “good” things or worldly “success” never come to Christians, the context of Romans 8:28 paints a different picture. Paul talks about creation being under a curse, looking forward to, and even groaning for, the day of its redemption (8:20-22). We as believers long for and hope for a day in the future when we will be delivered from suffering, but we hope for this day because the day has not yet come (8:23-25). Paul goes on to promise not that we will avoid hard times, but that hardships and hunger and danger and persecution cannot separate us from God’s love (8:35). Furthermore, when these trials occur, they are not necessarily a sign of God’s absence or His punishment on us. The promise is not that we will be delivered from hard times but that we are victorious through these times because nothing exists that can separate us from God’s love (8:37-39).

Even a quick look at the context of Romans 8:28 shows that the verse is not even close to a promise of the American dream, security and prosperity in life, or freedom from danger, pain, and sadness. Instead, God promises that He will redeem the hard times of life. The seemingly senseless pain and tragedy of life do not fall outside of the scope of His plan, but quite to the contrary, God uses the brokenness of this world for His good and His glory as He redeems His creation. So may we not always and only pray to be delivered from the pain and trials of life, but let us pray that God will redeem those trials not as we will and want, but as He wills (Matthew 26:39).