He is Risen

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, plants, animals, and celestial bodies, culminating with his creation of mankind.  As God looked down on his creation, he saw that it was good.  It was everything that he wanted it to be.  He spoke his desires into existence and was greatly pleased with the result, noticing that it was indeed good.

What we know is that God created everything.  He was the designer and architect of creation.  He imbued his creatures with many gifts, abilities, and skills for the mutual enjoyment of him and his creation.

Sadly, we also know that evil and sin are a reality within this world.  Thanks to Adam and Eve, all that was good became corrupted, for a time, by the power of the evil one.  Though that corruption still exists in our fallen world, redemption comes not just to us as sinners, but to all of God’s creation through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

All of this brings me to the issue of Christian Rock music.  Christian Rock is a wonderful ministry and resource that aims to bring a message of hope and healing to a world that lives with open wounds and profound hopelessness.  Many Christian Rock bands positively influence and lead more people to Christ than most churches ever will.

Yet there are many within the “Church” who believe that Christian Rock is evil and a tool of Satan to lead us all to destruction and damnation.  Consider the web tract “Christian Rock: Blessing or Blasphemy?” The author (as well as the rest of the fundamentalist, or no-fun-damentalist movement) uses 1 Thess. 5:21-23 as the irrefutable evidence that rock music is evil and beyond redemption, and therefore Christian Rock, being rock music, is itself evil.  (Author’s emphasis)

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since we are to abstain from all appearances of evil, we can’t do that which has been used for evil.  The author of this tract goes on to compare artists like Amy Grant to bands such as Black Sabbath.  (I know, I referenced this in an earlier post.)

We need to ask the following questions: who is the creator?  Who is the perverter?  Is Paul saying that anything that has been used for evil can’t be done, even in a godly way, by Christians?

OK, no sex for anyone.  There goes God’s greatest gift to mankind.  Given the way it has been misused and perverted thanks to the hand of Satan since the beginning of time, it is clear that sex itself gives the appearance of evil and must be banned.

The reality is that Satan has used every gift God has given us and found a way to pervert it.  That is what he does.  He is the Father of Lies and the Prince of Darkness.  He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  He desires to pervert what is good to turn the joy of God’s blessings into idolatry, rebellion, and disobedience.

But God created it all.  And he created it good.  Christian Rock is not the appearance of evil.  It brings a message of hope.  It aims to bring people to Christ.  It is a significant ministry.  It is one example of Christians reclaiming one of God’s gifts for the purpose of glorifying God.  Satan doesn’t set the rules, he breaks them.  He has taken things and turned them against God.  But those things belong to God, not Satan.  And all of God’s creation can and should be used for his glory.

There is no inherent evil in music.  Hymns aren’t the only godly type of music.  If that were the case, then we would have to discount the Psalms- many of which have instructions to the music instructor, and clearly were sang as lively songs not accompanied by a pipe organ.

There is no inherent evil within God’s creation as it was created.  The world exists in a fallen state and thus carries the stain of sin on it.  But Christ redeemed the world.  Christ came to reclaim God’s people AND all the gifts and blessings God intended for his creation.  Surely music has been used for evil intentions.  But it was created by God and is therefore intended to be used for his glory.

The issue isn’t whether something is inherently good or evil; it is how that thing is used.  Just because there is a rhythm section in a song doesn’t mean that song can’t bring great and enormous glory to God.  What does give the appearance of evil is being a person who steals, kills, and destroys the joy and blessing that God intends for his creation.  According to Jesus, that is what the enemy (Satan) does.  Does the appearance of evil get any more apparent than doing what Satan does?

So while some Christian Rock band is on stage preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and calling people into the kingdom, it is the one outside protesting the joy that God has provided for his people and desecrating his worship who is truly putting on an appearance of evil.  As Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in his name, he is in the midst of them.

In the end, it is important that we remember that God is the creator of the universe while Satan is the perverter of all that is good.  While Satan can turn a good thing against us, he isn’t God’s co-equal, and he doesn’t have the power OR the authority to render any of God’s creation beyond redemption.

We all have a tendency to do it. We are all guilty of it. But none of us likes it when it happens to us.

I am talking about the way people are judged based on certain aspects of themselves such as looks. As a person who was only 26 years old when I was put in charge of two churches, I know how this feels. And I have to say, I don’t like it.

This came up for me most recently when I was working with a publication about doing some advertising for a Christian rock concert that my church is putting on. The band members are all twenty-somethings; the primary two of which have been in this band since they were 14 years old. They look like many of the high school or college aged people you would see who are into the rock and roll scene.

Here’s what happened. In talking on the phone and then exchanging emails with a guy about the concert, sending photos of the band and whatnot, he made the comment, “I guess I’m getting old, and I know I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but WOW; these guys look rough…but maybe they have a wonderful tesitmony[sic].”

This got under my skin because he was even admitting that he shouldn’t make such an assumption; but nonetheless, even after making that statement, he went on to suggest that maybe he is wrong, but in such a way as to say that it really is unlikely that he is. So the band’s looks, which are admittedly “grungy”, are enough to suggest that they can’t really be faithful ministers of the gospel. Their appearance is the determination of their ability.

What this doesn’t take into account is that our gifts and skills, and furthermore our calls are completely separate from our looks. Who would have looked at the innocent young teenager Mary and assumed that she would bear the savior of the world?

Secondly, this comment really suggests that you have to look a certain way to be a Christian. If you aren’t clean cut, you aren’t saved. If you wear baggy clothes and have piercings, you don’t know Christ. If you have tattoos, you are beyond the reach of grace.

What really got me thinking was the next part of what this email said. “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” In other words, he wasn’t just making a comment on their looks, but really on their qualifications for ministering God’s word. The assumption is 100% that they weren’t qualified for their calling (somehow even more so than most of us aren’t qualified to serve God) because of how they look; but that God can even use a “rough” bunch like this to complete his work. After all, he even had a use for Nebuchadnezzar, right?

Being a priest in the Episcopal Church, I am overly aware of how looks can be deceiving. I am part of a church where gentle looking grandfatherly types and gray haired scholarly types (you know, the type that look qualified for the ministry) are destroying the church with all of their theological qualifications; i.e. their commitment to a political agenda over and against theological orthodoxy.

Looking the part doesn’t make one qualified.

Not looking the part doesn’t make one unqualified.

Didn’t the people say of Jesus as he taught, “Who is this, the carpenter’s son?” They rejected him based on preformed assumptions. Jesus didn’t look the part of the Messiah. He wasn’t a wealthy and powerful political and/or military figure. He didn’t dress in the finest of robes. He didn’t look or act like the kind of king the Jews expected.

And they were wrong!!

And this guy is wrong about this band. I have seen them live in concert in addition to having their albums. All of their songs are written based on passages in the bible. During their live shows they open the bible and talk to the audience, usually younger people, about how important it is that they know Christ and that they make a relationship with Him their top priority. They know and preach the gospel. And they do it in a way that is accessible for a generation who isn’t going to listen to the gray haired scholarly types.

To the group to whom they minister, this band looks more qualified than any pastor or preacher in a church. They are ministering to a generation that has grown up with MTV and teen magazines that are selling a “look”; and this band happens to have that look, while also having a message of hope, mercy, grace, and love. They offer a positive message to young people who are bombarded with negative messages on a daily basis. They look authentic. They are authentic. And for that reason, they are qualified and indeed quite successful at what they do.

One of Jesus’ closest friends (one of the twelve) was a tax collector. You couldn’t be more “rough” than a tax collector in the first century. God’s first great leader Moses was a murderer. Paul, arguably the greatest New Testament disciple and the New Testament’s most prolific writer, had made it his mission to see as many Christian’s put to death as possible.

Sure, God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called. But that is only because sin has made us all equally unqualified to serve God apart from his Holy Spirit. What isn’t true, and what we would all do well to keep in mind, is that God doesn’t have to pour out larger helpings of the Spirit on those who look a little different in order to give them the qualifications. He might, however, have to pour out a little extra on those of us who use such standards to determine just whom God can and can’t use.

In my last post I quoted John 10:10, which says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” In that post, I talked about how being a Christian isn’t about just waiting around to die so that we can enjoy the abundance of heaven; but that Christ came to bring abundant life now, while we are still alive.

I would like to talk about this issue again, but from a different perspective. Instead of focusing on joy and enjoying life, I wanted to focus on what abundant life really is. Joy and fun are aspects of that abundant life; but certainly aren’t the fullness of that abundance.

Before talking about the abundant life Christ came to bring I wanted to spend a moment on the plans of the enemy. When Jesus says that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, he is talking about more than just trying to lead people to eternal death. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy the joy and abundance that we have in Christ. The enemy wants us to be miserable. He wants us to have lives of woe and disdain. He wants us to live pitiful lives of suffering. This serves two purposes. If you aren’t a Christian, the enemy can keep you from knowing Christ because your misery will drown out God’s voice. If you are a Christian, he tries to keep you from experiencing the fullness and abundance of life that Christ brings, robbing you from a significant portion of what Christ offers his followers.

So what is the abundant life that Christ wants for us? Quite simply, it is a life full of the blessings that God has planned for each of us. Those blessings are found within the commands that God gives us to follow. Considering that God’s commands are for his people (meaning that they are for those who already follow him, and are thus already saved), then clearly those commands aren’t about earning God’s love so that we can earn salvation. But God’s commands must certainly have a purpose.

If we consider the context of God’s commands beginning with the Ten Commandments, it is apparent that the things God requires of us are truly about us, his people, being able to have the best lives possible. Beginning with the commandments about having only one God, which essentially is about remembering the God we serve, and being able to stay in his graces by not turning our backs on him to worship other [nonexistent] gods; we can already see that God is primarily concerned with our well being.

Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t bear false witness against a neighbor. These things are fundamentally about affecting our lives here and now. They have no bearing on eternity, but tremendous bearing on our earthly lives. By murdering, I am affecting another person’s ability to live in abundant life since I am literally taking that life away. Adultery (sex outside of marriage) is about protecting the integrity of marriage; but it is also about saving the blessing of sex so that it can be shared within a marriage with the person that you will spend the rest of your earthly life with.

Did God create such rules to be restrictive? No. He created them with a purpose in mind. For example, if everyone saved sex until they were married, stayed married to their spouse, and never had sex outside of their marriage, what would the result be? There would be no teen pregnancy; no sexually transmitted diseases; no broken homes caused by divorce, leaving kids to pick up the pieces of their parents’ mistakes. In this regard, it is easy to see that God’s command to refrain from adultery is less about controlling us and more about providing us with a better life than we would give ourselves.

We might like to think that we know better about our own lives. “God doesn’t know what’s best for me; I do.” That is the thinking that has created problems since the beginning of time. “Sure, God said don’t eat this apple. But surely God is just trying to keep me from the good stuff.”

What people seem to miss is that we serve a God who loves us so much. His heart breaks for us when we turn our backs on him; not because he needs us, but because we need him. We need him and we don’t know it. Think about your own child. You want what’s best for them, even when they insist you just want to take away their fun. But you know the dangers of the world better than they do. You know how to protect them and provide better for them than they can provide for themselves. And it breaks your heart to watch your child suffer, especially when you know it could have been prevented.

It is the same with God. He truly wants what is best for us. He truly wants us to have blessing upon blessing. He has such great things in store for us, if we would only let him give them to us.

That is the abundant life that Christ is talking about. Christ came to stamp out the enemy; to eliminate the effects of the enemy in our lives by calling us to repentance and walking a path with God. He wants us to be bright lights, beacons of God’s love shining forth into the world. He wants us to be happy, joyful, fulfilled. The thing is, he is the one who knows the way to those things. We find our fulfillment only by walking the path with Christ. The more we fight against God to get our own way, the more doors we close that were previously open to God’s blessing in your life.

So remember, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy the abundant life that God wants for you. He does this by convincing you that you know better than God, so that you will fight and flee from God’s good blessings. But Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to restore us to the abundant life of God’s blessings. Submit your will, your own agenda, and let God’s love and abundance wash over you through Christ. Allow him to truly bless you with all his abundance.

As Christians, there are some truths that we hold to which are non-negotiable. Based on scripture, it is clear that we are sinners; that we need forgiveness; and that God, in his great mercy, brings about that much needed forgiveness through the death of Christ on the cross. These are fundamental points of Orthodox Christian doctrine which are essential to the faith.

While the above points are vital to what we believe, they don’t make up the entire gospel message. These points cover everything that we need to inherit eternal life; but Christ came to give us much more than just eternal life. We often live as though we need to just suffer through our days on earth until we die and go to heaven.

That isn’t at all the message that Christ brought. Sure, eternal life is the issue of ultimate importance. But Jesus wanted us to live abundant earthly lives full of God’s great blessings. He wanted us to experience great joy in our daily lives through our relationship with him and through the blessings that he has for us. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

It is that fact- that Christ came to bring abundant life- that so many people miss. Christians live without knowing that Christ came to bring us abundant and joyful lives now, before we get to heaven. That isn’t a promise that we won’t face hardships or that we won’t have struggles. But suffering doesn’t have to preclude joy.

This fundamental misunderstanding about the faith is also the cause of so many people not being interested in the Christian Church and Faith. They see us as joyless, lifeless sheep who sacrifice a lifetime of “stuff, things, and experiences” for some mindless devotion to a God who doesn’t want us to have any fun.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we are seen this way. The Christian Church has been known over the years to deride the joys and pleasures of music, dancing, sex (one of God’s greatest gifts to us when enjoyed within the covenant of marriage), television, movies, video games, alcohol, and many other activities.

In searching the internet the other day for information on some new Christian rock bands I came across a website about Christian rock and whether it was a blessing or blasphemy. It was so sad to read this guy’s argument. First of all, he was talking about artists such as Amy Grant (and comparing her to Black Sabbath!!) when talking about Christian rock. Amy Grant is hardly rock compared to the actual rock music being put out by Christian artists such as Disciple, Flyleaf, POD, etc. His end conclusion was this: no matter what the message is, Christian rock (which to him is all Christian music other than hymns) is evil and of Satan because it mirrors a form of music that often glorifies ungodly things.

Talk about just not getting it. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident with regards to the Church’s view of such things. But let’s compare it to Jesus’ own ministry.

Think about this: Jesus’ first miracle took place at a wedding. A Jewish wedding in the first century could last up to a week and would be full of music, dance, and alcohol. The miracle that Jesus performed was to turn water into wine. Our sinless redeemer not only attended a party that would have been full of things that the Church over the years has frowned upon; but he actually made wine so that the party could continue.

My point is, quite simply, that we serve a God who loves us and wants us to have great joy. He is the creator of fun. He is the creator of joy. He wants us to experience the best of his creation. He just wants us to do it in a godly way. Many of the things which the Church has treated as inherently bad are, in actuality, only bad when misused. Music, movies, etc. can and should be used to the glory of God. Remember, the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. It is the enemy who has taken God’s creations and used them to our detriment. We can give in to the enemy by letting him steal our joy by destroying God’s gifts to us. Or we can fight back by reclaiming our joy through godly means.

Don’t let the enemy steal, kill, and destroy your joy or the wonderful blessings that God has given you. Don’t be fooled into believing that we have to give up all that is fun and exciting in order to walk with our Lord. Instead, live into the joy that God wants for you. Find and embrace God anywhere he can be found: whether it is in books, movies, music, or a great celebration. When we are joyless we hinder the spreading of the gospel. But when we live in the joy and abundance of God’s blessings, we radiate the light of Christ and draw people to the kingdom.

As a priest, there is a refrain that I hear over and over again that makes me cringe most of the time it is uttered. This phrase, “The Spirit led us” (or any facsimile expression that gives credit to the Holy Spirit for the decisions of mankind), is often incited for the purposes of making some action more acceptable or in justifying some controversial decision that has been made. Don’t get me wrong, I am not only a priest, but am also an Evangelical, Bible-believing Christian. As such, I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in our world, and that he communicates with his people on a continual basis.

However, the Holy Spirit has a distinct function. That function is to bring us ever closer to conformity with Christ. In so much as the Bible is the story of Christ and his work in this world, the Holy Spirit must act in accordance with scripture if he is to bring us into such conformity. Given this, it is simply theologically irresponsible and inaccurate to accredit the Holy Spirit with every whimsical idea or action that actually flies in the face of the teachings of Holy Scripture. The problem is this: people use the “leading of the Spirit” as a way to validate some act that will ultimately lead to division within the Body of Christ. If the Spirit led us to this divisive action, then it is proper (according to this mindset) for us to pursue this course, regardless of the outcome.

To really get at this issue, there are a few questions we must first examine. To begin, we must ask the question, “Who is God?” Is God some nebulous force that exists where we can’t see him? Is he some fictional power that we give the credit to for the things which seem appropriate at any given time to do so? Is he some big ‘ol teddy bear who just wants to hug us whether we are out saving the world or out pushing old ladies into the mud? I would contend (as would scripture and 2000 years of Christian tradition) that God is a very particular being: he is the triune (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and immutable (unchanging) creator of the Universe. God is not only the creator of the Universe; he is also eternal, pre-dating creation in an infinite capacity. Being eternal and pre-dating our own creation, it stands to reason that God is autonomous. In other words, his existence, his will, and his work in creation are in no way dependent upon us (his creations).

The distinction between Creator (God) and created (us) leads us to our second question. Who determines the moral code that governs our world? Sadly, many within the Church Catholic (universal) believe that somehow we have a say in what our moral code is. This stems from mankind’s predisposition not only to sin, but also to justify our sin in any way possible. We want to determine our own rules and morality as though we are somehow autonomous from the system. But it stands to reason that the sovereign and autonomous creator of the Universe would also be the one with the power to determine right from wrong within his own creation. This leads us directly to our next question.

How do we (the created) know what God’s (the Creator) moral system is? This question is where we begin to truly see the “the Holy Spirit is leading us” epidemic play out. Many ‘revisionists’ (referring to the fact that they would revise the historic faith and doctrine of the Church Catholic) hold that the Holy Spirit is constantly revealing God’s moral code to us. Under this argument, things that were immoral last week can be moral this week because “the Holy Spirit has led us” to new and more enlightened understanding than what we were capable of last week. This is the general argument used when issues of sexuality are discussed within the Church. The argument is that we have a more enlightened understanding of sexuality than Paul had, so we are no longer under his archaic commands regarding it. Of course, this use of the “leading of the Spirit” is easily exposed for what it is. If the issue is that we are more enlightened now than the Apostles were as they wrote scripture, then it isn’t the Spirit revealing a new and changing morality. It would be ridiculous to think that somehow God becomes more enlightened as we ourselves learn more. In essence what this argument says is that we determine our own morality based on mankind’s intellectual development. This completely removes any space for the actual work of God in determining his own moral system.

There is only one sure way for us to know God’s moral system: Holy Scripture. The Bible is self-authenticating in saying, “All scripture is inspired by God.” (2 Timothy 3:16) In regards to the argument that says that we no longer need scripture because we are more enlightened now, this raises another issue. If we no longer need scripture that implies that we once did. If we needed scripture at some point prior to our current state of enlightenment but no longer need it now, how do we deal with the Bible (which we agree used to be accurate) saying that all scripture is inspired by God? If it is all inspired by God, and we agree that at some point scripture was useful and valid, then accordingly we have to recognize that the Bible is still the inspired word of God.

Thomas Cranmer (the first Archbishop of Canterbury) makes the point that, “If there were any word of God beside the Scripture, we could never be certain of God’s word… If the Church and the Christian faith did not stay itself upon the Word of God certain… no man could know whether he had a right faith, and whether he were in a true Church of Christ, or in a synagogue of Satan.” There is only one way for us to conform ourselves to a truly Godly morality, and that way is none other than the Holy Scriptures. We must hold to the scriptures as the inspired word of God or else we end up with a free for all, “there was no king so every man did as he saw fit (see Judges)” system. It becomes ludicrous to use some form of backward induction, sleight-of-hand reasoning to then prove that the Spirit of God is what led us to our random and conflicting “personal moralities”.

This brings us back to our initial problem. If there is an over-abundance of the Spirit leading his people all in different directions and all in ways contrary to scripture, how can we honestly attribute that work to the Holy Spirit? There are two answers for this. First, much of what we attribute to the leading of the Holy Spirit is in fact us doing our own will and then invoking the Spirit with praise for his work at the end. The second and more serious answer is that there is more than one spirit, and not all of them are holy. Just because a spirit is moving amongst the people doesn’t automatically imply that it is the Holy Spirit; especially when that spirit is leading the people into sharp division with one another. As we know, we have an enemy who seeks to distort the truth and destroy God’s people. In this regard, we may be wise to recognize the possibility that he has some spiritual influence in this world as well.

Consider this for a moment: if the Holy Spirit truly were responsible for all the things for which we give him credit, then he would be equally responsible for both the gay movement within the Church as well as the movement that holds that scripture opposes homosexuality. Why would the Spirit of God tell two different groups of his own people two completely opposite things? There is no reasonable or enlightened explanation. When we get the appearance of the same spirit leading us in two distinctly opposing directions, especially when one of those directions is following scripture and the other is following our own reason, experience, and desire; then we must honestly consider whether the same Spirit is at work in both places at the same time. It seems very questionable that God would lead his own Church to war with one another and tear each other apart by using his own Holy Spirit to bring about such an unholy act.

When such a conflict arises, there is only one way to have confidence in the working of the Holy Spirit. Both sides must be measured and tested against scripture. Consider that the Church Catholic has witnessed two simultaneous phenomena in our age. First, the churches in the Western world (the ones that generally reject scripture and claim the Spirit works apart from it) are by and large in substantial decline. At the same time, the churches of the two-thirds world (Africa and Asia in particular), which happen to be the ones that believe that the Spirit always works in accordance with Holy Scripture, are growing in ways that we can’t even comprehend. In places like Nigeria and Uganda where people still die for their Christian faith, we see Christianity growing at a tremendous rate. These same churches are the ones who have been calling the West back to a place of biblical orthodoxy (which would actually stem the decline we are facing across all denominations within the Church).

It is with all this in the forefront of my mind that I say that I cringe whenever I hear the “movement of the Holy Spirit” being lauded in such whimsical fashion. I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is alive and well as the third person of the Trinity. I truly believe that he acts with great power in our world today. But I stand committed to the belief that the only way we can truly know that the Spirit of God has been amongst us doing his work is when that same work is done in line with what the Holy Scriptures have to say.