Recreating Paradise

I'm going to try to keep up with our sermon series here on the blog to help fill in the blanks we miss.  We're doing the series Puzzled by the Bible and looking at the big picture of the Bible.  But obviously it's hard to work your way through the entire Bible in eight weeks without skipping a few things.  So I'll try to fill in some gaps here.

Last week, we looked at the creation story--which we've actually done a number of times since Christmas, but it's very important that we understand it because just like the setting in a book or movie, if you don't understand the beginning, it'll be hard to understand the end.  So basically:

• Unlike the pagan stories of origins, the creation story in Genesis tells us that creation was the result of a loving all-powerful creator, not the result of a cosmic battle or desire of the gods to have slaves.
• Unlike the pagan stories floating around, life has meaning and purpose.  The Bible tells us that history isn't cyclical.  We're not doomed to continue to experience the same things over and over.  We can experience real and lasting change and even improvement.
• God created humans in his image, which means we are free and that we can help influence the future.  Humans are not just pawns of the gods.
• The central issue of the Bible is TRUST.  It's not IF we're going to trust--all of us already trust something (i.e. ourselves, reason, science, etc.)  The question is who or what will we trust.  The trees in the garden are the first decision we had to make between trusting God's provision for us and trusting ourselves.  Of course we (Adam and Eve) chose to trust ourselves and we lost paradise.
• All of history since then has been our attempt to recreate paradise.

That pretty much summarizes the first message.  Adam and Eve sinned and God took away the Tree of Life--which allowed humans to live forever--because if we could live forever, imagine the damage we could do to the world.  Once we decided to take over the world, things went downhill in a big hurry.

Cain killed Abel. People began to think they were pretty powerful and built the tower of Babel, thinking they were gods.  At each point along the way, God redirected.  God punished Cain, but also promised to protect him.  God confused people's languages so they couldn't complete the tower.  Then we get to Noah...

We won't go into a lot of detail about Noah in the series, but he's worth mentioning.  Basically, over time the experiment of people trying to recreate paradise went awry.  The way Genesis describes the world the time is that the whole work was wicked beyond repair.  "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." (Gen 6:5)  

The problem with sin is not that it hurts us (although that is a big problem), but it also hurts others.  When parents have a bad temper, they not only hurt their children, but they pass it along to their children.  Our decisions aren't isolated, individual decisions, but they take us in a direction and they also take the people around us in a direction.  We learn from each other.  We even learn sin from each other.

This was the state of the world in Noah's day.  The world was bad and it was getting worse.  So God decided to start over.  Some people see a huge problem with the idea of God wiping people out because of their wickedness.  Actually, I think if we take it seriously, we should have some trouble with it.  I don't think any Christian should be thrilled or calloused about God's judgment.  But as troubling as it is, there are a couple ways to look at the problem.

First, if God is the creator, what he does with his creation is his prerogative.  I might not like it, but he's God and I'm not.  (That's the faith commitment I've made-and as much as I tend to mess things up, it's a pretty reasonable one).

Second, even in the Old Testament when God wipes out whole groups of people, it's the last resort.  Genesis doesn't go into all the details of God's decision-making, but even when God wiped out Sodom, he was willing to allow them to stand if there was just one righteous person in the city.  The corruption was so great that God would mercifully put an end to the sheer evil and not allow more people to be born into a completely evil and violent city.  This was the situation in Noah's day.

Noah was the only one considered righteous.  He certainly wasn't perfect, but God could at least work with him.  Incidentally, this is why I don't believe hurricane Katrina was an act of judgment on the city of New Orleans.  I think there are very few places today that aren't redeemable.  There are many places that are very evil, but history has progressed and it seems that in every evil situation, there's a glimpse of God--of the Kingdom shining through.  It's not fully here yet, but there's hope.

Where is Wisdom?

Just "found" Job 28 tonight.  I can't say I often read a passage of scripture and am immediately drawn into worship, but this chapter was one of those.  This post might be a little scattered as I'm still thinking about it.

Basically, the chapter consists of the writer listing all the priorities we make in life.  Of course, when Job was written (thousands of years ago) there weren't nearly the distractions we have today, but he lists things that make people rich and successful (silver and gold), and the great pains to which we go to find and refine precious stones, cutting through the rocks and leveling mountains searching the darkest recesses of the earth to find them.

And then this in verse 12, "But where can wisdom be found?  Where does understanding dwell?"  Take a minute...

The writer goes on to describe the worth of wisdom over gold and silver and crystals and precious stone and then we come to verse 23,

God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and see everything under the heavens.  When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it.  And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'

The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom.  We might be able to gain some knowledge objectively-when we step back and view something outside of ourselves (although even scientists say this is probably an illusion), but finding wisdom means we must first make a commitment.  We have to state at the beginning who we trust, who we "fear" if you will.  Knowledge and wisdom are related, but they're not the same thing.

Sometimes we think that if we remain uncommitted, wisdom will present itself.  But it seems to me that according to the Bible, faith, trust, commitment comes first and wisdom follows...

Puzzled by the Bible

I wish I could take credit for the name, "Puzzled by the Bible," but I have to admit, I stole it.  The concept was just too good to pass up.


The reason for the series is that there are so many people who either don't know anything about the Bible or they've been Christians for a long time and have essentially been taught to misuse the Bible.  Now, I believe God can work even through misinterpretation, but it can also be very dangerous.  So what are some ways people misuse the Bible?

I can remember friends telling me how that book was passed around their workplace and people started praying that prayer as some kind of magical incantation that would make them rich and happy. Most of them never cracked open their Bible. But I think all of us at one point or another have gone to Scripture to try to justify something we already believe. That's why having an understanding of the whole of the Bible is very important as we live out our faith.

Taking verses out of context. This is probably the most common misuse of the Bible. We find individual verses and apply them in ways they were never intended to be taken. I can remember a few years ago, a book called the Prayer of Jabez. The prayer was from 1 Chronicles 4:10, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”

I can remember a friend telling me this book was being passed around his workplace and people were using the prayer of Jabez as a sort of magical incantation to bring them success and influence, which is not really the point of the prayer at all.  In fact, the prayer is such a small and abrupt mention in the passage, that I'm not sure we can make much theology of it.  But people do this all the time with individual passages of Scripture.

Not understanding the type of literature. Some people don't realize it, but the Bible was not just dropped out of the sky as a whole, but it was written-inspired by God-over the course of thousands of years by many different authors, using a number of genre (narrative, poetry, correspondence, philosophical argument, etc) to communicate God's interaction with humans. As we read scripture, we have to understand the intent of the particular passage, rather than always taking the words at face value.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the Bible is completely symbolic. There are some words that are meant to be taken at face value. For instance, while the parable of the Good Samaritan or other parables are analogies, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that "if Christ has not been raised (actually, physically raised) our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Even in the gospels, though, we should understand that ancient historians didn't do history exactly the same way we do today. Today, we're only concerned about the objective facts and it's a virtue to try to keep any interpretation out of it (though, many would argue that's impossible). Ancient historians were more concerned with the meaning than the details. This is not to say they didn't think what actually happened was important, but it wasn't their primary focus. The gospel writer Luke set out to write "an orderly account" of the life of Jesus. The facts were important to him, but the highest value for Luke was to communicate who Jesus was, what he taught, and what he did. So sometimes when we nitpick about who really went to the tomb on Easter morning or what were the exact words said, we kind of miss the point.

The same thing happens with the book of Revelation. We can get very distracted by Revelation if we don't understand that it was written as a kind of "Old Testament prophecy" in New Testament times. At the very beginning of the book of Revelation, John himself writes that it's written to encourage the believers in the first century that are going through times of persecution. Now, we can still learn from it, but I think we misread it when we become preoccupied trying to determine the date of Jesus' coming or what exactly the "mark of the beast is." That's not really the point.

Using Scripture as a weapon. How many times have people sat in church and thought, "I wish my sister could hear this?" Probably more than anyone would care to admit. Well, this is often what we do with Scripture when we quote verses to condemn other people. We use passages like in the book of Hebrews, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Well, too often we treat the Bible as though it judges the everyone else's thoughts and attitudes and we're happy to point that out, while ignoring the thoughts and attitudes it judges in ourselves.

Really, the point of the Bible is to show us who God is and what's our place in the world. He's our loving creator who gave us the freedom and the responsibility to partner with him as co-creators. We mess up and he doesn't give up. The world is going somewhere and the best thing we can do is to align ourselves with God's purpose in the world. The series "Puzzled by the Bible" will give us the big picture of the Bible so we can know where to put the little pieces!

Religion Free Church?

I have a strong belief that I hope comes through very clearly.  There are two things in life we need to be saved from.

The first is sin.  Now sin isn't just a way for God to kill our fun by making up random rules.  God is the one who created us and created the world and knows us well.  He's knows what's good for us and what's not good for us.  Sin isn't just a random rule, but it's the way we live our life that is destructive to our spirit.  Bitterness isn't just sin because God declared it, but because when we hold on to a grudge, our soul slowly shrivels.  Drunkenness is sin because it decreases our self-control and leads to more destructive behaviors.  God wants us to be free from sin because He knows it's what's best for us.

When we sin, we feel guilty.  God placed that feeling in us to help us.  But some people, when they feel that guilt, they try to feel better with religion.  They think if they do something good they can make up for the bad.  But when we do this, we get on an endless cycle of sin and trying to make up for it with religious activity (attending church, doing good things, reading the Bible, etc.)  

Now there's nothing inherently wrong with religious activity.  I believe we need to be a part of the church because life is just too hard to do on our own.  I think it's helpful to sit and hear sermons.  We should help the poor.  But these aren't things we do so God will love us.  We do them because God already does love us.

Jesus came to free us from religion--to get us off the sin/religion cycle by dying for us, taking away our guilt and giving us freedom.  Jesus gives us freedom from our past, freedom from guilt, and freedom from sin.  When we understand this, we don't have to use religion to earn God's love.  Everything we do is a response to God's love  for us.  A church full of people like this is a church that gives life!

Liturgical Church and Easter

The Wesleyan Church wouldn't be considered, by any stretch of the imagination, a liturgical church.  While there might be some Wesleyan pastors that would follow a lectionary, most would largely ignore any church calendar events outside of Easter and Christmas.

I would say that largely, I don't do a lot with the Christian calendar, but I do see value in it.  For one thing, it keeps us connected to historic Christianity.  I think many churches and denominations have done themselves a disservice by distancing themselves from the liturgical church year.  However, rather than always following the liturgical church year, I would tend to "check in" from time to time.  For instance, this year, in addition to our Maundy Thursday communion that has been a tradition at Waite Park, we did a Good Friday Tenebrae service for the first time.  It was absolutely amazing!  Evangelicals will often ignore things like Good Friday, preferring to move on to the more celebratory Easter Celebration.  But without the crucifixion, there is no resurrection.  So I believe it's a good thing to soak in the pain of the crucifixion.  That's the value of historic Christianity.

But I don't follow the liturgical year all the time. The reason is that I believe that the core of Christianity is not the liturgy.  I believe that Christ sets us free from all that and the core of the everyday Christian life is learning how to live in the reality of the Kingdom of God that came in Jesus Christ.  What does it mean to trust Christ?  What does it mean for him to be Lord in every area of life?  Each Sunday is a valuable time to give instructions from Scripture and to process it together as a church.  My goal isn't to become good at church, but to be able to live out faith in Christ.

So it's always a matter of looking to Christ and moving forward with him.  Liturgy can be helpful in that as long as it doesn't become that focus.  I think that's both the tension to hold and value of it.

Looking Forward

Last Sunday, we talked about the Transfiguration, where Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a mountain.  His appearance changed and Moses and Elijah appeared with him.  The disciples didn't really know what to think.  Peter then said, "Let me build a shelter for you guys!"  Essentially, he was saying, "I wish this moment would last forever."  I actually think this might have been Peter's expectation--that Moses and Elijah were there to stay and that was the time Jesus would take his rightful place as the Messiah.

But then Moses and Elijah disappeared and reality sunk in for the disciples.  It was rare, it was quick, and they couldn't stay there.  But the Transfiguration was God pulling open the curtain to allow them to see a glimpse of heaven.  In the message, I said it was meant to be an anchor they could hold onto when the tough times came.  Immediately before the transfiguration, Jesus had changed his message from "Repent! The Kingdom is near," to "I have to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die."

So, I said to look back but always move forward.  Use those times where God shows Himself very clearly as springboards for you faith.  In our Connection Group afterward, someone brought up the fact that what Jesus was showing them, wasn't the past, it was the future.  The disciples were getting of glimpse, not of the present Jesus, but the future, resurrected Jesus.  I think this is a great point.

It's probably even more valuable to us, when we can understand what God has in store for us in the future and continue to move toward that future.  Our faith is never faith in the circumstances working out the way we want them to, but our faith is always in the character of a faithful God.  Sometimes we might get to see it ahead of time, but often, we just have to trust that when we allow God to work the way God wants to work, He will work it out for our good in the end.  Following Him wherever He goes is always the right thing.

Easter Season

I think I might have topped even myself in the record for the world's worst blogger.  Maybe the last post was August-something.  In any case, here's another go at it.  I figure if I try to make my posts shorter it might be more likely that I actually post something.  So here are some notes about what's coming up.


This week we're starting a series called "God Up Close."  The main premise of the series is that things look different from afar than they do up close.  Bugs are creepier, cities are more human, and art is either more or less amazing.  Jesus whole life, but particularly his last few weeks give us a great picture of God up close and what we find is pretty amazing. If you can't make it to church, you can always listen online by going to the sermon page on the Waite Park Church website.


The whole Easter schedule is pretty exciting, too.  On Maundy Thursday we'll have a come-an-go communion time.  Then on Friday, we'll have a Good Friday service starting at 7 pm.  We haven't done a Good Friday service here, so it will be a new experience and I'm excited to see what God has planned for us.  Saturday is the Easter Egg Hunt at 9 am with lots of goodies for the kids.  Then, the pinnacle of it all will be the uber-celebratory Easter Celebration.  Please come join us.