I will be preaching on this subject over the next few weeks, but I am trying to draw some lessons from the recession and what it might mean for us. Today, as a world wide global community, we are living in unparalleled wealth and power. At no time, in all of recorded history, have so many enjoyed as much as we do today. While there are definitely those who are lacking and suffering economically, socially, and physically, when compared to the rest of us, today as a whole we have more options, more opportunities, more blessings, more information, better health, longer lives, higher standards of living, and an overall improved lifestyle than ever before.

If it is true that we are better off in the world today, the recession, I believe, is a wake up call telling us we are also the most wasteful both of nature and humanity. I'm generalizing now, but it seems to me that more and more we are making life extremely difficult for the unwealthy and the unpowerful: children, old people, women, the poor around the world. In the west, especially, we are failing in our marriages and families. We are not upholding our commitments and we are not fulfilling our responsibilities. For example, (I can't speak for the rest of the world) but here in North America the number of single-parent families is only increasing and whether it is a mother or father who is heading up the household, the weight of that job is enormous. As we examine scholastic tests from other industrialized countries, it would seem that more and more our children are falling behind in their learning. As we eliminate any sense of personal responsibility from our cultural ethos, we continue to seemingly spin out of control in our schools, homes, public meeting places, places of employment and in our communal rhetoric. Our children are ill trained, ill equipped and ill prepared to face the reality of our modern society. Further, we are trying to replace parenthood with day care, home life with the village, and nurturing and care of one another with the government. Our highways, shopping malls, nursing homes, day-care centers and streets are full while our homes and families are empty. We won't admit it, referring to pornography and sexual promiscuity merely as lifestyle choices, but we are suffering many kinds of damage from over indulged libidos and a lack of self-control. We are addicted to drugs, the Internet, TV, and gasoline. Violence, even in the comparative safety of the west, is rampant. And behind it all is a greedy, self-indulgent, unscrupulous, me first mindset that has allowed us to settle for factories that produce shoddy and overpriced products, companies that pollute air, water and land, governments that fail to take accountability for their decisions and actions, and a culture that throws its hands up in the air and says, "It doesn't matter to me as long as it doesn't affect my freedom and as long as you don't change my lifestyle!"

Unfortunately, and this is where I get personal, Christian organizations have not been the difference makers that we're supposed to be. For 500 years, ever since Columbus landed in the Bahamas, the Christian has walked alongside the conqueror and the industrialist and, as Wendell Berry writes, thought our goals were one and the same. We have blindly assumed that our cause was just because of our apparent successes and victories. Christian organizations continue this blind assumption through alignment with a right wing politic that espouses the value of life, yet fails to recognize God's goodness, beauty and majesty as revealed in His creation. While we would never blatantly admit this, we practice a religion that says, "God helps those who helps themselves." Therefore, in far too many churches today, we have an independent mindset rather than a God dependent worldview.

Is it any wonder then, that universally we are suffering through a recession? Irrespective of what one might think of as being the major contributing factor to this recession, we must start by admitting we are merely living with the consequences of failed humanistic philosophies that reject God's Word, and deny biblical injunction. Could it be that God, through this time of culling, is calling us back to a place of humbling and crying out before Him? Is it possible that God is reminding us of how impotent we really are, apart from Him, to deal with and solve the issues we are confronting? I believe God is calling His people to a denial of self, a refocusing on Him and a return to biblical injunctions as the norm and means of our lives. I believe He is calling us to a radical life of dependence upon Him, to living as examples of His grace, to being servants who love one another and others, who honor one another and serve others, and who pray faithfully for His will to be done.

This recession is hard, people are being impacted and lives and families are being challenged, but if it will bring us to humble ourselves before God, then it will have served a good and mighty purpose.

The Necessity of the Cross

As we move through Holy Week and look towards Good Friday and Easter, it is an appropriate time to stop and reflect on Jesus, His death and the necessity of the cross. In theological circles, today, the debate is being waged regarding the necessity of Jesus' death on the cross. Among more liberal theologians Jesus' death is seen as nothing more than a good moral example. In extreme views, His death on the cross is viewed as "Divine child abuse!" Increasingly we are hearing we don't need the cross. Instead we should concentrate on teaching about how God is a God of love! To this I respond, the cross is the greatest example of forgiveness and love we have. Allow me to use an illustration from Timothy Keller in his book, "The Reason for God" to help show why I make such a statement.

Suppose you are walking along the rivers edge with a friend and this friend turns to you and says, "I love you!" and then as a demonstration of his love, he throws himself into the river! To what end? That is not an example of love. Rather it is probably more indicative of your friends mental state! Suppose, though, that as you are walking along the river, you slip and fall in. Unable to swim you are in danger of drowning. Your friend, in an act of love and sacrifice, dives into the water and pushes you to shore. Unfortunately, spent from the exertion, he is swept away by the current and himself drowns. That is not just an example of love, it is a heroic sacrifice that saved you from your own immanent peril. You would look upon this sacrifice and say, "Oh, how he loved me!" If there is no peril to save us from - if we're not lost and apart from the sacrifice of Jesus, doomed to death - then the model of Jesus on the cross is not moving, life-changing, or sacrificial at all... it's crazy! Unless Jesus died as our substitute, He can't die as a moving example of sacrificial love.

Jesus did die as our substitute. Rather than inflict pain on someone else, God, on the cross, absorbed the pain, violence, and evil of the world into Himself. The God of the Bible is not like some primitive deity who demands our blood so that their wrath is appeased. Rather, God became human and offers His own blood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that evil can be destroyed without destroying us!

The necessity of the cross!

2009 and the Victory of the Lord

The New Year is upon us and I'm sure, as seems to be the case at this time of year, we have reflected upon the past year and are thinking of the year ahead of us. Let me take this opportunity to bless you and to wish you God's goodness and fullness of joy in the year ahead.

It has probably not escaped your notice that tensions in the Middle East have heated up and there is renewed conflict between Israel and Hamas. As I sit writing this latest edition to my blog, Israel has just dramatically and decisively escalated its war against the forces of Hamas. Israeli tanks, ground forces and gun ships have cut through and, according to reports from Fox News, divided the Gaza strip into 3 different areas in an attempt to keep the Palestinian forces from joining together, rearming themselves and repelling the Israeli attack. The stated objective of Israel is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure along with their mortar and missile sites. While I certainly have my opinions regarding this latest round of fighting, there are others far more versed in the complexities and nuances on both sides of the issue and I would direct your attention to them. An excellent website for in depth analysis on this subject is Joel Rosenberg's Weblog. I highly recommend it.

Allow me, though, to direct your attention to a proactive and healthy response to world events and the year that lies ahead. My desire is to leave with you the strong and glorious belief and conviction, that God is victorious and that His purposes will not fail and you and I play a part in the victory that He will win. I am more convinced today than I have ever been that the prayers of the saints are key to God's overall victory and the accomplishment of Jesus Christ's mission here on earth. Allow me to remind all of us that Jesus Christ is coming and He will not be stopped, nor will His plans be thwarted. "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him." Revelation 1:7. The victory of God is the coming of His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That is our hope in these days of evil. That is our glory and joy in these times of trial. We are, as Paul reveals, "...waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13.

What I want you to see and understand is the connection that exists between God's victory and our prayers. Not that you might need convincing, but I want you to recognize that there is a direct correlation and need for God's people here on earth to be bathing these days, events and times in prayer. I cannot say it any clearer than this, your prayers are God's means of accomplishing the victory of Jesus Christ over this world.

What is transpiring today in Israel and Gaza is not new. You know that. It's older than the hills. Strife, tension, conflict and war have been part of this region and the lives of its people for centuries. In Isaiah 37 we read that Jerusalem finds itself under threat of attack and defeat. Her enemies, the Assyrians, not at all unlike her enemies of today, we're bent on destruction. As a matter of fact, vs. 11 says the kings of Assyria were "devoting" all lands to destruction. Vs. 14, though, records Hezekiah's response to the threat against Israel, he went up to the house of the Lord and prayed. Hezekiah prayed for the rescue of Israel and God delivered. Vs. 36 records that an angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. The great battles facing us today are fought not with swords, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is fought for in the souls of men and women. It is fought under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. It is fought and won through deeds of love, acts of mercy, lives of compassion, humility of spirit and knees bent in prayer. God's purposes will not be hindered, nor will they be derailed. He will accomplish what He has set forth and He will be victorious. Hezekiah shows us that victory comes when we humble ourselves and pray.
In 2009, may we devote ourselves to praying for God's victory to come. May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May we pray for boldness, courage and tenacity to love people, share Jesus and lives changed.