Count The Cost

You never know how much you truly believe anything until its truth becomes a matter of life and death to you. ~C.S. Lewis

Luke 14:25-33

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

He Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth!

The following is an article written by Matt Friedman with the American Family Association.

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A Youth Exodus From Church -- What Are We Doing Wrong?
Youth are leaving - do we need to change something?
By: Matt Friedeman

AgapePress has reported that Dr. Frank Page, the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is disturbed that many students are leaving the church once they graduate. Indeed, the Convention's Council on Family Life reports that some 88 percent of children from evangelical homes are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school.

But why?

I wonder if it is not for these three reasons:

First, we give students what they want, instead of what they need. Some say this is making the gospel relevant to youth. But how relevant is the gospel if, once you are away from your parents, your head has a tough time leaving the pillow for ecclesiastical environs on Sunday mornings? One has to wonder if we have gone too far with age-segregation (which is hardly relevant in the "real" world), catering to perceived needs of teenagers (again, not relevant in later life), and isolating kids in an evangelical subculture (that is laughed at, actually, in "real" life).

Second, when Jesus made disciples of young men (and John was called "a youth and almost a boy" by one early church father), He challenged them to "Follow Me." Teenage discipleship in Jesus' day meant spending time with an adult. Initially, that was with a parent who worked your tail-end off on the farm while talking about Deuteronomy (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9). If you were blessed enough later in life to receive teaching from a rabbi, it meant attaching yourself to the teacher and learning adult lessons with adult methodology. There were no cool websites, lock-ins, hip-hop bands or youth organizations pulling out the stops to come up with neat, new (actually, frequently gross) games to capture attention before a quick three-point Bible study and then pizza.

Third, I wonder if we don't significantly cheat our kids when we suggest that vital discipleship can exist without a life of evangelism and compassionate service. Again, discipleship Jesus-style meant gathering a small group and putting them to communicate the gospel and work among the needy of the community. Together they challenged the lost, touched the sick, healed the lepers, reached out to the hungry and ministered to the poor. In one of his last lessons on earth, Jesus warned His disciples that anyone who wasn't involved in this kind of activity risked "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:31-46). How is it our youth, and by extension our churches, miss that message? And then, are shocked that our lack of mission fails to capture the imagination of a burgeoning adult making his own time and commitment choices?

Could it be that youth see right through it all? Could it be they know our faith is a farce? Could it be that staying home on Sunday mornings is just as relevant to the Kingdom as attending a church that makes a joke of ministry, specifically youth ministry?

Bless Frank Page for righteous chagrin. Are we evangelicals ready for the tough changes?

Count the Cost (Luke 14:28-33)

"The gospel is the official proclaimation that Christ died for us and is risen again, with the added announcement that everyone who will believe, and as a result of that belief cast his lot with Christ in full and final committal, shall be saved eternally. He must come with the understanding that he will not be popular and that he will be called to stand where Jesus stood before the world: to be admired by many, loved by a few, and rejected at last by the majority of men. He must be willing to pay this price; or let him go his way; Christ has nothing more to say to him now." ~A.W. Tozer

Pondering Idolatry in NYC

I spent a few days in New York City this week and as always I made a point to take in a musuem. This time I visited the American Museum of Natural History. My visit to the AMNH was especially profound considering the text of this past Sunday's sermon which was Romans 1:18-32. Paul makes the point here that all men "know" there is a God. They may choose to deny His existence but deep in their heart of hearts they know He is there.

In verses 21-25 Paul said this "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."

The idea is that men know God but rather than worship Him as God they spiral downward into idolatry, which is defined as the worship of created things.

As I was struck by one display in particular while in the African Peoples exhibit which brought Paul's words to mind. The display contained several small artifacts carved to resemble humans, birds, mammals, and reptiles.

The caption under the display stated that while the tribal people of sub-Saharan Africa believed in a creator god they did not believe that they could approach him so instead they worshipped lesser gods in the form of animals who would in turn plead on their behalf before this creator god.

This helped bring even more clarity to Paul's words in Romans. I found it interesting that these people seemed to recognize their unworthiness before God (god) but rather than seek Him in order to learn of Him and His expectations of them, they settled for worship of the creature rather than the Creator.

The Gospel

John Piper explains the Gospel.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said,‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God,who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

~ John 1:1-18

Thoughts on the Ted Haggard Scandal

The recent events of the past week involving Ted Haggard have deeply saddened me. I am not, nor have I ever been a fan of Ted Haggard, in fact I see his brand of Christianity as part of the problem with the evangelical church today.

What saddens me is to see the name of Christ dragged through the mud as the enemies of God have been given cause to defame the name of God, should grieve all who follow Christ.

I have felt grief for his family. I cannot imagine what his wife and children must be going through.

I also think of his congregation. How many of them must be utterly devastated by this news. How do you explain something like this to your children?

I have watched some of the video clips of Haggard blasting homosexuality and it seems so bizarre. What was he thinking as he said those things?

As I watched these video clips I was struck with the reality that this must be what it is like for God when He watches us play out our own hypocrisy. Sure it may not involve sexual immorality but that is beside the point.

I felt sickened, disgusted, and angry as I watched Haggard strut on the stage with an air of superiority preaching against homosexuality all the while being deeply involved in it, and I thought how does God feel when he watches me pretend to be something other than what I am? This whole situation has given me a better appreciation for how putrid hypocrisy must appear before a holy God.

May this cause us all to examine ourselves.

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” ~ 1 Corinthians 10:12