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Stop Using the Sinner’s Prayer

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stop saying the sinner's prayerA man came into my study this week struggling with sin, salvation, and a sense of God’s presence in his life. He told me he was saved but he had never seen God work in his life.

While I could have pointed out that God is at work in the lives of all people to one degree or another (John 16:8-15), I first decided to run a spiritual diagnostic to determine his spiritual condition. I used versions of the Kennedy question. First, I asked him if he were to die today, did he know where he would go to spend eternity. He said, “Yes, I will go to heaven.” When I asked why, his response was, “Because I’ve prayed the sinner’s prayer.”

This sent up a small red flag, but knowing that many who “have prayed the sinner’s prayer” are just confused, I went on to my next question. I asked, “Let’s say hypothetically, that when you get to heaven, God meets you at the gates and asks, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?”

This time, his response rung crystal clear—not with truth, but error. “Well, I make people laugh. I have good manners. I have tried to live a good life. I’ve done some bad things in my life, but I’ve always repented. I’ve never denied Jesus, and have always believed that He is God’s Son.”

The small red flag turned into alarm bells. Recognizing that only God knows the heart, I gently told the man that none of the things he had listed, including his “sinner’s prayer” were mentioned anywhere in Scripture as conditions for receiving eternal life. I took him to passages like John 3:16, 5:24 and 6:47 which show that the only condition for receiving eternal life is believing in Christ for it.

He said it sounded too simple; too easy. I told him, “It is. Eternal life is a free gift of God’s grace to all who simply believe in Jesus Christ.” I went on to explain how God could make this offer and why faith in Christ is all that is necessary to receive it.

He left that day without believing, but a seed was planted. I trust and pray that he and I will meet again and that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict, convince, and draw him.

But one thing was confirmed in my own mind. The “sinner’s prayer” is a dangerous witnessing tool. It can leave many people thinking that they are going to heaven because they have “prayed a prayer” yet never understood that eternal life is received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

What have been your experiences with the sinner’s prayer? Is it a valuable step in evangelism and witnessing? Why or why not?

A House Church Argument

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house churchI am not against “House churches.” I love house churches, and I love house church people.

But I do get nervous when house church proponents (HCP) start to condemn all other forms of church. It sounds ominously familiar…

To see what I mean, listen in as I discuss house with with a house church proponent:

HCP: The Book of Acts describes house churches. So house churches are the only biblical way of doing church.

Me: But this is 2013. Things have changed. Don’t you think Jesus might want His church to have changed too?

HCP: No! God wrote down in the Bible the way God wanted church done. Any other way is unbiblical and is doing whatever is right in your own eyes.

Me: But even you don’t do  church exactly like they did it in Acts. You’ve made some modifications for our time and culture. So doesn’t this mean that you are unbiblical?

HCP: No. The changes we made are still consistent with what the Spirit was doing in Acts. We have maintained the pattern found in the Bible.

Me: Who gets to decide which changes are allowable and which ones are not?

HCP: We studied the Scripture, prayed, sought the leading of the Spirit, and made these adjustments.

Me: Yes, but other believers have done the same thing, and made a few adjustments that you did not make, and now you are condemning them for their changes. Why do you want to say that your way is the one right way, and theirs is wrong?

HCP: They adopted their ways from pagan practices, like buildings, priests, choirs, sermons, and salaries.

Me: So anything that pagans do is wrong for churches to do also?

HCP: Yes, that’s right.

Me: Well, you know there are lots of pagan religions around the world and throughout time that look remarkably similar to a house church. They meet in homes, teach each other the ideas of their faith, share some food, and do what they can to encourage each other to follow their religion. Often they pray to their gods and sing some songs too.

HCP: What religions are those?

Me: Almost all religious groups, to tell you the truth. They only move into temples and other buildings once they reach a certain size. But some groups try to remain in homes, such as Bahai, Santeria, Voodoo, and many forms of Buddhism and Hinduism.

HCP: Well, just because these groups are similar to House Churches doesn’t mean that House Churches are following their practices.

Me: I agree. And the same argument applies to churches with buildings, pastors, choirs, sermons, and salaries.

HCP: I don’t know about that.

Me: Even if history shows (which is does) that the church borrowed these things from pagan cults, history also shows that the early church borrowed their practices from Jewish and Greco-Roman patterns. The early believers didn’t just invent this house church pattern out of thin air. The followed some of the cultural patterns that were around them at the time.

Furthermore, just because something used to be “pagan” does not make it wrong.  You and I used to be pagan, but God has washed us, redeemed us, and raised us up in Christ to live in a new way. If God can do this for people, why can’t He do it for customs and cultural patterns also?

—–

The conversation continues like this for quite some time. As we debate, I keep thinking I’ve heard all these arguments before.

Then it dawns on me.

The arguments are not identical, but the whole “This is the right way to do church and everybody else is wrong” idea is taken right out of the mega church model handbook: “This is the right way to do things, and if you want to reach our culture for Christ, you must follow this pattern. Otherwise, God can’t use you.”

As it turns out, house churches and mega churches have something in common after all…

I am not trying to criticize house churches (or mega churches). Instead, I am hoping that all of us who seek to follow Jesus, can simply follow Him in the way that helps us live out the Gospel in our lives to the fullest extent possible, and extend grace to those who follow Jesus differently. People who attend a mega church can bless people who attend a house church, and vise versa. And people who don’t attend any church at all, but simply  try to follow Jesus relationally, can bless both groups as well and be blessed in return.

And if you want some more arguments for and against the house church, here is funny chart I found: Enjoy!

house church is cool. House church is lame.

Finding Jesus in Denver

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This post is part of Sam Riviera’s series on being the church in our community. See the bottom of this post for more posts on how you can be the church to others by living like Jesus among them.

love others like JesusRecently I traveled to Denver to visit The Refuge, a beautiful eclectic faith community, co-pastored by our friend Kathy Escobar. I spent part of a couple of afternoons with Kathy while she showed Jesus’ love to people, and one evening at her home as part of the group that meets there on Wednesday evenings.

Following a potluck meal, the group gathered for a discussion led by Kathy.

During my time with Kathy and The Refuge, I noticed several things that they put into practice which helps them be the church in their community, and reveal Jesus to a dying world.

Everyone Is Welcome

The group welcomes everyone. Really, everyone is welcome, regardless of their situation in life. There is no expectation that anyone meet any requirement to be part of the group.

Everyone Is Valued

Unlike so many “churches”, all are equally valued. Everyone’s comment, everyone’s observation is treated with equal value. I saw no one being treated with preference. If this group has an “insider’s group”, I could not detect it at any point during the evening. There were no “fringe” people. No one was passed over. No one was ignored.

Everyone Is Loved

Regardless of economic status, religious background or lack of it, history, current life situation, marital status, and you-name-it, everyone is loved. Everyone fits in. Everyone is included.

When one person mentioned an unkind comment that someone had made about the group, no one got upset. After the group discussion, I heard that comment mentioned again and someone added that the person who made the comment did not find what they were looking for at The Refuge. I felt no condemnation, only love, even for the person who had been unkind.

The Arms of Jesus

Have we ever thought that we would like to meet the earthly Jesus in person? When life stinks, wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus could show up in person and give us a big hug, with arms that we could feel wrapped around us?

Jesus does still show up in person with arms to wrap around the lonely, the brokenhearted, the angry, the sick, those struggling with addictions, those who need a helping hand, those who need someone to listen. Sometimes when Jesus shows up in Denver Jesus looks like The Refuge.

Be the Church in Your Community

Be the ChurchWant to be the church in your community but don't know? Here are some posts which not only explain what it means to be the church in your community, but also gives concrete, practical examples of what it looks like and how to be the church whatever you do and wherever you go. Remember, you ARE the church, and wherever you go, Jesus goes with you! If you have questions about how to be the church in your community, please let us know in the comment sections below, and we will try to write a post which answers your question.

Why is there so much blogging dishonesty?

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blogging deceptionI don’t know why, but I am always surprised when I come across blatant lies in Christian blogs.

You know… blogging dishonesty of this sort: “How I went from 2 readers to 20,000 in three weeks, and how you can too!”

That’s a lie.

Sure, it happens. But it is not normal, and there are no “secret rules to becoming a full-time A-list blogger.”

Blogging takes three things: time, dedication, and creativity. Maybe some luck as well.

But one thing is for sure: Anybody who tells you there are secret tips and tricks to blogging is probably trying to sell you something.  Such bloggers are not being honest with you about blogging so that they can make a quick buck off of you. And sadly, there are many Christian bloggers who prey on other Christian bloggers for this very reason.

Blogging Dishonesty 1

I followed one Christian blogger for about three years. He wrote a blog about blogging…. How to set up your blog, and the best blog settings, and how to get readers for your blog, and so on. It was good information, but sometimes, I felt like I was being sold. Then, as I learned more about blogging, and some of the “behind the scenes” tips and tricks of blogging, I noticed he was doing several of these things, but never, ever blogged about them. When I asked him why, he denied that he ever did them, and got very upset when I pointed out to him that it he obviously did do these things.

I do some of these blogging tips and tricks too, and they are not wrong or illegal, but if you have a blog about blogging tips, why not share these tips with other bloggers, and when asked about them, why deny that you do them, when you obviously do? It was strange…

Later, I watched him build a blog from scratch, and boast online about how much traffic it was going to get. It got hardly any traffic for three months. Then he did something to the blog which is… well, “illegal” in the blogging world. It’s not “prison” illegal, but it is an activity that can get you banned from search engines like Google and Bing. He, of course, didn’t announce to anyone what he was doing, but I know enough about blogging to notice what he did. I was shocked that he would do such a thing on his blog, and wondered why he would do it. Sure, it was going to generate him hundreds of thousands of pageviews for a month or two, but then Google would catch on to what he was doing, and would ban him permanently, and the site would then be worthless.

But guess what? As soon as his traffic spiked, he sold lots of expensive ads on his site. He pulled in about $3000 in one month for ads. I thought, “Well, now he is cheating all these advertisers out of their money. They don’t know what all his traffic is fake, but after one month of nobody clicking on their ads, they will figure it out, and he won’t sell any ads next month.”

But after one month, the blogger shut the blog down and called it a “Success!” He then launched a blogging program for $299, so you too can learn to launch a blog which, after only 4 months of operation, pulls in $3000 a month. …Sigh. I now saw his entire plan:

  1. Announce you are going to launch a successful blog.
  2. Launch a non-successful blog.
  3. Participate in questionable blogging activities.
  4. Get lots of fake traffic.
  5. Sell lots of expensive ads.
  6. Shut down the blog to hide what you’ve done.
  7. Announce the experiment a success, and sell your blog training course. By the time your buyers figure out that you must have left something out because your course doesn’t “work,” you will have tens of thousands of dollars in your bank account.

new bloggers every dayA lot of this, I guess, is intended to cash in on all the new bloggers that start a blog every single day.

Blogging Dishonesty 2

Another time I followed a Christian blogger for a while who claimed to have finally found the “secret” to blogging. He also launched a blogging course for aspiring authors and bloggers. It was $297, and promises to show you all the secrets and tricks to blogging.

Now look, I truly think he knows a lot about blogging, and there truly are some tips and ideas which most bloggers overlook. But the truth is that this popular blogger isn’t telling people one super important fact about his blog. One of the things that really launched his blog was that he had a good friend who owns a blog that gets millions of pageviews a month, and this popular blogger spent a few months mentioning and recommending this new blog by his friend.

One secret to becoming a popular blogger, it seems, is to have a friend who is a super popular blogger recommend your blog. But that doesn’t sell, because how many of us are personal friends to popular bloggers? So these inconvenient facts are never mentioned in the expensive “how to become a popular blogger” course.

Blogging Dishonesty 3

Then recently I was surfing the blog of another popular blogger, and he claims to have over 300,000 pageviews a month. He says this on a page where he is selling advertisements for his site. He basically says, “If you buy an add, it will get viewed 300,000 times this month.” But I was just looking at a web stats site last week which tracks actual page views of people’s blogs, and I remember noticing that according to that other site, he only gets about 80,000 pageviews a month. Obviously, one of the two numbers is wrong…

I thought that maybe the other site was wrong, but I checked my site, and it was within 5% accuracy to what I actually receive. So it seems to me that he is either padding his numbers to encourage people to place ads on his site, or, more likely, there was a month once where he got 300,000 pageviews, but that month is not “normal.” A normal month is around 80,000 pageviews. Either way, it seems dishonest to me.

Blogging Honesty

All this got me thinking….

I am by no means a super popular blogger or author, but neither am I completely unknown. In the past month, I have had over 60,000 pageviews. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s still a healthy amount. When I first started, I was lucky to get 100 pageviews a month.

And just so you know I’m not lying, here is the Google Analytics report:

google analytics pageviews

So I want to be completely honest and open with you. Do you have questions about blogging? Do you want to know what I do on this blog or how I do it? I am by no means a blogging expert, and I am still learning new things every single day, but I might be able to answer a few questions if you have them.

And no, there are no courses to buy. If I can help a bit, great! No strings attached. No secret agendas. I just want more people to read your blog.

Did Jesus Learn?

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I taught recently on Luke 2:40-52 and indicated in my message that Jesus learned the Scriptures and learned wisdom just like any human. Just as He grew physically, He also had to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual strength.

That Jesus learned seems pretty clear from verses like Luke 2:40 and 52 where it says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. You can see an old version of a sermon I taught on Luke 2:40-52 here.

Did Jesus learn Scripture from Jewish teachers?

I also pointed out in that message that when Jesus went to Jerusalem at the age of 12 with his parents, He went to the Temple and listened to what was being taught and asked questions (Luke 2:46). Finally, I mentioned Hebrews 5:8 which indicated that Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.

After the study concluded, I had several people challenge me on the idea that Jesus had to learn anything. They argued that since Jesus was God, He knew everything, even from birth, and so didn’t have to learn from His parents, from reading Scripture, or from anybody at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Such an idea shocked me. I have never heard such a thing before. Have you?

Did Jesus Learn?

I asked if Jesus knew how to speak all languages when He was an infant, and was told that yes, He did. He didn’t have to learn how to talk, but that He “hid” His ability until it was normal and natural for a child to speak. They said that His parents didn’t teach Him anything about the Scriptures and that He never had to attend school or a Jewish synagogue to learn how to read or to learn what the Scriptures said. Because He was God in the flesh, He just knew it.

When I pointed out that Luke 2:40 and 52 says that Jesus grew in wisdom, they said that this just meant that Jesus became known for His wisdom, as is indicated in Luke 2:47.

I told them that to me, this sounds a lot like the ancient Gnostic and Docetic heresies which taught that Jesus wasn’t fully human. After all, isn’t learning, growing, and developing in knowledge and wisdom a central element to being human?

If Jesus didn’t have to learn, then isn’t He just like some sort of divine Buddha child that falls out of heaven, who has all wisdom and knowledge from birth? If Jesus didn’t have to learn, then why did Jesus have to wait until He was 30 to begin His ministry? If Jesus didn’t have to learn, then how can He truly understand what it is like to be human?

At one point in our discussion, I said, “Well, it seems logical that if Jesus was fully human, then He had to learn.” Their response was, “I don’t use logic. I just use Scripture.” I just about broke out laughing. It seemed pretty obvious to me that logic was not being used. Ha! One guy also kept saying, “I don’t speculate about Scripture. I just believe what it says.” This is the old “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it” cliche which I wrote about a while back. People like to believe that they are just believing the Bible, but they don’t. I don’t either. We believe what we think the Bible teaches. Some of what we believe is truly what the Bible says, ans some of what we believe is a misunderstanding of what the Bible says. The trick is knowing which is which…

This group also strongly objected to the idea that Jesus might have attended a Jewish synagogue as He was growing up, and also later in life. I pointed out that Luke 4:16 pretty clearly indicates that Jesus had a tradition of attending the synagogue, which probably went back even into His childhood. They said, “Well, even if He did go, He didn’t go to learn anything. Even if you are right that Jesus had to learn, there was nothing He could learn from them.”

“From who?” I asked. “The Jews?”

“Right. Jesus wouldn’t learn anything from Jews.”

“…You do know Jesus was Jewish, right?” I asked.

They responded that they did know this, and we moved on to other topics, but it seemed to me that this was another one of those old mistakes (championed by Marcion who ended up discarding most of the Hebrew Scriptures) where some Christians try to separate Jesus and the apostles from anything Jewish. I believe that such a move causes us to misunderstand most of what Jesus, Paul, and Peter teach. But I digress….

I think Jesus did learn. I think learning is a major element of being human. I think that Scripture pretty clearly indicates that Jesus grew physically, mentally, and spiritually (Luke 2:40, 52). Note that something nearly identical is said of John the Baptist in Luke 1:80. So however a person understand Jesus’ learning (or lack of learning) in Luke 2:40, 52, this same idea must be applied to John in Luke 1:80.

But what do you think? Did Jesus learn? However you answer, what Scriptures and logical arguments would you use to defend your position? 

On a related note, here is a much harder question: If you think Jesus did have to learn, when do you think Jesus knew He was God incarnate? When do you think He realized He was the promised Messiah?

Below is a video where NT Wright addresses this question a bit, and for you scholarly types, here is an article he wrote on the topic: Did Jesus Know He was God? And for you super scholarly types, I recommend Wright’s book, Jesus and Victory of God.

Does Jesus Credit His Good Works to Our Account?

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good worksIt is often taught that Jesus obeyed the law perfectly because we cannot. Then we are told that when we believe in Jesus for eternal life, He give us His righteousness. He has such an infinite supply of righteousness, that He can pour some of it into us so that we also become righteous.

We are told time and time again that by faith, the perfect righteousness of Jesus can be credited to our account.

I am certain that if you searched this blog, you would find that I have written something similar along these lines in numerous places in the past.

But I have recently begun to question the whole idea. There is just something about this “crediting to our account” that doesn’t sit well with me…

So please forgive me if I do a little theological rambling in this post. I am throwing this out there because I am wondering about it, and would like your input. I am not sharing what I believe… I am sharing what I think. Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below!

The Ocean of Good Works from the Past

I recently taught Luke 3:7-14 again. In that passage, John the Baptist tells his Jewish audience to not say, “We have Abraham as our Father” (Luke 3:8). I taught that this was because of how the Jewish people understood themselves as the elect nation of God, as the chosen people of Israel. The idea was that God needed the people of Israel to accomplish His will in the world, and so God would never destroy the Hebrew people, because then He would be stuck.

I went on to argue that some branches of Judaism took this idea to an extreme, saying that some of the forefathers of Israel were such good people, that they had more “good works” than they needed, and so their good works could be credited to the account of later Hebrew people who came up short in personal righteousness. In other words, men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets had created this ocean of good works, or this storehouse of righteousness. And when any Jewish person sinned a little too much, God would cancel out that sin with a little bit of good works from the ocean of righteousness that came from the Israelite forefathers.

Some Christians today may scoff at this idea, but others might say, “Hey, that sounds eerily similar to what we believe and teach in our church!” In fact, one teaching among some Catholics have taught that certain Saints of the past have stored up such great masses of good works, that if we pray to them, or perform some sort of penance, then the Catholic church can “draw on” the good works of the saints of the past and credit them to certain people today.

This idea was one of the things that led Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses and nail them to the church door in Wittenburg. Certain Catholics were selling indulgences, whereby a person could donate a certain amount of money to the Catholic church, and in exchange, the church would credit some good works to that person to cover over their sin. This, of course, led to great abuse, and so Martin Luther wrote up his 95 Theses… and the rest is history.

Protestants  continue to scoff at the idea that giving certain amount of money, or saying certain prayers can credit to our account the righteous good works of any person in the past…. except that…. this is pretty close to exactly what we believe about Jesus.

The Good Works of Jesus Credited to Our Account?

While I don’t know if it is ever stated exactly this way, it sometimes seems that we teach that Jesus kept the law perfectly so that as the only perfect person, He could credit His righteousness to our account.

Doesn’t this sound similar to what was discussed above? That there is this ocean of good works that is available for withdrawals by people who have the proper access codes?

If this view is correct, then it seems that the only real difference between the various theologies is in the source of the ocean of good works. In some theological ideas, the ocean of good works comes from great men and women of the past, either the Israelite forefathers or the Christian saints, whereas in common “Evangelical” theology, the source of good works is Jesus Himself.

If this is the way it is, I don’t really have too much of a problem with it. Everything is centered on Jesus Christ, and all we have comes through Him.

But I just got to wondering….

What if the real issue isn’t good works at all?

What if the primary goal of Jesus was not to store up for us an ocean of good works for us to draw upon, to fill up what is lacking in our holiness, but rather, to show us once and for all that it is not about good works at all?

What if the point of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection was not to give us the “correct” ocean of good works to draw upon, but rather, to show us that God isn’t concerned about our amount of good works?

Let me approach the question another way.

All around the world and throughout time, humankind has thought that God (or the gods) is angry with us. We think we need to appease him (or them) by doing good works. So, for example, a child dies from sickness, and we think, “God is punishing me for something. I probably didn’t thank him enough for the good harvest last year. I need to make God happy again. What can I do? Maybe if I give him my cow, he won’t take my other children or burn my house down.”

This is the basis of ALL religion. Religion is an attempt by humanity to make things right with God. We think God is angry at us for some sort of failure, and if we do something good or heroic or sacrificial, God will be happy with us again. We are not always sure what ticked him off, but the priests and clerics are happy to make suggestions, and the priests and clerics are also happy to make suggestions on what will get us back into God’s good graces (Usually this requires giving things to the priests, which they call “Giving to God.” But I digress…)

You see, one of the central teachings of all religions is this idea that we need a certain level of good works to keep God happy, and if we don’t maintain this level of good works, we either have to start doing better, or obtain the good works from someone else (who does good works for us). If we fail, well, God will squash us like a bug. (Unless we are really wicked and evil, then we seem to get rich, famous, and powerful. But again, I digress…)

If Jesus came to teach that we do actually need good works to get God to love us, then Jesus is actually supporting the central idea of human religion. But over and over and over, Jesus seems to teach the exact opposite. Time and time again, Jesus attacks religion as being contrary to God and actually leading people away from God, into deeper bondage and darkness.

When Jesus came along, it seems that His central message was this: “You have completely misunderstood God! He loves you just as you are! He loves sinners. He forgives sinners. He is gracious and merciful toward sinners. You don’t need more good works or better good works to get on God’s good side; you are already on God’s good side! And I’m here to prove it to you!”

Could it be that our primary problem is not a lack of good works, but simply a failure to truly understand God’s infinite love?

I think so.

The reason God doesn’t want us to sin any  more is NOT because sin gets in the way of His love for us. It is not as if God is saying, “Darn! I really wanted to love you, but you just had that lustful thought, so now I am going to have to give you cancer. And if you keep it up, well, off to eternal suffering in hell with you! But I really wish you had been a better person so I could love you.”

I am sorry, but that view of God seems a bit…. sadistic. Doesn’t it?

I thin it was Anselm who said that God is so holy and takes sin so seriously, that if He told someone to turn right, and they turned left, God would be fully justified to send that disobedient person to hell for all eternity because they turned the wrong way.

Seriously?

Doesn’t this make God more like an egotistical, petulant bully who wants to get his own way no matter what, and when someone crosses him in the least little way, he is going to smack them down so hard they never think of doing it again?

It is no wonder that many people have trouble worshiping a God like this!

Thankfully, one of the reasons Jesus came was to show us that this is NOT what God is like! If Jesus is right, God is not a God of religion.

So…. I Don’t Need Good Works?

Ah…. now we are starting to ask the right questions. I firmly believe that if your theology does not lead you to ask this question, you have really bad theology. If you do not have a theology which causes people to say, “So…. I can just go sin all I want?” then your theology is not strong enough on grace, forgiveness, love, and mercy.

So here’s the thing about good works, grace, and God’s love.

Technically, yes, you can go sin all you want, and God will still love you. Sin and good works have nothing whatsoever to do with God’s love for us. He loves us infinitely and completely, no matter what. We don’t need more good works or better good works for God to love us.

But God does want us to stop sinning. It is true that God hates sin. But He doesn’t hate people. He doesn’t even hate sinners. He loves all people–even sinners.

The reason God (and Jesus) are concerned about sin, is not because sin will lessen God’s love for us. No, God is concerned about sin because He loves us! Sin, you see, has nothing to do with God’s love. Good works have nothing to do with getting back into God’s good graces.

No, the reason God hates sin is because of how much sin damages and harms His children. Sin hurts us! That is why He doesn’t want us to sin! That is why He warns us against sin and pleads with us to turn away from it.

Like any good parent, God love us so much that He does not want to see us get hurt, and nothing hurts us more than sin. Sin brings forth death. It leads to damaged relationships, broken lives, and ruined friendships. It leads to bankruptcy, addiction, and imprisonment. It can lead to bloodshed, horror, war, famine, pestilence, and disease. God loves us so much, He wants to deliver us from all these things, and one way He does this is by pleading with us to turn away from the path we are on, and walk with Him in a life of love, joy, and peace.

And the life of Jesus resembled what a life lived this way looks like. Jesus didn’t do what He did so that He could store up a big ocean of good works to make available to all people who believe in Him. No, Jesus did what He did to show us what God is truly like, and what humanity can also be truly like.

We don’t need more good works to make God love us, and if we have less good works, God will not love us less. The life and ministry of Jesus had nothing to do with His good works or our lack of them.

No, Jesus wanted to show us that God loves us completely, and that the reason God doesn’t want us to sin (especially not to sin religiously, which is how most Christians actually sin… but again, I digress), is because sin hurts us and as a loving Father, God does not want to see us get hurt.

So what do you think? Did Jesus create a big ocean of good works which believers can draw on? Or, as I have suggested above, maybe the life of Jesus had nothing whatsoever to do with good works at all.  Weigh in below!

Biblical Illiteracy is Not a Problem

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OK, OK, despite the title of this post, I fully admit that the vast majority of modern day Christian are biblically illiterate.

Biblical Illiteracy

Most cannot name the books of the Bible or find Scripture verses when asked. Shockingly few know how many apostles there were, or how many plagues, and what the difference is between Noah and Moses, or John the Baptist and John the Apostle. Aside from some of these historical facts of Scripture, the vast majority have no clue about the major teachings of Scripture regarding the Gospel, the atonement, the church, the Trinity, or most of the other central doctrines of the Bible.

But guess what?

Biblical illiteracy is not a problem

I believe that Biblical illiteracy is not a problem. Widespread biblical illiteracy is not that big of a deal to me.

Biblical illiteracy is not a problem. The real problem is that Christians don’t even put into practice the little tiny bit of Scripture knowledge we do have!

As I wrote previously, the entire Bible can be summed up in 24 words:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

The problem is not that people don’t know the Bible. The problem is that we don’t even follow or practice the little bits we do know.

Jesus said that the entire law and prophets were summed up with those words above (cf. Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27-28).

If we do not even attempt to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, or make any attempt to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we do not need more Bible knowledge crammed into our heads.

We don’t need more Bible facts; we just need to get out and put our love of God into practice by showing love to others.

Loving Others

For most of us, this begins at home with showing sacrificial love to our spouse and children. It means giving up our desires and needs to help achieve the hopes and dreams of those in our family.

biblical illiteracy not the problemSomewhere along the way, showing love to others requires that we also show love to our neighbors. It is a tragic reality of most Christians that while we spend hours at church hearing and studying about loving and serving the community, very few followers of Jesus know the names of the people who live in the homes on either side of them, let alone the needs, worries, and concerns that they have about their health, they job, their marriage, their children, or their finances. So along with loving our families, we can also making loving our neighbors a high priority.

I believe that while we are loving others, it is then that God helps bring greater insight and understanding to the Scriptures. It is while we are loving our neighbors that the stories and doctrines and facts about Scripture come to life. It is while we are loving others that the Holy Spirit illuminates our  mind with the meaning, intent, and proper application of  the Bible.

If the church wants to combat the increasing biblical illiteracy of our modern age, the solution is not more teaching, but more loving. 

Welcome New People to the Neighborhood

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One important part of being the church in your community is to welcome new people to the neighborhood. In this post, Sam Riviera reminds us of the importance of welcoming new people, and provides some suggestions for how you can welcome new people to your area.

Have you ever been the new person or family on your block, at church or at work? Did anyone welcome you?

welcome new peopleWhen we moved into our current home several years ago, there were two pastors, one seminary dean, one Christian college professor and one Buddhist who all lived within half a block of us. Which one welcomed us? Of course it was the Buddhist! We eventually had to introduce ourselves to the others.

That experience helped us decide that as followers of Jesus we should be the first ones to welcome new people, whether it be to our neighborhood, our church, our workplace or even social groups to which we belong. But how? How could we welcome people in a non-threatening way that almost everyone would accept?

Welcome New People by Giving them Cookies

One approach we discovered that has never been rejected the many hundreds of times we have used it is a freshly baked, slightly warm plate of cookies. I use this recipe (try them today!):

List of Ingredients

  • One 18.25 ounce box Betty Crocker Yellow (or Butter Recipe Yellow) Super Moist Cake Mix (Absolutely no substitutions – no other brands work the same – You can pick these up on sale for about $1 a box)
  • One stick butter (Again, absolutely no substitutions. Do not use margarine.)
  • 2 large eggs
  • One cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • One cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts)
  • 22 chopped small Heath bars (this is about half a bag) or 11 chopped snack size Heath bars (this is also about half a bag) – This makes about one cup chopped bars
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Chop the nuts and Heath bars. Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly spray two 12 x 17 heavy duty aluminum baking sheets with cooking spray.
Melt butter. Empty box of cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla to melted butter and stir. Add butter and eggs to cake mix and stir until completely mixed. Immediately add chocolate chips, nuts and Heath bars. Stir until completely mixed.

Evenly divide to make twelve cookies per baking sheet. (If you don’t eat half the dough!) Drop by spoonfulls onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly with your hand.

Place cookies on two oven racks near middle of the oven. Bake 8 minutes, then turn pans. Bake five to seven minutes more, until golden brown. Time varies according to your oven.

After you remove the cookies from the oven, cool one to two minutes max on the baking sheet and then loosen with a spatula, or they will stick. Cool the pan a few minutes longer on a wire rack, then remove cookies and place on wax paper to cool.

homemade cookiesWe buy heavy duty plastic dinner plates (the type with no dividers), and place eight to twelve large, fresh cookies on the plate, and then cover it with clear plastic wrap.

My wife and I both go to the new people’s house and knock on their door. When the people answer the door, we say “Hello, we’re the Riviera’s. We want to welcome you to the neighborhood, so we brought you a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies.”

If the people invite us in, we reply, “We know you weren’t expecting us and we weren’t planning to come in.” (Especially if they’re just moving in, their house may be messy, which may embarrass them.) If they insist, we reply, “OK, but we won’t stay long.”

How Can We Help?

When we deliver cookies to a new neighbor we ask if they are new to San Diego. If they are we offer to help if they need to find a new doctor, plumber, or whatever.

We also offer to help them meet their new neighbors, and give them our phone number so they can call us if they have questions about San Diego or the neighborhood.

It’s Never Too Late

Even if your neighbors didn’t just move in, it’s never too late to take a plate of warm cookies to neighbors you don’t know and introduce yourself.

No One Welcomed Us!

Maybe when you moved to a new area, no one welcomed you to the neighborhood. This happens all the time.

You move into a new neighborhood and the neighbors don’t seem to notice.

If this happens, once you’ve unpacked (assuming that doesn’t take years), a warm plate of cookies is a good way to introduce yourselves to your neighbors, even if you’re the new people on the block. Also, asking them about recommended doctors, plummers, electricians, or community events is a good way to get them talking about the neighborhood and the town.

Be the Church in Your Community

Be the ChurchWant to be the church in your community but don't know? Here are some posts which not only explain what it means to be the church in your community, but also gives concrete, practical examples of what it looks like and how to be the church whatever you do and wherever you go. Remember, you ARE the church, and wherever you go, Jesus goes with you! If you have questions about how to be the church in your community, please let us know in the comment sections below, and we will try to write a post which answers your question.

Exegeting the Church Sign

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Exegeting Scripture is the process of digging deep into the individual words and concepts of the Bible in a way that help us understand what Scripture meant to its original audience. Below is an example of exegeting a church sign.

Sadly, I fear the exegesis of this church sign may not be too far from the truth…

exegeting the church sign

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