Theology for Women

My pastor and I have an on-going debate about whether or not the media is lopsidedly liberal. I am convinced that he’s overly paranoid, and he’s convinced that I’m hopelessly naive. This debate will probably never end.

However, I had to concede a point to him this week when I came home to my copy of Newsweek. What I found inside was so absurd that I almost laughed.

On the front cover of the magazine was an article entitled “The Religious Case for Marriage.” Below it was a picture of the Bible with a rainbow bookmark sticking out the bottom. Intrigued, I opened up the publication and began to read.

What I found was some of the sloppiest Scriptural interpretation that I have ever read. It was so off-base and and biased that I’m surprised Newsweek would even publish it as responsible journalism.

If you care to read it yourself, click here.

Now as much as I disagree with the author’s underlying agenda, it is her method that bothers me the most. I have never witnessed such a blatant twisting of Scripture to fit one’s own agenda. Her arguments are so academically hollow that a first semester seminary student with only an introductory level of Greek could easily level her claims.

And that’s not to mention her own self-defeating arguments. She argues that Scripture cannot be trusted for a reliable account of marriage, but then appeals to Scriptural teachings about love to support the practice of gay marriage. So which one is it? Is Scripture a reliable authority, or is it not?

Ok, so I’m clearly really frustrated by this article, but that is not my reason for writing now. As much as I’m really annoyed by the fact that this article does not represent responsible journalism (and I’ll admit it, I am optimistic about the media–I do believe some people in the media are still trying to report the truth, and this was NOT an example of it), I have another motive for posting this blog.

I suspect that this article was more an attempt to generate sales through sensationalism than a sincere stab at serious reporting, but this article nevertheless impresses upon Christians an urgency to know why we believe what we believe. It is not enough to hear an argument like the one in Newsweek and emotionally respond, “That’s not what the Bible says!” You need to know how and why that’s not what the Bible says. You must be able to defend your point. This means studying historical, cultural, linguistic and Scriptural contexts so that you can defend Scripture when someone uses it irresponsibly.

I know that sounds hyper-academic and you’re probably thinking that’s an unrealistic expectation to have for the non-seminary and pastor types, but it’s really not as hard as it sounds. It means that you read Scripture with intention.

Don’t simply read the Bible for daily encouragement, read it to know what it actually says. When you come across a culturally charged term like “homosexual” or “submission,” stop and look at the larger passage. Figure out how it fits into the chapter, the book, and the Bible on the whole. If you have a study Bible, read the footnotes. Try to discern why Scripture warns against certain practices and encourages others, rather than just accepting it as fact. Read Scriptural commands with the same amount of scrutiny that you’d expect from your non-Christian friends.

When you arm yourself with knowledge, you prevent yourself from becoming culturally irrelevant. You keep from forfeiting your right to participate in the discussion. And as women, that is a practice we have long over-looked and under-valued, but we cannot afford to do so any longer. After all, this article was written by a woman.

However, I cannot close without a reminder about presenting your case in love. Not only will it help people to receive your perspective, but it will set you apart–this article came just short of name-calling. She compared religious conservatives to slave owners. We should not sink to that level.

But even more importantly, we must present our perspectives in love because logic often misses the point. More often than not, these arguments are not founded on purely philosophical or logical grounds. They are instead an issue of the heart, something that individuals care deeply about. And therein lies our primary target–people’s hearts. If we are master apologists but terrible at loving people, we will accomplish little. It is the heart, not the mind, that needs changing.

That said, be sure to arm yourself with knowledge, but also arm yourself with love. Combined, we will be able to stand for truth, but we will do it in a language that the world can actually understand.

I prefer to think of myself as a sharp, intuitive young woman who has her wits about her and isn’t easily taken in by scams, jokes or pranks.

I prefer to think that. But I do so in conflict with reality.

In actuality, I am embarrassingly gullible. Let me give you just one example of my most recent display of gullibility.

It was a couple weeks after my birthday when I received the following e-mail. The subject heading read, “Cease and Desist…sayeth the Lord,” and it read as follows:

Dear Sharon,

I don’t know who you think you are, but this is a little creepy. I just registered a website domain www.sheworships.com, and my name is Sharon too. If you want, I’ll sell it to you for $1500. It’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Good luck with your blog and feel free to contact my lawyer concerning any legal issues of your continuing use of my trademarked ministry, She Worships™. His number is 917-270-****. Expect a courier to serve you papers on this issue in the next day or so.

Blessings,
Sharon

Well I didn’t know what this was all about, so I started panicking. My parents were in Canada so I called my brother, Stephen, for advice. He told me I should call the number and just see what the lawyer said. Maybe he would clear everything up?

But that sounded horribly intimidating, so I e-mailed my pastor instead. He serves as my stand-in dad from time to time, so I asked his opinion. But before I even heard back from him I mustered up the courage to call the lawyer and hope for the best. I was literally quaking in my boots as the phone rang.

After a couple of rings a voice picked up on the other line and said, “Hello, Attorney’s Office.” That’s when something first sounded amiss–”Attorney’s Office?” What reputable firm would answer the phone without giving its actual name? So I proceeded to explain my situation, listening a little more critically to the voice on the other line.

Eventually I became more and more certain that I’d heard this voice before. As soon as I was absolutely sure, I said, “Stephen????” At that moment the voice on the other line erupted with laughter. It was my brother. Then I looked at my phone and saw that I was connected to “Stephen’s cell.” I had called his number without even noticing.

Stephen then explained that he had purchased the domain name for my birthday, and thought the e-mail would be a fun way to tell me. He had no idea it would take me that long to figure it out. And while I can look back on the whole thing and laugh, at the time I was very shaken. Even though I was grateful, I was fairly upset with him until I calmed down from the anxiety of it all.

In light of this information, go back and read the e-mail again. That’s how gullible I am.

Now what does any of this have to do with the Christian life? Well I wonder if you know that Scripture openly frowns on my kind of naiveté. It’s not that being gullible is sinful, but the Bible does warn against it. It tells us:

A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. (Prov. 14:15)

There it is–Scripture calling me out on my personality trait. I always thought of my gullibility as a less than desirable attribute, but certainly not a spiritually dangerous quality. This verse, however, has compelled me to rethink that stance.

When I look back on my life, I have made some really bad decisions because I was so foolishly naive. The first thing that comes to mind is my naiveté in relationships–a guy would tell me that he’d “never felt this way about a girl,” or that he would “never let me go.” And while I don’t doubt his sincerity, I didn’t pause to ask whether he could make those statements with any credibility. How did I know he wasn’t simply infatuated? And how could he know that he wanted to be with me forever if we’d only known one another for a couple months?

But this gullibility can play out in other ways as well. Your friends may tell you that certain behaviors are right or wrong, even using Scripture to justify their statements, but that doesn’t mean you should believe them:

“It’s ok to gossip about this person because we care about them and want to help them.”

“It’s ok to spend your money on excessive luxuries as long as your heart isn’t attached to them.”

“It’s ok to go see this Rater R movie, even if it borders on soft porn, because we need to have a pulse on the culture.”

We accept these statements from our friends, never pushing them to see if they actually hold up. And it’s at times like these that we need to remember Proverbs—only the simple believe everything they hear, but a prudent person gives thought to their steps.

So while you might not be as blatantly gullible as I am, ask yourself how often you believe statements about Scripture and the world without giving any thought to their validity. The definition of gullible is “easily deceived or cheated,” so we do well to remember this as we battle an Enemy who is the Father of Lies.

Last night I experienced a true first–I was at a party that got broken up by the police. And of all the people hosting it, it was a party put on by seminary students! Now before you lose all hope in the future ministers of America, let me explain what happened, because it’s not nearly as scandalous as it sounds.

Some of my friends hosted a birthday party at their house for another student, and a ton of my friends were there so it was kind of an elaborate affair. We all got super dressed up, and one of our friends is a DJ, so he provided us with music. Prior to the party, the hosts went outside to make sure the music wouldn’t disturb the neighbors, so while it was quite the birthday bash, it was also very tame–some people danced, but most people just sat around and talked.

Well as the night progressed, the party seemed to be winding down, but I suddenly noticed three policemen walk in the back door. Simultaneously, three other policemen walked in the front. They yanked the plug on the music, pointed flashlights in our eyes, and started giving us the third degree. They warned us that if anyone was drinking underage, or if drugs were present, that we’d all be done for.

We tried to assure them that they’d find neither activity transpiring there, but they didn’t believe us. They got in our faces, treated us like we were already guilty for whatever crimes they assumed we were committing, and didn’t let up. It was actually kind of scary.

As it became increasingly clear that we had done nothing wrong (even the decibel level of the music was not enough for them to write us up), the cops got more desperate. One of them picked up a piece of grass off the floor that someone tracked in with their shoes, and asked us what it was. “Grass, officer?”

Another cop confiscated my friend’s driver’s license, and when he discovered that my friend is required to drive with glasses due to poor vision, be began grilling him about where his glasses were. My friend was wearing contacts.

After awhile, the interrogating became somewhat ridiculous, and we were all getting very annoyed. We hadn’t done anything wrong, but were being treated like criminals.

Eventually the cops ran out of ideas so they left. As soon as they walked out the door, we all burst out laughing–of all the parties to be broken up by the cops, a party of seminary students? We didn’t know whether to laugh it off or feel ashamed.

But the more I reflect on this whole experience, the more I am struck by how perplexed these policemen were. They came into the party expecting to find very specific crimes–they even told our hosts that they were sure to find drugs since “partying and drugs generally go together.” They had no category for us Christians. Clearly the idea of a bunch of twenty-somethings getting together to have fun on a weekend, without the use of drugs or excessive drinking, was beyond their capacity to except. That’s why they KEPT asking us questions and grew increasingly frustrated–we didn’t make sense to them.

No one ever told the cops that we were Christians, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing given how much they seemed to think we were utterly depraved individuals. But I kind of wish we had told them we were believers, because I don’t think they left that house thinking we were bad people. I think that, even if their pride wouldn’t have let them admit it, the policemen knew that they’d jumped the gun on us. They knew they had overreacted. The bullying was merely a mechanism for covering up their embarrassment at treating innocent people so horribly.

But the reason I wish we had told them we were Christians is that this experience reminds me of a specific verse in Scripture. 1 Peter 2:12 reads, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

This verse reminds us of two things. One, people need to know that we’re Christians. If we looks different, but people don’t know why, then we don’t accomplish very much. We therefore need to be open about our faith, and that’s why I wish we had told the cops we were Christians.

But the second thing this verse reminds us is that we should stand out in exceptional ways. We should have gone the extra mile with those policemen, rather than merely defending our innocence. We should have apologized to them if we had done anything wrong, been perfectly compliant, and exceedingly kind. Instead, we largely got defensive. By the time the cops left, we were all pretty ticked off, and it showed.

But as this verse implies, it’s not enough to be innocent of what people may accuse us. Defending ourselves and demanding that we be treated fairly is not an effective means of conveying the Gospel, because even non-Christians do that when they are falsely accused. What non-Christians DON’T do is fall on their swords and love their accuser anyway. We must therefore go beyond innocence, adding to it the practices of unconditional love and good deeds. In this way, Christians will not merely be known as the people who follow the rules, but as the people who love in such a way that is not only disarming, but wonderful.

I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m at a party that gets busted by the cops.

“And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.” –Ezekiel 16:14-15

In general, there are two ways in which a girl’s insecurity will play out. One, she will be shy, she will hide her body, and she will silently hate certain parts of herself, her physical features, her personality, etc. The second way in which her insecurities will play out is that she will do the exact opposite–rather than hide herself, she will overexpose herself, either by dressing immodestly, or being overly flirtatious.

Now one might think that the second behavior is just the opposite of insecurity. If anything, it would seem to emit confidence, not doubt or fear. But on the contrary, this second behavior stems from the exact same source as the first–a lack of trust in God. Rather than trusting in God for value and worth, these girls trust in their beauty.

Before I explain exactly what I mean by the phrase “trust in your beauty,” let me back up for a moment and explain what the above Scripture has to do with the topic of insecurity. When you read it, you probably thought it was a little out there, if not a little harsh. Well, to give you the context for it, the whole of chapter 16 in Ezekiel describes God’s faithfulness to Israel, and Israel’s subsequent unfaithfulness to God. Israel was alone and naked, but God clothed her and made a covenant commitment to her, enrobing her in precious garmens and jewels, cleaning her off so that she was as pure as snow, and making her His. Unfortunately, Israel repaid God by taking those gifts of grace and using them for her own selfish ends. Rather than remembering God’s faithfulness and worshipping Him for it, Israel began to trust in the gift, rather than the Giver. Israel turned those gifts into idols to be worshipped, served, and used to gain glory for herself, rather than God.

Not only is this passage extremely challenging to Christians, since everything God does for Israel is exactly what He does for us, but I find the specific imagery of chapter 16 to be particularly challenging for women. Oftentimes we as women feel tarnished by life, taken advantage of by the people in our lives, worn and ragged and alone. But God chooses us for Himself. He picks us up, cleans us of our dirty past, clothes us in beautiful robes and makes us into precious princesses. He makes us feel desirable and adored. He makes us feel beautiful.

But just like Israel, we begin to trust in our beauty, rather than the God who made us beautiful. And this brings us back to my original point. Almost every woman, at some time or another, is going to trust in her beauty, rather than trusting in God. Now we typically think only those women who are extremely flirtatious or exhibitionist struggle with it, but the temptation is there for all of us. Just because you don’t think you’re a super model doesn’t mean you are innocent of trusting in your beauty.

For some of you, the act of trusting in your own beauty will not display itself until a guy starts to show you attention, perhaps only flirting with you or showing you attention, or perhaps pursuing you in a dating relationship. But no matter the circumstances, there generally comes a point at which every woman is tempted to trust in a guy’s attraction to you, rather than God’s perfect timing for you. There is something exciting and even intoxicating about having a guy show you attention, so rather than sideline that feeling in favor of seeking God’s will and trusting in Him for affirmation, we run with it. We love the fact that a guy finds us attractive, even if his attraction is based on superficial things, so we rely on that feeling to satisfy us. And it is in that moment that we are trusting in our beauty, rather than God.

In this way, we must not deceive ourselves into believing that just because we don’t think of ourselves as “beautiful” doesn’t mean we won’t be tempted to trust in our beauty. In chapter 16 of Ezekiel, beauty is defined as that element that attracts others to Israel and brings glory to herself, so for us, beauty can be thought of as any element of ourselves that attracts people to us. And while beauty can be a very good thing since God is the one who makes us beautiful, we must ask how we are using our beauty. Are we attracting guys for our own selfish ends so that we can boost our own self-confidence, or are we using our beauty for the sake of glorifying God? That is indeed a convicting question for me.

Have you heard about the recent surge in popularity of celery? There is a commercial on tv right now in which a bunch of children are standing around watching one kid swing at a pinata, and when he finally busts it open, a shower of celery rains down on the ground, instead of candy. The interesting part about the commercial is that instead of being disappointed in this prize, the kids all scream “CELERY!!!!” and they run toward it and start grabbing handfuls of it for themselves.

Apparently as a direct result of this commercial, a commercial that is not even for celery, a significantly increasing number of children have been asking for and eating celery. Behold the power of advertising!

Now, I personally hate celery, so I didn’t really believe this story myself until I spent the past week with my 9 year old cousin, and I saw up close and personal how much kids are shaped by what they see on tv. Thanks to products like Yoplait, she now knows all the words to “Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini”, can recount striking details concerning various commercials on tv, and she frequently asks me, “Have you seen the commercial when…?” Contrary to how it might sound, this is not a kid who spends all her time watching tv. Rather, advertising is just that effective. Even after riding in the car with me for an hour, she was able to sing the Christian radio station’s jingle by the end of the day. Kids’ brains are like little sponges soaking up whatever comes their way. And given what’s on tv these days, that is a scary thought.

The reason I think this information is important for us as adults is that we are not immune to the images that we take in through the tv and radio. We are constantly being inundated with messages, and oftentimes they are blatantly un-Christlike, though seemingly innocent. I remember watching a commercial for deodorant, and the actress said something as crazy as “My life isn’t complete without it!” I mean, soft under-arms are important and all, but are they serious??

All of that to say, the commercials we see on tv, hear on the radio, or even look at on interstate billboards are constantly competing with the truth of Christ, because at the heart of every advertisement is the attempt to convince you that your life is somehow incomplete without their product. At their core, they are communicating the message that you need something other than Christ to make you complete.

So after spending the last week with my moldable little cousin, I am again reminded of the importance of consistently reading Scripture. Not only are we constantly being inundated with these advertisements, but we have competing messages coming from friends, family, professors, co-workers, and even ourselves. And if we are that shaped by what comes into our brains, then we need to make sure the majority of what is coming into our brains is truth, not lies. We can only guarantee this happens if we are consistently reading Scripture.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 86:11 which reads “Unite my heart in fear of you.” I think this verse sums up for us exactly what’s going on as we go through each day. From the moment we wake up each morning there are thousands of things competing for our heart and mind, pulling us in different directions, each one promising to be a fulfilling god that completes our lives in the areas in which we fall short. For this reason, we must stay in Scripture and pray to God that He will take these stray pieces of our heart that are being drawn in different directions, and unite them in worship of Him. Only then can we combat the competing messages of this world.

Keep that in mind the next time you flip on the tv and laugh at the Geico cavemen and their mango salsa, or sing along with the Yoplait commercial. Remember just how these advertisements might be shaping your mind, and whether or not it’s shaping you to be like Christ.

Today I want to know your thoughts on something, because I have a question that I am not entirely sure I know how to answer. This morning I was reading through Ezekiel (and fyi, if you ever want a light, encouraging read, Ezekiel is not it), and if you’re not familiar with the book, it is basically a long string of severe judgments against Israel’s unfaithfulness. And I mean severe–it almost hurts me to read it. Over and over again God condemns their unfaithfulness and metes out terrible punishments for their actions. If you want a picture of God’s wrath, this is it–it’s seriously frightening.

But what I found to be interesting about this book is the way in which God concludes His descriptions of these awful judgments. He will describe these gruesome ways in which Israelites will suffer and die, and then He will say, “Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

I find this statement to be quite baffling. Israel is God’s chosen people, so they are the ones through whom God has promised to to bless the world. With that in mind, one would assume that the world will know God is Lord when He causes the Israelites to thrive, not suffer and die. After all, israel lived during a time when a deity’s power was judged by a nation’s prosperity, so if anything, Israel’s suffering would seem to indicate to the world around them that their God was not powerful enough to help them, or that they had no god at all. This statement that the world “would know He is Lord” by Israel’s hardship seems counter-intuitive.

What I think this statement is getting at is that the world will know God is Lord by his justice. God will not sit idly by and let His own people defile His temple and desecrate His name. Oh no, He will be swift to defend His glory. Any nation that crosses God will inevitably lose, and it is for that reasons that, through the punishment of Israel, we know He is truly Lord.

But here’s the question I am left wondering–would God ever do this to the Church? If God would punish Israel, His chosen people, so severely, and we are the New Israel, could a similar forsaking happen to us if the Church were to engage in widespread unfaithfulness? The book of Ezekiel is not written to individuals, but to a group of people, so instead of reading it as warnings against individuals, it seems that in order to be faithful to the context, we must read it as a warning directed agains a group, and more specifically, God’s chosen group, which in today’s context would be the Church.

There are several issues that make this question difficult to answer. The first is distinguishing between the Old Testament and the New Testament withouth making the Old Testament irrelevant. On the one hand, we are the new Israel, so we are the continuation of the promises God made to Abraham. On the other hand, the way God talks about “punishment” in the Old Testament and the New can be very different. In the OT, punishment almost exclusively refers to temporal punishment; in the NT, punishment almost exclusively refers to eternal punishment. What makes this distinction important is Christ–as Christians, Jesus has already suffered our punishment, so for God to punish us even more would indicate that Christ’s sacrifice is somehow incomplete. For this reason the NT speaks of “discipline” for Christians, but not punishment. And with that in mind it would be theologically problematic to read this passage as a warning against God “punishing” the Church, as opposed to disciplining the Church.

A second difficulty in interpreting this passage is how the Church’s identity as the Body of Christ plays in. On the one hand, the Church is composed of millions of fallen individuals, so churches make mistakes all the time that warrant discipline. But on the other hand we must be wary of referring to the Church as being itself fallen. The Body of Christ is not fallen, though members of the Body are. It would therefore seem possible to read this passage as a judgment against individual members of the Church, as opposed to the Church as a whole, unfortunately that is not the context of the passage. It is spreaking to a group, God’s chosen people–they are collectively responsible. To read this passage individualistically would more likely be a reflection of the fact that we don’t understand the concept of corporate sin than it would be an accurate interpretation of the Scripture.

So I am left wondering–how are we to read Ezekiel, and what implications does it have for the Church? I look at the Church in Europe and think that is a good example of what happens when we are unfaithful to God–perhaps God does not smite us, but He takes away our power and effectiveness. But even that conclusion seems to undermine God’s promise to work through the Church as one of His primary means of grace in the world. Then again, in the interest of defending His character, God must show the world that He will impart justice if the Church is doing injustice. Perhaps by severely disciplining the Church when we go astray, God will be declaring to the world that He truly is the Lord.

No matter how we read this passage, I think it serves as some sort of warning for us all, but the question is what kind of warning. Does wrath await the Church that forsakes God, or merely discipline? Would God nearly destroy the Church that is unfaithful for the sake of defending His justice, or do churches naturally die when they stop preaching the Gospel, so God’s wrath is unnecessary? How are we to read this passage in a way that is both faithful to its context and to ours? I am not entirely sure, so I would love to hear your thoughts…

Today I had my very last seminary class EVER! It was definitely bittersweet, but I have to say that I couldn’t have asked for a better one to end on. This class was on the book of Acts, so we spent a large portion of the time reflecting on what we’d learned about Acts throughout the semester. At the end of the class, however, as my professor made his final remarks and drew things to a close, he revealed to us that all semester long he has been teaching us in a manner that runs against the grain of our culture. He explained it to us as follows:

“We are a culture afflicted by clichés and soundbites and modes of communication that work against patient wrestling with the profoundest and deepest matters that we know of. T.V. and internet, by their modes of communication, tend to erase the possibility of dwelling with a question or with a text. And the more you expose yourself to these modes of communication, the more you begin to communicate in these modes. As a result, our capacity to wrestle with a text that doesn’t communicate in clichés and soundbites becomes contracted. And when our modes of communication run counter to the way the text is written, then we inhibit the text itself.”

I think my professor hit the nail on the head with this observation. Just a couple months ago I had the opportunity to hear a Catholic theologian named Richard John Neuhaus give a meditation on love, and it was so moving that I wept at the end. Afterwards, I asked a friend what he thought of the meditation, and he indignantly replied, “I didn’t like it. I mean, where was the take-away? What was I supposed to get out of it?”

The “take-away”–isn’t that what we’re always looking for when we listen to a sermon, read a book, or study Scripture? We want something here and now, a catchy phrase that’s easy to remember and might fit well on a bumper sticker, like, “Let go and let God” or “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” That kind of faith doesn’t require a whole lot of thought or work, but it’s symptomatic of the the consumer culture we live in. Our culture demands its product right away in an easily consumable size, so we’ve domesticated Scripture to that standard. As a result, soundbites and cliches have become our preferred mode for approaching Scripture and all other things spiritual.

The problem is, Scripture wasn’t designed that way. Sure, isolated verses can certainly encourage us when they’re taped to our steering wheel or bathroom mirror. But oftentimes when we take a verse out of its Scriptural context, we do violence to it, because it was meant to be interpreted as part of a larger whole, not standing alone. What’s more, we are often reading Scripture in a way that it was not intended to be read. For instance, Jesus spoke in parables, not easy to digest soundbites, so in order to comprehend what he is talking about, and I mean *really* understand (not come up with a quick answer and move on) we must read the parable over and over and over again, and we must read the Old Testament passages Jesus was alluding to through it, and we must refer back to Jesus’ other sayings that shed light on this one. We must dwell in the Scripture, meditate on it, let it shape us every day. And only then, after it begins to mold our minds into conformity with Christ, do we even *begin* to understand what he was talking about.

But most of us are not patient enough for this. We want to know the answer now. We want the take-away message now. We’re too busy to invest that kind of time. But as a result of this mentality we have missed something. We have missed the reality that we are not the ones who get to consume Scripture–Scripture is to consume us. Scripture is not to submit to our schedule, or convenience, or opinions; we submit to Scripture. And it is only by living in Scripture, dwelling in one passage, studying its cultural context, its relationship to the whole of Scripture, its perspectives on Man, Christ, sin, love, and the world–only then will we begin to approach the tip of the iceberg of its meaning. The depths of Scripture have yet to be measured, and its wisdom is inexhaustible, so we deceive ourselves if we think we can dumb it down to cliches. One cannot plumb the depths of the ocean with a dixie cup.

So while there is indeed a time and a place for practical application and tangible lessons, shake things up a bit by resisting the urge to find an obvious take-away when you read Scripture. If we insist on approaching Scripture superficially, then we will only be superficially formed by Scripture, so we must be patient, and we must wait for it to form us, slowly yet steadily and entirely. The layers of Scripture are llike an infinite onion–the more you peel away, the more you will find, and the treasure is infinitely better than any bumper sticker I have ever seen. So pick a passage, and commit to it for an extended period of time. Memorize it, meditate on it, study it, and internalize it. The longer you do this, the more that it will unfold, and what still amazes me most is that the unfolding will never EVER end. Scripture presents us with an unending journey, so rather than resting contently as you drink from your spiritual sippy cup, it’s time to start acting like a big kid by taking in some solid, meaty theology. It takes some work, but only the meat will leave you feeling truly satisfied.

A couple nights ago I was watching a program that CNN did called “What Would Jesus Really Do?” The premise of the show was very interesting. They brought in all kinds of pastors to weigh in on what Jesus would be doing today if he was on earth. They talked to Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell, and T.D. Jakes, just to name a few. There was also a woman on the panel who pastors a church of 26,000 in Florida. Given that I had never heard of a woman pastoring a mega-church before, I immediately went to her website to check out what she believes. I have to say, I was disappointed. Even though she has clearly been very successful and is a powerful teacher, I was sad to learn that her teaching, as well as that of some of the other panelists on the show, was soft on doctrine. She seemed to be among the ranks of popular pastors today who tell people that God simply wants them to be happy. These church leaders are selling a touchy-feely Gospel for people who only need Jesus to make them feel better…conveniently over-looking the reality that taking up the cross and being crucified with Christ isn’t exactly a feel-good experience.

This kind of preaching is often referred to as “The Prosperity Gospel” since it can be boiled down to the idea that God’s main concern for us is to prosper. But before I get on my soap box, let me be the first to admit that it’s difficult to avoid the pitfalls of such a teaching. In women’s ministry, for instance, there is a great temptation to preach the prosperity Gospel because a lot of women need that message. A lot of women are wounded, and need healing and blessing. A lot of women don’t value themselves, and need to know that God loves them. A lot of women are barely surviving in life, and need to know that God wants them to live abundantly. For that reason, the “prosperity”element of the Gospel is indeed vital to women’s ministry.

Unfortunately, a lot of women, and a lot of Christians, stall out there. Suddently, discipleship and worship of God is not the end goal–me feeling good about myself and having a good life becomes the end goal. But while loving yourself is of course important, these gospels tend to be theologically anemic because they leave out the meat of the one, true Gospel: the cross. Throughout Scripture we see that, while God’s followers are definitely blessed, they also suffer. Jesus himself reminds us that following him means undergoing persecution, so if the gospel you’re preaching somehow leaves that part out, then it’s possible you have departed from the teachings of Jesus. You’re probably closer to the teachings of Oprah.

Suffering for Christ is a truly integral part of being a Christian. Why? For two reasons. First, we live in a sinful world. If your gospel does not involve suffering, then your gospel does not involve earth. Second, enduring suffering for the sake of Christ lends legitimacy to our words. We cannot profess with any kind of authenticity that we follow God “because His love is better than life” (Psalm 63:1), if we are not, in fact, willing to surrender our lives. Take Abraham, for example. The first time that the word “worship” appears in Scripture is right before Abraham goes to sacrifice his son, Isaac. I think it’s so remarkable that this gut-wrenching tale is our first account of worship! But why is worship associated with such a seemingly terrible situation? Because sacrifice is our truest, purest form of worship. When we sacrifice something, especially something dear to us, we attest to the reality that God IS greater than anything on earth. In sacrificing, we are not merely *saying* that God is greater than anything in the universe, but we are demonstrating it. Our actions should should line up with our words, and sacrifice is where we make that happen. It’s what Abraham did when he offered up Isaac, and it’s what we as Christians are also called to do.

For this reason, a gospel defined only by “health and wealth” is not a gospel we find in Scripture. Yes, the Gospel helps us combat the lies and the wounds that the world throws at us, but it also calls us to hardship. Christ was not “happy” or “smiley” when he was on the cross, but he was holy, so let us not forget that element of discipleship.

So when you hear ministers who talk excessively about “blessing” and “success” and “abundant life,” be on your guard, because those are the warnings signs that their theology doens’t go any further than “me, myself and I.” In those gospels, God is domesticated to the form of a psychologist in the sky, but God is not merely here to listen to your problems and make you feel better. He is here to wrench your eyes off of yourself and fix them on Him so that when you do walk through the valley of the shadow of death (and you will), your light will shine in the darkness, and He will be glorified. That’s the Gospel, so don’t settle for any lesser alternatives.

P.S. I would be interested to see what a women’s ministry that calls women to suffer for Christ would even look like….

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. –Romans 12:2

Recently I confronted a friend of mine who, I felt, was conforming her faith to the world. I thought that her friends had swayed her too greatly, that she was not no longer seeking holiness, but rather a lifestyle in which she could call herself a Christian, meanwhile living according to culture’s accepted standards. She agreed with me to some extent, but argued that her faith looks different to me because I live in the “Bible belt” where I am still sheltered. She, on the other hand, lives in a place where Christianity looks completely different. There was a nuance of resignation as she explained, “…but the more I get to know people, they’re just more concerned with their heart than they are their actions. Which doesn’t excuse them, it’s just that they totally think that messing up, screwing up, sinning, whatever you want to call it, is just part of life…” And so, my friend adapted to this line of thinking.

My first reaction to her response was sheer frustration. She had said her friends were more focused on their hearts than their actions, but Scripture tells us that our actions are an overflow of the heart. If your actions are falling short of God’s standard, they’re merely a reflection of the extent to which God has control over your heart.

And that is what I wanted to tell her—but I couldn’t. Every time I sat down to write her back, I couldn’t think of anything to say. I had many an eloquent thought concerning holiness, and grace, and passion, but every time I attempted to put it down, I looked inward and asked, “Does my life lend credibility to this argument?” The answer was of course “no.” I couldn’t tell her to shed her luke-warm Christianity and start living a life sold out for Christ, because I had not done so myself…

Ephesians tells us to avoid coarse joking, but I constantly employ sarcasm. The parable of the widow’s mite tells us to give sacrificially, but I still have enough money to drive an SUV and pay for the gas it wastes. Jesus tells us to forgive seventy times seven times, but how often I have held a grudge because I “deserved to be treated better.” And let’s not even get started on my road rage. The sins of greed, jealousy, pride, and gossip are all listed next to murder and God-haters, yet we only see the last two as being truly bad. The first four are much more acceptable by society’s standards. Yet is this what God desires of us?

Most of Paul’s letters were written to churches battling the prevailing moral standards of their time. The church of Corinth had been influenced by sexual immorality, the church in Ephesus was influenced by pagan religions, and the church of Galatia had been corrupted by false prophets. No church was immune to its culture’s practices, which is why Paul teaches the Romans, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Paul is teaching us to be set apart. We will have zero credibility in today’s moral debates if the rest of our lives look exactly like the world’s. We have turned into buffet style Christians, picking and choosing from Scripture that suits our already comfortable lives. Yet the Bible is not a self-help book; it is a God glorifying, Lord magnifying, Christ exalting, “me” minimizing, divine work of supernatural revelation. The way we pick and choose from the Bible merely reflects our true sentiments on its authority. Yes, it is about the heart, but a heart wildly on fire for the Lord cannot be hidden. It should stand out!

So where does your heart stand? Is God truly the Ruler of your life, or just parts of it? In a world where we are combating moral relativism, we cannot afford to be relativists ourselves. But more importantly, we will never win hearts to Christ if Christ has not conquered ours. Is your life proof of this faith you profess?

He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. –Proverbs 27:7

What an insightful picture of the fallen world before us! This simple verse describes the desperate state in which our lost brothers and sisters find themselves. We live in a world in which people are so lost and so alone, so hungry for truth, that they are grasping at straws, looking for anything that will satisfy their longings. They turn to money, success, sex and drugs, and to a spiritually starving person, these things all taste sweet…at first. But eventually they will be revealed to be the bitter and empty promises that they really are. They promise to fill, but they only leave one hungrier than they were before. God has placed an infinitely large hole in our hearts that can only be filled by an infinitely large God, so as long as we keep throwing finite objects into the hole, it will never be filled. And soon, we will find ourselves a slave to that endeavor. As we become more and more desperate for fullness, we grasp more and more frantically at bitter foods to quench our hunger. And the more that these bitter foods fail us, the more hopeless we become. What a wretched state for humanity!
But there is an alternative to this desperate state, and that is the prospect of being genuinely filled. God can fill that infinitely large hole in our hearts, and the frantic searching will end. In fact, those bitter foods that tempted us before will no longer look so appealing. What’s more, we won’t even be tempted to fill ourselves with the truly sweet things of this world, such a marriage and family. Although these things are good, they are nothing but honey when it comes to our spiritual nourishment. Honey is truly sweet, but it is no true sustenance. No one can live off of honey alone. So while we may partake of honey as a reflection of the sweetness of God, we cannot mistake it for our true sustenance—the bread of heaven. Those of us who live in Christ should loathe honey when it is substituted for our true, spiritual nourishment. We can see it for the empty nourishment that it is.
One who rests in Christ needs neither the bitter nor the sweet things of this world. We can certainly enjoy the sweet things if we remember they are merely a reflection of God’s love for us, but we should never depend on them for life. When it comes to renewing our souls, both honey and brackish water are one in the same—bitter and empty. That is what it means to be full in Christ—we want for nothing more than that which He provides. It is more than enough.