Free to Serve

Incarnation and Union with Christ

We celebrate today the birth of Jesus. The Word became flesh. He is God incarnate. It is hard to underestimate the significance of this. Pastor Sinclair Ferguson explains:

By his incarnation the Son of God became one with us, sharing our nature. he came 'made in human likeness' (Phil. 2:7), 'in the likeness of the flesh of sin' (Rom. 8:3). These are difficult words to interpret, but they appear to suggest that in his conception Christ really took hold of our nature in the womb of the virgin Mary, sanctified it through the Spirit, and lived out his life of obedience in the weakness of our flesh. He came truly to brother us, and to be tempted in all points as we are so that he might sympathise with us in our weakness (Heb. 4:15). Furthermore, he established this bridge between God and us in our flesh in order that he might come into contact with our sin, being 'made sin' for us (2 Cor. 5:21). We are united to him by divine covenant and also by divine incarnation. Our union with Christ is therfore based on Christ's union with us.

Merry Christmas!

 

Gripping Prayer for Perspective

From Valley of Vision:

    "Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal with a mind intent on things eternal."

It is our calling as Christians to be aware of our daily responsibilities--work, family, health, pain, car accidents, bonuses, fights with friends, new jobs, dinner, vacation, etc.--while we simultaneously remember that this world is not our home, Jesus is coming back, suffering sin and sickness will one day be gone, and our vision of God will no more be obscured.

Are you looking forward to that day?

 

When Does Faith in God Reach the Front Page of the New York Times?

When a scientist sues a university claiming his faith cost him a prestigious post. The scientist in question is C. Martin Gaskell, astronomer. The post is the lead scientist at an observatory at the University of Kentucky. For a time, Gaskell was the frontrunner for the position. Then someone at UK did some research. Google discovered evidence that Gaskell is an evangelical. The evidence behind the lawsuit is an email from a staffer at UK to the chairman of the physics and astronomy department. According to reporter Mark Oppenheimer, the email expressed concern about his evangelical faith being linked to the science department. 

Read the article about Gaskell's suit here. 

In the meantime, it is worth remembering that being a Christian can be costly. Failing to be hired by UK is hardly equivalent to the type of punishments doled out to Christians who live under Sharia law. Nonetheless the emails and conversations which clearly circulated throughout the UK physics department contribute to a culture that is fine with Christianity if it is observed on Sunday morning but grows hostile if it lived beyond the pew.

 

Do You Ever Have a Hard Time Relating to People?

In it's article listing Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, Person of the Year, Richard Stengel observed that our ancestors may have only known 150 people in their entire lifetime:

Evolutionary biologists suggest there is a correlation between the size of the cerebral neocortex and the number of social relationships a primate species can have. Humans have the largest neocortex and the widest social circle — about 150, according to the scientist Robin Dunbar. Dunbar's number — 150 — also happens to mirror the average number of friends people have on Facebook. Because of airplanes and telephones and now social media, human beings touch the lives of vastly more people than did our ancestors, who might have encountered only 150 people in their lifetime. Now the possibility of connection is accelerating at an extraordinary pace. As the great biologist E.O. Wilson says, "We're in uncharted territory."

From what I read, in the U.S the average church size is less than 185 persons. Could this be because we are inclined to keep our social circles relatively small?

MVBC is much smaller than many churches but clearly larger than most (I think we have around 300 people on Sunday morning). If there is anything to this 150 figure, you can never expect to truly know the majority of people here. Moreover, we are big enough that if you have tensions in one relationship it is fairly easy to leave that relationship behind and find a new one, even within the church. That's not good.

We have the opportunity to touch the lives of so many people. However, we run the risk of becoming an anonymous droplet in a sea of people. To fight that temptation we need to step out and, as Paul told the church in Thessalonica, "warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone" (1 Thess 5:14).

Christians in Iraq

Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times reported yesterday about a wave of violence that is crashing down upon Iraqi Christians. On October 31 a church in Baghdad was attacked killing a total of 53 people. Now, Christians are leaving fleeing. Myers wrote, "many of them in a panicked rush, with only the possessions they could pack in cars."

The first modern massacre of Iraqi Christians took place in 1933, not long after Iraq became a nation. Christians suffered the rest of the century, certainly under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Now, although the Iraqi constitution offers protection to religious minorities, it doesn't seem to matter. According to Myers, in October 2008 over 12,000 Christians left fearing for their lives and in February 2009 another 4,000 left. "More than half of Iraq's Christian community, estimated to number 800,000 to 1.4 million before the American-led invasion in 2003, have already left the country."

Christians in America should not take for granted the freedom to assemble that we enjoy. We must pray that the Gospel will spread even as believers are killed in lands where religious freedom is not defended. This is also a call to repentance on our part. It is too easy to take the Faith lightly when it comes at little to no cost.

Sunday Reflections

The day began at 9:30 when much of the church gathered for a Q&A to discuss elder qualifications. We are in the process of nominating men to serve us as elders. The congregation has an important role to play, recommending men and, ultimately, electing them.

I then preached the second to the last sermon in 1 Thessalonians from 4:13-5:11. The title was "Be Ready" and I asked three questions related to our anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ. First, why should I be ready? Because the end is coming and on that day God's justice and mercy will be finally and forever established. Moreover, on that day, Christians will be with the Lord forever. Second, what if I'm not ready? Paul is clear, those who are not ready will not escape the judgement and wrath of God. Third, how can I be ready? We can be prepared by grasping that Jesus will return any time. But, most importantly, we can be ready by looking at the cross. 5:10, "He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him."

It is the return of Christ that gives us a real sense of urgency. He is going to come and judge the living and the dead. Our lives are to be devoted to preparing ourselves and others for that great day.

At the end of the service, I got to baptize a man who has been professing faith for many years but was only recently converted. This is a reminder that it is not enough to say that Jesus is Lord--we are called to live under his authority. Praise God that the Gospel broke in to our new brother's life.

In the evening we held our annual, "Christmas at Mt. Vernon." This concert is always spectacular. It more sweet and sad with the reminder that our choir director, Dr. Kristine Harris, is moving on to teach and study in New Orleans at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The spoken storyline of the Bible was woven into an evening of music and song--a beautiful thing.

Christians and Addiction

Starting Sunday afternoons in January, I'm going to take a few people through a ten-week course on addiction. It will include some were are personally struggling and others wanting to learn how to help those who are struggling. We will be going through a study called Crossroads: A step-by-step guide away from addiction. By "addiction," the author, Ed Welch means, "temptation, desires run amok, or voluntary slavery." So, those sins that appear to be controlling us are our addiction. Whatever you call it, we all know what it is like to feel out of control.

To get a sense of the wisdom Welch offers, here is a bit of encouragement with which he starts the course:

Your struggle is a common one. Don't begin with the idea that your experience is out of the ordinary. It is, of course, unique--no one completely understands your struggle (not even you). Still, we are all cut from the same cloth. All of us, if we are truly honest, would have to acknowledge a familiarity with that tug of addictions. A lot of wanting is in the human heart. The desire for drugs, alcohol, sex, and food are the more dramatic ones, but they aren't fundamentally different from our cravings for comfort, significance, relationship, money, love, and so on. Try to find one person who has successfully and consistently said no to any of those wants. You won't succeed.

I hope that Mount Vernon will be a place where people who have lots of problems can come and find a home--so long as they are willing to take those problems to the Cross and submit their lives to Christ. This is what this study will be about. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Lord ministers to others and to me.