Math That Doesn't Add Up

If a baseball player hits .250 all season and goes 1 for 4 in the last game, it is highly suspect if the league announces his average as .300. That is a fact.

But then, maybe some of his outs could be disregarded in order tho help him look better. If he finished the season 150 for 600 (.250) and the league took away 100 of his outs, he would be 150 for 500 (.300) and would be among the top hitters in the league and perhaps able to negotiate a nice raise on his next contract.

Now for the unemployment numbers...

No Stinking Gimmicks, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled "No Stinking Gimmicks," which referenced a sermon by our pastor. He recently hit some of the very same points as he has continued through the book of Acts. Even though he did not use the words "stinking gimmicks" in this sermon, he nevertheless very strongly reinforced what he said in the previous one. He emphasized repeatedly the tremendous truth that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not our human efforts and cleverness that brings sinners to salvation.

Following are a number of direct quotes:

... Jesus is the one who who was raised up from the dead and is now ascended ... Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again, and this is the simplicity of the Gospel message. He died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again, and all of that is according to the Scriptures ... it is that simple message.

Now friends, there's nothing innovative, there's nothing new, there's nothing fresh, there's nothing hip, there's no better way we can proclaim it. We simply proclaim this message. Now God has given to us a message that transcends culture, transcends time, transcends language. This is the message of Jesus:  His death, His burial, His resurrection. It is not an American message that we take to the ends of the earth. It is God's message that we simply proclaim.

...I get so tired of all these new-fangled theologians, new-fangled seminaries, new-fangled missiologists, who think that they have figured out how we're going to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come up with some new, innovative, fresh ideas ... Baloney! Jesus Christ dead, buried, and risen again is the only hope for people to come to salvation and eternal life, and it's this message that saves people from their sins. This helps and encourages me, because it's not my innovation, my fresh ideas, my creativity. It's not even by my power or by my passion. It's by the message of Jesus Christ that people get saved.

... We don't have to come up with some new way to do church so that we can have young people and the next generation ... All around me I have people who are saying, "If we don't change the way we're doing things, we're going to lose the coming generation." BALONEY! You reach that generation by preaching Jesus dead, buried and risen again. He is the message of our hope!

...It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, what culture you are from. It doesn't matter what language you speak. It's not about our innovation and creativity. It's about the message of Jesus who died, was buried, and He rose again. Jesus is the one who saves people from their sin.

Based on this wonderful, glorious message, the message that we go and proclaim ... Forgiveness has always been by grace ... Justification has always been by faith ... None of the law can justify you ...

... There is no way we can innovate, create, improve. There is nothing we can do to enhance and make the message better ... it is a sufficient message right now just the way it is.

... I have been direct and honest with you, and I have told you that Grace Bible Church is not ever going to be the hippest, coolest place in town. Matter of fact, we are so unhip and uncool that I am doing everything I can to hide any kind of technology ... If you can come into this sanctuary and not find a big screen ... if you have to look around and ask yourself, "Where is that projection coming from?" then I've accomplished my purpose, because I don't want to be the hippest, coolest place in town with all the new-fangled things and contraptions ... I'm not trying to be hip and cool, and I'm not trying to be innovative, and I'm not trying to think, "Hey, if we want to reach the college students, we've got to do something cool. Let's draw them in. Take off my tie." NO!...

This place is about one thing - faithfulness to the message God has granted to us, because this message is the only message that can turn people from darkness to light ... As boring as we are, we simply want to be faithful ... We just proclaim Jesus dead, buried, risen.

I praise the Lord for giving our church a pastor who is true to the Word of God and who gives God all the glory. If you are ever in Colorado Springs, come and visit Grace Bible Church. You won't be disappointed.

Entitlement

By My Anonymous Friend

 

One of the values that describe much of today's western culture is embodied in the word entitlement. It involves the notion that one has a right to a benefit or a certain reward. More and more legislation establishes these rights and citizens expect or assume they deserve them. It can be debated whether such a thing as government provided health insurance for example, is indeed a right. I find that Canadians who for years have lived with government controlled health care, generally regard it as a right. Many Americans who have a stronger tradition of free enterprise, do not. I am not writing today to advance that argument one way or the other. Instead I wish to share with you how I observed this kind of thinking at an entirely different level.

 

We have a family member who is a college football coach. This past week he made a very difficult decision in the middle of a game to replace the starting quarterback. The replacement quarterback came into the game at half time and in the end helped his team to a victory. Not too long after the game, emails and text messages began to come to several members of the coaching staff. Both parents of the quarterback who was benched chimed in, understandably not happy at all. The mother of this young man even emailed the wife of the head coach and complained bitterly about what she perceived as gross injustice. Fortunately before the day was over some apologies were extended.

 

I was very surprised to learn of this. It is not uncommon for parents of high school athletes to give unwanted advice to a coaching staff but this matter involves college students. It seemed very inappropriate for the parents to complain, especially to the wife of the head coach. But I believe this is part of entitlement thinking. Of course, some of the anxiety came because any parent thinks his or her child is the greatest and most capable athlete, scholar, citizen, worker, potential world leader, etc. But part of what happened here is that the parents believed their son was entitled to be quarterback because of certain alleged promises made when he was recruited and simply because he had been in this position for the first several games of the season.

 

This kind of thinking is why many excellent teachers leave the profession. Teachers do not get support from the parents of students. Instead the parents if they care at all, tend to take the side of the students and defend or excuse their lack of performance, etc. It is very discouraging to a teacher. Parental biases and misguided or inflated assumptions about their genius or super gifted children, make it very difficult for a teacher to find cooperation between school and home.

 

It is no wonder that students grow up with the idea that things should be handed to them. Our daughter who works in student life at a private university observes the same phenomenon. In her ten years of work she believes this entitlement kind of thinking has risen sharply.

 

Entitlement thinking then logically extends to society too. Once a person begins to benefit from the government "trough" of provisions and handouts, he begins to expect it. Politicians know how to offer anything and everything to citizens in order to get their votes. More than ever before this is the issue in the upcoming American election. One side believes that government provides jobs, financial success and prosperity, while the other side advocates the more traditional theory of hard work, enterprise and risk.

 

My own view is that when entitlement mentality really takes root, the result is what we see today in various European countries. Early retirement is seen as a right. The very mention of bumping up the retirement age even slightly, results in mass rioting. People do not realize the truth of Margaret Thatcher's statement that the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money! When entitlement minded people are asked where the money handed to them is to come from, they really do not know, and apparently do not seem to care either. Such thinking is absurd and cannot be sustained.

 

But, there is a legitimate place for social concern and support for those who are in need. How can this be addressed? My own conviction is that the role of government should be diminished and the role of the family, the church, and local communities needs to be expanded. Historically this is how western society functioned. How many hospitals even to this day have biblical names? It is because Roman Catholics or Protestants helped them to get started. Many universities began as church sponsored institutions. Relief and social concerns were addressed by churches, not governments. Slowly this has changed. As homes and families become increasingly fractured and dysfunctional, government has stepped in. I believe in part it is because more effective local controls have passed the buck so to speak, and we have become all too willing to let government programs take over. The more centralized any program becomes, the likelihood of inefficiency, abuse and fraud rises. We have ample evidence of this everywhere today. I sometimes ask people who advocate for more government control to show where a government program has performed with efficiency, financial responsibility, and timeliness. Examples of this are hard to come by.

 

So what is a person of faith to do? This is not an easy question. It is surely not entirely an either/or matter. My sense is that the pendulum is swinging far too much in the direction of entitlement thinking brought about by government programs that are easy to access and abuse. But how can families take on more responsibility for needy kin? How can the church do a better job of caring for the needy in its community? What should you or I do individually to address the needs of the homeless, the unemployed, or the addicted? What do you think?

Voter Suppression or Fraud Suppression?

The ongoing debate about voter ID laws is really beginning to stretch the limits of common sense. (I know I am already into strange territory, since common sense often seems to be totally out of place in the political arena.)

 

Those who favor voter ID laws say such laws are necessary to stop voter fraud. Those who oppose the laws say they are only defending voter rights and that the laws are really designed to prevent minorities from voting.

 

The claim is often heard that any requirement to get an ID is discriminatory and is a tremendous hardship on certain groups of people. The counter-argument to that is that an ID is required to drive a car, cash a check, rent a DVD, buy alcohol, and a multitude of other things.

 

A congressman recently said during a panel discussion that the arguments in favor of voter ID laws are not valid because driving a car is not a fundamental right like voting. The congressman's argument is bogus and cannot be taken seriously. Those who claim that voting is a "fundamental right" conveniently leave off a couple of words. It would be correct to say "voting is a fundamental right of citizens." If voting is a right of citizens, then it logically follows that citizenship must be proven in some way, and a picture ID is the common sense way to accomplish this. (Again, "logic" and "common sense" are not always used in political thinking.)

 

Generally speaking, those who favor voter ID laws do so in order to insure fair elections. Do such people want to suppress the vote? In one way, the answer is "yes," because they want to suppress the votes of dead people, fictitious people, cartoon characters, non-citizens, multiple votes by the same person, etc. Such votes absolutely should be suppressed in order to prevent election fiascos such as ending up with more votes than voters and with the last few hundred ballots conveniently discovered in the trunk of someone's car during a recount.

 

While there may be some who oppose voter ID laws for what they may see as noble reasons, it is hard not to believe that the general motive is to find a way to cheat in order to win elections. Someone who truly believes in fair elections will want one vote for each eligible voter. It is interesting that often those who say, "We just want everyone to vote and every vote to be counted" are those who do everything they can to suppress the votes of our military members serving in harm's way. Maybe that is just a tad hypocritical.

 

It is a great privilege to live in a country where we are allowed to vote. So many people in this world do not have such a privilege. We need to treat our voting rights with respect and insure that only those who are truly eligible to vote do so.

 

Why do we have outright lies during campaigns and voter fraud during elections? The Scriptures answer this question for us in a very pointed way. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV).

No Political Solutions for Spiritual Problems

The presidential election is coming very soon. Every election is important, but this one seems to be of much greater significance than most, because there are two very clear directions in front of us as we go to the polls. Christians must examine the issues and party platforms, and we must be very careful not to vote for those who stand on unbiblical grounds, no matter how much we may like some small portion of what a party stands for. Self-interest must be put aside for the greater good. However things turn out, it is imperative that we not be accomplices to helping unrighteousness prevail. We only answer for what we do, not for what others may do.

 

Even though we must meet our obligations as temporary citizens here and must stand for right, we must also remember that the major problem in our nation has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. The problem with the United States is not political; it is spiritual, and there are no political solutions for spiritual problems. As a country, we have turned our collective backs on righteousness and truth. Scripture describes us well. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!" (Isaiah 5:20-23, NKJV).

 

No human effort, including politics, can offer a real solution to spiritual problems. Changing laws and policies can put a temporary bandage on the problem, but these things are not long-term solutions. Laws and policies, not matter how well-intentioned and how popular, can be changed back as soon as a new group of politicians gets into power. All noble-sounding human efforts to help people are doomed to fail and result in even greater problems and corruption, because they do not attack the root of the problem but only treat the symptoms.

 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).

 

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NKJV).

 

King Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as something really important, but his judgment came on him because of his arrogance, and he was told it would last "...until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses." (Daniel 4:32, NKJV).

 

God is in control of all things, and He does what pleases Him.

 

"But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3, NKJV).

 

"For I know that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places" (Psalm 135:5-6, NKJV).

 

Our hope is in Him, not in politicians and government. Sometimes godly leaders are in power, and a nation prospers and is blessed. Other times, ungodly leaders are used as God's judgment on a nation. Sometimes God allows people to make very poor choices and then live with the consequences. Maybe that is where the United States is headed. Obviously, we all want things to come out in a way that pleases us. That may or may not happen. However, we can rest assured that nothing happens without God's permission, and ultimately, all things do work out for the good of His people.

Hebrews 5:12-6:12

In a previous post, I mentioned a sermon our pastor preached on Hebrews 5:12-6:12. It is now online here and is very much worth your time.

He Died Because of Me

Why did our Savior die in our place? Why did the One who created heaven and earth stoop to become a man, live in poverty, and die the death of a criminal? He most certainly did not have to do that. No one compelled Him to make such a sacrifice. So why did He do it?

 

At the basic level, it is very difficult to deal with any question which has the word "why" and the name "God" in it. That is because it is impossible for us, in our limited nature, to understand the "why?" of Deity. The best possible answer to such a question is this:  "Because it pleased Him to do so."

 

Moving on from there, as concerning why He died for us, we must remember the great love of God. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (Ephesians 2:4-5, NKJV). God loves us, not because we are loveable, but because it is His nature to do so.

 

Jesus Christ did not just die for me. He died because of me. He took what I deserved. Now I get what He deserves.

 

He died because of me. He died because of you. I put Him on that cross, and you put Him on that cross, just as certainly as if we had physically been there and personally driven the nails. My sin crucified Him, and because of that, I have forgiveness. "...having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14, NKJV).