I’m taking a preaching course this fall with Bryan Chapell. For the last 20 years, he’s been a bit of a guru in the area of Christ-centred preaching. In his book, “Christ-Centered Sermons,” he asks a provocative question. “What is the primary reason that sin has power in our lives?” I wonder how you’d answer that question. I can almost hear people’s answers. “I don’t pray enough.” “I don’t read the Bible enough.” “I don’t try hard enough.” “I’m not disciplined enough.” Do you recognize your own answer yet? In one sense, those answers may be part of the reason why sin has power in our lives, but he argues that the ultimate answer is something else. At the risk of stating the obvious, he says that the ultimate reason that sin has power over us is that we love it. In fact, even if we say that we love Jesus, in the moment that we commit a sin, we love that sin more than we love Jesus.
In one sense the question of whether you should get baptized or not shouldn’t be a question. The fact is that baptism is commanded in Scripture. To ignore a command of God is a rejection of God’s will for your life. If there was anyone who might have been able to say, ‘I don’t think I need to do that,’ it would have been Jesus. When He came to John the Baptist to be baptized, He was refused at first. Understandably, John said that he should be baptized by Jesus instead! But in Matthew 3:15, Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus’ baptism takes away all excuses. Baptism is a non-negotiable for anyone who wants to walk in the will of God. But the Bible actually gives conditions. There are three questions you should ask to see if you’re ready to be baptized.
I believe that God is in control of all things and that includes the pandemic that we’re in right now. That makes me hopeful of His good purposes for all that we’re experiencing. But there is genuine cause for concern as well. When COVID-19 first caused churches to close their doors, there was a lot of optimism and even celebration. Early on in the pandemic, Carey Nieuwhof, announced that church growth had spiked 300% in the month following the shutdown and cited research that showed that 49% of all churches were growing. Church growth soon showed itself to be little more than online church curiosity. Christians were popping around to various churches to see what everyone else was doing.
Like most people, I have spent the last week trying to process my anger and frustration at the murder of George Floyd. Feelings often point to questions but seldom give the answers. And the lack of answers has only compounded the frustration. Why does this keep happening? When will we change? Why can’t we do better? It would be a lot easier if this was just a police problem or an American problem, but viewing another senseless death through those lenses won’t likely get us any closer to an answer. I have to come to terms with the fact that this is my problem.
Numb from the news coverage that fuels more despair than it resolves, last night we watched, The Eye of the Storm, as a family. It’s a 1970s documentary about a third-grade teacher named Jane Elliott who, in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, tried to help her class of white students feel the impact of racism. Then we listened to accounts of people of African descent tell their stories of discrimination. And we prayed. I’m not qualified to speak to all of the changes that need to take place in our society if we are to deal with racism and take Jesus’ command seriously to love our neighbour. But I offer up the following as a sample prayer that I hope will guide our family’s response in the days to come.
While a lot of attention has rightly been focused on the physical dangers of the COVID-19 virus and the economic impact of social distancing, more and more people are discussing its influence on our mental health. Anxiety, stress, fatigue and depression are a reality for many people in the midst of this pandemic. Perhaps you’re feeling some of these symptoms for the first time or maybe you’re finding that COVID-19 has exasperated what you were already feeling. I’d like to share where I believe the Bible intersects with COVID-19 and our mental health.
These are not easy days to be a parent of young children. Having kids home for summer holidays can be difficult enough to plan for, but the COVID-19 school closures were too sudden to allow for planning and there are no camps to send them to or programs to enrol them in. Educators are doing what they can to provide online learning options and, as a church, we’re working to launch an online children’s ministry for our families. But still, many parents see this time as an opportunity to invest in their children’s faith and discipleship and are looking for tools and resources to help. The best place to start is the Bible itself. There’s nothing that can replace reading the Bible to your children and helping them to read it for themselves. You want to make sure that your children’s Bibles are well worn. But as you do that, you may want to supplement the Bible reading. Let me share what I feel are some of the best free materials available right now to encourage your child’s spiritual growth.
Tim Challies recently chronicled, “How the Church Worshipped on One of the Most Unusual Sundays in Church History.” People all around the world were gathered in front of laptops and television screens as preachers spoke into cameras and phones. God’s Word was being proclaimed through YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom. It was a wonderful display of the flexibility and unstoppable power of the church. It was an important start. And if COVID-19 was going to be over in a week or two, that would probably be enough. But there’s more that’s needed if we’re going to ride out this pandemic over the long haul. Let me give some suggestions for how we can be the church in the midst of this global pandemic.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know Michael and Nami of “Mike & Nami +.” They’re thoughtful Christians who have made their mark and their living on Instagram and YouTube. We invited them to speak recently at our church on the theme, “Journey From Online Addiction to Online Business.” They helped me to understand some of the dynamics involved in digital addiction and also some of the factors that can help in a person’s recovery. Their story is one of hope not only because they both radiate vitality and joy, but because they have seen such dramatic change in their lives.
Prayer is often criticized by people who don’t pray. Part of the criticism comes from unbelief and an unwillingness to see value in unseen things. But part of the criticism comes from the perception that people pray as a cop-out. Instead of doing something, they ‘pray about it.’ I think the criticism is well-founded. But the problem isn’t with prayer; it’s with a passive approach to prayer that asks God to adjust His behaviour when we’re not willing to evaluate our own. When we pray, we should ask whether our prayers have legs, in other words, whether we’re willing to do our part and examine our behaviour. Sometimes, God may ask us to be the answer to our prayers. He may also reveal actions and attitudes that are hindering our prayers. Rightly understood, prayer is active, not passive. Consider the way the Bible describes the connection between our prayers and our actions.
I had a friend whose prayers made me uncomfortable. Listening to them praying often made me feel like I had walked in on an argument between two close friends. They’d say things like, “I’m pretty mad at you right now, Lord,” and, “I get so frustrated wondering what on earth you’re doing!” The emotions were raw and unfiltered. There was anger, impatience, sadness and pain. And when there was joy and gratefulness, you knew it was coming from the heart. Their prayers made mine feel very polite and superficial, in comparison. They made me question the depth of my prayers and the freedom I felt in my relationship with God. While this kind of prayer has a time and a place, if we never learn to talk to God honestly about the depths of what we think and feel, then we’ve probably never really learned to pray. There are several reasons that God seems to prefer honest prayers to polite ones.
