While flipping channels I came across one of those count-down shows. You know, top 50 child starts, top 100 80's songs, top 20 sci-fi movies, like that. This ons was about the top 100 hard rock songs. I grew up in a musically eclectic home, my friends growing up each seemed to be into their own style, so I have a certain tolerance level for most kinds of music. But these kinds of shows aren't so much about the topic, it's the stories behind the actors, bands, etc. And like any good story, there is a beginning, there is the success and growth of the character, then there is that magical word; until.

With these bands especially, the "until" were so tragic. I had to watch for a while because this pattern emerged. "The band did well, until (fill in the tragedy here)." The drummer over-dosed on cocaine. The front man died of alcohol poisoning. The bass player died due to complications with AIDS. And the legacy? "Man, those guys could rock." "They were inspiring because they were all about the angst." "They were pure expression." "They were all about (expletive)." "They changed the world."

No question people love these bands. No questions they impacted lives. I'm not trying to devalue what they did. It was just sad to watch the amount of influence these bands had, how that influence was used, and to hear about the "until" moments. People aspire to be like them in every way, to the point of dying like them.

As if these stories weren't sad enough, there were the commercials for the reality shows. Young men and women throwing themselves at each other or some celebrity, competing for attention, fighting over who is the sleaziest sexiest, it's just sad. What I kept thinking was, "That is someone's little girl." "That is someone's son." I wonder what their "until" moment was?

Everyone has an "until" moment. Even Satan had one. "Until iniquity was found in him." We all have one. And it's never too late to do something about it. That is, until death. If they were to include you in a top 100 list show, what would come after "until" in your segment? Something to think about.

Have you ever taken a multiple choice test? Changes are you have. The tests go something like this.

2 + 2 = (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3, or (d) 4.

Sometimes there is an “(e) all or none of the above” but for the moment those aren’t an option. There is only one right answer to this question and it is (d) 4. The other answers are great numbers but they are they are the wrong answers to the question. So far I can’t imagine that anyone would have any trouble with what I’m saying. Just wait, trouble is coming.

Much of our world today is trying to unite the world under the idea “unity in diversity”. In other words, it is our diversity of culture and beliefs that makes us strong. How a world can be strong when it’s citizens believe contradictory things makes no sense to me, but the world wants to have its cake and eat it too. The world wants unity under no one thing, other than the idea that we can have unity with all things being equal. They say, “Don’t force your view on me,” while they force their view on you. Hm. At any rate, my point is that unity in diversity is impossible. Just as there is only one right answer to 2 + 2 there is only one right worldview. But lets take the “diversity approach to this math problem and see what happens.

Imagine you tried to balance your checkbook and you could decide for yourself how math worked. After all, you have your way and other people have their way, and that’s what makes us stronger. Right? At the end of trying to find your bank balance you discover that what you say and what your bank says is very different. Your math says you have much more money than you bank says, and they want their money. In fact, it’s so different, you can’t every repay it. Hm. How can we buy a Coke and sing in harmony about this? The reality is that you can’t both be right. One of you is the authority in the situation, and one of you is not. ”But their can’t be authority. We all have the freedom to do things our own way.“ Really? Are you sure? The reality is that the bank is the authority and they care going to take over your account until you can repay them. You are no longer the authority. You never really were.

This same picture applies to the world’s relationship with God. God is the bank. His math is right. He is the authority. When we do our math our way it doesn’t line up with God’s math and God’s way. One of us is wrong, and it isn’t God. Because we have done things our way we have a debt to God that we can never repay. Never. There really isn’t God way or our way, there is only God’s way. We like to think we have a way, but we don’t. So what do we do about this debt we can never repay? I’m glad you asked.

God wants to set us free from this debt, but it must be paid. This debt cannot simply be erased, it must be paid somehow. That is what God did through Jesus. He paid off the debt for us. Our debt was transfered to Jesus account. We are free! Are we free to continue doing our math our way? Of course not. Why would we when we now know we’ve been doing it wrong all along? We ought to be thankful for this debt payment. We ought to want to work for the Lord with our whole heart and mind. Not to try and pay it back, because that’s impossible. We ought to want to because we love Him, because He first loved us.

Diversity leads to debt and moral bankruptcy. That much is clear as we just watch the news and what’s happening in our own neighborhoods. We need to come and see that there is only One Way. His Way. Jesus.

Job 15:20
Eliphaz, like many Bible teachers and many the believers who follow them, is under the misconception that people who do bad things only and always only have bad things happen to them, while people who are good and "Godly" will only and always ever have good things happen to them.

Really?

What about Jesus? What about Paul? What about all of the Apostles who were martyred and lived under persecution? Sometimes those who live apart from God to reap the consequences. Sometimes they live the life of a king. Sometimes those who live for the Lord endure trials and tribulations which James tells us count all as joy. Sometimes they live in peace, rest, and blessing. But there is no simple one-to-one equation of good gets good, bad gets bad.

When we are experiencing what we perceive to be bad things, we need to ask ourselves if they are the consequences of our own action, or if it is a test from the Lord to build our faith Like He did with Abraham and so many others. When we are experiencing what we perceive to be good things, we need to check ourselves to see if we have a sense of "I earned this, I worked for this" versus "this is a blessing from God, I don't deserve it, thank you Lord."

Habakkuk 2:9-11
Before I throw this out there I want to say that I'm not trying to overly spiritualize these verses. This observation isn't my attempt to communicate the primary point or application of these verses. It's just something that occurred to me as I was reading them. If they are of the Lord and them bless you, awesome.

It seems to me that many Christians, myself included at least one time in my walk with the Lord, have isolated themselves from the world in the name of being holy. There is no question we are called to being set apart. In Deuteronomy God commands his people to "be holy for I am holy." Peter echos this in his epistles to Christians. However, being holy does not mean isolating ourselves in our own little Christian-culture bubble and having nothing whatsoever to do with the world.

Paul addresses the distinction in 1 Americans, er, I mean Corinthians when discussing sexual immorality he tells clarifies for them that when he first told them to avoid sexually immoral people, he meant those within the body of Christ, not those outside in the world. Otherwise there would be no opportunity to witness and lead people to Jesus. The Church has cut off many peoples by letting those who are already "in" in. It has set its nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm, of the world. This is the exact opposite of the example we have from Jesus.

Jesus was set apart from the world, and set apart to God to go into the world and save many people alive. When we cut ourselves off from the world we also forfeit our lives, the abundant lives that Jesus came to give us. If we don't cry out the stones and beams we have built around our selves will. I don't know about you but I'd rather not have a rock sit in for me.

1 Peter 3:15
I love apologetics. I love discussing God's word with believers and non-believers. I think that the (legitimate) ministries that exist to provide a logical, reasoned, and in some cases scientific defense of the faith are fantastic. It's important to always be prepared to make a defense.

But what has been lacking in my own life at times, and what I think is missing in many people who call themselves "apologists" who seem to do nothing but argue about the word, is the whole point of this verse. It isn't about "anyone who asks". It's about "anyone who asks for a reason FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU." Too many of us are the watchmen on the wall with arrows and spears ready to fire and hurl at those who would attack the fortress of our faith, the word of God. Granted Paul calls the word of God the sword of the Spirit, and that Hebrews calls it a double-edged sword. A sword is both an offensive and defensive weapon. Yes, we are in a war, a battle. But that battle isn't against flesh and blood.

The need to give a defense is not the need to clobber our "opponent". The need to give a defense (with gentleness and respect I might add) is because someone else sees hope in us, not because we are an enemy. Too often we make our defense without gentleness, without respect, and without any hope in us. Too often we are almost eager for a fight, ready to show just how wrong someone is, then the reality is that they need Jesus.

Be ready to give an answer, to make a defense. Just make sure it is because your hope is shining brightly as a city set on a hill, a lamp on its lamp stand, a light shining before men that they may glorify your Father in Heaven.

For those of you interested in the teaching notes I've been posting, they are now located with the audio and video links to the individual studies. Head on over to the Multimedia page and browse to the particular book/series you are interested. I'm still updating the library so if what you're looking for isn't there check back later. Better yet, shoot me an email via the contact page and let me know.

The cold weather they are forecasting for this weekend got me thinking. There is an very popular and equally misunderstood passage in Revelation 3 where Jesus tells the Laodiceans that he wishes they were either hot or cold, but because they were luke warm he was going to vomit them out. The popular understanding is that hot is good, cold is bad. That is a very modern interpretation of the meaning and is very wrong. The concepts of being hot or cold spiritually aren't the point and, in fact, are contrary to other parts of scripture. Jesus doesn't say hot is good, cold is bad, luke warm is really bad. The only bad is luke warm. Hot and cold are extremes. His point is that they weren't extreme for the Lord, they were luke warm.

As I was pondering this I came across an article that talked about how President Bush recently said that he doesn't take the Bible literally. It seems the immediate context had to do with creationism and the interpretation of Genesis. Nevertheless the statement raises all kinds of questions in all kinds of arenas. What if he had said that in either of his previous campaigns? Would he have had the backing of the evangelical community? What else in the Bible does he not take literally, and what is his basis for doing so? Is salvation up for grabs? The nature of Jesus? The resurrection of Jesus and those who follow Him?

The solution to all that ailed Laodicea was in Revelation 3:18-19. Understand that all of the imagery Jesus uses in writing to these churches would have made sense to them because it was relevant to their culture. For the purpose of this writing it's enough to understand that they needed a shift from self-dependence to Jesus-dependence. Instead of deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong, how we will interpret various passages in the Bible that make us uncomfy, we need to go to Him. When we rely on ourselves we become luke warm. When we rely on Him we become extreme. The world doesn't like extreme unless it's extreme for the world. But that is what it means to be luke warm from Jesus' perspective.

Be hot and cold. Doctors tell us to put both on various injuries. A hot cup of tea can be a great thing. So can an iced tea. Be extreme for Him. Be extremely His.