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Pastor's Window
A look at life and ministry.

The Message

  06/05/12 10:58, by , Categories: Church Life, Politics, Living Life, Theology Lived

Jesus did not come to establish a moral code or to try to transform society based on a moral code.  In fact, you could argue that Christianity is not about a moral code.

Those two statements might sound odd and I guess you could have some fun debating them based on how you defined your terms, but here is my point.  When we reduce Christianity and Christ to a moral code we return to a law type of standing and encourage people to try to redeem themselves based on acts of righteousness.  Whatever parts of the Bible you are using to supply the standards that you want people to live up to, you are still focusing on human effort.

The message of Christians and therefore the church needs to be very simply, "God made Him who knew no sin, sin, so we might become the righteousness of God."  We need to proclaim again and again that each and every one of us need, daily, constantly, the mercy and grace of Jesus, accessed through the acceptance of His death on the cross on our behalf.  To turn to Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior.    Any other message that obscures or replaces this runs counter to what we are here to do.

We can rail against whichever sin you really hate.  Gay marriage or homosexuality in general, smoking, drinking, drugs, texting while driving, gambling, voting democrat, voting republican, not voting, talking during the movie, using guns, gun control, immigration, wall street.   In each case, there is a case to be made, but it isn't the primary issue or the greatest need of our country nor of the people doing those things.

People need Jesus.  They need to know that He loves them, that He died for them, and that they desperately need His forgiveness and mercy.  When we focus on the cross, sin will come up, but we won't single out certain sins but instead reiterate that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  There is not one sinner whose need for Christ is less than anothers and when we give that impression we are muddying what should be a very clear message.

God loves you

You need God

You're a sinner (just like me).

God made Him who did not even know sin to become sin so that we might (if we accept His substitutional sacrifice) become righteousness.

 

Note: After writing this, I read Nate's blog from yesterday and then watched the video he referenced.  It is amazing and deserves to be reposted here.  Thanks Nate for bringing this to my attention.  It goes to show the power of focusing, not on fighting a war, but on proclaiming the Gospel!

[video:youtube:ZhG-tkQ_Q2w]
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Too Full

  06/04/12 23:13, by , Categories: Stray Thoughts, My Life

Lately I have been struggling with too much of a good thing.  This blog post is one attempt to deal with some of that.  I'm sure there is some facinating psychiatry behind the phenomenom but basically I keep getting stuck because I have too many thoughts of what I need/want to do.  I am eager to do blog posts but lately I have been stuck with a sort of reverse writers block.  There are so many things that I have ideas about and want to write about that I have trouble settling down on any one idea.  That goes with several projects and tasks that are filling my life right now.  There are many things that I want and/or need to get done and trying to chose which one to do first can end up stopping me from getting any of them started.  This can be a little frustrating.   I know that the solution is to just do one.  So....I'll just do one....as soon as I pick which one I want to do.  Ugh!  Here we go again.

This blog post is the start of trying to move one particular log jam.  If I can't figure out which subject to write about first, I'll write about the process of trying to decide.  Then, at least, I will have written something and hopefully got the whole process moving.   There are many things I need and want to accomplish in the next couple of weeks as the arrival of the baby draws ever nearer.  I really can't afford to get stuck in indecision!

Just thought you might enjoy a window into my particular version of insanity today.  :)

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Life or Something Like It

  05/29/12 10:48, by , Categories: Living Life, Theology Lived

Holiday's over, back to work.  Here at the Hall house yesterday, we had a great memorial day.  Even though #2's birthday isn't until next week, we held the party for him yesterday since that was the best time to get everyone together.  We had part of the family here and had a really good time.  My #3 went home with Nana to spend a few days having special time with his grandmother.  Today it is dark and rumbly outside and inside I am back to trying to get things done.

One of my daily routines is to check Facebook.  Since I use it for communication a lot, I have to check to see if I have any messages, but I have to confess that I also check my feed just to see what is going on out there.  I also have to confess that sometimes I can get rather discouraged checking my feed.  A lot of life passes through my feed as so many of us put our lives out onto facebook.  You can see what people are doing, feeling, and thinking at any moment.  Whether this window into our lives or souls is a good or a bad thing is irrelevant to me today.  My point is just that you can see a lot of what is going on in people's lives, what is important to them, and how they approach life.

I had a great time with my family yesterday.  I miss #3.  I am really glad he is getting time with Nana, but I miss him today.  I like having him around.  When I am away from my family, I think about them a lot and I look forward to seeing them again.  Yesterday I really missed my Dad a lot.  It was sad to not have him with us for a family time.

It sometimes seems, as I watch lives unfurl across facebook, that Jesus has been absent but umissed in some lives.  I don't mean those among my FB friends who have never professed any belief or commitment to Christ.  Obviously they are not going to talk about or display an awareness of Christ when they don't even believe in Him.  What saddens my heart is the number of people who have declared such a commitment and profess such an awareness, but don't seem to actually have a regular awareness of Him.   Not only is He never mentioned, but what is mentioned is often totally at odds with a life lived in His light.  It is almost as if God is good, but this life is better and we live lives of the world, not concerning ourselves with Him.  Like if I didn't miss my family when they were away.  If I'm not really in a deep love relationship with them, if I'm not used to spending regular time with them, then it would be easy to not miss them.

Is Jesus easy for you to miss?  Can you go days and not even feel the pang of not talking to Him and reading His Word.  Can you remember the last time you really connected with Him?  Was it more than a day ago?  More than a week?  Do you have regular and intimate contact with the rest of the the Body of Christ, the church?  This is not about being a good person or doing and not doing what you should and should not do.  This is not about being a "good person."   That kind of thining will often lead you to do good things without connecting to or missing Christ.

Christians are sometimes fond of saying "Its a relationship, not a religion" but I see a lot of Christians who don't seem very deeply connected to any relationship.  That makes me sad.  It also reminds me to make sure that I invest in my love relationships, starting with Jesus.

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Church Fight

  05/23/12 23:53, by , Categories: Church Life, Theology Lived

I don't know if you have seen the item in the news lately where a church is suing a woman for $500,000 for defamation.  The woman created a blog and posted comments on Google reviews that were critical of the church after she was allegedly shunned by the church which she says is led by a very controlling pastor.  I have looked at her blog and read what she has to say.  I have a few thoughts on the matter.

First, it is plain that this is what I would characterize as a very conservative church.  It subscribes to the idea not merely of male led leadership, but male dominated leadership.  According to her, teaching (at a woman's retreat) included guidance on even what colors a woman should wear.  The practice of shunning someone who is on the "outs" for whatever reason is also more common in highly conservative, legalistic circles.  The fact that the church has chosen to deal with this woman by levying such a massive lawsuit does seem to lend credence to the idea that there is a certain harshness at work.

Second, I have some concerns about the response.  While not defending practices that can be hurtful, it is important to remember that there is never a good reason for a bad reaction.   We are not called to love our enemies only when our enemies are nice to us.  We are not called to be careful in how we speak only when speaking about nice things.  I believe it is appropriate to state concern and warning to others about a church that may be hurting people, but this must be done while trying assiduously to avoid attack and blame.  People, even pastors, who are caught up in this sort of thing don't need to be attacked, they need to be called and shown to the loving, forgiving Savior.  There is nothing wrong with being culturally conservative, and such standards should not be held up to ridicule.  You can questions such standards being used as measures of how "good" a Christian someone is without attacking what may be a very legitimate desire to "keep oneself unstained by the world."   My wife and I are more conservative in dress and culture than other Christians.  We have some strong stands on this and have even tried to encourage others in this regard.  We have tried not to use our standards to judge others and would not enjoy being attacked or ridiculed because we are more conservative.  Judging goes both ways and sometimes we find a certain joy and satisfaction in being very judgmental about very judgmental people.   Its ironic, and I think still wrong.

I won't take this blog post today to talk about what I think is the proper way to deal with those who need discipline in the church.  The Bible is very clear on this point and we can talk about that another time.  Suffice to say, love is still a central theme of the Gospel and the Bible does clearly state that it is inappropriate for Christians to take each other to court.  That is not a matter that needs parsing or interpreting, it is clear Scripture.  When this church chose to take a matter of the Kingdom before authorities of this world, they wandered right out of the Bible.  It is rather sad.

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My Politics vs. My Faith

  05/22/12 23:57, by , Categories: Church Life, Politics, Theology Lived

The church of America is generally pretty politically active.  We have the Christian Civic League, Council's of Churches and other organizations.  This is not always a bad thing as it is good to be involved in our society.  I am concerned however for the direction things seem to be going.

Our defining message, our whole reason for being, has to do with redeeming souls, not cultures or governments.  It often seems to be that we have replaced the message of reconciliation with God through the shed blood of Jesus, with a cultural redemption based on the combatting of sin.  We rail against sins we see as a threat to our way of life and declare that God is going to judgeour country for these sins.  Well, sort of.  God is coming back and He is going to judge the whole world for its sins.  The fact that there is sin in America is neither new nor surprising.  That those sins are becoming more visible and some have government permission doesn't really change much.

Our culture is in trouble because it does not know God, not because it sins.  It sins because it does not know God.  Whether these sins are socially acceptable or are gaining social acceptability does not change how God sees them.  The whole human race is full of sin.  The Westboro Baptist people celebrate deaths of Americans saying that God is judging America for its acceptance of homosexuality.  I know Christians who, while far from so callous as to do that, still believe that America risks God's judgment because we accept homosexual behavior.  Would Westboro celebrate at the death of Muslims because God hates unbelievers?  Would they celebrate at the funeral of a Chinese person because God hates communist athiests?  Would we say that God is about to bring judgment upon any Islamist government because they kill Christians?  Afterall, they also outlaw homosexuality.  God might really be stuck there, wouldn't He?

Of course I am being a bit facetious, but you see my point.  We can get caught up in the politics of gay rights to the point that we forget that our struggle is to bring people to Christ so that they might be forgiven for ALL their sins, whatever they be.  We are not going to see anyone saved by outlawing a particular sin.  Daniel and his friends, Nehemiah, Esther, even Jesus, lived and served under rulers that made our American system look like a Sunday School picnic.  The leaders were godless men and yet these men did not focus on reforming, but on being Christians, pointing to the superiority of their God and His kingdom.  Jesus told Pilate directly, "My kingdom is not of this world."   My American politics moves me toward a consideration of my rights.  It moves my message toward complaining about rulers.  My Biblical faith moves me toward a surrender of my rights and my message one of an unshakeable hope and a resurrected Savior who forgives sins.

God is coming.   He is going to judge all the nations.  He is not going to judge because of homosexuality or immigration or welfare reform or any of the other pet things that we can begin to allow to characterize our Christianity.  He is going to judge all sinner unless they have been declared righteous by the blood of Christ.  The message our world needs so desperately to hear clearly, constantly, and consistently is, "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin, so that we could be the righteousness of God."

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A look at life and ministry.

About the Author

After growing up in Maine, Ira graduated from Bible College and wandered into Western Maine and has never found his way back out. He has a deep love for the rural churches of Maine and the people who make up this great state. He loves Truth over Tradition, Christ over Culture, and People over Process. He love to equip, teach, and disciple and longs to see the Maine church grow healthy and make disciples.


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