The Face of Evil

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Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, evil, face of evil, God-centered, Gospel, Paul, Romans, Tamerlan Tsarnaev

What form does evil assume? What does it look like?

Whenever an act of evil takes place, it is in our human nature to try to categorize it. Some deny its existence. Others try to identify it by external appearance or influences. Some look for commonality of race, creed, education level or economic background.

The events in Boston this past week have demonstrated that evil takes many forms. We can’t always recognize it until it happens. Friends and acquaintances of the bombers repeatedly used words like “shocked,” “unexpected,” and “surreal.” There was “nothing that stood out” about them. If you look at their pictures, you see no indication of the atrocity they would commit. They could have been one of any number of young American men.

We can’t always identify evil because it is not always externally manifested. The Bible is clear that evil resides within, in the human heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:”

As Jesus explains in Mark 7:20-23 “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

{Boston Marathon suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with unidentified friend}

In some of us that sin nature expresses itself in overt acts of evil. In others it is more deceptive, mingling well-disguised with self-righteousness. In all of us it is lurking beneath the surface, waiting for the right circumstances to expose itself.

This is contrary to popular thinking. Society says man is basically good and what will make him better comes from within. God says man is basically bad and what will help him must come from without.

This is the message of the gospel. It is God-centered. God planned redemption before it was needed, promised it through the Old Testament Scriptures, presented it in the person of Jesus Christ, and proclaims it to the world through His people. (Romans 1:1-7)

The Gospel is God’s antidote for the disease of sin. The “Good News” is that, through faith in Jesus Christ, God does to the evil within us what we could never do on our own.

Late-Night Thoughts on the Gospel and Missions

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Culture, Gospel, gospel-centeredness, Jesus Christ, Missions, trans-cultural

It’s late at night (so I make no claim for coherence), but my mind is focused on the Gospel and the mission of the church to share it globally. These are not new thoughts, but I don’t think I’ve ever put them in to writing. At any rate, I thought I’d share them here as a means of getting them on “paper.” I welcome your thoughts or comments on this topic.

The Gospel and Missions

The message of the Gospel is not limited to our culturally-influenced understanding of it. We often risk conforming it to our nationality/culture/experience.

For example: I’ve heard people say, “It just doesn’t seem like Christmas, the weather is too warm.” What we mean is – “It doesn’t seem like what I culturally associate with this holiday.” Christ’s birth can and should be celebrated regardless of the climate.

The Gospel itself is trans-cultural. We should be able to share it with clarity and integrity in any culture in the world. The language may be different, but the message remains the same.

Unfortunately, we add baggage to the message. Whatever does not translate from one culture to another is not the Gospel – it is culture. The purpose of missions is not to Americanize people, but to proclaim the Gospel to them.

Why would we not seek to remove as much of this “baggage” as possible? Without changing or hindering the Gospel message, get rid of anything unnecessary, especially that which is nothing more than personal or national preference. Some call this being “missional.” I call it being Biblical.

Christ is King over all nations and cultures and peoples. The Message of the Gospel is that man is incapable of self-initiated, outward change. We must be changed from the inside. Though it is often counter-cultural, every culture needs to hear and experience this. The Gospel is the life-transforming power of God unto salvation. That goes beyond man-made boundaries.

Loving the God of the Gospel

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Gospel, gospel-centeredness, J. D. Greear, Nathan Finn, theological snobbery

There is no shortage of current books related to the “gospel” in some form or another. That fact in itself might have kept me from this excerpt that Nathan Finn shares from J. D. Greear’s new book Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary.

Recently, I talked with a little old lady who had been my Sunday school teacher at the very traditional church in which I grew up. She said, “You know, as I lose more and more friends to heaven, I often wonder what it is really like up there and what I should be looking forward to. I know they say there are streets of gold, but that doesn’t seem to excite me very much. The one thing I really want to do is see Jesus.” This lady has never heard of John Piper and has no idea what the Gospel Coalition is, but she has been changed by the gospel. She loves Jesus, and that is the whole point of gospel-centeredness.

There are many little old ladies serving in church nurseries who may not understand how to articulate the theories of gospel-centeredness or have the ingenuity to dazzle our minds with psychological insights, cultural observations, and Christocentric interpretations of obscure Old Testament passages. Their hearts, however, burn with love for Jesus and overflow with gratefulness for His grace.

Their humble, gospel-rich love for God is worth more than all the books you or I can write on this subject.

So don’t be quick to judge them. Be humbled by them. Mastering the theory of gospel-centeredness is not the point. Loving the God of the gospel is.

Glad I didn’t miss that! One of the things I fear is developing educational and theological snobbery – primarily because it can cause me to miss the point: loving the God of the Gospel!

You can read the entire excerpt here.

That Is Why We Must Go

Tags

Gospel, missionaries, Missions

It is difficult in “churchianity”-saturated America to remember the millions who have never heard. This report from a missionary friend reminds me of the “why” of missions!

The Team stopped to deliver the packets of New Testaments, Disciple books, notebooks, and pens. While doing this, the village people came running. Whether for packets, or because they saw white people, it does not matter, the Lord brought them to us.

Forty plus people stood and listened to C______ (a national preacher) preach the gospel from the tailgate of a pickup. You could see the expressions on their faces change from interest, to contemplation, then to sadness as he spoke of sin against a Holy God. Their faces changed to wonderment when he spoke of the Son of God that paid the penalty. Men, women, boys and girls called on God for salvation standing around that truck. Before we left several men came to C and pleaded “Please come back and teach us more”.

We went back three days in a row. C and A___ (national preacher) have arranged to go back weekly. That is why we “must needs go….”

“Holiday” Trees: Trunks, Twigs, and Twits

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Christmas, Christmas tree, Gospel, holidays, secularization, twits, war on Christmas

Over the past few years there’s been great concern about the “war on Christmas”.  Everyone has been up in arms over “holiday” trees, saying “happy holidays,” and various other ambiguous terminology.  Political correctness has run amuck, they say. 

I’ll admit it bothers me too.  In fact, some of the extremes the PC go to are downright ridiculous.  I mean, are we going to carry these changes across the board?  What about Santa Claus?  That’s a Christian term.  Are we going to start calling the Menorah a “holiday candelabra”?  Jesus Christ the “holiday infant”?  What about the word holiday itself? I mean, “HOLY” day?  There seems to be no end to the idiocy.

But let’s be honest.  We’ve been headed here for years.  The “war” on Christmas is indicative of the direction our society has been slowly progressing. This is the fruit of a deeper root problem.

I recall seeing some time ago, an informal street poll asking children what Christmas meant to them.  Nearly every one immediately said, “Santa” or “Gifts”.  Now before you write me of as a “Santa = Satan” nut, you have to admit that the trend is disturbing. 

The secularization of Christmas is nothing new.  That’s why I have mixed emotions about the backlash against it.  I’m glad the envelope finally got pushed far enough that people realized the situation. Maybe now something productive can be done about the root problem.

At the same time, there are a fair share of twits on the other side of the battle. I am disturbed that some people think they have included Christ simply by singing Silent Night, decorating a Christmas tree, or putting out a Nativity scene.  I recently heard of a family that wanted to make sure they “stayed focused on the real meaning of Christmas.”  They decided to have Santa bring the children 3 gifts this year, in honor of the 3 wisemen. Wow!  That’ll teach ‘em! This kind of stuff is just as ridiculous as the people who try to ignore Him.

Now, the word is that the “war on Christmas has been won.” But has it really? If you want to get rid of a tree, you don’t rake the leaves, you chop the trunk. The external issues are just symptomatic of a much deeper problem, and these roots still run deep.

According to a legend Satan and his demons were having a Christmas party.  As the demonic guests were departing, one grinned and said to Satan, “Merry Christmas, your majesty.”  At that, Satan replied with a growl, “Yes, keep it merry.  If they ever get serious about it, we’ll all be in trouble.”

The real problem is that even when we call it a Christmas tree, sing Christmas carols, give Christmas cards, and eat Christmas candy, we still may not be serious about Christmas.  It is the birth of the SON OF GOD.  It is “God and sinner reconciled.”  It is the hope of salvation.

 This task falls to those who put their faith in Christ.  Can we honestly expect the retailers to do it?  No.  Their job is to make money.  How can we then fault them for catering to the material appetites of their customers?  Can we expect the children?  No, not on their own.  Any child (and most adults)  will be more excited about unwrapping their new Wii than the soteriological impact of the incarnation.  We certainly cannot and should not expect those of other faiths to do so.

It’s time we take the responsibility to make Christmas about the Gospel once again.  After all, the “good news” the angels sang of was the “gospel.”  Let’s get serious about it.  Let’s chop on the trunk rather than pulling off a few twigs.  The real Spirit of Christmas must be in our hearts before it will be in our actions.