A Green Christian?

"Is that even possible?” I thought, as I considered the possibility of being environmentally conscious while being a conservative Christian. For my entire life, being a Christian seem irreconcilable with caring a smidge about the earth; granted I hadn't tried very hard and generally scoffed at anyone who used the now trendy “green” tag about anything

Had anyone challenged my beliefs I would have opened up the Bible to the first page and said that God has clearly given us dominion over the earth and given us every plant and tree. I would have said that after the fall we were told to subdue the earth. This might have shut them up but, again, this never happened and I continued to persist in my former thinking, but things began to change during a drive through Scotland.

Having never been to Scotland before I was unprepared for the gorgeous, sweeping countryside. It was breathtaking and almost caused me to drive off the road as I craned my neck to see the high mountains or green rolling hills or majestic vistas. Every few miles there was a parking area and I used quite a few to pull over and just take in the scenery. Then a thought struck me; what would this look like leveled with several high rises on it?

I have a yearly tradition to visit New York City around Christmas and we inevitably end up in Times Square. Times Square is a place to see if you have never been. There are towering electronic screens on almost every building, not to mention people from many nations and states all enamored by the spectacle. A few years ago my visit to Times Square left a peculiar taste in my mouth. None of the tiny colored lights advertising Broadway shows, cars or beer had as much beauty as a single sunset. On a related note, none of Times Squares directed the viewers towards God. It is a testament to man, mostly to our pleasures and vices. I'm sure some people can look at something like Times Square or a city skyline and see the beauty and praise God for giving us our gifts of invention and the ability to create but there is something about enjoying nature that can never compare with man's creation.

God's creation will always trump anything our human minds can think of and create and nature testifies to so many of God's character traits. For starters, creation testifies to the existence of a Creator. The book of Romans states that the knowledge of God is in all men because of the creation around them. The complexities and beauties one finds in nature cannot help but lead one to believe in a loving Creator; the next of God's traits expressed in nature. We have been given an entire planet to enjoy and use for our good and survival. Only a loving Creator would supply our needs so fully.

Why then has the church and environmental movements traditionally clashed in ideals and beliefs? Because environmental movements with God become idolatry. If “saving the earth” is your ultimate goal, then it is your God. However, one can seek to glorify God above all and still be concerned about environmental pursuits. Man has been given so great a gift in our earth, however we have not been given it for us to wantonly waste it. We are still required to be good stewards of the gifts given us, and this includes our natural world.

There are many environmental movements that elevate the rights of animals above that of humans. This is a perversion of God's created order. Man is the pinnacle of God's creation, created in his very image, and given dominion over all the animals. However we must remember as Psalm 50 teaches, “All animals belong to God.” Jesus taught that God cares for every animal even the smallest sparrows. The biodiversity present in the vast spectrum of created life points to God's creativity and glory. Dominion does not mean wasteful destruction. Clearly we are not to abuse or destroy animals as Christians, however this prohibition does extend to hunting or using animals for food.

I have every faith in the sovereignty of God and believe that man cannot “break” the earth unless it is part of the Lord's plan, but that he will work even our wasteful sins for our good. I read somewhere that a portion of the vivid sunsets we enjoy is actually due in part to pollution in the atmosphere refracting the light to make brilliant colors. God will redeem our mistakes but maybe we should think before making more.

God Made Known

This is a post from a few years ago:

I grew up in a small church. A very small church, that covered a very wide geographical area. As a result I was missing something, without even realizing it. I had inclinations that something was missing in my life when I would visit my cousin's in another state and see the vibrant God-centered friendships they enjoyed. Following every church event there would be times of fellowship and conversation; something I had never known. I hated to leave and every trip down countless people would ask me when I was going to move to the area.

I would return home somewhat depressed and I never knew why. But then I joined a church blessed by a bustling community that excels at fellowship. One day it clicked, I now knew what I had been missing all those years. With my two closest Christian friends living upwards of an hour away, I had never experienced what many refer to as “Biblical Fellowship.” Biblical Fellowship comprises a wide range of activities but for the benefit of this simplicity, I will use it to refer to time spent together discussing theology or sermons, confessing sin and encouraging one another.; Generally setting your minds on the things above.

There are many obvious benefits to joining together with believers and engaging in fellowship. The first way we benefit from truly Biblical Fellowship is the aforementioned encouragement that comes from fellow believers and the feeling that comes from encouraging others yourself. While we should not seek the approval of men, there is a clear command in Scripture to encourage one another. I heard a friend say something simple but particularly convicting to me. She said “When I'm feeling down, I like to encourage someone. It always cheers me up.” It's true and encouragement is contagious.

If you're like me then encouragement does not necessarily come easily to you. In order to encourage someone, you need to know what to look for. A pastor once advised listeners to study the fruits of the spirit and the attributes of love in order to be able to better point out evidences of God's hand moving in another believer's life. A side benefit of encouragement is that, if done right, the glory does not belong to the one being encouraged, but with God who is working in the person's life.

Another reason fellowship is vital in any believer's life is the way it spurs us on toward Christ. There is a widely know verse in Proverbs that says “Bad company corrupts good morals” but the reverse is also true. There is something contagious about a person's zeal. Whatever someone is passionate about shows through in their speech and actions, and piques the interest of those around them. We, as sons and daughters of God, should be excited about His words and seeing others excited likewise can influence us to become more so. If you have several coals from a fire, they will quickly burn out if removed from the fire, but gather the coals together and they will burn bright.

Coupled with the passion that can be gained through fellowship is also wisdom. Again, Proverbs teaches that one will surround themselves with wise people if they wish to be wise, and that in a multitude of counselors there is wisdom. Coupled with the study of Scripture and prayer, seeking advice from your friends and pastors should be your decision making process. As John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island” and this must be particularly true of believers.

A final benefit of fellowship is the opportunity for the confession of sin. Confession is something that should be done with care and in the right environment. There are obviously certain sins that shouldn't be confessed to members of the opposite sex and not every gathering of believer's is the right venue for confession. Due to the unfortunate habit some people have of gossiping, you should pick your confidants well. That being said, confessing our sins to each other is mandated by scripture, and rightly so. A confessed sin, greatly loses its power and having others keeping us accountable is a great strategy for fighting any sin.

This accountability require humility as well as honesty. In the book of John it says, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God ; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known”. Christ came not only to die for our sins, but also to make the Father known. Christ's life was, in essence, Himself revealing the father to all creation. In the same way, as “imitators of Christ” we are called to make ourselves known in our times of fellowship. This is not to say we pridefully talk about ourselves, but rather with humility we are called to confess our sins to one another. Don't fear what the other people think, because they are sinners just like you.

While these are just a few of the benefits of Biblical Fellowship, you can already see the ways true fellowship is healthy for any believer's life. I recently returned to visit my cousins and this time the visit was different. Very noticeably only one person asked me when I was gonna move closer. When I asked one of my cousins about this he had what I believe to be a very discerning answer, “You have a peace about you now. They can tell you've found your home.”

The Opinion That Matters

I have a confession, I crave the approval of man. I have been known to elevate it above that of the approval of God. As I write these words, I am aware of my heart and pray that what I do I do for the glory of God and not my own glory. My life needs to be for His glory alone and when it is, I will be most satisfied in Him and when I am, He will be most glorified. To fight these sinful cravings I have to constantly remind myself of the following:

1. What people think of me does not matter. This comes with a caveat. God often uses the people in our lives to instruct, correct, and grow us into His likeness. Not caring what people think does not mean that I am to live in wanton disregard to what anyone tells me but to rather apply their observations and care to the Word and test the truth. If someone thinks I am a fool for following Christ I do not care. If someone tells me I am sinning, I should respond “Your opinion of me does not matter”. At least not at a first...

2. Only God's opinion matters. When God looks at the believer He sees the righteousness of Christ and one of his beloved Children. Even a believer who sins is still legally right before God as I explored in the last post. God will discipline the one that He loves, like a father loving His children but his opinion of us remains the same. He loves us enough to have sent His only Son to live the perfect life and die the death we should have, to bring us to Him.

3. The WORST thing anyone can know about you is already known. Anyone claiming to be a Christian is claiming that their sins were great enough and bad enough that it required the sacrifice of God's son to pay our debts. We are saying that we were so in need of a savior that God sent his Son. Anything else, any sins, any lies that anyone can say pales in comparison to the weight of that statement.

We needn't worry about what anyone may say to us or about us because we know the gospel, it frees us from craving the approval of man and pushes us into the loving arms of God, who's approval we could never have won but we have received anyway through the death of His Son.

Edmund Dantes is Dead?

Edmund Dantes is dead. I am dead? What does this mean?

As a believer, I have been crucified with Christ and raised with Him on the third day. This is taught but what does it really mean? Clearly I am not physically dead so it must mean something else. Primarily this death is in regards to sin. We are dead to sin as believers, and yet we still sin.

Sin is part of this world. Psalm 14:3 shows that there “is none that does good, no, not one”. The verse that starts so many gospel presentations, Romans 3:23, backs this up, “all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” In some ways I have always been dead; prior to my conversion I was “dead through [my] trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1. I believe that when I prayed to accept Christ as my Savior, God imputed the perfect life and righteousness of Christ into my “account” so now when he looks at me, God see's what I could never give Him: a perfect life spent in service to Him and for His glory.

But this does not mean that I am off the hook. When I sin, legally my relationship with God has not changed. I am as justified (only by His grace) as I ever have been or ever will be. Salvation is not based on my perfection but is the free gift of God. I am still an adopted son of God but there are consequences in terms of our relationship with God and until we confess we will remain at a distance from Christ. Wayne Grudem writes, “When we sin as Christians, it is not only our personal relationship with God that is disrupted. Our Christian life and fruitfulness in ministry are also damaged. Jesus warns us, 'As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). When we stray from fellowship from Christ because of sin in our lives, we diminish the degree to which we are abiding in Christ.”

So going back to the original question, what does it mean to be dead? I took this phrase from Romans 6:11 which reads, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (ESV). The also is sometimes translated “in the same way” but to what does it refer. Romans 6:10 says, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.” So we are called to be like Christ and are dead to sin.

This means sin holds no power over us. We are not under the curse of the law any more but under the grace and freedom that comes from trusting in Christ as our savior. Christ has lived the life we could not for us, and as such we are freed from having to fulfill the laws demands. If salvation was based on our works, then Christ died for no purpose. He died to bring us into communion with God and rends the curtain as it were. We therefore are called to live lives of holiness, growing into the image of Christ, not because it earns us anything but out of thankfulness to our Saving God.

Practically we must acknowledge 2 things in our fight with sin. First and foremost, sin holds no power and we don't need to give into temptation. Sin holds no power. Second, we must never admit defeat; sin has no dominion and we can never say "I will never change." We must hold fast the promise that God will complete the work that he has began in us. We will never be free from sin but sin cannot beat us. It's going down, but it's going down swinging.

Another way we were slaves to sin is in our death. When one dies in rebellion to God, forsaking His love and statutes, they are condemned to an eternity apart from God. When a believer dies, we leave our corrupted mortal bodies and join Christ in glory, in bodies that will never perish as we worship and commune with God forever. All eternity! We will never be free from sin in this life, despite the extent of our growth in Godliness, but when we die sanctification is complete. Death no longer holds the sting it once did, for we know that those believers who die are, for the first time, at peace and we will join them when our time in the “shadowlands” is done.

I am not a sinner! I am a Child of God, in Christ, who still sins. I am dead to sin.

Love

By Rachel Thompson.

The church of God is to be rooted and grounded in love. Love is the root that feeds us. Love is the solid ground beneath our feet. Jesus' one commandment to His disciples was, "Love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). As we obey, we will be overwhelmed by the love of God for us.

To the Philippians, Paul wrote, "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment" (Phil. 1:9).

This love isn't idealistic or sappy. It is full of knowledge and discernment. Such love runs counter to our modern ideas, even to much of our experience. Knowledge and judgment tend to diminish our feelings of ardor, not cause them to abound! When I know someone well, I can see all his faults. When my judgment — call it "discernment" — is sharp, I'll recognize my brother's immaturities and even perhaps his sins.

But that's how it should be! Paul prayed that our love might be based on truth. We're not to love illusions of each other, but realities. Love based on falsehood is stunted and weak. We are to love one another in truth, to embrace one another's weaknesses and warts, because our true and holy God has loved us. Knowledge will cause infatuation to die and illusion to fade. But where there is true love, knowledge will cause it to abound.

Paul's words send me to my knees with an awareness of how poor my love has been. I'm willing to love the church until it hurts, offends, or annoys me. I'm willing to love it until I decide it's gone too far. But Paul's words send me back to the cross. They remind me that Jesus loves me despite my weaknesses, my failures, and my most disgusting sins. My entire life should be rooted and grounded in that love. Love makes us holy. God wants to see it in us, and so I will ask God for it — not for myself only, but for all the church.

Sin and Temptation

Hebrews 4:15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

This verse reveals a very important fact about Jesus and ourselves. The fact that Jesus was tempted in every way we were reveals that temptation is itself not sin because Jesus was without sin. The fact that Jesus was without sin also reveals that he has been tempted more than anyone else due to the fact that he did not give into temptation. As John Piper writes "If a person gives in to temptation, it never reaches its fullest and longest assault." Jesus never cracked under temptation so he knew temptation's fullest force.

So in our temptation we must turn to the next verse in Hebrews.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When we are tempted we must draw near to Jesus who sympathizes with our struggles which should make us eager to come into his presence.

The Heroes of the Bible?

I read an interesting article this week by Glenn Packiam in which he points out an interesting perspective on every traditional Bible "hero": they're human. While the God-inspired Bible could have been lacking in mention of your typical Sunday School story hero's sins, it isn't. Every one has a flaw.

David is not a ruddy kid with a fuzzy Jewish afro who killed the giant and ruled the nation with wisdom and strength. He is a man wrestling between a desire for vindication against King Saul and a conviction that God's authority must be respected. He is a man who lies to a priest and feigns allegiance to a wicked king. Both actions cost hundreds of innocent lives. And who can forget his scandalous affair and botched cover-up that led to murder?

The more you turn the pages of Scripture, the faster the flannel board heroes tumble. Moses, in his passion for God's people kills a man. That same impatience later leads to a disastrous disobedience that prevents him for entering the Promise Land. Noah, after saving his family from the destruction of the world, got so drunk his sons had to walk in backward to avoid seeing his naked, shameful condition. Rahab, the woman who saved Joshua and Caleb's life, allowing them to enter and eventually possess the Promise Land, was a prostitute. Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant—which in today's world, might be like shooting Billy Graham's assistant in the leg! And let's not even get into his wholesale denial of the Messiah. Paul, the great apostle, had a temper that led to a few severed partnerships.

While we shouldn't be complacent or accepting of our sin, it is a real encourager to know that even those Bible greats, through whom God accomplished great things, were just like everyone else and had their own sins. But God's aim is not just to encourage us in our failures, instead the utter humanity of our heroes leads to something else.

Due to the humbling of our heroes we need a new hero; someone who we can relate to, a human like ourselves. We need someone who faced all the temptations, trials and heartaches that we faced only did it perfectly. We need someone who not only took on our humanity and temptations but also became our savior; dying for the sins of the world. We need Jesus.

"In some sense, all the other Bible stories go out of their way to detail the flaws of their main character so as to anticipate the flawlessness of Christ...Humans, not heroes, are the stuff of earth. The humanity of all other Biblical characters is intentional. In them, we see ourselves, and an example of how to surrender our brokenness to Christ; in Christ, we see our hope. In the end, this business of looking for a hero must only lead to Christ, the Savior of the world."