The Noners

Recent surveys show that there are fewer and fewer people who claim an affiliation with Christianity in America. These folks usually check "none" when it comes to filling out a form which asks their religious affiliation, and have been called Noners because of that. At first glance, that may seem alarming. Many of us might see it as another sign of continuing national spiritual decline.

Upon closer examination of the data, the large drop in the number of Americans who call themselves Protestant Christians is not a sign people are turning from the faith in massive numbers.

It’s a sign those who used to call themselves Christians (but neither believed Scripture nor followed Christ) are now coming clean.

In the absence of any particular cultural advantage to calling themselves “Christian,” lots of folks who were nominal (in name only) Christians now choose “None” as their preferred spiritual affiliation. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, here are some reasons why I find the results of this recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life encouraging.

Cultural Christianity has never done anything to advance the kingdom.

It only inoculates against the real thing. When large numbers of nominal and cultural Christians wave the banner of Christ, it confuses the message of the Gospel. But now that they have ditched the title, it opens the door for genuine disciples to get the word out without all the confusion.

The nominals have fallen off, but they were never on board.

Despite the drop in the number of people who chose the label “Christian,” the actual number of people who identified as evangelical and attend church continues to increase (even among those under 30). And the number of committed Christ-followers has increased.

The decrease in the number of people who call themselves “Christian” also shows the folly of messing with God’s Word in an attempt to make it more palatable.

The drop in self-identified Christians is roughly equal to the drop in self-identified mainline Protestants. The churches that left Scripture and orthodoxy in an attempt to be culturally relevant have become culturally irrelevant. Those who try to improve upon God’s Word or bring a new gospel have always done so at their peril. Jesus said he would build his church, not ours.

Pastor Craig

White Martyrdom

I remembered something about Celtic monks that I thought I'd share - some of you may know much more than I about this history, but I hope you will find something of value in this illustration.

What do we mean when we talk about the leadership of the Spirit? If you are remembering Bible verses, one verse that probably comes to mind is Romans 12:1 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God.” One of the problems with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off the altar! We just don’t like being up there.

Being on that altar like a living sacrifice is what the Celtic monks called “White Martyrdom". White martyrdom is a commitment to live a sacrificial life that will result in one's ultimate death, rather than a "red martyrdom" of being killed in some bloody way for the faith. Ascetic monks who lived in the desert were white martyrs; people who were missionaries in places so far-flung they would never make it home were white martyrs.

Around the 800's Irish monks would embrace white martyrdom by setting sail from the coast in round, brown leather boats, called coracles, that had no rudder. The idea was that they would let the ocean currents (guided by the hand of the Holy Spirit) take their little boats and deliver them to wherever it was the Spirit wanted them to work - hence, they needed no rudder, sail or helm, other than the Spirit's hand. Because of the way the currents flowed, they would likely never return home, and certainly could not turn around and go back intentionally, so they would die at their ultimate destination.

Once we die, we can do nothing else for the Kingdom of God on this earth. If we are to serve our Lord, it must be in this life. This is where the hurt and pain are most evident. It is in this life that the Comforter is needed. It is here that we feel lost and alone. It is here where we need to be reminded of the goodness of God even as we are surrounded by the apathy of the world. Dying for Jesus is easy. It is living for Him where we encounter our failings and our weaknesses.

The deeper and broader question is, “If, when we are in our round boat, we could know where the winds of the Spirit would take us, would we craft a sail, oars, and a rudder in order to get there more quickly?

Pastor Craig

Accountability

The passage from Psalm 72 is about justice. It begins with a simple prayer that God would give his justice, wisdom, and judgment to the king of the land that the king might be able to judge the people justly.

From there it talks about judging fairly and righteously. The Psalm says that this kind of justice will bring peace to the people, even to the hills of the land. This king will stop oppression and look after the poor and needy. He will be an advocate, a voice, for those who have no one to speak for them. He will stand up and be accountable.

In 2013, as we look for justice to heal and bring peace to our own land, I must ask the question – “What would justice look like if it were to come in 2013?” Before you pass by that question too quickly, please spend some time giving it every consideration.

Does justice raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for programs to benefit the poor? Does justice expect the poor to pay their own way? How much of justice is government based at all?

What would the ledger in our checkbooks look like if we spent our own money justly? How would our money be invested? Who would we spend it on? What is the “just” percentage to give to benevolent causes? How much is too much for a person to keep for themselves?

On the one hand almost all of us would say that the answers to many of these questions are private and between a person and the Holy Spirit. However, we are a COMMUNITY of faith. That means we are bound together. There is indeed an element of each of our actions effecting the entire community. The Scriptures constantly remind us that we are indeed responsible and accountable to one another. That means that we should speak to one another about these personal matters.

If we all were totally given to the Holy Spirit, the issue above might not even be an issue. Unfortunately, there is enough selfishness and pride in each of us to seal away that portion of our life from brothers and sisters in Christ and say in a loud firm voice “HANDS OFF!”

While we continue to pray for the day to come when we can rejoice in that type of transparency, we must struggle with the Spirit convicting us on the questions we asked above. This includes the most basic question of all – “Whose money is it, anyway?”

Pastor Craig

What was Most Important in 2012?

What was the most significant event of 2012? Answer it for yourself before you read on. . .

OK? Some of you probably said the presidential elections, some may have included the dialogue on gun violence in America, others listed the fiscal cliff debate (as of the writing of this short article there is still no solution), still others may have listed one of several regional issues impacting the global community.

According to one article by Associated Press, if you mentioned any of the above, you are wrong. The #1 event of 2012? The observation of the Higgs Boson, sometimes also called the God particle, was the most important event of 2012!

I know. I missed it too, not just the answer, the whole event.

What is the Higgs boson and the Higgs field? According to Prof. Higgs’s 1964 theory, the Higgs field interacts with the tiny particles that make up atoms, and weighs them down so that they do not simply whizz around space at the speed of light. If it were not for this universal field, the world would be unrecognizable. Without something to give mass to the basic building blocks of matter, everything would float freely and not combine with other particles. Ordinary matter, as we know it, would not exist.[1]

While, I am sure the physics of the whole idea are simply staggering, I prefer to put it this way – God preferred order to chaos. Let’s take a quick peek at Genesis and see what preschool children have learned for centuries, but some scientists only recently discovered. In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

God created order. Now, I don’t believe that scientists have managed to “take a picture” of God through this observation, well, at least no more than you or I can by photographing a magnificent sunset. However, I do think they may have gained some spiritual insight, a recognition that we have a God who, regardless how chaotic our personal world may seem, brings order, meaning, and purpose to the universe.

Pastor Craig

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[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/9372661/What-is-Higgs-Boson-the-God-Particle.html

The Sermon from the Stock

It is Christmas, just barely, yet it is Christmas. I just came in from the barn. I fed horses, Longhorns, and a miniature donkey. I talked to them as I went about my business, as I usually do. I asked them about their day and told them about mine.

I know, for some of you, the mere thought is foolish. For those of you who dearly love animals, you know you speak of them as you do children. Many times you make sure they eat before you do. You tend to their every need, and you know they will listen to your concerns even when everyone else is too busy.

However, tonight is special. It is Christmas Eve. It is the night the animals speak. As tradition tells it, Jesus was born exactly at midnight. In the few minutes after the birth of Christ, the animals in the stable were the first ones to praise the birth of the new king. These praises lasted but a few minutes and were over by the time the shepherds showed up, but the legend continues and there are children and adults each Christmas Eve who are a little more attentive to the animals in their keeping.

To all of you who might be asking, “No,” I have never heard the animals talk on Christmas Eve. I have said many a thing to them, but I have never heard a reply. Yet there is a sense that those animals who tended the birth of Christ from the beginning somehow may be more in tune with the coming Messiah than many of us are.

On Christmas Day we celebrate that we live in a world into which the Messiah has come. He has come and is blessing us already. His very presence brings strength, life, hope, joy, and peace into our world of disorder, apathy, depression, and pain.

One of my favorite hymns is, God rest ye merry, Gentlemen.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay.

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas Day

To save us all from Satan’s power

When we were gone astray.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

The first line of that song is my favorite. The word “rest” has a better meaning of “make” or “keep”. I have often heard people argue for the translation of “merry” as “mighty” when in fact that actually goes against the rest of the meaning of the first verse. We are not mighty. We are in need of radical intervention against a powerful enemy.

The comma belongs after merry which mean that the merry is not a descriptor of gentlemen. The first line is a short prayer or encouragement that God would make us merry and that our merriness comes from the victory already secured for us in Jesus Christ.

The phrase brings us rest and security. I get that same sense when I am out with the animals at midnight. When the one who cares for them is present, when they know they are cared for and loved, even a storm like blew through our area last night with lightning and thunder causes them no worry or concern. They rest in the presence of one they believe will make everything safe and right.

May God grant you that same sense of belonging, safety, and peace!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Craig

This Day!

And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: . . .

Joshua 23:14

Joshua knew that his life was drawing to a close. He wants to people of Israel to understand their Godly heritage. He invites them to review with him what God has done for them down through the years. He appeals to the historical record of God’s intervention on their behalf. He recites the works of God through the generations beginning with Abraham until the present day.

Joshua asks them to never forget the value of a Godly national heritage. Neither would Joshua allow them to forget the value of God’s Book of the Law, a document that had been so valuable to him all through his time as a leader of the people. Joshua reminds the people that this rich national heritage is only maintained through the personal choice of the individuals of each generation. Choose this day whom you will serve. . .As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

He says, “There comes a time in the life of each one of you when you have to make your own choice. You have to choose whether you will ally yourself with the Lord God, live for Him, and serve Him, or whether you will go on living for yourselves in neglect of Him and perhaps serving other gods.” If the heritage is to be maintained, a personal choice for God has to be made by every individual. There comes to each of us a time of decision. None of us are excepted from this rule. Sooner or later each one of us will have to make that vital choice.

Though you be born in a nation that, at least sometime in its history, was willing to identify itself as Christian, though you come from a family of disciples of Jesus Christ, yet, you must make that decision on your own. That heritage does not make YOU a Christian.

Joshua was about to step aside. He loved the heritage and history of God in the midst of the people of Israel. He longed to see it continue forever, so it is within this context that he pleads his case before the national assembly that they might love the Lord their God as he did and might continue that heritage into the future. In the same way, Jesus Christ has left us a rich heritage in our country, but we must decide if we will continue it. Each generation decides for themselves, and each individual decides for himself or herself. At the wonderful season of Christmas, I pray you boldly know who your house will serve!

Pastor Craig

Having Christ or Experiencing Christ

You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ.

C. H. Spurgeon

There is a difference between having all of Christ and experiencing all of Christ. Jesus Christ never gives you only a portion of Himself. He holds nothing back in a relationship. God loves no one on the face of this earth more than you. There is no one who edges you out when it comes to importance and priorities before the throne. It is probably important to say here that you don’t edge anyone else out either. Our Heavenly Father is probably the only parent who can truly and completely say, “I love them all equally, but differently.”

Our own experience in relationships is somewhat different though. Remember the first time you asked someone out for a date? For most of us that was a pretty scary event. We thought the person would say yes. Our friends had been in contact with their friends and all the signals had come back good. However, there was that nagging doubt, something that may cause the whole thing to fall apart at the last second. It could be anything from some social or fashion blunder to bad breath or not being “in” or “cool”, whatever that might mean!

Jesus Christ is the one who loved you before you ever were conceived. Your face was in his mind; your name was on his lips when he died upon that cross. We do not have to worry about His commitment to us. He will certainly throw all of Himself at us.

It is in our own ability, or willingness, to throw ourselves into that same experience that creates a feeling of difference, levels, or distance from time to time. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in unto him” (Rev. 3:20).

For those who despair, fullness in Christ may be as simple as opening the door all the way. Some of us have always been cautious in our relationships. Christ, who loves without question or hesitancy is asking us to trust him and come as close as we can to returning that love in the same way.

Pastor Craig