What Are Missions? - Pastor Craig Frazier

            As Christians we are all called to live a life of response to what He as done for us and submitting to His kingship over us.  One of the things which we are called to do is to do the work of missions.  However there has been much confusion among Christians in what this work entails. 

           

One mistake that many make is that they believe that missions just involves telling people about Jesus.  This is not the picture that the Bible gives us.  Jesus did not only teach people about God but He also cared for their earthly needs as well.  When the Apostle Paul went to a town on his missionary journeys he served the people as well as telling them about Christ.  This makes good sense to do this.  The old saying is very true “People do not care what you know until they know how much you care.”  When we meet the needs of those who are in need they are more likely to listen to the message of Jesus.  But while this make’s good sense, and while it is the model in the Bible, we are to do this because Christ commands us to.  In Matthew 25:31-46 we are told to lovingly serve those who are in need, such as the naked (those in material need), the sick, the hungry, and those in prison.  Jesus says that when we do He sees it as we are directly doing it to Him.

           

The other mistake is that many believe that missions is, or can, be just about meeting people’s earthly needs.  Those who think this often do from a very good heart.  They love their fellow man and it hurts them to see others in need.  They want to help, it is part of their DNA.  However, just fixing people’s needs does not qualify for missions.  We are to do acts of mercy towards others.  And every time we do so we do not have to tell them the Gospel.  But, for the work to be considered “missions” we must include the Gospel.  This is the complete work of missions.  Read the command of Christ in the Great Commission, Matthew 28: 18-20, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  We seek to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those around us.  We seek to make this life better as well as offer eternal life in Heaven with Christ.  We seek to obey Christ.

This is not easy.  In fact, this is very hard for us.  First, many who are lost do not want to hear about Jesus being the only way.  Second, we all have fear of being rejected.  Many of us have received unpleasant responses when we have shared the Gospel.  But, we have done it and we are all now stronger for doing so.

So how can we, as God’s people, share our faith in Jesus Christ with those that we know are not Christians?  First, we pray for them.  We pray that God would soften their hearts, that God would send people into their lives to share Christ, and that they would respond in faith and grow in their new faith.  The Bible says that nothing is impossible for God, Luke 18:25-27.  Turning to Christ is hard and we should ask God to help since all things are possible with Him.

Next we seek for ways to share Jesus.  On way that is easy is to invite them to church with you.  Offer to pick them up and take them out to lunch afterwards.  They will hear the Gospel and you can answer any questions that they might have. 

            Another way is to talk to our friends ourselves about Jesus.  This is hard because we are not only putting our possible rejection on the line, but we are putting that friendship on the line as well.  I will be honest and say that non-Christians have ended friendships with their Christian friends because they shared the Gospel with them.  But we cannot refrain from doing this.  Listen to the words of a committed atheist on this.  Penn Jillette, of the magic show Penn & Teller, said this.

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I would tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

If we truly love our friends how can we not share the Gospel with them?

            So how do we go about doing this?  We ask.  We listen.  We ask to speak to them about our spiritual beliefs.  We do not have the right to make them listen, so we need to ask for it.  We then ask them what they believe.  We affirm and admire what we can about what they believe is right.  Think about it, what religion does not think that human beings are not the way they are supposed to be?  Every religion has the concept of sin.  We then build from what we agree on to the Gospel.  Jesus never said this would be easy.  But he did say that he would be with us when we do it.  In the Great Commission we are commanded as His people to do this.  Then he immediately follows it with that he would be with us until the end of the age.

            [18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”   (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

May we do this in obedience to Christ’s command and for our love of our friends who are lost.

     Pastor Craig Frazier

Pastor Craig Frazier has recently left youth ministry to become the associate pastor at Zion Evangelical in Millstadt Illinois, a church that is 176 years old.

Image by Leaping Lizard

Life As We Know It

"Everything was created through Him and for Him." Colossians 1:16b (NIV)

        

       Thomas Carlyle says "The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--- a waif, a nothing, a no man." This sentence is true for everyone. Everyone has a reason for living. Everyone's life is driven by something. Most dictionaries define the verb "drive" as "to guide, to control, or to direct." Whether you are driving a car, a nail, or a golf ball, you are guiding, controlling, and directing it at the moment. What is the driving force of your life? There are hundreds of circumstances, values, and emotions that can drive your life. Here are five of the most common ones:

- Guilt.

- Resentment and anger.

- Fear.

- Materialism.

- The need for approval.*

   

      Think about it. Wouldn’t your life be easier, and make more sense, if you knew why you were here? If life had no purpose, you could do whatever you wanted. If life had no purpose, then everything else in life has no purpose, as well. There would be no need for laws, education, advances in industry, government, technology, etc. If there was no purpose for us to even be living, then why are there needs for the human body such as water, food, air, etc. to even keep us alive? But there is a purpose for us; otherwise, we wouldn't need anything, including life itself. So if they have a purpose, don't we have a purpose as well? If there's no purpose for our lives, then there's no point of living. If there's no point of living, then why are humans living on a planet that has everything necessary for everyone now, and before us, to even exist here?

In The Purpose Driven Life, it says you have five purposes that should be easy to comprehend. Those five are:

- You were planned for God's pleasure

- You were formed for God's family

- You were created to become like Christ

- You were shaped for serving God

- You were made for a mission*

 

As stated above, we were planned for God's pleasure. We should please God with everything we do and how we do them. By doing the things we should do even when we don't want to. Mainly, our lives were made to please God. We were made for God's family; a family of Christians who, like us, should want to please God themselves. Becoming like Christ is one of the most important roles as a Christian. It's because Christ was the only perfect human being that we should follow his example. One must think to their self "What would Jesus do?" It may be a silly cliché, but, really, what would Jesus do? Serving God is important because it tests our loyalty as well as our trust in Him. Plus, serving God and others will give one a sense of fulfillment; therefore making them proud of being a trustworthy servant. And finally, we were made for a mission. Each of us, individually, has mission from God. That mission must be completed. But a person must know what their mission is in order to do so. Take some time to think about it; pray about it. What is that God wants you to do?          

 

Andrea Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, "In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St.Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preemtping the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God's light."

One more thought to ponder: If life had no meaning, and if there was no reason for people to live, then why is there gravity holding us down?  If there's no purpose for people, there's no point of gravity.  And why won't the earth start floating towards the sun? If there was no meaning in life, we might as well not live. But there is. “God is not haphazard; He planned it all with great precision. The more physicists, biologists, and other scientists learn about the universe, the better we understand how it is uniquely suited for our existence, custom-made with the exact specifications that make human life possible.”*

     Haiku

Source: *The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Image by Leaping Lizard

The Truth?

"I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." --John 14:6

            How frequently do we subjectively determine whether what we do is right or wrong?  Let me put that a different way: how frequently do we use our surroundings and the thoughts of our peers to determine our morals?

            Before I really start let me give you a few definitions so that you know what I am talking about.  Sorry about all of the big words, if you don’t understand what I mean by something feel free to comment with your question.  

           (1) Objectivity.  Objectivity is the practice of ignoring your own biases, preconceptions and the norms of society and looking at an issue from an objective standpoint.  It’s like reading a (good) novel written in the third person: you see everything in perspective, what is really real.  Absolutes withdrawn from circumstances determine truth.

           (2) Subjectivity.  Subjectivity is the opposite of Objectivity: your biases, preconceptions and the norms of society are what are important.  It is like reading a (poor) novel written in first person: you have an incomplete, limited and flawed view of the world.  Nothing is really real.  There are no Absolutes.  Circumstances determine truth.  When I am talking specifically about morals I will usually use Relativism as well.

           (3) Worldview.  A worldview is how one views the world.  How one looks at a situation, what a person’s thought process are.  Everyone has a worldview.

            Post-Modernism (the opposite of Modernism which states that everything can be reasoned out logically) is the prevalent world-view of our culture.  Post-Modernists believe that all truth is dependent on the individual.  These are the people who say things like: “It was true for me at the moment,” and “I thought it would be okay.”  In theory, this would give way to a tolerance of any and all belief systems; and it seems like it does.  Every horrible, disgusting, and gross sin that can be imagined has been and frequently is being embraced by our culture.  Homosexuality, atheism, the murder of infants, and adultery are all socially accepted norms through this thought system.

            “Well,” you might ask, “what’s wrong with that?  We can live how we want so why can’t they?”

            For several reasons – one: they are sinning.  While we cannot judge the heart, we are commanded in scripture (1 Corinthians 5:9-12) to confront sin without wavering.  Two – our culture is being rapidly destroyed as birth and marriage rates plummet, and as abortion and divorce rates skyrocket to new heights.  Third – They won’t let us.  If we are being good Christians, obeying God’s Word we will be in conflict with these people constantly.  “Now go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 18:19, emphasis added)  Disciples are followers of Christ.  You can’t have a follower of Christ who does not believe that He is the only way into heaven.  That he is the way, the truth and the life.  Once we start putting God’s objective (Biblical) morals on the stage, their shifty subjective (human) morals slide away like sand.  And that makes them angry.

            The Bible is the only sound source of objective truth.  No other book has been ever known to have so many indicators of truth.  One of the more obvious ones is the fact that it was written by over 40 people over several centuries through 36 distinct books.  And there are no contradictions.  I’ve read trilogies written by one author that contradict themselves.  This is only one of the hundreds of proofs that show that the Bible is infallibly true.

            Subjectivity raises more than philosophical and religious issues, but it also causes enormous problems when it begins to be applied in the realms of law and morality (which I have touched on a little already).  Let’s deal with some hypothetical situations.  Let’s say that I (as a Subjective Moralist – or Moral Relativist, whichever you prefer) say that it is wrong for someone to steal from me.  You (also a Moral Relativist), decide that you want my money and take it.  I object saying that stealing is wrong.  You disagree.  Who is right?  We both are.  From a Moral Relativist’s standpoint there is no right and wrong.  There is no absolute standard of Justice.  Moral Relativism leads to anarchy.  But if you ask them about Columbine High School, Hitler or any other major catastrophe, you will get and Objective answer; that was wrong.  You can’t be subjective and place rules on people.  You cannot be subjective and have a stable society.  It doesn’t work.

            So what’s the point?  What is the real meaning behind big words like Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Moral Relativism, and why does it matter?  The public school systems are teaching Moral Relativism as part of their curricula.  Our culture is being destroyed from the inside out by subjectivity.  And the funny thing is (funny strange, not funny Ha Ha) that people can’t figure out why!  We have to take a stand for truth.  We have to steadfastly, and absolutely proclaim Christ.  Because the only way to share truth to a culture that has rejected it is to speak, loud and proud, about what is really real.

     Leaping Lizard

Information from Bill Jack; specifically his ‘Simple Tools for Brain Surgery’ talk, and Voddie Baucham Jr; specifically his ‘Ever Loving Truth’ series.

Signs of Spring

Well, hopefully you all have been paying attention lately and noticed that it’s no longer winter, but spring!  Spring is probably my favorite time of the year, because of all the flowers and new life, all the new beginnings, especially because I live near a small patch of woods where I get to see all the spring wildflowers.  One of the things I somehow forgot to mention in my Bio is that I love photography.  Since everything started turning green and growing and blooming and just generally looking pretty, I’ve been taking a lot of photos of spring.  Here are just a few.

You know it’s spring when…

…a pathway in the woods looks like the entrance to a magical kingdom

…the spring flowers start blooming

(Dutchmen’s Britches)

(Spring Beauties)

(Dog-toothed Violets, or Trout Lillies)

(Blue Bells, or Virginia Cowslips)

(Daffodils)

…the geese return

…the rain makes all the colors more vibrant (particularly green!)

…all the trees are blooming

…the squirrels play tag

…even the dandelions look pretty

…farmer’s start plowing their fields

…leaves start peeking out

…not even the rain can put a damper on things

…the bees are working busily

…and there are promises of blackberries come summer.

But that’s not the only reason I enjoy spring; it reminds me of our new life in Christ, how, when He comes into our lives, we become a new creation.  We go from being cold and frozen inside to being touched by the hand of God and blooming into a beautiful sign to the rest of the world of the existence of God.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!" 
--2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV1984)

     The Comma Queen

This Is The Last Thursday Article

Due to the fact that the three of us - Leaping Lizard, Haiku, and the Comma Queen - have really busy schedules, we are unable to keep up with writing two articles a week like we had originally hoped to do.  Because of this, we will no longer be doing a Thursday article.  Unless, of course, we miraculously discover that there are actually 36 hours in a day or 10 days in a week, thus giving us more time to spend writing for you all.  :)  Hopefully, come summer, we'll have more time to spare (though, is that really very likely?) or by fall, have more writers.  We will still be posting something for you all every Monday, so stay tuned!

     The Comma Queen

The Myths Behind Easter

Probably the second most popular ‘Christian’ holiday in our culture is Easter. But most people don’t realize the disturbing imagery used in Easter traditions or the pagan roots of the holiday.

A little background on why so many pagan traditions are in the most important holidays in Christianity might be helpful. Back in the early days of Christianity, Christian missionaries would frequently give allowances for their new ‘converts.’ Some other traditions gleaned from pagan tradition include the fir tree on Christmas and hearts on Valentine’s Day. This practice allowed the pagans to ‘Christianize’ their former religion, corrupting the whole tradition. Also, why were these particular traditions chosen to be joined with Christ’s triumphant resurrection? Well, as you will see, all of these are fertility and rebirth traditions, which happen in spring, around the time of Passover, and, therefore, Christ’s death and resurrection.

So, let’s start with the most basic question about Easter; what does ‘Easter’ mean? Easter refers to several pagan deities, several of which are condemned in the Bible. The main ‘Easter’ was Queen Semiramis, the wife of King Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-12). While the Bible does not give much documentation on what happened to Nimrod, he is shown to have founded several evil cities, which went on to become the enemies of Israel. According to Mesopotamian legend, once Nimrod died, his wife (Queen Semiramis) had an illegitimate child named Tammuz, who she claimed was Nimrod reborn. Not only that but she also claimed he was the savior promised in Genesis who would crush the serpent (Satan). Queen Semiramis went on to become the Mesopotamian goddess of rebirth, fertility and the moon. She was also (as the Queen around the time of Babel) the basis of almost every fertility religion in the world. To name a few Ishtar/Astarte (originally pronounced Easter) was the Mother Goddess (fertility goddess) of Assyria and Babylon and Ashtoreth was the Phoenician version of the Mother Goddess, her temples were a center of sexual immorality innumerable ways; both of these goddesses are almost identical to the original myth built around Queen Semiramis.

Next up; the Easter egg. This colorful and frequently fun tradition is another fertility symbol used in many cultures; we’ll focus on the Babylonian myth. The Easter Egg myth was the birth of the goddess Ishtar (Easter). Basically a giant egg fell out of the sky and into the Euphrates River. Subsequently, all eggs became the symbol of Ishtar and fertility. Similar traditions in China included the coloring of the eggs.

Finally the Easter Rabbit/Bunny/Hare (whichever you prefer). Have you ever heard the term ‘reproduce like rabbits?’ That is exactly where this tradition comes from. The Bunny is yet another fertility tradition (and not without reason . . . actually I wonder why rats weren’t used; they reproduce faster . . . I digress) that was popular in many cultures. It has also represented the Mother Goddess in many cultures.

Please don’t take any of this incorrectly; I enjoy my Christmas tree, I enjoyed looking for Easter eggs when I was younger. (I didn’t really do the hearts on Valentine’s Day though). I don’t mean to say that these traditions are bad, but we must keep in mind “. . . if your brother is grieved by your food, you are not walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.” (Romans 14:15 NKJ) In context this verse is talking about food sacrificed to idols. Paul says that eating a pagan’s food is not sin, but doing so in a place, or in a manner which causes others to stumble is. While these traditions are not sin in and of themselves, they may cause others confusion. And that is reason enough to be cautious in engaging in such traditions.

Leaping Lizard