Sex, Marriage, & Fairytales
Ephesians 5:18-33
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
*Take note of the husband’s responsibility. Notice how [many] times Paul instructs husbands to love and respect their wife. Men, may we do no less.
“Open the Eyes of My Heart” sung by a 10-year-old blind boy.
May we all SEE the glory of God through this and in the days before us. May He continue to open the eyes of our hearts and minds.
Praise Jesus!
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It’s time to END Racism and Slavery, for God’s sake!
Today we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a man who lived in the middle of confrontation and didn’t back away. He was a man who boldly proclaimed his vision for this country – and world – and traveled down about every avenue to get us there. Now, forty-four years later, where are we?
Further down the lane, but still a long ways to go.
Though we finally have an African-American President, our country still struggles with racial equality and reconciliation. Why? Why have we not learned our lesson yet? How many times do we need to repeat the past in order to get the future right?
King worked endlessly, until his death in 1968, to fight racism, bigotry, poverty, ignorance, and war. Many have followed his huge footprints to do likewise. In fact, there is a younger generation moving towards the reality of ending racism and slavery within the world. However, the question the older generations need to ask themselves is this: will we go with them or continue to drag our feet in spite of their efforts?
King Modeled the King of Kings
Before he was an activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a follower of Christ – more so a preacher. King modeled his fight for justice around the principles and life of Jesus Christ. He urged the Church to do likewise – just like Christ. You could say, King and the King of Kings placed upon the Church a mission to bring justice to those who live in lands of injustice. Again, how are we doing with this challenge?
Churches are still segregated. Racism still exists. Hate still dwells within the hearts of many Christians. This is a sad reality … especially in 2012.
This post isn’t about blaming sides or any particular persons. The problem belongs to the Church at large. Therefore, the answer needs to come from the Church, unified around the passion and call of Christ – the very one we claim to model our own lives after.
It is beyond the day to end racism in America and the World. It’s way beyond the time that racism ceases to exist on Sunday mornings. There are plenty of verses that God speaks to His body about reconciliation and equality. There are plenty of verses that God speaks about standing for justice no matter the person. There are plenty of verses that detail what image the Church is to portray. No longer, then, do we have an excuse to play dumb or to deny the commission placed before us.
For a FREE resource on exploring racial unity, here is John Piper’s new book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, as a PDF download. A sermon by Piper on the book can be found here.
And just as Racism ends with this generation, so does Slavery
Doing Something Now
Two weeks ago, 45,000 plus people did the impossible: they raised over $3.3 Million dollars in three days to help end modern-day slavery. This is an amazing feat. Not to mention the fact that the majority of the people who contributed the money were college students. The generation below mine, the ones that most of society chooses to write off. They were the ones to stand up and proclaim: Enough is enough; slavery ends, now!
The event that hosted this challenge was Passion 2012 [read their story here]. Their aim was to awaken generations to God’s heart for those trapped in bondage – it worked. Again, though, I turn to my peers and those older than me: will we, too, arise to the challenge set before us? Will we fight with those younger than us the cause Christ commissioned the Church to lead?
This can only be answered by you. No one else can answer for you.
27 Million people are enslaved today – either through work or sex trafficking. The time to do something isn’t tomorrow, but today! It’s due time, as the Church, that we take this issue seriously. As one presenter at Passion 2012 put it, “Image if your child was one of these 27 Million? What would you be willing to do to free them?”
So, what can you do NOW about ending slavery? Here are some ideas from Zach Hunter, one of the leading young adult voices against slavery. During a “twitter-chat” he ran last week, I asked him the following: what is the greatest need ministries and organizations need in fighting slavery? Hunter listed four things: 1) awareness 2) funding 3) trained professionals 4) most of all an unrelenting commitment to end slavery. He went on to say these two great quotes from another person’s question: I think that as long as we glorify the objectification of women in our culture, girls will continue to be exploited … Education is a key in the fight against slavery – it immunizes children against trafficking.
Here are ways to get educated about Modern Day Slavery:
- Quick lists of facts, stats, and connections
- Passion: Do Something Now campaign
- Watch Passion’s “Freedom: Indifference is Not an Option” film, via online [*highly recommended]
Here are ways to support the work of organizations that battle slavery:
- FREEDOM [from Passion 2012]
- NOT FOR SALE
- FREEDOM SUNDAY [for Churches]
- SLAVERY FOOTPRINTS [find what companies support slavery]
- LOSE CHANGE TO LOOSEN CHAINS [Zach Hunter]
- INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION
- US DEPARTMENT info on HUMAN TRAFFICKING
- Check your State Government about local organizations. Here are some for Ohio:
“Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus” Commentary
Two days ago, I posted the new Jefferson Bethke spoken-word video, “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus”. Ever since, my blog traffic has sky rocketed – which is sweet. Everyone is watching this video; just look at your recent Facebook news feed. And while people are watching it, many are also fighting about it (via blogs). The debate, it seems, stems from the word “religion”, Bethke’s use of it, and the fact that his “gospel message” is flawed.
But is Jefferson really wrong here? I don’t think so. Here’s my two cents.
The word “religion”
No one should argue that Jesus didn’t uphold the law. He did. Take Matthew 5-7 for instance. Jesus makes a bold statement at the beginning of His sermon:
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-20
For an in-depth look at this passage, read this excellent article by Robin Brace. Here we read Jesus upholding the validity of the Old Testament (The Law). He spoke it into existence, and He is calling for His followers to continue upholding it. However, He challenges them (and us) to go further than just “being good.” This is the main reason for His sermon in Matthew 5-7, to explain the deeper meaning of what God spoke so long ago. It wasn’t enough that they kept the law, but that their hearts and lives were transformed by the Spirit (i.e. stop hating one another, stop lusting, stop arguing, seek reconciliation, live as examples, etc).
So, yes, Jesus upheld the Law. We should uphold the Law. Without it, Paul says, we don’t know we’re doing wrong actions. However, the Law does not bring Salvation; it brings us to Christ, who has paid our Salvation. The Law doesn’t save us, it condemns us; Christ saves us and redeems us as a new creation.
Christ is after heart modification, not just behavior modification. And that’s what He means about our righteousness surpassing that of the Pharisees. They knew God’s word, and they strived to uphold God’s Law daily. The problem was, the religious leaders, though Godly, were very legalistic in their living. Anyone who didn’t follow their exact example – not so much God’s but theirs – was tossed aside as a sinner and damned to hell. Christ came to turn things around – namely people’s mindsets and hearts. He came to destroy the legalism of the Law, and to bring us back to what God first initiated: a relationship.
While the Law brings us to awareness, legalism binds us in chains. While religion is good, religious duty doesn’t save us. Yes, our relationship with Christ – our faith – is evidenced by the fruit we bare (John 15, the Book of James), but our works do not “one-up” what Christ has already done.
This is the point, I believe, Jefferson Bethke is trying to make in his video.
The Overall Message
One of my favorite parables of Jesus is found in Luke 18:9-14, The Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Jesus describes a scene at the Temple, during worship, that involved a “Christian” and a “non-Christian” – or a “self-righteous-Christian” and a “still-sinning-Christian,” take your pick. The story revolves around their prayer/worship to God. One boasts himself up before God as being the prize Christian. The other humbles himself before God, acknowledges his need for God, and asks for new mercy. Jesus ends the story by saying the sinner was the righteous one, while the other was not.
Here’s a true-modern example of this story. A teen is seen at church with an “un-Christian” t-shirt (it involves a skull and bones). A member of the church comments to a group, “What does he have on? Why are kids like him in this church?” This actually happened more than once. One was trying to grow in his relationship with Jesus, and one was worried about the outer appearance of another and what others would think.
One gives example of what Jesus came to establish, and one gives example of what Jesus came to change.
Maybe a better word Bethke and others (like myself) should use is “religious-legalism.” After all, legalism is what we’re talking about here, not the faith and practice of our relationship with Christ. Bethke is calling out the legalism that still exists in the Church today, and he should – we all should. Legalism has no place in religion. It has no place in our relationships with Jesus and others.
Bethke, like myself, loves the Bride of Christ. We want to see the Body of Christ transformed into what it should be, according to scripture. No one is saying “Let’s throw it all out,” rather we’re saying, “Let’s get rid of legalism and bring back the Law of Christ. Let’s move past just being good and let’s be transformed by the Presence and Spirit of God!”
What’s to argue about this message?
Further reading: Jesus and the Law, and How Jesus Used Religion to Destroy the Power of Religion. Both pieces are from Robin Brace.
Additionally, read this review of the video by Tullian Tchividjian, Religion and the Gospel.
